Tuesday 31 January 2012

Annal 118: Tale from my Breakfast Musings

I have a wee bit of a tradition that I stick to.  At some point after waking up (sometimes before showering, sometimes after) I make myself breakfast.  This is usually a rather large cup of coffee and half a bagel (the flavour of the bagel varies depending on my mood).  Once I have my breakfast ready I sit at the kitchen table and do my devotions while eating.  Consistency in reading my Bible has always been something I have struggled with, and so setting aside the time to do this has been a pretty big deal for me.  And I love my mornings. 

The point is, I was doing my devotions this morning and came across some interesting tidbits.  First of all, a few Sundays ago my pastor shared something in his sermon that has really stuck with me.  Throughout the Old Testament God is often referred to either as God or else as LORD.  He was showing how in Genesis 1 He is referred to as God, and how this is talking about God as creator.  When He is creating man He is talked of as LORD which refers to the covenant relationship He has.  So God is more of a title, describing a role of God, while LORD is a more personal name.  Our pastor mentioned this because he said it really changes the way you read some passages in the Old Testament once you realize this.  So this has been in my head for the last week and a half.

Yesterday I was reading in Exodus where Moses first appears to pharoah and tells him to let the Israelites go because the LORD God has commanded this.  Pharoah's response is "Dude, I don't know this LORD, so I'm not going to let your people go."  And it was true.  Pharaoh didn't know God as LORD because he didn't have a relationship with him.  Today I was reading in Exodus 6 and came across a passage I had never noticed before.  Here it is:

"God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment" (6:2-6).
 
God is revealing Himself to the Israelites as their LORD.  He isn't just this distant, all-powerful Creator.  He is also their LORD who wants a relationship with His people, who is honouring His convenantal relationship.

A few verses later it talks about how the Israelites couldn't accept this because of the hardship and suffering they were going through.

God is my God.  He is my Creator and it is because of Him that I am even in existence.

But He is also my LORD.  He desires a personal relationship with me.  He hears me and sees me and knows exactly what I go through.  He knows how to make me smile and knows when my heart breaks.  When others can't see the tears that are threatening to overflow my eyes, He does.  When others don't hear my sigh of contentment as I drive to the university and watch the sun rising, painting the sky in the most brilliant of hues, He does. 

Sometimes, like the Israelites, our pain is so great that we can't see God around us.  We can't acknowledge Him as our LORD, as caring for us beyond the care of a Creator.

But that doesn't mean He will give up on us.

He could've thrown His hands up in frustration that the Israelites wouldn't see Him as their LORD and gone of in search of another people group.

But He didn't.

He wooed them.  He sought after them.  He saw them, and heard them, and knew them. 

Sometimes I have moments of complete and utter peace.  Like when I enter the stairwells at the university.  As soon as the door shuts behind me I enter a space of complete silence.  No matter how stressed I am that quiet calms me.  No one else can see or know that.  God knows that.

Sometimes I am overcome by immense loneliness.  I can be in a group of people and feel like I am all alone.  I can smile and put my facade in place so that no one knows.  But God knows.

I want to learn how to apply this to my life.  I want to know God as my God and as my LORD.  I want to pursue this relationship that He is pursuing.

Such is the life of a Christian single.

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