Jul 24, 2017

A daily devotional walking through God's word together using The Bible Reading Plan at http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.html. Our website http://alittlewalkwithgod.com.

1. Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.
2. As much as we might think we can, we cannot go wherever we want. Moses learned that a long time ago.
3. Scripture
   1. Leviticus 16:2
   2. Go, talk to Aaron, and warn him that he cannot go whenever he wants...
4. Devotional
   1. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m using another warfighter story today since I’m still deep into a training exercise for a medical command this week. I think it will illustrate my point pretty clearly, though.
   2. We have the units operating on a linear battlefield at the moment. When combat units fight side by side in that fashion, they have what are called lines of coordination that determine exactly where their left and right boundaries are so they reduce the risk of firing into friendly forces. That boundary is usually an easily recognizeable feature like a road or river or some other terrain feature that won’t change despite the intensity of the battle. And one of the units, not both, will own the feature, the road, river, or whatever it might be.
   3. So units don’t go into each others territory without prior coordination. One unit’s soldiers don’t cross the line without coordinating with their adjacent unit first. The reason is easily understood. If you cross the boundary without coordination, you might get shot by friendly force. Not a good thing for anyone. So units warn their soldiers where they cannot go. Don’t cross this road. Don’t cross this river. Don’t go over this hill. Stay out of the adjacent unit’s area. You can’t go wherever you want!
   4. It’s true in our everyday life. We find barriers on the road. One way signs, road blocks, locked doors. Physical barriers that keep us out of places that unless we have the proper authority, we cannot enter those places. I can pretty much guarantee that most if not everyone who hears this has never personally seen the gold in sitting in Fort Knox. We cannot go there. We cannot go wherever we want. If we tried, we would be turned away. If we tried by using force, we would be met with equal or greater force and be turned away. I can assure you that you cannot get to the gold in Fort Knox. It is protected from intrusion and theft and you cannot go there. You cannot see it. You cannot go wherever you want.
   5. There are some severe consequences for overstepping your bounds if you cross physical barriers that are there to restrict your movement. Another example are the barriers our law enforcement personnel put in place during flash floods. Some people are foolish enough to think the barriers don’t apply to them and find themselves caught in the torrent of water grasping on whatever they can when their car is washed off the road. The near death experience and $2500 fine helps remind them you cannot go wherever you want.
   6. All of these examples talk about physical space, but what about our behavior? What about our spiritual lives? What about pushing past the fence that God puts in place to keep us from suffering the consequences of sinful behavior. His laws keep us in line. His laws are much like telling our kids not to put their hand in the flame. Don’t go there, you’ll get burned.
   7. God tells us, don’t do these things. There are consequences you don’t want to pay if you cross these boundaries. You cannot go wherever you want.
   8. If we would just listen to Him. If we would just pay attention to the warning signs He puts in our path and then refuse to go around them, our journey of life would progress so much better. We would find ourselves with so much more joy and find our priorities ordered properly in the things we face every day.
   9. We understand in our daily lives we cannot go wherever we want. It’s important we apply that same understanding to our behavior and our spiritual lives. Otherwise there are consequences we do not want to pay.
5. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don't, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for "A Little Walk with God."
6. Bible Reading Plan - www.Bible-Reading.com