Carrying Your Deliverance

Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity. 

“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:1-4

Lately, I have fallen into some bad habits. I'm spending too much time on my phone and too much time watching TV. Now, I am not watching anything particularly sinful, but the effect it has had on my spiritual life has been devastating, nonetheless. I get stressed, so I consume more entertainment to "unwind." It never fully recharges me like I think it will, so I have to stay up later to watch more TV and scroll further on social media. This causes me to go to bed later. Which means I don't get up and have a quiet time in the morning. Since I haven't spent time with the Lord, I am far more easily stressed and overwhelmed the next day. My problems seem so much bigger when I haven't recently been reminded of how big God is. So, I come home the next night stressed, and I turn once again to entertainment to recharge my batteries. And the cycle repeats. 

I am like a castaway at sea, drinking saltwater to quench my thirst. It sounds like a good idea in the moment, but in the end it only makes my situation more desperate and myself thirstier. 

God speaks to a similar situation in Isaiah 46. He calls two of the primary Babylonian gods, Bel and Nebo, by name. These were false gods, idols, that men looked to for deliverance. God points out just how useless and utterly unable to deliver anyone these idols are. They are so far from delivering anyone in fact, that they are a burden! They have to be moved from one place to another by beasts of burden. They are unable to help themselves, unable to move on their own. Why would anyone look to them for deliverance?!

In sharp contrast to these false gods, is the one true God. He doesn't need His people to carry Him. No! God carries His people. He isn't a burden to them. He has been carrying them since their birth, like a good father, and He will continue to sustain and carry His people.

When you compare God to the false idols that men look to for deliverance there really is no comparison. God can carry you and deliver you and idols only weigh you down and make matters worse! 

 

Is there something or someone in your life that you are looking to for deliverance but is actually only weighing you down? If so, quit burdening yourself with extra problems! What little appearance of help these false idols give you is far outweighed by the trouble they cause you. 

There is a better way! God has carried you since you were born. He says to you today, "I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Make sure you are turning to the right place...to the right Person for help, for deliverance, for rescue. Cast your burdens on Him (Matthew 11:28-30). Don't take up additional ones.

Pick a Side

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

I Kings 18:20-21

Before Elijah called fire down from heaven on top of Mt. Carmel, he challenged the people to make a choice between God and Baal. In Hebrew, he literally accused them of "limping" between two opinions. That's an interesting image when you think about it. It's like a person trying to walk on crutches who can't decide which leg is their good leg. They don't know which leg they can trust to put their weight on, so they constantly switch legs causing them to walk haltingly or limpingly. 

Elijah challenges them to choose whether they will trust God or Baal. He looks out at a crowd of thousands of people and calls for a response, but no one said a thing.  It's really difficult for me to imagine thousands of people shrinking back in silence. Not a single person was willing to speak up and publicly declare their faith in God.

Sadly, I believe our world and even our churches are inching closer to this every day. It seems that nearly no one has the boldness or the faith to publicly declare their confidence in God anymore. We are so stuck between two worldviews that we're unable to make progress in either one. So many believers limp through life unsure if they want to trust God and walk by faith or trust the world and walk in materialism. Perhaps, Jesus said it best. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money" (Matthew 6:24).

How long will you waver between two opinions? Are you going to live for money, things, trips, and your own comfort? Or will you send a clear and confident message by your words and actions that you have full confidence in God and will walk by faith? Don't hobble along stuck between two opinions. God expects you to choose. Pick a side!

Christ: First in All Things

And [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Colossians 1:17-18

Colossians 1:15-20 is a tightly packed master class on Christology. If you want to understand who Jesus was, His nature, His role in the cosmos, and the importance of His death, it's all here. One undeniable implication of this passage is that Jesus is of the highest importance. He has first priority. He is supreme. 

This is evident in verses 17-18. Verse 17 says that "He is before all things," and in case that wasn't clear enough verse 18 adds that God has worked all things out so that "in everything [Jesus] might be preeminent." That word 'preeminent' is rendered in various Bible translations as supremacy (NIV), preeminence (ESV, KJV, NKJV), or to have the first place in everything (NASB, HCSB, NLT & NET). This last rendering is the closest to the literal translation in the original language which is to be first or to hold first place. 

So then Jesus holds the highest priority in reality. Not just Christian reality or spiritual reality, but REALITY. This has major implications. Here are a few.

First, this explains why putting other things ahead of Christ in our lives is idolatry. Doing so moves Jesus out of His rightful place of supremacy and bows our hearts in worship to someone or something else. To attempt to remove the One who is infinitely worthy from His place of primacy and set something up in His stead is exceedingly sinful.

Second, placing anything or anyone ahead of Jesus is both damaging to ourselves and is delusional. When we place a higher priority on something that isn't Christ we reveal our own understanding of what is ultimately true and of infinite worth. The reality that Jesus holds first position in everything hasn't changed; we have simply revealed that our perception of reality is off. We legitimately think Jesus is not of the highest priority. This means we are detached from reality. We no longer see it as it truly is. 

Third, it is entirely unfathomable that a Christian would place a higher priority on anything or anyone over above Jesus. It is crazy to think that a Christian (of all people) would attempt to dethrone the one whom they claim as their Savior, Lord and God by putting other things ahead of Him. Sadly we do this regularly. I do this regularly. WE MUST STOP!

Lord, help me to learn to treasure Jesus above all else. Help me to keep Him first in my life. Help us to see all the ways that Jesus is already truly first in all things. And help us to live in light of that truth every day. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.