Quick To Deteriorate

Quick To Deteriorate

6/2/19

Many times we have no idea how fast a product or condition deteriorates, some of these instances almost right in front of our eyes.  But one setting we tend to not recognize is deteriorating is our lives or the areas of our world that should be respected, developed or saved in order to keep intact our past, present, and future.  We have many examples of this type of letting objects go in our history books but more importantly, we have far greater examples of our original Creative status and how we have allowed this pattern of life eternally deteriorate.  God is in the business of establishing and developing Life in a process that we shall never fully know or understand with our finite minds and hearts.  God has, however, given us the ability to learn as much as possible about this thing we call life and if we continuously turn to Him and His Word for guidance we shall not only live life abundantly but be able to show many people this Truth as well, but only if we remember God alone because if we do not place God first in all aspects of our existence we shall fall into this category of deterioration that shall not result in a fortunate status.

Many times in the writings that God gives me, it is this the paragraph that I begin to tell you a little something about myself to help personalize the message that God has given to us, but this time I am going to give a couple of historical examples with one coming from secular history related to our nation and the other from the Bible both of which tell stories about what occurs when people leave God and worship or idealize other objects.  It is important that we remember history and keep it close to our hearts for as the saying goes if we forget history, then we are doomed to repeat it sometime down the road.  I will also add that if we ignore history, then we cannot understand that its principles are actually alive and represent a part of our “today” at the same time and if we do not apply history and all of its wisdom, we cannot function properly and successfully either.  How can we know how to change things in our personal lives if we do not know our heritage and bloodlines, we should be defining how we live longer rather than shortening our presence on the earth by lack of wisdom concerning our family’s background.

When one mentions the American Revolutionary War, it is easy to state the famous battles, reliable men and women who fought and died for our freedom from Great Britain, the leaders of the numerous businesses, communities, cities, and government representatives who played a part in defeating our enemy.  However, I encourage you to find off topic subjects concerning any point in our nation’s history or any other type of historical setting and focus your attention on those instances because they highlight certain detailed informational settings that may not have been featured in our history books but played a huge role in establishing the state and condition of our land and lives today.  Many of you know what our troops went through at Valley Forge and how many suffered inconceivably during this period of time during the war.  Some may know that it was not just the horrible winter that these brave men stayed at this camp for they were there for approximately six months.  It was a miracle in itself that not all of these soldiers either died or deserted during this time but God had a plan for this nation and He put into these men a will of determination so great that they sacrificed they're all to serve and to save this nation without compromise.

This part of the Valley Forge story you probably have heard about but did you know that George Washington returned to Valley Forge a decade later to look back at his time there?  It was the summer of 1787 and the Continental Congress had taken a long break from session.  Many of the participants of this fabulous undertaking went home to their families or to another part of the country to rest and relax for the upcoming and tense sessions that needed to be completed in order to form the foundational laws for the congruence and future of this nation.  George Washington took the trip to Valley Forge during this time and while he was traveling to the site he must have remembered that back in 1777 during the Valley Forge stay that Philadelphia had been captured by the British, that many of his troops were starving, malnourished to the point of death, desertions were occurring every day and no money available to entice these men to stick around and continue to fight.  These solemn six months represented the backbone of the American Revolutionary War and a reference point in Washington’s heart as he stated the words concerning depending and relying on God in his farewell address some years later.

But as Washington approached this beautiful site, the heart that was full of excitement to see the place where the Revolution was won came to his eyes as a place that had been left un-kept with tall weeds growing throughout the entire camp.  Yes, the identification markers were still present and he was in the right place but no one had returned to tidy up the place that should have been regarded as one of the most devoted places of our nation’s heartbeat.  One cannot help that this site brought Washington down from his horse, dropped him to his knees and cried due to the lack of effort of remembrance of everything that was lost during those years.  How quickly do ten years pass by?  Here is your answer for it seems like just yesterday I was sitting around the fireplace with my two youngest daughters watching a silly television program with them.  But now, my two oldest are married and my two youngest are making history with their own lives and footsteps as grown adults.  It may seem a long period of time if we say the word “decade” but when you refer to life those ten years pass in a blink of an eye.  It is appalling to think that such a valuable landmark and remembrance point in the young survival period of our nation that we would be quick to allow such a foundational mark deteriorate enough that weeds, the symbol of total neglect invade the very place that should stand bright for everyone to see.  But our example placements do not stop here for if the physical foundations of our lives can be deliberately overrun with the weeds of life so can our spiritual lives as well.

