Ever been tied up in a sack with someone? Doesn’t sound too enticing, especially if the sack is burlap and the heat is like some days we’ve had of late!
Well, though it sounds bizarre, our text today (I Samuel 25:29: “Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God….”) speaks of being tied up together with someone. It may be difficult to imagine a closer kind of relationship. But, if you are a believer in Christ, your life is tied up together with God in a bundle of life.
That’s what a woman named Abigail said to King David. She reminded the young, yet-to-be crowned monarch that his life was in a bundle with God’s! If you are a Christian, so is yours! About this startling truth, there are some important things one should remember:
• The Reason for this truth: God is our creator, and He is our sovereign. So, there is a natural tie between men and God—as Paul, on Mars Hill, reminded a crowd of unbelievers: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God….” No matter what the atheists claim, or the philosophers, it still remains a blatant falsehood that “Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, for my unconquerable soul. It matters not how strait the gate; how charged with punishment the scroll—’I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’” (Wm. Ernst Henley)
We are not god. God is God! We are not becoming God, nor will we ever become God! We are His creation; He is our sovereign—by a natural tie of the Creator to the creature. But that is not the “bundle of life” of which Abigail spake when she reminded David that he was bundled up with God.
There is, though, the supernatural tie to those who are children of God by faith: sons of God. Christ is in us and we are in Christ. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27b) We are “complete in Christ….” (Gal.2:10) A baby in a womb is in its mother, and the mother is in the baby—an inseparable union!
• The Realization of this truth:
First, there is a scriptural realization that can only come through faith. As we grow in grace, we become more aware of the spiritual life that is ours with and in Christ. “I am crucified with Christ,” Paul affirmed, “nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal.2:20) How do you know that Christ Jesus the Lord is living in you? The same way you know that Christ spoke the worlds into existence: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God….” (Hebs. 11:3) Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Hear the Word of God, grow in your faith as you do, and the realization of spiritual truths will become more settled in your soul.
• The Ramifications of this truth:
(1) We need never be afraid—afraid of what man can do to us, afraid of what the Devil can do to us; afraid of the known or the unknown. Ps. 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” One day I saw a spider in mid-air, but upon closer examination, I noticed that there was one almost invisible thread the spider was latched onto; that one thread is all that the spider needed. Our God may appear to be invisible, but our life in Him is all that we need for eternal safety and security. We are in Him and He is in us!
(2) We can look upon obstacles as opportunities:
o Physical affliction can be an opportunity for God to show His sufficient grace and to prove that “His strength is made perfect in our weakness.” (II Cor. 12:9)
o Personal crises again provide an opportunity for God to demonstrate His faithfulness in taking care of His own. Isaiah was directed by the Holy Spirit to say it so beautifully: “When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isa. 43:2)
o Spiritual “lows:” Confusion, droughts? Because our life is tied up in a bundle with God’s, we can take courage, assured that “He that hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” and that, “He will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” (Phil. 1:6; Hebrews 13:5)
o Old age, infirmity, uncertainty, death? Because my life, as was David’s, is tied up in a bundle with God, I can face the uncertain future—assured that “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” and confident that “My times are in Thy hand….” (Ps. 23:1; 31:15)
Therefore, “I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea come drifting home with broken masts…though all my prayers return unanswered…though sorrows fall like rain, and troubles swarm like bees…I will not doubt; well anchored in the faith like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale….” (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
And so it is with me. How about you?
“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” (Psalm 56:3)