A Different Focus

The previous post ended by saying that the Israelites focus was their own lives, not God's heart. Moses was quite different. After becoming GREAT in Egypt, he CHOSE to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the benefits of Egypt. The children of Israel did not have to CHOOSE their hardships, but Moses had been presented with the finest of everything the world could offer and he refused it all. (Hebrews 11:26) Having quickly forgotten it's oppression, the people of Israel wanted to return to Egypt (the world). They remembered only that they had feasted on the things they lacked in the wilderness of God's testing. Moses, on the other hand, chose hardship "because he was looking ahead to his reward."

What was that reward? The answer is found in Exodus 33:1-2. The offer of the promise they had awaited was before them. After four hundred years in a foreign land, the offer of a bountiful land was being laid before the leader. But there was a catch. v. 33 - God told Moses to take the people to the land He had promised them, that he would give them the escort of an angel, although He would not accompany them. Moses quickly responded, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." (Ex. 33:15) Moses did not hesitate or bargain in his answer. He would without a second thought remain the arid desert, the place that brought much discomfort with God's presence, rather than go to the land of vineyards, streams and beautiful houses without God's presence.

It's a good thing that the option of entering the promised land without God was not placed before the Israelites. They continually complained in difficult times with threats to return to Egypt, and if they would have taken Egypt without God, they would have gladly taken their own good land with an angel. Their reward was whatever benefited them the most. (This is what the world lives for too - "What is best for me?")

To Moses, the promise was nothing without God's presence. He refused God's offer because even though it would have resulted in a much more comfortable life, it was void of what his heart beat for. He desired above all else to know God. He did not ask for land, wealth, honor, or any other tangible asset. He had it all in Egypt and realized that it did not bring true satisfaction. Immediately after he refused the offer of the promised land void of God's presence, his heart cry was, "please, show me Your glory." (Ex. 33:18)

Moses made a firm decision. He pursued the reward of knowing God. Shunning the world was no price at all in comparison with the reward of God's glory. Because he decided to forsake the rewards of the world's system, he was able to draw near to the God on the mountain. The people, however, couldn't draw near to the God of holiness. Egypt's desires were still in them. They had not separated themselves in their hearts from the world, which resulted in their inability to separate what was of the world and what was of God.

If you desire both the world and the intimate knowledge of God, the image of God becomes distorted. You do not truly know Him; you know a different Jesus. The children of Israel wanted God's deliverance, but desired what Egypt had as well. That was why they never would "give up the prostitution they began in Egypt." They were conformed to the world, Egypt's desires were shaped within them, and even though God's strong power delivered them out of Egypt, they did not make the decision to get Egypt out of them.

The Desire of the World

The following post is the second in a series taken from the book "A Heart Ablaze" by John Bevere.

Of all those who were delivered from Egypt, Moses was the one who was most entangled in its ways. He was raised in Pharaoh's house, he was schooled in Egyptian wisdom, and all of his friends were Egyptian. The other Hebrew men and women were at least in their own community within Egypt. They were treated harshly by that society, yet Moses was treated well by its treasures and wisdom. They had not been as involved with its whole system to the degree that Moses had been. So if anyone could have said that it was harder to get free from the desires of Egypt, it should have been Moses. Yet he had no desire for any form of Egypt, while the children of Israel continually gravitated for it.


Why did the people of Israel, who were less intertwined with Egypt's ways than Moses was, gravitate back to it, while Moses displayed no desire to have anything to do with its ways? Why was the one who was more entangled with the world less interested in its ways?

If we examine the two, we will find the difference. We will also have a very clear picture of two distinctive groups of people that make up the church today, with Moses representing one group and the children of Israel the other. We will see why many today in the church conform to the world while others in the church, even though some have come out of great entanglements of bondage, have no desire to return the world.

For centuries the children of Israel had prayed and cried for deliverance from their Egyptian oppressors. They longed to return to the land of promise. They had been slaves all of their lives. Their fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers had been slaves. God sent their deliverer, Moses. The people experienced overwhelming joy. They saw the signs Moses performed. I can just hear them crying, shouting and exclaiming, "It has finally happened. God has come to set us free!" Can you imagine the feelings in that meeting? They had been slaves all of their lives. The promise of deliverance had been talked about for four hundred years. The people experienced overwhelming joy.


