June 5
Leave No Footprints
Eph 6:13 …and having done all, to stand.
A brutal death awaited them all. They were
trapped. The southeast was blocked by mountains. A scorching desert blocked the
southwest. The ocean was to their northeast and the most powerful army on earth
was closing in from the northwest. There
would be no mercy. They would take no prisoners. Everyone would be killed.
They had been led to their deaths by one man,
whom they now looked to for a solution. What was his advice? Stand still!
Did Moses have a death wish? Was he really
going to just stand there while the Egyptian army slaughtered them? Certainly not. Moses had the kind of faith
that allowed him to stand still under the most difficult circumstances. That
day the Israelites lived and the Egyptian army died.
Psalm 77 makes a brief reference to that event.
Ps 77:19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great
waters, and thy footsteps
are not known. 20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Footsteps reminds me of the inspiring poem “Foot
Prints in the Sand”. The author dreamed
they walked with Christ and when they looked back there were two sets of foot
prints but when the bad times came there was only one set of prints. That was
when Christ carried the author.
When I checked the Internet, comments about the
poem were extremely positive. But a couple caught my attention. They asked
“Where is this in the Bible?” The short
answer is it’s not from the Bible. It was a poem about a dream. It has inspired millions of people and is an
uplifting and comforting poem. But it is not from the Bible.
This devotional is about what we should do in
those times of trouble. The poem ends with Christ carrying the author during
the bad times which expresses poetically the Biblical concept of God caring for
and providing for us in the difficult times in our lives. The Bible says it by
talking about not being carried, but as standing.
For our meditation today let us consider both
this inspirational poem about Christ carrying us, and the Biblical admonition
that we should have strong enough faith to “…stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”
The poem is pretty self-explanatory so let’s
focus on what the Bible says about increasing our faith so we have the ability
to stand when we need God’s undergirding hand.
There is an old church joke about singing
“standing on the Promises” while we are sitting in the premises. While designed
to be humorous it also contains an undeniable truth. Many Christians today have sufficient faith
to sit in church but not stand in the world. No wonder the idea of Christ
carrying us is so comforting.
1Co 16:13 ¶ Watch ye, stand fast in the faith,
quit you like men, be strong.
This verse does not imply we should be strong in
ourselves, but “…in the faith…”. It is not an exercise in positive thinking
but a dependence on faithful thinking.
8 ¶ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil,
as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist
stedfast in the faith,…
Here we are told how to resist the devil. Verse 9 says we
should steadfastly resist “…in the
faith…” Note also that a roaring
lion is not to be feared. Lions don’t roar when sneaking up on their prey. The
roaring lion is marking his territory and those who are silly enough to ignore
the warnings and spend time in the devil’s territory may become his prey.
The Bible
has a lot to say about standing and steadfastness.
Ga 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again
with the yoke of
bondage.
Here Paul warns the Galatians against falling
into the error of following the law to obtain salvation. It is a warning for us
to stand fast and not be entangled with the silliness that passes for religion
and philosophy today. That requires knowing what the Bible teaches and then
putting that knowledge to work.
Ephesians describes how we should be prepared.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour
of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to
stand.
But not all our trials and discouragements come
from Satan. God sends some trials to chastise us. Today people seem to have
forgotten the relationship between cause and effect. Bad choices equal bad
results. Disobedient children wound up in the woodshed. Our heavenly Father
loves us too much to allow us to drift down wrong paths.
Other times bad decisions are the result of
temptation.
Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
But don’t blame God when you are tempted to do something
you shouldn’t.
Jas 1:13 ¶ Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he
any man:
14 But every man
is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Standing and being steadfast are key to the kind of joy
our salvation should provide us. That is why we are warned;
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these
things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the
wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
Let us think about our own steadfastness. Do we
know the scriptures well enough to defend ourselves from error? Are we able to
stand in our faith in Christ? The idea
that Christ will pick us up and carry us through the discouragements of life is
a charming and pleasant thought. I like to think it is a metaphor describing
how our faith in Christ will carry us through the tough times.
But the Bible says when the tough times come we
should stand in our faith and standing leaves no foot prints.
1Co 15:58 ¶
Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye stedfast,
unmoveable, …
