HOW FAR IS THE EAST FROM THE WEST?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has
he removed our transgressions from us.
(Psalm 103:11-12)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever wondered why the scriptures tell us that our
sins have been removed “as far as the east is from the west”,
and not “as far as the north is from the south”?

If you are a visual person (I am),
then this is probably a good illustration for you.
Even though I use the words ‘we’, ‘our’, etc,
because it is applicable to all of us;
when you read it, think of the words ‘I’, ‘my’, etc.

First let’s consider “as far as the north is from the south”.
Let’s say that we are at the South Pole and we
decide to get in a car and start driving north.
We will continue heading north
until we get to the North Pole, right?

What happens if we continue driving?
We will now be heading south,
because everything is south of the North Pole.

If we are not paying attention,
then we will be unaware of our change in direction.
It is a subtle change in direction, but the important
thing to remember is, there are limitations of how
far we can drive in a north or south direction.

We can agree that we would like
to have our sins as far away as possible.
“as far as the east is from the west” accomplishes that.

Let’s say that we are at the equator and we
decide to get into a car and start driving east.
At which point will we suddenly be headed west?
It will never happen, right?

We will keep driving east forever, which means
our sins will continually get farther away from us.
The only way we can start heading west is if we
turn the car around and head in the opposite direction.
And when we do, we will continue heading west
forever, unless we turn the car around.

Now, let’s take this illustration a little further.
Considering the roundness of the earth, if we continue
driving east, we will eventually return to our starting point.
However, due to the length of our trip and the distance we
have traveled from our sins, we are not as familiar with
them as we were when we left;
they don’t have the same attraction to us.

Then, Satan and his cleverness enter our illustration.
And what does he do?
He has increased the attractiveness
and excitement of the sins we left behind.
They now have lights flashing, bright colors,
and crowds of people are gathered around them.

What had become a dark part of our life
is now on display as something new and exciting.
That’s how the evil one works, right?

At any rate, we are at a decision crossroad.
Do we continue driving east at the same rate
of speed, or do we slow down, then pull over and
spend some time looking at this new attraction?

Satan will try to convince us that we have already
seen everything ahead of us, so it’s okay to stop
and ‘smell the roses’.
At that point, he has gained a foothold, right?
He has caused us to look at our dark sins in a new light.

He has caused us to justify ‘playing’ with them again, because
after all, we are only going to spend a brief time looking.
Yeah, right! That’s not the way it works, is it?
Once we have looked for a while we start wondering if
there is even more excitement down the road…headed west.

So, we get back in our car, turn it around,
and start driving west….just to ‘explore’ of course.
At each stop along the way, our excitement increases
for awhile, but then it begins to fade so we start looking
for something new – something that will arouse our
sinful desires even more.

Satan has now gained a stronghold and keeps applying
the pressure, and as a result, we continue heading west
until we have reached a point much farther west than
our point of origin.
Sin can be stronger than before whenever we return to it.

He has successfully taken us in an opposite direction,
and we have forgotten all of the beauty, splendor, and
excitement of everything we discovered when we were
heading east.

Then suddenly we realize that we have been fooled
by the great lies and persuasiveness of the evil one.
And we struggle to turn our car around and head east again.
We realize we have wasted a lot of time and used a lot of
resources while going in the wrong direction.

Not only has our time been lost forever, but we are
in desperate need of a full tank (of the Holy Spirit).
As we search for a way to refill our tank, we feel guilty
about how we have wasted our time and energy going
in the wrong direction.

We have missed many exciting adventures the Lord had
planned for us while we were on our eastward journey.
In addition we are carrying new thoughts of our sins
with us, stead of increasing our righteousness.

We have exchanged a new and exciting trip with the Lord
for a miserable and dismal one, because we became selfish
and listened to the wrong voices.
Our trip is delayed even more, because
we feel dirty and want to clean up before continuing.

There were people along our eastward route who needed
us to be there at a specific time, and we let them down.
When we allowed our own selfishness to seize control,
not only were we negatively impacted, but so were others.

There were people who wanted to join us on our eastward
journey, but due to our tardiness, the condition of our
‘vehicle’, and our tendencies to go in the opposite direction,
they have decided they no longer want to go with us.
Some of those people could be lost souls.

ACTION:
The scriptures tell us that we will face temptations
And all of them start in our mind.
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.”
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by
their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown,
gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15)

Temptations can come suddenly and the question for us is
“How do we handle them?”
First we need to realize the cleverness of the evil one,
and remember the power of Almighty God to overcome.

When we recognize Satan’s invasion of our thoughts,
we should not be arrogant or prideful enough to think
that we can ‘deal with him’ in our own strength.
Instead we need to invoke the names of those who
are stronger and more clever than the evil one.

How can we do that?
We say,
“Satan, in the name of my savior Jesus, my advocate
the Holy Spirit and my heavenly Father God,
I command you to leave my mind now!”

Of course the enticement of sin will continue to
fight back, so it may not be very easy at the start,
but say it anyway.
The more we take this approach, the easier it
will become, and the more sincerity we will
have when we command him to leave.

Which way is your “vehicle” (mind, will, and soul) headed?
Does Satan have a foothold, or even worse a stronghold on you?
Are you been traveling in a direction that takes people with you
toward Christ, or does your life have a negative impact on them?
What changes do you need to make to go in the opposite direction?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me if I have failed to stay on
the course you have created for me. Temptations are strong,
but You are more powerful! I pray that if I have taken a
detour and started heading in the wrong direction, You will
strengthen my resolve to return to the road you have created
for me to follow, so that my life will point others toward Your
Son, Jesus. Thank You for loving me enough to cause me to
realize my mistakes, and for creating in me a desire to please
You by making changes in my directions. Remind me of my
first love for You when You saved me and gave me a new path
that leads to life with You in eternity.”

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