Redeemer and Fulfiller of Promises

Your decisions based only on impulses may feel good at the time; it might fulfill that need for a moment or two. But the reality is, it just makes the need bigger and more needs in your life. Sarah’s decision based on impulse and the feeling of inadequacy and responsibility for the ‘how’ in circumstances to come to pass. And in turn she found herself feeling even more inadequate because her maidservant could give her husband what she seemingly could never give her husband. A child, now that need, that hole got even bigger. Granted, God used that decision and redeemed it, for He is our Redeemer, and He will always redeem. He never stops redeeming our past.

But the thing is, she took on a weight she was never intended to carry. God didn’t ask her or give her the reasonability to give and make sure Abraham’s descendents were to be as the number as the stars. He didn’t give Abraham a seemingly impossible promise and then say, ‘okay Sarah, now you need to fulfill this.’ He was the one who gave the promise because He was the one who was going to fulfill it. He doesn’t give you a promise and then expect you to fulfill it. He is going to fulfill. ‘Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” (Phil. 1:6)

But He Knows...

"The heart knows its own bitterness... Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief." - Proverbs 14:10,13

Isn't that true, before we leave the bathroom after putting on our make up, blow-drying our hair and getting dressed we put on a mask. A ceramic mask that conveniently covers our true face and therefore our true feelings. It doesn't matter if we've been crying and our cheeks are stained with tear drops, we pull out the mask and no one sees them, just a plastic smile that almost looks genuine. Laughter flows off our lips, though you alone know its as hollow as a tree eaten from the core out by a disease we might as well call bitterness or grief. Our sighs of secret pain could easily be mistaken for a sigh of contentment with our masks squarely in place. We put on all these disguises, masks and facades that might fool the onlookers peering in but can not fool our heart peering out from within. We can try, as many of us do, to deceive our selves to even believe the mask we're wearing; but at the end of the day after all the amusements and mirth, though the feeling of grief and sorrow seemed to have been laughed away, they slip right back up. Like a fresh cut, you dab a cloth on it to stop the bleeding for awhile, but when you take it off to peer at your wound the the blood slowly starts to slip out of the cut. So you rap it up again ever so tightly in the cloth to make it stop bleeding, stop hurting.

As Beth Moore aptly put it. "Life's way of reacting to a crushed heart is to wrap tough sinews of flesh around it and promise we'll never let ourselves get hurt again. But in keeping love from going out, we keep love from coming in. We risk becoming captives in our own self-made fortresses."

Yes, its hard. Yes, it hurts. God doesn't minimize the pain, but He does ask us to grow through the sorrow and grief. That we wouldn't ignore it and refuse to 'feel' through the hard times. To not be fake about anything but be real in all things. Even if it be only to Him. Just as His word says.

" Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands towards Him..."

(Lamentations 2:19)

" I called on Your name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice: 'Do not hide Your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help.' You drew near on the day I called You, and said, 'Do not fear!" (Lamentations 3:55-57)

Flood Water's May Prevail....

"Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered...And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days."

'The flood waters prevailed and greatly increased, and the water prevailed exceedingly on the earth...' Over and over it states the flood waters prevailed, covering hills, mountains and every height there was, it prevailed, drowned it, and over took it. How often does it feel as though our flood waters have prevailed? Over come and covered all our hills climbed, mountains once conquered, heights experienced and now, the flood waters have prevailed. Or are there times where we thought the flood waters were going to prevailed over us. The flood waters were coming and you just knew, they would prevail. And no matter what hill you climbed, no matter what mountain top you stood on, you knew the flood waters would prevail. That sinking feeling when you realize you are in over your head, but at that point, who can save you? But here, though God allowed the flood waters to prevail over all the earth, it prevailed not over Noah. The one man God had made his covenant with, the one whom God, looking over the earth and seeing only evil, saw Noah as righteous and promised him a covenant with Him. What did the flood waters do instead? It raised it up. It lifted it up. 'The flood waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.' The flood waters made the ark raise above, it lifted it up on high and it moved on the surface of the prevailing, great, flood waters. Guess what? God does the same with our flood waters. He allows such floods to come our way to lift us up, that we may rise above it all and move on the surface of the prevailing, mighty, stormy, flood waters. That the very waters that threatened us would be the waters that would lift us up above all that was weighing us down and raise us up to our destiny.

Whose You Are

"And He [Jesus] said to them. "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar's the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they marveled at Him."

This is a story which I'm sure we are all familiar with, and it is usually associated with obeying the authority that has been put over you, for it has been brought there by God. But this time I read it I thought about it different light of, "Whose image...is this?" Now when I read this I thought of how we are made in God's image, and if we believe in Him and accept Him as our Savior we are inscribed as His. But the opposite is also true, if we don't believe in Him and we reject Jesus as our Savior we are not inscribed as His, but are inscribed as the Enemy's, Satan's. For just as the text said, " Render to Caesar's the things that are Caesar's..." For if you have rejected Jesus and therefore been inscribed as Satan's you will be given over to him as his and the image that once was of God is now transformed into that of darkness. 'Render to Satan's the things that are Satan's...' Yet for those of us who have believed in God and accepted Jesus as our Savior, we are saved and inscribed as one of God's; under His name and made perfect in Christ image, reflecting God and therefore light and life everlasting! '...And render to God the things that are God's.'

And Now, Noble Lady, Take Courage...

"And now, noble lady, take courage; no stranger shall in the future dare to expel you from your domains: consider yourself as under my protection, and rely upon me at all times."

The story that came before this was that of a middle-age women, who had recently found herself widowed, and her young daughter, who had found herself fatherless. Upon the hearing of this woeful fate, two knights, covetous of riches, seek to take advantage of the helpless widow in her predicament and rob her of all her possessions and land, which her late husband had left her and her daughter. Therefore, seeking refuge, aid and comfort, went to the one to whom her husband, in dying, had pronounced trust and confidence: Knight Theobald, and with him "no enemy shall hurt you!" Though she had never set eyes on this man, she came just the same seeking refuge from him. After telling the knight of the woeful fate that had befallen her, he set out to confront the widows enemy and redeem back any land or possessions that had been taken from her. As he departed he made provision for their safety while he was gone and said, "As for you, remain here with your child until my return, and you shall soon learn the good news that I hope to return with." And indeed they did, for upon his return he brought with him the good news, that both enemy's had yield to her claim, and further reassured her with, "And now, noble lady, take courage; no stranger shall in the future dare to expel you from your domains: consider yourself as under my protection, and rely upon me at all times."

I say this all to say this, what this knight did for this lady who found herself widowed and child who found herself fatherless, is exactly what Jesus has done for us. When woeful fates have befallen us that leave us fatherless or widowed we can run to our Knight of Trust and Confidence, though we have never set eyes on Him, we can trust Him completely and seek refuge from Him. And when the enemy of our souls tries to take our inheritance or land we have conquered in Christ's name, we can run to our Knight and Refuge. He will mount up with His men of valor and come back with joyous news, that our foe has cowered and retreated at the mere presence of our Knight; and He will say to us:

"And now, nobel lady, take courage; no stranger shall in the future dare to expel you from your domains: consider yourself as under My protection, and rely upon Me at all times."