Lifts My Heart

"But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time." Nehemiah 9

As I read this today all I could come up with was - WOW, THIS IS OUR GOD! We go along in life, everything is going good as we follow Christ, then wham, we turn away. We realize that this got us going in the wrong direction, that running off on our own was a huge mistake, we cry out to God again and he rescues us. Time after time! Doesn't that just blow you away when you think about that? The thing that I have found through this process is that every time we grow stronger and the more we recognize God's hand in our life - every part of it - the less we will fall apart.

Throughout scripture is reference to the Israelites wandering in the desert. For those of us who know their story we know the difficulties God had with these people. Check this out though - in 1 Corinthians 10 - "Now these things occured as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did...(referring to the Israelites) ...they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. We should not indulge in sexual immorality,-as some of them did - and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did - and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did - and were killed by the destroying angel . These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us...so if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!"

I think it is so easy for us to read the accounts of the Israelites and think that we would never do that stuff - we're pretty good compared to them. Ya, right. The last part about 'do not grumble' - every one of us is guilty of this. Scripture is clear, these are examples for us. There are consequences for our sin and we need remember that we are not immune to them. Yet through everything we have this God who continues to have compassion on us. The words 'so if you think you are standing firm' make me think of pride. How easily we can say "I am doing pretty good, I haven't done too much of that kind of stuff." But...."be careful that you don't fall." You see sometimes when we are standing so confident, that is when the enemy will come and attack. Walking confident is good but we must have our armour on and continue to ask Christ to fill us with his presence. Too easily we can walk confident on our own - that is when we will fall. On our own we cannot do it. It is a daily seeking the power and strength of God to carry us.

I love that God is so compassionate to me. It just lifts my heart. Now I should pass that compassion on to others and not hold it in. Our God is mighty to save.