And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because
his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him
twice, (1Kings 11: 9)
One of the greatest wonders of the
human mind is its capacity to constantly shape the memory of their past
according to their present. Then it is able to selectively cut out any memory
that does not agree with that present, however real it was.
Reminds me of Abraham’s response
to the rich man’s pleas
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead. (Luke 16: 31)
Many wonder how people would
reject God after listening to a message of someone who had come back from the
dead. We think that testimony would be so compelling as to cancel any doubt
about the reality of God, heaven and hell.
But scripture and experience demonstrate
otherwise.
Israel saw God demonstrate His
reality, power and love time and time again as He rescued them from slavery in
Egypt. Yet do we not find it strangely unsettling that they are always
complaining at every discomfort?
It got so bad that God finally
said this to them.
Because all those men which have seen my
glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have
tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they
shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of
them that provoked me see it: Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so
will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that
were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and
upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the
land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said
should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye
have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this
wilderness. (Numbers 14: 22, 23, 28 - 32)
Numbers 13 and 14 are sobering
chapters to read in the Bible that I would advise you to read before you
continue with this. Can that passage be speaking about us and our generation?
I know I am not much different
from these people as I many times behave just like them. I may not blurt out or
froth at the mouth against God like they did but I know I am not much different
and would behave like them if my circumstances were like theirs.
How do you feel (behave comes
when those feelings are nurtured) when you are on your last coin and are so far
from anyone or anywhere you can get assistance? Do you feel a sense of panic?
Do you become fixated on that sense of helplessness? Do you tend toward despair
in the short term? Do you for an instant forget all those verses you have
quoted for ages concerning God and His faithfulness? Does everything you held
dear evaporate in the face of that ‘desperate’ situation?
Yet I think need is less of a danger
than comfort, many times because need will require of us to seek help beyond
us, and God is the best and maybe last help we can seek. Many times our past is
such that we have enough experience and heard enough testimonies of the kind of
help God can be. We will therefore more likely than not pray and seek God in
the midst of need than turn away from Him.
Success, worldly prosperity and
fame exert a different kind of pressure on us than a cry for help. And
sufficiency is a greater danger than need on our spirits. Incidentally that is
what happened to our friend Solomon. The fact that he had two very definite
encounters with God was not sufficient to shield him from the danger success
had got him into.
And he is not alone. Scripture is
replete with example after another of God’s people who, though they had been so
close to God and had great encounters with Him,
did things that seemed to indicate that their former experiences were
more fictional than real.
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa
king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of
Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of
Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge
host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the
LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and
fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore
from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put
him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And
Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. (2 Chronicles 16: 7 – 10)
This is the background.
And there came out against them Zerah the
Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and
came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in
array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the LORD his
God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or
with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and
in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man
prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before
Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. (2 Chronicles 14: 9 – 12)
When there is no hope from his
military strength he calls on God who responds that a million man strong army
is routed by his infinitely smaller and weaker army. Then in chapter 16 a
smaller army threatens. By then he had been able to gather a lot of wealth and
so instead of going into prayer like the first time decides like most reason,
that God helps those who help themselves. He therefore goes to his dedicated
offerings in the temple and offers them to a heathen king to get military
assistance.
Had he forgotten that God still
answers prayer? I guess not. I suspect the reality of God was the reason he
sought a less threatening partner.
You see God has very high
standards, standards that would, like the English say, easily topple the apple
cart of our lives. God’s security demands that we dismantle our castles and
other forts we may have built for our security. We are sober enough to realize
that asking Him into our affairs many times will mean we get ourselves
completely exposed before asking for His assistance. We realize that accessing
His assistance may require that we demolish and throw away all our security.
That is why it is easier for the
needy to earnestly pray as they really have nothing much to lose as they have
no carts to be overturned or castles to be demolished.
It is a different thing for the
secure and comfortable. Many times God becomes a threat to their security or
comfort. You see we can’t really predict what kind of order God will issue in
response to our prayer or search of His will.
He can simply order us to do what
He did to the rich young ruler in Mark 10: 21 and like him we are not in the
least interested in doing so. Or like He did to the one who had required to
sort out a few things at home in Luke 9: 60 and we are not ready. He might
issue the kind of order He gave to Abraham to leave everything and everybody he
knew to go to a land he had no idea not only of its location but also how it
looked like.
I have ‘friends’ who were so
zealous for God that nothing could stand between them and what God required who
after getting to the ‘top’ have no time
for spiritual things except bribing God with an attendance to church and ‘fat’
offerings. I know people who were conscientious about dressing that they would
never shy at confronting brethren who were slightly liberal allow their
children go to church barely dressed and their sons with plaited hair when they
got to the top.
I know ministers who had no spot
(hard or soft) for the devil, compromise or sin in their preaching and teaching
who do not now mind when ministry colleagues and parishioners are living in
open sin after they got to the top. I know friends who like me had trashed the
TV for not having much positive input in the lives of their family install
cable and satellite TV and pride themselves on some of the trash their family
wastes time watching as a positive thing.
