Jump Start # 3897
Hebrews 13:5 “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
Our verse today contains a wonderful promise from the Lord. It’s a promise that was first promised to Israel back in Deuteronomy. Here, repeated to the suffering Christians, is that wonderful hope that God is with us. That promise helps one to overcome the love of money. It’s the fear of not having enough or running out, that turns money into an obsession with many people. God’s people know better. Even these Hebrew Christians, who had property taken from them, knew that they still had God. That is one thing that no one could take away from them.
Remember when you were first learning to ride a bike? Your parents took off the training wheels and they ran along side of you, holding the seat with their hand and balancing you. This went on for a while, until one time, they let go of the seat. We were riding on our own. Wobbly, some of us crashed. But, we tried it again and again and before long, we were off riding our bikes to adventure and fun. This is not the concept that we have with our Lord. God doesn’t take us to a certain point in life that then lets go of us. God doesn’t let us ride off on our own. Oh, many would like that. Some even believe that. But, the moment God takes His had off the back of our seat, and allows us to ride off on our own, He has in essence deserted us. We are on our own. Our own destinations. Our own paths to journey. Freedom from the hand that was guiding us.
Our verse promises that God will never desert us. NEVER. One might ask, if God’s hand is on the back of the seat, why do I still crash? Just like riding that bike, we’ve stopped pedaling with God. We’ve turned the wheel when we should have gone straight. God is trying to keep us upright and balanced, but we have to do our part as well.
Some thoughts from our verse today:
First, the promise is one sided. While God promises to never forsake us, we have forsaken Him. We have not always sought to please Him. We have not always put Him at the top of the list as we should have. God kept His side of the relationship, but we’ve often not done well with our end of things. This is something that should have touched the hearts of the Hebrew brethren. Some had turned away from God. Some had given up. They had forsaken and drifted because of fear. Yet, God had not forsaken them.
Second, this promise spoken by God ought to help us through the worst that the world throws at us. Lonely, discouraged, hurting and fearful about how we will face tomorrow, this promise of God builds courage, optimism and hope within us. God is greater than any problem we face. God can do all things. When we leave God out of the equations in life and try to find solutions on our own, we get ourselves trapped in a corner. Things get tough. But, realizing God is with me and God has never let me down, I can work through this mess that the world puts before us.
Third, when I have God, what else do I need? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Jesus told the disciples to pray for their daily bread. God who is good knows how to give good gifts. Just a closer walk with Thee is what many of us need. He’s there. He hasn’t left you. While we are chasing the glittering trinkets of the world, God is patiently standing beside you. We may wonder, where is the Lord, when we are the ones who chased the golden carrots dangling in front of our eyes.
When I was a little boy, probably three or four years old, I got lost in a store. Someone found me crying and took me to the front desk. They announced on the loud speaker that a little boy was lost. My parents hurriedly came to my rescue. I was walking right with them, when I saw a toy and went to look at it. When I turned around, my parents had walked on. I didn’t stay with them. They were there, but I wasn’t. And, it’s not much different in our journey with the Lord. We ought to be walking with Him, but we turn aside to look at something and when we turn back, we panic. Where is God, we declare. In reality, God wonders where we are. Why have we stopped walking with Him?
Never leave you—always with you. That’s God. How about you? Are you still walking with Him?
Roger