January 1, 2020 – Click here to listen
Another year has passed and a brand-new one will begin to unfold beginning today. What will it bring? Good times? Bad times? New life? Loss of life? Lost pounds? Increase in pounds? Good health? Poor health? Financial gain? Financial loss?
All good questions, but the fact of the matter is that we don’t know. We remain in the hand of God. He makes our hearts beat and provides the air that we breathe, and we remain faithful that He will take care of us, His children whom He offered His son’s life for.
Or, do we?
I was studying the Bible this morning and reading about pharaoh refusing to allow the Jewish people to leave Egypt. God had promised Moses He was going to free them, but it did not happen instantaneously. At first pharaoh defiantly and derisively said who is God to tell me? His attitude was that he was the supreme leader of Egypt and God wasn’t going to tell him what to do with his own slaves.
He then promptly deprived them of a key ingredient used for making bricks, straw, and yet kept the quota the same. That didn’t work out so well and as one could imagine production was greatly reduced. At that point the Jewish foremen were beaten for not meeting the quota and the people vented their anguish at Moses and Aaron and complained bitterly to them for getting them into that mess and in turn Moses went to God and started in on Him.
Where was their faith? It seems to me that the better times are the more faith some folks have, but let them get into a jam and immediately they begin to doubt and ask the question, Why?
If we don’t figure it out soon, it can lead to a disastrous loss of faith and make us bitter at God and all of life. Faith, however, keeps us positive even as we grieve. We believe that in Christ are hidden the mysteries of all wisdom and knowledge. We also believe the Bible when it states that Jesus has the capacity and the WILL to work out all things for good for those who love Him. Though we cannot see it at the time, what we perceive to be wrong He works out to be right in due time.
I believe the example of the Jews exodus from Egypt and eventually entering the Promised Land is an example. After a few plagues and other demonstrations of God’s power pharaoh not only relented and allowed them to leave, he gave them back wages in the form of a fortune in gold, and other treasure. The Jews didn’t learn much though and as a result had to wander around the desert for forty years due to their grumbling and lack of faith.
What they did is what many of us do. At the first hint of trouble we lose faith, get mad at God, and become bitter. I don’t think anything on this earth is more important than faith. How can we increase our faith? The Bible says it is through hearing the word of God. Make Bible study your foremost New Year’s resolution this year and enjoy the peace of God even during the rain.
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.