Do We Ever Learn?

Still continuing with the topic God and friends.

And we will use the same person, Jehoshaphat.

We are a generation later than when the same situation is replicated, this time with Ahab’s son in 2 Kings 3.

He asks the same question and our friend gives the same answer.

And as he did with the father he does with the son. He asks for a prophetic word.

You wonder why.

With the previous word that he dishonored to a rebuke from God, he still maintains alliances with God’s enemies, yet still pursues God’s revelation.

But I think the more pressing question is why was he always hanging out with friends with no regard for the God he served.

But that is what friendship really is

Your friends determine your spiritual temperature.

God’s revelation is irrelevant when it is tempered by friends.

Or have we forgotten Solomon who could trash two clear appearances of the divine.

Or Moses who for his loyalty to Israel messed his assignment.

In short, there is no spiritual insurance against friends.

A firebrand can be converted to a refrigerator by a friend or friends.

Why am I writing this?

I have never seen a believer getting into drunkenness or sexual immorality overnight.

That is why believers in schools and colleges are so on fire that they are always in this or that mission and will explode at the smallest spiritual infraction with no grey areas in their lives.

Let them get out of that ‘cocoon’ of like friends.

Then they get new professional friends and it becomes harder and harder to get enough time to attend church, let alone planning or even going for a mission.

Someone who attended an overnight prayer meeting almost every week finds it impossible to get time to pray when he is alone.

At least Jehoshaphat was better than that as he always sought God’s take on issues, though his friendships meant it was irrelevant what God said.

Sadly, it happens all the time.

It can very easily happen to you and me.

But it doesn’t have to. And the solution is not complicated.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalm 1: 1, 2)

Are we together?

God’s Timing in Context 2

And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. (1Kings 19: 15, 16)

Still on God’s assignment being the manager of His timing.

Let us look at a few scriptural examples.

In the verses above, we have Elijah ready to go (die) as he is convinced there was nothing left for him to do.

But what does God say?

You are still on assignment.

He also shows him how he was to finish it.

But do you realise that the first parts were not his to do? Or at least we know he is not the one who performed them?

In short, God just ordered him to appoint a successor whose assignment would be to complete his.

God’s assignments are too big for one person to complete, many times because of the time required and the massive reach of the same.

And he was not alone.

Remember we mentioned David in our last post?

The same thing happens to David, only that this time it is the opposite of this.

David desires to build a temple for God.

This of course pleases God.

But that was outside of his assignment and for that desire God promises him things.

But God tells him that the assignment, though coming from a heart in the right place, is outside his assignment.

He therefore gives him another assignment, preparing the person to carry out that assignment.

It was the same with Moses.

Jonah was stopped from his pity party because he needed a lesson to be able to continue in his assignment.

The saddest for me, however, happened with Hezekiah.

He completes his assignment at 39 after ruling for fourteen years and God tells him so.

But he protests, probably because he felt that he was too young and especially because he had no son to take over from him. God therefore adds him fifteen years, and a son outside his completed assignment.

Do you realise that absolutely nothing positive came out of those fifteen years and that that son was the reason Judah went to captivity?

Ahithophel committed suicide because he probably realized that he had messed his assignment big time, as did Judas.

In short, your assignment is the reason God placed you on earth. Living outside it, however good any other assignment may appear, is a complete waste in God’s sight.

I like what Jesus repeatedly said; that My time is not yet, then, the hour is come, until He finally said, it is finished.

Is it possible to live with that kind of focus?

Yet can we do that if we are unaware of our assignment?

 

God’s Time in Context

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2Peter 3:8)

I recently thought more than casually over this verse.

Everybody knows that with God a day is like a thousand years.

But have you ever considered the other aspect; that a thousand years is like one day?

With the first part we can comfortably demonstrate that God is never in a hurry. That He will somehow come through because His timetable is not like ours.

I want us to look at the other aspect. How can we squeeze a thousand years into one day?

How many days are in a thousand years? How many hours? How many seconds?

1000x365.25x24x60x60=31,557,600,000 seconds

One thousand years is therefore equivalent to a day which is 60x60x24 seconds

Meaning that one day is equivalent to 365,250 days

One second is equivalent to 365,250 seconds which is equivalent to 4.227 days or four days and five hours.

If God can stretch one second into four days and five hours, how does that explain God’s timing? How does it explain the accuracy of His moving?

And what does that seemingly most contradictory verse mean to us?

The first statement I will make is one we all agree on; that God is eternal. Meaning that He is not bound by time.

But in practical terms we can comfortably state that He does not operate by time the way we do.

This will help us appreciate the fact that God’s realm uses time differently from us.

And we need to know that to understand God and His dealings with man.

Let me give an example.

David was a warrior, or soldier if that is what you will take.

Fitness therefore was part and parcel of his being.

Yet why do we find him completely aged at seventy yet people with military backgrounds are still very strong at eighty?

It is because God operates by assignments. David at seventy had completed his assignment and so was completely ‘finished’.

Enoch, according to his times, departed when he had barely lived for the same reason

All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. (Ecclesiastes 7:15)

God wants each of us to accomplish our assignment, giving us innumerable chances to help us reconnect to it as we see in 2^nd Peter 3: 8.

Interestingly, as we read the scriptures, we realize that those spiritually attuned were able to know when their assignment was complete; from Jacob to David to Paul to Peter.

Sadly, very few in our generation have the capacity for the same.

Do you know your assignment?

