Our Family in California

Our Family in California

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

A Blank Check


      
      It’s been a while! I haven’t written a blog in several months. That’s not to say that I haven't set down to write one on several different occasions. It’s not even to say that there hasn't been anything worth writing about. I just haven’t felt like I had the right thing to write about.... Until I read this:

“After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. Then all the people responded together, ‘We will do all that the Lord has spoken.’ So Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord.”                                   Exodus 19:7-8

Seems pretty straight forward.  The elders of the children of Israel are saying that they will do all that the Lord commands, so that God will make them a special treasure, and a holy people, right?  

Wait! This is Exodus 19. The people don’t get the commandments of God until chapter 20 - 23. What are they agreeing to in these verses? What are they making rash statements about? Why are they signing a blank check to be filled in by the Most High in the future at some point? I mean, at this point Yahweh could have commanded ANYTHING and they had already promised to follow His commands.  

I had never before realized the level of trust that the Israelites had toward God or the depth of their desire to be God’s chosen people. We are quick to judge them when we read about how many times they fell away, or how they took the commands, added to them, and made them a burden to themselves and others.  When we see, a few chapters later, how quickly they make a graven image and worship it, we wonder how they could do such a thing. But, let’s not forget this act of faith.  

Why were they willing to follow the commands of God before they knew what those commands were? They are willing because of the things they had seen and been a part of. God reminds them about what He did to the Egyptians and how He carried them out of Egypt on eagles wings. They could sign a “blank check” because they knew, trusted, and were already dependent on the One who now asked them if they would follow where He would lead and do what He would ask them to do. 

I got to see a similar scenario play out while Faith was spending time with her family in Pennsylvania. I was the only “adult supervision” for my children. (Kind of a scary thought if you dwell on it...) We needed to clean up the house, and rather than do it by myself, I asked if my children would be willing to help me with something and promised a reward at the end.  They all agreed with giggles and smiles of anticipation on their faces.  I then told them that we needed to work together to clean the mess that had been made.  

Let me tell you what!  My kids cranked up some “cleaning music”, and in about half an hour we had a house that was close to spotless!  There was joy in the “law” because they knew several things.  They knew that I would be pleased, that there would be some sort of reward when they were done, and they recognized the wisdom in getting the house in order before Mom got home.  It was a joyful night at the Riddering home as we cleaned and sang together, and then went to the beach and got ice cream. (In case you are wondering, chocolate ice cream with fresh pineapple is one of the joys of life here in Costa Rica!)

Now back to the Israelites and ourselves for that matter... How did The God of the Universe fill in the blank of the check handed to Him? 

Our kids LOVE hanging out with their friends from the orphanages!
 Well, He said love Him!  He said love your neighbors!  He said “Remember” the Sabbath and keep it holy. (a mini vacation every week, while all the other nations had to work every day just to get by)  He also reminded them to use some common sense, don’t kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, or bow down to something that He made or that they could make.  (In our house we say it like this; “Use the good brain that God gave you!”)

I don’t see anything here that was meant to be burdensome. I see loving guidelines to keep His children from doing things that they would regret.  I see a plan for the temporary forgiving of sins through sacrifices that pointed to a permanent sacrifice that would bring forgiveness by the death and resurrection of His Son.  

 I don’t see a God who wants to impose harsh restrictions on His people, but instead One who wants us to spend time with Him and truly love Him and others. He promises blessings to those who will follow His commands and lays out what those blessings will be. This is a good life! This is freedom! This is the plan and request of our Loving Heavenly Father! This is the way of life that Jesus came to live out, celebrate, reveal, enjoy, and fulfill, but not abolish.  

“Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished”
                                                        Matthew 5:17-18

So, what does this have to do with anything?

 Well, what blank checks have we written God lately?  We get to write them as expressions of love and gratitude, and not because we have to in order to be saved or because it is demanded.  We shouldn't write them out of obligation, but out of a sense of wonder and love for our Messiah.  Once we sign those blank checks we wait with anticipation to see where and how He will lead in our lives while holding nothing back.

We have been here in Costa Rica for quite a while now. I have been without "work" for a 
year at this point. We have received many generous gifts from some of you as well as our 
home church, but looking back we see that the money that has come in has been about 1/3 
of our expenses here. It is NOW that we need to write another blank check to God, and ask 
what His perfect plan looks like in the coming year. Just like Romans 12 says, we need to 
offer ourselves as living sacrifices and we need to do it each and every day.

 We’ve seen Him work in the past!  We know He is trustworthy!  We know that He loves us enough to face and endure death on our behalf.  We know that He stands ready and waiting to forgive.  How would our lives look different if we truly held nothing back? 


 We have been very busy since we wrote last and we have much to report!  Our church here in Costa Rica has asked me to be the mission and outreach pastor.  My job is to continue to work at the youth center as well as plan out local mission trips and outreach projects for our church here.  We are excited to be planning a trip for July 7-9 to go visit the Guaymi Indians and do some work and outreach projects there with our brothers and sisters from Iglesia De La Costa.  


 My kids are already talking about an upcoming trip our Capstone Church family will be taking July 21-28!  We can't wait to spend time with friends and we are busy trying to nail down some of the details on this end. 


 We are also looking forward to more frequent trips to the orphanages this year with trips planned every other week.  And, we are trying to keep up with the other commitments we have here as well.

 Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!  Your notes, phone calls, e-mails, and gifts mean the world to us!


For His Glory,

The Ridderings


PS. Here's a link for those of you that would like to support our ministry here in Costa Rica -  www.WorldOutreach.org/donations  you can select Aaron and Faith Riddering from the list under the donate tab.  You can also set up automatic monthly Gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option.  Or, simply mail your check to:  World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate for Aaron & Faith Riddering #239. THANK YOU to those of you who have donated already and for those of you that are praying for us!



Thank you to all of you who have helped our friends at the orphanages!  We passed out some new pillow cases last week and they are always excited to have something that is their own.