I ask God about everything, even to help me with parking or answering the phone, but when I told one man, he snorted, “God isn’t concerned about such details, only the big and important things.”
As I read these chapters in Exodus, I remembered his words
and how this long list of laws about daily life proves otherwise. God does care
about everything. He proves it by clearly outlining His perfections about life,
even such things as . . .
“When a man opens a pit, or
when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into
it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its
owner, and the dead beast shall be his. (Exodus 21:33–34)
“If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an
ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven
away, without anyone seeing it, an oath by the Lord
shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his
neighbor’s property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make
restitution. But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its
owner. If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make
restitution for what has been torn. (Exodus 22:10–13)
“If you lend money to any of
my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and
you shall not exact interest from him. (Exodus 22:25)
“If you meet your enemy’s ox
or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. (Exodus 23:4)
“And you shall take no bribe,
for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in
the right. (Exodus 23:8)
“You shall make no covenant
with (the people living around you) and their gods. They shall not dwell in
your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it
will surely be a snare to you.” (Exodus 23:32–33)
While the rebellious respond with resistance to such “rules,”
those who know the love of God are delighted that He communicates His will to His
people, not just in vital areas of concern, but in the daily issues and problems
of life. Because of these “rules” I know that I can ask Him about anything, and
because He guides me in so many perplexing ‘little’ things, my heart overflows
with love for Him.
Of course there are times when I ask about something and He
is silent, so I must seek Him and wait for Him. Solomon expresses that sense of
seeking and waiting in his love poem: On my bed by
night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not. I will
rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek
him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not. (Song of Solomon 3:1–2)
But oh the wonder of finding Him, of knowing exactly what He
expects of me. Or does He find us? Jesus approached a woman at a well. She was
not seeking Him, but He sought her. After some conversation, she realized that
this was the promised Messiah, the Savior. She became very excited.
I sense her joy, but then wonder about something. How can
it be that there is a God who reveals his heart to His people, who loves us so
much that He sent His Son to save us, yet so few are interested in Him? Why do
most people have no desire to seek Him, to search until they find Him? Why
should it be that He must first find us as He did with this woman?
In those days, the Samaritans may not have had the same
anticipation as the Jews and were not looking for a Savior. However, to her
credit this woman did not ignore this One who asked her to give Him a drink. She
was so excited that she left her water jar and went into her town and said to
the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I
ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to
him . . . Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s
testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to
him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many
more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer
because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and
we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:28-30; 39–42)
The woman who was not seeking was found. She told others
who may or may not have been seeking, and they were found — meaning they were
no longer lost in their sin and unbelief because they met the Ancient of Days,
the One who loved them. He was the One who offered His perfections for every
detail of their daily lives. He was the One who would satisfy every longing. They
heard a lost/found woman, then heard the Savior for themselves — and believed.
Some see God’s laws as burdens that cannot be kept (they
are right), but once the Lawgiver on the throne becomes the Law-keeper in our
hearts, everything changes. He shows us that whatever “rules” He gave are a revelation
of the extent of His love, right down to the last detail of our existence, and
bids us to seek Him — until He finds us.
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