Ah, to sit and write once more. My respite has been appreciated but there has definitely been a part of me eager to return. Father may my mind quickly home in on the word You have to go forth. Amen.
Acts 2:14-21 (<<click here to read the passage)
How often in any given week do we wish? “Oh, I wish the day would end!” “I wish they would get their due! They are nasty to everyone that crosses their path!” “Man, I wish I had a million dollars!”
Of course, many of us are familiar with Jiminy Cricket’s song in Pinocchio, When You Wish Upon a Star.
I’ve heard the phrase, too, “don’t wish your life away”. To do so is to always be thinking about the future so that you don’t do or enjoy things now.
But I want to make it clear that wishing is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, in the book of Numbers, Moses had “had it up to here” with all the responsibility he had in dealing with the rebellious and troublesome Israelites. So, God acted to bring him some relief. He filled the elders of Israel with “some of the Spirit” that was upon Moses. It’s a pretty cool story found in Numbers 11:1-30 (click the reference if you’d like to read it.)
But the verse I want to point out is from the 29th verse. In the New Living Translation Moses exclaims to his young aid, Joshua,
“Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!”
In today’s passage, God made Moses’ wish come true! So almost 1600 years after Moses made his wish, God fulfilled it!
Even when Moses made his exclamation to Joshua way back when God already knew what the future held. Moses introduced the nation of Israel to God’s Law and in and through Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, God fulfilled the entirety of that Law…something humanity was never able to do! For thousands of years, we stumbled and fumbled but were not successful in abiding by it.
Even with Jesus’ great feat, God wasn’t done! He took it one step further enabling us to fulfill the Law, as well…but not on our own – that just wasn’t possible. We are weak and fallible. BUT…add the Holy Spirit to the equation and we can accomplish the impossible. It was just a gift for the 120 gathered in the upper room of today’s passage! The Holy Spirit is given to us, as well! “…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord” earnestly seeking His healing and forgiveness “will be saved.” vs 21
AND, we are enabled and empowered to serve our Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength…and love our neighbors as ourselves because of it! (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, Mark 12:30)
Trust in Him and He will see you through to accomplish His will today!
Jan 2nd, 2022, Sun, 7:58 pm
