Attention

I thought I would do a Tidbit for those that may be running away from God or in a backslidden condition or thinking about running away from God.  Please read what David wrote in Psalms 139:1-18, “O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”

There is no place you can go where the Lord can’t find you and He isn’t going to give up on you because He loves you, David was well aware of this.  Please read Exodus 20:1-6, “And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”   I know at the time God was talking to the Israelites, but He was also talking about the thousands that would love Him and keep His commandments.  

Now think about Jonah who thought he would run away from God.  Jonah got into a boat headed for Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh so God caused a mighty wind and storm to take place at that time.  In time the crew found out the cause of the storm, which was Jonah and in the end threw Jonah overboard.  Then the Lord caused a big fish to swallow up Jonah where he remained for three days and three nights until the Lord got his attention because Jonah was running away from the Lord.  Then Jonah was in distress, to say the least, please read Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2:2-11, “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

The Lord didn’t let Jonah go, even when Jonah was angry and ran, because the Lord still loved him.  Now I want you to think of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-31.  He lived with his father and had everything he wanted but he wasn’t satisfied, so he wanted his inheritance ahead of time and he took it and squandered his inheritance on wild living.  He ran away from his loving father which could have been the end of the story but not so fast.  There was a great famine in the land and he was in need, so he joined himself to one of the citizens of that country who sent Him out to feed pigs, something that he despised doing.  As time went on he became very hungry and wanted to eat the carob pods that the pigs were eating but no one would give him any.  Then he finally came to his senses and repented and went back to his father’s house where he knew there was plenty of food, knowing that even his father’s servants had plenty to eat.  But think of this, before he even got to his father’s house his father saw him a distance away and ran to him and fell on his neck and kissed him.  You may not know this, but in the Middle East in order for this father to run to him he would have had to pull up his gown and expose his legs which was something that was unheard of and didn’t happen but this father wasn’t going to let anything stop him from getting to his son he loved him so much and was so happy to see him.  Now read what the son said to his father in Luke 15:21, “And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”

Now read what the father’s response was in verses 22-24, “But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”     

Now read what the father said to the brother of the prodigal son in verse 32, because he had a bad attitude about what was going on.  “It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”

This is a picture of God and His love, mercy and grace towards all of us.  So if you are running away from Him or thinking about it or you are in a backslidden condition, repent and confess your sins to the Lord and ask Him to forgive you and restore you to fellowship with Him.  Repent means to turn away from your sins and go in the other direction, if you truly repent He will forgive you.  Read 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Think of this, where are you going to go if you run away from the Lord, back to the world?  Jesus said this to His twelve disciples in John 6:67, “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”  This was Peter’s answer in verses 68-69, “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Maybe you have to start thinking like Peter and the other disciples!!  I have given you something to think about.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!