Truths We Miss

Truths We Miss

9/16/18

How many truths do we miss because of our stubborn beliefs and do we realize that this stubborn activity of ours actually cost us many blessings from God?  It would seem that we would learn from our forefathers or from history that we should seek the deeper meaning of our journeys because God wants to teach us something and to shed light on others for their sake.  It is this stubbornness that we would rather hold on to than let it God and allow our paths become straighter and less bumpy.  Church, the only way for others to see this truth is for us to stop being physically stubborn to God and His Ways and to show others the true meaning about life and that there is a way for happiness and the eternal promises God talks about in His Word.

Have you ever looked back at your time here on earth and wondered if things could have been different if only you had known what would occur in the future but because of your stubbornness missed out on the truth of what things should have been?  This type of nostalgia many people reflect upon and some even use it as a springboard to start over after their lives have come to a devastatingly screeching halt.  As the old saying goes concerning hindsight we cannot forget that our minds and decisions sometimes bring us further pain instead of peace that we believed we were achieving.  I know that many of the choices and mistakes that I made when I was younger could have been handled so much better than how I did back then, and it does not mean that those choices were from decades ago some were just a few years ago yet continue to serve their purpose in my life today.  Of course, I would love to go back and change things with the knowledge and wisdom I have now but all I can do is try my best to teach my girls how to make good choices through God and His Word and to leave the world alone and far from their hearts.

I came here to western Colorado back in November 1992 and have remained here ever since.  My entire life had been spent moving around with my family which was no big deal to me for I saw it as an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.  Yes, it was difficult at times but I learned to adjust and to adapt to the settings and move along with what was before me.  Even though I have spent almost twenty-five years here in Colorado I continue to struggle with calling it my home for my heart belongs to the South and to be more specific, Texas.  I guess this is because I had my graduations there and it is where I chose to stick my heart but what about Colorado and my long-term place of residence, what has my divided heart led me to believe or to miss out on?  It is an important detail that many of us do not grasp and with all of the moving about these days it is hard to even find a place to call home and to settle your heart.  It is also a must that we allow God to change our address at times when necessary as I found out when I was younger and in order to understand the full benefits of what God wants us to see and understand our hearts must not be divided on any level for if they are then there is a great chance that we will miss out on many truths that God wants us to find out about and then share with others.

I have to ask myself: how many things have I not been able to see or have missed because my heart was divided about where my heart’s home was located?  I know that I have not been around this gorgeous state that I live in much and have not visited many of the sites that should bring joy to my eyes and heart and the only reason I can think of that hinders me in this area is my divided heart and where it believes its heart is.  I have no excuses for not traveling to these beautiful places and to fulfill what God has given as an option for my eyes yet I continue to miss out on these spectacular opportunities and up until now did not know just how special these places could mean.  Yes, I shall always have memories of the South and of Texas but I must allow God to mend my divided heart and bring it as a single unit to Colorado.  I understand that this subject so far has represented a physical aspect of life but it is the easiest way to introduce the spiritual aspect of our hearts that have the same loss of truths if we do not let go of the desert and seek out the Promised Land that God had said He would provide.

As of late, we have been talking about the children of Israel and their journey in the wilderness that lasted for forty years.  We have also mentioned as to why this trip lasted for so long in a short amount of space and how if one does not understand the entire concept of God’s freedom, they cannot understand exactly what their slavery issues are all about.  So much so, that they cannot fulfill what God has promised them which brings heartache, pain, agony, and acts of questioning God that can lead to idolatry and pure evil being produced.  It is this concept and truth that also can lead to understanding why many cannot shed the addictions that we allow into our lives, a process that each and every one of us has to deal with at some point in our existence.  The perfect example lies within this wonderful book of the Bible, Exodus and it will once again serve as our reference for this topic.  Exodus 14:6-14 is the passage that we will use.

For many people, it is easy to understand how God has His Kingdom and that Satan has his kingdom but do we really comprehend the meaning of what it means to completely leave such a setting?  It is difficult to talk about but many people who have been raised in church or have parents or family members who attend church regularly and love God leave the Kingdom of God to live and to serve the kingdom of the world.  The world will consider this an act of freedom and one that should be celebrated as such but just how free is one when the heart is tied to another?  When the children of Israel were set free from their captors, they were excited to be going to the land that God had promised them.  This promise had been taught and then shared with others and since these beautiful people were being subjected to horrific challenges on a daily basis their prayers seemed like were finally being answered.  As stated above it is easy to accept the physical aspect of being free when one walks out of the actual bondage setting into a different atmosphere, and the changes must have seemed overwhelming to anyone as they leave that confined space, no doubt the Israelites had this same feeling too.  This can only mean that there is a considerable difference between what lives in the heart and what the physical considers life and it is through this difference that we tend to ignore, forget, or more devastatingly refuse to acknowledge.

