My wife was sharing with me from her Bible reading and I asked if I could post her thoughts here. Please welcome my first guest blogger, Jennifer Tutor.
In our country, we are so proud of our right to pursue happiness. All people have this innate desire to be happy. This is a good thing; it is the yearning for the joy of the LORD. The problem we have, though, is that we are not pursuing happiness in God, but in everything else: wealth, relationships, beauty, status, etc. We are sacrificing true and complete joy in our pursuit of these lesser joys. As a result, happiness is always just out of our grasp. We have moments of happiness, but these are fleeting and quickly snatched away. We are left with longing, disappointment, depression, frustration, and hopelessness. The solution to breaking this cycle is to pursue God, the only source of true, complete, and eternal joy.
“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
I just read an article about a man who had been imprisoned for 35 years for a crime he did not commit. Thanks to DNA testing, this was recently proven and the man was set free. I really can’t imagine. Fortunately for him, the state of Florida “passed a law that automatically grants former inmates found innocent $50,000 for each year they spent in prison. No legislative approval is needed. That means [the recently freed man] is entitled to $1.75 million.”
I don’t mean to sound hyper-spiritual, but the story just made me think. Some guy got away with some horrific crimes and let someone else pay the price. He has spent the past 35 years doing whatever he pleased because someone else was doing the time for his crimes.
Let’s be honest. We haven’t done the things that were mentioned in the article; however, in all honesty, we really are guilty. We deserve punishment. We don’t deserve freedom and we don’t deserve $1.75 million. However, Jesus paid the price for us. Thanks to His mercy, we have been set free! Thanks to His grace, we have rewards that are beyond our imaginations! Thanks to Him, we once were imprisoned, but now we are NOT GUILTY!
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, realized they were naked, and created clothes from leaves to cover themselves. They heard God walking in the garden, so they ran and hid. In verse 9, God called to the man and asked “Where are you?” Does this mean their hiding place was really that good? Were they able to hide from God, the one who created them and sustained their very existence? Of course not.
When God asks a question, He is NEVER on a fact-finding mission, nor is He trying to gather information. He always knows the answer when He asks a question. When God asks a question, it is not for HIS benefit but for ours! In reality, He is providing an opportunity for us to come out of our place of independence and hiding so that we may return to a place of loving dependence on Him.
What happens when we return? Sure, Adam and Eve had to live with the consequences of their actions and so do we. However, just like with Adam and Eve, God has a plan of redemption. Our actions don’t catch God off guard or render him impotent. He can and will work, but the thing that is often holding Him back is us.
God is still asking, “Where are you?” Are you hiding in the bushes, naked and trying to cover up the best you can? Or are you standing in the open, waiting for His visit? Wherever you are, whatever you have done, He loves you. He wants to have a relationship with you work in and through your life. Stop running and hiding.
In Judges 6, we find Gideon hiding from the Midianites in a winepress. God visits him and says, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” Gideon is a little confused because his clan is the weakest in the tribe and he is the least in his family. He basically says, “Are you sure you got the right guy, God?” Have you been there? I know I have. I tend to think, “Have you thought about who you’re talking to God? Don’t you know my past? Don’t you know my weaknesses? Are you sure you have the right guy?”
God assures Gideon in v. 16 with the statement, “I will be with you.” You know, that really makes all the difference. God was not simply “for” Gideon, sitting on the sidelines cheering him on. He promised to be “with” Gideon all the way.
What has God clearly called you to do with and in your life? If you feel insecure, is there a chance you are focusing more on your abilities (or lack thereof) rather than God’s? Be bold and courageous because if it is God’s plan for you, He is all “for” you, and He is also “with” you. What can really stop that kind of team?
