rebelling against God Archives

Bringing Hope to the Darkness 4

Previously, we’ve seen that after the death of King Solomon, Israel split into two regions: Israel in the northern region, and Judah to the south (see Rebellion of God’s Children). Both regions turned to paganism.

In part one, part two and part three of this series, we saw that God sent prophets to both regions (Joel and Amos) to speak for God in order to try to get His children to return to Him, and another (Jonah) to the Gentile Assyrian city of Nineveh to successfully get them to turn from their sinful ways.

God sent one last prophet to try to save Israel from their imminent destruction that He promised would come to pass at the hands of the Assyrians. His name was Hosea, who also brought hope to their darkness.

Hosea prophesied during the final years of Israel before their captivity (753 – 722 B.C.). Simultaneously, the kingdom suffers its last six corrupt kings.

The people of Israel had descended into absolute unrepentant depravity – even to the extent of sacrificing their own children to pagan gods. Jehovah had tried to turn them from their wicked ways (without violating their free will), but to no avail.

Indeed, listen to how God calls Hosea to his task:

“Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods…in fact, I will bring an end to Israel’s independence…for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel of forgive them.” Hos. 1:2, 4 & 6. NLT

So, God is telling Hosea to mirror Israel’s spiritual prostitution by marrying an unfaithful prostitute and by taking care of the children she would bear from her transgressions – in the spirit of repeated forgiveness, bringing her home after she strays. That is one blatant metaphor…

Why is God so upset? Why is He sending the Assyrians to take the Israelites captive?

This disaster came upon the people of Israel because they worshipped other gods. The sinned against the LORD their God…They had followed the practices of the pagan nations… 2 Kin. 17:7, 8. NLT

They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire. They consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the LORD’s anger. 2 Kin. 17:17, 18. NLT

Hosea, speaking for God, declares a conviction against Israel:

Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has brought charges against you, saying, “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere – one murder after another. Hos. 4:1, 2. NLT

Israel was morally bankrupt; and Jehovah laid some of the blame on the priests – rejecting them in the process:

My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Hos. 4:6 NLT

Without spiritual guidance, the Israelites turned to the ways of the world:

They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols. Hos. 4:7 NLT

…when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me. Hos. 13:6 NLT

Israel separated themselves from God, and it changed them:

The LORD says, “O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped.” Hos. 9:10 NLT

Nevertheless, like the loving Father that He is, God continues to plead with His wayward children. And in so doing, we get a glimpse of the anguish that the Israelites had caused Him:

“I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him. I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria.” Hos. 11:3 – 5. NLT

Do you see the similarities in the people who reject God in our time? This is why we study the Old Testament as well as the new. Being ignorant of the past will only bring the curse of repeating it…

God is a loving Creator, and He continues to declare that love:

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. Hos. 6:6 NLT

‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ Hos. 10:12 NLT

Unfortunately, Jehovah’s entreaties for love fall upon deaf ears and defiance:

For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me. Hos. 11:7 NLT

Yes, they rejected God and had to pay the price. God warned them for 70 years. He is always true to His word:

The people of Israel have been swallowed up; they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot. Hos. 8:8 NLT

In 722 B.C., Israel was decimated, and its people taken captive by the Assyrians. Yet God’s mercy is far greater than we can ever hope to comprehend. He cannot abide with unrepentant sin, so the Israelites were punished. However, our merciful and faithful God makes a promise to raise up a future generation of Israelites and re-establish Israel – thus keeping His promise that He made to Abraham so long ago:

“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore – too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together…when God will again plant his people in his land.” Hos. 1:10, 11. NLT

“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.”

Then God leaves a message for all of us:

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O grave, I will be your destruction! Hos. 13:14 NKJV

What can we bring home from this?

First, it is that Jehovah loves us so much, regardless of what we have done. But it is up to us to maintain our love-connection with Him by walking in His word to the best of our ability.

The Israelites had hope brought to their darkness through the prophets. Today, we have the entire Bible; we get to see the whole divine plan.

God knows that His children will perish if they don’t stick to His plan; but He is also acutely aware that we are human. That means we will fall repeatedly. I believe that a tear falls down the face of Jehovah every time that happens. Yet He waits patiently for you to ask for His forgiveness so that He can wipe the tears off of yours.

