It's so easy to be deceived. If for just a split second we think that we don't have to do exactly what God said, we can fall into Satan's trap. If we listen to a voice other than God's, we follow a path that leads to destruction. Ask the man of God in 1 Kings 13.
A man of God went to then King Jeroboam and prophesied. He witnessed miracles as amazing as the ones Moses witnessed before Pharoah. How humbled he must have been to be so close to what God was doing.
The man of God had specific instructions: "You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came."--1 Kings 13:10. After witnessing God move, he started out as God instructed, going down a different road.
The man of God was on a complete fast until he returned to Judah. He was hungry and thirsty. God had said no food or water. He was going back a different way, and maybe the way back was even longer. How long before he could eat?
As so often happens, in all our lives, he met temptation. Temptation came in the form, not of a serpent like in the garden, or some obvious sin to be avoided, but as an old prophet.
Satan knew where the man of God was vulnerable. He knew who he would listen to. King Jereboam had urged him to stay and eat. He refused. But an old prophet offering food? The hungry man of God couldn't resist a meal offered by one he believed to be a fellow prophet.
Satan knows how, when, and where to strike. He won't hit us in places where we are sure to avoid the trap he is setting. He hits us where we are vulnerable. He tells us what we want to believe.
The man of God didn't know as he ate that the meal would be his last. I imagine him sitting there, stuffing his face, justifying his disobedience to the almighty God, when the old prophet, used by God, told him of his fate: "You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers."--1 Kings 13:22.
How downcast he must have been when he left that place! And how quickly the Bible records that God dealt with his disobedience: "As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road"--1 Kings 13:24.
How sad! The man of God had prophesied events that would happen years later and seen God perform mighty miracles! But he didn't follow God's instructions. He started out strong, but he didn't follow through.
The price of disobedience is high!! Remember the choice God game the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 30:15: "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction." If we are disobedient, we will suffer consequences for not following the directions that God has laid out before us. But if we obey God, He blesses us, and we will be able to say as Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thirsty for God
Lord, I am parched. Thirsty.
I haven't felt well for a couple of weeks. That spring flu/allergy thing going on. Not a big deal, but I still didn't feel like myself for a few days. During that time, I turned my focus to physical preservation and away from spiritual sustenance. The thing about our physical needs is they scream at us to be met. They insist that we respond. I am understanding even more the reason that fasting is such a vital discipline. It gives us the opportunity to bring our bodies, which can be so demanding, to their rightful place in line. Spiritual needs met. Then physical.
We live in a physical world. We tend to identify physical needs that we have and not only meet them but indulge them. We have difficulty bringing our bodies into submission. We can be overwhelmed not only by our physical needs but by our physical desires. We are in tune with the things we see, feel, touch, taste, hear.
I have spent two weeks attending to my physical needs at the expense of my spiritual needs. As I have begun to feel better, I have become aware of my spiritual thirst.
Lord, I am parched. I feel dry. I need your water. I want you; I need you.
David, too, had times that he was driven by self-preservation. God had appointed him king, but David still had struggles. His son, Absalom challenged David and tried to kill him (2 Samuel 15 - 18). It was during that time that David probably wrote Psalm 63: God, you are my God.
I search for you.
I thirst for you
like someone in a dry, empty land
where there is no water.
Imagine the thirst of someone in a desert with no water. Can you get a sense of how your body would ache for water in the scorching heat of the day as your throat was throbbing from being so dry? How you would fight for just a few drops of water to quench your thirst? How the need for water would be the one thing on your mind, driving you each step of the way?
So was David's thirst for God. He was driven as if by the thirst of a man in the desert with nothing to drink. With a thirst that could only be quenched by God. He was obsessive in his search for God who would satisfy the thirsting of his soul.
So I want to be in my search for God! Only He can satisfy this ache in my spirit. I am keenly aware of the need to have Him flow in, through, over me. I don't want just a few drops. I don't want to sip it. I want to gulp the waters of His Spirit. As the psalmist said in Psalm 42: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When may I come to see God's face?
"Lord, I am thirsty for you. Thirsty for your presence. Thirsty for your guidance. Thirsty for your purpose. Thirsty for your mercies. Thirsty for your grace. Thirsty for your direction. Thirsty for your embrace. Thirsty for your peace. Thirsty for your Word. Thirsty for your Voice. Thirsty for your love."
