Thursday, August 9, 2018

"His Way"


"His Way"

     Jacob, always scheming, sought to set the terms of relationship with God.

    "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God" (Genesis 28:20-21).

   We come as supplicants, not as superiors.  Our Heavenly Father sets all the terms of our new birth through the Lord Jesus Christ and our subsequent walk with Him in faith and faithfulness.  The Psalmist realized such truth: "I will have respect unto Thy statutes continually" (Psalm 119:117).  This constitutes a primary aspect of the Apostle Paul's command of "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (II Corinthians 7:1).  We will be tempted to respond otherwise, either to bargain with God, or to supplant His terms with our own.  We must therefore plant the truth deeply within our hearts, building the spiritual altar that sacrifices any notion that we have the right or ability to relate to the Lord on terms other than His.  "As for me, I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy: and in Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple" (Psalm 5:7).

    The Lord Jesus supplies the terms of our relationship with God.  We initially come by Him.  We perpetually come by Him.  We come to honor Him, to trust Him, to obey Him, and to seek a life lived according to His character, nature, and way.  "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).  No other terms suffice.  Indeed, there are no other terms.  "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).  Our Heavenly Father wrote the contract in terms of His Son who will be our Savior if we come "in the multitude of Thy mercy and in Thy fear."  He will subsequently be the peace and joy of our hearts as we continue in the holy realization that His way is the only way.  "Through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father… Thy will be done" (Ephesians 2:18; Matthew 6:10).  Jacob didn't have the advantage of Scripture that we possess.  He didn't know the Lord and His way as we do.  While not excusable, his attempt to set terms with God was understandable.  But not for us.  The way is plain.  His way.  The only way. "I am the way."

"Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God."
(Psalm 143:10)

Weekly Memory Verse
     Help us, o God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name.
(Psalm 79:9).

   

No comments: