I’m thinking of the story Aladdin now, and his ‘magic’ lamp. Certainly you are familiar with it and how he stumbles across this oil lamp, and after rubbing it (to dust off if I remember correctly) out comes this magic ‘genie’ who is now promising to grant him three wishes in return for releasing him from that cramped lamp after all those years confined ...by come curse I believe.
The lamp in the various movies and cartoons often resembled an old time ‘oil lamp’ that is similar to the one I used as a picture today. What is interesting to note is how we read in Psalm 119 where the writer declares that God’s word is a ‘lamp to my feet and a light to my path’.(105) Then, we read in the parable of the ten virgins that Jesus taught, the virgins are a type of the ‘church’. He distinguishes the difference between the ten of them saying five were wise and five were foolish, but they all had these ‘lamps’. The wise ones happen to enough oil on hand to light them up and keep them burning, if needed. The foolish ones did not.
Interesting note here to connect with this story is the one where Jesus taught about the wise builder and the foolish builder in Matt. 7:24-27. He likened the wise builder (who built his house on a rock) as anyone who not only hears what Jesus teaches, but they put it in to practice and ‘does them’. The foolish builder has the same sayings or teachings but does not...put them in to practice or ‘do them’.(26). Actually, Jesus says ‘anyone who hears these sayings and does not do them’ is then likened to that foolish builder. As you recall, both houses were subject to the same storm and ‘flood’ that beat against them. One house stood, the other collapsed and was destroyed. But both houses were subject to the same flood.
So back to our ten virgins with their ‘lamps’. They all fell asleep waiting for the return of the bridegroom, who had delayed his coming. Seems safe to assume that what these ten virgins had in common was they had access to the ‘word’ (lamps). You should also recall what happens in the rest of that parable. But I want to get back to the ‘lamps’.
Do you think it is possible that for a variety of reasons, that we can mistakenly treat God’s word like a ‘magic lamp’? You know, it’s something that we keep on the shelf in a highly visible spot but only refer to it when we get in a bind, or downcast or really needing God to help us out of some undesirable place we find ourselves in. Then, when needing an answer to prayer or a quick change of unpleasant circumstance, we grab that book and ‘dust if off’ and begin ‘rubbing our favorite verse(s) quoting them and saying them aloud, maybe even memorizing them with the hopes that our ‘Jesus-genie’ will show up and grant us another wish or whatever we are desiring of Him? (We might even read a few chapters a day for 'insurance'.)
I remember way back in the early years of married life, I had a basket where I put all the incoming bills that always seemed to total up to more than what we had coming in. At one point, I had wrote out some favorite verses about how God provides, and ‘ask what you will’ and taped it to the basket...thinking, hoping, or at best, reminding myself what God’s word said and that somehow, this would help those bills go away.
How many high school students today, have ‘Jeremiah 29:11’ embroidered across the back of the school letterman jacket. I see it all the time. It’s that wonderful promise of how God wants to bless and prosper and give His people a hope and a future’. If it’s not that one, it’s the one in Proverbs 3 that exhorts us to trust in God and acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will in turn direct our steps’. (5-6). Both are truly wonderful passages of promise. And please know, I am not faulting anyone from quoting those or sharing them publicly, or even having them sewn into their garments, if not their skin via a tattoo.
My concern is that we can falsely think...that because we simply emblazon that word out where it can be seen, that it will ‘come to pass’. That is simply not the way it works. Yet, I suspect that many do that because it provides an added sense of security and hope. I mean, God has to ‘come out of his lamp and do what we reminded Him to do by quoting those verses that appeal to us, does He not?
Make no mistake about it, God would love for His word to abide in us. It is...a lamp unto our feet to light our path. Jesus is the Word....who became flesh and dwelt among us and desires to instruct us in this path of peace that we read about. But just quoting the promises are not enough. I have often said that while God’s love for us is unconditional, His promises are not.
