Saying No to God's Grace

“Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” (Lu 19:42 AV)

 

One of the biggest errors we can make is not giving God a chance.  These words were spoken by Jesus regarding Jerusalem’s rejection of Him as their Savior and Messiah.  They were under Roman rule and under constant harassment from all who despised them.  In a few short years, Titus would come with his Roman army and destroy the Jewish capital.  The peace that Christ promised was freely given.  All they needed to do is trust Him.  He would have been crucified for their sin, but upon His resurrection, would have assumed His rightful place as the King of kings and LORD of lords.  They were only one weekend away from living in liberty from all their enemies with Jesus as their King.  I couldn’t help but see a more pointed application to those of us who are not Jewish nor looking for a coming Messiah, per se.  I was wondering how many times we never gave God the chance to solve a problem or overcome sin.  I am reminded of our presumptuous sins which the LORD seeks to vanquish, yet when push comes to shove, at the moment of intense temptation, we do not give God the chance to show Himself strong on our behalf.  If it was a little sin of which we have general success, there is no need for God to show Himself strong.  It is those tough ones.  And the LORD may wait until the breaking point and then give us victory.   But we can never seem to get that far before we yield to it.

Parents have different techniques for teaching their children to withstand that which they cannot have.  With us, it was a cookie jar.  Or, should I say, a cookie can.  I grew up back in the day when potato chips came in a tin can.  My Mom saved those cans for different things.  One of them was to empty cookies into them.  We were not allowed to help ourselves to any food or drink without permission.  Not a bite.  It had to be this way because Mom had eleven children. Eight of them boys. If we have free access to food and drink, my parents would have been in the poor house.  There isn’t a job in existence that can pay enough to feed eight boys if they could eat any time of the day or night.  So, keeping that cookie can full was a particular chore.  Especially if the cookies were homemade.  My father was not in the habit of removing temptation just to make it easier.  There would not have been a place in the house to keep those cookies that an industrious boy with a few hand tools couldn’t get to.  So, why try to hide them?  They were always on the counter.  In the corner of the kitchen.  Right in plain sight.  Us boys were constantly on the prowl for those cookies.  However, Mom and Dad had an ingenious system to ensure an accurate inventory of all cookies.  They had the mutual snitching association well oiled and in operation at all times.  It is virtually impossible to get away with anything when ten siblings and two parents were always around.  So, the temptation was not a problem because there was always someone who might catch you.  The temptation was not removed, but the strength to overcome was always there.  We just had to give the patrol the chance to watch us and help us to say no.

One wonders how much sin we suffer because we yield before we get to that point when resisting is absolutely impossible.  The LORD lets it get that far because we have to learn He can overcome.  The more intense the temptation, the greater the victory in overcoming.  If He can rescue us when we cannot seem to escape no matter what, it wouldn’t matter how much more the temptation occurred.  By God’s grace, we overcame the extreme.  Therefore, future victory is assured.  The challenge is to let God do what God can do.  When tempted above that which we are able, prayer and the word of God are essential.  It is amazing the power of God that descends on the mind, body, and spirit as we pray by the words of the scriptures.  As the Spirit brings to remembrance all those verses we have memorized or used, there is an amazing operation of the Spirit that conquers the temptations before us.  It is a matter of choosing to let God have a chance to be our victory!  It is a matter of yielding to the Champion who can overcome every foe we will ever face!  Let God fight the battle.  It will come to the brink of what you think you can withstand.  It is there where God does His greatest work!