Devotional 130409

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. This is relaxing to enjoy another ‘compulsory no pay day off’ for this month. It gives me more time to spend with the Lord through meditation and reading. I believe the Lord wants us to learn the lesson of ‘reliance’ instead of ‘independence’ from Him. The ultimate temptation for Adam and Eve was to become self-reliance: “you will be like God, knowing (determining what is) good and evil” (Genesis 3:5b). Ever since then, human beings have developed this craving of ‘wanting to be like god.’ We want to have the final say of what is right and wrong; we create political system to allow a group of judges in the Supreme Court or through democratic voting to decide what is moral and what is not. We want to play God – the Lord of our own values and morality. History tells us that this is futile. At the end of the day we will be destroyed by this deep seated desire to play God. Kingdoms after kingdoms failed when their kings wanted to play God. Have mercy on us O Lord! Help us submit to your Word and your sovereignty as the Lord and King of our lives. Silence our inner cry to want to play God and to desire our own ‘rights’ more than Your righteousness.

"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall" (Psalm 55:22). We must distinguish between the burden-bearing that is right and the burden-bearing that is wrong. We ought never to bear the burden of sin or of doubt, but there are burdens placed on us by God which He does not intend to lift off, He wants us to roll them back on Him. "Cast that He has given you upon the Lord." If we undertake work for God and get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility will be overwhelmingly crushing; but if we roll back on God that which He has put upon us, He takes away the sense of responsibility by bringing in the realization of Himself.

Many workers have gone out with high courage and fine impulses, but with no intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, and before long they are crushed. They do not know what to do with the burden, it produces weariness, and people say - "What a bitter end to such a glorious beginning!"

"Cast your burden upon the Lord" - you have been bearing it all; deliberately put one end on the shoulders of God. "The government shall be upon His shoulder." Commit to God "that He has given you"; not throw it off, but put it over on to Him and yourself with it, and the burden is lightened by the sense of companionship. Never disassociate yourself from the burden that the Lord has put upon you.

Indeed, this is the lesson we need to learn – cast our concerns to God. Apostle Peter gave the church similar encouragement in his letter, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:6-8). In another word, if we are not careful we will become prey to Satan like he did to Adam and Eve. Don’t become anxious as though your fate depends on yourself. No, your fate depends on your Creator God. You have a part to play – to submit to His word and draw close to Him each day. When you do so, you learn to rejoice and be thankful at all times even in the midst of anxious circumstances. Remember the word from the Apostle Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice…Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:4, 6-7). Let’s learn to be dependent children of God.

Love you because we are ONE in Him,
Lawrence