The first mention of a drought house in the Bible comes from 2 Kings 9, and while this passage does not directly relate to what God is wanting us to hear and to understand here, it does symbolize the stench of how our hearts become to the nostrils of God when we allow our abilities to be overrun with spiritual weeds.  It is this standard that we need to keep in mind for it is what occurs when we allow Satan to infiltrate enough to change our mission statement, thus forgetting the eternal Truth of why we were Created and why Jesus came to this earth.  We find this example in Job 26:11-15 and as we study this passage we will find out that there are conditions that we shall fall into if we do not live according to the standards of God.  Our passage states as follows: “If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.  But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.  But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.  They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.  He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.”  Wow, what a statement from God about His children and how important it is to obey God and His Ways at all times and it sounds like one will go from glory to the drought house steadily if they do not wake up and repent, huh.

In this passage, we have a few scenarios that should seem commonplace in our lives today for we cannot argue the fact that God has deeply and widely blessed this nation and His Church ever since our establishment as a nation.  In verse 11 we have the appearance of the word obey which comes from the Hebrew word “shama” and it has some very intriguing definitions that are associated with it as well.  Of course, this word means what it says and that is to obey or to be in obedience but it also means to hear intelligently with special consideration for attention and obedience to what is being commanded.  God uses a command word here and that is the word “shall” for when this word is used it is a command and not an option whether or not it is to be obeyed or not.  Also, part of obedience is not only to follow what is said but is expected to be told to others as well.  For just singularly following a command without fortitude is a dead belief and stance and will quickly deteriorate through such disobedience.  To accomplish this obedience, one must thoroughly understand what is being taught or spoken to you for if you do not then once again you are in disobedience; in addition, part of the definition of the word “shama” used here includes the terms tell and understand which states what our responsibilities need to be in order to fully comply with the word obey.  It is this part of the verse that brings into play “weyaabodu” which comes from the root “abad” which means to serve by any sense; another topic to be written about at a future time.

In the 2^nd half of verse 11 gives us the rewards of what our lives will find when we obey God and His Ways.  I love the fact that God shares with us the two words that are important here and that is obey and serve.  They go hand in hand and one cannot be used or survive without the other – in this order -, for if one does not have the other then disobedience rules the day because of their direct relationship with each other.  Which is the reason, at this point, God gives us a rundown of what happens to those who obey and serve.  “they will spend their days in prosperity” is a phrase that should bring joy and happiness to our hearts for it means that every ounce of energy that we have for each day will be of obedience and service to what God has deemed appropriate for our lives, thus creating an atmosphere around us that should set us apart from what the world has to offer.  “Kalah” is the Hebrew word used here that means till the end, accomplish, to consume away.  When it is used in a prosperous manner it means that everything that one has to give has been done so but on the other hand if it is used in a derogatory manner it means that whatever that subject may have been utterly destroyed.  All matter of energy used ends at the day with nothing left, whether it is used for God or Satan it is strictly up to us.  Think of it in this way, if a piece of wood is used completely in a fireplace it is for a good reason but if a house made of wood burns to the ground it is not a good result, both of which consume the energy necessary to fuel results at the end of the day.

The portion of this verse covers the word prosperity and this word comes from the Hebrew word “battowb” which means good, pleasant, and valuable in estimation and gives us a picture of how good it is when a good days work is accomplished, then how the person feels after this type of day is spent.  See, we believe that at the end of our work day we should be monetarily rewarded for the things we have done for our workplace, but in this verse, we can see that prosperity comes in many more valuable ways than just rewards of gold.  To leave the Truth of this verse, it gives us a placement of a long term prosperous road though our correct frame of heart for God shows us that if our hearts are in order His provisions become our pleasures as well.  The Hebrew word used here for this translated word is “banneimim” which actually means happiness, pleasant, delightful, sweet, and agreeable.  I have been at my current job location for almost 27 years now and I still love the people, the atmosphere and the work that I accomplish every day and most of all I am still happy to perform such services to the people of my community.  I may not receive a huge monthly sum of monetary gain but the satisfaction I get to see the people walk out of our clinic makes my heart sing and that is a reward from God alone.

