May 2022 – Harbor Lights Ministries

And I Wondered

I crossed into the promised land. The land flowing with milk and honey. I was shown all the promises of God. His Word was ever before me. I knew the statutes, I knew the laws.

And yet I continually looked to the pagan cultures, the pagan places, the very people that I was to push away…I embraced them. I held their ways in awe, revered their lives, and I envied their gods. I became like them.

And then…I wondered where did my God go? Why did God forsake me? I cried out…where are my blessings? Why do I feel alone? I wondered about this as I continually participated in the pagan ways that I knew God had called me out of.

When I left Egypt, I denounced the old ways and turned my heart to follow God and His ways. And yet, in my heart I still longed for the life of Egypt. My heart still lived in Egypt.

When I came into the land that God was giving me, I told God I would follow Him. And yet I blended in with the cultures around and embraced them. I lived among them and I was like them.

God’s Word was still there. His words never changed. But I did.

And yet I wondered…where is God? Why has He forsaken me? He has left me to my own devices.

And I wondered.

Sometimes in life we journey a particular direction, and yet God sees fit to re-direct our steps just before we reach what we believe to be our destination. To some, this would appear to be God denying us blessings and happiness…specially in light of promises He may have made regarding those blessings. And yet, we get re-directed, perhaps even to the point of having to retrace our steps, causing us to think that we are going backward in life. Such was the situation of the Israelites in the Old Testament, and such can be the circumstances we may face in life today. So, why does this happen? One simple thought is that God has plans for us and we might need to be put on a better path instead of our own. That happens more than we may know, but that also shows us that God is walking with us and guiding our very steps and that He wants the very best for us! But another look might show that perhaps God is redirecting our life’s journey because we are fighting against Him by doing our own thing. God took the Israelites back into the wilderness right when they were about to enter into the promised land because of their disobedience and, well, quite honestly, their whining!

In my previous podcast/writing called “Between Two Worlds”, I spoke about the issues people have when they try to walk between two worlds; the ways of God and the ways of man. The lure of this world, to fit in and enjoy the fun and excesses it has to offer, is a temptation that many easily embrace, including those professing to be Christians. And yet God is clear when He tells us to “choose this day whom you will serve.” And despite what many modern and liberal churches may claim, there is no gray or middle area that is acceptable to God. Revelation 3:15-16, Jesus says “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” This is a bold declaration that tells us we are either walking in the ways of God or we will be rejected in the end, and that rejection is to eternal damnation. Harsh, yes…but a reality that we cannot afford to waffle on.

I also pointed out the struggles that the Israelites had with falling into the temptations of idol worship that the pagan people around them would actively participate. These types of activities that the people of God would involve themselves with not only angered God, who is a jealous God, but would also cause loss of blessings because of their actions. You can easily see the direct correlation that I am drawing here! In our lives, in my life, the Lord is illuminating the reality that we are to be a people who worship Yahweh God and Him alone. We can learn to identify the many idols that take away our devotion and worship from God when we take the time to look into His word and then look around at the things that we count as important in our lives. The bottom line is that living contrary to God’s commands is a losing venture. Though you may enjoy some temporal pleasures in the here and now, eternity will have a completely different result.

As I read through the accounts of the Israelites in the Old Testament, I can’t help but put myself in their shoes (sandals) and wonder how my faith would hold up under those circumstances. One of the most important elements in reading and studying the Scriptures is to understand the time and culture associated with the words. Looking at the Word through a 21st century lens will cause us to misunderstand key elements of teaching. We specially have the conflict of having a modernistic, westernized viewpoint to begin with that can skew our application of the Scripture’s teachings and its Biblical worldview. But when we understand the people and places and times that are displayed within the pages, we then see how God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! And most of all how God’s words and decrees are still applicable to us today!

God’s plan for humanity was to set apart a people, the Israelites, and teach them who He is, what He requires, and His laws or statutes. Essentially through these holy (set apart) people, God’s Word would spread to all nations so that even the Gentiles (non-Jewish) could be grafted into God’s redemptive work through His Messiah, Jesus. The non-Jews were brought in by the promises of God when He set aside His covenant with the Israelites because of their stubborn and defiant attitude toward God. But now that the Gentiles (us) have been given the hopes and promises of God’s eternal salvation through His son Jesus the Messiah, we also have the commands to honor and worship God and Him alone.

