Two has arrived in full force for my daughter and her husband. Their son has discovered his voice and along with it, his autonomy. My husband looked across the table in the restaurant, saying, “Please don’t stand up in your chair. I don’t want you to fall.” His reply? In his sternest voice, “Poppy, don’t say that again.” He only heard the “don’t” and his little human nature bucked.
I don’t need to describe the scene further for you to picture ones of your own. You know that helpless feeling and the fear that always creeps in. You see them falling and you can’t move quickly enough to catch them before they hit the ground. They’re running after the ball toward traffic and you can’t catch them in time. One scene in particular plays in my head- my youngest standing, perfectly balanced, on his bike headed straight for the lake, totally unresponsive to my cries. Can you be paralyzed by helplessness?
There is something so much worse than physical injury, even worse than death. We don’t like to say the word, yet it has many names. It’s used as a curse, but you wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Gehenna, Sheol, place of torment, outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, hell- permanently separated from the light of God and His goodness forever- the place prepared for the devil and his fallen armies- was not meant for humanity, but many will choose it before submitting to God’s authority on the earth.
Human nature is often used to excuse self-will and personal choice. Get used to it. It’s just how I am. It’s how I was raised. I am a product of my genetics or my heredity. I can’t change who I am. That much is absolutely true. You and I cannot change who we are, but thank God, He can! The One who created us, who designed each strand of DNA, came as a man, Jesus, and walked the earth in perfection so that He could redeem what was lost in the fall. His sacrifice, the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, conquered sin and death when He was raised on the third day. He alone has the power to change hearts and lives, and He is always working, in the hearts and minds of those who surrender our will to His daily. He gives His Spirit without limit, exerting the same power God used when He raised Jesus from death, to make godliness possible.
“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.
This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.”
Ephesians 1:19-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.1.19-21.NLT
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.
These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”
2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.1.3-4.NLT
Have you responded to God’s invitation to trust Him? Have you opened the door to His Lordship in your life? Have you received His free gift of grace and salvation? Are you daily submitting your will to His? If you have not deliberately denied self, what is holding you back? What excuses are you using? If anyone had reason to distrust God, it was Joseph. A favorite of his father, he led a charmed life until he revealed his dreams to his brothers, dreams even he didn’t understand at the time. His own brothers plotted to kill him, instead selling him as a slave to a passing caravan of traders. He was sold in Egypt to the captain of Pharoah’s guard where he served faithfully until he was thrown into prison, falsely accused by the man’s own wife. From prison, he interpreted dreams for two servants of Pharoah, only to be forgotten upon their release. Two full years later, two more years of prison, he is remembered by the cupbearer when Pharoah has dreams that trouble him. Through all of his troubles, Joseph never forgot God. He never tried to excuse his own behavior, and when the time came when his own dreams began making sense to him, when he could have easily gotten even, he remembered God had said, “vengeance is mine.” (Deuteronomy 32:25)
“But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
Genesis 50:19-20 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.50.19-20.ESV
“Rather, in the one event—the selling of Joseph into slavery—there were two parties, and two quite different intentions. On the one hand, Joseph’s brothers acted, and their intentions were evil; on the other, God acted, and his intentions were good. Both acted to bring about this event, but while the evil in it must be traced back to the brothers and no farther, the good in it must be traced to God.
God, being a superb chess player, turned the game around.”
Read the Bible: Genesis 50, Luke 3, Job 16–17, 1 Corinthians 4
Job is the pawn in the cosmic game of chess between God and the enemy. Though Job is unaware that his suffering is part of a greater struggle, God accepts the enemy’s challenge, allowing Job to face the unimaginable, more than banking on Job’s ability to withstand the pressure; He is certain of it because He sees the end from the beginning. We use the phrase “the patience of Job” with an eye roll to admit our own lack, but to have the faith and courageous confidence of Job, now that’s something worth having! You can’t earn it. You can’t buy it, but you and I can have it!
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.6.23.NLT
It will cost you your life, the right to your own way, the control that is only an illusion, but it’s the only way you’ll ever have real life.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
Is anything worth more than your soul?”
Matthew 16:24-26 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.16.24-26.NLT
“Even now my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is there on high.”
Job 16:19 NLT
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