I Just Can't Do It On My Own!

I sat at the beach Friday in Ocean City, MD. The sun was shining, a cool breeze was blowing and the waves were gently crashing onto the shore. It was just wonderful. I could see water as far as the furthest horizon.

As I was looking over the ocean it occurred to me that while I am actually a very good swimmer, I would never get very far heading out to swim across it.  I would have as much success trying to swim across the Atlantic ocean as I would trying to keep the the covenant of the Law. Remember the Ten Commandments? They are the basis of the Mosaic covenant with God. Take a look:
Exodus 20:1-20

And God spoke all these words, saying,
 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
 "You shall have no other gods before me.
  "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
  "You shall not murder.
  "You shall not commit adultery.
  "You shall not steal.
 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."
  Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off
 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die."
  Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."

The problem is, no one could keep from breaking these laws, and therefore sinning against God. No one.

Romans 3:23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God  
I might do alright for a little while, then, wham! Just like getting a cramp while swimming, I sin and sink again .
Then I find something kinda scary in Galatians;


Galatians 3:10

Certainly, there is a curse on all who rely on their own efforts to live according to a set of standards because Scripture says, "Whoever doesn't obey everything that is written in Moses' Teachings is cursed."

Not only do I have to keep God's commands, but I have to keep all of them. ALL OF THEM. ALL THE TIME. Like swimming across the ocean, it can't be done.

The great thing is that God's grace is bigger than the ocean, and bigger than my sin and inability to keep His law.

I am glad that the Mosaic covenant was just temporary. It was put in place to prepare God's people for the second covenant. It was there to show us we could not keep it and needed help.

We needed a Savior. So while we were still enemies of God, His great graciousness sent the only thing that could bridge the gap of the ocean size vastness of our sin, Jesus.

Tomorrow, the grace that sent Jesus.

Until then, remember, God knows you cannot make it on your own in this world. His grace will provide everything you need. You don't (can't) have to go it alone.

Chase after His Heart!!

Chasing Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson
womanaftergod@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/GlendaJohnson63
http://www.facebook.com/BibleBowlGlenda

Promise Keeper Or Promise Breaker?

Last fall our family took a three day vacation to Cape May, NJ. We had very generous friends who let us use their beach house free of charge. The economy  has hit our house just like everyone else, and this was only way we could afford a much needed vacation. Everything we did was free except one lighthouse that we visited.

My kids really wanted to rent bikes and ride through out Cape May. We just could not afford to do it at that time. I told them that before it got cold, we would go to Ocean City, closer to our home, and rent bikes and ride there. I promised them.

I made a covenant agreement with them.

I did not keep it. Things happened and we just were not able to do it.

While my children understood, they were still are disappointed.They also know that mom doesn't always keep her promises.

That thought saddens me. I let my kids down. My integrity has dropped a rung with them. It hurts.

Good thing God is not like me. Our God is a God of covenants. And better still, He has never broken a promise. This promise-keeping God shows His grace in this way.

Noah had a promise made to him by God,
Genesis 9:8-17

  God also said to Noah and his sons,
  "I am going to make my promise to you, your descendants,
  and every living being that is with you-birds, domestic animals, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ship-every living thing on earth.
 I am making my promise to you. Never again will all life be killed by flood waters. Never again will there be a flood that destroys the earth."
God said, "This is the sign of the promise I am giving to you and every living being that is with you for generations to come.
  I will put my rainbow in the clouds to be a sign of my promise to the earth.
  Whenever I form clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in the clouds.
  Then I will remember my promise to you and every living animal. Never again will water become a flood to destroy all life.
  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting promise to every living animal on earth."
  So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the promise I am making to all life on earth."

The interesting thing about this promise is that it was not only made for Noah and his family but for all his descendants too. Guess who you and I are? That's right! We are Noah's descendants! That promise is for us. We still see the sign of the promise after every rain in the sky. After all these years God has still kept that promise.

Lawrence Richards writes, " A biblical covenant is a clear statement of God's purposes and intentions expressed in terms that bind God by solemn oath to perform what He has promised."

In the covenant that God made with Moses, we have God's law. He gave Israel a set of laws to live by. Here is God's agreement with them,

Exodus 19:1-6

Two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sinai.
  Israel had moved from Rephidim and had come into the desert of Sinai. They had set up camp there in front of the mountain.
  Then Moses went up the mountain to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, "This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites,
  'You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to my mountain.
  If you carefully obey me and are faithful to the terms of my promise, then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, even though the whole world is mine.
  You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.' These are the words you must speak to the Israelites."

In a nutshell it says; obey my voice and keep my commands and God will make them a special people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
The agreement or covenant was Israelites obey, God Blesses.

God kept His bargain, the Israelites, not so much. They turned from God and they got into all kinds of trouble.
But our loving and gracious God did not forsake His people.
In comes Jeremiah, and He says this;

Jeremiah 31:31-34

  "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah.
  It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
 "But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days," declares the LORD: "I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
  No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, 'Know the LORD.' All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me," declares the LORD, "because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them."

The old covenant was the law and even when man chose to turn from God, God's grace still remained. God made that covenant to show us how much we needed the second covenant.
You do know that is the promise Jeremiah is talking about above in that scripture, right?
"because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them." 
That is a picture of the grace of God.  While we are turning away from Him, He is putting the plan in place that will bring us back to Him.

God has never broken a promise. That is the very nature of God that shines out grace all over us every moment of our lives.

Rest in His grace. Rest in His promises. Be filled.

Then shine His grace on everyone you meet.

Chasing Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson
womanaftergod@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/GlendaJohnson63
http://www.facebook.com/BibleBowlGlenda