I love the fact that God not only allowed the Israelites to celebrate the Passover regardless of their spiritual condition at the time, but also welcomed foreigners to partake in this celebration. As they celebrated the salvation God brought to Israel by the blood of the lamb, all were welcome, just as all are welcome to the salvation available through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus.
I also love the repetitive refrain in the description of the Israelites following the cloud by day and the column of fire by night. It's a beautiful illustration of what our journey with God should be like. We stay when He says stay. We move when He says move. Whether it is a day, a month, or a year, we allow the Lord to lead us.
It's a picture of a life that is completely devoted to God, like the Levites that we learned about yesterday. The point is that our lives shouldn't have some areas where we are large and in-charge, and other areas where we seek God's will and do things His way. What a temptation that is! We may be good with following the Lord in regard to helping other people, sharing the gospel, or going to church...but don't seek His counsel when it comes to our love life, our choice of vocation, our finances, or our eating and drinking habits.
None of us are perfect, so I'm pretty confident in saying we each have some aspect of our life that we really don't want to know God's thoughts on. The biggest problem with this (aside from being rebellion) is that it reveals a completely wrong understanding of who God is. If we believe that God loves us infinitely, that He knows the end from the beginning and knows what is best for us, then why wouldn't we want to seek His will in everything, from the tiniest decision to the greatest? The truth is, our lack of turning to Him reveals that we're really, deep down, kind of afraid that He's going to say, "No" to something we want. That we might miss out on something good if we follow Him completely. The reality is that nothing is further from the truth. "For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. The Lord bestows favor and honor; he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity." Psalm 84:11
When our behavior reveals a belief that God's will isn't going to be the very best for us, we fall victim to the same lie that snagged Eve in the garden. We begin to question the goodness of God and the perfection of His plans.
I also love the repetitive refrain in the description of the Israelites following the cloud by day and the column of fire by night. It's a beautiful illustration of what our journey with God should be like. We stay when He says stay. We move when He says move. Whether it is a day, a month, or a year, we allow the Lord to lead us.
It's a picture of a life that is completely devoted to God, like the Levites that we learned about yesterday. The point is that our lives shouldn't have some areas where we are large and in-charge, and other areas where we seek God's will and do things His way. What a temptation that is! We may be good with following the Lord in regard to helping other people, sharing the gospel, or going to church...but don't seek His counsel when it comes to our love life, our choice of vocation, our finances, or our eating and drinking habits.
None of us are perfect, so I'm pretty confident in saying we each have some aspect of our life that we really don't want to know God's thoughts on. The biggest problem with this (aside from being rebellion) is that it reveals a completely wrong understanding of who God is. If we believe that God loves us infinitely, that He knows the end from the beginning and knows what is best for us, then why wouldn't we want to seek His will in everything, from the tiniest decision to the greatest? The truth is, our lack of turning to Him reveals that we're really, deep down, kind of afraid that He's going to say, "No" to something we want. That we might miss out on something good if we follow Him completely. The reality is that nothing is further from the truth. "For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. The Lord bestows favor and honor; he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity." Psalm 84:11
When our behavior reveals a belief that God's will isn't going to be the very best for us, we fall victim to the same lie that snagged Eve in the garden. We begin to question the goodness of God and the perfection of His plans.
RSS Feed