11.20.08
“GOING BACK TO EGYPT…I DON’T THINK SO”
.
Gen 12:4-5, 10 NIV
4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
……………………………………………………..
Following through on faith means testing. After his father dies, Abram finally makes the quantum leap of faith of taking all of his family and possessions to the land of Canaan. He has a great start. Being immediately met with confirming grace, his response is to make altars to mark his very first few steps in the land.
But Abraham is immediately challenged with a severe famine. What would he do? Will he trust in Yahweh who has brought him here, or will he shrink back? Counting on the fertility of the Nile, rather than the faithfulness of His God; Abram went down to Egypt. Down in Egypt, he ends up in compromising situations, reflective of his little faith. He is able to return by grace, only to have to retrace the steps he had already made.
Egypt represents the fall back, something or someone other than God to run to when the going gets tough. For Abram it was Egypt, for the disciples it might have been returning to their nets. In the journey of faith, we are going to be tested. Will we trust and obey, or will we run to our Egypt’s?
……………………………………………………..
REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning, would you imagine that you are on pilgrimage? God, who is the architect and builder of a grand city has called you to pack up your things and spiritually relocate. If you haven’t done already, will you tell God that He is your home; He is your comfort zone.
- Will you recognize that you will be tested. God who regards your faith as precious will refine it like gold. Where are you being tested? Where are your Egypt’s? The places which promise fertility apart from God? Will you turn away from that road of compromising consequences, choosing rather the path of trust and obedience?
- How has God shown His confirming grace on your journey thus far? Will you “altar” your steps, making tangible expressions of faith and love to the God who loves you and His unquestionably faithful?
11.19.08
“UN-TRIVIAL PURSUIT”
.
Ps 119:105 NIV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
.
Deut 29:29 NIV
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
……………………………………………………..
It’s so easy to approach the Bible as a playground for fanciful philosophies and speculative theories. As if the Scriptures are given to satisfy our trivial pursuits. However, time and time again God makes it clear that His word is designed for obedient application. Whenever we succumb to obsessive quests that squeeze the scriptures into man made agendas, we fall prey to the sinister trap of our enemy.
Instead, God’s word is given to us so that we might be equipped for a different pursuit; one where God is our object, and our lives are the raw materials. The light of God’s word does not illuminate the whole valley, rather reveals more than enough for one faithful step at a time.
……………………………………………………..
REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning, who or what are you implicitly pursuing? Is it security, or success; recognition or reknown? Will you subjugate all other pursuits, making them trivial in comparison to your pursuit of God?
- How are you approaching God’s word? Is it for self justification, or sensational distraction? Would you humble yourself, and ask God to ground His word into your heart and life? Will you take ownership of His truth, for the sake of obedient application?
- Will you pray for an anointing to know and live God’s truth, that the generations to follow would have an accurate trail blazed for which to follow? Pray for your children (present & future, natural and spiritual), that this anointing would be passed on like DNA.
11.12.08
“SUPREMACY OF OBEDIENCE”
.
1 Sam 15:22-23 NIV
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
.
Rom 12:1-2 NIV
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.
……………………………………………………..
In the 1Samuel passage, Saul makes a critical miscalculation. He believes that as long as he can appear as though the outer standard of sacrifice is achieved, that he can get away with an inner rebellion. Samuel will have nothing to do with it, for he knows neither will God.
For the kind of “sacrifice” God is looking for is a living one. One which will be willing to see our own will put to death repeatedly, on the altar of obedient love. Then and only then will we be able to “test and
approve what God’s” good, pleasing, and perfect will is. Then, and only then.
……………………………………………………..
REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning, will you take a few moments to listen to the negotiations of your heart? Where are you secretly embracing the logic that outer sacrifice ought to be enough to satisfy God? Will you denounce the poisonous logic of Saul?
- Will you ask yourself, “Where is God looking for obedience in my life? From VCF?” Will you pray this prayer with “deadly” certainty: Whatever you ask, I/we will do.
- Having positioned your heart in unfettered obedience, will you listen for God’s directive voice? As you equate love with obedience, where does God’s heart prompt yours?
