I was listening to a service in the series called "Turning the Tide" the other day and Matt and Doug were speaking about the crossing of the
Their hope was to live free, out of Egyptian captivity. They had escaped and come this far. Only to be in sink or swim situation, literally.
It was sure death. No way out. Trapped.
Imagine living your whole life in the desert
Now you and a whole nation are faced up against a do or die situation, sink or swim. Then God steps in. It's easy for us to look back and say, look at how awesome God was at that time. He split the sea through the command of Moses and the sea parted and the land dried up, allowing the weary nation to move on. It's easy to look back, but at the time, I'm sure they were scared to death, caught up in the moment, paralyzed in their own power.
You know how that feels, right?
I need to reflect on two points.
First, the
The whole nation of
Second, what do you picture when you see the
When God works miracles, they are not begrudgingly small inconveniences, just-enough-to-get-by occurrences. They are acts of crazy, head-over-heels love for you and me.
Could you imagine walking through a dried up sea with the walls of the sea towering far, far, far above head? We're talking cubits (to speak biblically) above! It would be easy to say you'd keep purposefully walking, especially in the deep of the sea, because you never know when the walls of water will come violently come crashing back. But do we? Do we keep purposefully moving forward, even in the middle of our parted seas? As the world throws us turbulent times and as we continue our walk of obedience, are we always intentional and focused on the main goal? Do we keep our faith or act out of fear that the sea will come crashing back down at any moment. Do we keep moving out of Godly fear and reverence of his love, or do we take our time, lose focus, and pick up sea shells and fossils along the way?
I know I would have had one heck of a time moving forward. I would want to start collecting those sea shells and fossils, as my attention span would start to wane. Or I'd want to rest and stop moving, and take a seat up against the solid water wall and nap a bit. Again, I think this little deer trail opened, the nation of
NO! The
Talk about focus and determination that God would get them through! So where are you on your walk lately? Are there turbulent issues going on in your life and you're stacked up against a Sea and the enemy of your life? Do you feel that you're walking a tightrope down the middle of the Sea waiting for the walls to come crashing in and drown you at any time? Or are you on the other side, being patent and faithful in your God, watching the turbulent times become destroyed as you look back, see how big your Abba Father is, praise him and claim victory, only to find yourself in another desert? Only pleading with God to take you back to where you came from, even if it meant captivity to sin and death, because it is "safe" and "normal"? After all, you've grown accustomed to heartache, loneliness, depravity of soul, and the numbness that came with living in captivity to sin.
I know from experience. This was my life. Always looking back, longing for the old days, even when death and destruction were immense and heavy. I lost focus many times in the middle of escape, looking for sea shells, fossils and a place to rest and numb out rather than continue moving in obedience toward God and His plan for your life. Once I reached the other side, I longed to go back to captivity, remembering all the good times of living in sin, when in reality they were soul crushing in heavy. I chose to stop and not move once I reached the other side of the Sea, even though Jesus Christ destroyed my enemies and sin, washed them all away, and claimed victory over my former ways. It was in this time of disobedience when I fell into my darkest and most secret of secret worlds. The one that brought crippling death and sorrow into my life and marriage.
I chose to go back to death. I chose depression and the heaviness that brought. Only Jesus saved me again! Now I live free in obedience to Christ, and living out who I’m supposed to be! Living a life and marriage restored in Christ!
So I'm going to ask again. Where are you in your path? What are you holding onto that's keeping you in captivity or living in a fantasy of living the dream of the past? Why are you holding back from God and his plan of a more and better life?
I love you,
Ken
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