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 ife!
In a “Peanuts” comic strip, there was a conversation
between Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy said that life is like
a chair on a cruise ship. Some place the chair so they can
see where they are going, some place it so they can see where
they have been. Some place it so they can see where they are
at present. To which Charlie Brown replied, “I can’t
even get mine unfolded.” We can laugh at his mistake,
but yet it is true that many of us are so busy just unfolding
the present life. The psychologist William Moulton Marston
asked three thousand people the question, “What do you
live for?” He discovered that 94 percent were simply
enduring the present and looking for a better future - the
first job, birth of a child, waiting for the child to grow
up, for the child to leave home, for retirement, for a vacation,
to get well, and waiting for something else. They were all
looking forward because the present life felt like a folded
chair - useless, weary and without rest.
The Promise of Rest.
Abraham had a bright future. God had made several promises
to him: he would receive blessing, have a great name, be the
father of a multitude of nations, have all the nations of
the earth blessed through his seed, Christ, and inherit the
land of Canaan - the promised land (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-8;
22:17). Abraham’s future was wonderful. But God also
revealed that his children would suffer in the land of Egypt
(Gen. 15:13) for 400 years.
Exodus
tells us the Israelites did in fact suffer. They were slaves
who were forced to build pyramids and other Egyptian wonders.
As God had promised Abraham, God raised up Moses, the deliverer
of the Jewish people. God performed miracles through him and
Aaron and beat the Egyptians into a temporary submission.
After the Israelites had left, the Egyptian army pursued them
in one last, miserable, unsuccessful attempt. The Israelites
were headed to the land promised to Abraham - the Promised
Land - the land of Canaan. There they would find rest from
their oppressors - a land of their own.
The Folded Chair.
The Israelites saw God’s miracles, one miracle after
another miracle. Yet, they complained about no water, no food,
being ignored by God, giants in the land, and who would be
the leader. They never did unfold their "chair,"
but yet they had their eyes fixed on the future. But if we
could have asked them why they were wandering in the wilderness,
they would have said, “the Promised Land.” Does
it sound like us? We become so occupied with our present,
everyday problems that we forget why we are still walking
in this wilderness called earth. We seldom remember we are
going to be with Jesus.
The
Israelites considered the Promised Land to be a place of rest.
This desire for rest occurs again and again in Deuteronomy.
Listen to Moses speaking,
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. . you have not as yet come to the resting place
and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving
you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land
which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit,
and He gives you rest from all your enemies around
you so that you live in security . . . (NASB) Deut.
12:8-11 |
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