May I not ‘Chicken Out!’

Saturday 3-5-16 (Colonia, Uruguay)     

Scripture reading for today:  Deut 1 - 2     Mark 12

S=Scripture  O=Observation  A=Application  P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Deut 1:5-7 Moses began to explain this law, saying, "The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: 'You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey...

Vs 8 “See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...” NKJV

O.  Moses is now aged and will soon die.  This book is made up of his final sermons to the Israelites.  He starts by recounting how 40 years earlier their fathers had been challenged by the Lord to cross the Jordan River and take possession.  But in spite of God’s many miracles which that generation had witnessed, their fathers ‘chickened out’ and God condemned them to die in the desert for their lack of faith... faith in His power to strengthen them. 

A.  Have I ever ‘chickened out’ when challenged by the Lord?  Without doubt, many times I have missed God’s beckoning to new victories.  I knew I could not do it.  I would fail.  But I needed to recall His miracles of the past and to step out in faith, not in my capabilities, but in His. 

My grandfathers on both sides were among the few that took great leaps of faith by leaving their homes in Kansas and Pennsylvania to conquer the wild west of Oregon on the Pacific Coast.  Many others chose to stay where they were and not risk such foolishness.  I think something of that spirit of daring was passed on to their children... and yes, even to us grandchildren.  From my adolescence I was always wanting to see what was on the other side of that mountain.  With my first car, a 1933 Oldsmobile, I took my friends on long rides into the unknown.  We had no destination.  We just wanted to go, see and conquer.  Perhaps this is one reason why I found our move to Costa Rica and then to Argentina a glorious challenge.  Of course this was different, for I knew God’s Holy Spirit was calling us: “Turn and take your journey...”  “See, I have set the land before you...”

P.  Dear Lord Jesus, here I am now in Uruguay.  I seem to keep hearing You calling me again and again to “GO.” Your challenge remains, “Go into all the world and make disciples...”  Your words were not a suggestion, but... at least for me... they were a command.  The first generation of Israelites that left Egypt ‘chickened out’.  I pray for Your continued Holy Spirit guidance and for the courage to cross that ‘Jordan River’ and accept Your challenge, whatever it may be.  Amen.

Ralph