Hold On

Hello everyone.

I want to backtrack a little bit to something I saw in Deuteronomy 11.  What I want to talk about today comes from Deut. 11:22 and 23: It says, "If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow - to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him and to hold fast to Him - then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you."

God tells the Israelites that following Him involves three things, 1.) Loving Him, 2.) Obedience to Him and 3.) Holding fast to Him. God says that if they will do these things that He will give them great victory over nations that are both larger and stronger than they are.  This must have been a comfort to them, knowing that God would protect them and give them victory in situations that were larger and stronger than they were.  The good for us is that the same principle still applies. If we will follow God - loving Him, obeying Him and holding fast to Him, He will will give us victory in situations that are both larger and stronger than we are.  Certainly we all face situations that are bigger than we are.

I think that we all understand the idea of love and obedience are things that we understand, but the phrase "hold fast" is not something that we say a lot.  So what does it mean? It basically means "cling."  God wants to hold fast, or cling to Him, particularly in situations that are larger and stronger than we are, since they are not larger and stronger than Him.  It reminds me of  Ps. 63:70-8:                                            Because you are my help,
                                 I sing in the shadow of our wings.
                            I cling to you;
                                 your right hand upholds me.

David wrote this in the Desert of Judah as people were chasing him in an effort to kill him, and he could say this.  Having someone try to kill you trumps any situation I have ever been in.  He looked to God for his help and because God helped him, David felt secure enough to sing in the shadow of God's wings. (Who knew God had wings?)  He would cling(hold fast) to God and he recognized that God was holding him up with His right hand. So then question becomes, "Where do we look for our help and comfort in our times of need?"  If we are holding fast to anything other than God, we are fighting a losing battle.  Too often I have looked to other things, particularly food, to deal with stressful situations that were larger than me. It never helps long term.  Eventually I end up in a position where I must depend on God.  Then I have victory.  I would be better off, if I just went there first.  May we all have those victories n those situations that are larger and stronger than we are, knowing that God's powerful right hand will uphold us.  Then we can have the kind of security to sing in the shadow of His wings.
Tom