GOING IT ALONE

I am in Exodus 33 this morning.  God has told Moses that He will send an angel before him and his people to drive out those inhabiting the lands which God has given to the Hebrews.  BUT He has affirmed to Moses that He is NOT going with them "because you (the Hebrews) are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you (the Hebrews) on the way."

For their disobedience at Mt. Sinai, the people were already disciplined with a plague because of the worship of the golden calf.  This is NOT the first time that the people who constantly whined, grumbled, murmured, and were rebellious are referenced to as "stiff-necked". The people heard that report and they began to mourn.  Moses intercedes for the people, and God chooses to go with them only because of His pleasure with Moses.  

I am an only child because of medical reasons of my parents and I do enjoy some times going it alone.  In those times of going it alone, I know that Father God is present with me.

But, I have walked a few times when I felt that the heavens were stone silent and I was going it alone.  Those times were horrendous and I hated and feared when God did not seem present with me and I could not hear Him. Those times were not because of disobedience, but because He desired that I stand, sit, scream, and cry out in faith in Him. Were it not for the body of Christ who swooped me up, encouraged me and held me in the process, I would have moved to hopelessness and even greater fear. 

Hebrews 10: 23-25 is the divine caveat: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -and all the more as you see the Day approaching. "  Note the together and the one another in the passage.  I have watched some individuals who were in grieve going it alone without the body of Christ to engulf them, care for them, encourage them, or hold them, and going it alone, even though their choice, seemed to me to be a form of torture for the wounded. 

At the present, as I am in this season of my faith-walk, I am so grateful that Christ has positioned me to be involved in a loving body of Christ followers who have walked my fire-walks with me.  They have been loving and sacrificing of their time, their energies, sharing of meals, and their encouraging words through cards and spoken words to me.  God has created us to always need HIM, and He has created us so that no brother or sister has to fight alone. We need one another.  I celebrate all the bodies of Christ and its Christ followers. #IHAVETHREESONS