Grace and Favor Squandered
At the end of the Book of the Covenant in Exodus, God is giving his people two things. First, a promise that he would be with them and lead them to the promised land. They would need only to trust him to remove their enemies when they arrived. God said he would be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries. It is a whisper of Genesis 12, isn’t it? Where God promised Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” There is security in Christ, even though there are dangers in being his. We will have enemies, we will be dishonored, we will be opposed. But our trust is in God, not in a life of ease or a life without opposition or challenges or enemies. That is why God tells his people to carefully obey his voice and he would blot out all the “ites.” Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and the rest. Their enemies would be no match for God.
But along with a promise, God also gave a warning: “You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them.” Do not serve their gods! Think about it. The gods of the “ites” were the very reason they were driven out, the very reason God would blot them out.
It is a picture of the Gospel. God was taking his people to the promised land. Unmerited favor! He would wipe out their enemies and make a place for them to live and serve him. Matchless grace! But then he says to them, “Make sure you follow these simple rules.” God was not saying, “If you follow these rules, I will love you.” No, God was saying, “I love you. Period. And if you obey me and listen to me, it will go well with you.”
I remember when I was a teenager and the youth of my church drove down to Six Flags Over Georgia. Incredible grace! The church paid for it and we had a whole day to spend at this exciting amusement park. Unmerited favor! But, before we got off the bus the youth leader said, “Hey guys, have fun. We will meet back here at the bus at 6pm. But listen to me. Remember that you represent Christ and your family and your church. Be a good example to others today and let them see Christ in you. Ok?” We all screamed, “OK!”
It was 10am. We got to the gates right when the park opened and we had 8 whole hours to ride all the rides and eat all the food and have all the fun. The first thing I did was ride the cable car with a few of my buddies. We thought it would be cool to see the whole park first from the air and make a plan for the day. As the cable car was traversing the park and I was chomping happily on a big wad of gum, I decided it would be fun to see if I could land my gum in someone’s hair down below. Perfect way to start the day at the park, right? I took aim, adjusted for windshear and the rotation of the earth, and let it fly. Boom! Bullseye. The girl I blessed with my shot looked up, not happy, and saw me grinning at her in my bright orange t-shirt. I high fived my buddies and we were still laughing when the cable car reached its destination and I saw two men in Six Flags uniforms waiting…for me.
These nice men escorted me to the gate I had just come through 15 minutes earlier and said, “Have a good day! Somewhere else.” It was 10:15am. I spent the next 7 hours and 45 minutes on the church bus.
Unmerited favor squandered. Amazing grace lost. I learned that day that if you follow your own rules, it will not go well with you.