Our heavenly Father only asks us to do our best, and then enlist His aid to bridge that gap where we fall short, so that our ‘best’ can materialize.

The world is a messy place because so many people reject God. Those who wallow in the world want you to do so as well – so that they don’t feel convicted for their ungodly thoughts and actions. That is why it is vital that you marinate in God daily, so that you don’t become one of the walking dead.

Our Creator wants to love His children forever in an intimacy of miraculous proportions:

“When that day comes,” says the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband,’ instead of ‘my master.” Hos. 2:16 NLT

On that day I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground so they will not harm you. I will remove all weapons of war from the land…so you can live unafraid in peace and safety. I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the LORD. Hos. 2:18 – 20. NLT

Such love…

Goodnight and God bless.

Rebellion of God’s Children

It is 930 B.C. King Solomon has died. His son takes over Solomon’s reign, but rules with an iron fist. There is a rebellion, and Israel fragments into two kingdoms – just as God had prophesied to King Solomon for his transgressions… (see Is Your Life Meaningful?) This is the beginning of the death throes of God’s children in ancient Israel.

Ten of the original tribes form the northern part, now called Israel. The remaining two tribes form the southern part, where Jerusalem was located, now called Judah. Both turn to paganism.

In response, God allowed Egypt to plunder the Temple in Jerusalem.

Solomon’s grandson wrests the kingship from his father and declares war upon Israel, leading to 500,000 deaths. The city of Samaria is established as the capital of Israel, which suffers a succession of seven corrupt and pagan kings.

The third king of Judah, Asa, reigns for 41 years, bringing the people back to Jehovah. So, God covered the people with His favor. A good thing, because Judah was on the verge of being invaded by a million-man army of Ethiopians. Asa did the right thing; he sought his Creator:

Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, “O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!” 2 Chr. 14:11 NLT

Mighty Jehovah routed the vast army and they promptly fled. Unfortunately, later, Judah was invaded by Israel, and Asa panicked. Instead of waiting on God, he hired the Syrian army to help him. His kingdom went downhill after that.

Meanwhile, in 874 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel, gets another corrupt, pagan king, Ahab, the worst ruler yet. He married a Phoenician princess, Jezebel, who worshiped the pagan god Baal.

God is not happy. He sends His prophet Elijah to speak for Him to Ahab. Elijah says:

“As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives – the God I serve – there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” 1 Kin. 17:1 NLT

Jehovah God is throwing down the gauntlet, because these pagan Hebrews worshiped Baal, who was supposed to be in control of rain. He is saying that it will not rain again until He says so through the mouth of Elijah.

Elijah flees town to camp out along a brook fed by the Jordan River, because God told him that Ahab and Jezebel sought to kill him. While there, Jehovah had ravens bring him food.

Because of the lack of rain, the brook dries up and God directs Elijah to a widow’s house to find sustenance. When he arrives, he asks the widow for bread and water. She responds by saying that she and her son were down to their last meal, assuming death would soon consume them.

Elijah tells the widow that if she brings him some bread, she will never want for flour and oil because God would supply it until the rains come.

Sometime later, the widow’s son gets sick and dies. She blames Elijah, but he calls on God and springs into action:

And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, please let this child’s life return to him.” The LORD heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived! 1 Kin. 17:21, 22. NLT

The drought was almost into the third year when Jehovah sent Elijah back to face King Ahab, whereupon he tells the king to meet him on Mount Carmel, along with his 850 pagan prophets. It would be there that the lone prophet of God would take his stand.

Elijah had the pagans set out two bull sacrifices, saying that the real God would consume the bulls with fire.

Jezebel’s prophets cried out to Baal for six hours. Nothing happened. They cut themselves and cried out for three more hours. Nada.

Elijah had both his sacrificial bull and the wood under, it doused with water three times. Then, he cried out to God, fire fell from the sky and consumed his sacrifice. Game over. Moreover, Elijah went to the hilltop and prayed seven times, and the rains returned…

Ahab fled in his chariot to see Jezebel. Simultaneously, Jehovah empowers Elijah with the speed to run faster than Ahab’s chariot for a distance of 25 miles. Elijah left town before Jezebel could kill him.

