Are We For or Against God?

This morning I was reading in my Bible in the book of Numbers, and a certain passage caught my eye.  Many of you may know it as Korah’s Rebellion.  Essentially what happened was that Korah and some of the Levites got all mad at Moses and Aaron and called them out for supposedly putting themselves up as leaders when they had no right to.  They were saying that all of God’s people were set apart and holy, and they wanted to know who they thought they were trying to lead these people through the desert like they owned it or something.  They made all kinds of accusations of Moses, saying that all he wanted was control and that he had purposely turned them away from the Promised Land so they would die in the desert.  Great, right?

If you have read this part of the Bible before, you know just how preposterous this whole thing really is.  I mean, Numbers 12:3 literally says that Moses was the most humble man on earth.  He was clearly not the take-over-the-world type.  Not only that, but Korah, along with all of the people who willingly followed Moses out of Egypt, had entered into covenant with God, agreeing to live their lives the way He told them to, part of which included following Moses because God had put Moses before them as an intercessor on their behalf.

So anyway, the passage that specifically caught my eye this morning was Numbers 16:9-11.

“⁹ is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord.”

Since Korah and his gang were part of the tribe of Levi, they were the ones that God had specifically chosen and set apart from the rest of Israel, an already set apart nation, to work in the Tabernacle, which was the place that God’s presence literally dwelled.  They were already the set apart of the set apart, but that wasn’t enough for them.  They wanted more.  They wanted to overthrow Aaron as High Priest and they seemingly wanted to take over the whole congregation of Israel. 

And get this; since they were yearning for something more or different than what God had given them, Moses told them that they were gathered together against God.  Woah.  Let me say that again.  Since they wanted something different than what God had for them and were going after it, they were assembled against God.  They were fighting God.  And do you know what happened?  Later in the chapter, God literally caused the earth to open up and swallow them alive.

This got me thinking, because just yesterday, I had God put a stop to some plans that I had.  I was all ready to go be a junior counselor at a camp in Oklahoma.  And when I say that I was ready, I mean that I was at the bus station, suitcase in hand, ready to get on the bus, when God suddenly put His hand out and unexpectedly cancelled my plans in a way that I never would have even thought of.  And I’m going to be honest, I was mad at first.  I mean, this was a perfectly good thing.  I was going to a camp of fellow believers to minister to the kids and worship the Father.  Why would God want me to stay in Delaware, of all places, when I could be doing that?

But who am I to be mad at God’s plans for me?

For whatever reason, it wasn’t in His plans for me to go to Oklahoma this week.  Now, I could rebel like Korah and try to find a way to go anyway, or I could simply submit to His plan for me, whatever that may be, and try to keep in mind that His timing is not my timing and His plans for me are far better than anything I could think up for myself.  If I choose my ways over His, I am putting myself against Him, and I will lose every time.

Now we, as believers, are like Korah and the Levites.  We are set apart for God.  We are the ones that He has chosen to draw near to Him and do His work, serving Him and ministering to those around us.  We have to stop and ask ourselves, is this enough for us?  Because it should be.  The plans that God has for our lives are plans that predate us.  When God created the earth, he already knew that we would one day walk upon it, and He had a plan for us that He wants us to carry out.  We really only have 2 options in this life; whether we will follow God’s plan or our own. 

We need to remember that we are either for or against God, and there is no middle ground.

If we choose our ways, we will be swallowed up by the earth.  Literally?  Maybe not.  But we will be swallowed up by the hatred, immorality, death, and evil that runs rampant in our world today, and we will be separated from God.

Now, if I had rebelled and gone to that camp anyway, would I have been immediately separated from God?  Probably not, but that’s the danger of it.  You only have to turn slightly to the left or slightly to the right and before you know it you are miles from where you’re supposed to be.  I would guess that that’s how it happened with Korah, too.  All he needed to do was let one little thought take root, something like “who is Aaron, that he should be High Priest and not me?” or “who is Moses that God should talk exclusively to him and let him be in charge of all of us?”  One little, seemingly harmless thought turned into a conversation, which turned into a revolt, which turned into a rebellion. 

