Micah’s “Church” (part 1 of 2)

Posted on December 1, 2016 by russellmckinney

Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. Judges 17:1 (N.K.J.V.)

The time period of the book of Judges is famously known as the period when “there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). Sadly, spiritual matters certainly weren’t spared from all the ungodly behavior. The story found in Judges chapters 17 and 18 is a case in point. It involves a man named Micah, his mother, his son, a false priest, and some members of the tribe of Dan. And would you believe that not one single person from that entire cast of characters walks away from the story looking good in the eyes of the Lord? As a matter of fact, the story is so rich in spiritual lessons that I’m going to devote a couple of posts to it.

The story begins as so many of life’s stories do, with a money issue. A man named Micah, who lives in the mountains of Ephraim (Judges 17:1), confesses to his wealthy mother that he is the one who stole her 1,100 shekels of silver (17:2). Apparently, he isn’t worried about the theft until he hears her pronounce a curse upon whoever has robbed her. That throws enough of a scare into him to get him to confess his crime and return the money.

Surprisingly, however, Micah’s mother isn’t angry with him. Rather than scold him, she calls off the curse by evoking the name of the Lord in saying, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my son” (17:2). But it’s what the woman does next that gives us our first indication that this story is going to feature a strange blending of belief in God mixed with rank idolatry. Even though this mother had once named her son “Micah” (which means “who is like Jehovah”), she now says, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image” (N.A.S.V., emphasis mine).

Are you kidding me? Did that mother just dedicate a large amount of silver to God to be used to make false idols for her son? You talk about warped theology! Remember that this family is Jewish, and the first and second commandments of God’s law to Israel plainly say: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Exodus 20:3-4).

Nevertheless, this mother stands true to her commitment by taking 200 shekels of the returned silver – a sum worth many thousands of dollars in our currency – to a silversmith and having him fashion a carved image (wood overlaid with silver) and a molded image (solid silver) from them. She then gives both idols to her son to keep in his house (17:4). Micah, for his part, absolutely loves the idea of having idols under his roof. Actually, the new idols simply add to the collection he already has. We know that he has other idols because Judges 17:5 and 18:17-18 both mention him having “household idols” in his “shrine” (The Hebrew word translated as “shrine” literally means “house of gods.”)

To make his whole shrine even more bizarre and blasphemous, Micah goes so far as to install one of his sons to be the priest over the shrine (17:5). Even more than that, he attempts to give the son some priestly credibility by making an ephod for him to wear in his priestly role. (An ephod was a vest-type garment, a breastplate, that a high priest wore over his chest while performing his priestly duties.)

So, now Micah has his own personal “church,” complete with his false idols and his handpicked priest. He either doesn’t realize or doesn’t care that all this is a million miles outside God’s will. At this time, the center of worship in Israel is supposed to be the Tabernacle (Deuteronomy 12:1-14), which is located in Shiloh (Judges 18:31). There the descendants of Aaron serve as Israel’s God-sanctioned priests, and if anyone outside Aaron’s line tries to serve as a priest, he is to be put to death (Numbers 3:10). But Micah isn’t concerned with any of these obvious contradictions to what he’s doing. He has his own private “worship” site and is thrilled about it.

And Micah’s life gets even better when one day, completely unexpected, a young man named Jonathan (18:30), from the tribe of Levi, shows up at his doorstep looking for a place to stay (17:7-8). This young Levite has been living in Bethlehem of Judah and I think it’s fair to say that he’s as confused as a goose in a hailstorm about what he’s supposed to be doing in life. In order to understand the low level to which he has sunk, you need a little background information.

There were three clans that made up the tribe of Levi, with each clan taking its name from one of Levi’s three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Each clan had specific duties to perform in service at the Tabernacle. The clan of Kohath included the descendants of Aaron (Israel’s first high priest), and Israel’s official priesthood was made up of males from Aaron’s line. The males from the other two clans, the clans Gershon and Merari, were set apart as caretakers of the Tabernacle and aides to the priests. Summing things up, all the Levite males ministered in some way at the Tabernacle during their appointed times of the year. When they weren’t “on shift” at the Tabernacle, they were free to go about the business of their lives.

When Israel conquered the land of Canaan, the tribe of Levi was not allocated a specific region of the land the way the other eleven tribes were. Instead, the Levites were given 48 Levitical cities that were scattered throughout the land (Numbers 35:1-8, Joshua 21:1-8), with each of the eleven other tribes proportionately contributing certain cities from their territory. The Aaronite priestly division of the Kohath clan was given thirteen cities, while the rest of the Kohath clan was given ten. The Gershon clan was given thirteen cities, and the Merari clan was given twelve.

But guess which city wasn’t one of the 48: Bethlehem of Judah. This raises the question of why this young Levite had recently been living there. I don’t want to drift off into wild speculation here, but there just doesn’t seem to be any God-approved reason for him to have been living in a city that wasn’t on the list of the 48. This indicates that this young man was in a spiritual fog himself, backslidden, and far outside God’s will as he hiked into the nearby mountains of Ephraim looking for a new life. One thing we know for sure: When he knocked on Micah’s door, he was about to go from bad to worse spiritually.

As soon as Micah learns who Jonathan is, he starts concocting a plan to install this young Levite as a priest over his “church.” In Micah’s way of thinking, at least Jonathan is a member of Israel’s priestly tribe, even if he isn’t a member of the Kohath clan from which the actual priests come. This would be like someone today favoring or handpicking a person simply because that person is from a certain family. It’s unclear whether Micah plans to demote his son as priest or if he simply wants to add Jonathan to the ministerial staff, but Micah’s offer to Jonathan is simple: “Live with me, be a father and a priest to me, and I will pay you ten shekels of silver per year, plus new clothes, food, and lodging” (17:10).

