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The Wilderness

The Wilderness

by | Devotional

I guess it’s meant for every believer to go through at least one personal wilderness experience in his or her lifetime, and that encounter can look different for each of us. Of course, I don’t refer to a literal wilderness, but rather a metaphorical one. Just the same, it’s typically the last place any of us ever want to be. It’s a place in our lives when we sometimes tend to question where we’ve been, resent where we are, and maybe even fear where we’re heading. It’s a hard, barren, and often lonely place where we can be tempted to question God’s purposes. Perhaps you’re about to enter a wilderness experience in your life, you’re in one now, or you just went through one. Whatever the case is, you probably don’t like the wilderness much, and why should you? You’ve either learned firsthand or heard say that it’s never comfortable. Yet God occasionally sees fit to lead us into a wilderness and keep us there until we emerge changed by the encounter and better for it. When we’re in such a place, we must remember and take comfort in the truth that God does all things for our good (Romans 8:28) and that He will never leave us or abandon us (Hebrews 13:5). We may struggle, but He’ll work it all out if we remain faithful. What we don’t want to do is allow the wilderness experience to make us angry, bitter, or fearful because, in the end, these will only reveal an underlying lack of faith and unbelief. Remember, it was unbelief that kept the children of Israel under Moses in the wilderness and out of the Promised Land (Hebrews 3:19).

It’s easy to let emotions and spiritual shortsightedness get the best of us, and if we’re ever going to fall prey to unbelief, it will happen in the wilderness, when our struggle is the greatest and we’re at our weakest. But God’s word admonishes us to guard our hearts with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23). So then, while on the one hand, the wilderness is where we run the risk of losing sight of God, on the other hand, it’s where God sometimes performs His mightiest works and where we are able to draw especially close to Him. After all, if He leads us into the wilderness, then He must have a reason and He will see us through. Nevertheless, it all comes down to us and how we choose to view the wilderness experience. If God is God in our lives, then the wilderness will prove us faithful. If we think that life is all about us, then our wilderness experience will lead to a far different conclusion.

THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

The Bible tells us that the children of Israel under Moses failed their wilderness encounter. Only the youngest of them entered the Promised Land along with Joshua and Caleb while the generation that initially came out of Egypt was consumed because they could not see past their own wants and desires. In other words, as far as they were concerned, it was all about them—their needs, their wants, their comfort, their preferences. When they thirsted, they cried for water. When they were tired of manna, they grumbled for meat. When they grew weary with roaming, they demanded that God bring them out of the wilderness and voiced their displeasure and regret for ever having followed Him in the first place. They did not see any good purpose for being in the wilderness. In fact, as far as they were concerned, they were certain that the wilderness was part of God’s plan to destroy them. Yet, while there is no doubt that the children of Israel faced some hardships during their wandering, God’s ultimate purpose for their journey was totally different.

THE PURPOSE

In Deuteronomy 8:1-3, we read:

“All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you be hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” (NASB)

These verses show that God’s ultimate purpose for bringing the children of Israel into the wilderness was to prepare them for the Promised Land. Every step they took was ordered of the Lord. There was not a place where they went that God had not led them. Their entire experience was designed to humble them to the point where all that mattered was God’s word and their obedience to it. In other words, it was designed to make them stronger. It was their obedience that would confirm what was in their hearts and prove their faith, but they didn’t get it. As a result, neither did they enter the Promised Land. Now Paul tells us that these things were written for our examples that we might not fall into the same trap.

