Skip to main content

God shows mercy in restraining himself from being among Israel


"'Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.' When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, 'Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.' Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward." (Exodus 33:3-6)

First, God knows the people heart; therefore, He knows if he goes with Israel, he will destroy them with in a single moment.  The problem was in their hearts.  The word that God used to describe these people is "stiff-neck." We all known what happens if the person has a stiff neck, he can't turn his head right to left, the neck is stiff.  That's how God described these people towards Him.  The are stiff towards turning to him.  We can see similar thins in our lives too.  Knowing that truth, we continue to do the opposite.  God says to these people, "take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you."  In others words God is looking at their obedience to Him.  If they can listen to him now, then it is possibility that they will listen to him later.

The question most asked, can I wear earrings, right?  Some people want to hear YES, and some people want to hear NO.  But the real point is missing when the answer is yes or no.  It's not about wearing ornaments, it's about how this heart responds to God and his word.  When there is an obedient heart, there would be no problem of wearing it or not.  If the person is asked to take off the earring, then she will without a dispute do it.  But if the context permits her to wear an earring, then there is no problem in this.  The subject addresses an obedient heart.

Recently I spoke to a woman who wears earrings.  However, theres a side to her family that don't support that kind of behavior.  When she goes to that environment of the people that don't support earrings, she continues to wear them knowing that these people don't like it.  Now she is convinced that she has done no wrong in wearing her earring; however, she is missing the point.  The problem is not the she is right in wearing them or not, but how she responds to her other side of the family.  In's not the earrings that she is wearing that leads her to sin, but she wears them in front of these people that view them differently.  Look at Apostle Paul, he says, to the Jews I am a Jew, to the Gentiles and I am a Gentile.  In other words, he fits their culture.

Therefore, the problem relies not what we do or not do, but how we react to what God says.  Are we the stiff-neck people like Israel? Or we obedient to what He says?

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lock Him up with the Bible & the Books

"Fling him into his office. Tear the 'Office' sign from the door and nail on the sign, 'Study.' Take him off the mailing list. Lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible. Slam him down on his knees before texts and broken hearts and the flock of lives of a superficial flock and a holy God.  Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Engage him to wrestle with God all the night through. And let him come out only when he's bruised and beaten into being a blessing.  Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks, and stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every nonessential. Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence. Bend his knees in the lonesome valley.  Burn his eyes with weary study. Wreck his emotional poise with worry for God. And make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God a...
1 comment
Read more
Everyone has an opinion on everything.  Even to say that I don't want to talk about this, says that their is already an opinion why not to talk about this.  Recently I had to answer some hard questions for myself, the questions that I haven't been faced before in my life, it just never needed to be answered.  I know there are more questions that I would have to answer in the future, but that time will come.  So an opinion is good, not unless it is being taken in a demanded form: this is the only way to do this, no other way is the right way. To demand something and ask it to be done, is possible—but it depends on authority that a person possess. Now biblically the authority only in the truth, no authority is in men—that's where the scripture is being tossed around to bash on those who has a different point of view.  If I don't like something, it doesn't mean that I am right and the other person is wrong, it might be the...
2 comments
Read more

Why Do an Altar Call?

Altar call is described as a religious method that helps a person to confess Christ publicly. The problem with this method is that altar call is not described in the bible. When three thousand people received Christ during Peter’s preaching, most likely no one came forward to confess Christ publicly (Acts 2:41). The confession was there, yet walking forward down the aisle was not there. These days, when an alter call takes place, music is plays in the background. Preacher might say a sad story followed with a tear. Some even have counselors walk forward to motivate others to do the same. Thus, altar call is a method that is not described in the Bible leading us to question if this method should be practiced in churches at all?     Altar call began in the 1800’s. Preachers created a mourner’s bench as an area for people to walk forward when an altar call was called. The Methodist evangelists have invented this method, yet Charles Finney was the one who gave a title al...
Post a Comment
Read more