ApprehendingGrace.com

In my previous blog, the subject was giving more of our time (and therefore heart and life) to God. God used Jeremiah 17:4-6 to challenge me to center my life around Him. Doing so positions us to receive His blessings, instead of putting ourselves in the place of being subject to His judgment. It’s about adjusting our lives to being God-centered instead of being centered around our own wants, needs and desires.

Here’s the passage we looked at:

⁴The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.” ⁵This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. ⁶They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.
Jeremiah 17:4-6 (NLT)

Verse 5 is key: We put ourselves under God’s curse when we put our trust in ourselves or others. God can and does bless us, but not to the fullest that both He and we desire.

If you’ve been a Christian for very long, I doubt that you consciously choose to trust yourself instead of God. What I find, though, is that we often say we trust God, but we live our lives as pagans do – making our own plans, working our own schedules, and quite frequently forgetting to ask God for His plans and solutions (until we’ve painted ourselves into a corner and cry out in desperation).

The question the Holy Spirit asked me as I read the passage was “Who do you think you are to anticipate the blessings of God or expect to participate in His promises, without also being subject to His judgment?” As I wrote, I could just hear some people saying “Wait a minute! You’re reading from the Old Testament. We’re under grace, not the Law.” Yes, we are under grace, but the Apostle Paul recognized that and said this:

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Romans 6:1-2 (NIV)

Of course we shouldn’t go on sinning. Grace isn’t a license to sin.

So we come back to the question: Who do we think we are, that we can participate in the promises of God without also being subject to God’s judgment? Yes, we are under grace, but I would argue that the Israelites of the Old Testament were also under God’s grace.

A different kind of grace – our grace means that Jesus has paid the price for our sin – we are freely forgiven; the grace God gave the Israelites was the law which defined how they should live and worship. Jesus was clear that He has not done away with the law. He came to fulfill it. He fulfilled the part of the law that required sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. But the law still exists.

And of course the Israelites were under God’s grace because He didn’t destroy them. But He did discipline them – punish them for their sins.

So I ask again (or perhaps I should say, the Holy Spirit asks again), who are we to think that we can live as we want and not incur God’s punishment?

Friends, I think it’s important that the teaching from my last blog really find a home in our spirits. I absolutely love grace. Knowing that God loved me – really loved me – revolutionized my walk with Him many years ago. Still, I find that many, many Christians have come to that same understanding I did but in the process of living since discovering that truth have forgotten that our obedience significantly impacts our relationship with God (and how He blesses or disciplines us) and with others.

Jeremiah 17 teaches us something we too easily forget just a few verses later:

⁹“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NIV)

We too easily deceive ourselves into believing we are deserving of the many blessings God has promised. The promises it is God’s desire to “reward” us with. But when we trust in ourselves instead of Him, those blessings that He has stored up for us slip through our fingers (v4). Instead of trusting in our own efforts, God urges us to trust in Him.

How We Trust in Ourselves –The One Example God Cites
I found it interesting that just a few verses later God gives only one example of how the Israelites were trusting in themselves:

²¹This is what the LORD says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day. ²²Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors.”
Jeremiah 17:21-22 (NLT)

The only specific example God gave when judging the Israelites for relying on their own strength was that they violated the Sabbath. They continued living their own lives, especially their work lives, and following their own schedules instead of honoring God’s rhythm for living.

I’m not going to argue or prescribe that you must observe a Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday, but I will put forth that we’ve gotten away from setting aside one day a week to honor and glorify and enjoy the Lord, and it is to our detriment. The Israelites were judged severely for it. Can we expect that we won’t be?

As a nation, we live in a state of exhaustion. Perhaps if we observed a day of rest that would change.

As a nation we live in a state of greed. Perhaps if we observed a day each week in which we refuse to work but instead choose to trust that God will supply all our needs, that would change.

By choosing to follow our will on the Sabbath, we are trusting in ourselves, and when we do that, before we realize it, we have become like stunted shrubs in the desert, we live in the barren wilderness and our hope for the future becomes dim. Before we know it, our hearts have turned from God.

I don’t want to deceive myself into believing that I deserve God’s blessings when in reality I’ve turned from Him by pursuing things in my own strength. I don’t want to bring curses upon myself by trusting in my own strength.

Observing the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments. I understand that whether or not Christians are “required” to observe a Sabbath (or the Sabbath) is a controversial subject. For me, I can’t help but believe that observing the spirit of the Sabbath – that is, setting aside a day which is holy to the Lord – honors God and helps me depend on Him instead of my own strength. I am convinced it puts me in a position to receive His blessings instead of pulling me out of that place of submission and obedience. And I know that the more time I spend with Him, the less likely I am to deceive myself.

It won’t happen unless you decide to make it happen and then ask God’s help in making it happen. Let me encourage you to do that. If you are not in the practice of setting one day aside each week as a day to honor God (all day), look at your calendar, pray, then ruthlessly pick a day in the next two weeks when you will do that. Then jealously guard that day. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the afternoon with your family. It does mean you will not work. You will not discuss family finances with your spouse (or children). You will not go grocery shopping. I’m sure you can identify other things that quickly move you from God’s holy presence to earthly cares. (You’ll find more “Do’s and Don’ts” in the blog Observe a Weekly Sabbath Part 3, Let’s Not be Legalistic About it!)

For more on the Sabbath, you can read a three-part blog I published back in 2010 as part of our Let’s Be PC (Practicing Christians) series:

Let’s Be PC…

Observe a Weekly Sabbath – Part 1, The Commandment

Observe a Weekly Sabbath – Part 2, 7 Reasons to Observe a Sabbath

Observe a Weekly Sabbath – Part 3, Let’s Not be Legalistic About It!

Enjoy your Sabbath – it’s God’s gift to you!

Doing so positions us to receive His blessings, instead of putting ourselves in the place of being subject to His judgment.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 4th, 2013 at 9:00 am and is filed under Blessed Life, Christian Living, grace, Obedience, Sabbath. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.