The God of Light and Love (a) created this natural universe and the Earth for the purpose of birthing, raising and maturing offspring into His reflections, resembling degrees of His Light and Love (b). As Creator of the earth populated with His offspring, God’s authority embraces the entire planet (c).
While God has a vested interest in everyone as an individual, His involvement over the course of time illustrates His parallel purpose in our function as nations. Scripture verifies God’s interest in national affairs by saying; “He sets up and brings down kings,” and “determines the times nations operate and sets their boundaries” (d).
Fully involved, our heavenly Father is the one who begins, equips, and enables our lives. As the rain falls upon everyone, even the unrighteous (e), His blessing falls on each of us. Yes, all people and nations are invited into elevated degrees of blessing. Our personal and national choice to seek out or remain in the ‘rain’ determines the level of blessedness we enjoy in this life (f). Are you aware how powerfully personal choices can impact national “blessedness?”
Personal choices can powerfully impact national “blessedness.”
Invitation to Every Nation
The Old and New Testaments detail the first two times God gathered people to function as His Kingdom, recording how well the invitations were embraced. Initially, God delivered an oppressed “mixed multitude” out of physical slavery (g). Later, God renewed His impartial call to “many languages from every nation” (h). Today, as well, God does not show partiality, for “in every nation, a person who reverences Him and does what is right is welcome” (i).
Although God is very precise, He understands our acceptance of His invitation often involves a process. As it has been said; “All revealed truth passes through three stages; first it is ridiculed, and then violently opposed, before it is accepted as self-evident.” How true! When a new idea, product or concept is introduced, it goes through times of transition before acceptance.
Likewise, God allows us time to accept and embrace the offered new while deciding to let go of the familiar old. Our transition tends to include troubling times of doubt, question, and confusion as we learn to adapt the ways of God and dismiss old perceptions.
God allows us time to accept and embrace the offered new while deciding to let go of the familiar old.
Transition to Acceptance
Scripture provides three clear examples of such transition from resistance into acceptance.
- The delivered went through a wilderness journey as they learned to trust God’s direction and let go of old ways (j).
- Between Christ’s resurrection and ascension, people’s perceptions of Jesus changed from a man of God to the Spirit of God (k)
- The new life of freedom God offers involves transforming what we’ve believed to be true (l).
THe battle is always with our mind and heart, over what we think, feel and believe to be true. Let us realize; changes in our beliefs, desires, and attitudes involve processes with beginnings and endings, overlapping starts and stops, as cycles within cycles (m). Flexibility is a key!
Changes in our beliefs, desires, and attitudes involve processes with beginnings and endings, as cycles within cycles.
First Call Illustrating God’s Involvement
During the first call to be “My People” (n), those invited refused to individually interact with God’s presence and appointed a man to mediate communication (o). Without personal interaction with the source, doubts and unanswered questions tend to weaken faithfulness. Never-the-less, the nation learned to function without a ruling class, flourishing for 500 years as a witness of God’s governing influence.
Rather than ruling overlords, local men and women were selected from among the people to judge between disputes. Judgements were patterned after God’s method of correction, seeking to change the bad action of offenders and bringing restitution to the offended (p).
Unfortunately, their God-ordained freedoms began to slip away when Israel decided to be like other nations and have a king; inviting a ruling class into the Kingdom experience (q). From that time forward, the nation’s distress or prosperity was guided by the attitude and actions of the King. Eventually, the nation fell into captivity and was dispersed (r). Only a remnant returned to the area to wait on a promised renewed Kingdom reality (s).
Without personal interaction with God’s presence, doubts and unanswered questions tend to weaken faithfulness.
Prosper And Witness – Then and Now
As we see, God’s call to function freely as a nation began with the process of physically delivering from slavery, followed by a transformation of changing minds and perceptions. Initially, they learned to live as people who were free to prosper from their own labor rather than existing on handouts from a ruling class.
Sadly, by the time Jesus Christ appeared in history, the national experience had been reduced to a religion of restrictive rules with over 600 Laws (Jewish Torah). The freedom to live as Godly people became complicated by an extensive list of regulatory do’s and don’ts introduced by the ruling class. Lacking personal interaction with God’s presence and their God-given freedoms, the first gathering fluctuated between faithfulness and forgetfulness. Consequently, they did not consistently excel as a witness to other nations.
How is God involved in our affairs today and why should we care? While He is always faithful and will never leave us (t); we can bring distress upon ourselves as individuals and nations, experiencing what appears to be His displeasure. By dismissing personal interaction with God, as did Israel, we can bounce between degrees of His blessing or even remain in our ‘wilderness’(u). Like the Prodigal Son (v), we can even choose to walk away from God’s provision and eventually live in the hellish effects of a pig-pen. As individuals and nations, the choice is ours to make!
Our next blog will delve into the renewed call into a gathered body of believers in the day of Jesus and its relevance and importance for today’s world.
By dismissing God’s personal interaction we can bounce between degrees of His blessing or even remain in our ‘wilderness.’
a) I John 1:5; 4:7-9; b) Genesis 1:27; c) 1 Corinthians 10:26; Psalm 24:1; d) Acts 17:26-29; Job 12:23; Daniel 2:21; e) Matthew 5:45; f) 1 Timothy 4:10; g) Exodus 19:4-6; h) Acts 2:5-9; i) Acts 10:34-35; j) Exodus 13:17-18; Acts 7:39; k) Acts 2:36; Matthew 17:1-9; l) Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; m) Ezekiel 1:16; 10:10; n) Exodus 19:4-6; o) Deuteronomy 4:12; 5:1-4, 22-27; Exodus 20:19; p) Psalm 19:9; Isaiah 26:9; q) 1 Samuel 8:7-22; 2 Peter 3:17; r) Ezekiel 20:22-24; s) Isaiah 10:21; t) Lamentations 3:22-25; u) Numbers 14:20-34; v) Luke 15:11-24
Keith Carroll, “The Relationship Guy”
Relational Gospel Founder
Created To Relate author
http://bit.ly/KeithCarrollBooksAmazon