Day 207

A few days ago I mentioned a some things that were going on with me. And how my first instinct was to reach out to human entities to share my burdens with. And the Bible tells us that this is more than acceptable. In fact, the scripture states: Bear one another’s burdens and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2. Bearing each other’s burdens fulfills the law of Christ. What law is Paul discussing? During Jesus’ final moments before His walk down to Gethsemene, these are the words He left for His disciples: A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another.” John 13:34. And we have looked at 1st Corinthians 13 where it states that “love bears all things.” So we fulfill the law of Christ when we support one another in love. And without my support system, who knows where I would be? But before sharing our burdens with others, God wants us to share them with Him.

This concept of casting our burdens on God is an Old Testament staple. Listen to the psalmist rendition of this eternal truth: Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm. 55:22. Peter, who knew His Master was able to say with confidence: casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. And that is exactly what I have been training myself to do. I remember the first time I attempted to really put this into practice, I had to have been in my mid-twenties. The man that I thought would marry me, asked someone else to be his wife. I’ve spoken about this before during previous devotional posts. As soon as I found out, I went on my knees. But I prayed blessings upon the couple, and that His will might be done. But I did not really “cast my anxieties” or “burdens” upon Him.

What was holding me back? I knew what the word of God said, but to me, it did not make practical sense to “burden” the God of the universe, with my romantic dilemmas. Yet here is the Bible speaking directly to my heart and situation: The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:18. And for some reason, I could not really visualize that the same God who spoke life into existence, would really care about my broken heart. But in fact, Jesus said: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed…” Luke 4:18.

Jesus desires to be there for us in every aspect of our lives. And finally, in my mid-thirties I began to really let Him in. So last week when I mentioned that I had nowhere to turn but to Him. What I did was place Him in first, and set Him as my only. I claimed the promises of God and took to heart that He cares about everything having to do with my life. Because when a parent is with their child, and even though they have so many responsibilities with their work and with life, they do not dismiss their child. Instead, they make time to address whatever ailments have stressed their loved ones. That is how God is with us. And I had to learn that side of the Gospel.

As I continue to learn more about this God who is concerned with every aspect of my life, I will pray that He keeps me close to His side. And I want to share my testimony, that God has made a way where there seemed to be no way! I am on the road to recovery, healing physically, mentally, and spiritually. And what He is doing for me I cannot even believe. Because I am not worthy, but His word tells me that: It is because of the Lord’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion and my inheritance,” says my soul; “Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” Lamentations 3:22-24.

Day 17

Boundaries are so important yet we treat them with such disdain. Everything in nature has boundaries. That’s how life works. We use boundaries in society in the form of laws. A red light at a traffic intersection in North America means “stop.” If you take something without paying, it constitutes stealing. When we choose to break these boundaries there are repercussions or consequences for stepping outside of these “laws” that are set to protect us. So if we as an imperfect society of selfish human beings can come up with boundaries that are meant to protect our individual freedoms, should we be surprised that God has boundaries or laws as well? Even among the divinity of God, there are boundaries. There are things that God cannot do! Have you ever thought that the all-powerful, all-knowing, always existent God has limitations? Well, He does.

The Bible lays it out for us in Hebrews 6:17-19: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope…” We lie all the time. For the convenience of it. The problem with lying (okay, not the problem, but a major one) is that it decimates trust. Those verses in Hebrews chapter 6 explains that God wants us to have trust in Him, so He gives an oath, and then reveals something about His character: I can’t lie.

So God because of His very nature, must be careful with every word that comes out of His mouth, because it is the truth and will come to pass. In Isaiah, He says: I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’ (46:10). Remember what we said about even nature having boundaries? God uses this example in another passage from Isaiah: For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.” (55:11-12).

We must recall that this is the same God who came unto nothing, said something, and created everything (Genesis chapter 1). So His words are more than powerful, they produce life. When He says something He means it. What about when He writes His words? How many places in the Bible does it record God’s writing? There are passages where it says He will write His law in our hearts. But where do we actually see the hand of God writing something down? The two main definite times are located in Exodus and in the book of John (there’s a 3rd possibility in the book of Daniel 5).

In Exodus 31 God has wrapped up His 40-day conversation with Moses. Did you catch that? 40 days!! Now I know that God is outside of time, so 40 days may have been equated to a few minutes for Him. But 40 days!? The longest conversation that I’ve ever had has been with one of my students. We happened to have been discussing the Word of God and His love for us. I felt so bad for him because it was about 5 hours later, I realized that he had been in my office that whole time listening to me talk! When I apologized, he smiled and said: Dean, I was interested in what you were saying. I could have left at any time, but I’d never heard the word like that before.” I still felt terrible that he had been there that entire time and I hadn’t even fed him! (I bought some pizza after our conversation and had it delivered to my office. The kid deserved at least to be fed). But 40 days? That’s what it says. After the 40 days were up this is what happens: When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.” (vs.18).

What an amazing treasure! To have something autographed by God!! If that was the case, and we know that He cannot lie, what was contained in these “two tablets of the Testimony”? What truth did God reveal to Moses that was so important He had to write it down. The Testimony that was written on those tables of stone is also known as the law or “The Ten Commandments.” This is what Paul had to say about these 10: So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.” (Romans 7:12). You know what else is characterized as holy, righteous and good? God (1st Peter, Ezra, Psalm).

God wrote out His character in 2 stone tablets. Why? Because the ones that He had rescued from slavery had been so inundated with the lies of the enemy, that they forgot who they were. For over 400 years they had been in a foreign land, they had gotten their freedoms stripped, their children were murdered before their eyes, their men unable to speak up and protect their families, all the boundaries that had been afforded to those who were free, were not applicable to them. They had dealt with systematic slavery and the deconstruction of them as a people (Black persons in the Americas and the Carribean suffered a similar fate). They needed to be reminded of Whose they were.

So God, who cannot lie, first spoke it and then wrote down a list of boundaries that actually created freedoms within their hearts, homes, lives, and communities. They had been deprived of being recognized as valued members within society. And God rectified that by A) setting them free: I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. (Ex. 6:7), B) giving them boundaries through the gift of His Testimony: Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him”. (1st John 3:24). God brought dignity where there was shame, light in the darkness, life where death reigned supreme, and freedom to the captives (Luke 4). And since it says that He is unchangeable and that He is the forever the same, I know He desires to do the same for you. The question still remains: will you let Him?