Missing The Mark

Missing the Mark

2/10/18

I can no longer count the number of times I have missed my intended goals for the day or how many times I have not completed an assignment in a timely fashion, anybody else been in this position?  This great flaw of humanity serves to remind us that we are not perfect and that we need the perfect guidance counselor in our lives so that we can make sure that these missing marks are limited.  God provides us with the perfect example of this exemplary purchase but we push Him aside stating that our ideas and hopes are better.  Our world is not of God and it cannot be the true representative of perfection either and until we figure this out our lives shall remain a bunch of uneasy and divided people.  It is important to study God’s Word over and over so that we grasp every detail that He wants us to know and when we accomplish this feat, we shall be amazed at what we will know about God and His plan for our lives.

A short while ago God gave us the article that dealt with how we are to respond to others and in uneasy settings that we encounter.  That article gave us a great example that even though we may not seem to deem small circumstances a big deal they too are important in our daily lives and walk with God for it is those “little” times that show us just how prepared we are to handle a huge event such as the other example in the “Respond” article.  We must be aware of what is transpiring around us along with a continuous study pattern of God’s Word to understand what is going on in the world today and if we tune our ears out of the present tense and our history there can be no way possible to know how to properly respond when it comes time to engage the evil that approaches.  As God stated in the “Respond” article, ugly things are going to continue to escalate unless we turn our lives back to Him so as long as we refuse to return to His Ways we better hold on because we really have not witnessed anything yet.

My wife and I very rarely go to a movie and it is even further a rarity if we go see the movie again for the quality of theatre productions has really fallen off over the past few decades.  Same with a book, it usually takes me quite a bit of time in order to finish a book and when it is done I put in on my collection shelf and do not thumb through it again.  And, while I am confessing I must admit that for the good portion of my life I did the exact same procedures with the Bible as well, have read it and really did not refer to it again unless I was trying to make a point to someone else in which if God’s Word is used in this superficial manner is a BAD thing and will only cause further damage to those who do not know God.  The human mind operates in a very unique pattern, in that most of the time we can read something or look over something and get the gist of what is being said, but unless we study the entire content a few times or in some cases many more times we will not fully grasp what is being said.  All of us have fallen into this state and to be honest most of us do not even recognize this truth about our lives and that is why cramming for tests is so common.  So why do we fall into the superficial category of believing that we are biblical scholars yet do not know what the true definition of Genesis 1:1 is?  God has blown my mind and heart wide open over these last few years with the truth about His Word and what it means to His people and if you have read my blogs it will come to no surprise to you that I cannot get out of the first portion of Genesis, a book that I believed I knew many things about.

Bravely, I must admit that there are some of us that struggled with Algebra and really never understood all of its wonders as a science.  My father is a brilliant mathematician for his brain works on the level of an engineer and so math comes quite easy for him but for me my mind operates on a membrane level, one that envisions molecules passing in and out of bi-level membranes so that we as humans can live and breathe without even thinking about what is occurring in order for our bodies to complete these tasks.  How many times have we read passages in God’s Word and only finished them with a slight understanding of its content?  How damaging is this in our defense when the enemy attacks and all we can do is just superficially ask God for help?  It is of the utmost importance to understand what is going on around us in both the physical and the spiritual in order for us to properly defend against and then attack the enemy.

However, we will not be starting off with a Genesis reference but another well versed read in the Bible and it comes from 1 Kings 18:12-18 with a starting point in 1 Kings 16:27-34.  Near the end of 1 Kings Chapter 16, we see that Ahab has become King of Israel.  It is also noted that Ahab took a wife whose name was Jezebel which he and Jezebel immediately went and made worship to Baal.  Right before the chapter closes we find that Ahab continued in the wake of the kings before him by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so much so that the Bible states that he did more evil than any of the fathers before him and his reign, a statement that should never be taken lightly for it places Ahab into a category that no one should wish to follow.  Yet, it also places into context of how the hearts of Israel had become and where they stood with the world and with God as well.  Sometimes we are quick to forget that Israel was born of God yet chose to leave the covering of God back in 1 Samuel.  Some see this leaving as a temporary stint but in reality, it was a process that occurred and never has returned for even today Israel with its heritage still considers itself to be a majority of secularism with God thrown in here and there to keep its traditions alive.  A mark that was made millennia ago but not fully recognized as a miss in the eyes of mankind but surely one in the heart of God.  Stick with us here, for if we have studied the Bible enough we will know that the time from 1 Samuel 8 until this moment a great deal of “progress” away from God has occurred.