But may my thirst for Him never be satisfied! May I never get "filled up"!
"Lord, I want always to be seeking more of You. To have You spilling out of me, into the lives of others. May I seek not just to quench my thirst but may I seek to be poured out into a world that desperately needs you."
I haven't felt well for a couple of weeks. That spring flu/allergy thing going on. Not a big deal, but I still didn't feel like myself for a few days. During that time, I turned my focus to physical preservation and away from spiritual sustenance. The thing about our physical needs is they scream at us to be met. They insist that we respond. I am understanding even more the reason that fasting is such a vital discipline. It gives us the opportunity to bring our bodies, which can be so demanding, to their rightful place in line. Spiritual needs met. Then physical.
We live in a physical world. We tend to identify physical needs that we have and not only meet them but indulge them. We have difficulty bringing our bodies into submission. We can be overwhelmed not only by our physical needs but by our physical desires. We are in tune with the things we see, feel, touch, taste, hear.
I have spent two weeks attending to my physical needs at the expense of my spiritual needs. As I have begun to feel better, I have become aware of my spiritual thirst.
Lord, I am parched. I feel dry. I need your water. I want you; I need you.
David, too, had times that he was driven by self-preservation. God had appointed him king, but David still had struggles. His son, Absalom challenged David and tried to kill him (2 Samuel 15 - 18). It was during that time that David probably wrote Psalm 63: God, you are my God.
I search for you.
I thirst for you
like someone in a dry, empty land
where there is no water.
Imagine the thirst of someone in a desert with no water. Can you get a sense of how your body would ache for water in the scorching heat of the day as your throat was throbbing from being so dry? How you would fight for just a few drops of water to quench your thirst? How the need for water would be the one thing on your mind, driving you each step of the way?
So was David's thirst for God. He was driven as if by the thirst of a man in the desert with nothing to drink. With a thirst that could only be quenched by God. He was obsessive in his search for God who would satisfy the thirsting of his soul.
So I want to be in my search for God! Only He can satisfy this ache in my spirit. I am keenly aware of the need to have Him flow in, through, over me. I don't want just a few drops. I don't want to sip it. I want to gulp the waters of His Spirit. As the psalmist said in Psalm 42: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When may I come to see God's face?
"Lord, I am thirsty for you. Thirsty for your presence. Thirsty for your guidance. Thirsty for your purpose. Thirsty for your mercies. Thirsty for your grace. Thirsty for your direction. Thirsty for your embrace. Thirsty for your peace. Thirsty for your Word. Thirsty for your Voice. Thirsty for your love."
But may my thirst for Him never be satisfied! May I never get "filled up"! "Lord, I want always to be seeking more of You. To have You spilling out of me, into the lives of others. May I seek not just to quench my thirst but may I seek to be poured out into a world that desperately needs you."
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Cost of Not Waiting
Ever feel like you were born waiting? Waiting to be seated at restaurants, waiting to order, waiting to get food, waiting for the check. Waiting to check your luggage at the airport, waiting in lines at airport security, waiting to board your plane, waiting for your plane to take off. Waiting to get a doctor's appointment, waiting in the office for the doctor to see you, waiting to get test results after the doctor's appointment.
Practice might make perfect in some things, but waiting isn't one of them. The more we wait, the more irritable we often become. We can't just wait! We need to be doing something! We want to make things happen!
We have attempted to speed up some areas of our lives to compensate for the areas that we can't avoid having to wait in. We cook in microwave ovens that cook foods more quickly. We take advantage of twenty minute workouts that help us exercise more efficiently. We use hot houses and Miracle-Gro to make our plants grow faster.
We don't like to wait.
But sometimes we run into a situation, and God says wait.
That's what happened to Saul. Saul "was an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites" (1 Samuel 9:2). When Israel rejected God as their king and demanded an earthly king, God selected Saul to fill that position.
Some time after he became king, Saul found himself waiting at Gilgal. Jonathan had won a battle against the Philistines, but the Philistine armies had joined together to attack Saul. He apparently had instructions from Samuel to wait for seven days for Samuel to arrive to offer the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
Saul's troops began running off. Where was Samuel? Saul waited. The days passed. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The day Samuel was to arrive. What time was he coming?
"Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter." (1 Samuel 13:7-8).
Saul waited. How much longer was he supposed to hold on? Saul's impatience finally reached its limit. Deciding something needed to be done, he took matters into his own hands.
