Good Morning, my Friends. I hope this posting finds you in good spirits and enjoying life to the fullest. I am, even though I am just getting over a bout with the flu. I did feel (almost) good enough to do a rehearsal with the Saint Louis Wind Symphony yesterday afternoon. It was a very good rehearsal, so that was indeed the best medicine. Luckily I have a very understanding Associate Conductor who agreed to let me do my pieces first and then head home and back to bed. Today I feel (almost) human again.
The book of Exodus is a great story. It is the story about a journey from bondage to freedom. What I like about the story is how it parallels the Christian walk. For instance, when the story begins, the Israelites are enslaved to the Egyptians; they follow God (portrayed by his representative, Moses); who leads them out of bondage and on a journey through the wilderness (a time of testing); and their destination is the Promised Land. (Canaan)
Now let’s compare this to our Christian walk. Prior to accepting God’s gift of grace, we have been in bondage to our “sin-nature”, meaning we were living our lives to satisfy ourselves rather than honoring God. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are set free from bondage to our old self. Now we begin a journey, actually a life long journey, to become the person God created us to be, growing in our knowledge of, and trust in God. As a result of this transformation process, we too are on the way to our promised land, Heaven.
I’m sure we are all happy God gave us free-will at creation. But as we all have experienced, “freedom” can be a double-edged sword. Right? Too often it allows us to choose a path that satisfies our “sin-nature” rather than a path that is pleasing to God. As a result of such decisions, we often find ourselves in “dark” places that were never our original intent, but none-the-less we find ourselves totally lost and struggling with addictions, behavior problems, relationship problems, poor self-esteem, etc. When a person finds themselves in bondage to such undesirable behaviors, life can certainly be a black hole. In fact, it has brought many of us to our knees in a state of brokenness.
A MERCIFUL AND FORGIVING GOD
In the story in Exodus, God told Moses he heard the cries of the Israelites in slavery: Exodus 3, 7-8, “Then the Lord told Moses, “You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes I am aware of their suffering. So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own good and spacious land.” This is the decision of a loving, merciful, and forgiving God. This is his nature! He is a God of love. As stated in James 4:10, “When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on Him, he will lift you up and give you honor.”
That is as true for those of us on our knees today crying out, “God, please help me!” as it was for the Israelites in slavery. Remember, we are his proudest creation, and one of his promises to us is, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:10). No doubt some of our decisions grieve Him, but just like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, (Luke 15:11-32) he is anxiously awaiting our return “home” so he can wipe away the tears, clean us up and give us a second chance at life. And who doesn’t want a second chance at life?
THE JOURNEY
Once we are set free from our bondage, we begin the journey of rebuilding our lives. That may sound easy, but believe me when I say it is one of the most challenging endeavors we will ever undertake. Why? Because rebuilding our lives requires change, and change can be frightening, or perhaps even overwhelming. But the whole purpose of the journey is to grow in our relationship with God and to learn to trust him. To the Israelites in the story of Exodus, God revealed his love and his mercy through his power, and what amazing miracles they witnessed: the ten plagues to entice Pharaoh to “Let my people go!”; the parting of the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape the pursuing Egyptians; and His presence at Mt. Sinai where he made a covenant with his chosen people that was revealed in the Ten Commandments. All of this was the action of a loving, merciful and forgiving God.
Today our best source for getting to know God is the Holy Bible. Because God knows something about relationships, he knew that before we could enter into a relationship with him, we would have to come to know him: to know what he thinks; what he thinks about us; what his standard is; what his promises are; and how we could receive his promises. Not only would we need answers to all of those questions, but we would also need to see the manifestation of those truths in our lives before a relationship could develop. Therefore, God chose to reveal himself to us through the prophets and the scribes. That revelation can be found in The Holy Bible. As stated in 2Peter, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.” And 2Timothy 3:16, tells us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” As Christians we are called to live by faith. It is in this journey phase, ie. the wilderness, where we face our trials and tribulations, and it is here where our faith develops and becomes steadfast.
BEING IN LINE WITH HIS WILL
As we grow closer to God, we learn that his blessings come to us when we are in line with his will. Step 3 of the Alcoholics Anonymous programs states this beautifully. “We become willing to turn our will and our life over to the care of God, as we understand him.” Many times people are fearful of this step because they don’t like the idea of giving up control. Notice the key word in that statement is “care” and not “control”. If God’s plan was to control us, he could have taken care of that at Creation. But no…God’s plan was not to control us but to care for us. And what does a care-giver do? They look out for our best interest; makes sure our needs are met; keep us safe, etc. Two fundamental principles that resound from every page of the Bible is 1.God is love and 2.God wants a relationship with us. Coupled with those principles is God’s desire to bless us when we are in line with his will. All of this is the action of a loving, caring, merciful and forgiving Father who wants a relationship with his us.
THE SOLUTION
As we grow in our knowledge of God’s truth, and as we see the scriptures come to life in our own life, it becomes absolutely clear that God’s will for us is to accept his Gift of Grace. This is the ransom he paid to erase our sin so we could be worthy of entering Paradise with Him, Jesus and all other believers. 1Peter 1:16 tells us, “we have to be holy (without sin: set aside) because God is holy”, so it is clear that we cannot enter Heaven if we are stained with sin. Since man had from Creation to 2014 years ago to solve the sin dilemma, God did for us what we clearly were unable to do for ourselves. He provided a Redeemer, a Deliverer, a Savior! Romans 5:6 states: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.” While God doesn’t specify what constitutes, “just the right time”,but the very fact we were “helpless” and referred to as “sinners” certainly indicates our pathetic state. This is the action of a loving, caring, merciful, forgiving God!
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to grow in his likeness, and this is a huge challenge – sometimes and overwhelming challenge – since we live in a fallen world. We are bombarded with the worldly teaching; we are subject to temptations of the flesh; and the Enemy is always beside us just waiting for a chance to ship-wreck our transformation. But Paul tells us in Romans 2:12, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”
To do this of our own volition is an over-whelming challenge. But because God is our care-giver, and because he knows our human weaknesses, part of his salvation plan is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is this gift that allows us to be victorious in this journey because the Holy Spirit empowers us to rise above the world in which we live; to resist the temptations of our flesh; and to reject Satan. The Holy Spirit empowers us to accomplish more than we could ever accomplish through our own effort. The more we grow and mature in this journey, the more we realize it’s not about what we can do, but what Jesus Christ can do through us. Luke 1:37 succinctly summarizes this message, “Nothing is impossible with God!” Wow! Thank you, God.
So what do you think of this last statement? Is it true? Do you stand on it in your own life?
Feel free to respond to this posting, and please “like” and share it with other social media friends.
May God Bless Ya,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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