Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief

2/19/22

Many of us have witnessed events or actions that defile the commonality of mankind.  The majority of the time these types of things are projected on the good side of life but there have been other times where things have just gone awry.  It is inevitable that our eyes shall see things of amazement and then have corresponding words to describe such things, but what about when God allows such calamities to surge into our realm?  Will we understand what exactly is transpiring or will we sweep it under the rug and claim that it is a freak event and carry on our way?  Maybe God is trying to grab our attention about how we are living or that He calls us back to Him through repentance, or even continue supernatural events until He has reclaimed His creation back to the starting point again.  In any case, God will use such events to get HIs point of purity, hope, trust, and obedience back into His Order for all of our sakes.  God loves His children and wants only the best for us, but He cannot allow sin to dominate our lives so He uses such grand activities to show us exactly how far away we are from Him.

One would not have to look very hard or far to find stories from people about changes in their lives, like getting a new car, a new house, job, etc, and to have such beautiful plans come forth and blossom into utter happiness.  We hear o such stories on a regular basis with nothing but blessings and good hope in front of us.  We all wish for something like this to occur in our lives, for we should because we live in America, right?  This is supposed to be the land of opportunity, the greatest country on the earth and ever created, so what could ever deter someone from fulfilling this dream and goal for themselves and their family?  The one problem with this truth is that the younger folks coming up today do not wish to work or to be determined to make it such a great story so they decide to make it a nightmare for others.

Over the past decade or so, we have been witness to many travesties sweep over our land, with most of them being human-derived and thus driven into the ground.  While these events have been mostly limited to cities and metropolitan areas, we have now begun to see them in rural America.  After all, is said and done, many lives in every community feel these acts which fuel a wave of anger that is unnecessary.  Now we have political sides taking shape in nations where its citizens protest conditions or lack of conditions, all of which fall under the category of freedom.  Sadly, the responses to these protests also take political sides and if the ruling party agrees with the protests then a blind eye is turned and indirectly supported, but if the protests go against the ruling party's ideas then watch out they will take even more away from you and harm you for the remainder of your existence.

While these types of events are taking place, these are not the types of things that God wants us to know about for this article.  Yes, He sees these events and He does not agree with how they are conducted and play out, but remember God is a complete God and He looks at the heart of an individual and nation and makes things happen accordingly.  Many times we fail to recognize that when things fall apart they are for a supernatural reason and one that is hard to define if we are not in tune with God spiritually.  But when God sees the heart of our activities He gets a perfect view of exactly what the motives are and it really does not matter which side of the political aisle we are on either.  God is ALWAYS heart first and everything else nonexistent.  It is at this point where God decides either to continue His blessings or grab our attention and it is apparent that we are long gone from the blessings area of God's heart.

Recently, I used a song from the 80s and early 90s Christian music group named "Petra" in a previous article, I am going to do this again for it is a song that tells a type of condition that we sometimes forget about God, or at least lean toward one side of God.  The song is entitled "Beyond Belief" and the portion of lyrics are as follows:

"We're content to pitch our tent

When the glory's evident

Seldom do we know

The glory came and went"

The phrase beyond belief is an intriguing one and as humans, we like to associate this phrase with the good side of the meaning and for the majority of us, we would agree that this good side is what we expect or define this phrase to be.  Some would even classify this phrase into the "miracle" category, something that is powerful and wonderful that has the capability to change people's lives for eternity, a process of physical impossibility that our minds find it difficult to comprehend the extent and content of the phrase.  Also, a result that takes a long time to go away or one that never does, a lifetime achievement if you wish.  This brings us to our Scripture passage for this article, one that we have referenced before and might do again in the future.  The passage is as follows:

Genesis 13:10-13

"And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.  Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched tent toward Sodom.  But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly."

