A Blank Check

January 26

TEXT: Exodus 19:1-8

In the third month of the exodus from Egypt, God stops His people at the entrance to the wilderness and has a brief discussion with them. In v. 4, He reminds them of what He had done in Egypt, how He had conquered Pharaoh and brought them out of bondage. Then, in a brief if-then statement, God lays a blank check before the nation. “If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people (for all the earth is mine) and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy people.” God had not yet told them what He would demand of them, in effect laying before them a blank check and giving them the option, sign here.

The people, having seen God’s great deliverance and awed by His presence and holy power, signed the check in v. 8, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” To sign the check was an act of faith in a moment of strength. To deliver on it was another matter indeed. Israel failed God in every way, falling into such idolatry and rebellion that it resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people. Kind of gives teeth to the warning “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay (Ecc. 5:4-5).

As believers, we have put our trust in Christ. We have experienced the forgiveness of sins and the new birth. We have come to know God on a new and personal level. Now comes the next stage, the “follow me” stage. God wants you to move beyond deliverance into growth and service. He has adopted you into His family, now He wants to involve you in the family business. Many of us, realizing the call to discipleship is as urgent and necessary as the call to salvation, have written God a blank check, only to be dismayed and delayed by the apparent cost. Our case does differ from Israel, in that Jesus was very clear what the cost would be, telling us in Matthew 16:25, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Knowing this, how often have we, at the moment of testing, said to the Lord, “just a minute, Lord, I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

In Psalm 15, David described those who would abide in the tabernacle of God, saying, “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” You see, brothers and sisters. God is not as much interested in our signing a blank check as in what we do after He fills in the amount. You trusted Him enough to give your life to Him, can you trust Him enough not to take it back, no matter what?

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom