The weight of our debt

Eight months after our wedding day, my husband and I thrilled to learn our first baby was on her way. Seven months after her arrival, our second child lit up the ultrasound screen. When she reached the ripe old age of nine months—you guessed it, we learned a third child was in the works; and when he was not yet two, his baby brother joined our family. Four, three, nearly two, and new . . . that’s how we introduced our brood. And they introduced us to something too—debt. All those babies and bottles and diapers and wipes added up quickly, faster than the income my husband could make working three jobs.

Insurance payments meandered their way to plastic (who am I kidding? They scampered effortlessly to become besties with our 22% interest rate), so did postage stamps (to mail the bills), groceries—necessities. Throw in a bad choice in the vehicle leasing department and we were sunk. God graciously provided us a home after an astounding tax return, but we found ourselves with a lot of financial catching up to do . . . while still addressing the needs of our little crowd of growing babes.

I learned a lot about sacrifice in the years that followed; wistfully watching as the other ladies at church sported new seasonal ensembles, while I dug out my worn-through jeans to wear . . . again. The only time we saw the inside of a restaurant was when doting grandparents came to town, offering to foot the bill. Oh, there were a thousand ways we penny-pinched and scraped to get by, all in the hopes of getting rid of our financial debt.

And then . . . a great day came; a final check eliminated forever the oodles of credit card debt we’d accumulated in our children’s youngest years. The unrecognized weight that lifted off of our tired shoulders, the buoyant joy that filled the anxious places where memories of financial woes stayed hidden, what a beautiful relief!

Colossians 2:13-14 says, “You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins. Because we broke God’s laws, we owed a debt—a debt that listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. He took it away and nailed it to the cross.”

How wise our great God is to describe Jesus’ sacrifice for us as a debt paid! What a tremendous relief for our tired, heavy souls that our countless sins are removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), they are blotted out of God’s memories (Isaiah 43:25), and we are free to embrace the luxury of His rich love as He purifies our inmost selves (1 John 1:9).

God’s greatest provision for our eternal “accounts” is His one and only—His child, His heart, Himself. Astounding, and so very loving. If you have yet to experience the sudden “payment” of peace that Christ offers in the face of an insurmountable mountain of “soul debt,” for Pete’s sake, give it a go! Forget the bank book, you’ll be in the Book of Life. Ask Christ to forgive the mistakes, bad decisions, the junk you thought you needed (but discovered only pulled you down) and promise to put your heart and efforts into obeying Him from here on out—it’s instant debt relief. Paid in full.

Jesseca Newton
Writer

Grumbling

Numbers 14:26-30 (NIV)

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall--every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”

As we can see from Numbers 14, the Lord takes grumbling seriously. Here, we see it was so serious that it landed the Israelites back into the wilderness for 40 years! The dictionary defines grumbling as “muttering in discontent; complaining sullenly; to express with complaining.”

We can also see from the passage that God takes grumbling/complaining personally. In Numbers 14 the Israelites were bemoaning the fact that the people in the Promised Land were too great for them and they would never be able to conquer them. Yet, when they complained, God said they had grumbled against HIM. Their grumbling refused to acknowledge God had promised them victory ahead of time and He was in control. When we complain, we are doing the same thing; refusing to acknowledge that He is in control over all our circumstances, (yep-even the small ones). Everything that God allows into our lives is used by Him to make us more dependent on Him and to increase our trust in Him. When we complain, it really means that we don’t believe God is sovereign; that He has a reason and a purpose for allowing every circumstance into our lives.

If we look at the Hebrew word for “grumble,” it also means “to tarry, to stay, to lodge.” This is no accident. As long as we respond to areas of our lives with complaining and grumbling, like the Israelites, we can’t move forward in our walks with God. We will continue to stay “lodged” in those areas until we are finally able to acknowledge his sovereignty and thank Him and trust Him regardless of our circumstances. Only then will we be able to move forward into a closer relationship with Him and to inherit all the blessings He has promised us.

Have you acknowledged that God is Lord over all the circumstances of your life? In what areas have you been “lodged” or stuck? Today, and throughout this week, take note of when you’re complaining; whether in your thoughts or your words. Then tell God you’re sorry, acknowledge His sovereignty, and begin to replace your complaining with praise and thanksgiving that He loves you, is all-powerful, is all-wise, and uses all things for our good.

Cathy Constantz
Writer