This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled Bound to be Free, compiled by Open Doors. In the following passage, the account of Andres Noriega (pseudonym), Cuban Pastor, provides us with fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O Lord, endures for ever...do not abandon the works of Your hands. (Psalm 138:8)
I was at the point of entering university to study Philosophy. It was like a dream come true. I would finally be able to escape from my parents and their situation. My father was a pastor. I had lived with shortages and limitations. The last thing I ever wanted to become was a pastor. Because to me it stood for poverty, humiliation, danger and suffering. I had seen it and had lived through it. This was the time to get away from it. Go to university, learn, get a good job, become somebody. What I had forgotten...God had not.
My mother could not have children, for various reasons. Then, through a miracle, she got pregnant. She was overwhelmed with joy. When I was still in my mother's womb, promises came from different sources that the fruit of her womb was to become a servant of God. But here I was...entering university. I had forgotten all about the promises to my mother. In fact, instead of following the Lord at all, I lived my own life, the life of the world, with plenty of fun and pleasure. I knew I lived in sin, but I still enjoyed it much more than living the dull life of a Christian.
But just before I entered the university something happened. It was as if a film was played, showing my life story. My whole life passed before me...and the Lord touched my heart. I saw my stubbornness and His love, my insignificant self and His majesty. I cried and confessed my sins. Everything lost its value; nothing became more important than to receive forgiveness. I renounced all and dedicated my life to His service.
Today I am a pastor, joyful and happy and with this great conviction: The little that a righteous man has, is better than the riches of the world.
A moment of consideration: In 1961, a secular song by the artist Dion became popular--as he acknowledged that "I'm a wanderer." But he wasn't the first to claim this proclivity. The Bible recounts a wayward, roaming son who also lived a lavish, fun-filled life, yet became known for his wastefulness, and his tendency to squander money (Luke 15:11-32). Yet in the two cases of Andres Noriega and the Prodigal Son, each came to the end of himself, and returned to the Father. In Andres' case was revealed an "I chose...But God" epiphany. God called to mind his life story, his stubbornness and God's love, Andres' insignificant self and God's majesty. In the case of the Prodigal Son, God brought him from the pit of despair and resourcelessness to return to his earthly father where he was openly welcomed and feted.
We, too, tend to roam away from the only One who can divinely love us despite our sinfulness. He sought us while we were strangers to Him, wandering from His fold. To rescue us from danger, He interposed His precious blood. And still we are prone to wander from Him--filling our lives with activities and our thoughts with desires that teeter toward the world. An old hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, describes our wayward leanings, saying "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love". May we Believers in the Three-in-One God adopt the quotation from a Roman slave badge:
TENEMENE FV CIAFTREVO CAMEADDOMNVM EVVIVENTIVM IN ARACALLISTI!
"Seize me if I should try to escape, and send me back to my Master!"
Our wanderings are not of God; they lead us further and further from His love. Our steps through this life are important. They are either with and toward, or away from, God. With each temptation, we are given the choice to opt for God's way, or the world's way ("My Way", of Frank Sinatra fame)--often the Vanity Fair path or many other ways that trapped many would-be Pilgrims in The Pilgrim's Progress. Numerous Christian pilgrims in that wonderful description of our lives, were tempted along the way to the heavenly kingdom. We need the Father every moment of every day and night; in the morning may we acknowledge our desire to walk with Jesus, and to be granted His presence throughout the day ("In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus...you may have all this world, but give me Jesus"). And may our last thought and prayer before sleeping ask the Lord for the grace to keep us free from evil thoughts or dreams throughout our sleeping moments, so that we might be faithful while asleep as much as we desire to be so when wakeful and alert during the day.
Let us not wander as the Israelites did; heed too the Apostle Paul's warning when he said money (an enabler of wandering from the Lord) causes problems in the life of the believer: "...the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." (1 Timothy 6:10) But pride, distraction, lying, covetousness, and lust (for power or sex, etc.) equally call Christians away from the narrow path and the presence of God. Rather, with Andres may we acknowledge that everything loses its value, and nothing becomes more important than to receive forgiveness for our ego trips away from the Lord. Instead of our roving eyes and roaming feet taking us away from God, may we ask God to "Draw me Nearer" to Him:
I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Let us strive to stay nearer, not farther--closer, not more separate from Him. One definition of sin is "separation from God"; in John's gospel, Jesus Christ spoke about His being the True Vine, and spoke of abiding in Him. (John 15:1-11) These verses acknowledged several facets of "abiding in Him" (John 15:10); that is, to abide in Him is to abide in His love--to obey Him and His commandments. As one gathers from studying God's Word, "wandering" is a big deal. Andres Noriega discovered this for himself, through God's intervention. His redemption followed crying, and confessing his sins (1 John 1:9), and the heavenly Father "ran to greet him and throw His mighty arms around him and welcome him home" (the image portrayed in the story of the prodigal son). As God's people--those who are saved or are being saved--we are to play the part of the Prodigal Son who, though conscious of sin, guilt, and folly, flees to the Father. (Luke 15:20)
The Holy Spirit brought about Andres' repentance; He is our helper (John 16:7), our guide (Isaiah 30:21; John 16:13), our convictor (John 16:8) and indwelling Spirit (Acts 2:4; 13:52). It is He who brings God's Words to mind, and He who enables us to be true to God's Word. As the Spirit bears witness to us that Christ is Lord, may we keep from saddening the Holy Spirit within us, grieving it (Ephesians 4:30), for God gave us His Spirit as proof that we belong to Him and that He will keep us safe until the day He makes us free from the bonds that keep us here on this earth.
Let us not separate ourselves from God through wandering or roving, but seek God and choose His way. May our prayer be, "Dear Holy Spirit, we cast on You the entire responsibility of closing against our steps any and every course which is not according to Your will--not of You. Let us hear Your voice behind us whenever we turn to the right hand or the left, saying 'You should go this way. Here is the right Way.'" With the Psalmist, may we ask God to keep us from hidden or unconfessed faults and haughty or conceited sins. (Psalm 19:12b-13) May we listen carefully and humbly, focus on the Holy Spirit's guidance, and ignore the world's distracting voices and alluring sounds. Here are our hearts, O God; take and seal them for Your courts above.