Is there a Famine in Your Future?

01 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by eisakouo in Abraham: Life of Faith

Tags

Abraham, adversity, Canaan, compromise, correct ourselves, Egypt, famine, fears, flight, Genesis 12:10, hard times, Leighton, promises of God, worldly

The story of Abraham does not go far until Abraham’s faith is tested. This story encourages me because it seems I never go far with a “word” from God until I run into stiff resistance. We all can learn from Abraham’s failures, not just his successes.

We are not expected to do everything right! We are expected to correct ourselves once we discover disobedience. Like Abraham, what Christian has not discovered what it is to lose his/her sense of joy and awareness of the presence of Christ? This is the story about blowing it and then allowing God to fix it.

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Genesis 12:10 RSV)

The land of Canaan was and still is like parts of California — wonderful land with a magnificent climate, but dependent upon a limited amount of rainfall. When it fails to rain consistently, the land experiences drought. Abram was a man with flocks and herds, and when the rains failed, his livelihood was severely threatened. As the scarcity of food grew, he felt driven to leave, even though God had called him to be there.

Abram took counsel, not from God, but from his fears alone. To use a contemporary expression, he “pushed the panic button” or the “easy button” and down to Egypt he went. It was fear that drove him. If we do not allow the Lord to speak, then we will be left to only one voice and on most occasions it will be our fears.

I am asked the question all the time, “Do I have to ask God’s permission for every little thing I do? I mean, come on now, I thought I was free? Can’t I decide a few things in my life?” The answer is yes you can. In fact, you can make all the choices in your life if you wish. But if you want to discover the absolute best and avoid the pits like Egypt, then you will want to consult God as much as possible.

Abraham’s life is an example of what it means to “side step” seeking the will of God. By faith Abraham walked right into Canaan. By fear of famine Abraham walk right out of God’s promises into Egypt.

If Canaan is a symbol for us of what it means to experience fellowship with the Lord, and Egypt symbolic for the world … then a famine is any circumstance that threatens our dependence upon God. It is any circumstance that makes faith difficult to maintain. In short, famines are any threats, real or imagined, against the known will of God in our lives.

Have you ever experienced a famine? Have you ever been living in the full joy of fellowship with Christ and suddenly some circumstance beyond your control blew into your life? Because of the presence of that circumstance (famine) it became difficult to maintain fellowship and hold on to God’s promises.

Understand this right now: Famines come to everyone. With Christ or without Christ everyone has famines. “It rains on the just and unjust.”

When famine strikes the temptation will always be to flee rather than to fight and stick it out. No one enjoys trials. Our internal flight mode kicks in. We move to another neighborhood, change jobs, take a trip, or go home to mother. If we simply cannot flee, we try to run away mentally. We escape the unpleasant reality by a flight into unreality. It is easy to escape mentally to Egypt and float down the river of (De Nile) where life seems much more pleasant than it is in reality.

A few years ago people would lapse into daydreaming. (There used to be songs about daydreaming.) Now we mentally vegetate electronically via the television, computer, or video. Many live in the realm of fantasy all day long.

Whenever we attempt to satisfy the Spirit using the same resources of the world, we have gone down to Egypt. Compromise will never complete or satisfy the word God has for you. After God told Abraham to go into Canaan and possess the land as an inheritance, Egypt could offer nothing better. Compromise is a poor substitute to the promises of God.

Abraham’s flight into Egypt is not a warning that we should have nothing to do with worldly people. We are expected to live our lives in the midst of the world and its ways. This story is about staying with God’s resources instead of leaning once again on Egypt. Once you choose Egypt you will eventually adopt the attitudes, the expectations, and resources of the world. The point is to never forsake God and His resources in the first place.

The world is not the believer’s problem. The world will always be the world. Our problem is failure to trust the Lord amidst hard times.

Blessings,

Pastor

Have You Reached Gilgal?

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by eisakouo in Our Journey Into The Promised Land

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Tags

Joshua 5, manna ceased, new beginnings, Passover, Philippians 3:3, presence of God, promises of God, pruning of God

When the children of Israel were entering and conquering the Land of Promise, Gilgal became their home base of operations. It was the place where the armies would return between victories.

Joshua 10:43 – “Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. It was “beside the oaks of Moreh,” near which Abraham erected his first altar” (Gen. 12:6, 7)

All the Lord’s children need a Gilgal. While you are holding on to the promises of God and fighting for victory, you need a place of retreat, a headquarters. Gilgal represents a place of safety. It is a place where people agree with what God has spoken in your life. If the battle gets fierce (and it will), Gilgal is the place you return to for affirmation, instruction, and encouragement. Do you know how to find Gilgal?

There are three reasons that Gilgal was important as a place of centrality during the years leading up to the division of the land between the tribes.

1. Gilgal Represents the Pruning of God

At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. (Joshua 5:2,3)

Circumcision was covenant in action. In simple terms circumcision represented the exchange of self-life for the Spirit life. (Genesis 17:9-11) Circumcision represents:

To be delivered from self, to the total reliance on God.
To cut away fleshly attitudes.
To be Spirit led.

The pruning of God today is a spiritual exercise all believers must allow to happen.

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh…” (Philippians 3:3)

This is accomplished when God puts us in impossible situations where we have to rely only on Him. Most of us do not want to find ourselves in these places. But the Lord knows what needs to be “cut away” from our lives.

2. Gilgal represents the Promises of God

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. (Joshua 5:9)

Forty years had passed since the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. God’s grace carried them each day. Victory was always a future event. Now at Gilgal they would learn to move from grace to victory.

To commemorate what was about to happen the whole nation observed the Passover meal. The partaking of the Passover brought another major change. They ate food from the land and the manna ceased. The manna was to sustain them in their wilderness wanderings. The fruit of the land speaks of them being an actual participant in the promises of God. The Passover not only looks back to what was accomplished but also looks forward to those things to come! For God’s covenant people, deliverance from Egypt included the promise they would inherit the land, a land of abundance, a land of wheat, barley, fig trees, olive oil, and honey (Deut. 8:8-9).

All of this spoke of their new beginning, of their new life as the people of God delivered from judgment and now living in the place of blessing.

Seeing God’s word come to pass in someone’s life is so exciting. It is a great encouragement to every believer. We all need places like Gilgal where we can recount what God has done and what God is doing. If we fail to go back to Gilgal, we might forfeit our promise and lose sight of where God is leading.

3. Gilgal Represents the Presence of God

It was here Joshua had an encounter with the Captain of the hosts of the Lord

Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” 14 He said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 The captain of the LORD’S host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13-15)

It was not for Joshua to claim God’s allegiance for his cause no matter how right and holy it might be. Rather, the need was for Joshua to acknowledge God’s claim over him for His purposes.

We tend to approach our battles and causes backwards. We turn things around and try to marshal God to support us rather than to submit and follow Him.

The Lord was also reminding Joshua (and us) of both God’s personal presence and His powerful provision. The promise of God’s personal presence always carries with it the assurance of God’s personal care.

Do you have a word or two you are standing on today? Be of good cheer! If you are struggling, go back to the place you originally heard that word. Remind yourself of what, when, how, and where God originally spoke. Go to Gilgal and receive the encouragement you need to battle on into your future.

Blessings,

Pastor