Until You Are Increased

Ex 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

 Jabez prayed that God would enlarge his territory, and God gave him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:10) That seemed easy enough, but it doesn't always work out that way. Often before we can have increased territory we need to be personally increased, so the question becomes, "Are you waiting on God, or is He waiting on you?" In the text in Exodus, God clearly states that they needed to increase numerically to be able to possess what He had already given them. So the issue is not about getting more from God, but about being bigger in God to access what He has already made available.

Elisha asked Elijah for a double portion of his spirit, and Elijah said he had asked for a hard thing. What made it hard, God's ability to give, or man's ability to receive? The answer is only too apparent. My question in this blog is, are you asking for hard (big) things, and are you willing to let God do what is necessary to get you there?

There are two primary ways that I believe God increases his people. The first is through struggle. Ps 4:1  Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me [when I was] in distress... (KJV) When I was a young teenager I got a job in a store that among other things had a shoe shine business. Every now and then a customer would come complaining his shoes were a little too tight. We had a solution for that, it was called a shoe tree, here is a picture of one:

We would put it in the shoe and use the adjustment mechanism to make it a little larger than the shoe was. The leather would stretch over a couple of days, and then we would take it out and do it again. There were limitations, but in general leather has a certain amount of flexibility that can be utilized by stretching it. In the same way distressful situations can help you to grow by forcing you into situations which are bigger than what you normally could handle. Little by little we are increased.

The other way God increases people is much more pleasant. "Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; " Praying in the Spirit builds you up (spiritual muscles, increases your capacity), and makes you able to have increased territory. This is not painful but is the opposite of that, it is the grace of God working through and bringing you to a higher level. This is my preferred method, but in my life I have learned God tends to use both. If you are going to pray big prayers for expanded territory know that God will use these methods to get you where you need to be. If you want to have a double portion, you are going to have to become a larger vessel. Praying in the Holy Ghost is a good way to keep the fire on your altar burning. Blessings!

Stupid Bible Laws, you shall not wear garments made out of mixed materials.

De 22:11 Don’t wear clothes of mixed fabrics, wool and linen together. (MSG version)

This particular law is a favorite of those who would like to tell us the Old Testament has no application for today. It is most often bandied about by those trying to make the biblical injunctions against homosexual behavior as irrelevant or ridiculous. Often those who mention it do it a mocking type fashion. The argument runs something like this: "Yes the OT forbids homosexual behavior, but those laws are so archaic and stupid, for example in Deuteronomy 22:11 it says you can't mix fabrics, how stupid is that, nobody follows that law today do they?" Those who make such arguments turn a blind eye to Jesus who said: Mt 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

So what should be our approach to these "archaic" laws that don't seem to make much sense. Since this is only a blog and not a place for a theological treatise, I will only briefly touch on the subject. First the Apostle Paul twice said the law is good, Romans 7:16; 1 Tim 1:8. But in this age in which we live, and being heavily influenced by western democratic ideals, we have our "modern," approach to the law. It runs something like this, if it makes sense, and I agree with it, than I will obey it. That type of living is summed up in this passage from the book of Judges: Judges 21:25 "In those days [there was] no king in Israel: every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes." History shows that to be one Israels most evil and backslid times. It sums up the theology of the age in which we live.

In our modern society there seems to be the opinion that the only parts of the bible we need to follow are the parts we understand and agree with. Every week it seems another megachurch pastor is coming out and saying he doesn't agree with hell, or that homosexuals if they get married are just as legitimate as heterosexual marriages. Jesus believed in hell, and very clearly taught it, but that matters little to these "enlightenend," ministers, because it doesn't fit with their idea of what a loving God is like. Clue for them: God doesn't have to fit in our box, as He told Moses, "I AM that I AM."

Getting back to the mixing of fabrics, on the surface it is a stupid law, but in point of fact it is genius. Let me explain. If God is omniscient, (and He is), then He understands how every activity and event ripples across the world and across time.

If we accept that God understands consequences that we have absolutely no ability to even remotely comprehend, than we must also accept that He will tell us to do things for which we can never fathom the reason behind. Somewhere along the line God must train us to trust, believe, and follow when things don't make sense, but are perfectly clear to Him. Look at this verse: De 8:2 "And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

God made them walk in circles to test them to see if they would keep His commandments. How long will you follow God if it doesn't make sense to you? Why can't we mix wool and linen? It's a test to see if you will follow instructions that have no practical reason for you to follow. This is a very important principle: do you only follow the commands that make sense, that you agree with, that you understand the reasons behind, or do you trust God and do what He says.

If God tells you not to date someone, does He have to tell you why? If He says don't go into debt to buy a car, and your present job condition says you can easily make the payments, will you obey? What if He knows you are getting laid off in two month? Mixing fabrics seems like a silly rule to follow, unless you understand that it is teaches the principle that you are to follow God when it makes sense and when it doesn't. Can God make rules you don't like or understand, just to leave them as a test to see if you will obey Him? Why couldn't Jews eat a BLT? We used to try to explain that law by saying that pork was bad for us, playing again into the idea that for a rule to be from God it must have a logical and good reason we can understand behind it. If pork was bad for us and that was the reason for the law, then God should have banned a lot of other types of food, but He didn't. The pork law is a law that exists to test whether we obey God or we live by a rule that says we only obey when we agree and understand His laws.

The purpose of this post is not to tell people to live under all the OT laws, but rather I picked one law out that is often held up to scorn, and attempted to show through it, that we should follow God and not require Him to explain all the reasons for His decisions and leadings. Keep your fire burning.