I know people whose call to
ministry was not only exceptional and radical but also cost them everything
start treating a call to ministry and the voice of God as the imagination of an
infantile mind and live a life that demonstrates the least concern for God’s
word though using His name for profit after getting to the top of a
ministerial, church or denominational structure.
Security and comfort is the
reason there is more backsliding in prosperity than need.
But how does it happen?
By the way this will also explain
my recent post (When Integrity is not Enough) because the dynamics are similar
when somebody gets to the top.
The first thing that happens is
that when we get to the top we realize that the crowd that may have been
responsible with our getting to the top (especially spiritually) may appear to
be below our new status. People who have prayed that promotion or financial
breakthrough are way below us. They may appear to threaten our wealth or demean
our status due to their need or crudity. We forget that we were taken from
their company and that they were necessary ingredients of our elevation.
The few who prosper in status and
position are people who never leave their team after elevation.
On the prosperity side we have
David who not only rose with his team to the palace but was the one who had actually
raised them from hopelessness. But even more important is that his spiritual
antenna continued in sharpness as he increased his spiritual crowd not only
with more priests but he also brought in several prophets.
Any other ‘friend’ who joined him
had to first deal with his crowd to corrupt him.
We see the same with Daniel. When
he is elevated due to the breakthrough he got after explaining the dream, we
see him remembering his friends to the king, ensuring that even in those high
places he had the kind of company that could secure him from the corruption
prevalent in those positions and structures.
Seeking a more enlightened crowd
is therefore the first step to our slide from our spiritual potency. Then I
will lose the spiritual backing of the team that loves me for who I am instead
of what I have or position I hold. For the fear of the rebuke they may
occasionally bring when I go astray I cut myself from my only true friends and
spiritual partners who can stand with me against the enticements my status
attracts. I will therefore become exposed to any machination the enemy (or
structure) plans to bring me down or compromise me like it happened to these
kings I have mentioned.
This new crowd will then counsel
us towards worldliness and sin, eventually rebellion and wickedness as they
will seek to drive us from God’s standards and laws. We will then develop our
own righteousness that not only is foolish to everybody else but even stands in
direct opposition to God Himself like we see Uzziah doing in usurping the
priest’s office or Saul saving what was ordered to be destroyed.
But even if I am not compromised
in that way I will still be in danger as I will be alone standing for God
against structures and a crowd that may have nothing to do with the standards I
live for. And lone rangers are very easy to bring down whether they are
compromised or not. Remember the scheme by Daniel’s co-rulers to isolate him before
setting him up for destruction?
What is the solution then? How
can we avoid falling in those traps the enemy will set up against us?
First is a determination.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he
would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine
which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he
might not defile himself. (Daniel 1: 8)
Psalm 1 is one indication of what
kept David focused.
The second key factor that
protects one from falling by the wayside is a right relationship with the word
of God, the Bible. And we see that when we look at them.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I
sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in
mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119: 9 – 11)
We see a demonstration of the
same when we see Daniel connecting to a prophecy that was coming to fulfillment
seventy years later (Daniel 9). He couldn’t have been a casual reader to
realize that fact.
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the
law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. (Ezra 7:10)
Further to valuing the knowledge
and obedience to God’s word is the instructing of others. This is the key to
retaining that instruction. Any person who remained relevant to God was not
only a hearer and doer of God’s word; he was instrumental in the instruction of
others. And this agrees with the fact that knowledge puffs up while love builds
up. Knowing without teaching may get us to a danger as bad as backsliding. It
may get us into spiritual pride and a professional instead of worshipful
practice of our faith. Helping others grow is the greatest incentive to our
personal growth.
In summary promotion or
prosperity pose serious threats to our faith. The key driver of that is our
detaching ourselves from the accountability partners we had before getting
there, many times the partners who contributed to our getting there.
The solution is simple on paper.
Do not agree to go up alone. Never seek to ascend that ladder alone. Do
everything in your power to include your prayer and accountability partners.
They are more reliable because they have known you before you acquired all
those attachments and aura your new status brings. Maintain those fellowships
and where possible have some of them work with you in that high office even as
drivers or tea girl/ boy because you are sure of their prayerful cover and concern
for you.
Value the scriptures and spend
even more time there than formerly. The spiritual dynamic of that new wealth or
office requires more spiritual muscle on your side. Expand your spiritual
accountability team by including people who are not wowed by the trappings of
you new status.
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the
throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out
of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and
he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the
LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside
from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may
prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17: 18 – 20)
This is talking about a king. But
I am convinced it applies to anyone occupying any office with authority. Lack
of the scriptures explains the reason kings failed in the scriptures.
Discovering them brought about more that spiritual revival.
But finally we must determine to
instruct others. This is what is called discipleship. We will determine to
spend a significant amount of our time helping others know God as much as we
know Him as we take them through the scriptures.
Then our experience is not only
valid but useful for more than us.
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