A Thought for Tuesday 5/7/13

“My eyes are upon You, O God the Lord; in You I take refuge.  Do not leave my soul destitute.  Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity.  Let the wicked fall into their own nets while I escape safely.”  Psalm 141:8-10

Our culture is like a powerful drug in that once we take a small taste of it, it is very difficult to turn back.  In fact the more we partake, the more we want until we finally discover that “more” according to our cultural standards seems to have no limits – and yet there is only so much we can actually have even though we reach desperately for “more”, refusing to believe there are limits.  We find ourselves trapped in a sense of entitlement and begin demanding “rights” we don’t actually have.  Soon we discover the “more” is actually just out of reach beyond a cliff and yet it seems so close, we reach over the edge of that cliff.  Sometimes we come to our senses before we completely lose our balance and come back to solid ground.  Too many, however, simply fall, mistaking the risk of reaching too far as “faith” when in fact we are only putting our Lord to the test.  When we fall for the things that are not of God, we are left “destitute” financially as well as emotionally and spiritually when we finally go completely over the edge of that cliff.  There is no “net” that protects if we go over; it is rather a “net” that captures and ensnares.

It is safe to say the evil one is wrapped up in everything in our culture that does not convey the reality of our God and His Law even though the evil one seems to try and convince us that every desire and seemingly natural impulse we have (lust) are to be fulfilled because, after all, will our Lord lead us into temptation and wrong things?  No, our God will not.  Having been set free by Messiah to worship and serve our Holy Father, however, we fail to understand our newfound freedom much like ancient Israel in the wilderness.  We convince ourselves that we are set free from ALL sin – past, present, and future – and that everything we choose to do is somehow blessed by God from that moment of justification before Him.  The Scriptures do not bear this out, and neither does the Spirit.  And lest we forget, Messiah Jesus is the “word made flesh”; that is, Messiah is the “Law and the prophets fulfilled”, not dismissed.  And the “Word” is the Scriptures.  When we say we trust Jesus, we must understand what “Jesus” really means; for if He is not the “Word” of God, He cannot be the Son of God.  Thus He cannot be “Savior”.

We must learn to more fully trust in our Lord by respecting boundaries He has established for our well-being and safety, and also learn that our Lord does not lead us to the edge of any cliff in which our lives may be in danger.  He is our protector and our shield, but He cannot be redefined according to a culture that only entices us to move away from that shield.  Trust in the Lord alone as He is revealed in the Scriptures, and “let the wicked fall into their own nets”!

Blessings,

Michael