"And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul." Psalm106:15 God sent mighty judgments upon the Egyptians who held the Israelites as slaves. And one remarkable thing the Israelites saw was that none of those judgments fell upon them, they fell only upon the Egyptians. Their preservation during the horrific judgments was nothing short of miraculous. Finally Pharoah let them leave, but no sooner had they left but he changed his mind and sent his armies after them to destroy them. With their backs to the sea and the Egyptian armies in hot pursuit, God parted the waters of the sea and the children of Israel went across on DRY LAND. Then when the Egyptian armies followed, the waters went back over them and the entire army drowned. Can you imagine witnessing these things? How astounding! How awesome! God supernaturally protected his people and they saw signs and wonders previously unknown to man. Put yourself in this picture and imagine seeing something like that. How then could they so soon forget these things and complain to God as they journeyed through the wilderness? It is our fallen human nature to complain. It is our fallen human nature to never be satisfied. When a person has walked a long time with the Lord and has seen the awesome things he has done in his/her life, how then can he complain when his demands aren't met? What an insult to God! The walk with God is the battle of wills, but it shouldn't be so. How soon we forget what he has done in our lives, so many stories we all have of his provision and obvious presence in our stories. Yet we so soon forget them and we so soon complain, we rebel, we demand ...and sometimes the Lord lets us learn a lesson by giving in to our demand, and we end up with leanness of soul. We've become spoiled brats. We stomp our foot and cross our arms and refuse to accept that we cannot have our way. And frightfully, he may go ahead and let us have our way in order to teach us that it will never bring the satisfaction we demand, but will instead let us experience what it is to have leanness of soul. To walk with God is to put one's hand into the hand of his Father, his God, his all, and to trust completely that he is in charge of everything that happens in our lives. As a wise Father, he desires our TOTAL trust. When we complain, we are demonstrating the spoiled attitude of the child who thinks ill of the Father who has been so good to him. When the Lord says "no," let it go at that. He knows what he is doing. He has a plan for the life of his son or daughter, and he crafts all the elements in life to bring to pass the success of that plan. The believer needs to come to the place where he thoroughly trusts that all that his Father does in his life is in his best interest, even and perhaps especially ...the hard things. If there is a problem in your life, it is there in your best interest. Don't demand that the problem go away, but rather ask the Lord to show you what you can learn in the circumstance. Don't stomp your foot or fling yourself on the bed in a temper tantrum. The worst thing that can happen is that the Lord will relent and allow you to have what you're demanding even though it is not his plan for your life, so that you'll eventually come to realize that it is empty and does not satisfy. What a joy to the Father when a son or daughter has a heart of willingness to surrender all to him and to cooperate with him in the working out of his plan for his or her life. What a joy to the Father when the child loves him, when the child brings praise and worship to him, when the child delights in him, when the child totally trusts him in all and every circumstance in life, even the hard things. This is maturity, but few ever reach it because human nature is such that we react to circumstances rather than react in trust in our Father. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." Philippians 2:5 Jesus went through some horrendous things, yet he did it all with the right attitude. He surrendered to the Cross because he trusted the Father. It was through that cross that multitudes will be saved. He surrendered to the Father's plan and the fruits of that will last for all eternity. Therefore: "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, WHO FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2 For the joy that is set before you… God's plan for your life is in your best interest, for your best eternity. Surrender therefore to all that it takes to get you there, with a heart filled with praise and thanksgiving ...for that joy which is set before you.
Losing a parent is brutal. There's no other trauma like it. It's something children begin worrying about early in life, and that fear can follow them around forever - just under the radar perhaps, but always present. It was a hot July day as I sat in Dad's workshop. He had been gone almost a month, but with all the myriad things you have to do to "settle" matters, it seemed a lot longer than that. I picked up a chisel and wondered if it had come from his own father's workshop. It certainly looked old and worn enough. I felt such a heaviness, and kept brushing the unbidden tears aside. How could I sell his tools? It had to be done because Mom was going to move to the west coast to live with my sister, so all Dad's belongings had to be disposed of so she could sell the house. His big table saws, and lathes, and every tool he had acquired in over 70 years, many from his own father. Why was this the hardest part - disposing of his tools? Memories rushed in. Oftentimes I'd come downstairs and I'd ask, "so what are you working on now, Dad?" And he'd just grunt and say, "oh, not much." And I'd chuckle, because "not much" usually turned into beautiful bookcases, or stands with intricate designs, or carved ships with beautiful masts complete with rigging, or elegant birds in flight, which we would receive at Christmas time. When we'd express delight, he'd begin telling how imperfect each one is, but those imperfections were only in his eyes. Everything Dad built or carved was exquisite and flawless, the product of many, many hours laboring with his beloved tools. This was Dad's abode. This is where he lived, here in his workshop. When his day's chores were finished, down he'd go to his beloved space in the basement, to do what he loved best. I realized, that's why this overwhelming heaviness had taken over me - because these things I had to dispose of were such a real part of Dad himself. These were his treasures. This was his corner of heaven on earth. This was his heart. "Oh Lord, I can't do this. It's too painful," I grieved. "Help me." After several minutes, a thought began to surface in my heart. "Do, you remember," the thought began, "when you received the doll you called 'Ginny,' for your 8th Christmas?" Oh yes, I remembered. I had been so filled with anticipation that Christmas morning, hoping 'Ginny' would be there. I woke up in the wee hours, filled with expectancy. And sure enough, "Ginny" was there. I loved the smell of the plastic, it sort of smelled like baby powder. And her hair was so shiny. Oh