Psalm 106:7-12 "When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your
many kindnesses, and
they rebelled by the sea, the Red
Sea. Yet he
saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea,
and it dried up; he led
them through the depths as through a
desert. He saved
them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he
redeemed them. The
waters covered their adversaries; not one of them
survived. Then they
believed his promises
and sang his
praise."
Psalm 106:19-25
"At Horeb they
made a calf and worshiped an
idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats
grass. They forgot
the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach
before him to keep his
wrath from destroying them. Then they despised the
pleasant land; they
did not believe his promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord.
Reading these two portions of
Scripture, we can probably see so many similarities to our own lives. The Lord
brings us our of our individual Egypts (bondages). A portion of time goes by
and we somehow forget what the Lord has already done for us as we run into yet
another obstacle in our lives. We fret and despair and don't even give a
thought to the fact that He led us out of our bondage - so maybe, just maybe, He
can get us through this one. Our minds don't even go there. BUT GOD... in His
mercy AND for HIS Names' sake leads us through our Red Seas on dry ground. I
wonder how fast some of them went across... I know we would've totally repented
before we got to the other side of the riverbed... I imagine they moved pretty
slowly with the children and cattle and such. "Oh Lord, please don't let those
walls of water come down"... can you imagine walking through that - it probably
wouldn't have been in complete confidence that I would've looked at the walls of
water and strutted my way through. No, I would've been going through the whole
list of grumbling and complaints and asking forgiveness. Of course, my mind
would be sayng, those waters are going to fall sometime. God is not happy with
you. Might as well stop repenting, those walls are going to come down. Our
minds so totally imagine the
worst possible scenario most of the time, BECAUSE satan can influence our minds
- IF we listen and then dwell too
long on what he whispers into them.
Knowing what I know now about Jesus... I would probably do the same thing.
Then hopefully would've fixed my gaze on the other side and stopped even being
the least bit concerned about what my mind was saying. Listening instead to the
Spirit inside of me.
It was only after the waters covered the Egyptian Army that the people gave
a huge sigh of relief, rejoiced and praised God and believed His promises.
Then in the SAME CHAPTER.... we read their making God out to be a cow???
Seriously, like worship no graven image (idol, etc) didn't pertain to them?
Oh, God had just written the Ten Commandments and Moses was bringing them down
the mountain. Their sin was in doing what they thought best (I think we
covered that in detail already). Father wanted to destroy them - He was angry.
They disobeyed... ummmmm, were in defiance of what their God had said. And at
the time, there was no Jesus Who had paid for their sins. Moses stood in the
breech - brave man of God he was. And God repented - He relented and yet the
people did not believe his
promises. WHAT? Well, remember repentance in it's basic sense means
changing our minds - God changed His mind. There are other places He did
this.... Read Genesis 18 about Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah.... God does
change His mind. His mind is not influenced by the enemy though. Ours is. And
this repentance is slightly different from Acts 11:18's "Repentance unto life".
God didn't repent because he was sorrowful for having committed some sin. He
'repented' - changed His mind out of His compassion and to show His great
power.
American
Bible Tract Society Dictionary: "repentance unto life," is sorrow for sin,
grief for having committed it, and a turning away from it with abhorrence,
accompanied with sincere endeavors, in reliance on God's grace and the
influences of the Holy Spirit, to live in humble and holy obedience to the
commands and will of God."
OUCH and double OUCH. It's really not enough to do a 180 turn-around
(remorse), unless we also resolve to do what is right and actually start to do
it.
It starts in our spirits..... We purpose to turn from sin. The Spirit of
God who leads Who influences our Spirit leads our minds to turn away from sin.
To turn away from listening to the lies of the enemy, to turn away from
listening to our emotions (that, by the way, can also be influenced by the
enemy) - and to turn to GOD ALMIGHTY - our FATHER - our DAD -
our Common Denominator (He's the same for all of us). He is our Friend, our
Comforter, our Refuge to run to in times of trouble, THE Mighty Fortress - that
hides us from the enemy - but He is also a Holy God and Father, Who's very
Presence commands our respect and reverence.
Let's give him today the honor due His Name (as much as our finiteness will
allow) and truly turn from our wrongs towards the new LIFE He offers us.
Change Me - Unknown
No comments:
Post a Comment