I see so many of my coworkers and other employees around my community not having or considering their rewards as I do and then I get a glimpse of their attitudes and what lies within their hearts and I cannot help but understand why they shall be as happy as I am with my daily output.  They do not have Christ in their hearts and they have no idea of what their presence means to others that correspond with their work environments and it is a sad experience when this occurs for it only inhabits the consequences of the next verse that is in our passage, because when one does not obey and serve God first, there is absolutely no way that we can share the Good News of God’s Kingdom as we have been commissioned.  Servitude is exhausting and it takes the highest level of obedience in order for it to be fully effective for the kingdom you inhabit.  Our pleasures should be pleasing to God for it is these types of pleasures that He greatly receives praise from and the ones that He gives out freely.  The beauty of this verse is that when we live under these gifts from God we shall never lose an ounce of holy luster which means that even though our physical lives may stall after a while our eternal existence shall never deteriorate one iota. 

Now, we come to the part of the passage that many of my coworkers live within every day and not just at work but in their homes as well.  Verse 12 of this passage brings out the other hand and it gives us what occurs when we do not obey and serve God first and instead place selfish and worldly status’ first.  God sets in motion and in plain sight what occurs when people do not obey.  The word "obey" that is used here is the exact same word that God uses in verse 11 which means it is on the same level with identical “rewards” as those receive who obey.  Stop and think about this word for a moment and what it’s meaning states.  We must remember that when we think about God, His existence is only on one plane or level, period.  He cannot adjust or lower Himself at all, His plane is set and cannot be changed; therefore, when He uses a word for any reason that word is set onto a plane or level and cannot be changed as well for even the words of God cannot be shaken or broken by any created being.  So, anyone who wishes to challenge the Word of God against their measly and selfish definitions go right on ahead for when you do you actually fulfill verse 12 of this passage of Scripture.

Moving on, we come to the next portion of this verse and it declares what occurs when one does not obey and serve God and His Ways as stated in verse 11.  “they shall perish by the sword” should set off countless bells in our hearts because it is this epidemic that the western nations are facing as each daily news wire becomes active.  We once again see the command word “shall” being used as a focal point that it is not a matter of “if” this the setting is going to take place but a fact of the matter that this setting is going to take place.  The usage of the word “shall” here means that it is a reward of our disobedience of God’s Ways and this process will be a continual detail that our eyes and hearts will personally encounter as long as our desires are to disobey.  Next, we have the connective word “and” which when used it means in addition to or along with, and in this verse, it is a consequence of our disobedient attitudes concerning the Ways that God has for us to live peacefully, and in prosperity with long-lasting pleasures.  When a person takes the sword as a line of attention only bad things can result, and when the violence of the heart is directed outwardly by other forces of the sword, then only one final result can occur and that is death.

The last portion of verse 12 ends with these words: “they shall die without knowledge.”  Once again we have the command word “shall” that God uses here to make His case of just how important it is that we understand the level of consequence not obeying His Ways will be.  No one likes to die nor do they wish to study its inhabitance either, even though the world seems to glorify its existence and to promote its placement in our lives as no big deal.  Remember, God represents Life and everything that it stands for and since this is True, then we can place death on the same level of existence as when God speaks Life; just as the example above of obeying and not obeying.  No one has ever claimed to want the status of being the village idiot, or a dummy but God clearly states here in this portion of His Word that if we do not obey His Word and His Ways that we are destined to fall by our own swords and die not knowing how we could have avoided such devastation.

God does not beat around the bush in this last statement of verse 12 when He states that the opposite of obedience is death.  He makes it clear here that if one does not obey their Creator then there is only one other option, death.  God uses the Hebrew word “weyigweu” which means to expire, die, perish, to give up the ghost, and to be ready to die.  While the word itself needs no introduction or further commentary at first glance it is one of the definitions that should make us ponder some things and at the same time answer a few questions as to why people do the things they do.  “Be ready to die” stands out as a unique feature about this definition because to the average person they want to live and not leave this world for an unknown principality.  Life is the only thing I know and while my genetic pool has provided such struggles I want to make sure that my life exceeds what the world may offer and glorify God at all times.  I do not want to die and I do not want any presence of death or any will of death to inhabit my body or my spirit, the body I cannot control but the spirit I can and I choose to have my spirit rest in God and in order for me to do this I must tell others about the Truth about life and how they can have life abundantly; I do this speaking and sharing with a glad heart and a willing heart.

