Glory Into Disaster

Glory Into Disaster

10/22/16

When God delivers us from a situation our lives feel an immediate release and the healing can begin.  Many times we love to talk about how God made this freedom process possible while at the same time failing to see what the entire process entails.  We like to believe that once we have left the situation that things are over and we no longer have to contend with the past, but tat belief is a farce and a lie that unless we allow God to continue His work in our hearts, our freedom shall never come.  All of humanity has to deal with this type of setting at some point in our timeframe and if we kick God to the curb after He frees us then it will not be too much longer until we see bondage and slavery again, much of the time not even recognizing that we have walked right back into this condition.

I remember as a kid watching the old epic movie “The Ten Commandments”.  Most people have watched this movie or have at least heard about it and the contents that it portrayed.  At the time when it was produced the sound effects and graphics were at their peak and if one would watch this gem today many would laugh at its production setting.  But in all truth, it was a pretty dedicated and guided movie that predicted the first few books of the Book of Exodus.  It laid out the basic foundation of the plagues, the captivity of the Israelites, their freedom and then time in the wilderness. 

Of course, there were portrayals of the golden calf and some of the other amenities of the human but as many biblical movies do the underlying motive for God was left out of this production.  Whether the producers did not know about this important detail or they chose to not put it in, it was a huge detail that still needs to be in the forefront of our hearts.  This detail is that when God frees us from something He must continue His restorative process even when we are long gone from that setting which means that there is a process that He has to complete after this freedom; freedom is not the end of the issue.

Anyone who has read the Bible knows about or at least has heard about the story of the Israelites and how they became captives in the land of Egypt.  This story occurs in the first portion of the Book of Exodus and includes chapters 3 – 14 and contains a wealth of information concerning God, His children, the Israelites, hearts, wills, and obedience.  But before we begin, it needs to be stated that the way that the Israelites came into Egypt had a convoluted history that actually began in slavery, then freedom and then back to slavery again but on a much greater scale. 

Joseph was the first to enter Egypt but he did so as he was sold into slavery, it was this process which started the entire presence of Israel being in Egypt.  Eventually, Joseph won his freedom – through God – and became a free ruler over Egypt.  His family was summoned to Egypt and from that point onward there was an Israelite presence in Egypt.  As time passed and Joseph died, there were rulers who did not know Joseph and therefore allowed the status of the Israelites to be changed and their living conditions altered as well.  At this point, they were slaves to the Egyptian building machine and no longer considered to be the foundation of Egypt’s survival.  I know that there is a bunch of details left out here but that sets the stage for what is about to transpire in the lives of these people, along with what God wants us to hear and to understand for we are in a similar setting.

After much debate and arguments with God’s representative concerning the freedom of God’s children, the leader of Egypt reluctantly and out of anger agreed to allow the children of Israel to leave his nation.  The leader of the most powerful empire at the time had been defeated supernaturally and physically through methods that he had no control.  The process would have been made much easier if he had listened to the requests from God through Moses but with him being a human, well you know sometimes a hard head just does not pay to have.  Reverting back to the 1970s movie “The Ten Commandments”, one of the scenes showed the children of Israel packing up their belongings and preparing to leave their places of inhabitance.  I remember watching this scene and wondering how it would feel to lead such a huge amount of people out of an area and head into a place of uncertainty.  I thought it was bad enough when the four of us moved to a known destination when I was a kid.

With all of the excitement of the exodus from captivity and the time spent getting ready to leave, then that day having arrived and the event actually occurring, I wonder how many of these people believed that their captive status was officially over?  Were they so superficially focused that they forgot exactly what they had acquired during these generations from their captors?  At first, it must have seemed quite a release since they Egyptian leaders, military and civilians were allowing them to actually leave without provocation.  But this smooth yet uneasy departure quickly ended with the changing of the mind of Pharaoh and the condition of the Israelite’s freedom began to change.

Beginning with Exodus Chapter 14, the process of the journey into the wilderness commences and for 40 more years the Israelites continue their march to freedom.  Now, I understand back in the days of Abraham, Moses Isaac and Jacob there were no automobiles or airplanes and while the fastest mode of transportation on dry land was the horse, even that kind of travel would take the time to complete.  When one looks at the Sinai desert it does not seem too deep and wide but to an estimated 1 million people on foot with all of their belongings in tow, the journey could be horrific.  But it is still hard to fathom of why it would take so long for these people to reach their destination simply because of their destination being not that far away.  When one looks at the details of such a journey and understands the truth about the completeness of God, it becomes clear as to why it took them so long to reach their Promised Land.

