Walk of Folly

WALKING WITH GOD. No.32

1 Kings 11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter–Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.”

There are times when, looking at the human race, you wonder why God ever made us, knowing that in our sinfulness we would do the most stupid of things. This present situation with Solomon is one such time. Solomon in his youth had received supernatural wisdom from God and as a result of that had become the richest man in the world. He had known the blessing of God on him as few others do. He made Israel very prosperous and from his writings in Ecclesiastes, you name it and he had done it. He had had a most fulfilling life, having opportunities to do things most of us only dream of. Yet when you read Ecclesiastes it is the epitome of cynicism. He is clearly jaded and even for this man of almost infinite wisdom (well it came from an infinite source!) there is a confusion about life and a weariness that is more than mere old age.

How did Solomon get to that state? Why was he like that? In an earlier meditation as we started looking at Solomon, we noted: “Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter” (v.1). Now that was not a smart move; in fact it was contrary to God’s instructions to the Israelites not to marry foreigners who might lead them astray. Now we can accept that this marriage was no doubt part of a trade treaty, but it still reveals an area of vulnerability in Solomon that will bring his downfall. The Egyptian princess was merely the first of many foreign women that Solomon married. His walk through life was littered with beautiful women, for that’s what they would be.

Despite all of the wisdom from God that enabled him to run a country more prosperously than any other king in the world, when it came to his own life, there was something in him that was never satisfied and could never settle. Solomon, in this respect anyway, is the role model for many foolish men today who are unable to settle and be loyal to one woman. The Egyptian princess was clearly not enough for Solomon so when he saw another beautiful woman from another land, he took her too, and then a while later she became not enough and he found another and another and another. Soon he worked on the basis of ‘variety is the spice of life’ but this ‘wise’ man did not realise that in respect of relationships that was not true. Somehow he had either not read or ignored the Scripture that told him, “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh,” (Gen 2:24 ) one man with one woman was God’s best design, that was what worked best.

But there was another aspect to this vulnerability of Solomon. When he took another woman he forgot that she had a background, and most of them came from other cultures where they worshipped other gods or idols. He also didn’t realize that when such a woman came, she came with the trappings of superstition, not knowing the one true God, and would want to continue that idolatrous worship of idols. More than that she, like Eve, would want to involve her man in what she did, and so Solomon found himself being pressed to go along and join in her rites of idol worship. “He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” (v.3,4) Soon the reality of the Lord’s presence faded and with it the sense of meaning and purpose that comes with the knowledge of the Lord who is Creator, Sustainer, and Planner of this world. Soon he became very jaded. What was so awful about this was that he had been warned against it. He belonged to a people who had been warned not to marry idol-worshipping foreigners. If those foreigners wanted to convert to become the true people of God that was different, but if they didn’t the command was stay away!

Thus Solomon’s walk through life changed from a walk of wisdom to a walk of folly. Read Ecclesiastes and you will catch a sense of the awfulness of the results of that folly. Written near the end of his life it shows in the most graphic terms possible what can happen when a person loses their faith and turns away from God. The awful truth was that at some point, despite his wisdom, Solomon thought he knew better than God and ignored God’s command to stay away from foreign idol-worshipping women. Whenever we fall to such a temptation that Satan puts before us, we do the same thing, we think we know better than God – it will be all right. It won’t! Every time we accept or tolerate some ‘small’ wrong in our lives, we do this. Jesus understood this when he said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Mt 5:29,30). He knew that unless you deal radically with an ongoing sin, it would bring about your destruction. Don’t let it! Do something about it, because while you tolerate it and don’t deal with it, you walk the walk of folly and the end will be destruction.

Provoking Faith

‘WHY?’ QUESTIONS No.6

Ex 14:15 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Distractions in life are many. Have you ever had the experience of being at a conference at the weekend, or simply in a Sunday morning Service when the Lord has spoken so clearly to you, that you made a serious commitment to move into a new area of faith? Then comes Monday with work or college or whatever it was, and suddenly it seems as if the world is falling on you, and for a few days it seems you are fighting for survival and by the end of the week all of the glory of the previous weekend seems a blurred dream, and faith seems to be scrabbling around on the floor! Even when it comes to the matter of receiving salvation, Jesus knew that distractions were a problem. Do you remember the parable of the Sower and the Seed when he said, “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” (Mt 13:7) and later explained, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Mt 13:22). There he identified two things that distract us so that we can fail to let the word grow in us and bring full salvation. The first was “the worries of this life”. When we struggle without the Lord’s grace, then worries overwhelm us and we lose what we had. The second was “the deceitfulness of wealth.” We focus on possessions, personal comfort and affluence, and we allow it to quench the work of the Spirit and we are distracted from the main purpose.