He did not give us His word for us to analyze, He gave us His word to DO! What did Mary tell those servants at the wedding who were needing a miracle of transformation given they had run out of wine which created much anxiety for the family? She did NOT tell them to all join hands and begin quoting “MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY ALL MY NEEDS!”
She instructed them to listen to Jesus...and “Whatever He says to you, DO IT!” (John 2:2). They did...and they received their miracle of transformation (water changed to wine, a very good wine).
That really is what abiding in Him, and having His word abide in you amounts to. Doing what He says. Did He not say that if we love Him, we’ll keep his commands? And look at the promise there in John 15:7 ...”IF...we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we will ask what we desire and it shall be done for you.” But this has nothing to do with us trying to tell God what to do as if he is some magical genie we turn to when we need help.
Let’s look at that great promise from Jeremiah 29:11 that everyone loves to quote. God’s people were about to go in to captivity and taken off to Babylon as prisoners where they would live for 70 years. Long story, but this came about because of their sin and failure to obey God. It’s not like they had never been warned what would happen if/when they stray from God’s commands. Much of what we read in Deuteronomy speaks to the fall out of sin and disobedience...they will be taken captive. This was a curse and judgment. But God even has a purpose in bringing judgment...it is with the hopes we will repent and turn back to Him.
It is not the will of God for any to perish. He came to set all the captives free. He promises abundant life and peace and joy and protection and healing and provision to those who walk in covenant with Him. He did back then, and He does today. God never has changed. But we have to do things His way and come to Him with all our hearts. When Jeremiah was explaining to those who were about to go into Babylon for a lengthy ‘time out’, he reminds them as to what God’s ultimate plan for them is...after they have learned some painful lessons in obedience. You might read vs. 1-20 there for a clearer picture of this message of redemption. He promises good things await them in that day they return to Him with ...ALL their hearts. (Did you read Deut. 30 yesterday like I encouraged you to do? It dovetails right in with these promises hundreds of years later as we read Jeremiah’s words to God’s people.)
Funny how you never see Jeremiah 29:17-19 on people’s walls and clothes. And that passage I mentioned from Proverbs 3:5-6...the one about acknowledging God in ALL our ways and He will direct our steps...we still have to ‘move our feet’ and go in the direction He leads us. Novel concept, is it not? As I said earlier, God’s people never had much of a problem in knowing His will or hearing His word. IT was the ‘doing it’ that got them in to trouble all the time; or should I say the ‘failure to do it’?
Again, that familiar passage from Matt. 7:21...”not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord’, but he that ‘does the will of the Father...’. Jesus is not our genie waiting for us advise him on what to do. How many folks have spent their lives sitting around ‘waiting on God’...while all this time, God has been ‘waiting on us’?
It occurred to me yesterday that there might be some of you who have been reading my postings and find yourself troubled at times...even to the point of questioning if you are even ‘saved’ or not.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but...please take this in a spirit of love and gentleness- Stop worrying over trying to figure out if you are ‘saved’, and focus on the issue of are you abiding in Him. If you are not abiding in Christ, that is not a good place to be. IF you are abiding in Him, that is a VERY good place to be. And there will be little question based on the fruit that follows those who abide in Him. News Flash: There are far too many people who are not abiding but think or say they are. They may honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. (Matt. 15:8)
What’s been the biggest game changer for me as I am learning this all for what seems to be the very first time? It is an awareness...constant awareness...of His presence and His voice. Did Jesus not say “my sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’? (John 10:27)
Can I say this one more time...if your heart is not ‘all the way in’...you will be quite resistant to ‘doing...whatever He says’. And it’s not going to be goofy, squirrelly stuff He says to you regarding a bunch of external things. He’s more concerned with those ‘little foxes’ in your heart, than He is with those hair-dos and hair-don’t’s or tattoos or the car your driving or the job you are in or the person you are married to. IF there needs to be changes in external things, those will come later. Right now, He wants to rid the land of those pesky giants. Why not join Him?
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