Our personal wilderness experiences, if they are not of our own making and are unavoidable and out of our control, are ultimately designed by God to bring us to the exact same place He tried to bring the children of Israel—that is, they are designed to bring us to a place of strength, they are designed to make us spiritually stronger. The life of the true believer is exemplified by a total trust in the Lord demonstrated by faithful obedience to His word. Whether we have had any personal wilderness experiences yet to date or have been sheltered from them thus far, as believers we are entering a time in history and a place in society where hardship is soon to come to those who stand faithful. There is approaching a time when our hearts will be tried. If current events are any indication of what’s coming, we will need to be extremely careful not to allow ourselves to become angry, bitter, or fearful as a result of what we will see and experience. It’s up to us to guard our hearts with all diligence. It’s not about our needs, our wants, our comfort, our preferences, or even our happiness.  It’s all about God and His purpose for our lives. Remember and take comfort in the truth that God does all things for our good and that He will never leave us or abandon us. Let’s humble ourselves to faithfully keep His commandments and encourage each other to do the same. We have our Savior, Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha’Mashiach) Himself, as our example and the Promised Land awaits!

“Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1 NASB)

Protecting Holy Ground

Protecting Holy Ground

by | Devotional

Do you ever pause to take a personal spiritual inventory from time to time—you know, just to see if or how you’ve grown spiritually? Every so often, I do; and it was during one such moment of personal introspection and soul searching that I discovered something about myself that I found both interesting and disturbing.

At the time, I was reading in Leviticus. The portion of Scripture I was reading was Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47. In chapter 9, Moses’ brother Aaron and Aaron’s sons were inaugurated as priests to serve in the tabernacle during Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. In chapter 11, the Lord began to lay out what is clean and what is unclean to eat. But it’s out of chapter 10, and in particular verses 1 – 3, that I want to share with you. The passage reads as follows:

“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.” (KJV)

The Lord spent the first several chapters of Leviticus teaching Aaron and his sons about the various sacrifices they would be offering, how they were to offer them, and when. It seems that it was not too long after that though when Aaron’s two older sons, Nadab and Abihu, disregarded the Lord’s commands and took it upon themselves to offer “strange fire”. This, of course, ended disastrously.

Now there are various opinions as to what Nadab and Abihu actually did wrong. Some believe that God struck them down because they used different incense than what the Lord had prescribed. Others believe that their deaths were a result of where they got their fire from. Still others think that maybe it had something to do with what time of day it was or that perhaps they had been drinking. Whether we believe that it was one, all, or any combination of those reasons, however, the bottom line is that the Lord was not pleased—prompting Him to proclaim, “By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.”

THE DREAM

A short while before reading the above portion of Scripture, I had a dream. In the dream, I found myself in a high school football field. I was standing by a set of bleachers. There were a handful of strangers sitting in the bleachers, but there was nothing going on out in the field. It was night time. All the field lights were off and it was dark. For some reason, I thought it a good idea to set my wallet down on the bench while I went out into the field to do dream things—you know, those crazy things that we do in dreams that rarely make sense and often seem a blur. Then suddenly, it struck me that I had left my wallet unattended. As I ran back to retrieve it in fear and panic, I was relieved to discover that it was still there—although, upon closer inspection, I realized that someone had stolen some (but not all) of its contents. While I found all this very upsetting, I was further relieved as I awoke to realize that it was all just a dream. Now you are probably wondering what on earth this dream has to do with Nadab and Abihu, so let me explain. In Genesis 2:15, we read:

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (KJV)

The word “dress,” according to the Strong’s Concordance, comes from the Hebrew word abad, which means “to work” or “to till.” The word “keep” comes from the Hebrew word shamar, meaning “to guard, to protect” or “to hedge about (as with thorns).” In other words, the man was placed in the garden to cultivate it and to guard it. So what was he to guard it from? After all, Adam and Eve were the only ones there, weren’t they? They were to protect it from the Serpent, the adversary who (as we all know) eventually slithered his way in.

