Discerning God's Best

In the famous Led Zeppelin song “Stairway to Heaven” lead singer Robert Plant coins this theological phrase. “Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run; There’s still time to change the road you’re on.” Jesus tells us in Luke’s gospel that there are two roads, one narrow and one wide. One that is difficult to find it and only few do; while the other road is wide and easy to find that even a blind man on crutches walking through a minefield could find it without skipping a beat.  When Nehemiah heard of the destitute condition of his people and that of the Jerusalem he broke down and wept asking the God of heaven for favor and direction. One of the biggest questions we have as human beings is, “how do I know if I am walking in the will of God?” Or we ask, “Am I doing what I am suppose to do with my life?” I often wonder if we fear not being in the center of God’s will more than the belief that  we are living in it and thriving.  Without getting stuck in a bunch of theological quicksand, let me attempt to simplify your thought processes and permit you to breathe a sigh of relief with the confidence that you are exactly where God wants you to be.

You have heard the often-quoted slogan, “First things firsts.” And it continues with “And second things…(meaningful pause) “Second things not at all.” In a world where multi-tasking is worshipped, the truth is no one can be excellent in an infinite number of areas at the same time. When we try to accomplish a lot at the same time we tend to let people and things slip through the cracks. This “multi-mentality” can confuse and misdirect our focus enough to make us feel we have missed God’s will, His best.

So here is the first life principle: What is best that you need to focus on and what is good that you need to remove from your life? Either you are defending the status quo, or you are reforming it making it best.  We have to learn to see what is essential—and to ignore the rest. Learning to see what is essential is not an easy task, but the deliberate decision to ignore the rest is much more difficult. Fortunately we have the body of Christ who can help us discern whether we need to keep going, change direction, what to focus on and or what to eliminate.

Secondly, Observe the people, events and opportunities around you. See what God is doing, where He is moving and immerse yourself completely in Him. Sometimes you are on the shoreline deciding whether to jump in, while at other times you are simply caught in the mainstream without much thought or effort. Often the Lord will speak in the “macro” meaning He will use many facets of your life to communicate what He is up to. We tend to limit Him to only speaking to us through a “Burning Bush” or like Paul’s “Road to Damascus” experience. This mindset can cause us to think we are “stuck” because that experience has yet to happened or there is a fear that it never will. Ask yourself: What is God saying to me in my times of prayer and through His word? What am I hearing from those in my small group? What is the climate of my relationships and what are the common threads? How do these answers affect my life direction and focus?

The “Nehemiah principle” is another method to discerning the road to travel upon and what is best.  Ask about the things that are closest to the heart of God from people who are invested in adhering to them. Nehemiah first inquired of one of his brothers and others who were in the know. When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned.  Nehemiah 1:4-6 (NASB). Nehemiah heard what was on the heart of God, (the Jewish exiles who were in great distress and reproach, and about the broken down state of Jerusalem).

·       He Sat down and wept and mourned for days. When we know what breaks God’s heart our response is similar and will be more then a one-time experience.

·       He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. The burden and despair over the news overwhelmed him to the point of abstaining from food and anything else that would prevent him from completely seeking the Lord in prayer.

·       He confessed his sin, that of his household and on behalf of the nation of Israel. When you see the heart of God and are moved by it your natural response will be deep repentance on many fronts.

Lastly, never make major decisions outside of community. Allow the body of Christ to be part of your process. Be confident that as long as you are seeking the Lord and practicing the things mentioned above, listening to wise counsel you will without a doubt be exactly where He wants you to be. 

A Completed Temple and a Torn Beard

I am still in the book of Ezra. If you have not read this short book of the Bible yet I would highly recommend it.  The Temple of the Lord is finally completed and dedicated to the Lord. You would think that all is well in Jerusalem and the Jewish people. They had sacrificed so much, were threatened, persecuted and yet they continue the work for the Lord. The physical temple was completed and purified, unfortunately the future temple of the Lord the people, were not.

When these things had been done, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, “Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage.” Ezra 9:1-2 (NLT)

So often in our Christian lives we “dot the I’s and cross the T’s” in our faith, do all that we know to do at church, read our bibles, pray, tithe etc., and yet the most important and required part of our faith gets neglected. This spiritual neglect doesn’t happen overnight. It is a slow drift, a subtle lull and self-justified laziness. This is usually after we have had a great experience with the Lord, such as a spiritual breakthrough, a ministry opportunity achieved, a completed study or discipline. Your personal temple was freshly renovated. We get tired from the battle, tired from the immense effort that was given for the task or life change. It is what happens when one has a great spiritual “mountain top” experience and then comes down off of that “spiritual high” back to life in suburbia.  It is at this stage that we mix a little bit of God with the world, add a hint of self-sufficiency and religious pride to produce a recipe of abominable sin. Notice the guilty were not just the “regular people” but worse the leaders and church officials. (That would be us?)

