Jim Sampson
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Where Are You Facing?
Jim Sampson proves the importance that God places on a relationship with His creation and presses Christians to turn, face God, and walk before Him. God told Abram to “walk before Me.” “Before” means “to turn to, to be in front of, or to face someone.” God wants our attention so that we walk with our face toward Him, and fulfill our part of the covenant with Him. This kind of attentive posture is exemplified in marriage. Husband and wife covenant to face each other, to hold each other in higher esteem than themselves, and to care for one another first. Their mutual faithfulness creates something new. It is the foundation of a moral community. God wants that relationship with us. He called to His children Israel, but they resisted. We are like children learning to walk; we gather confidence before strength, too quickly declining help, and fall. The Israelites leaving Egypt were like children taking their first steps, held up by their Father’s strong hands; there was “none feeble among them.” He fed them and gave them water. That is the same God who cares for us—our Father to whom we are consecrated and on whom we can rely in trust. We, like the Israelites, tend to fracture that bond with our faithlessness and idolatry. Let us not turn away, but mindfully, meekly, and joyfully walk before the face of our Father.
Jim Sampson proves the importance that God places on a relationship with His creation and presses Christians to turn, face God, and walk before Him. God told Abram to “walk before Me.” “Before” means “to turn to, to be in front of, or to face someone.” God wants our attention so that we walk with our face toward Him, and fulfill our part of the covenant with Him. This kind of attentive posture is exemplified in marriage. Husband and wife covenant to face each other, to hold each other in higher esteem than themselves, and to care for one another first. Their mutual faithfulness creates something new. It is the foundation of a moral community. God wants that relationship with us. He called to His children Israel, but they resisted. We are like children learning to walk; we gather confidence before strength, too quickly declining help, and fall. The Israelites leaving Egypt were like children taking their first steps, held up by their Father’s strong hands; there was “none feeble among them.” He fed them and gave them water. That is the same God who cares for us—our Father to whom we are consecrated and on whom we can rely in trust. We, like the Israelites, tend to fracture that bond with our faithlessness and idolatry. Let us not turn away, but mindfully, meekly, and joyfully walk before the face of our Father.
Keywords:
Adam and Eve – Covenant – Fatherhood – Genesis 1:1-3, 26; 18:22 – Hosea 2:19; 11:1-4 – Marriage – Relationships
