Betwixt and Between But Blessed
Please accept my apology for the length of this blog. I try hard to limit them to 2 pages but this one just wouldn't allow it. Thanks
In commenting on the 12 who spied out the land during the
Exodus A.W. Tozer paraphrases their comments as follows:
"We're free of Egypt, thank God, and are not slaves
anymore. We are in the wilderness, and while it isn't the best, we will settle
for it rather than go up against those giants in that wonderful promised
homeland." A.W. Tozer. The Crucified Life: How To Live
Out A Deeper Christian Experience (Kindle Locations 582-583). Kindle Edition.
Tozer is making a comparison between Israel and
Believers. I couldn’t help but feel
smacked when I read this.
Now we aren’t with the Lord yet. His Kingdom isn’t established here physically
but it is here within each of us.
Huh? OK – the concept
of a Kingdom presupposes the concept of a King.
If we are subjects of the King we are citizens of His Kingdom – right? So if the King of Kings is “in” us, if we are
united with Him, then His Kingship/Kingdom exists.
We have been brought, “out of Egypt.” We have been freed from “slavery to sin.”
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and
transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:13-14) ESV
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with
reverence and awe, (Heb 12:28)
We are “in the wilderness.”
A place where we are utterly dependent upon God. Crossing into the Promised land, the Kingdom
will not make us any less dependent upon Him.
In the wilderness. We are told:
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing
in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for
forty years. (Heb 3:7-9) ESV
Now before you go all weird on me let me include:
So we see that they were unable to
enter because of unbelief. (Heb 3:19)
ESV
None of the “unbelieving”
could enter God’s rest – His Sabbath – the Promised Land. But how do we understand their disbelief?
As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not
harden your hearts as in the rebellion." For who were those who heard and
yet rebelled? Was it not all those
who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was
it not with those who sinned, whose
bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not
enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
(Heb 3:15-18) ESV
Those who did not believe were those who were rebellious,
sinful and disobedient. That is
unbelief. Belief is – well – submission. Accepting what God says as truth and moving
forward based upon that truth.
Israel, despite all God had done, did not believe He was
truthful. They did not trust His
promise.
We have to remember that though we are saved by grace alone
through faith alone those two mighty things have to have an effect. That effect is obedience. If there is no effect, was there ever a
cause?
That’s a tough question to have to face. But it weakness when we realize that in His
truth God has told us the truth about us as well. No one has ever or will ever put it better
than Paul did in Romans.
For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I
do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I
who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells
in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not
the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do
not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law
that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law
of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war
against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells
in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of
death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve
the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Rom 7:14-25) ESV
If there is a passage in all of scripture that we need desperately
to commit to memory and pray about it is this one. We have been freed from Egypt but we still
have all those Egyptian habits and proclivities. We must identify them and understand them and
resist/oppose them.
Paul says it is, “another law waging war against the law of
my mind and making me captive to the law of sin.” Note that well brothers and sisters, “another
law.” This “other law” wages war making
Paul a captive to, “the law of sin.”
This “other law” works in Paul’s (and our) “members,” that
is, the seat of the desires and passions.
What should we call this, “law?” I call it the Law of I-dolarty. The Law of ME.
Now believer, take it easy.
You were born, raised and grew up surrounded by this “law.” It is natural for it to have a powerful
impact and a residual influence in your life.
It’s what you are used to. What
you have been comfortable with. What you
have been encouraged to. You have
learned to play the game according to those rules and to protect and enhance
yourself by them.
How powerful is this Egyptian thinking? Well it took 40 years and the passing of a
generation for it to somewhat weeded out of Israel (at least enough for them to
cross the river). But those 40 years
were not idle years. They were 40 years
of utter and complete dependence upon God for everything. Even then, a
seed of Egyptian thinking remained.
Why would you and I suppose god would do in an instant what
He took 40 years to do with Israel? Even
more, we are far from being as dependent upon God as Israel was in the
wilderness (or at least we think we are).
We do not have the benefit of their isolation and clear daily
demonstration of His providence. Or at
least we don’t see/acknowledge His hand in everything as they would have.
Even once across the river there is a sense of, “Thank you God
for getting us out or Egypt and bringing us here. We’ll see you around and if we need you we’ll
call. We can take it from here on.”
