“They
provoked him to jealousy with strange gods… to gods whom they knew not, to new
gods that came newly up.” Deu 32:17.
“And
he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be.”
Deu 32:20
“O
that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their
latter end!” Deu 32:29
Choosing Your God
They looked at the God given manna and they despised
it; “there is nothing at all, beside this manna.” Always this has been the
first instinct of the children of the world. To rebel against God and to
despise his bread, which is his Word
.
People miss worldly bread. And the gods give them. People
strive for their own inventions, and the gods give them. People crave happiness,
and the gods give them. The things of God, wisdom, knowledge, and His Word
are always despised. These lack taste.
So what was God to do? He folded His Hands. In a
world where “God is dead,” everything is permitted. We should love to think we
are whole but we are not. We are lame. We are standing prosthetically on one
leg. Soon we will blow up even the good leg remaining if we are not careful. “I
will heap mischiefs upon them.” Who has said God is not capable of humor?
Now nature screams in shock. Animals stare and shake
their heads. The wind blows contrariwise in astonishment. Fires erupt in the wilderness
in vexation. And the sea waves pummel the land in obnoxious detestation. “Hath
this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?” From Genesis to Revelation is God trying to make His
people free from the shackles of Sin, Satan and the World. It is God speaking
to this trio, “Thus saith the LORD…Let my people go.”
The clash has always between two civilizations. One
worldly, symbolized by Egypt. The other is Spiritual, represented by God. One is characterized by ruggedness. The “waste howling
wilderness” and the scorching heat. The other is luscious, rich and bewitching.
The symbol of one is The Promised Land. The other is Egypt. But with God even the
desert is conquerable. God is able to make a table in the wilderness for His
children. So there is no need for fear.
But Satan always magnifies the vastness of the
desert before us. The rocks and the heat become unbearable. It brought a chill down the spines of the
majority of Israelites. The desert sprawled before them like a monster ready to
devour them. They looked back and ahead and saw nothing but the scorching desert.
They forgot God was in their presence. How large is your desert? Remember you
are not alone. You will get to The Promised Land. Just trust and obey.
Clash of these two civilizations is always between the
short-lived, the here and now, and the long-lasting and cherished ideals of
true freedom, and the eternal. Pharaoh offered the Israelites civilization, the
oldest in the world. God was offering what? Wilderness! God’s Promised Land
seemed too far.
But Egypt was ready, and it was available. Why not
take it? Christ too was tempted like that. Satan “sheweth him all the kingdoms
of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will
I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Christ won over Satan by
His written word. In the wilderness the Word was in their midst. But they
forgot. Feeling the heat? Don’t forget. You are not alone. He is there. He is
the Word.
There is life in “Egypt.” But it is short. Moses saw
that. Moses had grown under it. In Pharaoh’s own palace. There is nothing that
Moses lacked. But Moses gave up all that. Lept from being a prince to a
shepherd. But why?
Moses is not your inspiring figure at this time. But
Moses had something his comrades lacked. Moses had vision. Moses saw the
invincible. Moses aimed higher. “By faith Moses, when he was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had
respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Heb 11:24-27).
In keeping Jethro his father-in-law’s sheep, no
doubt Moses seemed a fool. In forsaking the Pharaoh’s palace and all its pleasures,
Moses seemed a fool. But Moses had chosen to be a fool for God’s sake.
Keeping sheep was the price he was paying for his
conviction. Moses kept sheep but he had the peace of mind. No doubt the road he
took was the least travelled one. It was rustic. It was rutted. It was overgrown
with tall grass. And it had no crowds. It was a lonely road but his sheep kept him
company. “The LORD is my shepherd. I shall not want.” What company have you got
on that road you are on?
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be
which go in thereat; Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat 7:13-14).
There are higher things in life than being called a prince,
greater things in life than the daily bread. Men toss honesty out of the window
because “a man must eat.” Remember there are higher things in life than your daily
bread; “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Deu 8:3).
The men of God knew this. They stood their ground; “not
accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others
had trial of cruel mocking and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment…they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute,
afflicted, tormented” (Heb 11:35-36).
There is a deliverance that is worthless. There is a
victory that is pyrrhic. There is a victory that betrays the conscience. There
is a price below or above which one cannot accept freedom. Esau sold his
birthright because of stew. What is your desire and what are you willing to
expend to obtain it? Fix your price on your window, and let the world know how
much you are worth.
Cemeteries
and Lost Opportunities
In wilderness, it wasn’t the death of men only that
took place. It was death of opportunities. What they might have become died
with them in the wilderness.
It is not in vain that cemeteries feel creepy. There
is a languid heaviness that attaches itself to the atmosphere inside there. It
drops down stealthily like a bullet, and ricochet’s on the tree branches and
the leaves; on the grass and on the stones below. The headstones’ shoulders droop,
and their long lonely ashen faces are frozen in an inimitable stare.
It is the stare or shock of things that might have
been, but were never be. The wind blows inside and sheds tears.
There are twelve hours in a day for each of us. What
have you put in them? Look back at the clock, and see if it agrees with you.
In a world where everything is permitted, who needs
God? God is still in our midst. God is still daily calling His children out of
Egypt.
You say the land next door is just like heaven?
Perhaps. But a perceptible eerie feeling lurks. Of a world hurtling down the abyss
like a phantom, heading to crash down below, to raise another “dust of death.”
It is history that drives this fear. Of great
empires and great civilizations once huge, but now gone. Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. These now are years spent “as a tale that is
told.”
We err not to know that history repeats itself. We
err not to believe that. Then we err not to believe God. Finally we err not to
believe the truth. So “What is truth?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
“And they
shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables
[fiction].” The way of truth “shall be evil spoken of” (2 Pe 2:2). It is that
disdain again. The despising of the manna; “there is nothing at all, beside
this manna.” The bread from heaven is still deemed to lack taste. How does it
taste to you in your mouth, this “manna”? I wish it would taste to you like it
tasted in Jeremiah’s mouth!
“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy
word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy
name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jer 15:16). “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious” (1 Pe 2:3). "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Ps 34:8).
Again Christ has spoken, and said once: “Heaven and
earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33). Think
about that. “For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life” (Deu
32:47).
God is not bad. He still calls His people over at
the table. For a talk. “Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your
strong reasons.” (Isa 41:21). “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together:
declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.”(Isa 43:26).
God still swears His hand is not short that it cannot save, practically anybody; “though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa 1:18). That is the Good News of our
Lord Jesus Christ. That is redemption. That is freedom. It has come!
So choose your destiny. Choose your end. Choose wisely.
And before that ink dries on your paper, in your story of your life, choose
your ending. Then write it down.
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