Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Have you ever been in Pathfinder when you were young? Being a Pathfinder was one of the great memories of growing up in the church. I enjoyed the weekly meetings, earning honors, marching, and the overall time with friends. One Friday afternoon we were preparing to go on a camping trip and our Pathfinder director had gathered all of us outside to give us instructions. I was standing in the back of the group and frankly was not listening at all. I had discovered these little seeds that were shaped like round pellets that were on the trees above my head. They were wonderful little objects. However, I was not planting them. Instead I was picking them off and lobbing them towards unsuspecting fellow Pathfinders, mainly the girl side of the group of Pathfinders. I would toss them at some girl and then act like I was listening very attentively to the director. Soon I had zeroed in on one particular young lady. Again and again I lobbed the pellets at her.

Little did I know that her older brother was standing away from the group and watching this take place. Now this guy was like Goliath! He was tall, rode a motorcycle, and he worked out. He was huge. At least he was much bigger than me. The next thing I knew, the brother had me by the scruff of the neck and was dragging me across the street whispering in my ear the ways that he was going to disassemble me and leave me in pieces beside the road. I figured that life as I knew it was over.

As I staggered along wondering if anyone else was noticing that my life was about over, I suddenly heard the most amazing words yelled from a half a block away. “Let go of my son.” It was my father and he was the most welcome sight of that day. Immediately Goliath let go of me and I stood behind my father relieved that I would not be nursing bruises at the end of the day while he lectured the giant to never touch me again.

In the early chapters of Exodus, there is a phrase that God tells Moses to say many times. “Let my people go.” God is also watching the bad things that happen to us. Even when we get ourselves into messes in life, He is still willing to step up and say ‘Let my son and daughter go. Leave them alone.’ I love the text in James 4:7 where it says;

As you seek to grow spiritually each day, remember that there is a personal savior that asks that each day we submit to Him and He can look at the devil and say LET MY PEOPLE GO. May that be your experience today.