Well, since young Jonathan is currently homeless and destitute, he jumps at the offer, and Micah quickly installs him as his own live-in priest over his little “church” (17:11-12). The foolish, undiscerning, quasi-religious Micah even says, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as a priest!” Talk about spiritually clueless! He’s stolen money from his mother, initially lied about stealing it, accepted false idols from her, brought the idols into his home, built a shrine to them, installed his son as a priest, and has now installed another unqualified young man as priest. Yikes!

Here again we find this family trying to sprinkle God over their ungodly behavior. Notice that Micah doesn’t say, “My idols will be good to me because I have a Levite as a priest.” No, he says, “The Lord will be good to me….” Oh sure, Micah, you and God are just fine! Don’t you hate it when people do things of which God couldn’t possibly approve and then try to get all spiritual by talking about how good He has been to them? You just want to look at them and say, “Stop it. Just stop it.”

And that’s where we will leave off the story until next time. It’s like those movie cliffhangers from the old days. “What will become of Micah and his ‘church’?” “Will young Jonathan come to his senses and repent of his sins?” “What will become of the false idols?” “Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion of Micah’s Church.” Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I saw too many reruns of the old Buck Rogers serial featuring Buster Crabbe when I was little.

But before I close this post, let’s ask the question, “What lessons have we learned so far from this story?” Well, first, we’ve learned that some people try to blend idolatry and walking with the Lord. Micah, his mother, Micah’s son, and Jonathan all tried to play this unwinnable game. Trust me, if you have undeniable, obvious sin and wrongdoing in your life, you and God aren’t fine. No way. And that sense of so-called “peace” you have about whatever your idol happens to be is either the devil lying to you or you lying to yourself. Beware of believing your own rationalizing.

Second, we’ve learned that some people try to dictate the terms of their worship and religion. Do you know where you will find Micah today? You’ll find him serving on a pulpit committee, treating the whole process of finding his church’s next pastor like a business decision rather than a spiritual one and working hard to get “his” man in as pastor. Or, you’ll find him lording over a deacon board ensuring that the church goes in the direction in which he wants it to go. Or, you’ll find him holding an influential office in his denomination, making important decisions based upon his personal likes, preferences, and mindsets rather than honest spiritual discernment.

And, of course, all the while as these modern-day Micahs are out there creating their personal shrines and staffing them, they are praying, making a show of religion, and talking about how right they are with God and how much He is blessing them. If you want to know what’s wrong with our churches and denominations these days, look no further than all the Micahs who are currently wreaking havoc on God’s will and God’s plans.

And then, third, we’ve learned that just because someone is in the ministry, that doesn’t mean they are in God’s will being there. Just as there are many modern-day Micahs, there are plenty of modern-day Jonathans too. How many uncalled people are in the ministry right now? How many unqualified pastors are in pulpits right now? How many preachers would preach for free if that’s what it took to preach? How many pastors would serve without what they considered to be an adequate salary package? How many evangelists would stick with it if there were more bills than converts? How many missionaries would remain in foreign lands if the persecution hit hard? How many chaplains would keep ministering if they became despised and rejected for being too narrow minded, politically incorrect, and in tune with the Lord? I truly believe that if God peeled back the curtain and allowed us to know the answers to these questions, we would be shocked and saddened. You see, the fact is that we are not nearly as removed from the days of the book of Judges as we like to think.

Posted in Church, God's Will, God's Work, Idolatry, Ministry, Money, Preaching, Worship | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reaping in Due Season

Posted on November 27, 2016 by russellmckinney

Dean Smith was the legendary basketball coach at the University of North Carolina. During his 36 years at the school, his teams amassed 879 victories, won 17 ACC regular season titles, 13 ACC tournament titles, qualified for the NCAA national tournament 27 times, and won the NCAA tournament twice. Smith himself was named conference coach of the year eight times and national coach of the year four times. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983, was named as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. On and on the accolades go, but suffice is to say that the man was one of the greatest coaches America has ever produced.

There was a time, though, when Smith was criticized for not being able to win the “big one.” That reputation stemmed from the fact that his teams had made it to the Final Four of the NCAA’s national tournament six times but had never won the national championship. Even many UNC fans honestly didn’t think Smith had what it took to win on college basketball’s pinnacle stage.

But that all changed in 1982 when Smith took his seventh team to the NCAA’s Final Four. That year his UNC Tarheels beat the Georgetown Hoyas 63-62 in the championship game to win the national title. The game was an all-time classic that could just as easily have been won by Georgetown. The deciding shot was made by a UNC freshman named Michael Jordan who would go on to basketball greatness himself. Even after Jordan’s shot, Georgetown still had a chance to win but turned the ball over to end the game. So, when the final buzzer sounded, Dean Smith was the head coach of a national championship team for the first time.

All this is common knowledge among basketball fans and UNC fans, but what isn’t so well known is what Smith said to Roy Williams, one of his assistant coaches, after the game. The quote went something along the lines of, “I’m not any better of a coach after winning the national title than I was a few hours before it.” You see, Smith understood that Michael Jordan’s jumper could just as easily have missed. He understood that Georgetown, instead of turning the ball over on their final possession, could have thrown in a shot at the buzzer to win the game. He understood that some of his previous six teams that had made it to the Final Four had been good enough to win the national championship if they had gotten a lucky break here or there at some critical juncture of some game. He understood that when you are a coach sitting in a chair off the court, there is only so much you can do to affect the outcome of a game on the court.

I have lived in North Carolina my whole life, but I have never been a UNC fan. My favorite team has always been North Carolina State. With that said, I do try to give respect where it’s due and Smith certainly spoke truth with his comment after that Georgetown game. As a matter of fact, I consider it to be one of the greatest assessments that has ever been uttered by anybody about anything. Seriously, it takes a great deal of wisdom to understand that success in life can be a superficial, shallow, fickle thing that doesn’t always land on the most deserving person. Much to the contrary, it oftentimes seems to go out of its way to avoid such people and land on the most undeserving people.

