In the Bibletraining we follow in Hawaii, we started in The Old Testament. I first thought, well, I know all these stories. Nothing I don’t already know…
Exodus 13: 17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt”. 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
Dear congregation,
In the Bibletraining we follow in Hawaii, we started in The Old Testament. I first thought, well, I know all these stories. Nothing I don’t already know… And we did read about Jacob and Esau, Joseph in Egypt, Moses etc. But my greatest discovery was about God in The Old Testament and His perspective on it all.
After the Fall God made a promise to Abraham to bless him and let his people be a blessing for all the nations. Now the Israelites were slaves for 430 years in Egypt. God used Moses and Aaron to free them in a miraculous way, but what happened next?
They are a bunch of former slaves called to be a people with their own country, their own language, their own laws and their own beliefs. They are experiencing an identity crisis and think regularly about how much better they had it in Egypt than in the desert…
But the beautiful thing is that we can read between the lines how much God is committed to His people. In Exodus 13:17-18 we read that God makes His people take another route. Not through the Philistine country, because they might get scared. Although it was the shortest route, God patiently lets them take another longer one…
The God of Exodus is the same God as today (Hebrews 13:8); Caring for us and committed to us, taking us on a road that is different and fitting for each of us. It may seem like you are on a detour and things are not the same as they would be on the shortest route. But the beautiful thing is that God won’t let you down and He is with you. And what’s more, He may even put you on that longer route so that you won’t have to face the Philistines. Isn’t that something??
After Exodus there’s Leviticus, a book that’s not the easiest to read. But the beautiful thing about this book is that God stimulates them to be holy, like He is holy (Lev. 20:26). The meaning or holy isn’t just pure or without sin, but more set apart. God calls the Israelites to set themselves apart from the other peoples and their godless ways (like the Canaanites) and not to conform to the world, but to reflect His character, so that strangers can see God in the behaviour of the Israelites. That is a message that also concerns us today. God wants us to lead a life in which we are a reflection of who He is. Jesus talks about being the Light of the world (Matt 5:14) and being the Salt of the earth (Matt 5:13), in other words: we are being challenged to be recognizable as Christians.
A teacher gave us the example of a vegetarian. You share a meal with a vegetarian and you immediately get a conversation about the motives and ideals of the vegetarian. And everybody thinks it’s wonderful that he or she pursues these ideals in such a way that he or she refuses the meat.
But me as a Christian? You as a Christian? How do people recognize us as Christians? What does it mean to be the Light, to be the Salt? How are you different? What does it mean to be in the world, but not of the world?
If you’re thinking, well, it isn’t easy! You are correct, because that’s what Jesus tells us. It won’t be easy (John 15: 18-22). But, as a congregation we can encourage eachother when times are difficult! We are in the world, but not of the world. We are not of the world, as He is not of it (John 17:16).
I pray that you may be the Light in the world. That you may reflect Him in all that you do, so that Holland will know of the loving God and embrace Him.
God bless you!
Jackson & Anneke Ndecheck
Do you want to be kept up to date?
Go to ‘Subscribe’ under ‘News’.