Was it really necessary for the children of Israel to wander around the wilderness for forty years?  I mean, doesn’t it seem a bit absurd to you that after being kept captive for generations, set free, then have to walk around a desert with seemingly no direction present fair or just?  To those who do not understand the ways of God, you know the ones that we are supposed to witness to, it would seem that God was being cruel in that He was continuing their punishment by having them not being able to reach the land that they were promised, like someone holding a carrot on a stick in front of an animal.  Furthermore, those who have a grasp on history will remember that many of the cruelest dictators would exile those who were set free from their captors during troublesome times some even were executed for such captivity statuses.  I can hear some people saying this about God and how He dealt with the Israelites but we must understand that God is a complete God on all days, on all sides, and at all times.

Exodus 14:6 opens our biblical reference passage with Pharaoh preparing his chariot for the pursuit of the children of Israel to bring them back to captivity or to destroy each one of them if they do not willfully return.  It is clear by this verse that Pharaoh had at some point had a change of heart concerning the Israelites’ release even after all that he and his nation faced with the loss of every firstborn child through the last plague that God sanctioned on Egypt.  In verse 7 we see just how many chariots Pharaoh is bringing along with him in order to make sure that the job is completed correctly and to make a statement to the region who is the most powerful empire known to mankind at that time.  It is easy to believe that Pharaoh was so angry and livid with the loss of his son that it is a common thread to hear about such rage after a tragedy occurred, especially when the source that you relied upon for guidance said or did nothing in the immediate aftermath of the last plague.

Verses 8-9 gives us the detail about how Pharaoh left Egypt with all military pomp in order to pursue and then capture the Israelites and to bring them back for further servitude.  I cannot help but think about a corresponding passage in the New Testament and how it would relate to what Jesus was saying about demons returning to a clean house and how when allowed to return that it would be seven of its buddies with it.  It is hard to imagine how Pharaoh and the Egyptians would have treated the Israelites if they had been taken captive again for we know how cruelly they were treated before they left it might have been the first Holocaust type setting recorded.  One of the most important details we must take into consideration is that once we push aside the kingdom of the world and for whatever reason allow it back into our lives it will always, always follow the law that Jesus warned us about in Matthew 12:43-45 and how once we clean our house we must immediately and continually fill it back up with the Kingdom of God and His Ways.

When Exodus 14:10 rolls around, we find that the children of Israel are camped out at the banks of the Red Sea and have taken up their place until they hear from God.  But in the meantime they hear the rumblings of chariots approaching from positions that they had already passed which could only mean one thing, Pharaoh had changed his mind and he was in pursuit of their lives.  So, in accordance to human reactionary positions they did exactly what many people would do when trouble comes their way, pray to God for help and then blast the leadership that God had put into place for leading them into the “vulnerable” position that they were currently located in.  Now, stop and think about this for a moment how many times have we personally done this?  Are we now as a country and as a society doing this with our leadership?  Have we not done this with past leaders of the nation, states, counties, and cities?  This verse brings up a mess load of settings and thoughts that all of us continue with and in today and to be honest with everything that the Israelites witnessed occurring to the Egyptians from the recent past how could they not believe that some sort of retaliation would not be coming?

Anyway, the children of Israel prayed to God for protection and then played right into the hands of Satan by condemning Moses and the action that he took to free their lives from captivity, by the way, which was what God told Moses to fight for and to complete through His Word alone.  Their anger spills over in verse 11 when they tell Moses how disgusted they are with the path that they had been on after they were freed from Egypt.  They were so upset that they actually stated that they would have been better off working and then dying at the hands of the Egyptians than to be out in the wilderness just to be killed anyway.  Once again, I cannot help but reflect on Matthew 12:43-45 again because no one likes an empty house and will accept just about anything in order to have something occupy the voided space, that is why it is very important to understand what is of the world and what is of God because it is evident in this passage that the children of Israel still had not figured out why they were wandering around for such an extended amount of time.