Saul offered up the burnt offerings himself.
Remember the rules about the burnt offering? The priest was to offer it. No one else, including the king, had authority to do that. No exceptions.
Here is recently appointed King Saul taking on a role only the priest was to fill. Here is King Saul disobeying God. Notice Saul's explanation for his arrogant gesture: "I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." (13:12). Compelled? Saul had a sense of urgency to ignore what Samuel said and to put himself above God's law? What could have possibly compelled him to do that?
All Saul had to do was wait, but he determined that he couldn't. He decided he didn't have to follow the law. The kingdom was his. He had celebrated with the people who were elated to have him as king. No split decision or opposing parties. Israel wanted a king and they wanted King Saul. But the decision not to wait cost Saul God's favor.
Ironic that what Saul didn't get, his successor King David understood very well. Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:14)
We say we would rather do something than nothing. We don't stop to realize that waiting on God is the most important something we can do.
What's the cost of not waiting on God?
It cost Saul his kingdom and eventually his relationship with God.
What might not waiting on God cost us?
Practice might make perfect in some things, but waiting isn't one of them. The more we wait, the more irritable we often become. We can't just wait! We need to be doing something! We want to make things happen!
We have attempted to speed up some areas of our lives to compensate for the areas that we can't avoid having to wait in. We cook in microwave ovens that cook foods more quickly. We take advantage of twenty minute workouts that help us exercise more efficiently. We use hot houses and Miracle-Gro to make our plants grow faster.
We don't like to wait.
But sometimes we run into a situation, and God says wait.
That's what happened to Saul. Saul "was an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites" (1 Samuel 9:2). When Israel rejected God as their king and demanded an earthly king, God selected Saul to fill that position.
Some time after he became king, Saul found himself waiting at Gilgal. Jonathan had won a battle against the Philistines, but the Philistine armies had joined together to attack Saul. He apparently had instructions from Samuel to wait for seven days for Samuel to arrive to offer the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
Saul's troops began running off. Where was Samuel? Saul waited. The days passed. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The day Samuel was to arrive. What time was he coming?
"Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter." (1 Samuel 13:7-8).
Saul waited. How much longer was he supposed to hold on? Saul's impatience finally reached its limit. Deciding something needed to be done, he took matters into his own hands.
Saul offered up the burnt offerings himself.
Remember the rules about the burnt offering? The priest was to offer it. No one else, including the king, had authority to do that. No exceptions.
Here is recently appointed King Saul taking on a role only the priest was to fill. Here is King Saul disobeying God. Notice Saul's explanation for his arrogant gesture: "I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." (13:12). Compelled? Saul had a sense of urgency to ignore what Samuel said and to put himself above God's law? What could have possibly compelled him to do that?
All Saul had to do was wait, but he determined that he couldn't. He decided he didn't have to follow the law. The kingdom was his. He had celebrated with the people who were elated to have him as king. No split decision or opposing parties. Israel wanted a king and they wanted King Saul. But the decision not to wait cost Saul God's favor.
Ironic that what Saul didn't get, his successor King David understood very well. Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:14)
We say we would rather do something than nothing. We don't stop to realize that waiting on God is the most important something we can do.
What's the cost of not waiting on God?
It cost Saul his kingdom and eventually his relationship with God.
What might not waiting on God cost us?
Monday, March 19, 2012
Press In. Press On. Press Forward.
Ever been to an event where people are standing, waiting to see a celebrity or important person? Invariably there will be someone from the back who is determined to get to the front of the crowd. They seem oblivious to everyone else who has been waiting patiently, courteously, standing in polite rows, following the unwritten rule that you fall in behind the person in front of you. This person will shove everyone else aside, pushing ahead, pressing in, determined to get as close as they possibly can. Maybe they came late to the event, but they aren't going to let that stop them from being close. No one is going to keep them from the front row.
Seems rude. Shouldn't they have come early if they were really that interested? How dare they push everyone else out of the way!
The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years may have seemed rude as she pressed in close to Jesus. She wasn't rude. She was desperate. Desperate to be healed. Desperate to touch the one who could change her life. If she could just get close enough to touch his clothes....
She pressed in.
Jesus turned and saw the woman and said, "Be encouraged, dear woman. You are made well because you believed." And the woman was healed from that moment on. -- Matt. 9:22.
Then sometimes you press on.
