Category: New Testament

Wilderness Wanderings – Part 1

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Numbers 14: 22 – 24

“Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.”

Israelites were eye witnesses to God’s awesome power while in Egypt, during the exodus from Egypt and while on their journey towards the Promised Land. They have seen how God destroyed the Egyptians, and their gods. They were eyewitnesses to the pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They witnessed how the Lord of Hosts parted the Red Sea for them to cross. They feasted on Heavenly Manna, quail and water from the rock while in the desert. Despite witnessing and experiencing God’s protection, and provision, they still did not believe in God fully.

When Moses sent the twelve spies to scout the land they were going to possess, ten of the spies came back with a negative report. For forty days, they surveyed the land and all they could see was how miniscule they were like grasshoppers (Numbers 13: 33) before the people of Canaan. On the contrary, Caleb and Joshua, who were fully aware of God’s awesome power, believed that a God who could annihilate a massive Egyptian army is well able to dispossess these Canaanites from the land. Caleb and Joshua were certain in the power of the Almighty God. After their return, their positive report based on what they believed couldn’t prevail upon the negative report of the other ten spies who were afraid of what they saw.  

Because of their lack of faith in the Almighty God, the Israelites were doomed to wander in the desert for the next forty years, a year for each day they spent scouting the Promised Land. Until every single one of them died in the wilderness, God did not allow them to enter the Promised Land. Only Caleb, Joshua, and the younger generation, were able to enter the land, dispossess the Canaanites and claim the inheritance.

We have seen God’s awesome power, His protection, and His provision numerous times in our lives. Yet, we have not fully obeyed the Lord like Caleb and Joshua. We still doubt and shirk away from His promises. We are comfortable living in the past with our old self. No wonder we are unable to see the goodness of God in our lives. Our own unbelief is stopping us to witness the power of God in our lives. We have no right to say that God is far away or that God doesn’t listen to our pleas, when we have to introspect where we are lacking in our own faithfulness and obedience towards God.

2 Corinthians 5: 7

For we walk by faith and not by sight.

Precious Saint of God, instead of blaming God for all the evil or wrong that is happening to us, let us look within our own hearts and see where we have been disobedient to God’s commands. God has already blessed us. A Promised Land awaits us. All we need are eyes of faith and an obedient heart to enter the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, where our hungry souls will be satisfied. Let us strive to walk by faith in an Almighty God and in obedience to Him, who is well able to preserve us and lead us to the Promised Land. Let us not walk by sight in unbelief and disobedience, thereby, miss out on the blessings that are in store for us. May our good and faithful Lord preserve us as we walk in total belief in Him.

When Morality Isn’t Enough

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Matthew 19: 16-22

16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept [g]from my youth. What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

This young man was sincere in his heart when he approached Jesus with such a genuine question. When he informed Jesus that he was morally an upright man by keeping all of the God’s commands from a very young age, he sure expected Jesus to applaud him for his efforts. His plight begs the question: why isn’t being a moral idealist just enough? He indeed felt that he was still lacking something despite his obedience to the moral law. His emptiness is what drove him to ask Jesus this question.

Great thinkers, philosophers, scientists have all asked this question. In their quest to find the answer, they have experimented with various behaviors, reasonings, philosophies, etc., only to come to nought. Those that found their answer in the Bible, found the ‘ideal’ they were searching. Those that didn’t find their answer were lost or confused. Every other religion or ‘ism’ strives to answer that question but still come up wanting. Only in Christ can be found the ‘ideal’ that we have been searching for.

Being morally upright is beneficial not only to people around the person but to self as well. There is no guilt or condemnation because in the person’s heart, they know that they didn’t hurt their neighbor and they have been pure in their own thoughts and actions. However, the gnawing on the spirit arises when the morally upright person is considering their relationship with their Creator, when they try to figure out what their purpose is on this earth.

C. S. Lewis in his book ‘Mere Christianity’ explains at length about morality: “Some people prefer to talk about moral ‘ideals’ rather than moral rules and about moral ‘idealism’ rather than moral obedience. Now it is, of course true that moral perfection is an ‘ideal’ in the sense that we cannot achieve it. In that sense every kind of perfection is, for us humans, an ideal… but there is another sense in which it is very misleading to call moral perfection an ideal… But it is dangerous to describe a man who tries very hard to keep the moral law as a ‘man of high ideals’, … It might lead you to become a prig and to think you were rather a special person who deserved to be congratulated on his ‘idealism’.”

He further explains using an analogy of a musical band. “Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play.”

Is our moral living harmonious with fellow saints and in tune with God’s purposes? Striving for morality is good. However, it is not the end of it all. Our moral uprightness is not the way to eternity but Christ alone. How in tune are we with God’s will? How is the Master Conductor conducting our lives for His glory? Are we obedient to this Ideal Master? Or are we seeking our own path and falling out of sync, only to end up frustrated like the young man in Matthew 19? He was asked to give up one thing that was dear to him and follow Jesus. Alas! he couldn’t part with it and obey God’s call. Is God asking us to obey His call and are we finding excuses to achieve moral idealism in our own way?

Dear Saint of God, let us continue to strive to have high moral standards as prescribed by our Heavenly Father. However, let us not lose sight of our ‘Ideal’ – Jesus Christ, who actually showed us how to live. Live a life of moral uprightness, live in harmony with others, but above all, live in obedience to God’s call, living out His purposes, all for His glory. May God help you as you strive for that kind of ‘idealism’.

Reference:

Lewis. C.S. “Mere Christianity”. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1952.