Our question today isn’t actually a question from man, it is from God. Again, to catch the import of it we need to look back at what has been happening. Israel have actually been delivered from the nation of Egypt. They are on the edge of the land, about to leave Egypt, and have arrived at the Red (Reed) Sea. God had done exactly what He had said He would do and had dealt with Pharaoh and Egypt, and Israel were now free. The only trouble is that Pharaoh has got over his initial grief at the loss of his son and is now pursuing Israel with his army, intent on vengeance. Then we find, “As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.” (Ex 14:10). Their cry was one of total distress and they expressed it to Moses as, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” (v.11). They were certain they were going to die. The sea was before them and the enemy were behind them. They are locked in. We could have made this question the focus of today’s meditation, but considering the Lord’s question is more profitable.

So why does the Lord say, “Why are you crying out to me?”? It’s fairly obvious isn’t it? Well at a human level, yes, but this isn’t only at a human level. This involves God. The Christian life isn’t just about life at a human level; it’s about living life with God. God adds a completely new dimension to everything! What seems odd about this story is that Moses speaks out in great faith: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex 14:13,14) – but apparently the people are still crying out. It must be that which prompts the Lord to ask this question of Israel.

If a dialogue had continued at this point I suspect it would have gone as follows: God – why are you crying out? People – because we’re about to be killed! God – do you think that after all I have done against Pharaoh to get you this far, I won’t look after you? People – so why don’t you do something? God – I’m waiting for you to ask me what to do next! But that doesn’t happen so the Lord simply tells Moses to get on with it. This is not a time for fine statements of faith; it’s a time for action, divinely supernatural action!

We are called to be a people of faith, and faith means action and not just words (see James 3:14 -). Jesus taught, “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these” (Jn 14:12). The people of Israel had become distracted from the main purpose – that God had promised that He would completely deliver them and deal with Pharaoh. In their leaving and travelling, and probable tiredness, they come to a place where they are suddenly confronted with an obstacle and instead of saying, “Well, what do you want to do now, Lord?” they panic. It’s a very human thing to do, but there is this better way. God delights in doing the naturally impossible, but He does want our cooperation. He’s wanting to teach us Sonship, which is all about sharing the Father’s heart and understanding.

So here we are, having been taught so many fine things on a Sunday morning or at a conference, and then suddenly, when we weren’t expecting it, an obstacle appears that threatens us. We can either forget all we’ve learnt and panic and cry out in terror, or we can learn to say, “OK Lord, how do you want this to go? What do you want me to do in this?” Let’s start working on the latter option, shall we?

Wandering before Upheaval

WALKING WITH GOD. No.8

Gen 37:14,15 When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields

Sometimes in Scripture, a few apparently innocent looking words actually reflect an amazing truth. Consider, for instance, Matt 24:1, “Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.” All very innocent and yet as we think about it, we see that there is God (in human form) walking away from the temple supposedly built for His habitation – and the disciples don’t realize this and only comment on the grand appearance of the building. One ‘temple’ (the glorious, divine body of Christ) was walking away from another Temple, built in fact to glorify a man (Herod). The disciples were incapable of ‘seeing’ the significance of what was happening in front of them.

Perhaps we will only see the significance of what was happening in our verses above as we look at what happened in Joseph’s life. Joseph is his father’s favourite (Gen 37:3) and is now hated by his brothers (37:4). Joseph has also had prophetic dreams that implied that all those around him would bow down before him (37:5-9). Now that was the word of God that had come to this young man. He’s going to become a mighty ruler!

Having watched a lot of people receive prophetic words, I’m sure that when most people receive such a word, they really don’t understand the significance of it. The point is that with most such words, God takes time in fulfilling them and the fulfillment requires a change in us, and there is a long process to bring about that change. The reality is that so often that process is having to bring to death certain things in us before He can resurrect new characteristics in us.

So if God says He will give you great patience, you will go through a long waiting process where your impatience will have to die and patience will grow in you. If He says He will give you great endurance, He will take you through long times of difficulty where your old temptation to give up will die and the ability to hang on in and keep going will grow in you. If God says He will make you a great leader, that is a leader after His style not the world’s, the world’s tendency to bully or to connive or to scheme will die in you and He will develop righteousness and godliness in you together with grace and wisdom.

Joseph, like most of us, doesn’t realize this. He’s just filled with the thought of becoming a great man. He doesn’t think about the process. What was the process in this case? His sinful brothers were about to kill him (37:20), but instead they sell him to slave traders (37:28). He is bought off them in Egypt by one of Pharaoh’s officials (39:1) to work in his home. There he is falsely accused by the official’s wife (39:17,18 ) and thrown into prison (39:20) where he stayed for many years. It was only after he gets interpretation of dreams from God in prison (40:12-22, 41:25-) that he was released and made Prime Minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. It’s an amazing story!