Yet, so many walk this world without a thought of God, and, in the same manner, even those who say they believe in God and His son Jesus and yet live life under their own ways and means…just like most of the Israelites did. And you easily see where their neglect of God as their Lord got them!

The temptations that this world offers people today can be seen as more intense, more available, and more accessible than in Bible times. The advent of television, computers, and the internet has seen to it that people can readily access any form of sin they wish just with the push of a button. Yet even in Biblical days, sin’s lure was potent and drew many to their demise. The Apostle Paul had to write many times to the church he planted in Corinth to correct them for their “worldly” and “pagan” behaviors and practices…some of which even the pagans themselves condemned! And sadly, Paul, were he alive today, would be writing those very words to many so-called churches today…most right here in America…because you literally cannot tell the difference between the church and the culture around it. The command to “come out from among them” was not grasped by the Corinthian church, nor has that command been adhered to with many of todays “churches”.

“Flee immorality.” Simply put, you cannot serve the flesh in the ways of this world and expect God to walk with you. Not only is the dishonoring of our bodies by fleshly lusts an abomination before God, but our willful drive to put self first in our day to day life is just as bad. The world embraces, and even pushes, open sexuality and fleshly desires just as the many pagan temples did back in the Biblical times. Nothing new under the sun here. But neglecting God and His decrees because you want to do things your way because it makes you “happy” or “feels good”, is the very thing that caused God to withdraw His Spirit from the people in Biblical times and that punishment still happens today. Having the “me first” mentality is the very issue that drove the people in Corinth to put self-pleasure as a priority over God’s decrees and, sadly, we see this irreverence to God and His Word even among the many self-professing Christians today. Truly a sad testimony to the very lost and pathetic people that are wandering this world without knowledge of God.

How do we defeat the issues of “me-ism”? How do we fight the temptations that pound at the doors of our soul day in and day out? How can we stand against the waves of worldliness and selfish desires? Before any solutions can be implemented, we must first and foremost know who God is by knowing His Word. So many men and women all around the world have views and opinions as to who God is and how we should worship and follow Him, yet there is only one true source that we need to focus our time and studies on and that is the Word of God, the Holy Bible! It is in the pages there, God’s inspired complete Word, that gives us what we need to know about God, His son Jesus our Savior, the redemptive work that God has laid out for us, and how we can walk through this war zone with faith that He, alone, will bring us to our promised land in the end! Though the Word appears to be deep with complexities that some may think they cannot understand at first, it is important to know that our Lord has given to us His Spirit, that will illuminate the very Word to our souls and open our eyes to its truths! This we do with simple faith, like a child who trusts his parents for all things to sustain them through life.

This walk might not be on an easy road that is evenly paved with clearly marked signs and directions. We might be on a path that has many hills and curves. We may be on the wrong road in life and need to turn around and go back to a new starting point. We might be traveling rough roads that have caused us deep pains and sorrows for many years. We might be in a position where we are totally lost and have no point of reference where to go. What I can tell you is that the Israelites as well as many believers in Christ Jesus have been exactly where you might be now. Each one of our current locations might be unique to us but, like the people before us who have sojourned through rough and hostile places, we can be assured that God above knows each of us personally and knows exactly where we are and how to get us on the road that He has for us to reach the Celestial City of Heaven. Our road map is the Holy Bible and our guide is God’s Holy Spirit! We do not travel this journey alone! We just need to trust completely in Him. We may not like some of the ways and means we go, but He does know the best way. He may be taking us down a particular path for a season and for a reason that we need! We have to just trust Him and stay focused on His Word!

Like those that have gone before us, we may have a tendency to think we know better. We might want to do things our way because it brings us instant gratification. We may think that we know a good shortcut through life. We may want to go a different way to experience firsthand the pleasures of the world along the way. But deviating from God’s plan for our life only brings us to ruin and misery. At some point God will let you go (give you over) to navigate this life by yourself. But one thing that is important to know is that you will never arrive to the eternal joy in the heavenlies by your own power. You will not be able to enter into the rest for eternity by doing things your way. Only God’s way will lead you to that peace and joy that He alone can offer. And only through God’s way will you be able to have peace and joy during the journey…knowing that God is in control for our best.