Try to remember this, Christian, whenever you get out of heart because your service to the Lord isn’t producing the results of which they are worthy. Don’t forget that God doesn’t keep score on a scoreboard, doesn’t tally up His totals at the end of a season, pays no attention to the roar of the undiscerning crowd, and isn’t nearly as impressed with earthly wins as we are. Since He is always working from the grander, eternal perspective, no score or end result is truly final with Him until the afterlife. The Bible’s best passage on this is Galatians 6:7-9, and these are the words I’ll leave you with today: Read them carefully and thoughtfully.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Adversity, Disappointment, Doing Good, Encouragement, God's Omniscience, God's Work, Heaven, Impatience, Ministry, Perseverance, Prosperity, Reward, Sacrifice, Service, Sports, Suffering, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Lighter Side of Thanksgiving

Posted on November 23, 2016 by russellmckinney

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” (Psalm 107:8-9)

In my “Thanksgiving” file folder, I have various illustrations that I’ve collected down through the years. In lieu of me writing anything original or profound today, I thought I’d just share a couple of my favorites. Enjoy.

A man joined a monastery in which by rule you could only speak two words every five years. After he had been there five years, the overseers called him in and allowed him to speak his two words. The man said, “Cold room.” Another five years passed and they called him in again. This time he said, “Hard bed.” Then another five years passed and they called him in again. This time he said, “Bad food.” Five years later he got another chance. This time he said, “I quit.” At that point the head overseer looked at him and said, “Well, you might as well quit. You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here.”

A father in Phoenix called his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and said, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing. We’ve both been miserable for 45 years and that’s enough. We’re done.” The son panicked and said, “Dad, you two can’t do this!” The father replied, “Yes, we can. We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of even having to talk about it. So you call your sister in Chicago and tell her. Good-bye.” Frantically the son called his sister and dropped the bombshell. She told him, “No way are they getting divorced! I’ll take care of this. You just hold tight.” Then she called the father and said, “You two are not getting divorced. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do ANYTHING. Do you hear me? Don’t do ANYTHING! Bye.” The father hung up the phone, turned to his wife, and said, “Okay, you can start cooking. They’re both coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way.”

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!

 

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Not Everybody Feels Thankful & Merry

Posted on November 21, 2016 by russellmckinney

Today is the Monday before Thanksgiving, which means that we are now moving into the holiday season. Thanksgiving will be here Thursday. That will be followed by Black Friday, the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Eventually December 25th, Christmas, will get here, and one week later January 1st,  New Year’s Day, will as well. All this means that for the next five weeks or so there will be a whole lot of family gatherings, feasting, shopping, gift giving, gift receiving, parties, and good times. Most people name this time of year as their favorite, and the better a year you’ve had the more thankful and merry you’ll be I suppose.

But as we launch forth here into the season, I’d like to use today’s post to remind you that some people have had a tough year. Maybe they experienced the death of a loved one this year. Maybe they’ve been sick themselves most of the year. Maybe their marriage ended in divorce this year. Maybe they’ve spent the year unemployed. Maybe they’ve watched a dream die this year. The list is pretty lengthy of the things that can turn a year crappy, and those things don’t all magically disappear around a Thanksgiving turkey, a Christmas tree, or watching a ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. And all I’m asking you to do is be sensitive to such matters. Strive to live out the words of Romans 12:15:

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

For a long time now we’ve heard that there are more suicides during the Christmas season than at any other time of the year. Frankly, I’m not sure if there has ever been a scientific study done on that or if somebody just said it once and everybody else took it as factual. But what I do know is that this whole time of year is hard on a lot of folks. So, if you know someone who isn’t exactly on top of the world these days, do something nice for them during the holidays. Give them a call. Send them a handwritten card. Send them a nice email. Invite them over for a meal. Take them out for lunch. The choice is yours, but do something.

But what if you happen to be the person whose life is in the dumps right now? Well, instead of focusing on all the negative stuff in your life, as real as it is, focus on all the positive stuff, because it’s just as real. That doesn’t come easily for most of us and you’ll probably have to work at it, but I promise you that putting in that work will help you. Someone has said that we walk around depressed because we count our blessings on our fingers and our miseries on our calculators. So, this holiday season use your calculator to count your blessings. They are there, I assure you. You just have to see them for what they are.

 

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Don Shula at the Movies

Posted on November 19, 2016 by russellmckinney

Don Shula won more games as an NFL football coach than any other coach. His Miami Dolphins teams won two Super Bowls, and the 1972 Dolphins are the only team in NFL history to go through an entire season, including the playoffs and Super Bowl, undefeated. Needless to say, Shula was something of a celebrity, especially in South Florida.

At the height of Shula’s popularity, he and his wife took a vacation. Since they wanted to go someplace where Shula wouldn’t be recognized, they decided to visit a small town in Maine. One night while they were there, they went to the local theater to watch a movie. As soon as they walked into the theater everyone in the audience stood up and applauded. Shula was not only embarrassed but a bit annoyed by the ovation. As he took his seat, he leaned over to the fellow next to him and said, “I didn’t think you would recognize me.” Puzzled, the fellow asked, “Am I supposed to know you?” Shula replied, “I’m Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins.” The man said, “Well, that’s nice, but we stood up and applauded because the manager said that if two more people didn’t show up he wouldn’t run the movie.”

And what lesson did we just learn, class? Some words from Romans 12:3 sum it up nicely:

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

Look, I’m not picking on Don Shula. If I had been in his shoes that night, I’d have assumed the same thing. The truth is, we all need a refresher course in humility every now and then. As a matter of fact, each of us should be on the lookout right now because ours might just be right around the corner.

