One Essential Thing

One Essential Thing

When embarking on a journey, particularly a long and hazardous one, you want to make sure you don’t leave something essential behind.

The children of Israel were on a journey to the Promised Land through the wilderness. The distance itself could have been covered in a few short months, but it took forty years. Their unbelief, rebellion, and hardness of heart caused this lengthening of days.

There was one essential thing, however, Moses knew they could not do without. This essential thing is revealed in the following verses:

And He said, “My presence shall go [with you], and I will give you rest.”¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go [with us], do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the [other] people who are upon the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:14-16 – NASB)

When God told Moses His Presence would go with them it jolted him into a realization. If God’s presence did not go with them there was no point in continuing.

In modern terms he was saying, “Don’t take us any further on his journey if you’re not going to be with us. We won’t be different from anyone else if we do not experience your Presence all the way to the Promised Land.

“We’ll be just like all the other heathen nations if you don’t go with us. No one will know the difference between us and them; there will be nothing to distinguish us from the other nations. They won’t know we are Your people if they can’t sense your Presence in our midst.”

The same thing can be said for the church, today:

Unless unbelievers can sense the manifest Presence of God in our midst, they won’t be able to distinguish us from the rest of the people in this lost and dying world.

The Presence of the Lord

(© Sunday 12^th April 2015 – by Christopher Shennan)

And He said, “My presence shall go [with you], and I will give you rest.”¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go [with us], do not lead us up from here. (Exodus 33:14-15 – NASB)

I can’t go into the future,

Unless You are close by my side;

I can’t face the trials and troubles,

Unless I can in You abide.

Life without You is uncertain.

Worse, it is a dangerous road;

Death and destruction await me,

Except when You carry my load.

Without Your Presence I’m done for;

No bright future’s waiting for me –

Despair will be my companion,

And nothing but darkness I’ll see.

Don’t let me go any further,

Lord, not even a step ahead,

Unless I’m sure of Your Presence,

And know that by Your hand I’m led.

Make me to feel You are with me;

Make me to breathe Your pure air.

I cannot go into the future,

Unless I know You are there.

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What to Do When You Hit Bottom

(Picture credits at end of post)

I was speaking with one parent in a family who have been going through an extreme trial for a considerable period of time. She told me how she and her husband had chosen to deal with it with some success. I call it “The See-Saw Solution.”

They decided that when they hit ground zero in their own troubled situation they would balance it out by taking upon themselves the burden of someone else’s need. By doing so they found they own burdens were lifted.

Think about it. If were continually concentrate upon our own trouble, the weight of it can keep us down permanently. Taking upon us the burdens of others will give us perspective and cause us to see our own troubles in a different light. More than that we will be walking in obedience to our Lord who said: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you…” (John 15:12 – NASB)

Now, what in the world has a See-Saw got to do with all of this? How can the image of a See-Saw provide a solution for the burdens that often keep us grounded?

Well, have you ever tried to ride a See-Saw on your own? You sit on one end, and hope the other end will just miraculously go down and lift your end up? I don’t think so!

To ride a See-Saw you have to have someone else on the other end of equal weight to balance things out. It can even give you some enjoyment.

In a similar way you can balance out your own troubles by helping to minimize the troubles of someone else.

The “law o0f Christ” is to love one another and Paul, in his letter to the Galatians tells us how to obey that law. He says:

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2 – NASB)

The “See-Saw Solution” may be just what you need to lift you out of your despair. Try it. You may just find you enjoy doing it.

Just like a See-Saw

(© Tuesday 17^th March 2915 – by Christopher Shennan)

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2 – NASB)

Burdens of life can weigh you down,

And keep you in dire despair;

Just concentrate on your troubles,

And you’ll forget that God is there.

My life was just like a See-Saw,

With only myself on one end;

There was no one else to balance

My burden on the other end.

So I called to God and complained,

“Why are you not lifting my load?”

He replied, “You’re not following me;

You’re walking a different road.

“You want Me to lift your burden,

But your troubles have made you blind;

You don’t know loving your brother

Will deliver more peace of mind.

“You need to balance your troubles

By carrying another’s load;

You’ll find it will lift your burdens –

I’ll walk beside you on that road.”

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