By Kim Olsen
Am I in God’s will? Am I doing the right thing? Lord, what job shall I take? Does God even hear me? How can I hear from God to get the answers I need?
Common questions. I hear them all the time and have asked the very same questions over and over again. It is human nature to want to know the future. What a comfort it would be to know everything on a day to day basis. Or would it?
In the Old Testament, the Israelites followed the cloud, the Lord, in the desert. Now here they knew that they were following God. In fact they were led for every moment. But picture this scenario…..
A family is settled in because the cloud has stopped moving. They unpack. Set up the tent. Make a fire pit. Put away all their belongings. But wait….the cloud has started moving again….hey, everybody….start packing. Let’s go..go! What questions might the Israelites had asked….
Where are we going? How long will we travel before we stop again? Why do we stay in one location for three days then the next for three months? Will we stop somewhere that has shade? When we do stop, how long will we stay at that destination? Where will our water come from? Should I continue to follow this cloud that does not seem to be taking us anywhere? Where is this promised land? How long till we get there? I see the cloud but is God really in it? Where is Moses when you need him?
It is not indicated in scripture that the Israelites were given any answers to these questions. They were to just follow the cloud when it moved.
At Bible study we were asked, “Is this really how you want to be led by God?”. It gives us pause to remember the freedom we have in Christ. Even though the Israelites were visibly directed by God, they rebelled and complained saying more than once that they thought they were better off back in Egypt. Did they forget that they were slaves there? In fact they wanted to replace Moses. “Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.” Numbers 14:3. So, it seems that even those directly led by God, rebel.
We were given a mind to make our own decisions. In fact when we look at scripture there is no indication that the general believing population, after reaching Canaan, was given any special direction at all. They just served the Lord in everyday situations, just like we are to today.
Sure, it would be nice to know if we should take a certain job or move to a new city, but we are not entitled to any special revelation from God. He may give us a peace about a decision, check our spirit, or provide providentially, but we are to be wise and make the best decisions possible based on how we are to live our lives based on scripture.
Once we begin to seek hidden knowledge, or wait for a voice boom from above, we get ourselves into trouble of waiting on extra-biblical aid. I do believe there are times when God intervenes supernaturally. Yes, indeed I do. And I also believe that God can and will lead with that small still voice. But this is not the normal way God speaks daily to us or works in our lives. He speaks to us through His written Word.
So, how do you know God and His will? Genesis to Revelation. There is no easy answer here but one has to start walking with Jesus because He is the Word. He is the Way.
If you are truly hungering for God, then you will hunger for the Word because it is through study and prayer that God will reveal Himself to you. I wish there were shortcuts, but it just isn’t so.
1 John 5:3 says “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”
To know God is to study His Word. Set aside time each day to read scripture. After you pray, open your Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you in all His ways.
We know from John 1:1 that the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And Jesus is God in the flesh. But the Word or the manna was not enough for the Israelites. They rejected the manna and wanted meat. It was in this way that they rejected God. This of course angered God. “The Lord became exceedingly angry”. Numbers 11:10.
The people became just like the world, like the rabble, they craved more than what God was offering them freely and on a daily basis. Aren’t we just like the Israelites? We are no different. That is why this biblical account is available for us to read and study today.
Are you angering the Lord today by complaining that His Word is not enough? This gives new insight to the statement, “Be careful what you ask for!” The Lord gave the people what they wanted. It was meat they wanted so He sent quail, three feet deep. They were now wading in the very desire that would soon destroy them. They wanted more than what God offered, and so God sent a plague and killed those who “craved other food” besides the manna.
Open your Bible now…and hear the Word of our Lord, and then prayerfully walk in obedience.
(reposted)
DiscernIt 
68 comments
February 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Craig Lee
John,
From here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crave
crave:
1.to long for; want greatly; desire eagerly: to crave sweets; to crave affection.
2.to require; need: a problem craving prompt attention.
3.to ask earnestly for (something); beg for.
4.to ask (a person) earnestly for something or to do something.
I don’t see Scripture supporting your view.
You wrote:
Many people feel God will be stern and swift in his judgment when he says, “Depart from me I never knew you.”
I do not. I can’t imagine the pain he will feel that day. Tears will stream down his face… his love is so consuming that the thought of being without the object of his affection (mankind) is beyond explanation.
I’m sorry John; but, Scripture seems to paint a different picture. Pharisees were called “brood of vipers,” “unwashed tombs,” etc. Jesus angrily turned over the tables of the money changers.
