"For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God." (NKJV)
Everything my mom told me about old age is true.
Not that I count myself old (though I’m approaching that age when I could access Social Security if I choose to do so), but I find myself having passed the age when my biological mother died and coming close to the age when my own dear mother went to be with the Lord. I’m certainly older than dirt (or so I tell my students)! And I’m finding that a great many things that my mom and my aunts shared with me as they approached the end of their lives are definitely true.
First, I don’t feel old. Oh, my body has creaks and groans and certainly isn’t as amiable to the punishment of various activities as it was a few years ago. And there are a few gray hairs peaking out amid the brown. Of course, the inevitable wrinkles and age spots have appeared. But overall, I don’t feel old. I hang out with a lot of folks younger than me (mostly because they’re much more interested in the things of life than many folks my age and older) and I keep active . . . very active!
Secondly, I’m finding that I’m living differently. Now, most of you are going to jump to the conclusion that I’m talking about how I eat and exercise . . . and I’m not! Oh, of course, I’ve changed my diet (and will continue to do so) and I stay physically active. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how I’m realizing how little I actually understand about life itself and how it works. I’m understanding that, the older I get, the less I really know about being a Christian and serving the Lord. The more I’m becoming dependent upon prayer and trust in the Lord Jesus to guide my decisions.
I can remember when I was much younger, how I would make a certain decision, convinced on how others around me would respond . . . and then shocked when their responses were different than I had imagined they would be! Through my life I have often felt like a pin ball in a pin ball machine, simply bouncing off life (and other people) from one situation to another, trying to make the best decisions I could and simply not controlling at all what happened to me or those around me.
Totally out of control and not understanding why.
We often fail to understand why life is the way it is because we fail to understand that God has a plan for us that is far bigger, far broader, far more wonderful than we could have ever imagined. And that plan is about bringing us "a better hope."
It is this "better hope" that the writer to the Hebrews begins to discuss in chapter 7 and continues on with in chapter 11:
"And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us" (v. 39-40 NKJV).
In the beginning . . . once upon a time . . . God chose for Himself a people (eventually) called the Israelites (or the Jews). He gave them laws which established their culture and religious practices and which set them apart—by lifestyle—from their neighboring countries. And it was from this people that the promised Savior would come. The Jews had lived in these specific ways for over fifteen hundred years, through many generations, when the Lord Jesus was born. And although they had strayed from obedience to God, their culture was such that they really couldn’t imagine not living the way they had lived all that time.
And then the Savior came. And with Him came "an annulling of the former commandment." Everything they had imagined had changed. They felt, I’m sure, like pin balls being pushed around in a pin ball machine. What once had made sense now didn’t.
But here’s the thing: God didn’t change what He had done. He simply had (and always has had) a different perspective. It wasn’t that the rules had changed, but rather than people, in our limited capacity to see the future or to understand the past, just didn’t get it. The Jews just didn’t understand what God was doing. And what He was doing was making a way for everyone to be saved, not just the Jews. God was making a way so that all of us could be made perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ.
On a smaller scale, it’s the same for each of us. Life often doesn’t turn out the way we’d hoped or planned. Even when we make the best decisions possible, circumstances change abruptly and in a way that we couldn’t have even conceived . . . and all our plans and hopes go crashing. We can study and learn. We can think and consider. We can carefully make what seems like a totally wise decision . . . only to find ourselves facing complete chaos at the other end. How does that happen? It’s because God has a better plan for us.
There is a way to live in the midst of all of this:
"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. . . The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. . . . The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand" (Psalm 37:3-6, 18, 23-24 NKJV).
"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way." God delights in our lives when we allow HIM to order our days. And how much better would that be? To allow God to determine what we do, where we go, how we will live? He knows the beginning from the end and He delights in our lives when we allow Him to order our steps. What an amazing truth! When we allow God complete control over everything in our lives, "there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God."
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment