Hey, friends!
I pray this post finds you well and that you are seeing God’s beautiful purposes for you in this season. As our world endures this global pandemic, I pray that it’s a time we can choose to run to God and not to anything else.
I imagine we’ve all had seasons in our lives where we’ve run to everything else except God to save us. We’ve cried out to our idols - all those things and people that we lift up our souls to instead of God. During this time of quarantine, I’ve been completing a Bible study and it’s been about the Israelites’s unfaithfulness to the Lord in the wilderness. Frustrated with His timing, they created a golden calf - as if something they had made with their very own hands could save them.
We often try to distance ourselves from the Israelites, imagining that we ourselves could never be so foolish or forgetful. Hadn’t they just seen God’s great power at the Red Sea? Didn’t all of their enemies drown before their eyes because God was with them? Had not they carried off the wealth of Egypt with them and been freed from horrible bondage and miserable captivity? Did God not show His love and faithfulness to care, fight for, and provide for them?
How could they forget what God did? How could they settle for a graven image in place of the one true God?
In context of the whole story, their blatant idolatry seems utterly ridiculous. But we have to remind ourselves that they didn’t see the whole story like we do. The Promised Land was not a place to read about in the Bible; for them, it was a place based only on the Word of God. Getting there would require one step of faith after another. That was the only way.
We are just like the Israelites. How many times have we sought salvation and refuge in someone or something other than Jesus? How often have we run to anyone or anything else to save us? How many times have we forgotten how God has saved us, delivered us, and loved us in the past? All of us have!
Why do we do this? Why do we run to other things when we know deep in our hearts that Jesus alone can save us?
I believe it’s because we think He can save us, but we’re not as convinced that He can satisfy us and we doubt His plans for us. We believe He died for us, but we’re not absolutely confident about His care for our daily life. We look at our circumstances and they don’t look how we want them to look, so we question Him. That’s exactly what the Israelites did - they looked at the wilderness and God’s timing and thought, “This doesn’t look like a Promised Land!” They refused to trust Him and instead, leaned on their own understanding. Psalm 106 describes the fruit of their distrust - “leanness of soul.” They believed that they knew what was best. They looked at life through natural eyes and not through the eyes of FAITH.
Friends, the biggest storms in my life were not from unexpected circumstances rocking my life. The biggest storms in my life have come when in response to a storm I chose to lean on my own understanding instead of trusting God. And the best turn-arounds I’ve lived through have all come when I responded with faith in God instead of reliance on myself or anything else.
Friends, I’m writing this with so much love and compassion. If my words convict, know that I can only write them because I have lived them out. I’ve been just like an Israelite at times questioning God’s ways and crying out to other things to save me and give my life meaning. And I promise you, living like this only brings more pain and brokenness. It makes the stormy seasons worse.
God’s ways and His thoughts are HIGHER than ours. His plans are more than anything we could ask, think, or imagine. His plans for your life are for a hope and for a future.
Everything about your circumstances might be screaming at you to believe otherwise, but that’s why we need Christ. We need Jesus to give us faith to believe that God’s heart towards us is always and only good - even when it doesn’t seem like it. Faith in God is not based on our feelings or circumstances, but the never-changing Word of God!
After 40 years of wandering, the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land. As they crossed the Jordan River, parted for them by the power of God, they retrieved 12 stones from the river. At Gilgal, they set up the stones as a remembrance of what God had done for them. There God called them to consecrate themselves and rededicate themselves to Him. It was a powerful and pivotal moment in their history. They were actively walking away from idolatry and unbelief and purposing to walk in faith and obedience. God rolled away the reproach and shame of their idolatry, rebellion, and sin. He gave them a fresh start as they began life in the Promised Land.
What have you been running to in this quarantine? If it’s anything or anyone other than Jesus, it will not save you. It will not heal you. It does not have the power to restore you. I promise you this.
I pray that our eyes are opened to the majesty of Jesus - for when we truly behold Him, we are changed. When you look at Jesus, when you see how He has forgiven you, when you look at how He has redeemed you, when you put your trust in Him to save you - you will be forever CHANGED. Jesus does not condemn you; He welcomes you. He proved His love for you at the cross. If you ever doubt His love or forgiveness, stare at the cross. He did that for you. In your brokenness, in your rebellion, in your sin - He died while we were still messed up. Read Romans 5:8. You are LOVED!
I pray that this is a time of re-dedication. A Gilgal for all of us. A set apart time of running after God with all of our hearts, of remembrance of His faithfulness, of re-imagining the future from here on out - one of walking by faith, not by sight; of walking in trust and reliance on God and God alone. It’s time to be bold and confident in the Lord. He is with us in this and we are never alone!
God is the pursuer of our hearts. Whether you know it or not, He is pursuing you and will never stop. He sees you, friend. He sees your joys and your tears. He knows your struggles and your fears. The things you share with no one else, He knows. He’s seen your sins and your failures. And He loves you. He wants to redeem you from all of your sins and restore the joy of your salvation. Run to Him. Run back to Him. He’s always been running to you. With open arms and with a love so deep and long and high and wide that will bring your soul back to LIFE.
I usually always end my posts with a prayer and a song. Pray and worship with me if you would like!