Forgotten Sojourners

"You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt."

Exodus 23:9

I have come a long way from my adolescence. Even though I am only twenty-four, it feels as if I have matured ten years in the past two. God has reminded me this year to think back on how I used to think before I pledged my life to Him, before I deplored the death of His Son on the Cross, and before the Holy Spirit reformed my life. I pledged my life to Him before I even knew who He was. And now I realised how judgemental I've been, even only in my mind, toward the lost souls, the unforgiven.

We must remember, how our Lord loved us even before we turned from our wicked ways and ran towards Him into His embracing arms. We may have long forgotten the way we were before that day we called out for His redemption and forgave us. I'm talking about the ones who have turned to Him later in life. Some of you may not remember because you may have been so young, maybe a toddler when you believed. This might be a reminder to some of you of the time when you were given "reproof" of your salvation that was received as a child. That time when your faith was tested and you sought the evidence to the truth. Maybe you needed some evidence to the veracious truth-claim of the Scriptures to convince yourself to belief in the authenticity of the Bible, or maybe you just needed some reassurance.

O' how thankful I am to the Lord that He has redeemed me in my young adult years. I have sometimes wished that I could have shared my childhood with Him and especially my teen years. But with those years in condemnation, living for myself has taught me so much of my flesh and wicked self. It is a good reminder to reflect on how far I could go, or worse, if I had made the decision to turn from His sovereign grace.

We were once ignorant of the Lord and naïve as a sojourner seeking redemption in the desert. Be patient with the unforgiven. Show compassion as the Lord did with you. He waited patiently for you. Give mercy to the ones who are seeking Him. Let them hear your earnest call for their repentance and call to salvation. But shake the dust off your feet after they have not listened to you and leave them with their fate, for their hearts are hardened. Their ears are clogged by believing the lies of the scientists and thinkers of the world, and therefore are deaf. They're eyes seduced by harlots of entertainment, and therefore are blind. Give grace to the humble, but the Law to the unrepented hearts.