The Guiding Pillars for Life

Have you ever made the comment, "How did I not see that??? It was right in front of me!" or "If it had been a snake it would have bitten me!"? Sometimes the hand of God is like that in our lives. He is right in front of us, directing us and yet we are totally oblivious to what He is saying to us. Imagine with me what it must have been like for the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness with Moses. There was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. An unmistakable sign of the presence of God was there, constantly, directing the thousands where to go. One would think with God both with you and guiding you through that visible a sign that there would have been no doubt about being about His business. But we all know that was not the case.

Exodus 13:21-22 The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people. The Lord did not remove this guidance system from His people. For forty years they moved about the wilderness and He was there with them. Yet throughout the forty years, there were multiple incidences of disobedience of rebellion and of disbelief. We know that the Lord was directing them; they were not lost in the wilderness. They were walking out the consequences of their action or inaction as the case may have been.

The Hebrew people had witnessed the power and authority of God in providing for their exodus from Egypt. He provided for their survival in the wilderness. How much like our own lives is this scenario? I know personally that God has done miraculous acts in my life. I would not be where I am except through His grace and provision in my life. There were numerous times that I was admittedly in the wilderness, yet each time He showed me the way out. He has met my needs on so many occasions that I cannot recount them all. Some were more miraculous than others, but each served as a reminder to me that my "manna" came only from Him, not through my might or my power. In fact, the more that I allow my flesh to get involved in my life and my decisions, the deeper it takes me into the wilderness and I lose sight of the guiding "pillars" of the Lord.

I want to become very deliberate about recognizing the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. I know that my Lord's presence is unmistakably here in my life, but if I am not keeping my focus centered on those pillars 24/7 then I risk losing sight of my guidance system. One thing that has become abundantly clear is that a pillar should not be another person. If we begin to follow a person thinking that is the pillar for us, we risk taking a detour. No single person should ever become the only guidance system we have for life. The Lord will use people as confirmation of what He is telling us, but He wants us to depend solely on Him for our instructions, our directions.

Knowing that we live in a fallen world in which our flesh (body and soul) will continually battle with our renewed spirit should give us a warning that we will have to stay alert. Our mind will seek that which makes us "feel good". Our body will seek that which brings us comfort and pleasure. But our spirit wants to commune with the Lord and to dive deeper into our relationship with Him no matter what the cost to the soul and body. Consequently there are going to be times in our lives when alternate pillars are going to clutter the landscape of our lives. What should be crystal clear to us as it should have been to the Hebrews will be distorted even imitated by the dark side. The desire of the enemy is to keep us from following the guidance of the Lord in our lives. If he can strategically place a false pillar in our lives, then there is always the possibility that we will deviate from our original path and follow the new course he lays out.

Micah 7:5 Do not trust in a friend; do not put your confidence in a guide. Guard the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom. Conversely Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. We have a choice as to who and what we use as a guide through life. What will be our pillars of cloud and fire? Seek the wisdom and counsel of Holy Spirit in all that you say, think and do. Learn to listen with a discerning ear and a heart hungry for the love of God. Ask Him to destroy anything that is not of Him in your life so that you may see clearly His guiding hand for you.

Kingdom Vision

Have you ever walked outside on a moonless night and tried to see where you were going? It took a while for your eyes to become accustomed to the natural ambient light before you could really see well enough to move around safely. Similarly once you have used a flashlight outside at night, your vision is limited to only what the artificial light was illuminating. If you turn the flashlight off, you have lost your ability to see with the ambient light and your eyes must grow accustomed once again to operating in the natural light. How similar these circumstances are to our ability to see the Kingdom of God. We often use the term light to describe the Kingdom and Jesus Himself. Today however I want to focus on our spiritual eyes and not the source of the light.

Luke 17: 20-21 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, "When will the kingdom of God come?" Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God can't be detected by visible signs. You won't be able to say, "Here it is!" or It's over there!" For the kingdom of God is already among you." Jesus realized that the Pharisees were looking for earthly signs of the kingdom - royalty, power, wealth. His warning went unheeded because they were unable to grasp the truth. The kingdom of God is not one of earthly power and stature, although we all know that there is indeed great power in the kingdom. In fact the kingdom was right there in their midst but they could neither see it nor experience it. This is true today.

In every one of the gospels there is reference to those that have eyes to see and ears to hear. Ephesians 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. It is indeed the eyes of our heart that provide the ability to see the kingdom of God, not the physical eyes in our head. Is it any wonder that unbelievers around us do not see what we see? The eyes of their hearts have yet to be given sight. They are being blinded by the "lights" of earthly existence. The glamorous neon lights of life being lived large prevent them from seeing anything except that upon which the enemy shines his artificial light. Yet the kingdom is there right in front of them. So how does that impact us?

