This is probably my wife’s best time and season! She’d love for me to cast away most of what I have! It’s in the wors!
Some people don’t understand why it’s correct to cast away certain things. Yesterday we watched a TV program of a widow who had lost her husband four years earlier and was having a hard time. Somewhere on her property she had a spot where he was buried. Although, his wishes and legacy were being honored, at the same time, it presented her with a constant reminder of him. This was a case where casting away, or detaching with a situation, is called for.
I’m not being cruel, but in my family, we have people who are living dead folk. They’re so connected through suffering and hurt of a deceased loved one, that they’re practically dead themselves. They ain’t living. Both are dead.
I know how hard it was when my dad died. I know how difficult it was for my mom to let go of him and leave the funeral for the cemetery. My cousin, David, kept telling me, “That’s not healthy, Sam; she’s got to let him go.” And she didn’t want to. We know that “To be absent from the body, is to present with the LORD” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Therefore, we keep our dad/husband in our hearts, but we’ve never visited his grave.
Some family members have been in mourning for loved ones for decades. It’s time to cast the hurt away. Time to cast away the bondage. Time to cast away the feelings that keep us attached to good times or to great memories, if they’re holding you back. If your hope is in the Living God, you know that Jesus told the religious leaders, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32). Meaning, our gone loved ones, if they served God, are alive with Christ!
It’s also time to cast out rebellion. Did you know that “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (1 Samuel 15:23)? God doesn’t want rebellious people! He wants obedience! Why did Adam & Eve sin? Because of rebellion. Why was King Saul cast away by God? Because he rebelled against God’s words delivered by the prophet Samuel prompting the famous saying, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). Instead of obeying God’s command to kill all the enemy’s flocks as well as king Agag, Saul decided to keep the best animal as a sacrifice unto God, and to spare the king’s life. He lost the kingdom.
And since we’re on the subject of casting out, “But what does the Scripture say? Cast out and send away the slave woman and her son, for never shall the son of the slave woman be heir and share the inheritance with the son of the free women” (Galatians 4:30 AMPC).
Meaning, Abraham and Sara’s slave, Hagar, who bore Ishmael to Abraham, and became a great nation, will never share in the inheritance promised by God to Abraham through Isaac-the son of the promise.
Ultimately, “Cast your cares upon him; for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
Until next TIME…
Sam