Patterns and Principles

Patterns and Principles in the life lived as a Believer in Jesus Christ, can be, should be seen as I read the Old Testament, especially in the Hebrew Torah, the first Five Books of Moses and today I saw a big one.   We come to Christ, we hear how our salvation in Christ will bring us a better life and we hit obstacles, we become stressed and our stressed by others and we say, “Lord, what happened, what am I doing wrong?  Have You moved, are You even up there?” And the list of panicked and petional prayers goes on and on.  Sometimes we walk away and declare, “There is no God.” 

But God’s M.O. Mode of Operation, can clearly be seen in the Old Covenant if I only take the time to look.   Looking at what happens when Moses steps back into Egypt after God calls him to lead his people out wasn’t a picnic.  Just because Moses wore a clock of God’s Authority didn’t mean that everyone, even the people who he was called to lead, would accept that authority. Exodus 5:22-6:13,7:1-25.  Yet, he was called and the people he was called to lead became even more stressed and abused after he told them and their abusers what he was there to do.

My son worked as a “Stress Analyst” in other words, he broke things then studied them, he studied their breaking point, he studied different materials, combination of materials to see if they would meet the physical specification and needs to hold up in flight without coming apart.  We never know what we can withstand unless we have been stressed.  And when you come to your breaking point, does that mean you’ve hit the wall?  No.   I’ve experienced that breaking point with my exercise program.  When I first began in 2006, I did 15 minutes of exercise and needed one hour to recover.  I can now go 3 hours straight doing a combination of aerobics, anaerobic and stretching and only need four/five minutes to recover. Time, patience, and a spirit of not-given up made me stronger while I built up my body. 

God has put me, His Child, on a path to a fabulous end but to get to that goal, testing, trails and resistance are placed before me, just like the exercise program builds me up, strengthens me and keeps me flexible does for my physical body, the path between when I began my walk with God and the goal, my purpose, becomes a room filled with exercise equipment.   

1Co 10:6-11 NLT  These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,  (7)  or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, "The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry."  (8)  And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.  (9)  Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.  (10)  And don't grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.  (11)  These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

Like Joseph, no matter the cloak you wear, no matter the color or colors that designate the Favor of the Father, your position, my position, will be tested and oft times by the One who gave you the Cloak.