Choosing a Path

Choosing a Path

12/3/2022

God created the Universe. Out of it chaos, He formed the Earth and everything in it. In the midst of the Earth, God created Mankind. He surveyed all He had made and determined all was very good.

God set aside a special garden park and created Adam and Eve to live there and to enjoy taking care of it. He gave them one mandatory directive. He gave them a choice. They chose to disobey.

Eventually, all Mankind chose the wrong decision over the right one. God became sorry He had ever made Mankind. So, God put that project on hold to reconfigure it to succeed in His purposes. He was going to put it back on the right track.

Noah found favor in God’s eyes. Mankind began to search for God and seek that favor. They chose the wrong path. They chose to get to God’s favor through their own ideas. They chose to build a stairway to heaven. They ended up dazed and confused. So, Mankind used more of their ideas and began creating their own gods.

Yet, God was not diverted from His project.

God called Abraham out of that world of made up gods, proved him to be faithful, and started to build the nation of Israel. He gave Abraham a promise for the future — the Promised Land and innumerous descendants to live there.

God used Joseph to escape climate disaster in the Promised Land and to make the nation prosper in Egypt. Unfortunately, the conditions of their comfortable living changed and became bondage instead of prosperity.

God called Moses to free His nation from that bondage, to demonstrate who He was. Moses gave them God’s rules to live by, the path to renewed prosperity — if they chose -and Moses also told them of consequences if they chose their own way… They were divided on the idea, and many chose their own way, golden calf and all, complaining over and over about the difficulties and inconvenience in the path God had chosen for them. They had to give up certain luxuries and conveniences and the more comfortable lifestyle to which they had become accustomed. They were deceiving themselves about their status in Egypt. Yet, they still felt they had to go their own way.

God would not be dissuaded this time.

God continually sent champions and deliverers and messengers over and over- throughout generations. The nation of Abraham’s descendents continued making wrong choices. There were consequences, but they tended to forget them over time. Rinse, wash, repeat.

God remained faithful, and patient, and focused on the fulfillment of the Promise — the finished project. He would complete the project just like He promised Abraham.

Yet the chosen nation was not satisfied with being ruled by God. They wanted their own Ruler — just like the nations all around them.

So, God gave them a king, but not before telling them what a human ruler would do and how his dominion would dominate them. They would choose ways for their own benefit and not for the people. Unlike God who ruled for their prosperity… because that made Him glad — like a heavenly father ought to find joy in his children’s wellbeing…

Unfortunately, the people of the Promise were not satisfied with their kings, which led to politicalization, civil war, defeat by their enemies, and eventually captivity, and the great scattering of the people in the Diaspora. They had been warned, but they chose the wrong path anyway.

The rest of Mankind was worse, and they continued to get worse, choosing wrong ways, right up to the current day. The world will even get worse. But God is faithful. He isn’t like Mankind who just cannot seem to uphold their end of the bargain. In fact, individuals just do not seem able to bring themselves to agree to the bargain. We cannot accept that bad choices not only result in but deserve bad outcomes.

God still is not finished.

God sent the Word of God who came to this world, born of a woman, thus called by Mankind the Son of God. They called Him Jesus, Son of King David , Immanuel. He was the seed, the descendant promised to Eve way back when.

Choices, consequences, but God is not finished.

Jesus is now the choice. We can accept Him for who He is, our Lord and Savior, our Redeemer who is willing to rescue us from our wrong choices and bring us a prosperity we can hardly imagine. Yet we can experience a token, a downpayment, so we can choose continually to be faithful as He is faithful to Mankind.

This is the fulfillment of the old Promise to Abraham as well as the new Promise to everyone who chooses to embrace it.

We all have made the wrong choices at one time or another. That is simply human nature. Those wrong choices are called “sin” in the Bible — anything that causes harm to ourselves or harmfulness we cause others. “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” — 1 John 1.

God provided Jesus so we can choose correctly. We cannot, apparently, choose to obey within our own human nature. So, through Jesus God gives us newness of life, a new birth, being “…born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God.” — 1 Peter 1. This is the fulfillment of God’s promises and the completion of God’s project. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Plodding along our own paths has gotten very old and has not brought the proprietary God has in store. Choose the new path. The consequences are above and beyond anyone can ask for or imagine.

Choose Jesus — the Way, the Truth, and the Light.

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” — Psalm 119