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Styx, My Son, & Me

Posted on November 17, 2016 by russellmckinney

My oldest son, Ryan, attends Johnson University, a Christian college located about ten minutes outside Knoxville, Tennessee. Johnson is a small, private school that has an on-campus attendance of approximately 1,000. Ryan is a sophomore there, lives in a dorm, plays on the baseball team, and is double majoring in Bible and Physical Education K-12. He plans to be a P.E. teacher and coach. I’m mentioning him attending Johnson because it factors into the story I’m about to tell.

Ryan turned 19 on June 17th of this year, and for his birthday present he wanted to do something he had never done: attend a concert. I have to admit that I’ve tainted both my boys during their formative years by having them listen to my “old” music as we’ve ridden the roads together. And what is my “old” music? It’s the music that I grew up listening to: Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Blondie, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Brown, Bad Company, Queen, Billy Joel, etc., etc. etc. I’m talking about, you know, the classics from the 1970s and 1980s. I could get all pious here as a preacher and say that the only songs I know and listen to are hymns and contemporary Christian songs, but that would be a lie. Don’t you hate it when preachers lie?

Anyway, in the days leading up to Ryan’s birthday he had me scouring internet sites to find a concert for us to attend. It had to be reasonably local, affordably priced, and feature a great act. The best I could find in the month of June was Pat Benatar playing at my alma mater, Appalachian State University. That seemed like a pretty good way to go because Ryan would be out for summer break and Boone is only an hour’s drive from our house.

But then I got the idea to check on who might be coming to Knoxville sometime after Ryan moved back to school in August. And, low and behold, Styx was coming to play at Knoxville’s Tennessee Valley Fair on September 15th. Now we were talking. Pat Benatar is great, but Styx is, well, Styx. I first heard them in 1978 when my cousin Lisa told my parents to buy me an eight-track of “Pieces of Eight.” I was 12 years old. That’s how far back I go with Styx. Of course, in the years that followed I learned their pre-1978 stuff as well as everything that came after Pieces of Eight.

So, I went online and purchased two tickets to the concert. Since my wife Tonya teaches school, and the concert was on a weeknight, she had absolutely zero interest in going. My younger son, Royce, is a sophomore at Mitchell High and would loved to have gone, but he couldn’t because he too had school the next day. That meant that I had to drive the two and a half hours to Knoxville by myself to meet Ryan and attend my first concert in almost 30 years. The good news was that Tonya and Royce not going allowed us to splurge a bit on the tickets and get some better seats down toward the stage.

Well, the concert started at 7:30 and Ryan’s baseball practice ended at 6:00. That meant that we had an hour and a half for him to take a shower and then begin the precision plan of us wolfing down some McDonalds, driving the fifteen minutes to the fairgrounds, finding a parking spot, making our way to the outdoor arena, and locating our seats. It was around 7:15 when we officially sat down as an opening act neither of us had heard of was playing on stage. Ryan decided that the fifteen minutes of waiting would be better spent buying a souvenir tee shirt from the stand just to the right of the stage. He bought a nice one (with his own money) and had hardly gotten back to his seat before Styx hit the stage. Their opening song was “The Grand Illusion” from the 1977 album of the same name and away we went.

What followed was two hours worth of wall-to-wall Styx hits. The band sounded great, a beautiful full moon hung in the nighttime sky over the outdoor venue, I got to be a teenager again for a little while, and Ryan’s first concert became what he would later describe as the best birthday present he ever got. To top it all off, Styx’s lead singer, Tommy Shaw, threw just one Styx tee shirt into the crowd that whole night. Guess who caught it. Ryan. That thoroughly convinced me that he and I were exactly where we were supposed to be that evening.

Okay, so why have I shared this personal story that seemingly has nothing to do with being a Christian, going to church, reading the Bible, praying, or any other religious activity? I’ve done it as exhibit A of my evidence that you can be a devout Christian and still get out there and enjoy life. Ryan and I weren’t drinking at that concert. We weren’t smoking pot. We weren’t banging our heads and making the “devil’s horns” hand signals. We didn’t drag out a record player afterward and play a Styx album backward to see if there was any hidden Satanic message in it. We didn’t even engage in a discussion about how in Greek mythology the river Styx separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. All that happened was that I drove Ryan back to campus, he went to bed, and then he got up the next morning and went right back to his religious classes. As for me, I drove back home that night, prayed for much of the trip, and listened to preaching on the radio for the rest of the way. And I had a perfect peace about all of it, including the two hours spent at the concert. Go figure.

I’ll be the first to admit that Christian liberty can be taken to a sinful extreme and used to falsely justify plenty of bad behavior, but the answer isn’t to throw it out altogether and become good little legalists. The apostle Paul taught in several passages (1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 10:23, Galatians 5:13, Colossians 2:6) that Christian liberty is a good thing when used rightly. For example, he says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” Trust me, Ryan and I weren’t brought under the power of Styx that night. To us, that concert was just a great time of a father and son getting to hear a band whose music we both enjoy. If we tried to make it anything more than that, we’d just be blowing it out of spiritual proportion and bringing ourselves under false man-made guilt.

And it is with that in mind that I’ll leave you with some more words from Paul, this time from 1 Corinthians 10:31. There he says to the Christians of Corinth, “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Paul’s quote means that the only question that Ryan and I had to get settled before that concert was, “Can the words ‘whatever’ and ‘all’ include attending a Styx concert to the glory of God?” Well, as you’ve figured out by now, I believe that under the right circumstances they can. And just to get right down to it, I know in my heart that we came in line with those circumstances that night in Knoxville. I can’t speak for anyone else who was at that concert, including the band, but I’m positive that Ryan and I exercised our Christian liberty without sin. If you don’t believe me, ask him. He even has the tee shirt straight from Tommy Shaw’s hand to prove it.

 

 

Posted in Balance, Choices, Christian Liberty, Conscience, Fatherhood, God's Will, Guilt, Inner Peace, Parenting, Personal | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Responding When Life Punches You in the Mouth

Posted on November 15, 2016 by russellmckinney

Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, used to say of his opponents and their strategies to beat him, “Everybody has plans until they get hit for the first time.” Likewise, it is said of military strategies, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” The point of both quotes is that reality can screw up your plans. Your idea for how your life will go can be blown to smithereens with one phone call, one email, one text, one letter, one conversation, one doctor’s report, one meeting with your boss, or one series of events.

This is something the prophet Ezekiel learned all too well. He was born in Jerusalem and spent the first 25 years of his life there. Since he was from a priestly family, he seemed destined to become a priest who would serve at Jerusalem’s temple. To use the Tyson quote, we might say that Ezekiel climbed into the ring with life and had a plan all laid out for how his life would go. Unfortunately for him, however, that plan came to nothing the instant life hit him in the mouth with a haymaker punch. That haymaker came in the form of Babylon’s great leader Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty army. Oh, sure, Ezekiel would become a priest, but the field of his ministry would be Babylon, not Jerusalem (Ezekiel 1:3).

Every plan young Ezekiel had for his life changed when he and his wife became part of 10,000 Jews who were deported to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar and his army laid siege to Jerusalem in 597 B.C. (2 Kings 24:8-16). This was actually the second wave of deportation that Jerusalem’s inhabitants had been forced to endure at the hands of the Babylonians. The first had occurred in 605 B.C. with a young Daniel, along with his friends Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abed-Nego) being among those taken to Babylon as a part of that group (Daniel 1:1-7). Just to finish out the record, in 586 B.C., eleven years after Ezekiel’s deportation, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem yet again and at that time destroyed the city and the temple.

Getting back to Ezekiel, he and his wife became members of a large colony of exiles who were taken to Babylon’s Tel Abib on the banks of the Chebar river (Ezekiel 1:1). There the couple settled down and lived in some type of house (Ezekiel 3:24, 8:1). If it seems odd that exiled captives would be able to live in houses, you should understand that the Babylonians’ primary purpose in deporting the Jews was not enslavement. Instead, their main purpose was simply to displace the Jews, especially the Jewish leadership and nobility, from their homeland. The displacement was designed to strike a blow at Jewish nationalism and make it much easier to assimilate the Jews into the Babylonian way of life.

So, while it was horrific for Ezekiel, his wife, and the thousands of other Jews to be carried out of their homeland and plopped down into a strange new land, at least they were allowed to have some sense of community and normalcy in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah even sent a letter from Jerusalem to the captives encouraging them to build houses, plant vineyards, and marry among themselves there in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-7). As for Ezekiel, five years into his captivity, when he reached the age of 30, he began his prophetic ministry (Ezekiel 1:2) and his house became a hub for Jewish gatherings (Ezekiel 8:1, 14:1, 20:1, 33:31). It’s at least possible if not likely that he knew Daniel, who was also serving as God’s prophet in Babylon. The two men would have been about the same age. The difference was that Daniel’s ministry was in large part focused upon Babylon’s ruling elite, while Ezekiel’s was focused upon his fellow exiles.

You see, we have to admire Ezekiel and his wife. They took the lemons life gave them and made the best lemonade they could in Babylon. They had God. They had each other. They had a house. They had friends. Ezekiel even had an effective ministry among the exiles.

Ah, but then tragedy struck yet again as Ezekiel’s wife died a sudden death (Ezekiel 24:15-16). To use the Tyson reference one more time, this was Ezekiel getting hit in the mouth again and having to readjust his plan for how his remaining years would go. To make his wife’s death even harder to understand, God claimed responsibility for it as He told Ezekiel, “…behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke…” (Ezekiel 24:16).

You say, “That’s heartbreaking!” No doubt it was. But that wasn’t even the end of the heartbreak. To make the loss worse, God wouldn’t let Ezekiel mourn for the woman (Ezekiel 24:16-17)! What possible reason could God have for forbidding Ezekiel from mourning? The answer was: Ezekiel’s lack of mourning would serve as an example for his fellow exiles in the days to come when the Babylonian army would finish off Jerusalem by way of that third siege and kill many of the sons and daughters who had been left behind after the second deportation (Ezekiel 24:15-27). In this way, Ezekiel’s life itself became an object lesson that complimented his prophetic preaching. He preached his last dated prophecy in the 27th year of his captivity (Ezekiel 29:17-21), which means that his ministry in Babylon lasted at least 22 years.

There is so much more that I could say about Ezekiel, but for the purpose of this post I just want to use him as an example of someone who had a fight plan, got hit in the mouth, came up with a new plan and made it work, got hit in the mouth again, came up with another plan and made it work, and then died doing what God had called Him to do. You talk about a man who couldn’t be stopped! And may this great man of God serve as an inspiration to all of us who have watched our carefully laid plans for our lives go up in smoke through no fault of our own.

Friend, if that describes you, the best advice I can give you is to stick with God and keep on punching. You aren’t the first person in history to get a raw deal and you won’t be the last. That’s just a byproduct of living in a fallen world. But what you do have a say in is how you respond to getting punched. Ezekiel knew how to take a blow and keep on serving God, and may the same be true of you.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Character, Commitment, Complaining, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Encouragement, Faithfulness, God's Work, Human Life, Ministry, Perseverance, Problems, Service, Suffering, Trials | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Christian & Government

Posted on November 12, 2016 by russellmckinney

Let me give you four facts that are all true. Fact #1: The Christian should submit to his or her governmental authorities. Fact #2: Not all governmental leaders are sanctioned by God. Fact #3: Some governmental leaders enact laws that are evil. Fact #4: There are times when God approves of civil disobedience against one’s government. Now let’s take these facts one a time and see them in scripture.