THE SERPENT

Consider for a moment that Scripture tells us that God would come down into the garden and commune with man in the cool of the day. This means that the garden was holy ground, as anywhere God steps becomes holy ground. As I thought about this, I remembered a verse in Ecclesiastes:

“He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” (Ecclesiastes 10:8 KJV)

Whenever I read this verse in the past, I always pictured myself standing on the outside of a hedge trying to break in. Then, it occurred to me: what if I was actually standing on the inside trying to get out? All of sudden, I saw that verse in a different light and it made sense to me in way that I had not previously considered. After all, isn’t that when the Serpent (God’s adversary) tends to strike—when we have removed ourselves from God’s protection? Granted, Adam’s problem was not that he broke down a hedge, per se’. His problem is that he probably never put one up in the first place! As a result, the Serpent not only defiled the garden with his presence but bit the man in the process. The interesting thing about all this is the connection between holy ground and the human heart. You see, the tabernacle in the wilderness that Aaron and his sons served in, Eden, and man are all configured the same.

THE TABERNACLE, EDEN, AND MAN

The tabernacle consisted of three compartments—an outer court, the holy place, and the most holy place or holy of holies. In the beginning, there was Eden, there was the Garden of Eden, and there was the midst of the garden. We are comprised of body, soul, and spirit. The outer court of the tabernacle contained the altar of sacrifice and the laver of washing (the water and the blood). Outside of the garden, in Eden, originated the river that fed the garden. The river was the garden’s life blood, so to speak. Our bodies contain water and blood, essential to life. The holy place in the tabernacle contained the table of show-bread (on which twelve loaves of bread were placed), the golden lamp stand (the menorah), and the altar of incense. It is in our souls that we feast on the bread of life (Jesus/Yeshua). It is the soul that is illuminated by the light of God’s word, and it is the soul that offers up the incense of prayer to our heavenly Father. It was in the garden that God walked and communed with man. Finally, in the holy of holies, the heart of the tabernacle, was the Ark of the Covenant, which contained God’s word. It was there that God’s presence was found. In the midst of the garden was the Tree of Life (a Hebrew idiom for the word of God), and it is in our spirit (our heart) that God chooses to dwell. The desert floor of the tabernacle, the Garden of Eden, and the heart of man were all considered by God to be holy ground.

THE ANALOGY

From the very beginning, God has chosen to draw an analogy between the laws and principles of agriculture, His word, and the hearts of men. In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, our Lord made a direct connection between ground or soil and the human heart—pointing out that the good ground (that is, the heart that receives God’s word) brings forth good fruit (Matthew 13:24). In the parable of the wheat and the tares in the same chapter, our Lord made reference to the fact that “while men slept” God’s adversary came and sowed tares (a degenerate and poisonous form of wheat) in among the good wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). In Mark 4:14, referring to Himself as the sower, Yeshua said, “The sower soweth the word.” So if our Lord’s word is His seed, we can conclude that the Serpent’s word is the seed of the adversary.

Why was the adversary able to plant tares in among the wheat? He was able to do so because the ones who were suppose to be watching and guarding fell asleep. Consider now Leviticus 19:19: “…thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed…,” and Deuteronomy 22:9: “Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.” According to Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 22, we are not to mix seeds because it defiles not only the field but also the fruit. So if, biblically speaking, we understand soil to be synonymous with the human heart, what then can we say happened to Nadab and Abihu? As was the case with Adam, they were busy working, they were occupied with the Lord’s business, but when it came to guarding, they fell short. They did not guard their hearts. They did not set a hedge around their sanctuary. Basically, they fell asleep. As a result, they were not even aware that they were offering profane sacrifice until it was too late and they had already defiled holy ground.

THE LESSON

Okay, now back to my dream. I believe that the Lord still uses dreams to speak to us on occasion, if we will but listen. The day before I had my dream, I was convicted by the Holy Spirit through a conversation that I had with my wife. For months, she had been dealing with some issues that were weighing heavily on her heart. I had watched helplessly as she struggled through that time of personal heartache, having been betrayed by someone for whom she cared very deeply. As most husbands tend to do, after she shared her pain with me that day, I offered some advice—feeling, of course, that I should be able to fix things. In my zeal, I offered counsel that upon leaving my lips, immediately struck my conscience as wrong because I knew it was not what our Lord would have recommended. In fact, it was exact opposite of what He would have recommended. I beat myself up as I thought about this for the next several days feeling very disappointed with myself. Then one day soon after, I realized what the Lord was showing me when I saw the connection between Leviticus 10:1-3, my dream and the advice that I had offered my wife, the attitude with which I had done so, and the intention of my heart when I did.

