Imagine being one of the multitude of people following Moses out of Egypt.  Imagine what would be going through your mind as you realize that he has led you to the edge of the Red Sea!  Imagine your thoughts and emotions when you realize that the Egyptian army is hot on your trail…and your trail leads nowhere!

Every single one of us has been in that place before.  We have all stood at the edge of our own personal Red Sea.  We feel like there is no way out of our current circumstance.  We feel trapped, alone, hopeless and abandoned.  We feel foolish for having walked this far, incapable of going back, and sure that no one cares.

If you are in that spot now, please read Psalm 77.  It is a great reminder of God’s limitless love and grace, but even more importantly of His limitless power.  He not only wants to help, but He has the power to do what is seemingly impossible.

Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters— a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds. Psalms 77:19-20 (NLT)

God will make a way where there seems to be no way.  God will part the waters when they threaten to overwhelm us.  We may need to repent of some sin, believe with our whole heart or push forward in faith.  We may need to seek Godly counsel to determine the path He wants us on.  But if we seek Him and trust in Him, He will make a way.

Have you ever lamented to someone how hard life is only to have them say, “Suck it up”!  What a great help that is!

Sometimes life is just plain hard.  In fact, the Bible promises that our lives will be hard.  But why is it so hard?  We live a society where it is always someone else’s fault.  It is the government’s fault, the teacher’s fault, our supervisor’s fault, our kid’s fault, the bank’s fault, God’s fault, our neighbor’s fault, the cop’s fault, etc, etc.  It is rarely, if ever, our fault.

There are several reasons our lives are hard:

• The world: sometimes our lives are hard because we live in a fallen world.
• Other people: sometimes our lives are hard because of other people’s sins.
• Our need: sometimes our lives are hard because God needs to mold our character to better reflect His character.
• Our sin: sometimes our lives are hard because of our sin.

Sometimes it is the world and sometimes it is other people.  But sometimes life is hard because we need for it to be and/or we deserve for it to be.  That was the case for the Israelites.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress. – Judges 2:11-15 (NLT)

He warned them, they disobeyed Him…and He fought against them.  Can you imagine having God consistently fighting against you?  Life was hard.  That is so true of our lives sometimes.  He warns us, we disobey Him…and we are surprised at how hard our lives are!  Some of the hardship in our lives is out of our control, but some of it is for our good and because of our sin!

Here is my suggestion for us today…let’s ask God to reveal to us why life is so hard right now.  Let’s ask Him why He seems so distant, why nothing seems to be going right.  It is the world?  It is other people?  Or is it that He is making us more like Him through trial or discipline?

Remember when you were in elementary school and it was “show and tell” day?  You’d bring in something cool to show your class and then tell them all about it.  Maybe it was a new puppy, or perhaps memories from your summer vacation.  These days allow kids to pass along to other kids the memories of cool things they’ve seen or done.

Consider that our lives are meant to be a perpetual “show and tell” for the next generation.  Through our actions and our words, the next generation will see and hear what God has done for his people over the centuries and for us today.  Not only is this a great privilege, it is also a great responsibility.  Knowledge of the wonder and power of Christianity is always one generation away from extinction.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. – Judges 2:10 (NLT)

The generation spoken of here is the generation right after Joshua, one of the great men of the Old Testament.  How could it be that this generation had no memory of what God had done for their parents?  Because they did not see it or hear about it.  The older generation was silent.

So everyone, not only can we do this perpetual “show and tell” with our families and friends, we must!  We must let the next generation see God working in our lives.  We must tell them about the great things God has done for us (and for them)!  We must tell them of His great love, His great power, His great action throughout history!  This isn’t an optional activity…we must do it!

O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. – Psalms 78:1-4 (NLT)

So, what do you say?  Want to have a “show and tell” today?

Last year I did a quick review of a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  Great, great book.

I just finished his second book: “Forgotten God”.  This one focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  For many Christians, the Holy Spirit is the most mysterious and least understood aspect of the Trinity.  Yet He is the Counselor that Jesus promised.  He is the one that lives inside of us.  He is the one that helps us to understand Scripture and convict us of sin.  He is the one that prays to the Father on our behalf when we are at a loss for how to pray.

He is God.

If I could only remember one line from the book, it would be this one.

I don’t want my life to be explainable without the the Holy Spirit.

I don’t.  I really don’t.  I don’t merely want to do things that any reasonable intelligent, hard-working person could do.  I don’t want an “explainable” marriage or “explainable” kids.  I don’t want to exhibit just the “Fruit of Hard Work” or the “Fruit of a Disciplined Life”…I want to display the “Fruit of the Spirit”.

As with Crazy Love, I would highly, highly recommend this book.  Read it.

I’m re-reading a powerful little book that captured my attention 20 years ago.  It is called “Practicing His Presence”, journaling two men’s attempts to continually be in the presence of God. 

As soon as I opened it, I found some thoughts that are absolutely amazing.  Each of these deal with lessons the author learned about seeking out and remaining in the presence of God.  Where do we go wrong?  What should be the goal?  How do we seek and find His presence?

We should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence, be continually conversing with Him.  That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation, to think of trifles and fooleries.

Do I not spend too much of my time distracted by things far less useful, far less noble than the God of all creation?

That we should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God, which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.

Do I not tend to minimize God, rather than allowing the truth of who He is and what He has done nourish my soul?

That we out to quicken [activate, invigorate] our faith.  That it was lamentable we had so little; and that instead of taking faith for the rule of conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions, which changed daily.

Do I not replace a simple faith in God with a preoccupation with the complex rules of man?

That we ought to give ourselves up to God, with regard both to things temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will, whether He lead us by suffering or by compassion, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.

Am I truly resigned to His will or am I not?  Am I willing to do anything He asks of me or am I not?  Have I truly given myself up to God or have I not?

Oh, there is great joy, abundant peace and overwhelming power when we find ourselves basking in the presence of the Lord our God!  He is worthy to consume our thoughts!  He is greater than anything we can imagine on our own!  He will take a little faith and move mountains with it!  He will change us in ways that glorify Him and benefit us!

If we can only practice His presence TODAY!

Several people asked about the book I mentioned toward the end of the message this past weekend.  It called “Choosing to Cheat” by Andy Stanley. 

Here is the publisher’s description:

Work. Family. Church. Hobbies. Fitness. Housekeeping. Socializing. Sleep. With only 24 hours in each day, we simply can’t fit everything in. And what we choose to cheat is a clear announcement of our values. When you come home an hour earlier, miss a round of golf, or let the dishes sit while you play with your child, you make your family feel valued and secure. Bestselling author Andy Stanley helps you restore your vision of what really matters – and guides you in making courageous decisions about your time.

I highly recommend this little book to anyone and everyone.  Someone’s getting cheated…what will you do about it?

I am God’s.  He owns me.  I am His son.  I am His sheep.  I am His clay.  That is my automatic thought when I think of my relationship with God.  Though it is a multi-faceted relationship and friendship, I never forget (almost never) that it is not a friendship of equals.  He is God, I am not. 

I am His.  So this little wrinkle was interesting to me today:  He is mine.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Psalms 73:26 (NLT)

Every other major translation reads that God is “my portion”…something like this:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms 73:26 (NIV)

The word “portion” literally means “tract” or “territory”.  God is my territory.  He is mine.  Does that change anything? 

To me it does.  It makes it personal.

He is my Father, forever!  He is my shepherd, forever!  He is my potter, forever!  I may lose everything else, but I will never lose You God!  Nothing can separate me from You!  You are mine forever!