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Morning Message Text: Deuteronomy 30: 11-20
The Offer of Life or Death
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”
13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”
14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.
16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Morning Message:
People in general have a hard time letting go of things. This inability to move past what we are used to and comfortable with, causes us, at times, to struggle in our Christian walk. This holding on in some instances can be very positive. We should hold onto the good values that we have been taught, the good habits that we have learned, biblical principles that we live by, but in our human nature we tend to hold onto things that God calls us to let go of. When we start examining what makes us tick, we might be surprised at how our behavior, even after many years, is influenced by our upbringing and our past. Now I am not a psychiatrist, and I have never been examined by one. I know some of you may be questioning why not. The point is, I am told that many times psychiatrists try to resolve your issues by taking you back to your childhood and your relationship with your parents.
Moses spoke of an obedience that can be passed down from generation to generation in this manner. When godly parents lovingly, persistently, prayerfully instill patterns of belief and obedience in their children, then more often than not, the things of the Lord become a part of the maturing child’s life as well. There are no promises in the Bible that the children of believers will themselves become believers, but the influence of godly parents can be profound. The point today is that we react to things sometimes out of reflex even when we know that it is not good for us. I read a story that illustrates this point. “There was a snake that crawled over a sharp saw and was cut. In anger, the snake wrapped the saw with his thick body and proceeded to squeeze the life out of the saw (Its natural defense.) Except with each angry squeeze, it felt more pain. But the snake continued because it wasn’t going to let the saw get away with the pain it was causing. The more it squeezed, the more it bled. The snake, refusing to let go of the saw, eventually bled out and died. Not knowing the whole time that letting go would have saved it. Had it let go when feeling the initial pain, it would have stopped the bleeding, and could have moved away from the saw. Instead, it stayed in one place, squeezed harder, and that’s how the story ended. The snake thought it was saving its life but it was losing it and didn’t even see it coming.
As this generation of Israelites came to the Jordan River to crossover into the promised land, God is giving them fair warning. They can choose life or death. They are children of generations before them who lived in Egypt and were influenced by a people who worshiped many false gods. They did not see firsthand how God had brought their ancestors out of slavery and parted the Red Sea for them to cross over on dry land. They may not have been alive yet, when God gave their parents and grandparents manna from heaven to eat. God knew that the deep-rooted influence of Egypt was still there. Maybe from the stories they heard from their grandparents, maybe by the actions of their ancestors when they rebelled against God and refused to go in and take the promised land. Maybe it is as simple as this. They were the children and grandchildren of human beings with human shortcomings and frailties. Maybe it was just in their DNA; after all, they were human. Maybe this is just me, but as I get older, sometimes I will find myself doing or thinking about something and I will recognize my mother or father.
God is basically telling this generation of Israelites not to revert back to what their ancestors did, or even to how they may start to feel once they are safe and secure and going about their lives in the promised land. I think that God might say, “Remember who brought you here.” Don’t forget about God and His ways that He has taught you along the way. You can have a wonderful life, or you can choose death and destruction.
How do we know Lord if we are doing your will? That’s easy enough, just continue to do what you are doing right now. Continue to walk with the Lord. Don’t allow other things to pull you away from the One who has saved you. It might do us some good to remember that as well. We are only a nation by the will of God, and just because our forefathers started well, that doesn’t guarantee God’s continued blessings upon us. We need to pray and ask God to help us let go of things that we have gotten comfortable with along the way. Things that God never intended for us to have in our lives. We can’t hold on to things that are not in the will of God for us, and we have to stop giving into ways that God has warned us against.
I found this online. There was no author given for it. I found it interesting. Lifeguards are taught something that sounds completely backward when they see someone drowning. They wait. They don’t immediately rush a drowning swimmer who’s thrashing, flailing, panicking. Why? Because a person fighting the water will grab anything, including the rescuer, and pull them under. When that happens, you don’t have one problem. You have two bodies going down. So, the lifeguard watches. They wait for the swimmer to exhaust themselves. To realize they can’t win. To stop fighting. To finally let go. Only then does the rescue happen. This is exactly how it works with Jesus. We spend our lives thrashing. Grinding harder. Worrying more. Hustling. Strategizing. Consuming motivational nonsense that tells us we can save ourselves if we just try harder, push longer, sacrifice more. The world applauds the struggle. Heaven waits for the surrender. Jesus does not need your flailing. He waits for your resignation to truth. You are not the Savior. You were never meant to be. When you finally stop fighting the water. When you stop pretending you’re fine. When you lay the illusion of control at the foot of the cross. That’s when rescue enters the picture. Because grace doesn’t compete with pride, and salvation doesn’t coexist with self-reliance. The moment you stop trying to save yourself is the moment you’re finally in position to be saved. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Stop thrashing. Stop drowning in hustle and fear. Stop trusting a world that can’t keep you afloat. Lay it down. Relax your grip. Let Jesus do what only He can do.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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