Non-Wavering 2

Non-Wavering 2

4/29/17

In this side of the issue, we shall take a look at what occurs when God’s children honor His Word and willingly live under His Laws.  This does not mean that all life shall be a bed of roses but protection according to a just and honorable God is guaranteed. Life itself may bring disasters but when one lives within the Truth of God’s Word we can rest assured that our eternal presence with Him shall not be in question.  It is this Truth that we need to be sharing with the world for their separation from God shall not have the same identity when life ends as we know it.  It is our duty and eternal responsibility to show the world that God loves them and to demonstrate holy love and not what the world brings to the table.  Furthermore, this example of God’s Love is not a difficult one to ascertain but easy to acquire, maintain and grow and it comes through easy steps of obedience.

When my kids were in school I would frequently be shown a copy of award after award that they had earned.  All throughout their school careers my four girls would continually win awards for a various array of categories and whether I would personally lay eyes on these awards or receive notices in the mail, it would never fail to amaze me of how good my girls were and still are today.  As I look back at and reminisce about my girls’ school days I cannot help but remember these instances of such prizes for it is not the awards that bring me the most joy but their presence in my life and what they are able to bring to the world.  And as this school year comes to a close, my youngest shall end her high school years and embark on her college tenure with great ambitions, just as her previous three older sisters have.  I was so lucky to have more of these reports and I did calls from the office saying that my child was caught doing something harmful or destructive and it all came from obedience to the school, the place that was instituted for instruction.

What gets me the most about my girls and the awards that they earned throughout their younger education days is that with each award that they earned still reflects their attitudes and contributions to God, the family and to the communities that they live. They may not realize this fact about their lives but it is there and reflective about how they are made up individually and fearfully by God.  I may have created each one of my four girls but it is God’s presence in their life that separates them from every other person who is on this planet, or who has ever been on this planet or will ever be on this planet.  It is this unique characteristic about our lives that we need to understand for it is this truth that we honor God.  While their lives may not always have been roses and smelled like a cool spring breeze the awards that they earned prove that they wanted to what is right before the eyes of their teachers, family, community, and most importantly God.  It is this characteristic that defines our abilities to worship and to please our Eternal Creator for He has placed this desire in all of us and through this obedience, we shall reap a bountiful harvest for His Kingdom.

In the last article, we learned about what occurs when we decide to disobey God’s commands and how through this disobedience our lives dramatically change, both physically and spiritually.  We are going to be referring to basically the same Scripture passages for this topic but in Deuteronomy we will be using a few verses down from chapter 4:1-3 and focus on verses 4-9 and will tell the attributes of what we were originally made to do and live by, the true slap in the face of our enemy.  Many times we tend to focus on the bad side of our lives but we must remember that we also have the side of us that do good and to stand for what is correct, God also operates on this side of life and no matter what we may face, this is the side of God that we only can know for He is good, righteous, kind holy and sufficient at ALL times and is NEVER bad towards His children.  It is His desire for us to exemplify His characteristics of this nature at all times through our lives and we need to understand exactly how we can accomplish this truth about our existence.

When we study Genesis 2:15-17, we usually see the results of God and the command that He gave to Adam concerning the results of a potential disobedient act and the consequences thereof if he chooses to do so.  There is a minor detail here that I had not realized about this passage of Scripture before and even as we have discussed many times over the past few years about the first three chapters of Genesis, it was not until now that this detail stuck out to me.  In every Scripture past Genesis Chapter 3, we always see a good and bad side of God’s Laws.  Having said this, what I mean is that if one obeys this will occur and if one does not obey this will occur.  It is this common pattern that we tend to focus on and rightly so for after God’s Law and Laws are established it is always our choice to follow them or not, and since God understands our hearts and minds He shall give us the entire picture of proceedings for both choices.

But in this passage, there is a detail that now stands out and it is through this passage that declares the stability and condition of Adam before the fall of mankind.  In this passage God is telling Adam the single command that He gave Adam, God also gives the specific and detailed results that would occur to Adam if he chose to disobey that single command.  The present tense is there and the future tense is foreseen but there is no “good” side to the command if you wish to put it in this manner.  As God stated above, when we study His Word from this point forward there is always a good side and a bad side of human activity when it comes to the choice of obedience to His Laws, there is not this position here in this passage, only the present, and the future.

This can only mean one thing, that in the state of the Garden of Eden at that moment there was not history present and when God created such place it was of His nature which consisted of nothing but purity, holiness, perfected bliss, with Divine creativity on all levels.  This creative status included Adam and everything else that was associated with the Garden of Eden.  There was no need for God to mention a “both sides” issue here for only one side existed.  This may seem like a minor detail but it is one that serves a huge detail about God and His Order that we need to recognize and to understand for it is this detail of God that once again defines His character and how He operates.  His Order is established and it cannot be changed, that is why we shall not see both sides of the human issue in this passage but will continually see it after Genesis Chapter 3 because it was our choice to bring sin into the world, not God’s.  After sin was introduced, then there is a “both sides” issue and therefore can be given in context to each situation by the one and only consistent and complete God.