Yet, on the other hand, we as an overall human society has become enthralled with the idea and culture of death, to the point where many of us do not want to follow the only path that we know and end it according to selfish terms.  Recently, I have undergone a few procedures that could have ended or at least predicted the end of my life or placed me into a category of a very shortened life, and at no time did I ever want my life to end even though I knew exactly what would occur if my life did end.  But, here in this verse, God gives us a pointed spiritual clue as to what people that follow the world will resort to, for it is the only thing that the world can offer so it would be “natural” for its devotees to want the same.  It makes sense when my eyes see the anger and hostility that people demonstrate openly and proudly, they display no animosity for what they believe is true yet throw vile insults at those who proclaim another or different message than theirs.  How can one display a more desired culture of separation and death than what we see almost every day now?  More disheartening is the fact that the people who show such rituals seem not to care about what they say and what they promote which further deepens their commitment to the world and its ruler, unwittingly that is; God adds here in this verse

God also brings into our study another detail about what occurs when we choose such a path of death, He says that not only do we die but we die without knowledge.  One would imagine that dying would be bad enough but when God adds this phrase to the equation it must mean that death without knowledge is a more desperate theme than one dying with the knowledge of God and His Ways.  For those of us who have known and do know God on a relationship basis understand this terminology for while death is bad enough things would be a whole lot worse if we die without the comfort of Jesus’ blood over us.  God also makes it clear here that dying without knowledge means that one did not understand the True concept of obedience and how important it is to live in such peace and harmony with our Creator.  I find it quite intriguing that God drops these words of Life into our hearts when we study His Word and when He shows us these nuggets He just adds to our knowledge of not only our lives and what they mean but His Life and what it means to us as well.  “data” is the Hebrew word that God uses here in this verse and it means knowledge, discernment, understanding, and wisdom.  This word says that knowledge is discernment which tells us that we have a choice to either obey and gain knowledge or die without it due to our lack of discernment concerning True obedience.

Once again, God has given us both sides of the obedience issue here in these two compact verses.  God always gives us both sides of what He is trying to get across to us for He is a complete God on all levels and thus cannot leave out parts unknown and still stay within His Holy definition.  If God was not a complete God He could not write such words of wisdom as He has shown us in these two verses, for God would never say things and leave out any aspect of such Word because if He did then it would justify Satan’s claim that Gog is not God and that He is a liar.  This action of God throws all burden on our lives and it reinforces the eternal principle of choice.  Who are we going to believe is revealing the truth to our hearts is the question that has been presented to us.  So, which kingdom will you choose today?  Plus, it places us into the category of whether or not we want our eternity to face deterioration or not as well.

I understand that the original passage for this article stated that it would go through verse 15 of this wonderful chapter of Job, but we are going to stop here at verse 12 and save the remaining verses for another topic to arrive shortly.  I have had many interruptions on this piece of wisdom from God and I know why this is, it is a message that Satan does not want us to understand about obedience and how important it is to live a life of obedience and servitude for God.  Sadly, I can see such disobedience oozing from our veins both on the secular side of our nation and the spiritual aspect of our lives form the Church.  As stated many times before we should expect such shortcomings from the world but to the Church, our standards should lie within verse 11 and not verse 12.

The first President of this nation understood the importance of having and keeping God first in our hearts as we grew into a formidable force among the world.  Through this standard this nation did rise up and become a sound beacon for other nations to admire and to seek after, for the blessings of God that He has shed over this nation continues to amaze even the staunchest atheist.  However, as quickly as ten years down the road from our forging the physical remembrance had vanished and we had unwittingly plotted a course of forgetfulness that could only incorporate the spiritual as the next step in our national development.  Dejectedly, this nation has abused our stance and status for personal gain instead of eternal spiritual giving to the dying world.  Yes, it is important that our blessings should be given out freely to those who need it but more importantly our wisdom of God and His Providence should be the first thing we refer to those who do not know Him, and on this level, we have failed miserably and our mounting misfortunes attribute to this mark.