He became despondent because no one was converted by the miracle and he was feeling all alone as a spiritual man. Elijah prays for death. Instead, God sends him an angel to strengthen him for a forty-day journey to have an encounter with Him:

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 1 Kin. 19:11, 12. NLT

God is Master of the universe, effectively demonstrating His unlimited powers, while also showing how He can channel all of that power into a whisper. Jehovah assured Elijah that he was not alone, for God had preserved 7000 Hebrews who were loyal to Him.

There was only one task that Elijah had left to complete his ministry, and that was to pass it on to his sidekick, Elisha. After he did so, God sent a flaming chariot with horses to transport Elijah directly to heaven.

Elisha served in the time of King Jehoshaphat, who succeeded King Asa in Judah. He was supernaturally empowered, similarly to Elijah. He makes water appear for Jehoshaphat’s army, gave and ever-flowing jar of olive oil to a widow and her two sons to sell the overflow and raise them out of poverty. Elisha bestowed fertility on an aged couple. Their new son died but the prophet resurrected him. He fed 100 men with 20 loaves of bread, blinded the Syrian army, cured a man of leprosy and made poison food edible.

The evil King Ahab of Israel was killed battling the Syrians.

King Jehoshaphat also brought the people closer to God so that Judah prospered once more. In 852 B.C., Judah was on the verge of being invaded by a conglomeration of Arabic forces. This godly king leaned on Jehovah:

Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the LORD for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the LORD’s help. 2 Chr. 20:3, 4. NLT

The King called for a ‘fast,’ which means to abstain from all or some food and or drink for a proscribed period of time, so as to allow our spirit to have its proper dominion over our flesh – to hone in better as we seek God’s will.

God responds to the corporate prayer and fasting:

He said, “Listen all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s…But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD’s victory. He is with you, O people of Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow for the LORD is with you!” 2 Chr. 20:15 & 17. NLT

Delivered again!

In spite of the people and their sin, God waits for their return. Things grow dark, but now God begins to bring light in the form of speaking / teaching/ prophets, where we will encounter an amazing amount of Him – up close and personal! Next time.

Goodnight and God bless.

Are There Giants Blocking Your Path?

After camping out at Mt. Sinai for a full year, Moses told the Israelites to break camp, and he marched them to the edge of the Promised Land (Canaan). God then instructed Moses to send ten spies into the land and return with their impressions.

Upon their return, eight of the spies said that the land was indeed the paradise that God had promised. However, they also said that it was filled with ferocious giants, living in fortified cities that were unconquerable:

So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw there were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” Nm. 13:32, 33. NLT

I’m sure this ‘gang of eight’ did feel like grasshoppers, because they let their fear of the ‘Canaanites’ displace their faith in God’s assurance, to deliver the Israelites into the Promised Land (Ex. 3:8 & 17; Lv. 20:24). What have they done? They’ve called God a liar.

There were however, two remaining spies, who did hold fast to their faith. One was Caleb, who refuted the opinion of the other eight:

“Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!” Nm. 13:30 CSB

The other spy who sided with Caleb, Joshua, joins him in making a final plea:

“Only don’t rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t be afraid of them.!” Nm. 14:9 CSB

Instead, the Israelites cowed in fear, unconvinced of God’s protection, and refused to enter Canaan. Moreover, they threatened Caleb and Joshua with death. This was the last straw for God, who then speaks to Moses:

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?” Nm. 14:11 NLT

Once again, God is faced with purposeful impenitent sinners. Jehovah must judge them. His first intention is to wipe them off the earth. Again, Moses pleads for lives of the Israelites. Our merciful God relents, but not without punishment.

He banishes the present generation to 40 years of purposeless wandering in the wilderness – basically until they all die, (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb). Only their children will be able to enter the Promised Land…

Aren’t we beginning to see, over and over, that things don’t go well for those who turn against God’s will? If we do that, our lives become a ‘wilderness experience,’ where we wander aimlessly, searching for a love that never comes.

If God loves us so much, and promises to deliver us from our ‘valleys’ in life, why would we go against Him in the first place? It’s because of the way our thinking has been distorted. The blueprints of that distortion were laid down in the Garden of Eden, see A Devilish Indoctrination.

It is there that Satan planted the seeds of doubt about the veracity of God’s word, instilled the dread of Him suggesting He is malevolent, and fostered the false beliefs of self-doubt, due to the devil’s Big Lie, that says we are unlovable and unacceptable. The result is, that we live under a crush of self-created fear and its cousins: envy, jealousy, pride and anger, with which we practice to hide our ‘false ineptness’ – see Anger Kills.

