Title: Nothing can be exchanged with life
We can study about how God thinks about life and how the Bible teaches us. There are 3 factors that the people living in modern society value greatly. The first is time, the second is happiness and the third is satisfaction. These are the 3 factors that the people of these days concerning most. At times, they put these factors prior to life.
- Life cannot be exchanged with time
Although every creature is born with life, but it never belongs to us. We are born because God render life to us.
Regarding the matter of life, Moses proclaimed, “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness forty years.” What it means inwardly is, ‘think about how God valued our lives protecting us from all harms and dangers.’ When God protects you and hides you under His wings, its result is your life is prolonged (Deut 8:2).
In less than 3 days from the departure from Egypt, after seeing 3 wonders and 10 miracles of God, the people of Israel complained and grumbled against God (Exo 14:10-12). Another case is when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the two stone tablets after fasting for 40 days, people at the bottom said, “Moses ran away because he thinks that he is not able to lead us into the Promise Land. Let’s create another god and go back to Egypt.’
If God valued time more than the lives of people, He would have killed all of them immediately, but because He valued life more than time, He waited for the people to repent and return to Him. He wanted to give us the true life. We also should be with God, considering life more valuable than time (Mat 16:26; Luk 15:3-7).
- Life cannot be exchanged with happiness and comfort
The Bible says that man became a living being when God breathed into his nostril the breath of God. Therefore, man doesn’t have any right or authority to take away the breath of God. God is the only one who can decide to take away or not.
What was the fundamental reason for the complaints and grumbles of the people of Israel? It is because they looked for happiness and comfort (Exo 16:3). It took 40 years to make them realized that man does not live by bread alone but the words from the mouth of the Lord. Why was it important? Because the life God wanted to give them was not the life that was sustained by physical bread or meat, but the life sustained by the Word of God. We must put the Word of God and the life comes by as the priority and the most important thing in our lives, even more than happiness or comfort.
- Life cannot be exchanged with satisfaction
Satisfaction comes when things are done according to our plans and our wishes. When we reach a certain goal that we have set up before, we feel satisfaction.
If we look at 1 Kgs 3:16-28, there comes a famous story of King Solomon’s wisdom. There were two harlots who had a child respectively. But one night, a son of one woman died. In the morning, this woman claimed that the living son is my son and the dead is hers. The other woman claimed the same thing. So, they brought this case to King Solomon.
Solomon said, “Let’s halve the son and give one each to two women. Then, the real mother cried out that let it not be so, but rather allowed her to keep my son alive. Through this, King Solomon realized who is the real mother and gave back her son.
This story was written to convey God’s perspective regarding to life. Both the mothers had a goal to bring justice and fairness. Perhaps we can say, by achieving their goals, they may have satisfaction.
However, the real mother puts life before satisfaction. It teaches us that life must be put first before satisfaction in reaching our goals or accomplishments. Jesus chose to be hung on the cross to shed His blood. It is because to give life is more important than accomplishing those achievements.
Conclusion:
God protects this life in the bundle of the living
Even if it takes the entire time of your life in order to get the life of God, we should know that it is worth doing it. Even if we cannot obtain happiness and comfort of this world, in order to get the life of God, we should know that it is far more worthwhile doing it. Even if we cannot accomplish many goals and achievements in this world, in order to get the life of God, we should know that it is really worth doing it (Jn 6:63).
As life is such important, our enemy Satan also seeks our life. However, we do not need to worry because in 1 Sam 25:29, it says God will protect us in the bundle of the living.
Hebrew word for ‘bundle’ is ‘Zeroru’ and it means ‘parcels, pouch, and bag’. So it means God is going to put our life into this pouch and wrap it so that, it won’t be damaged or broken. Your life, the life that God breathed in you, will not be lost and not be taken away.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 