Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Out of My Hands


If we're going to claim the Old Testament in the Bible is outdated, archaic, and not pertaining to us, we're essentially saying God is not who He says He is.  We'll claim the law is null and void and it was only for "back then."

Yet you miss the core of, well... everything.  The Levitical law was to show God's holiness and reveal His people as set apart; consecrated.  It was never a this or that law and look how amazing I am to do all these strict commandments.  As always, God is after our heart, never our outward appearance.

So if you're going to go law-based, work on the first one, the most important one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength.  Then things might start to click and you might not look at the Bible as a list of do's or don't's.

The biblical mandates, both old and new, have always been for our good.  Those boundaries?  They actually give life to our weary bones and set us free.  Our good brings Him glory.  He is a God unlike any other, yet we constantly try to carve Him in our image.  And we were created in HIS image.

Submissiveness wrestles a fierce battle with our pride.  The reason we don't like the statutes and commandments given us is because it makes us answerable to someone.  Which means someone has authority over us.  Which means we are no longer in charge.

Of all the people who had a choice; someone who could actually flex his power and call the shots, was the Man who came not to be served but to serve.  Jesus Christ could have said no.  He could have said He didn't feel like it, or the burden was too much, or He was tired, or He didn't like him or her or some other asinine excuse we constantly give. 

Yet, in His great love, He died for us.  He predestined us for greatness knowing fully our flaws, our times of taking the lead and in turn leading others astray.  He knew the myriad of times we would spit in His face and reject Him.

If we start making the demands of what we deem good or bad, necessary or not, doable or out of our so-called willpower, we've lowered God from Most High to "eh", just a dude.

In turn, if we outdate the Old Testament, then what becomes of New Testament laws?  I don't have to remain faithful to my husband.  I don't have to love my children.  I don't have to serve the poor; I don't have to provide for the widow and orphan; I don't have to make disciples of all nations or love my neighbor as myself.

It gets muddled real fast, lost in the brokenness of sinful human beings who claim to know their right hand from their left.

Christ never came to abolish the law, He came to fulfill them and show His great might and power over sin and the grave.  This is why He came.  To do what we cannot do yet through the same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, we have the power to be more than conquerors! (Romans 8:37).

It is not for man to know the complexities of who God chooses to do what He does and allows to happen what happens.  For a human being, a created work of the Creator, to profess they know why, is simply put; ignorance and ignorance is not bliss.  We can rest assured that the same answer He gave Moses all those years ago on Mount Sinai is the same He gives us today: I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14).

Isaiah 44:6-8
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
 and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
"I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Who is like me?  Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
Fear not, not be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any."

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