1 Kings 18:12-18 brings us to the point of where the majority of the world stands today, and sadly a good portion of the church body stands as well.  For it is our lack of wisdom and truth when it comes to the Bible and the knowledge of God Himself, that defines this terrible exposure of ours so that we do not see what is occurring in our societies today.  A long period of drought has been in place for approximately three years and God speaks to Elijah and tells him to go to Ahab for He has a message for him.  Now, just a few verses before this text we see that Jezebel, who is not the king of Israel but holds the power as a king, ordered the prophets of God to be killed and Obadiah hid 100 of them in caves in order to protect their lives.  It was this specific act that defines how much control Jezebel and the spirits that she harbored had over the land because there is no mention that the people in Israel objected to this act of murder of hers.  In other words, it was her laws and beliefs that were in place in Israel and the people accepted it as their ways as well, with no guilt or condemnation being mentioned.

Now, Elijah had been wandering around yet listening to the voice of God during this period of drought.  When God spoke to him and told him to meet with Ahab, the human mind would automatically ask God if He was nuts because why would we want to go have a face to face meeting with the one person who deems you dead, even the one that had been chosen to be the messenger was questioning Elijah’s words.  But, God had His plan already in motion and it was time for the final display of His power to the people He gave identity to at their beginning.  Obadiah met with Ahab and Ahab agreed to the meeting with Elijah and after the appropriate amount of time the two met at the designated place.  It is here that we pick up our reference passage and it is this passage that provides a clear picture of who and what controls our establishment today.

1 Kings 18:12-18 gives us the entire conversation between Ahab, Obadiah, and Elijah and while we will focus on verses 17 & 18 of this passage we must consider this entire reference because it sets the stage for what Ahab states to Elijah and the reason why he says his words.  The meeting is set and terms are agreed upon and it is now time for the men to actually come together with the following greeting: “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?  And Elijah answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

Ahab makes a strong introduction that is capped with what seems to be an inflammatory question, but a question that he really believes is an honest and truthful one.  It is also a question that states that both sides represented at this meeting has been doing their jobs.  Ahab asks if Elijah was the one troubling Israel meaning that is he the one that is providing the obstruction and objections towards how Ahab and Israel were ruling and living respectively.  It is through this question and the way that Ahab addressed it that gives us the clue about how Israel had become so comfortable with their lifestyle that they readily embraced this leader and all that he had continued throughout Israel.  Ahab had enough confidence and arrogance to ask such a question knowing full well the origins of Israel and the values that Elijah stood for and proclaimed.  It is this arrogance and belief in the establishment in place that Ahab had no reason to doubt the question at hand and the source of contentment that Israel had with their lifestyle as well.  With a bold question/statement from Ahab, wouldn’t be easy to believe that such a societal state existed and wouldn’t it be just as believable that if such a believed society existed that the people making such statements would defend its presence if attacked?

It does not make sense to defend a position if one does not believe in such position being true.  Some of the defendants may lie about such position while defending their position but the majority of those who act accordingly do believe in such measures, thus creating a platform in which to stand upon.  Ahab and his wife had taken such defensive positions and aggressively persecuted those who opposed their reign and beliefs.  In this case, the god Baal had been put in place as the reigning deity and all of his attributes were to be revered and subject to at all times.  It is this platform that Ahab was referring to when he asked Elijah this question for he believed that God was not the originator and protector of Israel but that Baal was and he saw and understood that Elijah and the God he served was the reason for all the issues that troubled Israel.  It is this mark in the belief in Baal and the sins of Ahab’s fathers that he and Israel believe is the truth for their existence but in the real truth, their lives are missing the mark for they cannot stand up to the confines of God’s Covenant that they were created under.

Verse 18 gives the response of God to Ahab through the lips of Elijah and the truth about who is the originator and Creator of Israel and who is at fault for the issues that Israel faces: “And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”  It is this statement by Elijah (God) that sets the truth into motion and accurately defines who created Israel.  It also states the fallacies of human beliefs in ignorant beliefs in gods who do not exist yet gain access and then rule the hearts of God’s children through belief in lies from the ruler of the world.  The statement from Elijah recognizes that another ruler lives and resides over Israel and that it is NOT God the Father either.  Ahab and the nation of Israel had forgotten that God was the one that established their lives and nation and through the lies of the world that they had bought and lived under had objectified their hearts enough to this standard that they really believed that Elijah and God were the source of their issues.  

