the.slow.down

reading in exodus 14…

14:13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

i thought that was good.  how often is the root of whatever emotion i’m experiencing really just some form of fear?  that’s a good simple reminder that the Lord is our advocate. we don’t have to prove ourselves or have it so together that we can do whatever it is perfectly.  we’re to NEED God.  we’re to be dependant on Him.  we’re to wait on Him. we’re to learn to sit at His feet.  we’re to leartn from Him.

we need to only be still, put our hope and trust and confidence in God, and be still.

God i pray for your grace to do that.  i pray you’d teach me dependance. i pray you’d give me security in You and root out my insecurity and desire to prove myself or to power up and deliver somehow. Lord, thanks that you are my confidence, You are my assurance, You are the one who validates my worth. Help me to live and to walk in that.

Genesis 3:4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

I’m intrigued by this section. Intrigued and struck by several things…

one- what a liar satan is, and how good he is at it.

he says “You will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” i’m always “impressed” at the craftiness of the lies of satan. he’s really not into the big full blown fish stories that we often think about when we think of bold faced lies. he’s more into subtle lies that have some partial or half truth contained in them. “You will not surely die,” well that was kind of true. A & E didn’t drop dead right there on the spot, but they did experience a different kind of death, a chasm opening up between them and their creator. The death of innocence, simplicity, beauty, trust, real spiritual fellowship with God.

that’s how he works with me too, and i find with many of those i know and talk to. satan comes around not to convince us that if we just buy one more lottery ticket we’ll win 100 million, but rather that if we play that scratch off game we could win a quick 20 bucks. he doesn’t try to convince us that we’re such bad people on level with a hitler or a stalin, but simply that we’re invaluable, unwanted, unnecessary, boring, lazy, stupid, a nuisance, or some other moderate bash on our personhood.

satan, he’s no fool. he’s been “in the people business” for quite some time now and he has perfected his craft. it would do us/me well to reflect on his tactics and lies…

two- how we hide and pass the buck

reading the end of that section, is almost humorous if it didn’t hit so close to home.

“Who told you, you were naked? Did you eat the fruit?”

“The woman you gave me….”

“The snake tricked me…”

The buck tried to get passed, but ultimately it stopped with all parties involved.

How we try to escape the hand of God in our lives! We try and wiggle out from under it, explain our way around it, justify ourselves over it, or tunnel out beneath it. Anything, other than persevering through what God is doing in us.

God help us to stick in there, help us to recieve from you whatever it is you’d want to form in us. Help us to persevere.