The second aspect is the one of seasons. God operates in seasons and not time as we know it. And those seasons are related to those assignments.

Seasons are the tools God uses to prepare us to complete our assignments.

Joseph moved from favorite son to slave to prisoner to prime minister to prophet, with each season preparing him for his ultimate assignment.

Do we know our assignment?

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)

That is God’s assignment for each of us, with each given a different set of tasks to accomplish it.

That, incidentally, is what He will use to judge us when many think the judgment will be based on what we have done. Of course, I must have a place for probably my most quoted and sobering verses.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

Doing anything outside of my assignment is called wickedness however godly or evangelistic it may appear to be.

‘Well done’ and ‘depart from Me’ are two sides of the coin called judgment. And the yardstick is our assignment.

Like I like to say, God is the only holder of the marking scheme.

Our assignments are time bound, only that it is God’s time that is being used.

A person can therefore complete his assignment at ten while another is plucked prematurely at a hundred.

And I will be in my assignment when like Enoch I constantly walk with God.

How do I do it?

I will dwell in His word and prayer. I will not be diverted by anything, even things associated with and appearing as coming from God.

Once again, what is your assignment? How far are you progressing in the same?

 

Of God’s Voice and Friends

But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? (2Chronicles 18:6

Have you realized that though the prophet came with God’s clear voice the seeker of that voice did nothing different from what he had initially planned?

Why then did he seek to hear a different message from the one hired prophets were proclaiming?

I want us to look at friends and friendship. And I want to state that a friend has a very great chance of either connecting or disconnecting one from their destiny.

Jehoshaphat was a godly king. He is famously known as the king who had the choir leading the army to war due to his faith.

But like Solomon before him he makes alliances with a neighboring king, thus making this king his brother.

But then this king was very wicked. He is known as the most wicked king Israel had.

He even had many prophets he had hired to further his kingdom, many owing allegiances to the gods that were the reason Canaan was replaced from their lands.

It is interesting that he still had so many prophets after Elijah had killed eight hundred and fifty others earlier.

Jehoshaphat can see through the smokescreen of all that prophecy and therefore asks for a proper prophet.

It is interesting that we do not see him taking the true prophet serious.

Why do I say so?

He accompanies the doomed king (according to the prophecy) to the war whose purpose according to heaven was the death of Ahab.

And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD. (2 Chronicles 19:2)

Why was that?

A friend is faithful. And that faithfulness does not waver when the friend is in danger. It becomes even surer.

That is why the good king accompanied the wicked and doomed king to war.

Was there any reason then for him to seek to know God’s will?

Probably he thought the true prophet would give clearer directions, or even alter the other king’s direction.

But the true prophet muddied the waters even more, making his decision a black and white issue.

You see he had committed to his friend earlier, even before the prophets came around.

Obedience to God therefore meant going back on his commitment to his ‘brother’.

He simply could not let his friend down.

And that is the power of friendship.

Friendship can be more powerful than God’s voice as we see in this case.

This is the reason for verses like these.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2Corinthians 6: 14 - 18)

A friend will take you to their level.

That is what happened to Solomon.

Though God had appeared to him twice, his alliances made it impossible to say no to the idols his friends lived by.

The verses I have quoted are used in the context of marriage. But it is in other partnerships where this has most power.

Getting married to a person with allegiance to a different divine is an indicator that one has already fallen into disobedience.

But few people think that a partnership with an unbeliever in business poses much of a risk to their spirituality. Yet this is what happened to Jehoshaphat.

Of course, the devil schemes so tactfully to mess someone’s spirituality through marriage. But it backfires at times as was with Joseph and David.

But very few see this in business and other partnerships though the Bible is replete with example after another of the same.

Very few believers become drunkards just like that. Very few believers start becoming adulterous just like that.

It many times starts as the company they keep or people they do business or work together blend into deep friendships.

Then what was detestable becomes hard to rebuke. Then it becomes easy to just frown upon until it becomes acceptable.

Let me give my example.

One time God asked me to transfer to those remote places where people behave as if God does not see what happens.

As I have written elsewhere church elders became whoremongers,

things I saw repeatedly.

I did not have any friends.

I made friends with a carpenter and would spend a lot of my free time in his workshop. I would even help him with some work since I had studied carpentry in school.

Of course I did not hide the fact that I was a believer to anyone who came there.

There was very little social life and so many people would come to the workshop after work.

Initially, they would stop their stories when I was around. Then they would pause and blush in my presence.

But they were eventually able to talk as if I was not there. And I didn’t notice that progression.

Until God opened my eyes and I saw how deep I had sunk.

After repenting I had to withdraw from them for a time until I could be in charge of my spirituality amidst that crowd.

Now suppose we were doing business together? Suppose we were operating the workshop as a team?

Reminds me of an incident I witnessed the other day.

A brother and sister share a shop. One is the technician and the sister is involved in sales and other things.

The technician got stuck somewhere and decided to switch off his phone until he sorts things out.

The partner was left stranded as she could not really do much.

I found her pleading with his friends to advise her brother t stop doing such things.

Now what do you think she will tell the customer?

What between defending her brother (which will involve lying) or exposing him by telling the truth is more viable for her? What would you have done if it were you?

What would you do if your partner disappears with a customer’s stuff? What would you do if your partner is a habitual cheat?

These are some of the things spiritually discordant friends and partners bring to the table. And it is what God knew when He issued such commands.

In closing let me put down these verses.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalm 1: 1, 2)

I think this is the clearest we get on the topic friends.