Parents unconsciously feed this same malady to their offspring, which is further fomented by government, schools and the media – see What Are We Teaching Our Children and Evolution of the Dark Mind.

What follows is that we are afraid to put one foot in front of the other. We remain stuck, clinging to our past, because we are afraid to make different decisions. Why? Because we are sure that there are giants blocking our path forward, not realizing that we put them there – see The Past Sure is Tense.

The ‘giants’ are really the fear of death, the fear of abandonment and the fear of impermanence – see Fearless. If you are fearful, you go through life locked in a perpetual state of defense. One for the ways that you do that, is by creating a ‘self-image.’

When you were born, you did not have a self-image; you had a ‘God-image’:

So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gn. 1:27 AMP

However, somewhere in life, due to your emotional bumps and bruises, the berating ego in your head, and the voices from the heads of others, you decided to deny your God-connection, because you brought false meanings to the events in your life and you believed them.

For example, let’s say someone turned you down for a date. It could have been that you just weren’t their type, or that they might fear intimacy, or they didn’t want a relationship at that time. Yet, you make it about you and set a giant in your path – saying to yourself, ‘How could they be so insensitive? Can’t they see what a good catch I am?’

Ego jumps in saying, ‘They were so mean. You shouldn’t go out with them anyway. Did you see how ugly and stupid they were?’ And because that dark mind wants to keep you miserable, in order to control you, it redirects its criticisms back at you, e.g. ‘How could you be such a moron as to ask them out? You are so ugly, stupid and undesirable. What will others think when they find out that you were rejected? You’ll be alone the rest of your life.’

If you listen to that voice, you will build more giants, by keeping yourself focused on your primary wounds from the satanic indoctrination that screams you are unlovable and / or unacceptable.

So, what do you do? You create a false image – a mask constructed of the lies from that devilish chatter in your head, who tells you how you must present yourself to please others. In other words, you try to appear as someone who isn’t real, and you can never let your guard down. Why? Because that same vile voice has convinced you that you have monstrous inner parts, that if exposed, would bring you a lifetime of loneliness.

You become self-absorbed with the unending maintenance of your mask, tweaking it to serve the next person you meet, trying your best to be what they want. It’s exhausting and unrewarding. Worse, others never get to meet the real you, so your real needs are never met.

This happens to some degree to everyone. Why? Because we never examine how we think! We insist on being ignorant about who God made us to be, and we won’t admit what our mask is up to. Our self-image is a purposeful case of mistaken identity, as we try to fool ourselves into believing that our mask will bring the acceptance from others that we so sorely crave – which keeps sending us backhanded messages of worthlessness.

Our masks are built upon the framework of our suffering, the very thing we are trying so hard to avoid. Thus, we keep that same suffering on the center stage of our mental focus. Subsequently, real life is never lived, because our obsession with our self-image blinds us to our own God-given perfection.

If we don’t stop this vicious cycle, we will continue to judge ourselves for who we are not; and exact self-punishment, hoping it will make us good. You can’t beat goodness into anyone.

There is nothing wrong with any of us. It’s just that we have bought into the Big Lie that says we are damaged goods. There never was anything wrong with us and there never will be. However, we must reconnect ourselves to God, to see it.

YOU MATTER TO GOD. HE IS YOUR GIANT SLAYER!

For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, for [only] one body, so it is with Christ. For by one [Holy] Spirit we were all baptized into one body, [spiritually transformed – united together] whether Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit, [since the same Holy Spirit fills each life]. 1 Cor. 12:12, 13. AMP

For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. Ps. 139:13, 14. CSB

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Cor. 3:16 ESV

How much more glorious can you be? This is how God sees you, and He is the ultimate authority.

As far as your ‘giants’ are concerned, they all have their basis in fear, and fear is not real. It is just a bevy of emotions that you let run amok. Call upon your Giant Slayer instead:

“It is the LORD who goes before you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Dt. 31:8 AMP

I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Ps. 34:4 NASB

Even to your old age, I will be the same. And even to your graying years I will bear you…and I will deliver you. Is. 46:4 NASB

And one more thing, throw that mask, that false image, in the trash and let your perfect image, that God-image, shine forth…

Goodnight and God bless.

rebelling against God

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