So, here is Joseph in our verses, wandering (walking aimlessly) in a field, in between the time when he received his prophetic promises and the start of the process to bring about the fulfilment of the promises. Do you see the elements of our verses?

First note that he was ‘wandering’. Very often after a major prophetic word comes, people get excited and full of faith – and then nothing seems to happen! I’ve seen it like this many times. They go into a period of ‘wandering’ as far as the prophetic promise is concerned, aimlessly wondering what it had all been about.

But note also that he was ‘in the fields‘, the place where shepherds work – for that is what they all were – the place of ordinary, everyday work life. So after the word comes, we just continue in the place of ordinariness, in our ‘wandering’ in our life at home, college or work, and life just seems to just go on and on, and in our ‘wandering’ we wonder how God can possibly do what He said.

And then ‘a man found him‘. So often in these situations God sends someone along to just gently start the ball rolling, of this process we’ve got to go through. The man puts him in contact with his brothers, and the rest, as they say, is history. The problem about these things, is that we aren’t warned that this person is carrying our ‘starting pistol’!

For the moment Joseph hasn’t a clue what is coming but at the end of the process he’s able to say to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Gen 50:20). If you’ve had a great word and are now just ‘wandering’, don’t worry God’s timing and process is perfect. When you are being squeezed and changed, don’t panic, it’s just God’s process, working to fulfil His promises to you. You may not be able to see it like that at the moment, but the time will come when you will – so why not rejoice in God’s goodness to you and His grace that is available to help you change. Be blessed!

The Law of Moses

REVELATION OF GOD Meditations No.7 of 10

Ex 24:3.4 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.

Moses, at God’s instigation leads his people out of Egypt, and across the desert to Mount Sinai where they have a longer encounter, as a people, with God. God conveys to Moses the Ten Commandments and then a number of other laws which might be divided into national, social or ceremonial. The national ones applied to them as a nation, the social ones were about relationships, and the ceremonial were all about how they as individuals or as a people should deal with their sins. Within these we see some more important things about God.

The first one, which should not surprise us if we accept that He is the Creator of the world, is that 13. God knows best how we ‘work’ and therefore 14. Any laws He gave Israel could perhaps be seen as His ‘design rules’ for living. It is interesting to note that when Moses first passed on the laws that God had been imparting to him, there is a very positive response by the people: “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” They recognised a) they were good laws for a good society and b) they were laws that they were capable of keeping. There was nothing too hard to do!

The second one is that, 15. God knows we are weak and will fail, and so 16. He provides for a way for our guilt to be taken through the sacrificial laws. That comes out clearly in the provision of the ceremonial or sacrificial law. This is all about how to deal with personal or corporate guilt. God knows what many counsellors state today, that one of man’s biggest problems is that of guilt. So how did God deal with it? He gave them a procedure whereby they would present an animal that would die in their place, and in presenting it they would become aware of the seriousness of their wrongs and seeing the animal die in their place, determine not to repeat that wrong. Also, having gone through the procedure instituted by God, they knew that they had dealt with it according to His requirements, and therefore they also knew that they would not have an ongoing issue with God. It was sorted!

So many religions (or people) today try to appease God for their guilty consciences by their own striving to do good things to make up, but the trouble is you never know if you have done enough. When God lays down a simple and specific procedure to deal with your guilt, when you have done it, you know it is dealt with and you can walk away from it without fear and carry on with your life. Are we advocating we all follow the sacrificial law of Moses? No, the teaching of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ came as our sacrifice and all we have to do is believe that. When we do and approach God on that basis, the New Testament says, we ARE forgiven.

In the midst of these laws comes the clear and stated revelation that, 17. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Ex 34:6,7) This is a far cry from the callous, capricious, angry God that others try to make Him out to be. We thus see that this God is more concerned to bring people into a place of peace and harmony than He is to tell off, chide or punish. The proof of this is the sacrificial system provided for Israel and now, today, the provision of Jesus Christ as God’s answer to our sin. His whole objective is to bring us into a place of guilt-free peace and harmony.

So, through the Law conveyed to Moses, we see the following revealed about God:
13. God knows best how we ‘work’,
14. Any laws He gave Israel could perhaps be seen as His ‘design rules’ for living.
15. God knows we are weak and will fail,
16. He provides for a way for our guilt to be taken through the sacrificial laws
17. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Can we see that everything God does here is show us how we can live in peace and harmony with ourselves, with others and with Him. The Law didn’t only provide a ‘blueprint’ for living for Israel, it also made provision for when they failed. This is a picture of God who seeks to work for our ‘success’ in life!

Those who struggle with the idea that God inspired people to write all these different books of the Old Testament also struggle to see (often because they won’t read it) the incredible unity that there is throughout it. These seventeen points that we have picked up purely from the first two books of the Bible, are seen again and again throughout the Old Testament. There is no contradiction of these points throughout all those books.