Saturday, February 1, 2014
Exodus13:20-22
20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.
21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Oh, what it must have been like to have the Lord in a pillar of cloud each day and a pillar of fire each night leading them along to the Land of Promise. We usually call these accounts of biblical history stories, but this actually happened! The Lord God was so serious about leading Israel out of the oppression of Egypt that He led them out Himself. I can imagine how wonderful and how frightening it must have been to something so amazing. But, all they had to do was…follow. God gave the direction, but the people had to move their feet and follow.
Our greatest hindrance to actually getting out of the oppression of our "Egypt" situations and walking into the freedom and blessing of God's promises is our uncanny ability to remain immobile. Sometimes we simply don't want to move. We've memorized Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path;" but, merely seeing the path doesn't get us moving. Being tired of living a life of oppression and recognizing that we are incapable of leading ourselves out of it get us to a place where we actually have the greatest potential for following Jesus.
Harriet Tubman is quoted as saying, "I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves." There were some slaves that just couldn't bring themselves to get moving – they didn't see the need in being free. But, there were others that knew that there was more to life than the slave experience. Jesus said something similar:
"Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life]." (Matthew 10:39, Amplified)
Again, we have to choose.
Lord, you're leading us to a higher life and there is a lower life that we must leave behind. Help us to follow you as you call us higher. Thank you that you go before us. Now, please give us the courage to follow you.
No comments:
Post a Comment