You see, our hearts are the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, but over time I began to tolerate and to harbor all sorts of unclean things in my sanctuary—anger, resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness, especially where it concerned the individual causing my wife’s distress. I had broken down a hedge unaware; and when I discovered that the word “strange” (as in “they offered strange fire before the Lord”) meant “to turn aside,” it all became clear. In my dream, that is exactly what I had done. I had left my wallet (symbolic of my heart) unattended as I turned aside to something else. But my dream was only a reflection of what had already occurred in reality. Our Lord said in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure [wallet] is, there will your heart be also.” Little by little as the night crept in, under cover of darkness, the enemy of my soul had stolen my treasure. He had stolen the affection of my heart, he had stolen my focus. Yet, he didn’t steal all of it! And that is what makes his work so insidious. He stole only just enough to defile my offering.

Any offering we make to the Lord, whether it is praise, thanksgiving, worship, or service of any kind is either holy or profane based on what we harbor in our hearts. If we are careful to guard our hearts and minds as our Lord commands, our offerings will be accepted. If, however, we are not diligent in protecting against the adversary, we can be certain that he will plant his seed where it doesn’t belong, holy ground will be defiled, and our offerings will be in vain no matter how well intentioned. Proverbs 4:23 says:

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (KJV)

The Lord is gracious, but He is also holy, and He demands that we be holy. He desires that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him, according to Romans 12:1. May we always strive to do so, lest anyone of us should one day awake to find ourselves alone in the dark, sidelined on the bleachers, nursing an empty heart or worse.

So here now is a question for you. How important do you think it is to guard and protect your heart from the adversary, and what biblical strategy or strategies have you implemented to achieve this?

If you feel persuaded to do some personal soul searching and to take a personal spiritual inventory of your own, if the Lord is speaking to you and you feel pricked in your heart that there is something you should repent of, please don’t ignore the Spirit’s prompting. Please, take this time to get right with the Lord. You will be drawing closer to Him in the process and He will in turn draw nearer to you. Do your best to protect your holy ground.

Living for Christ in a Crisis Environment

Living for Christ in a Crisis Environment

by | Current Events, Devotional, Prophetically Significant

Is it just me or does it seem as if there is a major crisis of some sort being thrust upon us every month? About the time that the media runs out of things to say about one crisis, the next one rolls around right on schedule, giving the net-works something else to hype for a few weeks.

Like it or not, our nation has taken on a crisis mentality. The media, it seems, is enjoying their role in all of this. Globalist talking heads like the fact that America is falling apart at the seams. It gives them an opportunity to plug their global government socialist agenda as the inevitable solution to our problems. The fact is, crisis leads to change; unfortunately, most of the time, not the good kind. . . .

It is becoming more and more difficult to get away from the increasingly perverted influence of the United States—a sad tribute to a once great America whose motto still is “One Nation Under God.” Like many of you, our family feels trapped in a country that we no longer know, under a government that we do not trust. The evening net-work news is so disgusting we can barely watch it. Everything, it seems, is about expressing sexual freedom and applauding perversion. Evil is now good, while good is being portrayed as evil. The Bible and Christian living are mocked and scorned. Today, the average American knows more about Viagra, Cialis, and sexual dysfunction than they do about Jesus Christ.

So, how do we cope in a godless society that is spiraling out of control? And, what can we do to have a positive impact for Christ in this ever-darkening world?

For starters, it is important that we maintain an eternal perspective. We have to remember that we are here on this earth not for ourselves, but rather to glorify God in spirit and in truth through all of our actions. This does not come naturally for us humans. . . .

In order to function and be God’s light-bearers in this confusing, messed up world, we must make a concerted effort to daily acknowledge the source of our existence, drawing from His immense power and wisdom. Unless we commune with the Lord and receive of His strength, we will not be able to cope with this life’s constant challenges. We, in our own strength, are no match for the enemy. But, with God on our side and by walking with Him day-by-day, we can be over comers.