Fact #1: The Christian should submit to his or her governmental authorities. In support of this fact, consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.):

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:1-7)

Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. (Daniel 2:20-21)

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men — as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:13-17)

For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another. (Psalm 75:6-7)

Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Luke 20:22-25)

They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses. (Daniel 4:25)

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:10-11)

And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. (Jeremiah 29:7)   (This was God’s command to the people of Judah who had been deported to Babylon and were now living in that city. The point is, God didn’t tell those Jews to overthrow that city and take over its government.)

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work… (Titus 3:1)

As you read these passages you would do well to consider the specific governments and rulers they involved. Jesus and Paul lived under the Roman government. Was that a godly, Christian government? No way. Likewise, Daniel and those other Jews who got carried off to Babylon lived under the Babylonian government. Was that a godly government? Not a chance. Nevertheless, there is no verse to be found where God ever encouraged His people to march in protest, lead a coup attempt, or organize an overthrow of either Rome or Babylon.

Someone might ask, “But didn’t God lead Moses and the Israelites to overthrow the government of Pharoah? No, even in that story, God doesn’t order the Israelites to rebel against Pharaoh in an attempt to topple his government. Instead, God works to break Pharaoh and cause him to make the voluntary decision to let the Israelites go.

Fact #2: Not all governmental leaders are sanctioned by God. In support of this fact, consider the following passage from Hosea:

“Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’ Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him. They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold They made idols for themselves — That they might be cut off.” (Hosea 8:2-4, N.K.J.V.)

Notice here what God says about the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom). He says, “They set up kings, but not by Me. They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.” While these words clearly mean that it is possible for a political ruler to hold office apart from God’s sanctioning, what they don’t do is specify when or why God makes such a distinction.

Therefore, we are left with a fact that is on the one hand Biblically accurate and on the other hand quite difficult (if not downright impossible) for us to apply to modern-day situations. Since God Himself has been known to sanction not only godly rulers but also ungodly ones — it was God who appointed the northern kingdom’s first king, Jeroboam, who turned out to be a wicked ruler (1 Kings 11:26-39) — how can us mortals possibly know when a ruler has been set up by men rather than God and is, thus, a ruler whose authority God doesn’t acknowledge? I’m not sure we can.

Fact #3: Some governmental leaders enact laws that are evil. In support of this fact, consider the following passages:

Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, Have fellowship with You? They gather together against the life of the righteous, And condemn innocent blood. But the Lord has been my defense, And my God the rock of my refuge. He has brought on them their own iniquity, And shall cut them off in their own wickedness; The Lord our God shall cut them off. (Psalm 94:20-23, N.K.J.V.)

“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
What will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?” (Isaiah 10:1-3, N.K.J.V.)

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. (Proverbs 29:2, N.K.J.V.)

These passages leave no doubt that a governmental leader who sits upon a throne of iniquity will enact laws that are evil and will decree decrees that are unrighteous. Consequently, when such rulers are in power, God’s people will be groan.

Fact #4: There are times when God actually approves of civil disobedience against one’s government. In support of this fact, consider the following scriptural examples:

  • The Hebrew midwives refused to obey the Pharaoh’s decree that all of the firstborn male Jewish babies were to be killed. (Exodus 1:15-21)
  • Rahab refused to turn over the two Israelites spies to the king of Jericho. (Joshua 2:1-22)
  • The Israelites refused to obey King Saul’s order to put Jonathan to death in the aftermath of Jonathan unknowingly violating a decree that Saul had made. (1 Samuel 14:24-46)
  • Obadiah hid 100 of the Lord’s prophets from Israel’s King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. (1 Kings 18:3-4)
  • Jehosheba hid Joash (Jehoash), an infant son of the royal bloodline of Judah, in her home for six years to keep the wicked Queen Athaliah from killing him and thus completely ending that bloodline. (2 Kings 11:1-21)
  • Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused to eat Nebuchadnezzar’s food and drink his wine. (Daniel 1:1-20)
  • Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused to bow down before the image of gold that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. (Daniel 3:1-30)
  • Daniel defied King Darius’ decree by continuing to pray to God during the days when Darius had made it a law that prayers could only be offered to him. (Daniel 6:1-28)
  • Christ’s apostles continued to preach the gospel even after the Jewish religious authorities commanded them to stop doing it. (Acts 4:1-22; 5:17-42)
  • Tribulation-period believers will refuse to worship the Antichrist’s image or take his mark during the coming tribulation period. (Revelation 13:11-15)

Does it surprise you that there are so many scriptural examples of God-approved civil disobedience? It did me when I first learned it. And yet, there they are, plainly spelled out in the Bible for anyone who wants to read them. Needless to say, these examples add an entirely new layer of ground to the simple, foundational principle: The Christian should submit to his or her governmental authorities.

And so, in the end, where does all of this leave the Christian who wants to live a life that is pleasing to God? While the basic framework of such a life obviously requires submission to one’s governmental authorities and compliance with the laws those authorities enact, there are legitimate questions that can be raised. Those questions sound like this: “What if those authorities are obviously evil?” “And what if they were put into office by man-made schemes that were not of God and create doubt as to whether God even acknowledges the authority of those leaders?” “And what about all the authorities, installed by God or not, who enact evil laws that are in direct violation to the Bible?” Rest assured that these questions take us out into the deepest waters of scriptural application to 21st century life. Spiritual discernment is definitely required, and an exceedingly high level of it at that.