We need to decide if we are for or against God.  All or nothing.  Who will we follow?  Who will we choose to be?

I Am Weak.

There’s a lot to say about weakness, especially in a society where it is emphasized.  We don’t want anyone to look at our weaknesses because we see them as ugly, and we want to be accepted.  We get told not to look at other people’s weaknesses because we need to be accepting.  We need to look past the weakness to see who they really are underneath, and we don’t for one second pause to think that maybe that same weakness that we are hiding and locking in the cupboard or sweeping under the bed is part of what makes us who we are part of why we do what we do.

Our weaknesses are important.

If you look at Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-11, he talks about his weaknesses.  In fact, he loves them.  He says that power is perfected in weakness, so he rejoices in it!  He says that he will boast in weakness and is “well contented” with it, “for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

Now let’s take a minute, because what I think you just read is “despite my weakness, I can still be strong.”  Or maybe you read “I am weak, but there’s time and I can still learn from it and be strong.”  These are things that you tell yourself, or maybe you even let others tell you, but that’s not what Paul is saying.  The difference between what you read and what Paul is saying is that Paul is telling you what God told him and that is because of my weakness, God gives me His strength, so I am strong.  Not in spite of your weakness, because it’s not like your weakness is something God didn’t know about and now has to work around.  Remember that He is your Creator, so He knows how you work and how you need to work to fulfill His purpose for you.  Where you are empty because of a weakness or deficiency that you have, God pours in His strength, which is more than any strength we could’ve already been programmed with, because God perfects His strength in our weakness.  He told us that His grace is sufficient for us, so when we are weak and broken and we don’t have what it takes, we only need to lean on Him because He is strong, He is not broken and can even fix us, and He always has what it takes.

Our weaknesses can actually become our strengths.  Not because God takes them away or helps us to overcome them (although God does help us to overcome things, I just don’t think He would want us to “overcome” something that He specifically programmed us to have), but because He teaches us how to use them.  In our weaknesses, God perfects His strength.  Through our weaknesses, we become more like Him.  I’ll say it again.  Through our weaknesses, we become more like Him.  God gave us these weaknesses that we have for a reason.  When we accept that we have them and that they are a part of us, and when we give the weaknesses and ourselves to God, then He can work.  When we acknowledge that we cannot do something ourselves and we let God step in, that’s when things actually start to happen, and it’s so much better than if we had tried to do it ourselves because God’s strength is stronger.  When we are weak, then we are strong.

Paul actually even takes it one step further than that, because he’s not just talking about loving our weaknesses, but he actually says that we should be “contented with” insults, distresses, persecutions, and difficulties that come our way because of our weaknesses.  These are part of what God uses to refine His strength in us.  These are some of the trials that we hear about in James 1 that we are told to consider pure joy, because they are testing our faith and making us stronger.  I know that the new thing these days is to call everyone who looks at you wrong a bully and to run crying and throw a fit until someone “accepts you,” but as believers we should be thanking the people who insult us, cause us distress, and even those who actually persecute us.  We should be happy when we are faced with our own weaknesses, and even when they are pointed out by others.  We don’t need to look for shallow acceptance from those around us, because the One who created us knows us better than any of those people ever could and loves us with an unconditional, everlasting love.  And He not only can see us as we are, but He can see who we can and will become in Him through His strength, which He will use to shape and mold us by using those exact weaknesses that the people were giving us crap about.

When we deny or ignore our weaknesses, or when we pass them off as just something that we are and determine to do nothing about it, we are denying God the opportunity to perfect His strength in us.  We are taking the reins in our own hands and using our own human strength, or lack thereof, to take us through life, which is why we will fail.  Our strength is not, and can never be enough.  It’s important to know our weaknesses and recognize them for what they are so we can give them over to God.  The cracks and holes that are our weaknesses create openings through which God can fill us with His strength.  If we try to patch them ourselves, not only will it look sloppy and not hold, but there will be nowhere for God to pour in His strength, and He’s not one to force it.