With this detail now in order, we can proceed with Deuteronomy 4:4-9 and adequately pursue what God is wanting us to know about His Law and our choices to either obey them or disobey them.  In verse 4 it states the following: “But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.”  This verse is a direct statement by God that demonstrates His knowledge of their obedience to His commands and what occurs when His Laws are obeyed.  As stated in the paragraph above when God created Adam and the Garden of Eden there was only the present concerning the human and when we look at God and His Being we must understand that God was never created He has always been which means He only has the present and the future defined in our belief patterns.  This is impossible for us to adequately contemplate and understand but it is this truth that we need to keep in our hearts for it helps us not only to understand God more but also understand and accept the truth that we need Him more than ever to live and to know our life as a whole.

Moses goes further about obedience in verse 5 when he conveys that he has tried to teach the people about God’s Ways and how important it is for them to continually follow so that they may receive the benefits of God and possess the land which He promised them.  This verse is also a direct communication of truth concerning what occurs when God’s Ways are obeyed and while we cannot fully comprehend all the reasons as to why God’s Laws exist, what we do know is that they are in place for a reason and not as a punishment as so many people want to claim.  It was the desire for Israel to enter into the land that God had prepared for them, but as we find out through study it took forty years wandering in the desert for God to get Egypt out of their lives before He showed them the way.  A pertinent issue that we need to understand today, for when God brings into His plan in our paths we first must be inadequate standing before Him first which means no worldly idols in our lives.  His cleansing is needed before and not after His blessings for if the process was reversed, then His Ways would automatically be and continually defeated.

Verse 6 expands on the issue of obedience by commending the children of Israel about the wisdom and knowledge they displayed in ascertaining the truth about God’s Laws and the concept of obeying its contents.  This is a huge verse because it reemphasizes that fact that even back in biblical times people had the opportunity to make choices, or in other words use the brains that God gave them in order to make the correct decisions.  It is obvious that not everyone that heard the commands of God listened and had obedience to those commands and for that choice they perished and left this earth.

This verse also details an important distinction between another set of words that have similar meanings but one has a far greater authority than the other.  From the time of the Greeks onward, intelligence is the form of understanding that everyone wants to display and from that period of human history until today, many individuals, groups, beliefs and even some nations are classified according to their “intelligence” level.  Today this word is thrown around quite frequently and is used in a negative manner as being non-intelligent especially used on those who do not favor the modern or new boundary-free societal philosophy.  In this verse, we see where the misinterpretation of wisdom is downgraded into the form of intelligence today.  Direct from Moses, God states that the children of Israel who obeyed His commands and stood tall when needed that they exercised wisdom and knowledge concerning such choices.  God commends these acts of faithfulness and today we are witnessing persecutions against those who go against the world thus justifying the difference in usage between these two words.

Verses 6-7 proclaim that because the children of Israel who listened and acted through the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Laws were the prime example of a great nation.  This is a magnificent compliment coming from the Creator of everything, don’t you think?  To be labeled as a great nation because we followed God’s Laws is mind boggling if you ask me because we cannot do anything remotely close to being like God yet He sees our obedience as a consideration to become a great nation.  Wait a minute here, you mean to tell me that all a person or nation has to do in order to be considered great by God is to obey His Laws?  Yes, it is that easy.

Now we reach verses 8-9 and these verses provide the way in which to maintain this great nation status.  It is not a hard or difficult process at all.  Human laws are complicated and can draw numerous conclusions to just one sentence.  The human mind is limited in every way imaginable but in verse 8 it states that God has the ability to recognize each heart that is included in the nation in order to provide coverage or non-coverage for His protection.  The process is still simple however, all we need to do is to keep God’s Laws first in our hearts which will automatically keep them first in society as well, this verse states that God has the power to see if a nation is living by this process or not, so if God can see an entire nation He will have no problem at all seeing an individual’s heart at all.

Verse 9 details how we can maintain this level and status of being a great nation and all that this process entails is to keep God’s Laws first.  God says and promises that if anyone lives by this standard that His protection shall always be upon them and in His eyes can do nothing wrong.  But it is when the individual or nation change this setting and place Him second on the list in their hearts, it is at this point where through deception that our status drops and then we become subject to the hand of God instead of living under His protection.  This entire passage of Scripture is straightforward, clear, and precise and there is no need for any other interpretation of said verses.  This is wonderful news people!!  It clearly states in these verses that if we simply obey god’s Laws and obey His commands that we as individuals and as a nation together will be considered to be great in the eyes of God. This means we have grace in the eyes of God and have accepted Him as the Lord over our lives and of our nation.  Such an easy task to handle, right?

