Skip to main content

Part One: A Proverb of Wisdom

By
Proverbs 4:25- Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

 I recently read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I must confess, going into it I didn't want to read it. I was only doing it because I told my friend I would. (It was a huge encouragement and is now at the top of my recommendations list.) Something from it that stood out to me was Betsie Ten Boom and her resolute faith. In one instance, when she had been beaten in the prison camp, Corrie was trying to help her. But she joyfully pushed her away and said, "Don't look at [my wounds], Corrie. Look only at Jesus." 

 Let me tell you, that rocked my world. I got to thinking, "How many of my troubles are a reality because I've taken my focus off Jesus and have been distracted with myself?" The answer hurt. Too many. 

 Throughout scripture, the idea is given that we must look to Christ to be delivered. In the Old Testament, because the People of Israel spoke against God and Moses, the LORD sent serpents among the camps to kill them. But He made a way of escape...
"Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived."   (Numbers 21:8+9)

For salvation, we must humble ourselves, looking to the cross of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse our sins. 
"He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross..."   (Philippians 2:8)

 Likewise, after we are redeemed, it is not the time to take our gaze away from the LORD and His supreme authority. 

"... Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."   (Hebrews 12:2)
Look to Christ, friend. Keep your eyes on eternity. It's not easy; it's a battle. Remind yourselves daily, set a reminder, write it on your hand. Pray with Jonathan Edwards, "Stamp eternity on my eyeballs." Make it a priority to remember that when we focus on our own troubles, we drown in our inability to change our circumstances. But who creates our circumstances that leave us "helpless"? 

 Charles Spurgeon said, "I have learned to kiss the wave that thrusts me upon the Rock of Ages."

 Trust in God. "...Wait for the LORD and He will deliver you." (Proverbs 20:22)

 <3 Berea
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Betrothed to Christ

By Anonymous
I was reading in Exodus and was reminded of the beautiful picture of Christ and His bride. In Exodus 21:7-11, you find a peculiar law about maidservants: 1) She does not bide by the same laws as the menservants, which can leave their master after six years. 2) If her master who has betrothed her to himself is not pleased  with her, he cannot sell her to the gentiles, but must let her be redeemed; because he has dealt unfaithfully and deceitfully with her. 3) If her master has betrothed her to his son, he must treat her like his daughter. 4) His son must provide for her food, clothes, and duty of marriage and cannot diminish them if he takes another wife. If he does, the maidservant can leave for free. Weird? Kind 'a, but it makes sense. Then God popped a thought into my head about Hosea. Hosea was a prophet who was told by God to marry a harlot to illustrate God's love for Israel. Now at one point Gomer, Hosea's wife, left him for another man and ended up getti...
2 comments
Read more

A Life Wholly True

By
...His wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the L ORD his God... For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the L ORD and did not wholly follow the L ORD , as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.  And the L ORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the L ORD , the God of Israel...   1 Kings 11:3-9 Take careful note of this passage. What did Solomon do to make God angry? What was his great sin? Idolatry.  I didn't totally realize the concept of this sin until recently. Sure, I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Part Two: The Glory of God not Honored

By
Adam and Eve, the first humans created, committed the first sin at the beginning of time. God had given them a perfect garden in a perfect world, with no sin. He gave them only one rule: not to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which He placed in the center of the garden. The Devil, Lucifer, an angel fallen from heaven, came to Eve as a serpent, and tempted her to eat the fruit of that tree. Eve yielded to him and furthermore Adam did the same. That was the first sin. You may think that if it was you in that situation, you wouldn’t do it. Don’t think that. We are all born with a sin nature. We are pressured with temptation every day. Whether we fall into it or not determines if we sin.  From the beginning it was God’s design for us to live with Him in perfect union. We were to reflect and represent God throughout the whole earth and therefore spread His glory throughout the world. God would walk and talk with us. We would be His people and He would be our G...
1 comment
Read more