Great and Terrible
We live in the most blessed and intense time of human history. If you believe the Bible is accurate, then from now until Jesus returns, darkness is going to increase, but so is the light! Living in the light will become more and more important, as world events become more and more intense.
God has a long history of taking His people into the promised future He has for them. I believe this generation, those on the earth right now, will witness the greatest transition promised to mankind: the return of Jesus, and the establishment of His kingdom on earth...but the process of this happening, as described in the books of the prophets, as described by Jesus, the apostles, and finally as revealed in the book of Revelation, is one that is promised to be very intense. Every earthly thing man is tempted to trust in will be shaken.
This earth was formed by the words that came from Jesus' mouth. He owns everything that is in it: the land, the sea, the animals, the people, the resources, and the governments. He owns the past and the future. No world event has ever caught Him by surprise. He is glad and full of joy. He is intense in His desire to save people, for them to be with Him. He isn't worried or afraid, and darkness...all darkness... trembles at Jesus' approach.
When God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, it was the fulfillment of the greatest promise they had known at the time. It was a transitional generation. It was the generation of the covenant of the law. That generation saw God's power manifested on earth in a unique way. They literally followed a pillar of fire by night, and pillar of smoke by day, food came daily from heaven, water came out of rocks in the desert, meat flew in from the sky, and God met with the leaders of the nation in ways the people visibly witnessed.
But fear gripped that generation. They could not agree with God about the awesome promise, because they couldn't trust Him to provide in a time that looked to them like trouble. They were like children who wouldn't trust their dad to embrace something new and uncertain, but something that He was assuring them was good.
A longing for "the good old days" as SLAVES set in. Because they let fear dwell with them, the Israelites often grumbled and complained about God's ability to provide, even though they lived literally counting on His daily provision and seeing the manifestations of His presence with their eyes. God was not pleased with this! His Word holds them up as an unbelieving generation. Often times, God told the future generations to not be like them.
There was a specific incident at Meribah. Here, there did not appear to be water. They had just entered the desert, and had just seen God literally split an ocean for them to escape the Egyptian army, and then close the ocean to defeat their enemy. They complained that God had led them to the desert to die. They actually longed to go back to Egypt where "at least they had food and water."
This moment is held up as one of the least faithful times of God's people. They couldn't trust that this amazing God was in control of the water they needed. He split an ocean, but they worried He couldn't give them water to drink!
Moses struck the rock, and water...an actual river, poured out from the rock. God gave them what they needed, but their faithlessness kept them from ever entering the promised land of rest. Their unbelief did cost them.
God will provide, but will we be faithful to trust Him. This requires our obedience to command fear to leave in Jesus' name, choose to remember God's perfect history of faithfulness, and know what His word says about His intentions for our future!
Now is the time to set my heart to trust Him no matter what. Now is the time to have a glad heart, like my King who is coming soon to redeem everything. Now is the time for me to get in agreement with His plan,and to remember He has a perfect record of provision. He owns it all, and He withholds no good thing from those in agreement with Him!
Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
God has a long history of taking His people into the promised future He has for them. I believe this generation, those on the earth right now, will witness the greatest transition promised to mankind: the return of Jesus, and the establishment of His kingdom on earth...but the process of this happening, as described in the books of the prophets, as described by Jesus, the apostles, and finally as revealed in the book of Revelation, is one that is promised to be very intense. Every earthly thing man is tempted to trust in will be shaken.
This earth was formed by the words that came from Jesus' mouth. He owns everything that is in it: the land, the sea, the animals, the people, the resources, and the governments. He owns the past and the future. No world event has ever caught Him by surprise. He is glad and full of joy. He is intense in His desire to save people, for them to be with Him. He isn't worried or afraid, and darkness...all darkness... trembles at Jesus' approach.
When God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, it was the fulfillment of the greatest promise they had known at the time. It was a transitional generation. It was the generation of the covenant of the law. That generation saw God's power manifested on earth in a unique way. They literally followed a pillar of fire by night, and pillar of smoke by day, food came daily from heaven, water came out of rocks in the desert, meat flew in from the sky, and God met with the leaders of the nation in ways the people visibly witnessed.
But fear gripped that generation. They could not agree with God about the awesome promise, because they couldn't trust Him to provide in a time that looked to them like trouble. They were like children who wouldn't trust their dad to embrace something new and uncertain, but something that He was assuring them was good.
A longing for "the good old days" as SLAVES set in. Because they let fear dwell with them, the Israelites often grumbled and complained about God's ability to provide, even though they lived literally counting on His daily provision and seeing the manifestations of His presence with their eyes. God was not pleased with this! His Word holds them up as an unbelieving generation. Often times, God told the future generations to not be like them.
There was a specific incident at Meribah. Here, there did not appear to be water. They had just entered the desert, and had just seen God literally split an ocean for them to escape the Egyptian army, and then close the ocean to defeat their enemy. They complained that God had led them to the desert to die. They actually longed to go back to Egypt where "at least they had food and water."
This moment is held up as one of the least faithful times of God's people. They couldn't trust that this amazing God was in control of the water they needed. He split an ocean, but they worried He couldn't give them water to drink!
Moses struck the rock, and water...an actual river, poured out from the rock. God gave them what they needed, but their faithlessness kept them from ever entering the promised land of rest. Their unbelief did cost them.
God will provide, but will we be faithful to trust Him. This requires our obedience to command fear to leave in Jesus' name, choose to remember God's perfect history of faithfulness, and know what His word says about His intentions for our future!
Now is the time to set my heart to trust Him no matter what. Now is the time to have a glad heart, like my King who is coming soon to redeem everything. Now is the time for me to get in agreement with His plan,and to remember He has a perfect record of provision. He owns it all, and He withholds no good thing from those in agreement with Him!
Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
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