There is really only one correct response to such a lifestyle of abomination and Ezra was spot on: When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering. But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; and I said, "O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. Ezra 9:3-6 (NASB) There is more that took place regarding Ezra’s response to the sin of the leaders and officials. But it didn’t stop there; Ezra implemented a severe action plan to address the issue.  Time doesn’t permit me to expand on that so I will let you read about the action plan and its result on your own.

Reflection and Action Steps

·      Can you think of a time where you were spiritually adrift, lazy or content on living on yesterday’s spiritual accomplishments?

·      What are the ingredients to your spiritual recipe?

·      What areas do you need to repent of? What are your blind spots and how will you be made aware of them?

·      What is your response to what most would consider questionable sin?

·      How do you respond to your own sin? Do you “cheap grace” it away or simply say “sorry” or does it bring you to a place like Ezra’s response? What might that look like in your life?

·      Describe the last time your truly repented from a particular sin. What resulted? If it has been awhile, pray Psalm 139:23, 24 then wait for His revelation of your life.

Living In God's Favor

He had arranged to leave Babylon on April 8, the first day of the new year, and he arrived at Jerusalem on August 4, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the LORD and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel. Ezra 7:9b-10 (NLT)

There is no doubt the sovereign Lord rules and reigns in spite of what we do. What does amaze me is that the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe chooses to graciously bless and place His favor on us. What are people that you should think about them, mere mortals that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—Psalms 8:4-6 (NLT)

When God’s hand is on you, not only is He guiding your path but also all of creation is equally moving on your behalf. It is what it means to walk in the Spirit, in the abundant life that Jesus promises. Remember in Exodus when the plague of darkness hit, all of Egypt was in a total blackout, but the Israelites in Goshen were in the light, Egypt was cursed while Israel was under the hand or blessing of God.  It is like having the best day of your life, when all seems to go your way and then multiply that by a zillion.   This is the favor or the gracious hand of God that Ezra experienced when he went back to Babylon.

The key to Ezra’s favor of God was both a sovereign act (God in complete control making things happen for His glory) and Ezra’s desire to commune with the Lord, to know His word, obey it and teach others about the riches of God’s glory. In other words…it was all about glorifying the Lord on His terms and spreading that revelation of His awesome wonder to the people that God loves. Would God have blessed Ezra on his trip back to Babylon if he chose not to set his heart on God and His word? Most likely, but not the extent that he had walking in obedience. If he instead attempted to go on his own strength or simply for his own benefit he would not have experienced the richness of God’s favor upon his life. The Lord’s mercies, His blessings, His doings are new every morning, (Great is His faithfulness!).  The challenge for us is to determine in our hearts and minds to know the Lord through His word and the experiential circumstances that He provide us to walk in obedience.  It is the discipline of the study of God through His word that prepares and launches us into a different realm of revelation and spiritual execution. So there is an intentional pursuing of God, a flint like focus on Him best manifested though His word and then living that reveled word in the utmost of obedience.

As with the prophet Ezra it is also for us who follow Jesus.  Where mental assent isn’t enough, where studying the scriptures isn’t enough for the Lord’s blessing but teaching or imparting that holy word to others is where the word becomes alive and transforming. It is in community that Ezra directed his passion; it is in the midst of God’s people where you will find the word of God living and moving powerfully and where spiritual life for us is executed and providing the vehicle that moves the gracious hand of God on our behalf.  

Thoughts to Chew on:

·       Where is your heart focused? What have you determined to do for God? Is it for His glory or yours?

·       When was the last time you strongly felt the mighty hand of God’s favor upon your life? What was the situation and what was your part in this process? What caused it to weaken or stop?

·       How are your times in the word? Powerful, stagnant, sporadic, non-existent, a nice thought? What will it take for you to get back on track?

·       What are you doing with what God has given you? Are you satisfied with breadcrumbs (yesterdays biblical manna) or are do you enjoy eating from His banqueting table (The fresh manna for today)?

·       Who are you teaching His word and His ways to? The more you eat without exercise the fatter you will get. The more you eat spiritually without excising or giving it to others you get spiritually fat, sluggish and Pharisaic.