President Washington’s sight for the need of God in not only this nation’s life but our own individual lives as well or the lack of Him in our lives has now turned into a truth nightmare in which we are continually pursuing the world instead of heeding this great man’s Truth perception so long ago.  The Bible is not a superficial coloring book, it is a detailed notebook and sourcebook about our hearts and how to turn from our worldly ways and to receive the promises that God intended us to have when He Created us.  If we do not heed to this eternal conditioning of our hearts according to God and His Ways it is inevitable that we as a society and as individuals shall begin our deterioration process until we are nothing but a heap of decay that cannot be used for anything.

Verse 12 of our passage gives us a clear picture of how many people live their lives according to selfish disobedience and while they scream out with the pain that disobedience offers they continue to reject the Truth about God and His Salvation through His Son’s blood and Covenant.  True obedience lies in a secondary or even a tertiary position with no reason to advance higher than those positions.  We have focused every aspect of our lives into the selfish patterns, so much so that we would rather rely on actors and actresses for our national information and for them to be our guidance counselors in times of need.  This is evident through our daily concentrations of self-obedience applications, which when placed into this role automatically defeats ourselves because if/when we only believe and thus obey self we can only promote death.  Human standards no matter how good they may seem to be cannot sustain any type of long term viability especially when it comes to the spiritual aspects of our presence on earth and as each day passes and our physical bodies begin to show signs of slowing down through the aging process of life we inherited, we fail to see the decline or deterioration of our spiritual aspects as well.

How is the status of this nation faring up with these two verses?  Yes, as stated many times the condition of this nation is not very well agreed upon but in all cases, we have failed our societies and lives by not entrusting God and placing Him first in all of our ways thus establishing a fertile ground for the Satanic breeding that we have in our spiritual atmosphere today.  Also, as stated many times before, that the spiritual condition of this nation has followed the spiritual condition of the Church and it has become clear over a couple of centuries now that our willingness to live under the eternal Covenant of Jesus Christ has become overrun with selfish ways and means.  Through this type of ideology and belief, it also has become clear that our society has deteriorated dramatically consistently over a long period of time too.  This can only be traced back to one factor and that factor is that we have gradually shoved God out of our lives, and have replaced Him with the ways and laws of the world.

This is where the Church should be stepping in and taking over with the Light that God has given us.  Jesus has done a wonderful thing for every person who inhabits this planet and it is our responsibility to show each and everyone who does not know Jesus as their Savior this Great News.  But, as these same days pass we see many congregations shouting for physical rights of the world and condemning those who differ from their “enlightened” religious views.  I know I have so much more to know and understand about the Bible and its defined contents but I also, understand that the only time Jesus got upset and provoked Himself to anger was when the people who should have known the Truth about God was in active participation of corrupting the Temple; this corruption of the Truth is a dire act of disobedience and takes the position of the Church as an eternal and decorated symbol of verse 11 and places us into the deteriorated and vitriolic state of uncontrolled combat with the eternal sword of God.  This can only mean one thing and that is the last portion of verse 12 shall come to our lives as well as and along with the lives of those who refuse to see God as their exit and eternal rest from this horrid world.  I know that some of these articles seem pretty difficult to swallow but God is giving us chances to come back to Him before He must change our living status to wake us up again.

It is, for this reason, we must teach those who will listen to the truth about obedience and how important it is to live in such communion with God.  It is time we as the body of Christ stop fighting amongst ourselves for the position of who is best and once again seek Jesus as our Savior and then, in turn, proclaim His Life as what we need to live by and under.  Our world is on it's predicted and projected course and it is our job to save those who are about to go over that cliff of death not push them over it.  Repent, Church!  Turn from our ways before it is too late and God has to grab our attention through His Holy Sword.  Get our hearts back into the Word of God and allow God to throw away our selfish and gainful pride so that we may have the promise of knowledge and the eternal separation of this Knowledge because of our worldly disobedience.  It states right here in the last portion of verse 12 that we will die without knowledge and that death will come at our own hands because of the disobedience.  A beautiful gift we have here from God in that He guarantees us knowledge if we obey and serve Him first, and when we live through obedience and servitude to our Lord, we will not experience any type of eternal deterioration ever and through this realization we will know exactly what to show and tell those who do not know Jesus as their personal Savior.

DLB