Pocket God

I carry a pocket knife on a daily basis. In fact, I’m more likely to have my knife on me than an ink pen! My knife is not a secret ninja deadly weapon, but instead a valuable tool. I love the convenience of a knife and often find odd necessities for its use. What a wonderful invention! You pull the knife out and use it, then fold it back and put in your pocket for safe keeping until needed again. Friends, to my shame, this is exactly how I have been treating God lately. I treat God not as our heavenly Father, but as a tool that can be applied in any occasion I see fit and then put away until I think I need Him again. I’ve had the mindset that it is my life, my tool and my glory in other words: “Me, me, me and uh, yep me again.“

As God has graciously revealed this behavior to me, I have been disgusted with myself. God is not a tool, and the application of Grace into my life is not under my control. Quite the contrary! I am thinking of our brothers and sisters, the Israelites and their reaction to being in an Angry Pharaoh Army/Red Sea sandwich. I, in my self-righteous and hypocritical mindset, think as I read that story: “how can you lack faith, you were just rescued from Egypt!”

Let’s read from Exodus 14:10-14:
10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

The Israelites’ seemingly forgot that they had just been rescued out of Egypt after spending over 400 years there! In my “Pocket God” actions, I often am guilty of this too. God establishes grace or mercy in my life and I fold Him up, put in Him my pocket.

We also know from that same book that the Lord had hardened Pharaoh’s heart (many times actually) and in His Sovereignty placed the Israelites in their situation of being between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army. This was an act to show the Egyptians and I imagine Israelites alike, that He is God and you live to His Glory.
The Lord says in Exodus 14:17
17And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.

In essence, God is not a tool for our use. If anything, we are God’s tool to show His Glory, but the Glory belongs to God. It is God who sent His son to die a bloody death in our place that we may have imputed righteousness on our Day of Judgment. It is faith in God that gives our hearts a desire to live righteous and to endure sanctification. It is God’s grace and mercy that gives strength to get through what we perceive to be trials. It is God who has not forsaken us in our Sins when He has every right to pour wrath upon us as He did to Sodom and Gomorrah.
God has the Sovereign authority in my life and it is to His Glory, not mine, I live. This was truth for the past and remains the truth today and tomorrow. It is under His grace and mercy, which have brought my heart conviction and not condemnation. I lift my cup for more Grace and look forward to Morning Mercies. A pocket is a good place for your knife, but not your Light and Sword. :)

To Him be the Glory
Brandon