Verse of the Day: 1 Peter 5:6&7 "6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
Memory of the Month: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Today's reading: JUDGES 1-3 LUKE 4:1-30
Take A Breath
1 Peter 5:6&7 says: "6Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
When I read this passage I have a picture of a child looking up to God's open palm and to stay there must continue to focus on God's hand. As we walk this life focused on Him we must trust Him to lead our feet in the righteous steps. In youth camp, I would ask for a volunteer to come forward and then ask them to look up at my hand and follow it around. It would not take long for the volunteer to look down to see where his or her feet were stepping. This, of course, is what we do. We remove our focus from God so we can walk confidently in this world. As we do we move out from under God's hand and are on our sinful own path.
My daughter sent me a video of my beautiful granddaughter as she held her mama's hand and walked beside her. She was all smiles as she looked down to see where her feet were stepping. Everystep was a joy to her. She could see her own progress. She could feel the sidewalk under her stocking feet. She looked up at her mother and then down at the trail holding tightly to the strong loving fingers. She would stumble and go down but her mother would not let her knees hit the ground but would lift her back to her feet as mom kept saying, "I've got you, I've got you...". Her mother led her up the front steps-a struggle-but the words kept coming, I've got you".
What a picture of us and our Heavenly Father. We come into His life by the miracle of salvation given us in Christ by faith and we roll around for a while in the wonder of a new world. We crawl and eventually start to pull up on things and then we take a step. The Holy Spirit has a hand extended for us to hold-all the time in our trust and in His protection. But then, what happens? We develop good balance and adequate strength to walk alone and we see something amazing and walk away.
Here is the tragedy of sin. We trust our own strength and walk away from God's hand. The saddest thing is walking far enough to not hear God. Sin puts that distance between us until we fall hard and no hand is holding us up. We can be at a distance when disaster strikes. God, Himself, puts obstacles in our way to get our attention-to call us back.
Front steps are hard without a hand. So we devise ways to conquer the heights on our own and develop inner pride for accomplishment. The enemy leads us into self dependence(dependence on him) and we grow numb to the need for God. Again, tragedy strikes.
This happened time and again to the new nation of Israel as a faithful generation would pass and the next would not honor God until disaster struck. God would remove protection and let them be enslaved for years and then they would come crying back to God(read Judges, chapters 1,2,3) and He would forgive them.
Sound familiar? Yes, quite.
Humbling ourselves under God's hand has taken on a new illustration. Not only must we look up to see where God's hand is going, we must reach for God's hand to hold and let go of self-sufficiency. We must cry out to God in confession and again grasp His hand.
We may write a library of books on spiritual life or short letters to encourage Christian friends. We may head world-wide missionary organizations or give a cup of cold water in Jesus' name-but-we will never spiritually outgrow the ultimate need to hold His divine hand in absolute trust for everything.
The pride of life is so dangerous. The enemy devises all reasons to walk independently. Take captive the thoughts that have you let go of God's hand. No amount of growth can erase this absolute need for complete dependence on Him.
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
"Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." Job 12:9-10
Take a breath...grab His hand.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Forgive my letting go and depending on me. I do it far too often. Teach me to hold on. Set my heart on holding to You.
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