yes, how I remember! "And when you were a bit older," the thought continued, "do you remember how you begged for a bicycle?" Oh yes! My blue bike with the gleaming chrome and the streamers hanging from the handlebars! It was on my 10th Christmas! How I remember the thrill when finally it was there - after hinting aloud for months that if I had a bike, I wouldn't care about anything else in the world and would be FOREVER satisfied. Of course I remember! "Yes, Lord, I remember these as the happiest memories of my childhood." "But you moved on," the thought continued, "you grew up. Things changed. By the time you finished your teen years, you no longer had any interest in dolls - other things took the place of them your heart. The joys of your youth no longer mattered to you, nor could they possibly have, because you had gone by those days, never to return to them. Other things so filled your heart that having a dozen bicycles or dolls wouldn't have meant anything to you at all." "That is so true," I mused. I had never thought about it like that before. It's amazing how what once meant so much to a person, can lose all its attraction when that person grows out of that stage in his or her life." "It's the same with your Dad." I sat back comfortably now, and began to mull this new thought. When Dad was here, these tools were the most treasured things in his life. But he's moved on. He's experiencing the glory of heaven, and now those tools in his workshop are as meaningful to him as a doll would be to me - they just no longer hold any interest in his heart, he's gone past that. At first I could hardly believe what I was turning around in my mind. The thought of this precious workshop losing all importance in Dad's heart was almost more than I could imagine. But I saw it. It took awhile, I had to ponder that one, but slowly the truth of it settled inside me. Doesn't the Bible tell us this? Yes! "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." Dad's eyes have seen things no eye on earth has seen, and his ears have heard things no ear on earth has heard, and delights have been experienced that no one on earth has even fathomed! Of course! These wood and metal tools that once were so precious to him carry no place in his heart anymore, any more than a doll would in mine. Other things have now replaced them. My heart soared into an attempt to imagine what some of those things must be like, but of course they are beyond what our limited minds could imagine in our life on this planet. How freeing these realizations can be if we let them. Yes! Yes! My heart became free to relinquish these tools of Dad's past, as I reveled in the new understanding that by going to heaven he hasn't LOST anything, but only GAINED. My heart soars at the thought of it. Someday we will be reunited there. But for now, I rejoice in thankfulness that God gave me a perspective in such a trying time, a perspective which set me free - not only to be able to make Dad's tools available to someone else without it breaking my heart, but in savoring the joy in my new-found understanding that death isn't loss, it's gain. And with the apostle I can say, "When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory."'
"For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a mercy seat by his blood, THROUGH FAITH..." Romans 3:22-25 vs 27 "Where is boasting then? It is excluded." It's hard for a person who grew up under the law to understand that we are NOT justified by the law, that in fact, the law works against us because we live in a fallen human nature. It's a whole different mindset and hard to understand if we've been trained to seek salvation and goodness by the exercise of our own efforts. Most people who just don't understand will try and try and try to be "good." Then any good they seem to achieve causes them to pat themselves on the back and consider themselves a good person, forgetting the sin that dwells within them. We are not good, none of us. Not one. “There is none righteous, no, not one;"
Romans 3:10
Because of the sin of Adam, we are born into a fallen human nature. Fallen human nature means we are predisposed to sin. We are born that way. Every one of us. We are predisposed to pride. We are predisposed to self-will.
Due to our fallenness, sin is the natural force within us. Put two very young children together in a room with a colorful toy, and inevitably one will try to take it from the other. This is an evidence of a fallen nature. To covet - is what comes naturally to us. Put a young child alone in a room with cookies and tell him/her not to touch the cookies. You'll see the evidence of self-will.
We gossip about people because it reinforces the conclusion we're trying so hard to believe about ourselves, that we are better than they. If someone sins in a particular way that we are not weak in, we just love telling about it because in comparison it makes us feel good about ourselves.
But it's all a lie. We are NOT good, we are fallen, every one of us.
The hardest thing for us to do is to finally admit that and to stop lying to ourselves about ourselves.
We are NOT and cannot be saved by being "good." We are saved when we recognize that we live in a sinful, human nature which cannot be "trained." The harder we try, the more we become distraught because it simply doesn't work, it CANNOT work. You can't train yourself out of your particular brand of sin. If you should seem to succeed, something else will take its place, sin will just manifest itself in a different way. It won't go away.
What then is the solution? Jesus said we must be born again and that is the ONLY solution.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you,
‘You MUST be born again.’"
John 3:6-7
When a person is born again he receives a new life, and then he is transformed - slowly - into a whole new mindset - and that, not of one's own doing, but by the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit within. Many times a newly born-again person will find changes taking place in himself that he didn't even KNOW were sin. When you've lived with a weakness all your life, sometimes you aren't even aware that it's sin because you're so used to it. When the Spirit of God begins his work in you, you'll be met with many surprises as the Lord takes over and transforms you.
The flesh, the old nature, cannot be trained, it cannot be reasoned with, it cannot be overcome - we MUST ...be born again.
Vs 7:
"Do not marvel that I said to you, you MUST be born again."
That is the only solution.
When one is born again, the crown is removed from his heart and placed on his Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus creates a whole new life within which he nourishes until maturity. It's not our work, it's HIS work. Our only requirement is to remain surrendered to him so that he can perform HIS work in us. And along with surrender, comes peace and love and joy. It is a marvel to watch the Lord transform a human life. It's a miracle in every case.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
2nd Corinthians 5:17
More:
Born Again -What Does That Mean?