The journey might be rough, difficult, confusing, and even completely different than what we thought was the better way, but we can know for certain that God will never leave you or forsake you. He will never put you in a direction that is beyond your capabilities with His help and guidance. God knows you. He says in Jeremiah 1:5 “before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” He also says in Luke 12:6-7 “are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” If God is for us, who can be against us?

Therefore, we can take comfort in God’s plan for our lives by trusting in the salvation work of His Son Jesus, who took our place on the cross and bore the penalty for our sins upon Himself unto death, yet rose from the dead and lives today…defeating death for us! He sits at the right hand of God, interceding for us! Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through the Son and that by putting our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can be restored to a rightful relationship with God! We repent of our sins, submit to God, resist the devil’s lure to sin, and walk in faith guided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God! By this only can we enter into the promised land!

Amen

Between Two Worlds

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:12-13

The old saying that a broken clock is always right twice a day has some truth to it; yet it still doesn’t make that clock worthy for use. When things break down, cease to function properly, there are essentially two options that are available: fix it or throw it away. Without it being fixed, the broken item has little to no value.

Under the grace and mercy of God, whom we can rightfully praise and thank, we broken people here on the earth have the opportunity to be “fixed” or restored to newness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ! The Bible has a lot to say regarding things that are broken. From the accounts recorded in the Old Testament about the early Jewish people to the accounts recorded in my own heart and soul, God displays His glory by, and through, the works to rescue the broken, repair the damaged, and restore the functionality of the lost!

I have spoken many times before about how much our current lives mirror those of the Israelites in the Scriptures. How God has set apart a peoples through whom His revelation and power would be displayed to the whole earth. How ‘little ol’ me’ would eventually hear about the God of the Bible through the ongoing story displayed in nature and history. And how we, like the Israelites, continually mess up the instructions of the Lord, even though we have His truth spelled out right in front of us! The people of the Old Testament saw and heard the instructions of God through the prophets and miraculous displays. We, today, have the complete testimony of God through His Word, the Holy Bible, illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Neither party can ever say “we didn’t know” when breaking the commandments of God! And yet, here we are…breaking the “rules” time and time again!

Like the broken clock, we “broken” creatures can also be dealt with in two different ways: fixed or tossed. As mentioned before though, we should be praising God for His mercies in that He does give us the option to be fixed…to be repaired, or restored, so that we can glorify God and enjoy Him forever! He showed His amazing grace constantly for the people of Israel and He still does this today for us though His gift of salvation; Jesus Christ! Though we all may have had periods of “corrective actions” placed on us to teach us lessons about our disobedience, these punishments are always for our good. God used other countries to teach the Israelites correction for their sins and we have the Holy Spirit convicting us of sins, as well as the consequences of our actions. The Bible also exhorts and teaches us today because “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16)

One such example of God’s merciful grace is shown in Ezekiel chapter 36. Beginning at verse 17, God expresses His wrath on the people because they defiled the very land that He had given Israel. They corrupted the land because of their habitual problem with idolatry. If you remember back to the Laws, or Ten Commandments, God expressly told the people that He, alone, is Yahweh God and that “you shall no other gods before (besides) Me”. He also exclaimed that they are not to have any idols; things like carved images or likenesses of anything and “bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God”. Essentially clear instructions. Yet, they continually worshipped other things first and, thus, God punished them…time and time again! In verses 19-21, God even points out that other nations were shocked by the habits of the Israelites. “I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. Even though the people desecrated God’s name, God would still continue to do amazing things to restore His honor! That, dear friends, is mercy!

And what about the people of God today? Those who claim themselves followers of Jesus the Messiah and declare their worship of the God of the Bible? Well, like the people of yesteryear, we continually have very similar failings before God. We have our idols that we put before our worship of God. We have our agendas that take personal priority over God’s agenda. We are hypocrites at the highest levels when we claim to be Christians who worship God, yet live our lives in the same manner as the unbelievers around us. Even the unbelieving pagans point their fingers and say that we are no different from them in our thoughts, words, and deeds. A sad testimony! Yet, God will continue to declare Himself and will restore His honor! As He says in Ezekiel 36:23 “And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD”.

