Why Are We Still Here

Why Are We Here?

Hebrews 3:16-19; “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, fed by Moses? Now with whom was Ge angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness: He desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan and establish them there, a holy, happy people…..Because of their backsliding and apostasy they perished in the desert…. it’s hard for me to understand many Christians that feel that the Old Testament is not pertinent to us today, we are given instruction for our lives today by the teachings of the Bible especially in the Old Testament. God would have His people in these days review with a humble heart and teachable spirit the trials through which ancient Israel passed, that they may be instructed in their preparation for the heavenly Canaan. It was their unbelief that kept them from going into the land that God had prepared for them.

I have been thinking about the word unbelief. What was it that they did not believe? They saw with their own eyes how God opened the Red Sea and they walked through on dry land with their own two feet. What did they not believe? How could they not trust God after all of that? It was not just a few people who didn’t get it. The entire generation died in the wilderness. They could not enter in because of their unbelief. We are not unlike these people. Many of us look back to the Israelites and marvel at their unbelief and murmuring, feeling that we would not have been so ungrateful; but when our faith is tested even by little trials, we manifest no more faith or patience than ancient Israel.

We complain about how long the sermon was, the music was too loud, the chairs were so hard, the pastor wants us to come to church twice a week? We have to attend another evangelistic series? Unbelief.

It is not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so long delayed and His people should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. But unbelief is separating us from God. We are not engaged. We are just going through the motions thinking that we are good Christians because we go to church once a week.

Isaiah 30:15,”in returning and rest you shall be saved: in quietness and confidence shall be your strength”. This rest us not found in inactivity: for in the Saviour’s invitation the promise of rest is united with the call to labor. “Take my yoke upon you… and ye shall find rest. The heart that rests most fully upon Christ will be most earnest and active in labor for Him. To believe in Christ merely as the Saviour to the world can never bring healing to the soul. The faith that is unto salvation is not a mere assent to the truth of the gospel. True faith is that which receives Christ as Saviour . Faith that leads to entire dependence upon God and unreserved consecration to His work.

Let’s follow the “Cloud” by day and the “pillar of fire” by night, obeying the still small voice that tells us to go to the left or the right. Rest in Jesus to take us home, to the place prepared for His people.