The question now is, how do we translate this foundational truth into God-pleasing action? Once again, we must begin with a true understanding of the current situation—seeing reality as God does, not the way we would choose it to be.

For example, seeing America’s current situation from an eternal perspective—through God’s eyes—gives us a very different view of reality than if we simply choose to believe the best for the future of our nation regardless of its immoral actions and rejection of God’s ways. In other words, we have to come to grips with reality—to see things truthfully, the way they really are. While necessary, this can be rather painful.

Unlike Nineveh which repented from its top leaders down to its common citizens, America has continued to race headlong into sin in spite of repeated warnings from men and women of God. In fact, the more urgent the call to repentance, the more flagrant the rebellion becomes. Sin in the United States is growing exponentially as our nation collectively—except for a remnant – continues to reject God. This is the fact of the matter, the reality we are facing.

There is no doubt in my mind, given the lessons of history and the warnings from the Bible, that the United States will be judged by God. America as a nation will not be saved. It would actually be unscriptural to think otherwise,  considering the Lord’s clear message in Revelation chapters 13 and 14, as well as 17 and 18. To believe that the United States alone will somehow escape all that is to come is mere wishful thinking—it is not the truth.

If this is the case, what are we to do? The answer is clear. We must focus our main effort on leading individuals in our sphere of influence to Christ. Scripture tells us that all of Heaven rejoices over the salvation of one soul (Luke 15:7, 10). God places a huge premium on individuals. His message, I believe is, “Focus on people, not governments.” People’s souls are eternal, governments are temporal; they come and go. God sent His Son to die for people, not governments.

As we contemplate this fact, another simple truth emerges—namely, governments would inevitably change if people’s hearts were changed. Nations are composed of individuals who in most cases elect their governments (or, at the very least, strongly influence their government). If the people of a nation change their worldview—one-by-one surrendering their lives to Christ—they would in turn vote for those individuals who best represent their worldview in government. This would ultimately result in godly leadership adhering to a biblical worldview and protecting the rights of Christians to worship and live freely.

Unfortunately, many decent well-meaning Christians focus their energy almost entirely on changing our nation through its legal structure, by lobbying candidates for their cause, or by taking an overt public stand on particular issues. While there is nothing wrong with Christians being involved in establishing public policy and influencing the laws of the land (such efforts should be encouraged and applauded), the main call of Christians is to impact and disciple others for Christ through personal one-on-one relationships. This is the example left to us by Jesus, who poured His life into twelve men and a few other close friends and followers. In Matthew 28:19-20, He gave us His final instructions: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Imagine if every true follower of Jesus took this commission seriously, acting upon it consistently. . . .The impact on our nation, not to mention eternity, would be enormous! Even if we never become a majority, a large segment of our population would be less selfish and more righteous, loving and kind, during the time that remains. This same principle could be applied by Christians living in other countries.

The stakes are too high to ignore. Therefore I ask, “Are you following the example of Jesus?” If so, “Who are you currently pouring yourself into?” Your obedience will make a difference both now and for all eternity.

 

Gary Kah, editor of Hope For The World Update, is a former government trade specialist and the best-selling author of En Route to Global Occupation and The New World Religion. Gary has appeared on over one thousand talk shows since the release of his books. He has also been a featured speaker at hundreds of conventions, churches, universities and community gatherings in the US, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Israel and India. Gary’s message is spreading around the world as his books are now available in several languages. He has received the Governor’s Commendation for outstanding service to the state of Indiana and the A.C. Wall Street Journal Award for Outstanding Economic Achievement. He has also been nominated for Who’s Who in the Midwest and Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America. Gary has been married for thirty-eight years and is the father of four.    

If you would like to subscribe to Gary Kah’s quarterly newsletter or would like more information about Gary and Hope for the World Ministries, please visit www.garykah.org.