The Wildness of God

GOD'S WILDNESS

"We live our lives before the wild, dangerous, unfettered and free character of the living God." (Walter Bruggeman) Note: unfettered means unrestrained.

"One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down - and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion." (Mr Beaver warning the children about Aslan in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.")

WHAT kind of a God is this? The Israelites have just started out following Him across unknown territory and are just learning to TRUST Him, when He allows them to be absolutely terrified, out of their wits!

No sooner had Pharaoh let the slaves go, when he changed his mind and decided to go after them and bring them back to Egypt. He assembled his army and his chariots. We read, "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD." EXODUS 14 v 10.

The people began to blame Moses for taking them out of Egypt, but he reassured them that the LORD would bring them safely through it all. "Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today." EXODUS 14 v 13.

Maybe you have just become a Christian and things have been really tough recently. Or, perhaps you have just started out in a new ministry for the Lord Jesus and everything seems to be going wrong. Don't give up hope! Don't quit! Stand firm because God is going to deliver you, real soon!

QUITE TERRIFYING

Sometimes God allows those He loves to go through circumstances that are quite terrifying. Moses own new ministry was turning out to be something of a nightmare. The people resented their new leader and his strange 'desert god', who seemed bent on killing them in the desert. A couple known to us, have recently become Christians. It has been quite unbelievable how much has 'gone wrong' for them since they have begun to follow the Lord Jesus. Their son went to prison; their grand-daughter caught a terrible skin disease; their business collapsed; their car was stolen a number of times; the lady took ill with her heart; a mature Christian whom they looked to for support defrauded them; a recent family bereavement presented mega complications! Yet they are still very much walking with the Lord and trusting Him to take them though it all! What a great example they are to all of us!

Well, everything was new to the FREED Israelites. They were struggling, chased, frightened, caught like 'rats in a trap', hemmed in by the Red Sea, with Pharaoh's chariots thundering down on them. The LORD could have made it a lot easier for them: less frightening; more gentle; but it wasn't His way.

Not one of us knows what the next hour will bring: never mind tomorrow. How can we be prepared for the shocks life brings? Shock is a very powerful thing. We had a young friend who was suddenly killed in an accident. When her grandfather heard about he took a heart attack and died!

GOODNESS SHINING

"When your back's about to break, underneath that heavy load,
And you can't take one more step, on the rough and rocky road.
When your burdens drive you to your knees,
Think on Him, on that road to Calvary." (Song by JOHN SCHLITT.)

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.." HEBREWS 12 v 2.

When the pressure is ON, we must learn to HOLD ON to the Lord Jesus. He went all the way to the CROSS for us and He did not QUIT! We must remain calm in our PROBLEM, whether large or small, knowing it is an OPPORTUNITY to see GOD at work, in bringing us through! He LOVES us and will not ABANDON us to our enemies!

King David, who was a friend of God, wrote the words, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." PSALM 23 v 4.

I don't know what your next 'dark valley' will be.
Will you have the Lord with you?

I don't know what my next dark valley will be, but I know I will have the Lord with me. How encouraging!

The LORD brought Moses and the Israelites through the valley that went through the Red Sea, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. So He will bring you and I through our valleys. Change comes to all of us. We lose positions, things and people. The Israelites had left Egypt behind for ever. They would look back and long for the past, at times, but it was gone: God was challenging them to move FORWARD, to the bright new future He had in store for them.

So it is for all of us. He leads us on. His goodness and love will follow us. We will live in the land; and in His house, which is our house, for ever and ever.

"Surely goodness and love will follow me,
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
for ever." PSALM 23 v 6.

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Moses graphics from "The Prince of Egypt."