The Lord promises presence.
What an amazing thing that He could be with His people to lead, guide,
strengthen, protect and prosper them!
Others, those who live in coastlands, know and fear the Lord but His
people have fear, perhaps the residual of having been conquered, knowing His
judgment against them. Once you have
experienced God's judgment against you, His removal of protection from enemies
because of sin, when you have received double for your sin, surely it is hard
to believe the storm is over. Here, the
Lord encourages them to live not in fear but in faith. I am reminded of the words Rahab spoke to the
spies Joshua sent to Jericho. She told
them she and her people had heard about the drying up of the Red Sea and the
defeat of the other kings and they knew their God was with them. Their reaction to the news had been, "
And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in
any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above
and on the earth beneath." Yet for
forty years this nation wandered in the wilderness because they feared the
inhabitants of the land.
Jesus begins His ministry in what was known as Galilee of
the Gentiles, almost the way entertainers begin their careers in small towns,
honing their act for the big time stages.
He didn't immediately go to His own city, Jerusalem, the city of God, He
came from the sticks and it was among these He first came to fame. Galilee, the little backwater of Israel, the
place where the people had most accommodated themselves to the nations, the
least pure religious place in Israel, and here it was that the Messiah began to
reveal Himself. The leper was required
to make Himself known to all who might encounter him and to keep his distance
and yet this one came to Jesus and begged Him to make him clean and Jesus
did. Jesus touched him, something no one
was supposed to do lest it make them unclean as well and yet the opposite
occurred and the man was made whole. No
one, not even Jesus, could dissuade him from telling everyone what had
happened, there was no longer fear of anything.
When was the last time Jesus touched you?
Paul says we were dead in sin and trespass when we encountered
Jesus and He made us clean and gave us life.
Do we realize how powerful a transaction we made with Him? We have a tendency to underestimate our
situation and thereby we underestimate and underesteem what Jesus has done for
us. Our sense of gratitude loses its
force and we lapse into an attitude of taking Him for granted. Grace and gratitude should go hand in
hand. Salvation by grace alone should
mean that we can live in freedom knowing that twas grace that brought me safe
thus far and grace 'twill lead me home.
What was begun in grace must also end in grace, it is always
required. Let us worship in joy!
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