Now, the passage that has just been presented will not be the exact reference for this article, but a setting in which most people will recognize what God does to this plain just a few short verses later.  We cannot forget that just a few chapters earlier in Genesis God had come to the conclusion that all humanity was evil, so much so that He repented for even making humanity.  Humans have a tendency to forget history and what led up to such disastrous conditions for humans, we like to believe that this generation is the best ever recorded, and thus everyone who experiences it is doing the only correct thing.  Here we have Lot looking over a well-watered area, perfect for his flocks and herds, yet ignoring the fact that Sodom is already in the sights of God and it is only a short time before God changes the setting.

After God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, along with the other towns around it, the entire landscape has been changed.  Once a beautiful landmass has now become a desolate mess that nothing can grow on it.  It is hard to imagine such a happening, to go from one extreme to another from one beyond belief to another beyond belief.  It was unrecognizable as it once was, but this was the path and pattern that the people of this area chose to live under.  It was their choice and coming from a place that once knew God and His mercies and blessings, not many people were now around to discuss the issues.  Beyond belief, is the key phrase here, for there is no question that at one time Sodom and Gomorrah had everything they could ever need in order to live comfortably without want.  Lot saw no disappointment in what he observed that day.  Lot could not see beyond the physical aspects of his eyes, a quick fix to the problem at hand and from all things considered the best option of the two choices.  It is this word "beyond" that needs examining, for many of us just take the physical aspect of what we see, hear, listen to, or speak and then take whatever comes with the said territory.  

Verse 13 talks about what is beyond the physical aspects of that area, one that Lot did not see or predict the sin aspect, the spiritual aspect which was the real issue of the area.  It is the exact reasoning for the title of this article and one we should be very astute to know.  It is obvious that Lot had made up his mind with the area without asking God for guidance for as this verse states God already knew just how bad things were in Sodom and Gomorrah and He would have given an explanation about those conditions to Lot.  Things could have been very different if only Lot had asked God for advice on this matter.  See, Lot was under the authority of Abram, thus he knew the Ways of God and had known to pray and to seek God for answers.

The men of Sodom were wicked in the sight of God, which meant that they had performed such lifestyles for quite some time and through these wicked acts of theirs, God had made such a determination due to the wickedness of their hearts.  The lifestyles of the men in Sodom they enjoyed, promoted, sought out, and thoroughly lived out their lives in chosen sin.  Yes, they believed that nothing could be done to them because of the blessings around them, and as long as these blessings were upon them that God approved.  Lot believed this to be true as well and broke one of the most sensible laws of serving God, asking Him for guidance.  Things were okay for a while but as we see down the road all came crashing to a halt with destruction so methodical and complete that nothing grows in that land today.  

This type of living and lifestyle we have adopted as our own today and we are about to face the exact same type of destruction and devastation from God.  I wish I could say that our hearts still have some hope of God left in them, but it would be a lie if I stated such words.  In today's societies, we demand that our wants are heard and kept sacred and if you do not like them then you need to be permanently silenced.  This is a grave issue but one that is not just the "sinners" fault of action.  Christians have just walked away from such beliefs and have done nothing to curb this type of belief.  We are just as at fault as Lot was, for he got into Sodom and became a person that identifies with Sodom as his home.  Christ did not come into this world to be mocked by those who say or claim to serve Him, we should not be like Lot was in the Old Testament in reference to God.

The Church has accepted the world as its standard, a physical standard only and one that will cost us dearly.  Our landscape is about to become a desert for we shall lose our well-watered livelihood soon.  We have been warned for long enough, this nation has been warned long enough and it is time God brings down His judgment so that our land can be restored again.  But this restoration is not going to be a quick process for as we know when we look around our landscape, treasures, buildings, ideas, thoughts, and settings are far greater and so much deeper than what Sodom ever was.  The only thing in common that this nation, the Church, and other nations around the world have is our sin and it runs super deep and it will take a lot of digging to get rid of.  God suggests that we leave Him to His business and allow Him to dig out what is necessary for restoration to occur.  I have no idea what this process shall entail or how long it will last, but it is here and it shall be completed.  We have been warned for over two years now to brace ourselves and to be honest we have ignored this warning.  So, Church, nation, and nations around the world, here we go because it will be a beyond belief scenario.

DLB