Out of Orbit

OUT OF ORBIT

 

I was impressed by a devotional in Our Daily Bread Aug 4, 2010, by Joe Stowell, from which I borrowed his title and a few quotes. He based his thoughts on Psalm 63, which is a Psalm written by King David while he was in the wilderness of Judah. Joe said "David understood that true joy and purpose came not in admiring God from a safe distance, but from chasing hard after Him". This is the theme of his article, and he starts by comparing our journey of following Jesus, with a space probe to Mars. He imagines the waste of time and effort if that probe should get drawn off course by the gravitational pull of some other less significant object!

 

This is a distinct possibility for any of us in our journey of following Jesus. There are many things that can draw us away from our original determination to be a follower of Jesus, who paid the price of our redemption from our life of sin! Perhaps it is our immediate family, or close friends, who think we have become a fanatic, or have joined a cult. Perhaps it is the draw of worldly entertainments, or some habit you established before you came to know Jesus. Whatever it might be, you can be sure your enemy Satan will use it to try and draw you back to serve his kingdom of darkness, and not God's Kingdom of light! The important thing to remember is that our loving Father has made ample provision for everything we need to live a life pleasing to Him. But the decision to accept these provisions is always left to us.

 

A careful reading of (Psalm 63) will show us what King David did while hiding out in the wilderness of Judah, fleeing from the wrath of Saul. In the NLT, verse 1 reads "O God, you are my God. I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you, my whole body longs for you, in this parched and weary land where there is no water". When we seek for God, as David did, He will be found by us. He is not hiding from us, but the fact is that He is holy, and unless we become holy as He is holy we can not have intimate fellowship. (1 Peter 1:16). We, as part of the Body of Christ on earth, must follow Paul's advice in (2 Cor 7:1) "Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God" NLT. So we can see that God has made provision for our holiness, but it is our responsibility to keep "in orbit", so to speak, and stay close to Him!

Sincerely submitted

Dave Jamer                                Revised 04/07/15