Currently, in our nation, there is a great divide ongoing about a specific time period in our nation’s history.  In relative terms to European, African, and Asian, timelines the western societies are fairly young.  The West was the last place to be discovered, explored, and colonized.  This nation alone is just over 300 years in age compared to some nations being thousands of years old, we are relative newcomers to the scene.  Yet, this nation has bounded into the greatest nation to have ever existed and that the world has ever known.  But we have a huge problem, for some reason, we have followed into the democratic trap that every other democracy or free nation in the world has fallen into and it looks like it is close to breaking apart again.

The American Civil War issued into place a where the idea of division is an option due to differences in beliefs could last and thrive according to a playing field where God was used as a pawn instead as The Creator.  There cannot be any argument that this portion of our nation’s history is ugly with every household feeling the issues being fired upon from both sides.  It is this period of time where men and women became famous and great due to the activities that they believed were true, deceived or truth based both were allowed to play out.  It is this portion of our history that some people are trying to silence and to bury and understandably so but is a grave mistake because oral history based on one-sided freedoms leads to race baiting and slavery and automatically reverts modernity to ancient times again.

I have no idea what the most common practices of killing time were in the days of Egypt and the children of Israel but I have read many times that at least slave labor, calf building, and gossip were known about.  To be a great nation all must be known and studied for if it is not only hearsay, innuendos, gossip and lies can be spoken and believed, and I am not mistaken when I say that all of these traits were displayed in two groups of people in one single storyline in the Bible which means that for some reason both sides of this story line that includes all of the content from Exodus to Deuteronomy were connected by burying history.  Yes, each side had its own physical history but it was the history of God and His Ways that both sides buried, for Egypt was not like that when Joseph was alive and neither was Israel in the same timeline.

Why did some get it and others did not?  Even Pilot’s wife did not want her husband to have anything to do with Jesus, yet the timeline accurately states what occurred.  This nation was built on the Divine hand of God by hardworking and God fearing men and women who did not agree on every subject but God saw their hearts and created the world’s greatest nation based on this fact alone.  Over the course of time, we have buried this true history of ours in favor of one that is more self-centered and self-controlling completing the same pathway as every other democracy on this planet and identically as to the direction that Israel took during biblical times.  This portion of the message may seem like a turn in direction itself but it is not, it follows the description of both Genesis Chapters 2-3 and Deuteronomy Chapter 4 almost word for word.

It is this point in which God wants us to understand about obedience, if we obey His Laws we fall into the category of being a great person or great nation and when we fall away from this obedience we allow sin to overcome our lives and thus become subject to eternal separation from Him.  When Adam and Eve obeyed God’s single Law they were a great nation.  When Israel obeyed God’s Ways they were a great nation.  When David obeyed God he was a great nation.  When the Church obeyed and obeys God she is a great nation and when this country obeyed God it was a great nation.  But in every case mentioned here, each fell and they fell hard and our nation is now on the verge of following in the exact same footsteps as these. Obedience is a simple choice and through this simple choice so much of our lives ride upon them.

We do not have to follow in this step for step procedural destruction, just as each one of these examples above was created for perfection and not destruction.  We do not have to go through the same issues that others have faced, we have the perfect corrective measure right in front of our eyes yet we shove it aside because we believe we have the necessary and correct answers for today’s issues.  Well, guess what!!!  So did all of the other democracies, groups, and individuals for I can guarantee you that they said and believed in the same lie that we believe in today.  We cannot do things on our own, we shall fail every time.  Why? It is because we were created to worship God and to live under His protection and wisdom, not our own.

Church, we have been playing church for far too long and have forgotten how to live as the Church for the completion of the mission that Jesus set into motion, this is the perfect example of disobedience on our part and the perfect setting of obedience on His part.  We have lost the dreams and desires that God has for our lives and nation due to our selfish wants and continual worldly rants.  We have fallen for Moloch and have forsaken the Almighty God who provides us with the very materials we use to construct our idols.  You claim that the Bible is not relevant for today’s modern society?  How can you even honestly say that much less believe it?  Each story told in their accurate, holy, and perfect gift of wisdom tells us of events that occurred centuries and millennia ago that we see play out on this very day.  God is our answer, not the world.  The ruler of the world does not care anything about you all he wants is for you to be eternally separated from God.  If he has to use the church to do this then he shall, and for your information he is.

The best part about a non-wavering status is the foundation it provides the necessary basics that all of us are looking for when we make mistakes.  The process is simple and it is easy to follow, and when we mess things up we have the choice to cry out to God and to start all over again. Like nothing ever was wrong but we must make the choice to do this.  If we do, we will long to do things correctly in God’s eyes and be considered a great nation amongst His Kingdom and if we do not then we will reap our selfish rewards accordingly.  Following God’s Laws is easy, all we must do is to study them and apply them to our lives.  These laws are easy to follow, no human interpretations needed for they are explanatory as is with no clauses for grievances against these laws.  This is great news people!  In a world that delivers nothing but bad news on a second by second basis, this news should be recognized as exciting and easily heard and more importantly wisdom to share with others.

DLB