Since reading Deuteronomy, the Lord revealed to me there are similarities between what Moses was commissioned to do vs what Jesus came to do. Moses was instructed to take the Israelites out of Egypt to show them the way through the wilderness to the Promise Land Exodus 3. We see that Pharaoh wants to keep the Israelites enslaved but God said No! God showed miraculous signs for Pharaoh to let go of His children, so much so that the Egyptians had to experience pain and suffering before they would release the Israelites (Exodus 6 - 10). This was an indication to not only show the Egyptians that Yahweh is real but to ensure the Israelites knew they are His chosen people, a special nation (1 Peter 2:9, Deuteronomy 7:6).
As they went through the wilderness we see their grumbling, and complaining, wishing they were back in Egypt (Exodus 16), meanwhile forgetting why they were calling on God for their salvation. They were a stiff necked generation, despite miracle after miracle, they couldn’t see that God was the only way; they couldn’t see that God loved them; they couldn’t see that God is faithful; they couldn’t see that God is sovereign; they couldn’t see that God is the almighty God; they couldn’t see that nothing compared to Him; they couldn’t see that He was their provider; they couldn’t see He was their protector; they couldn’t see who God truly is, because they didn’t have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. They didn’t have a relationship with God. And so, that generation didn’t make it to the promise land (with the exception of two people) - the Lord ended their life and allowed the next generation to cross over into the Promise Land.
When I think about what Jesus did for us it is very similar - Jesus came into the world and showed us signs and despite these signs, people still didn’t want to believe, or they did and fell to the wayside when things got a bit rough (Matthew 13). What Jesus paid on the cross was the inflictions of our sins (1 John 2:2, Galatians 1:4, Romans 4:25, 1 Peter 2:24); he bared our lying, our stealing, our murdering, our backbiting, our complaining, our gossiping, our adultery, our anger, our mean spirited behaviour, our sexual immorality, our covetousness behaviour, our jealousy, our mocking, he endured all our suffering and pain, he paid for it all on the cross. The bible says “many are called and few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). I believe you can interpret that verse in a few ways - in this instance, I believe many hear the word of God and choose to give their life to Him, but one way or another, as they enter into that difficult period in their walk with Christ, it is at that point where they have a choice to make; ‘do I love God to keep going, because of what He has done for me and therefore, my difficulty is nothing in comparison to what he did on the cross? or do I say this is too hard and I’m going to give up now, the world wasn’t so bad’. Unfortunately, the Israelites chose the latter - they looked back and only saw the “good” points of their suffering, but it is all a deception, it is all a lie. Similarly, when we see the devil tempts Eve in Genesis 3 to eating the fruit, he made her question God - she had a relationship with God, yet allowed satan to make her question the awesomeness of God. However, like Eve, we think we know better and then when we go and do the thing that the Lord has warned us against doing, we regret it, and have to face the consequences of our decisions.
The thing is, we think the Lord is spoiling our fun, far from! He sees where that sin is going to lead us before we even get there. He sees the pain that we are going to experience; he sees the financial implications of that purchase; he sees where that sneaky text is going to take you; he sees why you will not feel any better about taking vengeance - he sees it all, and all he is saying is “trust Me!”
I’m not saying he won’t forgive us, but our walk in our salvation would be much better if we had just listened to him in the first place. And because of our murmuring; because of our grumbling; because we feel we know better; because we get so wrapped up in our circumstances, we then become distant from God, rather than just allowing Him to expose what is in our heart, so we can give it to him at the altar (lay it at his feet) and allow our Father to do the healing, the restoring, the redeeming and the reconciling that needs to be done.
Our journey in Christ is not going to be easy, if life isn’t easy, why would salvation be? But we need to understand and work out for ourselves, do we love God, do we believe Christ died on the cross for our sins, and if so, then we need to come to the realisation that we don’t need to have that type of wrath and affliction on us. Do we want to be in paradise with our Lord Jesus Christ, do we want to be in the Promise land? If the answer is yes to all those things, then we need to be serious about our walk with God and have faith in the almighty who saves!
Let us not continue to be like the children of Israelites wondering around not understanding who the Lord is and eventually slipping away never knowing Him and not entering into His rest. Let us be a chosen children who walk in faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) and believe our God will fight our battles when we give it to him (Deuteronomy 3:22). That we seek him first (Matthew 6:33); that we make him a priority over our lives; that we realise our life is nothing without Him; that we come to the understanding that this is not the life He wanted for us. His plan was far greater, but because sin entered into the world, we think we know better than our primitive minds can even comprehend - we fall short every time (Romans 3:23).
Father forgive me for falling short every day, forgive me of my sinful nature every day, for not loving you every day, for being so arrogant that I think my way is better. Lord help me to submit my ways to you daily - show me the areas of my heart that I have not given to you. Help me to pick up my cross and follow you daily, allowing your word to be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path - directing and ordering my footsteps in your will. Let it be your will Lord, not my will but your will. That You may increase and I decrease. That is my prayer Lord. I give you all of me, withholding nothing Lord, withholding nothing - take all of me, I don’t want any of it - I don’t, I just want to be a living sacrifice to you Jesus. Forgive me Lord - forgive me! Amen x
If you are not a believer and you want to know the Lord for yourself - I’d like you to say these words so that you may be saved “Lord Jesus, I know you are the Son of God, I know you came into the world to die for my sins, I know you died at Calvary and everything I have done has been nailed to the cross. I know that your resurrection is a gift of salvation. I repent of my sins, renew my heart, renew my mind, I want to follow you all the days of my life. Amen!
If you have prayed that prayer, you are now saved! Praise God! Please find yourself a church to attend if you are not in one already and get yourself a Bible. Welcome to the body of Christ x