Step Out and Step Up!

The Voice version of the Bible shares in the comments on these verses, a portion of that commentary follows:

The desire to settle in one place and build a city runs counter to God’s command to spread out across the earth. 

If we read this comment I would imagine many of us could identify with the people of Babel. We want to make a mark on the world rather than conform to God's plan for our lives. But we know we must tell the world about the truth of Jesus. We also know that sometimes that means getting outside our comfort zone, our 'safe place', where we feel content and unthreatened. Stepping out and following the nudge of the Holy Spirit takes courage and faith.

Stepping out often requires us to change our plans; we will need to be more flexible and willing. Wow, those are two words that can make one shudder, especially when we are so content where we are, not to mention, satisfied with our lives. Why would we want to upset this perfect applecart? Where is the sense in that?

I am learning that God doesn't need my permission to change my trajectory. I only need to read the story of the Tower of Babel to know that truth. God wanted his people to step up and step out and they had other ideas. Grandiose plans to gain fame they and don't have to run the risk of being "scattered all over the earth." Genesis 11:4 (The Voice)

God wants us to depend on Him, to turn to Him for all our needs. But when we go out on our own, and do our own thing, we are only dependent upon ourselves. We begin to feel we don't need God in our lives, and we start to do what makes us feel good and not what God has commanded us to do; namely, Make Disciples of all Nations. We can't do that if we are living in our own personal bubble.

Genesis 11:1-8

A Safe Place

 (Spiritually refresh yourself)

Luke 22:14-20

  

¹¹ “Eat it with your shoes on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. And you must eat it in a hurry. It is the time the Lord will pass over. ¹² For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night. And I will kill all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood will mark for you the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you. And no trouble will come upon you to destroy you when I punish the land of Egypt.                     Ex 12:11-13 NLV

Can you imagine what that first Passover must have felt like? The Israelites were eating quickly as they listened to the wailing of their neighbors. Their emotions must have been all over the place; from fear to guilt to relief and back to fear again. The lamb’s blood on their doorpost is all that separated them from life and freedom, and the painful loss of their first born. The blood made their home a “safe place”.

¹⁵ He said to them, “I have wanted very much to eat this special supper with you to remember how the Jews left Egypt. I have wanted to eat this with you before I suffer.             Lk 22:15 NLV

As Jesus served his disciples the Passover meal, he knew what was going to happen to him that night; He knew that all hell was about to break loose. But for his followers - his life blood, his body would provide the same protection that the Israelites experienced in Egypt. He was the sacrificial Passover lamb. This was indeed a safe place.

Of course, the body and blood of Jesus provided much more than a safe place. He changed things forever. With his death, and ultimately his resurrection, he made it possible for all our sins to be forgiven; he made it possible for us to know God personally; he made it possible for us to go to the ultimate safe place of Heaven.

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I would come downstairs on a cold winter morning and crawl behind the couch and lay there for several minutes. I was snuggled between the couch and the heat vents in the wall. It felt very secure. It was a safe place for me to start my day.

Each one of us needs to find, or create our own safe place. A safe place where we can be refreshed; where we can draw strength to “fight the good fight”; where we can “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles; where we can begin to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith”; where we can “approach the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”.

Nobody said it any better than David.

God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.            Psalm 46:1-3 NLV

Like the little boy hiding behind the couch, getting ready for the day; let us create our own safe place with the LORD throughout our day.