It is this mark that our societies have missed as well and this missed mark becomes more visible every day if you understand where our creation comes from but if you do not then there is nothing wrong with how the establishment is presenting itself.  Whether a person believes it or not, the individual heart is a component of a nation’s heart, and when a nation’s heart is looked at by God as a collective venture, good or evil reigns.  One may argue that this nation is not born of God, that is fine for even those who do not agree with God still have the authority to live through free will, but each life presents itself as the standard of life and the process of restoration and it is the job of our enemy to skew this truth from our lives.  It is easy for Satan to accomplish this when the ball of home court advantage rolls in your favor and it defines the reason why each human being needs God in every way possible.  It is not God who represents the problems and terrible issues that each person, county, and nation faces, it is our eternal enemy Satan.  God does not divide humans from each other Satan does.  The only thing that God wants us to be divided from is the world and its ruler for when this occurs it automatically defeats Satan again and proves that God is correct through the advancement of His Kingdom.

The passage of Scripture that is used here is leading up to a spiritual duel that proves which deity is alive and which one is dead and even nonexistent.  God shows up and proves Himself to be the only true and living God and Creator and while this act of His is the ultimate example of His true love for His prized creations, He wants us to know about the steps that occur before He must demonstrate this awesomeness of His character.  When God walked the earth in the Garden of Eden He continually talked about the dangers against humans to Adam and Eve but while they were told of these dangers they lost their faith in His words and thus fell into temptation after a period of elapsed time.  Israel did the exact same thing and followed the purposes of Satan instead of God and while Ahab believed that he and his wife controlled Israel completely they were only pawns in the death establishment of Satan.  God allowed such wickedness to occur in Israel and in all of the other nations around them but it was at a specific point down the road that God also allowed such devastation to occur to Israel and to Judah and no matter how we look at it we must contend that God is a consistent God on all levels and in all areas.

As of this moment, we have a great deal of turmoil concerning our nation’s President and how he is “attacking” all that has been proclaimed as normal around the world.  I do not care how one feels about this man or what he stands for because God has placed him in this position for a reason and that reason is to make us aware of exactly what has been going on in our establishment for decades maybe even a couple of centuries.  It is an ugliness that is evident that no other president, political leader, or even minister has had the guts enough to attack or to even address, which means they are complacent concerning these matters.  The attacks from the establishment have only produced a further exposure of our own lies and addictions which shall continue until either we ask for forgiveness and change our ways or some type of supernatural disaster occurs that resets the world’s stage.  Why does it have to occur in this way?  Why can’t we figure out exactly what is being exposed here and correct it, the true and holy way?  Why do we have to continually find out the hard way that God is the true leader and not any human governmental system?  However, on the other hand, and when one places it on this level, how would one expect the attacked establishment to respond?

God gave Israel plenty of opportunities to get it together and to see the errors of their ways before He had to intervene and take their earthly existence away.  Ahab, through the passage we have read, bluntly stated that God was the problem of their issues and proclaimed that from the leadership down they had no intentions of returning to God and to His Ways.  He also made it clear that he and his nation chose the mark of the world and not the original mark of God, so has this nation and the other nations of the world.  Ahab mocked God and God showed up not only then but in a short time later as well but the next time God showed up it was not a very pleasant sight for His own people.

Church, God does not care what your denominational pitfalls represent, forget them and return to God and to His Ways.  You are the light of the world and it is your responsibility to cease all corroboration and indulgence with the world and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the nations of the world.  The mark that we all need to make originates from God through Jesus Christ His Son and not placed on any human level.  When our eyes and hearts become centered around the world our goals cannot hit the intended mark that God set for our lives nor can we ever live up to the potential that our existence was created for either.  It is a guarantee that our lives shall fall when we place our hopes and dreams on a superficial and worldly mark.  Church, the reason that Jesus gave us the command to go and preach the gospel was to reemphasize the truth of which mark we need to set and then aim for.  We can no longer afford to have any other mark in our sights for we have accepted the sinful ways of the world and it will give Satan such great delight to watch this country fall to its knees and be subject to ravenous captors.  Remember, if any other source is used as the truth other than God, it is placed into the category of fiction and cannot be relied upon as a foundation of survival.

DLB