We live in a fallen world; of that there is no debate. We love the Lord and seek to serve Him, love Him, worship Him. But how many of us have been caught off guard by a "bright artificial light" shining directly in front of us, even right into our eyes? Let's look at a couple of examples.... Parenting - your teenager wants very much to go to a party this weekend. You are unsure of the youth that is hosting the party and you know nothing about the parents, but your son/daughter is standing in front of you pleading and simultaneously throwing out to you all of the usual excuses finally pulling the ringer out - "What you are saying, Mom/Dad, is that you do not trust me, you do not trust that you have done a good job in raising me." Arrow shot and struck! You are blinded now by the bright light of feeling inadequate and your self esteem is sliding downhill fast. You are unable to steel yourself to confront your child with the truth that it has nothing to do with him/her, it is about making good choices and avoiding compromising situations. After all you want your child to like you, right??? Wrong - but that is a different discussion.

Being part of the kingdom of God is not about what makes us feel good. It is about what honors God. Here's another circumstance - you've gathered with your co-workers and decided to go to a movie together then grab a bite to eat afterward. You have sat home for too many weekends and this sounds just wonderful. The discussion about what movie to see begins. Quickly you perceive that the movie choice is not one you would ever make on your own, but are you going to confront your co-workers with your principles and say, "Sorry, that is not a movie that I will go see. Let's find a movie that all of us can enjoy."? Or will you just go along with the crowd and endure a movie that offends you? After all it is better than staying home again, isn't it? Wrong again.

Understand that having kingdom vision means that you will keep your eyes guarded from those artificial lights. They can come from any direction and catch you off guard. A promotion that will interfere with your ministry work. A social circle that will compromise your values just a little bit at a time until you suddenly realize that you are far from the kingdom and are struggling to return. Desiring a new car when the debt will decrease your ability to support the Lord's work. Exceeding your monthly income by excessive spending on conveniences like eating out all the time because it takes too much effort to eat at home or to fix the old "whatever" to make do and thus stay within the budget. When we are distracted by the lights of this world, we will lose our kingdom vision, making it much harder to see the things that God is trying to show us.

1 John 2:16 For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. We are forewarned that the desires of this world can cause huge problems for man while he is on this earth. We will never be freed from temptation - Jesus Himself was tempted by the enemy during His 40 days in the desert. If Jesus had to suffer through temptations why would we think we are exempt? We are not. The enemy will be shining those artificial lights in our eyes seeking to blind us from the true kingdom vision that is ours once we accept Jesus as our Savior. Discipline is required to not fall prey to following those bright lights. Discipline in walking in our faith. Guard your spiritual eyes and do not dwell on that which is of this world. Keep your eyes on the kingdom light - the true light which will guide you to your eternal home with the Lord.

Disobedience Out of Fear

When you were a child, did you ever tell your mom or dad a lie out of fear of the punishment that would come if you told the truth? It takes a few mistakes like this until the child realizes that the punishment from lying is worse than the punishment would have been for telling the truth. Children are not the only ones guilty of this thinking. Adults operate in this same mode at times because of fear of the repercussions if they were to be truthful. It happens on the job, with our families, with our friends and even in our churches. There will be occasions when "the truth hurts", but should that stop us from telling the truth?

Genesis 20:11-13 Abraham replied, "I thought, 'This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.' And she really is my sister, for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her. When God called me to leave my father's home and to travel from place to place, I told her, 'Do me a favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am your brother.' " Does this ring a familiar bell to anyone else? "Well, it really is not a lie because this much of it is true...." However what is the perception that is on the receiving end? Abraham wanted the Pharaoh and his people to believe he was not married to Sarah so he conveniently omitted that part of the truth. The reason? He was fearful of dying. So to compensate for his fear, he distorted the truth. He essentially lied.

Abraham was fortunate that in this situation God intervened directly with the Pharaoh and told him the truth. Pharaoh then came back to Abraham and questioned him at which point Abraham had no choice but to tell the truth. Perhaps because God has a greater plan for which he needed Abraham and Sarah, He saved Abraham in the midst of this act of disobedience. In any case, Abraham and Sarah came out of this covered with God's mercy and grace. However, there were consequences down the road.

Genesis 26:7-9 When the men who lived there [Gerar] asked Isaac about his wife Rebekah, he said, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful." But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. Immediately, Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, "She is obviously your wife! Why would you say, 'She is my sister'?" "Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me," Isaac replied. Isaac had no convenient explanation that was a distortion of the truth. He just lied to protect himself. He was afraid. Although I have no documentation to support my theory, I believe that Isaac grew up hearing the stories of his father's many exploits and how God showed up to save him. It is very feasible that this story is one Isaac grew up hearing. When he finds himself in similar circumstances it is very natural that he would repeat what his father had done, even if it was wrong.

The question that immediately pops into my head is where was their faith? God had clearly had His hands on their lives from day one. If they had enough faith wouldn't they have realized that God is big enough to handle any situation? After all, they had intimate experience with God Himself in their lives. After all, Isaac was saved at the last minute from being a sacrifice on the altar. Surely he if anyone would believe in the power of God in all circumstances, but something happens to our flesh when we are confronted with an obstacle. We react. First response kicks in, and we react.

