1 Kings 12:28 “Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
Jeroboam knew he had no hereditary entitlement to the throne of Israel. And because he was insecure in his position as king over the 10 tribes of Israel, he feared that if the people went to Jerusalem to worship at the temple that they would turn back to following Rehoboam. The solution? Give the people something more convenient to worship and convince them that there is no need to do such a hard thing as travel to Jerusalem. Why go to all that bother when you can worship right here at home?
Listen to his words to the people: “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.” Even though the temple in Jerusalem is where God said “I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” (I Kings 9:3)
Jeroboam gave them a convenient alternative to real worship. And the people bought it and were led into idolatry which continued well beyond Jeroboam’s reign and eventually brought the judgment of God upon the nation.
I fear that we have not learned the lesson intended by this story. Still today there are those who preach a very convenient “Christianity”. There is no cross, there is no dying to self, there is no holiness, there is no Jesus.
Are we doomed to repeat the failures of the past? May God have mercy upon us and restore the real gospel of Jesus Christ to our churches. What a beautiful thing it would be to see altars flooded with those broken and repentant ones who will cry out, “Oh, that I may know Him!”
Please God, don’t let us be content to bow down to something convenient. Rescue us from the idolatry of our day.
Recently I spent some time on vacation. I spent hours and hours in prayer as I looked out onto the water. So peaceful and tranquil, calming to the soul. But sometimes a boat would pass at full speed, ignoring the “no wake zone” signs, and the water would be churned into a tumultuous froth, soon lapping at and spilling over the barriers along the shore.
As the Lord had been dealing with me for several days on the issue of disobedience and it’s destructive effects, the churning of the water seemed to mirror the troubled waters of a disobedient soul. Churning, surging against boundaries, restless and unsettled. There is no peace to a disobedient believer.
As I tearfully reflected on these things, to my shame I realized that my own disobedience exposed a lack of trust in the Lord and my lack of the fear of the Lord. It is no small matter to disobey the Lord of the entire universe and Master of my soul. The more I thought on these things, the more grievous it became to me, until I thought I would rather do anything than disobey Him. And I wondered why I had not cared more to do what pleased Him than what pleased me. Now I understood the unrest that I could not shake. I was living in the wake zone.
Psalm 23 says that He leads me beside the still waters. This is the blessing of a life of obedience. Still waters are for the obedient. All others will live in the wake zone, continually turbulent, disturbed and pounding against the boundaries.
The Lord has required obedience of His people, but He has made an obedient life to be a glorious, serene life. When we can learn to trust that all His ways are good, and higher than our ways, and that Romans 8:28 is always true, then we will be those who experience the still waters of an obedient life.
“…..for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes….” Hosea 10:12
In my conversations with believers there is a sense of urgency in the days we are living in; a sense of seriousness and watchfulness; a sense of the need to seek the Lord like never before. To be sure, there are serious problems that our nation is facing that have affected many of us. It is probable that darker days lie ahead. Only God knows for sure.
But even greater than the needs in our nation are the needs in the church. Jesus has left us here to be a light in this darkened world. And if the light has become darkness, how great is the darkness.
So much of what is called the body of Christ seems to be interested in everything but Christ. We go about our lives, doing our thing, making a living and enjoying our lives. We stay so busy either with work or entertainment that we successfully quiet that still, small voice that tells us there is so much more to life than this. I’m afraid we have forgotten why we are here.
It is time to seek the Lord. Even if the world is scheduled to continue for another 500 years, it is time to seek the Lord. Today, right now, every day. We must seek Him and we must not stop until He comes; until He visits His people with His Presence.
Can you see the promise in this verse? He doesn’t say to seek Him and maybe He will come. He says seek Him till He comes. He will come if we will seek. My heart longs for this.
Jesus, we have forgotten You. We have gone to church faithfully, said our prayers and done our daily Bible readings. And we have missed You in all of it. Oh please come and give us a fresh revelation of Your glory. Move upon our hearts to seek You, and seek You and seek You until You come.
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” Hebrews 1:1-3
Sometimes the routineness of religious activity can dull my view of Jesus. I can get stuck in a rut, even though it is a really nice rut, of church attendance, Bible study and prayer meetings. But once I slow the pace a bit the question arises…..where is Jesus?
It is the mercy of God that He reveals to us when we have become content with the activities of religion and have lost sight of the Saviour. Even in the midst of our seeking after Him we can become more focused on the seeking than on Him.
So this is where I found myself as I sensed the Lord telling me “look unto Jesus.” So I started looking in Hebrews and these first few verses literally took my breath away as I saw the glory and power of Jesus Christ so overwhelmingly presented:
The glory that emanates from Him
The divinity of His person
His amazing power in the creation and continuance of all things
His completed work of redemption
His exalted heavenly position
This is our King. This is our Redeemer. This is our Friend.
“Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” Psalm 86:11 NIV
“Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.” Psalm 86:11 NLT
This verse makes my heart soar! Yes God! This is what I want! Many times I have prayed something very similar in my time with God. I desperately desire these things – a pure and undivided heart, knowing His ways, the fear of the Lord, walking in His truth. Who of His children would not desire such wonderful things?
It is easy to feel quite holy when praying such a thing. But when the day comes that He begins answering this prayer with His refining fire, in that day the seriousness of our desire to walk with Him will be tested. When He requires those dearly loved Isaacs to be placed upon the altar, then the battle begins. And it is then that we see how divided our heart truly is.
What can cause more sorrow to a follower of Jesus than to see Judas lurking within their own heart? I cannot afford to pity Judas, but must ruthlessly drive him out of my heart.
Just like Jesus said to the rich, young ruler “sell all…and come, follow Me”, He says the same to me. He wants all of my heart. What soldier can be trusted in battle who has divided loyalty? What husband can be trusted who has a roving eye? We expect loyalty from others, and do we think Jesus requires anything less?
The purifying of a heart is painful. If we don’t have a burning desire to walk closely with God, we will not endure the process. But if we continue with God, He will grant us more grace, and more grace, and still more grace, to be able to endure the refining. It will still be painful, but we will be able to see past the pain, looking to the joy that lies before us of a closer fellowship with Him.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7
Whenever I am planning to be out of the office, I begin days ahead of time making sure everyone knows what needs to be done in my absence and passing on any information they may need while I’m gone. This process goes on for a few days, but immediately before I leave I will once again go over the critical, most important things. The people in my office probably find this very irritating, but I have to know that they’ve got it.
This verse is among the final things that Jesus said to his disciples before His crucifixion. He has spoken on prayer many times previously, but He stresses it once again. He really wants them to get this. He really wants us to get it as well.
For those of us who have been Christians for a while, we may tend to pass over this verse quickly. But stop and read it as though you’ve never seen it before. Now read it like Jesus really means exactly what this verse says.
Whatever? Did He say whatever you wish? That seems so incredibly dangerous, people being the way they are. And it would be, except He has installed a safety net – if you abide in Me and My words abide in you.
Jesus knows that the abiding Word of God in our heart makes this a very safe verse. His Word so sweetly turns our hearts away from fleshly, carnal things so that our only real wish is that God be glorified. And when this is the deepest desire at the heart of every request, Jesus can say “Yes, it will be done for you.”
I am a notorious to-do list maker. This is one of the ways I try to keep life under control. If I can put it on paper, I can control it. I like lists. I like them a lot.
I am particularly fond of lists in the Bible. For example, the 10 commandments. This works well for me because the expectations are clearly defined and success is measurable. It says don’t do it, I don’t do it, so I can put a check mark next to that one for the day. Reviewing my progress at the end of the day, I can either congratulate myself on a job well done, or resolve to try harder the next day.
However, I have found that this approach to a relationship with God has a tendency to lead to either a self-righteousness that disregards the true condition of the heart, or an overwhelming despair brought about by the realization that I can never successfully follow the list. Colossians 2:23 says that these regulations are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. No value? None at all? Well then, what is a Type A personality to do?
A genuine faith requires dependence upon the Spirit of God to lead me in my obedience if it is to be a complete, whole hearted obedience. No lists which aid me in gauging my progress. I cannot be trusted to gauge my own progress for I cannot know my own heart. I am too prone to deceive myself in order to soothe my conscience and please my flesh. But the Holy Spirit relentlessly leads me into a depth of obedience beyond what I could ever find by way of a list.
Living by the Spirit many times seems harder. Instead of striking off with my list to get the job done (which is easy for me), I must now begin by waiting and listening. But the rewards of a Spirit led obedience, the depth of transformation it produces, is beyond compare.
So I will sacrifice the list and follow the still, small voice that leads me into a life that produces a harvest of fruitful obedience.
Several years ago during a very difficult time in my life a friend shared this story with me:
When French impressionist painter Auguste Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life, Henri Matisse was nearly 28 years younger than him. The two great artists were dear friends and frequent companions. Matisse visited him daily. Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities. One day as Matisse watched the elder painter work in his studio, fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out: “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”
Renoir said: “The pain passes but the beauty remains.”
Those words touched my heart in a profound way as I realized that my pain, in the hands of my God, was producing a beautiful brokenness. I have never viewed suffering in the same light since then.
“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” Psalm 34:18
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – these O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
If brokenness brings the nearness of God, why do we fight against it so much? This pain is not a master sent to rule over us, but our servant, sent to work in us that wonderful work of conforming us to Christ.
How insignificant our pain will be when we see it as the hand of the Potter, gently sculpting, meticulously crafting a vessel of honor fit for the Master’s use. Those scarred and broken places in my soul, they are covered with His fingerprints.
He is my Delight 