God, I Don’t Like it Here

Posted on July 8, 2015 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

“God, I Don’t Like It Here…”

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.” Psalm 118:8-9 (KJV)

On April 28, 1559, a 25 year old Queen Elizabeth, through The Act of Uniformity, would require that the common citizenry attend the Church of England…England’s Reformation finally took root!! By August of 1620 Separatists were setting sail from Plymouth Sound and were leaving England for what they thought was Virginia. A storm would blow this ship northward and when it finally came to shore in November, The Mayflower had landed in Massachusetts These Separatists or “Puritans” (as history would later call them) were not ready for the harsh winter that awaited them and even though they were a hardy, courageous and well-organized group half of them died in the months after their arrival.  

Before they decided to leave the Mayflower in 1621, 41 men came into agreement and signed what is called The Mayflower Compact. The document stated that from that moment on their new colony would glorify God and advance the Christian cause and consequently made the church the center of not only their spiritual life but their social life as well.  Though the first few years nearly destroyed the Puritans by 1628 the towns of Salem and Boston were established. Boston was looked upon as a “city on a hill” and with its reputation to be able to have self-governing churches a very Calvinistic Massachusetts General Court made church membership mandatory. 20,000 Puritans would come over from England and spread themselves out over The Connecticut River Valley.

It’s not totally verbatim but that’s what I got from a book titled “How God Saved Civilization” by James L. Garlow when I went looking to see if there was another person who, like Abram, left their native country, their relatives, and their father’s family, and went to the land that YHVH would show them. The search all began with a question, “How did Abraham get to be in the Hall of Faith?” (Hebrews 11:8-10) Just because he had it accounted to him as righteousness? Didn’t the writer of Hebrews ever bother to check out chapter 15 of Genesis? Even though YHVH repeats His promise in verse one, isn’t there a hint of boo-hoo-hoo in verse two? And then it stuck me…Abram may have been doubting YHVH’s promise to him but it didn’t break the vertical connection to Him.

Unlike the Puritans, who made covenants among themselves to insure God’s promise on their lives, YHVH Himself made a covenant with Abram. The part I leave out in the history line starting from Queen Elizabeth I to a Puritan population explosion in America is one simple fact…like we read in the Book of Judges, the next generation after the Puritans did “what was right in their own eyes” and had a no desire to carry on in their forefather’s covenants. That was not the case for Abram because of this simple fact…The Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional because YHVH Himself established it and He didn’t need Abram’s input just his obedience and because of this it is accounted to him as righteousness. This is why Psalm 118: 8 is clear when we read, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

So with my question on how does Abraham make it into the Hall of Faith answered I wonder why we struggle so much with our own confidence in people. It’s not like everyone I meet is going to fail me at some point but who am I that I should expect them not to do so or better yet be dismayed at them when it does happen. And not everyone should think that the grass is greener on the other side either and set sail for a better situation. I ponder over these recent words from Russell Moore (President of the Ethics and Religious Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention)…”To think that we deserve to live in different times is to tell God that we deserve a better mission field than the one He has given us.” If this didn’t punch you in the nose hard enough then maybe you need to check your vertical connection. Amen?  Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net

Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 32-34; Acts 7:44-60

Think About This: “Nothing is more profitable than dwelling on familiar truths. Was there ever a good man who did not believe that it was better to trust in Jehovah than rely on any created arm?”— William S. Plumer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah – Psalm 62:8