God Carries Us
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sermon Notes:
At the 1.26 mark, we listened to the chorus of the hymn, “Leaning on the Everlasting God,” which you can listen to here. The lyrics of the chorus are as follows: Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.
The book quoted at the 8 minute mark is by Mark Buchanan and is titled Your God Is Too Safe (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2001), 14-15.
Scripture
Numbers 21:4 – 9
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. Read more…
John 3:14 – 21
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Back in 2011 a friend and I decided to go to Ottawa for the July 1st weekend. Ottawa’s a great city and they do Canada Day really well. This particular weekend the newly married Prince William and Kate were also in Ottawa for Canada Day. I don’t know what we were thinking as we planned our drive. July 1st was a Friday; we drove to Ottawa on the Thursday.
It was the longest drive to Ottawa anyone in the history of Canada has ever endured.
There was so much traffic the highway was at a standstill kilometre after kilometre. At least twice I tried using the handy detour setting on my GPS, only to have that wonderful tool bring us back to the stopped highway barely any further along. It was well after midnight by the time we arrived, exhausted, and way less excited about the weekend than we were when we set out.
The point of a detour is to get to the place you’re going when you can’t get there by the normal or expected route. This is something my GPS didn’t understand. It seemed to think the normal route was the only route. But what I really needed wasn’t just a jaunt around a trouble spot, but a whole new road.
When the Israelites left Egypt to go to the Promised Land, their own failures to stick with the God who was leading them interrupted their journey severely. It delayed their arrival at the Promised Land by 40 years. But, and this is the important piece, they did eventually get there. That’s because God is really good at detours. God is never limited by our failure to stick to the path, but is genius at getting His people to their destination no matter how many detours His people take. This is the story of human history.
When you look back over your life of faith, can you see the detours? Can you see the places where God reshaped those detours so they would also get you to where you were headed in the first place – to being more like Jesus, to more fully embodying the kingdom of God, to eternal, abundant life as a child of God? Perhaps, as you prepare for Sunday, spend some time reflecting on your road of faith thus far. Consider where you are right now: Are you headed to that place of Jesus-likeness and full, abundant relationship with God that He promises, or have you detoured from that road? Is it time to ask God to reshape the road you’re on so it’ll get you where you need to go?