Victorious!

I remember once attending a very encouraging and uplifting church service where the pastor encouraged us all to love one another, to put others first and to show patience towards other people. It was a very moving sermon and we all held hands and sang something similar to Kumbaya to wrap up the service. After downing a couple quick cups of coffee, 3 donuts and some trite conversation I stuffed my wife and kids into the car for a fast get-away. I put my car into reverse, looked behind me and slowly started to back out of my parking space. Suddenly, I hear “Honk, honk, honk” and slammed on my brakes just as a car load of youth sped by within inches of my bumper.

Now, as the adrenalin was coursing through my veins, I had to patiently wait for a group of church goers who had conveniently decide to hold a prayer meeting in the middle of the parking lot. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, I took my place in a line of cars that were waiting their turn to leave the parking lot. However, my turn never came as an overly cautious driver hesitated several times missing a bucket load of opportunities to leave the parking lot. While dangling there from my preverbal thinning rope of virtue, my face began turning red allowing the warm, fuzzy church feeling to escape and I drove back into the bondage of selfishness. Too bad,  It was a good sermon!

 Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,  that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”

What a great promise of God for all of us to cling to. This is a wonderful verse to memorize, reminding us that we should never give up or lose heart when we go through tough times. Although we face oppression from every angle of life we are not crushed; even though we don’t have immediate answers to life’s questions we don’t fall into despair;  as Christians we are persecuted, ridiculed but never forsaken;  beaten up and bruised by life’s folly for a season but never eternally destroyed!

We were never created for this present darkness but rather designed for a glorious relationship with an almighty God who is ultimately in complete control. That’s easy for me to say as I sit here writing in the stillness of my office, drinking coffee as I work out the final details of my next fishing excursion.  However, God’s sovereign plan is much harder to see when we are out on life’s bumpy dirt roads and have to change a flat tire or walk to the Quick Mart for a gallon of gas. 

Chapter 11 in the book of Numbers is all about the nation of Israel as they begin to grumble and complain against God. As they begin following the cloud hanging over the Tabernacle and silver trumpet blasts, they were directed to wander and camp in the sparse wilderness located north of the Gulf of Aqaba. Soon after the harshness of their environment took its toll on their countenance, the myriad of campers were quite ready to return to their bondage in Egypt if it meant a warm shower, soft bed and meat to eat.

In the text found in Numbers 11:4-6 it states that the people cried out to Moses “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”  Can you imagine being Moses and having two million people putting on a “pity party” on your behalf! God up to this point had provided water and manna for them to eat and drink but they were not satisfied and wanted more.

So often I find myself camped in this place of grumbling and complaining wanting more not being grateful for God’s gracious provisions in my life. Oh, how I end up wandering around for years wasting precious time grumbling and complaining. If you are honest with yourself you could probably agree with me and have personally witnessed a church split or damaged relationship that could have been avoided if we had only yielded to the Spirit.

So let me close with this…“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,  that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”