We all understand that God has a purpose for our lives and one of the great plans He has for us is to make us free from the world and all of its problems.  God hear the cries of the Israelites and He sent a messenger to them and began the process of freeing them in the name of God Almighty.  One would think that with the remembrance of Joseph and all that he went through in order to achieve the favorable position he had that the Israelites would have known that their physical freedom would not be everything entailed and that something spiritual had to take place as well.  But, we must interject that humanness quality here and maintain that God had further cleansing to complete than they realized.  But, disaster?  Why would God allow disaster after disaster to occur when they had been recently freed from their captivity?

God would not be able to state that He is all knowing and all powerful if He did not complete a process 100%.  God would be a liar if He would just stick to the physical or superficial when He reveals His presence in a person’s life.  There is no contention that the children of Israel kept their religious beliefs in their hearts while they were in captivity in Egypt.  Many of these beliefs were probably thwarted in many ways with most practices denied openly.  Their longing for freedom came from their hearts which represented an inner searching as well, but at the same time, they did possess Egyptian artifacts that they accrued.  Even though the Israelites wanted their freedom it is evident that they failed to recognize that they had not only accrued physical items but spiritual items as well and it was both of these issues that God needed to free them from.

With this information coming to light, it would be easy for us to criticize the Israelites for not recognizing that God had to deal with both the inner and outer aspects of slavery.  The physical had already been taken care of in that they had already been set free but it was the inner portion of their lives that concerned God the most.  It is this process that also stakes the claim that God is more concerned with our spiritual (eternal) freedom than our physical which makes perfect sense.  I am not saying that God does not care about the physical portions of our lives but it is the spiritual aspect of our lives that is eternal and it is this portion of our lives that cannot be replaced if lost.  There are many examples I could give to support this fact but God wishes to stick with only one and that is the golden calf. 

While the leader of the Israelites was on top of the mountain receiving the laws that were to be used for their survival these newly freed people were becoming restless and bored enough that they began to implement Egyptian idolatry that they had been subjected to for generations.  How often did the Israelites watch the Egyptians dance around and praise their gods.  It is this point that we need to understand the words of God to Moses when He was speaking about freeing His people from Pharaoh, God wanted His people free, not the items that they brought with them, sounds like our situation today.  It must have been fascinating to have a visible symbol in front of the dancers and worshipers so that they could physically see what / who they were singing and dancing towards.  How happy and sanctimonious the Egyptians must have appeared to the Israelites, and you know that some of them must have dabbled in those proceedings; curiosity gets the best of people you know.

Let it be understood that it was never God’s intention for His children to be wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years. God does not bring a person, group or nation out of a slavery situation to just allow them to wander aimlessly.  God is NOT an aimless God, He cannot be for He is always moving forward in His Ways.  However, God cannot complete His work in our lives while there are still remnants of our captivity ruling in innermost portions of our existence.  It was these slavery issues that the Israelites refused to acknowledge and allow God to rid themselves from that kept them marching around and around for this length of time.  As stated above there are numerous examples that are presented in the Book of Exodus that give rise to this truth and it is these examples that God wants to understand that will cause us to experience disasters if we do not allow Him to complete His mission for this nation and His Church.

It is sad to read the story of the Israelites in this 40-year journey of theirs and to witness their ordeals fall into their lives without them having the consciousness of what was actually transpiring in them.  I know that not every child of God in that setting was performing the wicked acts before God but it is very clear that the great majority of them and their spiritual heart was in conjuncture with the enemy.  The enemy had tricked them into spiritual slavery immediately after they had been freed from such slavery.  It is this process that we are experiencing today both in our nation and world societies and in the Church herself.

Our “deliverance” occurred when this nation was founded back in the early 1600s but from that moment forward we have allowed ourselves to be tricked into a domineering spiritual slavery that has now overtaken our existence.  This slavery has created chains that have confined us into a dark hole which no light shining through is possible.  We are so confused with our spiritual setting that our direction is now in the same motion as the Israelites, in circles.  When a circle is considered as progress, the situation of that person, group or nation is in dire need to rescue.  Our cries have been heard from God and yet He does nothing before us, this is true because we have cut Him loose from our hearts and no longer wish to have any desire to follow His ways.  This is exactly what the Israelites did and it is the exact reason that they spent 40 years wandering around and not being able to fulfill the promise God had for them.

It is also evident that God showed mercy after mercy to the Israelites while they were walking blind in the desert.  When all of their needs were being met on a continual basis they continued to conspire against Moses and God, it was a prelude to the setting in 1 Samuel 8 when they finally told God to shove it that their ideas of governance were better than His.  The children of Israel forgot or did not recognize that this trip in the wilderness was necessary to weed out all of the improprieties that they had allowed in their heart during their many years of captivity, a great example of a person or denomination saying that they are Christians but inviting the world into their lives with each spiritual breath they take.  The Israelites did not understand that this physical separation from Egypt also required a spiritual separation as well, one that God needed to cleanse from their lives but they refused to turn it over to Him and it was at this point in their blindness that their glory turned into disaster.

