"…and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." Exodus 20:21
"When you seem loneliest and most forsaken, God is nigh.
He is in the dark cloud.
Plunge into the blackness of its darkness without flinching; under the shrouding curtain of His pavillion you will find God awaiting you."
~Streams in the Desert
Sin is bad. We know this.
However, we often choose to sin anyway.
Why should we stop allowing ourselves to indulge in sin?
Romans 8
[6] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Well, I want life and peace, don't you? And besides,
[7] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God…[8] So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
I want to please God, too.
[12] Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
[13] For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die…
And I certainly don't want to die! I want to live!
[13]…but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
If I am in the Spirit, I am God's child:
[14] For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
If I am His child, then I am His heir and have available to me all that is in Christ:
[17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…
And if I suffer with Him, I will be glorified with Him:
[17]…if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
So then…by mortifying the flesh (refusing to meet the sinful demands of my body), as a child of God, I will be glorified with Him.
But is it really worth it? Heaven seems so far away sometimes. My sin is not "bad" sin…it's just a little sin. I'm not hurting anybody with it. I'm not a murderer, for goodness' sake!
Why should I give up my sin?
[18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Do I want God's glory to be revealed in me? You betcha!
Is it hard to give up sin, to turn to Christ in obedience? Oh yeah!
Does my sinful flesh demand its rights? Daily.
Is it worth it to see sin as it truly is…disobedience against my Father God? Most definitely!
Romans 6:[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
[13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
God promises that the suffering we may endure by refusing to sin cannot even be compared to the glory that He will reveal in us.
Let's take Him at His Word…
And turn from our sin!
"If we went from spring to spring to spring, we would never know thirst…That's why we have to walk through the barren places." ~Steven Carter
Are you in a dry, desert place today?
Are you parched, needing desperately the waters of relief?
God will not leave you without provision. As we seek His face, His deliverance will come to us.
"He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river." Psalm 105:41
"…I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert…I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." Isaiah 43:19b-20b
In the midst of our dry places, God offers relief.
The Water of His Word flows freely to all who will drink from its pages.
Why stand in the desert dying of thirst, when you can simply turn to the Rock?
Christ offers rivers of Living Water to all who will receive them.
"Now the just shall live by faith…" Hebrews 10:38
"Believe God's Word and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences.
Your Rock is Christ,
and it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows,
but your sea." ~Samuel Rutherford
"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast…" Hebrews 6:19
Resist the push and pull of emotions today.
Tuck yourself into the Cleft of the Rock and hide there from the rushing tide.
You will be safe.
You will be sheltered.
You will survive the storm!
"Servants don't blow a trumpet out in front of themselves." ~ Dr. Carter
"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
"Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
Matthew 6:1-2
We don't lose our reward if we are praised by men for our good works.
We lose our reward if the motivation for our good works is the praise of men.
"That we should be to the praise of his glory…" Ephesians 1:12a
Our sole motivation (and our soul motivation) should be to bring God glory.
Why do you do what you do?
"Not many of us are living at our best.
We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains.
The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills.
We do not know what we lose in our self-indulgence,
what glory awaits us
if only we had courage for the mountain climb,
what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God."
~J.R.M. (Streams in the Desert)
So…let's get on our climbing boots…
("…your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" Eph 6:15)
And head out for those hills!!!
(The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places…" Habukkuk 3:19)
"But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." Isaiah 43:1
"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;" Hebrews 3:14
"The problem of getting great things from God is being able to hold on for the last half hour." ~Selected from Streams in the Desert
"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Habakkuk 2:3
God's promises are not always swiftly kept,
But they are surely kept!
God moves at exactly the right time, every time.
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Obtaining Mercy 