Today, I am struggling with words. Not mine, but that of another. So, in an effort to go to the Word for answers, the Lord has brought me to a passage in Numbers 9. God is preparing the people to enter the Promised Land. He has numbered them and set them out to follow the cloud by day and the fire by night in a wilderness where they could easily be lost. God is teaching them to trust Him in every step, not moving without, ahead or behind Him.
Then Moses said to his father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, “I will give it to you; come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.”
Would it be that we would say these words- COME WITH ME-I am setting out for the PROMISED LAND-to the place of more, good and what the Lord has. COME AWAY WITH ME and let’s seek what God has for us.
For many of us, we are not seeking this path. We are not following the cloud. We are merely wandering in our wilderness. For others of us, we are ready to set out and trying to get those we care about to come along on the journey. It is a great statement. “I am going, come go with me!”
The response Moses got wasn’t the preferred one. He was hoping to get a “YES, I will go” answer, but instead. This is what he got; “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives.”
It doesn’t make any sense? Why would you say no? Why would you look at someone who is asking you to come find more of God and say, I think I will NOT choose what God has, even though it is good. Instead, I will choose MY OWN LAND and RELATIVES. In other words, I will choose MY OWN way, my own family, my own path, my own friends, what I like, what I want, my comfort, instead of going with God.
I read these words and thought, IS HE CRAZY? Why would you say-I will not come, rather choose MY OWN? Yet, isn’t that what so many say. Offered a chance at more, knowing it is their good and standing on the edge, they choose their OWN LAND and RELATIVES instead of what God has for them.
For many, when others choose not to go, it deters them. They are hindered by those who say no. They would rather stay with those who refuse to go, than journey on with God. What would have happened if Moses had chosen to NOT go because who he asked to go said no? An entire nation would have missed the promised land. What will happen if we choose NOT to go because those we love are interested in making that journey?
Don’t you think that years later his father-in-law regretted choosing the safety of his LAND and RELATIVES? I don’t know the answer to that. But I KNOW that Moses NEVER regretted moving on. He chose every time to follow the cloud, not the crowd. And so must we. We can ask others to come, but we can’t force them to follow. We don’t beg and we don’t stop going if they choose differently.
The passage ends with Moses SETTING OUT following the cloud, without the one he asked to go.
There will always be those who choose not to GO. Who don’t want to follow the cloud, but the crowd. There will always be those who are more interested in the CROWD than the cloud. The question is….are you that person?
ALL FOR YOU
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
exodus 19
God leaves nothing to chance. He can’t. He wouldn’t be God if He did. He is all knowing, all present, all powerful and nothing escapes His notice or His plan. He is not taken by surprise, nor is He left wondering what He should do. He is God and there is none other like Him.
Somehow, sometimes, we would like to think we get one over on God. Or that He doesn’t know or see. Or perhaps that He doesn’t care. But what we fail to see is that the joke is on us. God sees and knows.
We think that because God doesn’t act in that moment or because there seems to be no consequence that perhaps we have gotten away with it. But what we fail to recognize is that the very consequence we receive is the very worst thing for us. It is a loss of Him…as we back away from Him.
From the earliest of recorded instructions, God had a plan. He had a way of doing things. A pattern to follow. And when that plan wasn’t followed there was grave consequence.
Think about Adam and Eve. The plan was that they could live in the garden. There was only ONE rule. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when we didn’t follow the plan, withdrawal happened. God removed us from His continual presence and provision, casting man out of the garden.
Think about Noah, the only righteous man on the planet. God saw that every intent of man’s heart was evil and so He chose to destroy all the living creatures, except for Noah and His family. The consequence for sin was deep and had effects far more reaching than eating what was forbidden. Man didn’t follow the plan and now death and separation ensued.
When God gave a pattern for the tabernacle, He intended for it to be followed. He was building a place to meet with His people. We didn’t deserve it, some didn’t even want it. Nevertheless, despite the separation and death, God was at work to restore what we had thrown away. And He had a pattern that had to be followed for that.
His desire has been to make a way for us to be WITH Him. But there is a pattern that MUST be followed. We see this in the intricate detail God gave when He instructed Moses on how to build the tabernacle that He would dwell in. He left nothing to chance or to the imagination. He directed every step.
We can learn a lot from this one idea. God DESIRES to be WITH us, but He is not so desperate for our communion that He tolerates a half way, half hearted effort in meeting with Him. You either come to Him all the way, His way or not at all. He sets the pattern. And when we don’t follow it. We back away from the Living God and find distance-not because God moved, but because we did. Backing away from God’s pattern is a bad idea. It was a bad idea in the garden. It was a bad idea for Jonah. It was a bad idea for Israel. And it is a bad idea for us. His pattern is not a bad idea. It is the only one that gets us into His Presence.
ALL FOR YOU
Somehow, sometimes, we would like to think we get one over on God. Or that He doesn’t know or see. Or perhaps that He doesn’t care. But what we fail to see is that the joke is on us. God sees and knows.
We think that because God doesn’t act in that moment or because there seems to be no consequence that perhaps we have gotten away with it. But what we fail to recognize is that the very consequence we receive is the very worst thing for us. It is a loss of Him…as we back away from Him.
From the earliest of recorded instructions, God had a plan. He had a way of doing things. A pattern to follow. And when that plan wasn’t followed there was grave consequence.
Think about Adam and Eve. The plan was that they could live in the garden. There was only ONE rule. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when we didn’t follow the plan, withdrawal happened. God removed us from His continual presence and provision, casting man out of the garden.
Think about Noah, the only righteous man on the planet. God saw that every intent of man’s heart was evil and so He chose to destroy all the living creatures, except for Noah and His family. The consequence for sin was deep and had effects far more reaching than eating what was forbidden. Man didn’t follow the plan and now death and separation ensued.
When God gave a pattern for the tabernacle, He intended for it to be followed. He was building a place to meet with His people. We didn’t deserve it, some didn’t even want it. Nevertheless, despite the separation and death, God was at work to restore what we had thrown away. And He had a pattern that had to be followed for that.
His desire has been to make a way for us to be WITH Him. But there is a pattern that MUST be followed. We see this in the intricate detail God gave when He instructed Moses on how to build the tabernacle that He would dwell in. He left nothing to chance or to the imagination. He directed every step.
We can learn a lot from this one idea. God DESIRES to be WITH us, but He is not so desperate for our communion that He tolerates a half way, half hearted effort in meeting with Him. You either come to Him all the way, His way or not at all. He sets the pattern. And when we don’t follow it. We back away from the Living God and find distance-not because God moved, but because we did. Backing away from God’s pattern is a bad idea. It was a bad idea in the garden. It was a bad idea for Jonah. It was a bad idea for Israel. And it is a bad idea for us. His pattern is not a bad idea. It is the only one that gets us into His Presence.
ALL FOR YOU
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