Courtney Gilmore We can learn a lot about the Christian walk by looking at the journey of the Israelites after they escaped Egypt & became their own sovereign nation.
At the beginning, they saw the amazing power of the Lord through the plagues & the parting of the Red Sea. Their reaction was to praise the God that had given them their freedom. They sang & celebrated victory over their old life. It was a new start! They must have felt emboldened, invigorated, & strong. But within days, their flesh began to take over. They were thirsty & instead of turning to their Almighty God, they complained to Moses. But he went to the Lord & God gave them water & rest. They were rejuvenated. But, only a month later, their flesh took over again. This time they were hungry. Again, they complained & again Moses turned to God & He provided for their needs. The Lord taught them to depend on Him for their daily bread.
Then the Amalekites attacked. This time the Israelites did look to God & He provided them with victory in battle. After that, the Lord proceeded to set up their judicial system & it looked as if they were beginning to learn to act as a nation. But they still did not have a set of laws. So God set strict boundaries & guidelines for the day He would meet with them & announce His laws. They obeyed these & had the proper reverence for a Holy God. They entered into a covenant with Him, vowing to obey all His commands. The Israelites offered sacrifices & were covered in their blood, thereby reconciling them to the Lord.
It had been a bit of a rough start. Their initial passion crashed quickly into reality & they fell. But they slowly began to progress & it seemed like they were learning to depend on Him & develop as a nation. But when their leader went on the mountain to receive further instructions from the Lord, the people were completely lost. Only a month after they committed to obey the Lord, they broke their covenant & turned from Him to the god they formed in the golden calf. Then they suffered the consequences & had to rely on His mercy & grace as they began the process of obedience & dedication all over again.
Does this journey sound even vaguely familiar to your own journey with God? Did you witness His power & feel the hope of new beginnings, only to crash quickly into the reality that everything in your life didn’t magically become struggle free? Did you realize that not only was this a new beginning with promise but also an unfamiliar life that would take work & progress instead of immediate victory? Have you ever begun to feel somewhat stable, only for your foundation to shake? Did you fall away? Was it a bad fall? Was it something that brought deep consequences & left you pleading for forgiveness & second chances? Did the Lord meet you there & reveal Himself? Did you experience His mercy, grace, & steadfast love for you? Did He show you His glory & power? Did you feel His faithfulness in the midst of your sin & turn back to Him even a little stronger than you were before? Was your passion for Him renewed?
This is how Paul explained his Christian walk to the Romans. “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. What I am doing, I do not understand. What I want to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I want not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. To want is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I want to do, I do not do. But the evil I want not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I want not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wants to do good. I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14-25) Does that sound similar to your own walk? Have you realized that it’s still a struggle & that you did not become perfect at the moment of salvation?
The Israelite’s journey with God is a familiar Christian journey & Paul’s description is all too easily relatable to us. Being a Christian has its ups & downs. It is full of failure, forgiveness, & new resolve. We may experience many growing pains in our walk with the Lord. But through Him, we do grow. We keep fighting. We keep getting back up. We learn to trust Him more. We experience more of Him & we worship Him more. This is the process of sanctification as we are being transformed into His image, from this glory to the eternal. The Christian journey is a struggle. But we know that it ends with victory in Him!
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57
Excerpt from Episode 69 “Our Walk with God” on Podcast and YouTube