Moses left that meeting and went to Pharaoh and proclaimed the same message from the Lord. He commanded Pharaoh to "let His people go". But Pharaoh responded by increasing their hardship. No longer would straw be provided for the endless number of bricks that the Israelites were to produce each day. They would have to glean by night and labor by day. The total number of bricks would not diminish, although their straw was removed. God's word of freedom had increased their hardship and suffering.


The children of Israel's attitude starting changing. They complained and told Moses to "leave them alone and to quit preaching to Pharaoh; you are making life worse for us. " They were the same ones who had worshipped God just days earlier when Moses first brought the news.


When God finally delivered them from Egypt, Pharaoh's heart was hardened again and he pursued the Israelites into the wilderness with his finest chariots and warriors. Seeing that Egypt had rallied against them and that they were backed up to the Red Sea, the Hebrews again complained: "Didn't we tell you to leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness" (Ex. 14 :12)


"It would have been better for us." In essence they were saying, "why should we do what you say God speaks when it is only making our lives more miserable? We are worse off - not better." They were quick to compare their former lifestyle with their present condition. Whenever the two did not balance, the Israelites wanted to go back. They desired whatever appealed to their best interests over the desire to fulfill God's will. Oh, how they lacked true desire for God in their love for their own lives!


God split the sea, and the children of Israel crossed on dry land and saw their oppressors drowned. They celebrated with dancing and praising before Him. They were firm believers and nothing would draw them back. They were certain they would never again doubt His goodness. But they did not know their own hearts - their intentions, yes, but their desires, no. Another test would arise and again expose their unfaithfulness. Just three days later they complained that they wanted not bitter water, but sweet. (Ex. 15:22-25) Their thoughts were already turning to what they had in Egypt that they lacked in God's desert.


A few more days passed and they complained about the lack of food. They same behavior continued. They complained whenever they encountered situations that weren't to their liking. As long as it seemed good for them, they kept God's Word and appeared to desire Him. But if obedience meant to go a direction that wasn't pleasing to their flesh, they complained. "Would it not be better for us?" - these words paint a clear picture of their hearts. "For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Matt 12:34) Their core motivation for living was made evident by their behavior and words spoken under pressure - it was for themselves. Their focus was their own lives, not God's heart.

(....to be continued)

A Heart Ablaze

I'm reading a book right now by John Bevere called "A Heart Ablaze" and was struck and convicted by so many things in it. It is so rich and for the next few posts I just want to share from it. I cannot take credit for any of the following:

One of two things is going to happen in the life of a believer: either he is going to be conformed into the image of Jesus by allowing the Word of God to change him, or he is going to conform Jesus into the image of what his heart dictates. As in Exodus with the story of the Israelites, if you go to the mountain, you change. If you stay at the foot of the mountain, as Aaron did, God's image in you changes. You make Him what you want Him to be other than Who He truly is.

INTENTIONS OR DESIRES

Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind". Strong's dictionary defines the word conform as "to fashion alike, to shape one thing like another".

Desires and intentions are two different things, although many believe they are one and the same. You can have very good or godly intentions, but they may not be your true desires. Many people say that they desire to walk away from the influences of the world and press into God, yet they don't follow through. They are out of touch with their true desires, for James declares that "each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" (James 1:13)

A comedian once said, "the devil made me do it". The devil can't make a believer do anything. He can only entice; however, you can't be enticed by something you don't desire. If a line of cocaine or a few hits of LSD were offered to most believers, they would without hesitation refuse them, because they have no desire for them; therefore, they cannot be enticed by them.

We must bring our desires under the submission of the Cross: "Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). It is not something God does for us; it is something we must do. We can't do it without His grace, yet we must do it. We can be enticed by any wrong desires that we have not put under the Cross. If we have not put away our desire for the world's ways, then we can easily slip back to the world.