Only when we accept that we are weak can we accept God’s strength.

When we are weak, then we are strong.

What’s your weakness?

The Adulteress

This (story, poem, call it what you will) is based on the adulteress found in John 8:3-12.  She bears the powerful story of someone who fell, but stood back up.  I think we can all learn a lesson from her, regardless of where we've been and what we've done.  

What I have written is fiction based on facts recorded in the Bible.  You can read the real account in John 8, but this is my speculative interpretation of her story.

I will never forget his tear streaked face;

My husband,

As he led the crowd

Of my accusers.

As they were dragging me,

A filthy adulteress,

Unfit to even lay eyes on,

I wept.

I was guilty.

They were right to persecute me;

What’s done is done

What will be will be

I knew it to the depths

Of my profane, useless soul.

So I let them lead me

To my much deserved death.

The sudden silence filled

My now empty heart;

We had arrived.

I felt His gaze sweep over me

As I heard their condemning words

But I could not,

Would not look up

Unworthy filth that I was,

I shouldn’t even be standing.

“Teacher, this woman,”

Words flung with disgust

“Has been caught in the act of adultery”

From the lips of my beloved,

Though I was his no longer.

“The Law of Moses commands us

To stone such a woman.

What say you?”

Spoken with not just question,

But mockery

As if to test Him

When we all knew the answer.

I knew my fate.

Through my tears of anguish,

As I struggled to remain standing

I saw movement on the ground

In front of my own stooped figure.

What was He doing?

Writing?

Berated with questions

Holding my fate in His hands,

Yet scribbling in the dust?

I leaned forward

Ever so slightly

To see what He wrote,

But He stood up

And I cowered back

Awaiting the verbalization

Of my premature death.

Sorrow swept over me

As He stood, about to speak

And the men,

My accusers,

Picked up stones at their feet.

Tension encrusted the air

And the good Teacher spoke:

“Let him who is without sin among you,

Be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Silence.

Utter silence.

Then I heard a thud

The first stone hitting my sinful flesh

Didn’t they know the pain

That I was already feeling?

I am my beloved’s

But my beloved is not mine.

I hadn’t even felt their stone,

So deep was my sorrow.

Then I heard another,

But still I felt nothing.

I looked down at my body,

Still standing,

Still without blemish,

And realized that the thuds

Were that of stone on earth.

One by one they dropped them,

One by one they silently fled

Until there were none.

Slowly, I straightened

And looked around me.

The only One still there

Was the good Teacher,

Bent over and scribbling in the dust.

He stood and looked at me

Straight into my eyes

And for a moment,

I could not look away.

“Woman, where are they?

“Has no one condemned you?”

Regaining some composure,

I trained my gaze on the ground.

Despite my lack of condemnation,

I was still no better

Than the very dust on which I stood.

“No one, Lord,”

My whispered reply

Barely audible

As I trembled

Not knowing how he would punish me

Now that we stood alone

On a quiet street

“Neither do I condemn you;”

Said with such tender grace

“Go, and sin no more.”

This was all that was asked?

That I go and live purely?

I fell to my knees

With my face to the dirt

How did I get here?

Then I heard him speak again

Addressing those around Him

His faithful followers

Hanging on His every word.

He said those who follow Him

Know not the darkness around them.

The very darkness

That gripped my fragile soul.

That had gripped it for so long

That I had let rule me.

The darkness

That had been my demise.

And great was my fall.

I looked up in wonder

At the stoic face

Eyes encouraging, confirming,

And as I stood to go

Remarkably not dead

And perhaps to live

For the very first time

I thought

Maybe it’s true,

What they say about Him.

Maybe this Yeshua

This Teacher, this Man,

Is truly the Messiah

Here to save not just me,

But all of us.

So I went,

And I believed.

I had found it.

The One true source of Light.

I would go.

I would sin no more.

I would live.

I would walk in the Light

As He is in the Light.

