BACK AND FORTH

Poor King David!  In Psalms chapters 41, 42, and 43 King David says in one verse that everyone hates him, then that God is merciful and will strengthen him.  He says that his souls is down cast and he cries for mercy then says that God is his rock and he will praise Him.  Then he asks for deliverance from his enemies who surround him but is then is filled with hope and praise.  David goes from being sad and discouraged to being hopeful and strengthened.  In many of the Psalms this is how David worked out his walk with God.  Just like me.  Just like you. Up one day, down the next.  Just like the hours of the day.  Filled with hope and peace, then trials and turmoil.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  We sway in the storms.  We do not break. We stand in the calm. 

 

The main thing in all of this back and forth in our thoughts, emotions, actions and feelings is that we continually come back to the Lord.  We come back and find the peace that He gives to our troubled souls.  We seek Him and feel Him giving us what we need for the moment, for the hour, for the day, for the month, for the year, for each year.  We continually come back to Him.  He is our rock and our fortress.  Our tower in the storm. Our tower in the calm.

 

Psalms 61:3 (NIV) - For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.

 

Proverbs 18:10 (NIV) - The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

 

2 Samuel 22:2 (NIV) - He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.

 

Psalms 59:9 (NIV) - You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress.

 

Jesus told us  we would have trouble.

 

John 16:33 (NIV) - “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

 

Then in James we are told to consider the trials and troubles pure joy!

 

James 1:2 (NIV) - Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

 

How do we joyfully accept those trials, temptations, troubles and woes?  Even King David had trouble doing this so why should we feel that we will not experience the same back and forth feelings and emotions?  We won’t and Jesus does not expect us to get it all under control in an out of control world.  We are mere human beings but we do have the Holy Spirit living in us to bring us back each time we start feeling down cast. 

 

The game of tennis goes back and forth, back and forth, until someone hits the ball to an unexpected spot.  We have watched the professionals go for long periods of time back and forth but eventually there is one unexpected hit and a point is scored.  The evil one will try to get us to think that that we are not hitting the mark just right and we have failed.  He will try to make us feel inadequate and undeserving.  He will do whatever he can to discourage us in the plans of the Lord but because we are able to hear God's voice we are able to drive the devil into the ground and away from us.  We are able to hit back powerfully with the joy and perseverance set before us.  God is with us!

 

Psalms 46:11 (NIV) - The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 

Yes, we will go back and forth from day to day.  Yes, we will be downcast and overwhelmed at different points of time.  Yes, we will have trials and tribulations.  But when we are held by the Lord God of the universe there is nothing and no one that can keep us from His love, His strength, His peace, His understanding, and His joy. Look up!  Look to Him!  See His face from the top of the tower!  Hear His voice calling to you in the wind!  Know He is with you in the back and in the forth!  Press on!

 

Psalms 9:9 (NIV) - The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

FIRST FRUITS

 

God requested His people, the chosen nation of Israel, to give their first fruits to Him. In Exodus 34 He speaks to Moses about the people and their rebellion against Him and their way of always falling back into sin and falling away from Him.

After everything they had seen Him do for them, freeing them from century's of slavery to the Egyptians, freeing them by dropping plagues and death on the Pharaoh and the Egyptian people, taking them through the Red Sea, then supplying water and food in the desert, they still turned to their wicked ways! Yehovah warned Moses when they got to the Promised land to not fall into the traps of the pagan people and follow after their gods. News alert!  They did it any way.

 

Yehovah told Moses the people would have to dedicate their first fruits to Him.  The first born of every animal and their first born son.  The first fruits of their harvests.  The best.  It is not that God needed this for Himself.  He needed the people to make a sacrifice to Him and for Him.  One that would cost them and one they would have to give freely and willingly.  God does not need any "thing" so this was something He needed for the people to understand would bring them closer to Him because they would be showing their love to Him by giving first to Him and then trusting Him that the rest of their needs would be taken care of for them and their families.  Is God your provider or are you the one who provides?

 

Today, we are still in that same pattern with the Father.  He is still asking for our first fruits.  Are we willing to give Him the top, most important things of our lives?  Are we willing to give Him the best of our lives?  Do we happily give Him whatever He asks for? As Christians, followers of Jesus, we know we are not under the old covenant of the laws of God given to the nation of Israel.  Jesus brought us under the new covenant but bringing in the first fruits is still as important today as if was 4,000 years ago because we are still a "stiff-necked and rebellious" people.  We still wander off from God and His way of doing things.  We still become selfish and hold on to things that have no importance at all in the eternal world to come.  There is not one single thing from here on earth that we will take with us when we die.  Not one single thing.

 

Many times Jesus taught about fruit, the vine, the branches, the tree that bears good fruit, the one that does not. 

 

John 15:5 - I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

 

John 15:16 - You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

 

Matthew 3:10 - And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

 

Ephesians 5:9 - for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth,

 

We as Gentiles have been grafted into the nation of Israel, into the chosen people of God.  We are still required to give our first fruits to the Lord even though we are not held under the law of Moses.  We do this out of love for our Father God.  We do this to show Him we trust Him and adore Him above all else in life.  When we submit to His authority and acknowledge there is nothing we are able to do on our own or apart from Him we are bowing before this throne and saying, "Everything I have is yours, Father!  I own nothing.  I have nothing.  I want nothing but You!"  We are sacrificing all for Him.

 

The Tribes of Israel time and time again followed false gods.  They followed after the world just as so many people do today.  They were selfish and rebellious just as we are selfish and rebellious.  Nothing has changed.  God is still asking for the first fruits of our lives.  Are you willing to give Him, the God of all creation, everything you have?  Are you willing to lay down your life for Him?  Are you willing to say, "You are Yahweh and I trust you completely to being me out of the desert into the Promised land"?

 

I hope you are and that you give Him everything for every single day of you life.  It is worth it!