Naomi went from being a wife, mother of two sons and mother-in-law, to being a widow with two widowed daughters-in law. Life was filled with pain and heartache. The future seemed empty and hopeless. But Naomi didn't give up.
Naomi pressed on.
Naomi returned to her home in Judah with her daughter-in-law Ruth. There she introduced Ruth to Boaz, Ruth's kinsman redeemer. Through events only God could arrange, Ruth married Boaz. Then God gave her not only a husband, but a son. God redeemed Ruth and restored Naomi's dreams.
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. -- Ruth 4:13-17.
God gave her a grandson. A little baby boy to love and hold. She was undoubtably thrilled and excited. But little did she know how much more God was doing than she could see. She thought she was holding a grandson. She didn't know she was holding a great-grandparent of the Messiah, the Promised One.
Naomi could have focused on her losses. But she pressed on to be a part in the events that set the stage for the birth of the kinsman redeemer who would redeem all mankind.
Press Forward.
One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4:13-14.
We are not made to live here. This earth is not our home. If sometimes we feel a little out of sorts being here, it is because we were never supposed to be completely comfortable here. This is our preparation area for heaven.
Too often we live like this life is all there is. We don't talk about hell much anymore. We don't talk about heaven, either. We act as if the Christian life works because it is good for us now; that we accept Christ for what He can do for us in this life.
But we are called to press forward to heaven.
When I was a little girl, I loved the old songs about heaven. I remember regularly singing:
When We All Get to Heaven
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place.
Refrain:
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!
Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold.
We can not allow ourselves to become so acclimated to this earth that we don't yearn for heaven. We were created for heaven! We were created to walk on streets of gold, to live in mansions God has prepared for us, to spend eternity praising the One who died for us. There was an old saying that we don't want to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. I am afraid that we have compensated to the point that we aren't heavenly minded at all!
Be changed by His Spirit. Don't give up despite the circumstances. Yearn for heaven.
Press in. Press on. Press Forward.
Seems rude. Shouldn't they have come early if they were really that interested? How dare they push everyone else out of the way!
The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years may have seemed rude as she pressed in close to Jesus. She wasn't rude. She was desperate. Desperate to be healed. Desperate to touch the one who could change her life. If she could just get close enough to touch his clothes....
She pressed in.
Jesus turned and saw the woman and said, "Be encouraged, dear woman. You are made well because you believed." And the woman was healed from that moment on. -- Matt. 9:22.
Then sometimes you press on.
Naomi went from being a wife, mother of two sons and mother-in-law, to being a widow with two widowed daughters-in law. Life was filled with pain and heartache. The future seemed empty and hopeless. But Naomi didn't give up.
Naomi pressed on.
Naomi returned to her home in Judah with her daughter-in-law Ruth. There she introduced Ruth to Boaz, Ruth's kinsman redeemer. Through events only God could arrange, Ruth married Boaz. Then God gave her not only a husband, but a son. God redeemed Ruth and restored Naomi's dreams.
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. -- Ruth 4:13-17.
God gave her a grandson. A little baby boy to love and hold. She was undoubtably thrilled and excited. But little did she know how much more God was doing than she could see. She thought she was holding a grandson. She didn't know she was holding a great-grandparent of the Messiah, the Promised One.
Naomi could have focused on her losses. But she pressed on to be a part in the events that set the stage for the birth of the kinsman redeemer who would redeem all mankind.
Press Forward.
One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4:13-14.
We are not made to live here. This earth is not our home. If sometimes we feel a little out of sorts being here, it is because we were never supposed to be completely comfortable here. This is our preparation area for heaven.
Too often we live like this life is all there is. We don't talk about hell much anymore. We don't talk about heaven, either. We act as if the Christian life works because it is good for us now; that we accept Christ for what He can do for us in this life.
But we are called to press forward to heaven.
When I was a little girl, I loved the old songs about heaven. I remember regularly singing:
When We All Get to Heaven
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place.
Refrain:
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!
Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold.
We can not allow ourselves to become so acclimated to this earth that we don't yearn for heaven. We were created for heaven! We were created to walk on streets of gold, to live in mansions God has prepared for us, to spend eternity praising the One who died for us. There was an old saying that we don't want to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. I am afraid that we have compensated to the point that we aren't heavenly minded at all!
Be changed by His Spirit. Don't give up despite the circumstances. Yearn for heaven.
Press in. Press on. Press Forward.
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