“What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’ Ezekiel 20:32
I remember hearing a minister say, ‘Every believer you meet is either moving toward God or away from Him.’ His point was, it is impossible to simply be ‘stationary’ in our position due to the enormous forces pressing at us; the ‘wrestling’ Paul spoke of in Ephesians 6.
This isn’t about one’s salvation, but one’s relationship with the Father. Many professing Christians have pulled back from the love, commitment, and zeal for God they once displayed. The challenge to be different, and maintain different priorities, values, and lifestyles is wearisome at times. We must be refreshed almost continually, and if we don’t spend time with the Lord and with edifying people, we can get spiritually funky.
I’ve met a lot of saints who’ve just stopped trying very much. Whatever leading, or calling, or vision they once had has been overgrown with the weeds of adversity, discouragement, and complacency. They may still do some ‘church,’ but they’re pretty much indistinguish-able from the unbelievers around them every day.
As I read the above passage from Ezekiel 20, I had to sit back and reflect on a particularly adverse time in my experience that taught me some pretty stiff lessons. I’ll share that in a minute; some of it was almost funny!
God, speaking through Ezekiel, delivers a truth to Israel that you and I should revisit often. “I know what you’re thinking” says the Lord, “and it’s not going to happen! The days of being like everyone else and enjoying it are over!” God went on to warn Israel that her inner disloyalty was going to bring them to a face-to-face encounter with Him. He was going to make them ‘pass under the rod’ (a shepherd’s term for numbering and declaring ownership of his sheep) and remind them of His binding covenant with them. (vs. 36, 37) There was to be no ‘ducking out’ on their special relationship to God!
Well, I confess I sure gave it a try one time! Jeanie and I had been pretty beaten up by some well-intentioned but seriously mixed-up church folks, and I’d had enough! We decided to move back to where we’d met and start over. Just as we were leaving, I had a brief visit with God. “Leave me alone!” Yeah, that’s what I told Him, and as best I recall, I meant it. Okay then.
We got settled, I got a job, and we started attending a church so our kids would have a Sunday School, and so I could play on their basketball team. Spiritual enough, right? We were glad to be shed of some of the faces and bitter memories, and things were pretty good. Curiously, the pastor somehow found out I had been a ministry person, so he asked me to preach for him when he went on vacation. Geeez! I wanted to say ‘No’ but somehow I couldn’t, so I dusted off a sermon I had preached a year or so before and entered his pulpit.
Now, it’s weird to try to represent Someone you’ve told to “Go away,” so my hope was to get through it in 20 minutes or so and go eat lunch. Only problem was, shortly after I started, the Spirit began to move on me and on the people! I had to spend a long time after the service answering questions and uncomfortably acting like I was concerned. Man, was I upset with God! We left that church right away and found another one.
Well, as you may guess, no matter where we went, we came ‘face-to-face’ with God, kept being forced ‘under the rod,’ and being reminded of the covenant! God had crudely, insensitively, paid no attention to my wishes for a ‘normal’ life, and set Jeanie and me in situations which ultimately turned our spiritual world on its head. Today, of course, we’re profoundly grateful for God’s gracious in-attention to my silly demand that He excuse us from His claim on our lives. “Mercy triumphs over judgment;” James 2:13. I’m sure glad that’s in the Book!
When God declared, “The Lord your God is a jealous God” (Exodus 20), apparently, He wasn’t kidding. The Apostle James also wrote, “The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in us yearns jealously over us . . .” (James 4:5, Weymouth) Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “What? Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and you no longer belong to yourself. You’ve been bought at a price . . .!” (1 Cor. 5:19, 20)
Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if a believer or two who reads this may be toying with the seductive appeal of ‘being like the Gentiles, like other families, serving other interests than God’s.’ Well, l’ve been there and done that, and as they say in these parts, That dog won’t hunt!
”If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries,” (Hebrews 10: 26, 27) “The Lord will judge His people . . . It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (vs. 30, 31) These are some grim scriptures; passages seemingly configured to strike fear in the hearts of backsliders and the rebellious. I reckon that’s so, but they equally and clearly suggest the consequences for any of us who may be about ‘to cast away your confidence.’ (vs. 35)
When we consciously choose to leave the path-way God has directed us toward in order to ease a struggle, or please some person, or pursue some detour from God’s call; that is sin – ‘missing the mark.’ Forsaking those truths we have been grounded in always results in a mess, eventually. Messed up life, messed up relationships, and a messed-up head.
The same Holy Ghost and fire with which we were baptized into Christ, and into spiritual service, will turn quickly and decisively into ‘fiery indignation’ within us and begin, irresistibly, to ‘devour the adversaries’ to God’s holy purposes in our lives. The out-working of that process can really alter your personal landscape! God will ‘not go quietly.’ If you think He has, I suggest you seek some godly counsel pronto! “Ephraim is joined to his idols; leave him alone!” God said of rebellious Israel. It’s never a good day when God leaves us to our own devises, even for a season!
So, I encourage all of us to keep moving toward God, even if we find ourselves in one of those ‘I don’t feel anything’ zones. Sometimes, when I hit one of those places, I just find a comfortable place to sit, and I ‘sit before God.’ Not praying, or humming, or even meditating on anything; just sitting. My thought is simply, “I’m here, in a mess, and You’re there; what can You do?” I’ve never had a vision or some transcendent experience when I did that, but it was always the precursor to some new perspective, or a change, or a necessary provision. I don’t know how any of that works. I just ‘show up,’ and God shows out!
Yes, there are challenges to being a Christian, real ones, that tax our resources, stretch our faith, and test our resolve. I have sometimes pictured myself as a dumb ox standing in the freezing rain when the pressures seem too great. Isn’t that silly? But that’s how I feel. But the funny thing is, that dumb ox doesn’t die out there; he’s equipped with strong legs, a tough hide, coarse fur, and enough ‘oomph’ to stand till it passes!
That’s us! We can’t run away from God and the stuff He allows us to endure. Doesn’t work! But if stubborn-ness, toughness, and a crazy abandonment to God is all the ‘spirituality’ we can muster . . . . Well, in those times that’s enough. Hang in there, friends; we need you!