One of the greatest privileges of my life is that every week, I get to explore God’s Word with His people! Some weeks can be challenging as we walk through a difficult passage with serious consequences. Other weeks seem to flow with excitement and joy from being considered part of God’s family and the life Jesus has made available to us. One of my favorite ways to connect with God’s Word is to follow the paths of those who came before me, learning from their experiences to navigate my own God-sized adventures better. Sometimes we find great encouragement, but at other times I wonder what is happening and how they can be so forgetful of all that God has done in their lives so far.
Take the forefathers of our faith, and you see, at times, the decisions they make that leave us looking around and saying, “My friend, that is not going to work out for you.” Walk with the Israelites in the wilderness, and you can chime in, “Guys, pay attention. Freedom beats slavery every day; stop your complaining and get off Moses’s back.” We can be tempted to see King David and shout like we would at the screen during a horror movie, “DON’T GO ON THAT ROOF. DANGER!
DANGER! DANGER!” The intended result is to see the sins and mistakes of those who have gone before us and swear we will learn from their misfortune. But then reality hits, and I realize just how prone I am to reflect Abraham as he takes matters into his own hands, the Israelites not trusting God to lead them to the Promised Land, and David, my friend, who seems to have the best of intentions but can become prey to short-sighted desire. These are the parts of the Word where I am exposed the most, and I realize I still have so much growing to do, which makes me so thankful the Psalmist frequently celebrates how the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.
