Stay Safe; Stay Put

In last week’s post [How God Draws Us Near], we saw that, despite our natural resistance, God goes to great lengths to draw us to Himself. Surely, He is the initiating God, as hymnist Robert Robinson wrote so wonderfully in his classic hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”¹

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

We have an eternity to thank Him; it begins afresh at every waking moment.

Yet, we know from experience that spiritual battle rages in and around us, and that our adversary tempts us in many ways to stray from the God who draws us. To the Corinthians, Paul distressed, “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”² What does this “cunning” deception look like? Political leaders can misguide us, like king Manasseh when he “led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the [opposing] nations.”³ Jeremiah lamented rogue religious “shepherds” who can lead us into lostness, as well.⁴ Religious syncretism—the blending of diverse belief systems or practices—is a powerful draw, so much so that “even Barnabas was led astray by [the] hypocrisy”⁵ of influencers attempting to blend grace and legalism. Godless wisdom and knowledge can lead us astray,⁶ of course, as can our own “passions and pleasures.”⁷

Then where is the grace in all of this? Where is our hope when Satan would lead us astray from where God has drawn us? First, God’s Word shows us what to expect: “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”⁸ Temptations will happen, but as we’ve seen, the Word exposes them in their various forms, so we need not be blindsided. Second, we know our flesh for what it is—vulnerable, gullible, and spiritually weak—which is to say we do not fight “the serpent” in our own wisdom or strength. Instead in Christ himself, we “stand against the devil’s schemes,”⁹ for He who draws us is mighty. Then what happens when we resist the adversary who would lead us astray? “He will flee from you.”¹⁰ Ironic, isn’t it?

We pray …
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.<sup>11

1</sup> Robinson, Robert. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Public Domain. http://hymnbook.igracemusic.com/hymns/come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing (accessed June 11, 2023).
² 2 Corinthians 11:3
³ 2 Chronicles 33:9
⁴ Jeremiah 50:6
⁵ Galatians 2:13
⁶ Isaiah 47:10
⁷ Titus 3:30
⁸ 1 Peter 4:12
⁹ Ephesians 6:11
¹⁰ James 4:7
¹¹ Robinson, Robert. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”