The entire point that God was trying to get these wonderful people to understand what needed to be taken from them, they had no idea about, their physical house was clean but their interior house was still occupied by their captors and it was this truth that God wanted them to realize and to allow Him to get rid of, but they instead toyed with the idea of allowing the kingdom of the world back into their lives instead.  Why would anyone who has been freed from a slavery status wish to return to such horrific and vile conditions again?  This seems like a maddened statement or a wish from someone who is not thinking correctly but in truth how many times do we say and then do this very act for we love to return to the so-called habits of ours instead of allowing God to annihilate them from our lives.  But it a fact that this was the consensus of the people as Pharaoh and his army reached them at the banks of the Red Sea.  It is this internal and interior cleansing truth that the Israelites were missing and they continued to miss this healing process for none of the elders who left their captivity never had the opportunity to see the Promised Land personally.

Interestingly enough, it is verse 13 that gives us the clue about how the Israelites prayed and what actually lies within their heart because it is Moses who directs their words against them and according to God’s own provisions, like the ones He had already provided for them during this time, produced the answer right before their eyes.  The words of their prayers said that the physical was ever present in their minds and hearts and that they still were not ready to completely depend on God for their protection even though as it was stated above that it was God who initiated and then provided this path of freedom for them in the first place.  Moses says to them again that they will be witness to a great miracle from their Liberator and by the exact means of what would be the outcome of such supernatural deed.  I would like to believe that with this event that was about to occur before their eyes along with all of the other provisions God had done for them since they left Egypt would be proof enough for them to change their hearts concerning God, but as we continue to read in Exodus and through the rest of the Old Testament that change does not occur.  Again, it is this truth concerning God’s provisions AND the reasons He provided such things is the truth that they missed.  Ever wonder why God does not like a lukewarm Church (your heart)?  Here you go this is the prime reason as to why He doesn’t.  Warning!!  Tough statement ahead!!  A lukewarm Church cannot be under Covenant terms, period!!

God understands the human heart and the frailties that it holds, and it is His concerns that we see Him for His Glory at all times and not just in circumstantial manners.  Moses exclaims this truth about God in verse 14 when he states: “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”  Now, even though this is an incomplete statement which continues into verse 15 about the current situation it provides the people with an opportunity to place their trust and hopes in God on all levels of their existence.  We have to remember that when God speaks it is a complete action which includes the past, the present, and the future for that is the definition of God and which He cannot violate on any level.  Therefore, when God makes this statement through Moses He is not only telling them that He will take care of them right at that moment, but He also took care of them during their past and shall continue to do the same in their future.  The remarkable thing here is that God also speaks in such a manner that should trigger their minds enough to realize their shortcomings in their past and to change course in their future.  Yet, we see that the words of God fall on deaf ears and blind eyes for they continue to wander the wilderness for a long while to come; another truth that they missed.

There really should be no long conditional explanation of why this passage of Scripture is important for and to us today.  We have made a mockery of the spiritual conditions of our hearts in the eyes of God and we have deliberately shut the doors of our hearts to God and thus allowed Satan to bring in any and every buddy of his t reside in our hearts that he wishes.  Way back in the 1600s when this nation was formed and even before then when Columbus sailed to seek out the new world, God set apart this nation for a specific purpose and it was our responsibility to cultivate this holy purpose in full, not partially.  If one wishes they can use the exodus of the children of Israel as an example of our potential freedom yet continue to reside in bondage years after the cause was created and established.  The Church has followed suit and has reestablished her position in the world as an ally of the world instead as the representative of the separation Covenant that God has provided for His people.

Our enemy has successfully transformed our beliefs into the physical realm alone and has brainwashed us into believing that the spirit realm is of no great importance.  When God talks about the spirit realm He means the direct communication line that we have with Him, in other words, the worldly church now believes that it is not important to communicate with God on a direct, personal and continual basis.  In this manner, Satan has the authority of leading us into believing that we do not need God for our spiritual lives in that the physical “freedom” that we live under today is the epitome of what our lives should represent.  Physical equality is the utmost desire of the world and the Church has fallen for this lie according to the worldly food that she has partaken in over centuries now.  This lie has now become a belief and inner law that she now follows and over time it has eroded the spiritual truth about God’s freedom and the necessities that are needed in order to live in such holy status.  It is this protruding lie that caused the Israelites to wander in the desert for forty years and it is having the same effect on the Church today.