And I would take back

What the darkness had stolen.

Labels and Lies

When you go grocery shopping, if you’re anything like me, you read just about every word on every food item that you buy, and on lots of food items that you don’t buy (because how else are you going to know that you don’t want it?!).  In other words, you judge your food by the labels assigned to it.  Now, this is good when we’re talking about food, because it’s good to know what you’re putting into your body and make educated choices on what to buy.  However, the practice of label reading has made its way over into our social and personal lives, and it is definitely not a good thing.

There are so many labels that we not only allow society to put on us, but that we also put on ourselves.  Some people think of it as “finding a group that you belong to,” or “finding people just like you,” but I call it “limiting the ways in which you see yourself and allow the world to see you.”  There are so many seemingly innocent labels that shape us into how we are, what is acceptable for us to do or not do, who we talk to, how we dress, what we think we are capable of, and how we live our lives.  We are introverts, extroverts, too skinny, too fat, too tall, too short, hyperactive, sensitive, prone to accidents, hipsters, gamers, musicians, artists, losers, preppy, goth, punk, hippies, sad, happy, old, young, writers, uptight, scared, intuitive, smart, dumb, creative, deadbeat, and oh so much more.  Or are we?

You may have read that list and thought “Yeah, I am some of those things, but it’s true!  That’s just who I am and that’s okay.”  That mentality is your problem.  It’s everyone’s problem.

There are all these little tests out there that I see people taking all the time.  What’s your personality type?  Are you more introverted or extroverted?  Who’s your perfect guy/girl?  What’s your dream job? They’re meant for fun, sometimes they’re meant to educate people on why they might feel how they feel sometimes, or even to help people figure out what they want, but all they’re really doing is putting people in boxes.  And there are all kinds of articles like “10 Things Introverts Want You to Know but Won’t Tell You,” “How Extroverts See the World Differently,” etc. etc. etc.  It makes people think “oh yeah, I’m an introvert, so when I don’t ever talk to people and just binge watch Netflix every day of my life, that’s normal and okay,” or “I’m not overbearing, I’m just an extrovert and when I yell at people for being stupid and they don’t like it, it’s just because they really are stupid and they can’t handle who I am as a person.”  This is wrong.  We need to stop telling people how to feel.

I realize that this kind of thing can occasionally give someone a feeling of belonging or validity when they find out that someone else has the same idiosyncrasies that they do, and that’s great.  But everyone is different.  Just because a group of people have a few things in common doesn’t mean that they all operate on the same frequency.  Each of us is a unique, special design created by the Almighty who has a specific plan for each and every one of His creations (Psalm 139:13-16).  There is no one else in the entire world that is just like you.  Yes, we all find people with characteristics that we share, and that can be fun, but we should never let it define us.  The second that we start to shape ourselves, we are stepping away from letting God shape us.  This is why, as believers, we often feel like we don’t fit into society because of our beliefs and convictions.  It’s because we don’t!  No one does!  In fact, we are told not to fit in.  In Leviticus 20:26, God days “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”  The Hebrew word for holy is kadosh, which means set apart.  God commands us to be set apart and different.  He has separated us from everyone else so we can be His.  In Romans 12:2 we are told not to be “conformed to this world.”  I think that can also mean not to let ourselves be conformed to the labels that this world puts on us. 

The next time the world tries to tell you who you are, just remember that the only thing you are that truly matters is a child of God.  You are not a slave to this world or what it wants to call you.  You are not confined by the categories that you fall into, you are free to be whoever God intends for you to be, and He is the only One who actually knows what and who that is.  Only if you let Him shape you will you ever reach your full potential.  Let Him show you your talents and how to use them to His glory.  Don’t get trapped into thinking that you need to act a certain way because that’s what “people like you” do.  Let God guide you with His Word and His Holy Spirit.

Wake up and be aware of what’s going on around you.

Let go of the ways of this world. 

Learn to be strong and courageous.

Let God show you who you are.   

But let your identity not be found in who you are, but in Whose you are.