“For His Glory”
What do you want? Do you want to have your cake and eat it too? (What does that mean?!) What I mean is do you want the presence and glory of Christ in your life while still holding on to your sin, self, and your own stubborn way? It doesn’t work that way. God is “pro-choice” in that He has permitted freedom of choice; but He is also irreversibly “pro-life” for He is Life! We are free to choose, but we are not free to choose the consequence, “for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life” (Rom. 6:23). Choose one.On Oct. 21, our pastor, Richard Smith, spoke on the verses which “fill in the blanks” between Hebrews 11:29 & 30: Numbers 13-14 (Listen online: www.hopepoint.org) I saw myself in that faithless gap, in the same downward spiral of those freshly-delivered Israelites. While the Promised Land (just as “the precious promises” of participation in Christ, 2 Pet. 1:3-4) stood before them, they couldn’t get their eyes off the obstacles and themselves:
STAGE 2. “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes” (13:33)STAGE 3. “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses” (14:2)
STAGE 4. “If only we had died… Wouldn‘t it be better for us to go back …to Egypt” (14:2-4).
That’s how it happens in me. The task or call seems too great; I feel too small; I complain, complain; I stumble backwards and return to start. Faith is required to possess that which is already promised in Christ. In contrast, Joshua & Caleb cried:
“The land…is exceedingly good… The Lord will lead us…and will give it to us… Only do not rebel…and do not be afraid… because we will swallow them up… Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us.” –Numbers 13:7-9
Although their faith would be realized in possessing the Land, Moses sought a higher promise…the face (the glory) of God! His concern was not that the Israelites wanted to stone him to death, but that if God justly punished His children through death, His name and fame would be tarnished in the eyes of their enemies. Moses sought God’s fame, not his own. (See 14:13-19)Whose glory do you (and I) want? Faith is rewarded with the desire of one’s heart. In the end, Israel got what they wanted: death and separation from their children (compare 14:3 & 28-29). Joshua & Caleb got what they wanted: the land flowing with milk and honey! And Moses got the greatest reward: “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with a friend” (Ex. 33:11). What do you want?
