“Nearer to GOD”

 

DISCUSSION                                                        

                Although the Israelites were known for their constant complaining and their lack of faith in God to take care of them, they must have understood just how great they had it.  They had lived in the nation of Egypt and had seen all of those statutes of idols, all of those temples that had been dedicated to imaginary god. They had to notice that the entire time they had been there, they had not once witnessed an act by one of those “gods”.  The Egyptian “gods” must have seemed so distant to them, as well as the Egyptians.  In fact, they were the one nation that got to experience first-hand what Jehovah God had done for them.  No other god had ever done what Jehovah God had done.  Note the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 4.7-8 “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord or God whenever we call on Him?” The question was a rhetorical one; they already knew the answer.  The Good News for us today is that we even have it better than they did!  We may not get to witness the waters of the Red Sea dividing, not taste the good gift of manna, but the Lord God is even nearer to us than He was the Israelites.  Today we have Jesus Christ, God in the flesh that has come down to earth and walked among His creation.  He did this so that He could offer up His life as the ultimate sacrifice to forgive our sins, but He also came to this earth to become our ultimate High Priest.  “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4.15) Today, we get the opportunity to grow closer than the Israelites did to Jehovah God through Jesus.  James further tells us that  if we seek to draw close to Him, He will draw close to us (James 4.8)  May our prayer be to always grow closer to God today than we did yesterday.

Prayer Requests:___________________________________________________________________

 

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