Satan did an excellent job in shading the truth to the children of Israel concerning repentance and living completely under the definition of Covenant.  Yes, God continued to provide and to protect them while they wandered in their lost state of living, but at no time did He ever stop trying to grab their attention over this spiritual matter.  Today, we find ourselves (the Church) wandering around aimlessly in the same manner as the Israelites and grumbling not only amongst ourselves but to God as well for the lack of cohesiveness that should come with our “piety”.  It is sad that we are so blinded by the lies of physical freedom that we cannot see and hear what God requires of us for our peace and true freedom from the world.  Even worse, at the same time, we are invoking our aimless directional pursuit, we are allowing our enemy to take control over our lives through our ignorance concerning the spiritual aspects that God placed into our lives when He Created us.  How many truths are we missing because of this type of lying belief we have incorporated into our hearts?  The physical will always tell you that its properties are enough and it is this aspect of our lives that we should pursue first.  Boy, have we fallen for this lie.

Even with all of the missed opportunities that the children of Israel went through it still can be said that God was faithful to them and kept His promises to them.  The journey they took in the wilderness was long, hard, and rough on all people involved in that freedom procession and while many blessings were bestowed on them as they walked day after day their stubbornness to allow God access to their hearts kept them from receiving the promises later rather than sooner than expected.  There are many times while we wait for the promises of God to be fulfilled that we sit and do nothing and then wonder why things did not occur in the time frame that we expected for God to act.  The question remains is if while we are waiting what are we doing in preparation for these blessings?  Most of us just wait and look to the spiritual sky and wonder when the time will arrive but what we should really be doing is asking God to search our hearts for any impurities that may be present that would hinder Him from pouring out those promises sooner.

Oh, how the Church has fallen into the first portion of that previous paragraph and oh how we have become so anxious for more blessings that we have begun to accept the ways of the world into our hearts instead of waiting the correct way for God to act.  As each day passes I see the actions of the children of Israel when they were waiting on Moses to come down from the mountain more and more from the ones who call themselves Christians or followers of Christ.  It is disheartening to think that we have turned so far from God in our lack of understanding about repentance and restoration that we have resorted to this type of action.  Everyone who has attended church has heard about the children of Israel in the desert and we know what occurred in their lives while they were waiting on God to perform as He said He would do, so why are we doing the exact same procedures as they did?  We know better to act in such a manner.  We continually need to remind ourselves that if God allowed such issues to develop and then proceed within the lives of His chosen people that He shall allow the same to occur in our world as well.

With the type of behavior that we are constantly demonstrating why would we believe God would continue to shed His blessings upon our lives?  How can we truly and honestly justify His continued blessings to be poured out over us?  The selfish act of entitlement has encompassed our hearts concerning this matter that it has turned the face of God away from our existence and we through our actions alone we have become as dark as the world.  Almost every day we find that someone from the Church has become involved in some grotesque scandal concerning their personal decisions.  I do not care what so-called denominations these instances present themselves we are all supposed to be dwelling in the will and presence of God for direction and I can absolutely guarantee you that God has NEVER said to molest any child or another human being.  We have fallen so far away from the Truth that some pastors are turning to a glorious suicide as the answer to their issues.  God has NEVER condoned death especially when it comes from your own hand, God cannot reward selfishness on any level and it is through this abomination that the Church lives in and wallows in today.

In no way, am I calling for the abolition of the Church for she is still the ONLY life sustainable on this planet that has the mission to witness to every person who does not know God.  But we need to stop holding on to our past lives in Egypt and allow God to invade our hearts with His eternal life so that we may understand why the issues that we are facing today are not going away.  We do not have to continually live in a world’s existence but we have been promised life everlasting and peace in times of trouble, so isn’t it logical to believe that there is something that we are not doing correctly due to our current position?  Stop for a while and take a good look around you and do you notice the same tendencies around you that you harbor within your own heart?  If so, then you need to allow God access to your heart once again, and even if you fail to recognize any faults let Him have your heart anyway.  Do what the Word of God says and allow Him to search your heart and God Himself guarantees that His promises and truths shall not be missed.

It is time we stand up and rid ourselves of the cesspool that we are lying in and walk away from such filthy conditions, and when we do this God will take His holy blood and wash us with it and cleanse us as no other entity can.  But we must first take the step to stand up and to make the move towards the outside of this muck of the world.  We do not have to wait around for forty years in our desert (muck) we can begin to receive the true blessings of God today if we just turn our hearts and eyes back to Him.  We do not have to continue to miss out on the truths that God wants us to understand for it is those truths that other people need to hear and to know.  God loves them and if we distort this truth then those who are looking for real life may receive false information and thus miss out from God and further damage their chances of a wonderful eternal life with God.  The world does its best to push God out of its presence which is what the ruler of this world wants, but it is our job to make sure that the truth, the eternal Truth is shared with them so they will not miss out on any truth that God passes to His children.

DLB