A relative told us the story of his entering his 3 year old's room and she immediately looked up and said, "Daddy you need to leave now." She knew she had been caught and the first response was Daddy needs to not be here! Did she think through that response? No - she did not even think about how to cover what she was doing - just get Daddy out of here! How like us when we are confronted with uncomfortable circumstances. What can I do to get out of this jam? Not what will God do because of the situation in which I find myself? God is an infinitely "BIG" God. He can handle any situation that we encounter, but do we trust Him to do so, or do we feel compelled to take care of it ourselves?

Obeying the Word of God is more complex than just looking at the ten commandments, yet it is as simple as obeying the two greatest commandments. Our lives are multi-faceted jewels with more dimensions and reflective surfaces than we realize. This complex individuality gives us multiple opportunities to choose obeying the heart of the law versus legalistically figuring out how we can twist it to fit our needs. Life can be very straightforward or we can make it so convoluted that we will lose track of its turns. If we choose to honor Him in all that we do, say and think, it simplifies the choices in our lives. In any given situation, ask yourself, is what I am about to think, say or do going to honor God or is it about protecting myself and hence honoring self over God. We must trust Him in all things and believe without question that no matter how the circumstances look, if we choose to honor Him then He will work it out to the good - our good and ultimately and far more importantly His good and that of His kingdom.

Our Engagement to the Bridegroom

The big question is asked and the potential bride answers with an enthusiastic yes. No date is set yet for the big day because the bride and groom have much to learn about each other before they can move into this next phase. Expectations are in place though for what will and will not happen during this engagement. This scenario is not unfamiliar to us. Nor was it unfamiliar for Joseph and Mary before their lives were turned upside down. Even that story is very familiar to us as we have just celebrated Jesus' birth. Have you ever considered that their story was actually the precursor to ours with Our Lord and Bridegroom?

In Jewish culture, the arranged marriage was considered a signed contract waiting only for the actual consummation to make it official. The bride is considered aligned with the groom from the moment of the agreement of parties. However there was preparation that had to occur before the consummation of the marriage could take place for both individuals. Joseph was preparing for Mary to become his wife, preparing their home, preparing for the future. Mary was preparing herself to become Joseph's bride, praying, fasting, purifying herself. Suddenly the unexpected and shocking happens - she turns up pregnant. Joseph considers "putting her away" until God intervenes and instructs him otherwise.

Compare this scenario to your Christian walk. The Lord wooed you until you finally saw the light - literally :-) - and accepted His marriage proposal. You became the future bride of Christ awaiting the grand marriage feast in heaven. The Lord is doing His part - creating for each of us our mansion in heaven. In fact He even sent us our engagement guarantee - Holy Spirit Himself. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,guaranteeing what is to come. Talk about an engagement ring that is visible to everyone around us... Holy Spirit living within us. Just as an engagement ring declares to everyone that this person is taken, committed to another, our life as a Christian should emphatically state the same thing to everyone. We are taken and committed to our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

The engagement is firm and now we are preparing ourselves as the future Bride. How frequently in our engagement period though have we turned up "pregnant" with something that did not come from our groom? Joseph had the right as the potential groom to end the engagement based on what was seen. When we present ourselves as unfaithful to the Lord, He also has the right to "end the engagement" but He chooses to give us a second chance, a third chance, as many as it takes for us to remain with Him. However that is only the case if we are repentant after our unfaithfulness.

Recognizing the issues in our lives that would cause such a "pregnancy" is critical to our ability to participate in the wedding feast and thus avoid the second death. If we want to remain in the loving embrace of our Lord and our potential bridegroom, then we must be on guard constantly to dismiss the adulterous lovers from our lives. Anything that takes our attention away from the Lord is potentially the illicit lover of our lives. Whether that is our job, our relationships, our money, our success, our image with "the neighbors", or the more obvious lovers of addictions and immorality, each of these has the potential to create an unwanted "pregnancy" that stemmed from these affairs of the Soul and Flesh.

We are human and as humans we have three parts: Spirit, Soul and Body (Flesh). The Soul and Flesh will battle with the renewed Spirit of a committed follower of Jesus Christ. When we are born again, our Spirit is transformed, never to be the same again. The Flesh and the Soul however did not get transformed. It is our responsibility to work daily on that transformation process through the power and anointing of Holy Spirit operating within us. Until the day of the Lord's return, we must daily endeavor to remain faithful and true to our Bridegroom. Some days we will be bombarded with distractions designed to turn us from Him. These distractions are to be expected. Our choice is what we do with these distractions. Will we remain faithful to our waiting Bridegroom or will we wander off with a possessive lover? Choose faithfulness. Choose remaining pure for the wedding feast. Choose Christ.