If your view were to be correct then why didn’t Jesus try to convince the Pharisees with something like, “Look I know your hearts; I know you don’t believe me. But, here let me show you a sign and wonder so that you will know I am who I say I am.” and, then proceed with tears streaming and continue pleading with them. Jesus never did that. In fact, he spoke in parables which the Pharisees rarely understood. Yet, those who had open hearts and ears understood. Or, they were told later by Jesus just what the parables meant.
February 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm
John Burton
Yikes… is your primary view of God anger and correction?
Do you not believe he has deep love and affection for everybody? Do you think he is more interested in wrath than mercy?
If intimacy and affection and deep desire are a part of the picture, where does it fit?
February 27, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Craig Lee
As I stated before: God is love and justice both. They are opposite sides to the same coin.
Scripture is clear there are some who are His children and some who are not. God loves His children more than those who aren’t. His perfect will is that none should perish. Yet they will perish. Not by God’s choice but by their own.
Do you not believe he has deep love and affection for everybody?
No, not everybody. If so, why would there be the narrow vs. the wide gate? What about Romans 9? Here’s a snippet:
13Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. [Romans 9:13-16 NIV]
You wrote:
If intimacy and affection and deep desire are a part of the picture, where does it fit?
We learn more about God through prayer, Bible reading and listening to and heeding the Holy Spirit.
Also:
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. [Hebrews 12:7-8 NIV]
God will use hardship to discipline, to bring us closer to His will for our lives. This correction, if heeded, will guide us back on track as we waver.
February 27, 2010 at 12:48 pm
IWTT
John,
I think that it is quite obvious to anyone who has delt with Bickle-ism and Bridal Paradigm-ism, the isms is IHOP that you have been indoctrinated with that teaching and the “experience driven life style” that trumps scripture testing.
You went to another site and tried this same thing there regarding the topic of John Crowder, you left that site never to return. Why? Did it come to close to the truth and you could not defend your position any longer?
It started here http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/god-ka-and-the-yum-rum-of-heaven/
somewhere around Feb 14th or so and then Bud Press chimed in.
It seems to me that relative truth is part of the problem here. Taking scripture out of context and interpreting a whole new truth or revelation that the author never intended or presented (the actual author the Holy Spirit inspired word of God). It is the same old problem that is seen in Purpose Driven Life, the same old problem of scripture twisting as seen in Gnosticism, and it was the same problem in the Garden. It is nothing more than twisting scripture to meet a man-made-vain-imagination-theology.
February 27, 2010 at 12:59 pm
John Burton
The other site really saddened me. People are so excited about being ‘right’… about proving their point.
If we can simply admit that we all are imperfect people who will some day discover a lot wrong with our individual theologies, we’d be much better off.
The strangest thing for me is that people are actually arguing against an experiential God. Is he not real? I mean, this is just so weird.
My wife is real, my kids are real, you are real, the sun is real… how is it that we don’t get all nervous about getting a sunburn if we stay outside too long, but the moment we consider God touching us, many get nervous and start looking for heresy?
Is God tangible or not?
I am a hard core Bible believer. I would never, ever knowingly violate even a single scripture for the sake of something I want to experience.
What so many refuse to admit is that we just interpret some scripture differently.
That’s not a stretch… Baptists interpret things differently than Methodists, do they not?
February 27, 2010 at 1:18 pm
cherylu
John,
As I have stated before, my concern is not with an “experiential God” as you call Him.
My concern is with things sought and experienced in the spiritual realm that seem to be totally foreign to what He has reavealed in the Bible–and remember it says in Jude that we have a “faith once (or once for all) delivered to the saints”–and start seeking seeking and experienceing things that are completely at home with the occult, the New Age, and Eastern religions. That, IMO, is an extremely dangerous path to go down.
February 27, 2010 at 1:21 pm
John Burton
Something that I have said before is this, “Theology that does not lead toward encounter, to knowing God is either flawed, or not having the impact it was designed to.”
A friend of mine at World Revival Church just Tweeted this:
While it is true that some make too much of emotion in religion, others don’t make enough of it. Why would a holistic God exclude feelings?
February 27, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Kim
IWWT
Thank you for posting the link to Chrystal’s site and the revealing comments.
Bud Press was right on! He came in on February 15th. He pretty summed up what everyone else was saying, and he certainly reflected my viewpoint. Thanks to Chrystal for this post.
Here it is again.
http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/god-ka-and-the-yum-rum-of-heaven/
And I am calling our dialogue with John Burton officially over.