Hebrews 3:7-4:12 - Deepening a Sincere True Faith
Rebecca Lightfoot
Of the people in Exodus that fled Egypt when God provided the way for His people;&gave them miraculous favors with the Egyptians;&parted the Red Sea;&provided water;&provided mana;&protected them;&let them see & know His Presence among them,etc.,all but two of the original group that fled Egypt and experienced all of the above made it all the way to the Promised Land.This is because most of the people let challenges and influences around them steal them away from True FAITH in The Living God that through His Mercy&Grace was providing every essential care & protection for them.In order to reach The Promises of God all they had to do was Faithfully Walk with Him as they made their way through the challenges and influences,and persevere toward the Promises of God.But only two of the original group that walked through the parting of the Red Sea did not “fall short” of the Promises of God in the Promised Land->Caleb & Joshua!All the others let what God revealed as evidence of His Awesome Trustworthiness to them through His Mighty Interventions in their lives be stolen away from them by the challenges and influences orchestrated by the devil to keep them from the Promises of God.In everyone’s life there are going to be challenges and influences that always have 2 core purposes! God’s purpose in all of these challenges and influences is to fulfill His Promise of Romans8:28 in the lives of those that love The Lord and are called according to His purpose(“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,for those who are called according to his purpose.“)!John 10:10 tells us that the devil also has a purpose in the challenges and influences around us when this verse says “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”.The Thief/The devil is as clever and sneaky as any thief that ever was in the ways that he will deceptively sneak in through challenges and influences around us.But we have warning signs that are ours if we listen to God’s Word & His Spirit,& a Savior that saves us if we turn toward The Lord and not toward the influences and their UNfaithful ways of meeting challenges->the rest of John10:10->”But I (Jesus Christ) have come that they may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY!”.Every day we are going to have personal skirmishes orchestrated for the purpose of stealing us away from the Promises of The Living God.These sometimes come as sneaky temptations,sneaky thoughts,&sneaky influences purposed for stealing from us and/or our destruction.But persevering with our Faith in The Lord will keep us from the dangers of veering our mind/heart/life away from The Promises of God and away from a Deepening Sincere True Faith in The Lord.This is what Hebrews 3:7-4:12 are addressing->”...Today,if you hear His voice,do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion....Today if you hear His Voice....Today if you hear His voice....Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”SO! We must be aware of the importance of staying on our toes not to let any challenge and/or influence become the beginning of our mind/heart/life making a turn away from The Lord & His Promises that leads us to hardening our hearts to the point of rebellion as most of the people in Exodus had.And,there indeed was a point that the people of Exodus had that one challenge and/or influence that ultimately robbed them of the seed that God Planted in their lives via His MIRACULOUS intervention in their lives through challenges and influences(Christ talks about this via His parable of the Sower n Matthew13:1-23!).Dear Lord Jesus,please make me humble enough to always be mindful of the significance of making TODAY the day that I seek to walk with you through the challenges and influences in every day.Help me through the INFLUENCE of Your Word and Your Spirit always make decisions to follow You and not succumb as most of the people in Exodus did.