I, myself, don’t even pretend to have all the answers to these questions, but I do feel confident in saying that we, as Christians, need to consider each situation on a case-by-case basis rather than try to employ a one-size-fits-all approach to this issue. For example, God doesn’t want us to stop paying our taxes or attempt to assassinate a leader who is blatantly ungodly, but neither does He want us to take part in the murdering of babies simply because abortion is legal in certain states or cave in to the unscriptural pro-homosexual agenda that many of our governmental leaders are now writing into law.

Again, each situation is unique and calls for much prayer, Bible study, and spiritual discernment. Sometimes submission is the path; other times it isn’t. I realize this answer might seem lacking to some, but I honestly believe it’s about the best we Christians can do as we try to live a godly life in this ungodly world. The good news is that God has a specific will for every situation and He will reveal that will to us if we keep Him front and center in the decision-making process. This holds true in every realm of life, even in the realm of government. But it’s up to us, as Christians, to put this truth into action anytime we are faced with the question: “Is this a time for me to show my obedience to God by showing my obedience to my government or is it a time for me to show my obedience to God by showing my disobedience to my government?”

Posted in Abortion, Current Events, Disobedience, God's Will, Government, Homosexuality, Leadership, Lesbianism, Obedience, Politics, Rebellion, Submission | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Story From the Lighter Side of Politics

Posted on November 10, 2016 by russellmckinney

In the midst of all the drama, vitriol, and outright rage that now characterizes American politics, allow me to lighten things up a bit with a story from my one and only foray into the political realm. It involves my first cousin, Tony, whom I did not consult before writing this. That’s okay, though, because he’s used to me doing things without asking him.

I figure I was somewhere between 12-14 years old when my mother asked me if I would stand outside one of our local schools on election Tuesday and hand out election cards for Linda “Butch” Woody as people went in to vote. Butch was our county’s Clerk of Court and my mother worked for her. The only incentive my mother gave me for handing out those cars was, “I’ll lose my job if Butch doesn’t get reelected, and if I lose my job, I don’t know what we’ll do.” Since that scenario evoked visions of homelessness, sleeping on the streets, begging for food, and a loss of television, I agreed to hand out the cards.

Well, somehow Tony, who is about three months older than me, got roped into helping. So, there we stood at Ledger Elementary School that Tuesday, two fine young Americans, doing our part to carry on the electoral process. We didn’t really want to be there, but when you are that age you don’t always get a lot of say in life. And, as you can imagine, we handed out the cards in silence, no speech making, no politicizing, no pleading, not even a word about what a nice lady Butch was.

It was about mid-afternoon when a mother with two small boys pulled into the parking lot. She was barely out of the car before one of the kids began to violently protest. He was crying, screaming, kicking, etc., doing anything to keep from being dragged into that school house. Tony and I had been taking turns handing out cards and it just so happened that he was up to bat. I looked at him with a grin and said something like, “Your turn” and watched him start making his way toward the little tornado. By this time, the mother was holding on to the kid for dear life to keep him from bolting. As I recall, she had the other child on her hip.

To Tony’s credit, he did his job by graciously handing her one of Butch’s cards. Then he quickly pivoted and started walking back toward me. When he got within earshot range of me, I jokingly asked him, “Aren’t you going to give that little boy a card?” Clearly annoyed at the suggestion, he answered, “I’m not giving that little brat one of my cards.” He thought he said it too low for the mother to hear, but he thought wrong.

And how did she respond to his comment? She said, “No, the other one is the brat. This one is usually pretty good.” At that point, Tony wanted to dig a hole to China and crawl into it. I’m sure it didn’t help his feelings that I busted a gut laughing. First cousins can be cruel, you know. Anyway, even though Butch managed to win reelection that day and my family was saved from living in squalor, I always doubted that Butch got that woman’s vote.

Okay, since this is supposed to be a Christian blog, I should probably incorporate a Bible verse here, and the one I’ll go with is Proverbs 13:3. It does, after all, fit the story. That verse says:

He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. (N.K.J.V.)

Sorry ‘cuz, I think you might have dropped the guard on your mouth that day and opened your lips wide to bring a bit of destruction into your life. For that matter, Butch’s campaign probably got hit with some of the fallout as well. But, hey, don’t be too hard on yourself because we’ve all done it and you are still without a doubt the best political-card-hander-outer with whom I ever worked.

Posted in Children, Communication, Humor, Motherhood, Personal, Politics, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Lessons Learned From the Brink of Canaan

Posted on November 9, 2016 by russellmckinney

The book of Joshua is the Bible’s record of how the Israelites, under Joshua’s leadership, claimed their promised land of Canaan. Unfortunately for the Israelites, however, four decades earlier their initial attempt at completing that assignment had produced disastrous results. The story of that first invasion is loaded with spiritual lessons, and I’d like to share four of those lessons with you. These certainly aren’t the only four that could be named, but they are four good ones.

Lesson #1: God has a plan.

God had a sweeping, grandiose plan to turn the Israelites from Egyptian slaves into Canaan’s conquerors. The plan went as follows:

  • He raised up Moses to lead the Israelites in their exodus out of Egypt (Exodus chapters 1-4).
  • He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass through on dry land and then brought the waters back together to drown Pharaoh’s army (Exodus chapter 14).
  • He sustained the Israelites in the wilderness region between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai (Exodus chapters 15-18).
  • He brought the Israelites to Mount Sinai three months after the exodus (Exodus 19:1), and there He gave them His law and instructed them to build the Tabernacle as their movable place of worship (Exodus chapters 19-40, Leviticus chapters 1-27, Numbers chapters 1-9).
  • He led the Israelites to begin their march toward Canaan eleven months after they had arrived at Mount Sinai (Numbers 10:11).
  • He sustained them in the wilderness region between Mount Sinai and Canaan (Numbers chapters 10-12).

