Sunday Photos: A Mish-Mash of Thoughts
Tag: understanding
The Manna Test
Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
Exodus 16:4, NIV
Just imagine, for a moment, that it is raining bread outside right now! We got to see this! We run outside and and are pelted with rye, and caraway and pumpernickel. Bread! Its everywhere, all you want, just pick it up. It piles up like a yeasty hail, and it doesn’t seem to diminish, its everywhere! We call the kids, ‘Bring buckets, and clean garbage bags’!
God has directly intervened in the life of Israel. He becomes the exclusive producer of manna to the children of Israel. He decides to give, and then He pelts them with His goodness– bread, delicious bread, fresh and warm, and they say it comes from heaven! This is the ultimate! BREAD! This is far beyond anything I could imagine.
But if we clear away the piles, and draw near to those whom we assume know something, we will be struck by a sense of the reality of God. The others grab on the basic idea; but we are shaken, to the core. We come out, clinging to a God who loves us and intensely cares for us. ‘He is real, and He loves us!” And all others can see– are the piles and piles of bread.
God has done something drastic, something right ‘on the edge of reason’. We encounter Him, (or He encounters us) and we get involved, whether we like it or not. The decision will be a foundational and a concrete one. It really is much, much more than bread from heaven. But will we connect the dots?
Even though we see the supernatural bread piling up, we need to be aware we are being ‘tested’. So much of this test, really isn’t one at all. It’s the sixth day that catches us. Do we, who have become dependent on this supernatural supply, trust Him to provide on the Sabbath? Maybe He will he just ‘blink-out’ and leave us hanging? Maybe we should gather more, before He fails us?
We have to come to this clear and classic place. I believe it is the real starting point. Exactly how will you accept “free bread”? Will I honor Him through it all? (We are being ‘tested’ folks. We are on the ‘clock’.) The rub comes when we just don’t see it. We turn, not so much as to reject what is obvious, but to take on that which is authentic. If we will just do this, we will pass the test.
A Gospel That Just May Confuse Us
My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray
and turned them loose in the mountains.
They have lost their way
and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.
Jer. 50:6
Christians who wander away, or led away away, is a frequent issue with the Lord. It’s hard to watch someone you love go in a way that brings them pain and destruction. It hurts doubly when they get turned in the wrong direction. Jeremiah suggests that there is a personal disobedience as well as a pastoral influence from a shepherd.
Influence from confused shepherds runs rampant through the flock of the Church. Voices speak and men posture themselves to lure the sheep. Programs are always percolating and brought out at an opportune time to develop and maintain a momentum and to give the sense of direction and purpose. This sounds confusing but its not.
The prophet sees and perceives. There is grief and pain in his words. He witnesses of a coming judgement. In our time, the necessity of being ‘pastored‘ has been a less of an issue because of the Holy Spirit’s contact with the believer. We have the Spirit and His presence. Now we can turn towards a superintending understanding of the functioning of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t need our pathetic attempts at pointing out our crudeness and foolishness at the situation.
Jesus Christ loves us, and comes at us through the self-generated issues that could move us to a less then a desirable condition. But our “pastor” is Jesus, He pastors us through our confusion and sin. His heart is looking to us. We are to come to Him, not through a man, but through the presence of God, that envelopes us and adjusts our understanding.
We cannot pretend anymore that our issues of redemption and healing can be understood through anyone else but through the direction of our Lord except Jesus. We do not think that our intervention of a pastor, or healer will bring us any closer. We connect through Jesus. He has made himself the only connection of God and myself.
We dare not trust ourselves when it comes at us through so much. He heals and strengthens through His active and present awareness of us. We must turn from ‘deceptive noise’ and grab ahold of the promises of an authoritative voice. He rules over us with authority, and a loving voice of guidance. He comes to us in a very real and definite way. For He is “one on one” to us in a real recognition to us in our personal connection to the Father.
This needs to become our way that we connect. We rest in His plan. Nothing else will placate. Jesus advances Himself to becoming our Lord and Saviour. We turn to Him to save us, and no one else.
A Question About Discernment and Discipline
Question:
“What if the “desire to excel” isn’t the motivation in allowing sinners into the church? We invite our unsaved friends (worldlings) to church and hope they repent. Sometimes that takes a long time! Is this intervening or being missional? I understand your point that Believers aren’t to live in continual sin but am foggy about what we do with the sin saturated culture around us. Do we draw away or let them draw near?”
My Response:
“Great question/comment. Jesus made it clear, with the salt & light analogy that we will be distinctive and visible. We need to learn to accentuate and use that distinctiveness, with talent and forethought. All available effort should be used.
The issue of believers in habitual, continual sin should be approached as ‘church discipline’. This falls on people who we call pastors and elders. 1 Cor. 5 gives this oversight a template to follow. It is a sticky thing to judge someone. When we have to, we don’t want to. (Unless the person is a ‘control freak’.)
The issue of sin in the church is interesting. To have water outside a boat is a good thing, but to have water in the boat is decidedly worse. We are to preserve our distinctiveness, without diminishing our witness. It’s like we are a flock of lambs living in a pigpen. By their very nature the are different. One has a sheep nature, the other a pig’s. There will be at times confusion. But the sheep don’t belong.
To sum it up, there is church discipline for believers, that really needs to be in place. But we are missional people. The world is very much like a pigpen. But I say, let them come in and let the Holy Spirit touch them.”
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This was a recent post and follow-up comment for “Through the Sheep Dip”, posted on September 28, 2010. The link is located at: https://brokenbelievers.com/2010/09/28/through-the-sheep-dip/
Broken Believers 