Psalm 25:20-21: “Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.”
I receive an email every morning from Miriam Webster’s “WORD OF THE DAY.” The word “manumit” appeared one morning and I could immediately see a correlation for this term I had never heard of before with our Christian life. Don’t we all have various circumstances throughout our day that hold us in bondage where we need to be set free?
A few typical daily adrenalin boosting stresses may be:
- Did I let my boss down in that situation?
- Did I perform well enough at my presentation at work or a ministry teaching spot?
- Will my children remember more of the good things from their childhood rather than the mistakes I made as a parent?
- Is anyone praying for me?
- Why can’t I make everyone to get along?
- How could I have said that? They must think I am terrible!
Care to comment about any of your own?
When we are bogged down by the circumstances in our day that are like pebbles in our shoe, and like a paper cut, we become enslaved and in captivity to them. God is always there to release us from the bondage of our fears, our misgivings, and pressures of life. Why do we carry the load we were never intended to take? As Jesus said in John 8:31-32: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We are set free by the truth of God’s Word!
Last week something happened in my job, that weighed me down. I was in a panic about a certain incident that looked like it was going wrong. I was caught in this situation where I was blamed for something that was out of my control. I had done everything right, but something went south with a new customer, and I was left responsible in the end. Then something else occurred, and I was overcome with feelings of self-inadequacy and wanted off my merry-go-round. Even though it was in the high 90’s outside, I took a walk to help free my thoughts. I suddenly remembered 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” I told God: “OK, you take them!” I literally held an invisible bundle in my hands and threw them up to the sky as I was casting them up to God to keep them and carry them as I continued walking. I needed the Lord’s rescue in setting me free of this turmoil and I needed His rescue of the right solution. His working out the justice part of my dilemma was required.
A half hour later, my cell phone rang, and the problematic customer called me, apologized for his silence, and took full blame. We had a brief discussion, he acknowledged the part of his fault in the matter, and a compromise was agreed that was not totally what I wanted but it would work. The other situation I realized could have been all my imagination and over thinking (which I am told we women often do more than men) which had a boomerang down rolling spiral effect on me. My own fretting thoughts were holding me hostage, and I needed to be set free from their captivity and thanked God it was Friday!
Next, I suddenly remembered I had just posted that morning my devotional Blog post on “Craving Righteousness.” One of my points about what craving righteousness requires was: “Know yourself, accept yourself, and try to be yourself to the glory of God.” Then just the week before I wrote a post titled “Consolations.” “Bottom line: Anticipate the enemy to hit you in the area of your greatest influence . . . consider where you’re feeling the strongest these days. And expect to take some hits at those particular areas. Priscilla Shirer, The Armor of God.” Yep. I had taken some hits. The reality is six months from now neither of these things may even matter. And by the way, that new problematic customer of mine that was last Friday’s fingernail on my chalkboard? His needs drastically changed in my favor this week much to my surprise! Bravo God!
When that pit is on the bottom of your stomach, cast that burden onto the LORD, and remember Isaiah 30:18b, & 21:“For the LORD is a God of justice . . . And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”
“The gravitational pull of life presses on us and shrinks us down, yet the hope of the gospel is that we can lift our gaze and know that there is a God, the Maker of heaven and earth, who is going to come on our behalf and rescue us. A God, who, even when the world is closing in around us, is at work, making everything possible in our lives . . . As we ascend daily into God’s presence, we remember His greatness, live in confidence, rest in His grace, respond in worship and pour out His love into the people around us so that many will put their trust in the one who rescues and restores.” Louie Giglio, LIFT.
Relief from God doesn’t always come when we want it. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out to God for help, in Exodus 2:23-25. They had to wait a long time to be manumitted to freedom, but God rescued them when He knew the time was right. God is never late. He is always on time. We just cannot see His timetable.
Are you looking for a way out of something? Do you need manumission? You may not see even a glimpse of the end of your trouble, but as my pastor, Todd told me at a heartbreaking time in our life, “There is always an end coming no matter what it is.”
It says in John 8:31 we are truly Jesus’s disciples if we abide in His word. The Message puts the next part of this verse this way: “Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”
Manumission is found in knowing and abiding in God’s Word.
Question: How can you train your heart and mind to look for God at work in your life? In what ways does an awareness of God’s presence change the way you live each day?
The goal and challenge is to become more like Christ and be a mirror of Jesus at all times one day at a time. Will that change anything you do today?
May the Lord fill your heart and soul with the freedom of His peace and hope, giving you needed perseverance for whatever may try to hold you hostage next. The trial may not yet have its end, but the peace of God gives liberation. Shalom.
Listen to Danny Gokey’s “There’s Hope in Front of Me.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KIhYZQ_ovw