So it is clear that God’s people before, as well as His people today, spend much of their time and energy doing things for their own glory and praise. God says that the failures of men are for two main reasons: 1) forsaking Him and 2) doing their own thing. Humanity has such a drive to be industrious and self-sustaining, but yet are fueled by selfish pride, even since their youth, and want to do everything their own way. We have an insatiable desire to prove ourselves as being better, to make a name for ourselves, and seeking to gain the approval of others so that we can “fit in” and heap glory on ourselves. And yet the Bible speaks clearly that all glory is to be given to God. Conflict!

One thing that is shown within the covers of the Holy Scriptures is that God’s will shall be done! We can kick and scream, demand and pout, or even turn our backs and ignore Him, but in the end, God’s way will come to fruition! God has patiently time and time again, reached out to the people and offered them a way of blessedness and peace with Himself. In the span of time between the Israelites and ourselves today, we find a central core of Scriptures; the Gospel. God gave the ultimate gift to remedy our broken relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. Through Jesus, God promises us the living waters we need. God said that He is the “fountain of living waters” and Jesus said “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10) Jesus also proclaimed “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:38)

These wonderful promises are truly a blessing that should give all who read and believe in them a hope for eternal life. Yet the words will mean nothing if our spiritual thirst is kept in containers that are broken, cracked, and leaking all the time because we are trying to do things our way, by ourselves. It’s the same type of issue that is described by putting “new wine into old wineskins.” In other words, we must become new in order for the living waters to exist within. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Our old nature cannot co-exist with the new. We must let God transform us through the renewing of our mind. Joshua 24:23 commands us to “…do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the LORD.” In other words, put away all the idols that control our lives and surrender to Christ Jesus completely so that we can be sustained by the living waters! We are to remember God, not forsake Him, in all things, and submit to His commands and walk in His ways.

But if the broken vessel does not want to be “fixed”, the only other option is for it to be tossed out, since it will be of no value to the Kingdom of God. This sounds harsh, but if people continue to turn aside from God and follow their own ways, rely on their own strength, reject God and His righteousness, then God will have no choice but to give them over to their desires. They will fall with their created false gods and be cast out for eternity. Jeremiah 2:28 says: “But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble…” These people will be cast out for their ungodliness because they choose to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.

Since the beginning of time, man has pushed to be his own god and elevate himself above the heavens. His arrogance demands that he be worshipped and that he should be able to have his best life now. He sets himself before others and puts his faith on man-made idols to worship as accomplishments and rewards. Matthew Henry describes our plight and shortcomings before God when he comments “to forsake this Fountain is the first evil; this is done when the people of God neglect his word and ordinances. They hewed them out broken cisterns, that could hold no water. Such are the world, and the things in it; such are the inventions of men when followed and depended on. Let us, with purpose of heart, cleave to the Lord only; where else shall we go? How prone are we too forego the consolations of the Holy Spirit, for the worthless joys of the enthusiast and hypocrite!”

Why return to the past and become slaves again to the sin that God has already freed us from through His Son Jesus? Why strive after vain emptiness and worthless temporal things when we can have treasures stored up in Heaven where moth and rust can’t destroy! We were broken once, destined for destruction, but God saw value within us, His very own creation, the children that He loves, the one’s who were trapped in the snare of sin in this world. And He has always been there, providing a way of escape and salvation! Despite how man has treated God, God has always called for His children to return home! We can see how God worked diligently in the lives of the wayward Israelites of the Old Testament, continually drawing them back to Himself, even when they turned away from Him and chased after idols. We also see how He has worked in our prodigal lives, always calling us back to Himself, even when we’ve strayed from His presence and placed our trust in the things of man. Yet, He is loving, forgiving, and patient beyond measure! And before God punishes sinners, he pleads with them, to bring them unto repentance. If we repent, “therefore there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1).

Between our old nature and the enemies of God, they want us to take our eyes off of God and place them on man and the idols, to replace the Creator for the creature. But we must stand firm on the truth of God’s Word, which is our sword, and maintain our faith in it, which is our shield. The consequences of our choices have ramifications that will last for eternity! Since God has provided the ultimate repair for our brokenness through Jesus Christ, let us keep our eyes on Him and drink of the living waters that He gives us!

Amen