Written By: Kirk Peterson
Lens
of Faith
I want to tell you a story. Recently my wife’s family had a
beach house vacation planned. All of us
kids set off from our respective homes out to the promise of adventure
together. We did not have a real specific time that we were going to meet at
the beach house. One of the groups of kids was setting out from Texas, and had a
26 hour drive ahead of them. The other
two of us groups of kids had a 3.5 hour drive and 7 hour drive respectively. Yet, somehow we all ended meeting on the trip
up to the beach house, man what are the odds of that happening???
The last day of our vacation came and we all planned
different times to leave that morning. “There
will be breakfast ready for you to grab on your way out.” Again, we did not
plan on all coming together, but that is what happened. We all sat down to one last meal together
before the end of our vacation. It was a
special time of reflection on the memories that we shared and our special time
together. Then, all of the sudden off in
the distance I yelled, “Oh my gosh guys look…come see--there are dolphins out
there!” Right outside on this beautiful
view of the beach from our beach house, dolphins came to send us off!
Some might say that these events were all random…I believe that
God was shining His face down on our family.
He untied us on the way up to vacation, and He sent us off with a special
gift of the experience with the dolphins and fellowship together, God loves
fellowship!
So I encourage you my friends, start
to view your world through the lens of our faith.
Reflection
We studied Deuteronomy this week, wow what a rich book in
the Bible! If you haven’t read
Deuteronomy, I strongly encourage you to dig into it because it is amazing.
This is the last book that Moses wrote.
The book starts out with God’s special possession the Israelites about
to embark into the Promised Land that God had promised them and their
ancestors.
7For
the LORD your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched
your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the
LORD your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”’ (Deuteronomy
2:7 NLT)
It would have been so easy for Moses to tell the people
that God is a God of wrath. That He
wiped out an entire generation, and speak to his people about all of the pain
and suffering that they had to endure.
Yet Moses didn’t look to the struggle or the pain, rather he spoke of
all that God had done for them. He said
that their journey in the desert was to build their faith. In fact we see in
the story of the Israelites journey, faith in action in
the world. Moses said that God provided all they needed! He gave them water from a rock when they were
thirsty, He gave them manna from heaven to eat—a food that had never been seen
in the world, and from all I know that has never been seen since!
We see in this story so many things. But what I want to speak about is how Moses,
one of the greatest leaders in all of history, viewed his world. I see Moses
looking through the lens of his faith at everything that God’s people were going
through. Indeed Moses had a very special
relationship with God, He saw Him face to face. But he was just a man like the
rest of us.
Moses knew that his time was at an end, God had told him
that he would die up on the mountain looking out into the Promised Land, never
to enter it after leading God’s people so faithfully. What did this great man of faith do? What would you do if God told you that you
only had 1 week to live? Moses
choose to encourage his people. He built them up by pouring out all that he
had into them to send them off into the Promised Land equipped to handle
everything before them by bringing them back to God.
9“But
watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let
these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass
them on to your children and grandchildren. 10Never forget the day when you
stood before the LORD your God at Mount Sinai, where he told me, ‘Summon the
people before me, and I will personally instruct them. Then they will learn to
fear me as long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear me
also.’ 11“You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames
from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded in black clouds
and deep darkness. 12And the LORD spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You
heard the sound of his words but didn’t see his form; there was only a voice.
13He proclaimed his covenant—the Ten Commandments—which he commanded you to
keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets. 14It was at that time that the
LORD commanded me to teach you his decrees and regulations so you would obey
them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. (Deuteronomy 4:9-14 NLT)
Reflection
is such an important part of our faith, it is who we are. Remember all that God has done! Do not only remember what God has done for
his people in the Bible, but remember what God has done for you. What was it like when you came to faith? Why did you become saved? What caused you to believe? What emotions did
you feel? For you see in reflection we remember the special moments in our life
we got to share with God. It forges a fire in our faith and causes us to boldly
step forward into God’s ways.
6“So
obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.
(Deuteronomy 8:6 NLT)
As my teaching leader in bible study said, “Loving God with
all of your heart means obeying Him with all of your strength.”
The
secret of life does not live in what man can do, but only in what God can do.
When you rely on God, you will have victory every time!
May God shine his light and love into your heart and draw
you into His Kingdom.
Come back to Jesus my friends.
See
Need to Breath’s video for “Brother” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Wm_qlVD4Q