Yeah, right --------
But that’s where we tend to go.
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now
being perfected by the flesh? (Gal 3:3) ESV
The word here, “foolish,” is the Greek word ἀνόητος anóētos which is basically, “Are you out of
your mind?”
Paul has a point. There’s
certain insanity about acknowledging our redemption as solely God’s provision
and then thinking our sanctification isn’t.
There’s a certain insanity in thinking god needs our help to accomplish
His goal in, for and through us.
Not only is there a certain insanity in thinking this way –
but thinking this way can make us nutz.
I’m not going to get into which side of the river we’re
on. But we need to address the attitude of:
"We're free of Egypt, thank God, and are not slaves
anymore. We are in the wilderness, and while it isn't the best, we will settle for it rather than go up
against those giants in that wonderful promised homeland." A.W.
Tozer. The Crucified Life: How To Live Out A Deeper Christian Experience
(Kindle Locations 582-583). Kindle Edition.
Let me just say that we’re in the wilderness and we’re
not. We’re across the river but not yet.
The issue isn’t whether we’re one place of another. The issue is trusting God. Being willing to live constantly reminding
ourselves that He is true and His promises are sure and that even the smallest
particle in creation is subject to His sovereignty.
Few (if any) of us “trust” God 100%, 100% of the time. We are indeed weak and needy creatures. We struggle.
We worry. We fear. We fall.
But all of that is part and parcel of why we needed to be redeemed –
utterly redeemed. That is why we have to
have a High Priest who has the right and authority to effectively intercede for
us.
We are learning to trust Him in this wilderness (Oops, did I
just pick a side of the river?).
Unlike Israel of the east side of the Jordan we are (in a
very weird way) on both sides. The
Kingdom is but not yet. The Kingdom we
experience is in the midst of the wilderness (changed sides again??). We might say that His Kingship is established
and His Kingdom is coming.
That’s tough. But how
else can we see it? The east side of the
river is not the west side. In either
place we will always be utterly dependent of God. The difference, I think, is in what we are
dependent upon Him for and what wages war against our trusting Him utterly
(much less submitting utterly).
Just as He was with Israel in the wilderness so too His Word
and His Spirit are with us here, now. We
need Him no less. We may be tempted into
thinking we do – but we don’t. Perhaps
our need, except in crisis, does not feel as immediate – as pressing. But it has not lessened on bit.
This verse struck me as I was writing:
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a
foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same
promise. (Heb 11:9) ESV
That’s us – we are living in the “land” of promise as though
we were in a foreign land.
Take note too of;
These all died in faith, not having received the things
promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having
acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who
speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been
thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had
opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:13-16)
ESV
Does this not apply to you and I? Does it not give hope and peace? We, if He does not return before, will also “die
in faith.” So let us acknowledge that we
are, “seeking a homeland,” and take confidence that He, “has prepared for them
(us) a city.”
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them,
and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He
will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither
shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things
have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold,
I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for
these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is
done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I
will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. (Rev 21:1-6)
ESV
We do not want the Jerusalem – or even the Promised Land of
Abraham, David, Solomon or Paul. We look
for a New Jerusalem.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly
dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we
are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be
unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who
has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We
know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we
walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather
be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or
away, we make it our aim to please him. (2Co 5:1-9)
ESV
Trusting God is something we do very inconsistently. The good news is that there is nothing
inconsistent in His trustworthiness. He
knows our struggles, our weakness, our failings and he has provided well for
them all. Sure, we hesitate to, “cross
the river,” but He knew we would. Actually,
He knew He would have to get across Himself.
Are you weak of faith?
That’s normal. Do you struggle
with sin? That’s normal. Do you grieve and weep, yearning to be with
Him? For a believer, that’s normal too.
What part of:
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more
gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2Co 12:9)
ESV
do you not want to have apply to you? Paul, by stating, “weaknesses,” makes plain the fact that it was
not just that thorn he boasted in. What
He boasted in was the fact that he was utterly dependent upon God – and he knew
that God was utterly dependable.
God has no unreasonable expectations of you and I. There is nothing He expects from us that He
does not provide the means, opportunity and energy to accomplish.
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