It was never God’s intention to see anyone from the original group that left Israel to miss out on their promise from Him, especially those who did all of the negotiating for their release.  At any given time, the leaders of Egypt could have ended their campaign by ending their lives but God’s hand was upon all Israelite involved and God proved Himself as a true champion of the world.  The choices that they made after their release reflected directly on what was in their hearts and it is not too difficult to understand their actions.  This nation refuses to accept the fact that it was created for a specific purpose in the world by God and through God.  Instead of being truly free through the authority of God this nation, its leaders and the Church all have followed step from the Israelites and have become bound to the wilderness for no good reason.  There is a huge difference between being in the wilderness and being bound to the wilderness.

Jesus came to this earth to be the perfect sacrificial lamb and the one authoritative figure to set into motion His separation purposes for everyone.  Yet, we continue to build our golden calves before Him while He is calling out for our repentance.  We say that we understand why God sent Jesus to earth, but we dare not accept this into our hearts because it would mean that we would have to live off manna and drink from a rock and that is totally out of character for our lifestyle; in other words, trust completely in God for our needs instead of ourselves.  This is exactly what God wants for our lives but we now openly proclaim that this Way is not what we want.

Well, Church, we are now in the wilderness and it is vastly approaching the time that our leaders are going to die.  How long will it take for us to understand that when we spend so much time trying to fit God in our manmade boxes should have been used to advance His Kingdom through us?  First of all, we need to understand that we are the Kingdom and it is through us that God or Satan’s realms are advanced.  Secondly, it is our responsibility to provide a spiritual separation and thus physical one as well from this world so that we do not have to spend 40 years wandering around without any positive results.  Thirdly, we need to figure it out that even though God has blessed us beyond belief it is still His prerogative to place us through a disastrous time in order to grab our attention to His plan for our lives.  This is exactly why all of the leaders and elders of the Israelites did not see the Promised Land, for they listened to the people’s whining, complaining and selfish wants instead of plowing through the spiritual wilderness in order to receive the ENTIRE Promised Land that God had for their lives; dear Lord, to think of all the garbage they would have missed if they had wanted to fully understand freedom.

We can skip the disaster part of our presence on this earth if we only realize that when God sets into motion His plan for our lives that both the physical and spiritual aspects of our existence are going to be affected.  God cannot liberate one portion of our lives and leave the other in bondage for restoration is a complete process from the inside out.  Physical freedom may come easily but it is the eternal portion of lives that God wishes to clean and heal the most.  Restoration is a purifying process and one that will involve a great deal of burning away of the junk that we have allowed into our spirits.  God promises a complete healing and new footing on a solid foundation if we only allow Him to complete this process.  The Israelites suffered greatly for no good reason for 40 years and I am sad to say that while the Jews are still the apple of God’s eye they have still rejected Him and refused to allow Him to restore them completely.

Church, you fit into this same category as the Jews.  United States of America you to fit into this category.  Both entities were created as living lights to a dark world and both of you have allowed yourselves to become wanderers in a spiritual wilderness. You both no longer look to God for answers and what is good for you.  Both of you reject God’s ways and laws to establish your own ridiculous ways and then scoff at God because He allowed you to choose your own paths.  Both living lights have found that the wilderness is dark, cold and lonely and it shall continue to be this way until we allow God to be first in our lives again.

God has painted a very clear and relevant picture for our journey in life of what not to partake, but as usual, it seems like we will have to face a great disaster before we take the opportunity to open our spiritual eyes to what we have become.  The wandering for the Israelites took a great toll on their lives and the disaster that God will have to allow will be far greater.  God is beckoning for us to allow Him total and complete access to our hearts so that we may allow Him to spiritually burn away all of the infirmities that we have accrued along our journey. 

It is a simple process yet a purifying temperament that we need in our lives.  We have voluntarily blinded ourselves into absolute darkness through our selfish obsessions and we shall continue this wandering wither until we allow God to change our lives or He brings disaster into our existence.  God’s own established nation did not figure out that they did not have to go through disasters in order to obtain their promises from God, will we be identical or will we figure out that a bit of holy burning is a lot better than a destructive disaster that will redefine our nation, the Church and the world as we know it.  Study God’s Word and you will understand what it means to redefine a nation after God places His judgment over their hearts and existence.  We can bypass this and it is strictly our choice to do so or not.  For this type of setting is the holy definition of disaster and if we do not understand WHY God has done these acts we can never understand what our sin is and what type of restoration process we must go through; in other words, we do not know God and His ways….which means that we have become identical to the children of Israel.

DLB