Learning from experience!
Verse for Today: Friday, October 05, 2012
Genesis 20:01 – Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev (south country) and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar.
Abraham was a sojourner all his life. But God granted him the freedom to be a sojourner in the Promised Land only. He was not expected to move out of it. But Abraham had the temptation to move to the south country once and got into a lot of trouble in his spiritual life. That trip also spoiled his nephew Lot spiritually, and brought Hagar as another temptation to move away from the perfect will of God. But it seems even after learning valuable lessons, Abraham once again moved to the south country and got into trouble in his family life and loss of testimony among the heathen. God expects us to learn lessons from our experiences of the past. But sadly we do not always learn these lessons and succumb to temptations which wreck our spiritual life. Even when we go the wrong way, God uses it to teach us lessons for our good. But if we do not learn lessons from it, we would have ourselves to blame. Our God is patient with us and sympathizes with our weaknesses and so He comes to rescue us from our troubles, but it leaves a bad example. We also have to pay the price of our disobedience and lack of disciple in life if we drift from the right track. The pain and misery Abraham and Sarah had to go through in their life while in Gerar teach us to learn our lessons in life well and walk circumspectly in the ways of the Lord. Abraham’s digression to the south country is a great reprimand for us today to be watchful so as not to drift from God’s pathways. Let us be content with what God gives us in our Canaan. Let our adventures be spiritual and not worldly. Temptations from the world come to make us drift a bit at a time and in the beginning we will not probably realize the damage it would cause us spiritually. Let us today look unto the Author and Finisher of our faith and walk in His footsteps rather than look into the world for fame and fortune. Thus let us renew our faith and trust in the Lord.
Dear friend, are you tempted to go to the world for temporary gains and material prosperity? You probably think that you will not go too far away from faith when you drift a bit. But once you go into the world and seek the glories of the world, it will not be easy to unshackle you from it all and come back unhurt. Such small measures of drift will take away your peace, testimony and ruin your family life. It makes you look like any other worldly person who had never seen the Lord Jesus Christ. After knowing Him, how can you drift from Him even for a few moments? In order to stay course, you need to continue to meditate on His Word which shows you the pathway. His Word is your lamp for the feet and light for the pathway. Let us be keen to learn lessons from our past failures in faith and stay close to the Lord. Let us depend on the Lord for our physical, emotional and social needs rather than the world and its systems. Let us trust in the Lord and confess that He is absolutely adequate to meet all our needs. Temptations will come and knock at the doors of our hearts. They come through our five senses. We must develop the spiritual tenacity to say ‘no’ to it and resist all the persuasive techniques used by the world and its master, the devil. Let us confess our failures to the Lord and use the lessons He teaches us to guide us as we take new steps of faith.
Psalms 119:36 – Turn my heart towards Your statutes and not towards selfish gain.
Thought for Today
Willing to learn lessons from past experiences depends on convictions, confessions and true repentance.
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