Take up Your Cross and Let Go

Today’s post was not one that I planned to write. I planned to write on something else for part two of this Take up Your Cross series. However, God leading me to write and share what is below instead is another reminder of how we need to be open when God wants to lead us in a different direction.

For the last couple of weeks there has been a song on my heart called, “Time.” As I listened to the lyrics, I realized that the song centers on Ecclesiastes 3. Before you take a listen to the song, here are a couple of parts that stood out to me. First,

Sometimes death will come calling

When you’ve been good and warned

And other times it’s cold hands will cradle

Dreams yet to be born”

The second part that stood out was “And that death produces life.” As I heard those lyrics in the song, there was this desire to go read the verse where it talks about death in Ecclesiastes 3. Solomon states that there is “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). In the past, I saw “a time to die” as referring only to physical death. Even so, God pointed out something new that I had not noticed in my previous times reading Ecclesiastes 3. He revealed that there are also things in our lives that He will ask us to let die/let go.

What is an example of letting something die/go in our lives look like? In part one of this series, I mentioned that I was writing a book. Well, a couple of months ago, God asked me to trust Him after He asked me to walk away from that book that I had been writing. Did I walk away and trust Him? I did. Was it hard to let the book die/go? Absolutely it was! Could I go back to that book? I could, for God does not make us do anything; we have free will. However, I recognize that going back would be the comfortable decision.

As followers of Christ, we are never supposed to live our lives on earth in our comfort zone. We see many times in the Bible where God asked people to get uncomfortable. Abraham when God asked him to leave his home in favor of an unknown land; and, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his long-awaited son (Genesis 12 & 22). How about Esther when she learns that her people will be killed unless she speaks to her husband the king. Yet, the risk in speaking to her husband on the matter without being summoned by him would result in her being put to death (Esther 4-8). We cannot forget Moses who hesitated when God chose him to deliver and lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3-4).

Even though Abraham, Esther and Moses are great examples of going from comfortable to uncomfortable, let us read about a time when God asked the Israelites to get uncomfortable after they were no longer in Egypt. Moses writes,

⁸The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. ⁹The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. ¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’ ¹³Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again’ (Exodus 14:8-13).

Be honest, whenever you read a story in the Bible involving the Israelites have you ever shaken your head, rolled your eyes, or flat out thought, “What is wrong with you people?” I admit that I have shaken my head a time or three when reading about them. Maybe, we tend to have those kinds of responses to the Israelites because we are not putting ourselves in their shoes. For me, my Egypt, my comfort zone was the old book that I was working on. Yes, I knew God led me away from that book, but, the desert, the unknown of what the outcome will be in fully embracing starting over with a new book felt more daunting than continuing with the one that I already started.

For you, maybe your Egypt was a relationship that you know was not what God wanted for you; and yet, you miss the relationship because being single is uncomfortable. Maybe, your Egypt is God telling you that it is time to move on from the job you have and take a step toward a different career path. The unknown of what will happen on this new career path such as how it will affect your finances creates a tension of whether you should leave what you know.

We all have a next step that God’s asking us to take. With any step, GOD WILL NOT TELL US WHAT THE OUTCOME OF THE STEP WILL BE. Would we be exercising faith and trust if He did? He assures us that He will be there with us (Deuteronomy 31:6 & 8 and Joshua 1:5). As Moses told the Israelites, “do not be afraid” of what is next after you take the step (Exodus 14:13). Rest assured that on the other side of letting die/go whatever keeps us from taking our next step(s) are great things. In the place of the thing we let die/go, there will be a new level of faith and trust in Him, more growth in us, and a new chapter in our journey that when others hear of it, it will give God all the glory and honor (1 Timothy 1:17 and Revelation 4:11).

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All Bible verses are from Holy Bible: New International Version