All of this proves that God wasn’t just “winging it” or making it up as He went along in regards to His dealings with the Israelites. He had a plan, and the plan would work if the Israelites would work the plan. The same is true in our lives concerning God’s plans for us.

Lesson #2: God doesn’t need our ideas to help Him with His plan.

The Israelites came to Kadesh Barnea (Deuteronomy 1:19) in the Wilderness of Paran, which was the very brink of Canaan, and set up their sprawling encampment there (Numbers 13:16). This was to be home base for their victorious invasion of Canaan. It was then that Moses said to the Israelites, “Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 1:21, N.K.J.V.).

Okay, so far, so good. But then things got murky. While a straightforward reading of Numbers 13:1-2 tells us that God told Moses to send 12 men (one man from each of Israel’s 12 tribes) into Canaan to spy out the land before the invasion, Deuteronomy 1:22-23 provides the background details for why God did that. In those verses, Moses looks back upon the events of those days and says to the Israelites, “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come'” (Deuteronomy 1:22, N.K.J.V.).

Uh oh. Rather than boldly marching forward to claim what God had promised them, the Israelites started doing their own strategizing and planning. They said, “Before we start marching into Canaan to battle the inhabitants there, let’s send in a small group of men to spy out the land for us so that we’ll be better informed.” Even Moses got caught up in that plan, as he admitted, “The plan pleased me well…” (Deuteronomy 1:23, N.K.J.V.).

At that point, God could have become incensed and lowered the boom on the Israelites for doing their own planning. Instead, He spoke to Moses and signed off on the strategy by laying out specific guidelines for it (Numbers 13:1). The group should consist of twelve men, one man being chosen from each of Israel’s twelve tribes (Numbers 13:2). Why did God do this? He did it because He knew those spies would bring back a scary report about the land, and He would use that report as a test of the Israelites’ obedience, courage, and faith in Him. Make no mistake, though, if their faith had been ideal the Israelites wouldn’t have had to take that test because they wouldn’t have cooked up that plan about sending a group of spies into the land. May we not be guilty of repeating their mistake in our lives.

Lesson #3: Disobedience to God’s plan brings disaster.

The twelve spies were chosen and spent forty days in Canaan studying the land (Numbers 13:4-25). Then they returned with the good news that the land was a land of abundance just as God had said (Numbers 13:26-27). The bad news was that the inhabitants of the land were strong people – some of them were literal giants – who lived in large, heavily fortified cities (Numbers 13:28-29,32-33).

After hearing that report, only Caleb and Joshua, two of the twelve spies, wanted to proceed onward to take the land (Numbers 13:30, 14:6-9). The rest of the people cried all that night, complained against Moses and Aaron, and started talking about electing a new leader to lead them back to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-5). The peoples’ actions angered God so much that He told Moses He would strike the Israelites with a pestilence, disinherit them, and raise up a new nation for Moses to lead (Numbers 14:11-12). (This was actually the second time God had threatened to do this: Exodus 32:1-10.)

Moses, however, being the great leader he was, pleaded for the Israelites and convinced God to spare them (Numbers 14:13-20). This didn’t mean, though, that there wouldn’t be severe consequences for their disobedience. For the next forty years, one year per each day the spies were in Canaan, the Israelites would wander in the wilderness area surrounding Canaan and bury bodies as each Israelite twenty years old or older at the time of their refusal to claim Canaan would die off by means of some type of “plague” (Numbers 14:21-32). Only Joshua and Caleb would be spared this sentence (Numbers 14:30,38). We ourselves should remember this disastrous death sentence whenever we are tempted to choose the path of disobedience to God.

Lesson #4: Opportunities missed because of rebellion against God’s plan can be gone forever.

After Moses relayed God’s word of judgment, the people spent a night of deep mourning (Numbers 14:39). The next morning, they made their way to the top of a nearby mountain, confessed their sin to God, and dedicated themselves to going in and taking Canaan (Numbers 14:39-40). Even though we might be tempted to think this was exactly what God wanted to hear and that He would again forego His threat of judgment, Moses knew better. So, he explained to the people that even this new round of “confession” and “dedication” from them was really just new rebellion against God’s new command (Numbers 14:41). He also warned them that any attempted invasion of Canaan at that time would not succeed because they would be doing it without God (Numbers 14:42-43).

In typical Israelite disobedience, though, a group of them tried an invasion even as Moses and the Ark of the Covenant remained in camp (Numbers 14:44). And the results were predictable as the Amalekites and the Canaanites attacked them and drove them back (Numbers 14:45). This failed military effort serves as a sobering lesson that opportunities missed because of rebellion can be gone forever. Here again, let us learn from the Israelites’ mistakes and not miss out on any God-given opportunities in our lives.

Now, in closing, let me say that God is still in the planning business and He has a plan for not only where He wants to take you in life but how He wants to get you there. Because you live on this side of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, that plan begins with you believing in Jesus Christ (God the Son) as your personal Savior. Then, once you’ve made that decision, you must stay in right fellowship with God by praying, dying to your own plans, and asking God to funnel you into His will for your life. Never doubt that the same God who once led Moses and the Israelites wants to lead you, and He will do so if you will let Him.

And as you journey along with God, be sure to keep in mind these four spiritual lessons we have learned from Israel’s failed invasion of Canaan. Don’t repeat the mistakes of the Israelites lest you yourself be forced to do some “wilderness living” of your own. Wildernesses are not pleasant, and so here’s hoping that you opt for God and His plan. That plan, by the way, is better than anything you can come up with anyway. As someone has said, “It’s what you would want for yourself if you had enough sense to want it.”

Posted in Belief, Choices, Comfort, Courage, Disobedience, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Guidance, God's Judgment, God's Will, Obedience, Rebellion, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment