Complimentary Story
March 2024“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ to a nation which did not call on My name.” (Isaiah 65:1 NASB).
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:1-4 NKJV).
And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.” (Romans 10:20).
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5).
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV).
Last month, I wrote about where we stand as we determine God’s standard for righteousness (Himself) and what constitutes apostasy. Before that, I had written about the understanding that He is allowing people to sort themselves out according to their desires: the righteous to be more righteous, the Unrighteous to be more Unrighteous; the filthy, more filthy; the set apart(holy), more set apart.
The apocalypse will reveal not only the wrath and judgment but also will unveil those who have drawn near to Him, preparing as His Bride.
Sometimes we forget that He does allow us to carry out our freewill, while all the time He has stretched out His Hand and permitted Himself to be found, even by those who did not seek Him.
When Adam and Eve failed the test and fell to the unholy agenda, He disciplined but did not destroy them. The history of the Judges as the people repeatedly cycled from righteousness to unrighteousness where they again appealed to Him and He provided relief is a great example of mercy! He is more patient with us than we can even imagine! In truth, this seems pretty awe inspiring and yet frightening! What is that old expression: give someone enough rope to hang themselves?
He is sovereign but He desires those who freely choose to become His companions, not wanting anyone to be coerced.
From there, He narrowed the base, so to speak, through the line of Shem, and continued with the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to fulfill that promise of the Seed who would vanquish the adversary. Messiah said that He came only to the lost sheep of Israel, yet also acknowledged that He had sheep from another fold.
“LORD, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2 NIV).
Multiple times throughout Biblical history, and beyond, He has allowed this battle between good and evil to play itself out. He does not want anyone to perish but rather to come to repentance. And true repentance is not just remorse at having been caught doing something wrong, but genuinely turning away from wrong and toward Him, the good! Away from our idea of righteousness, committing to HIS standard of righteousness.
There is a description of His character in Exodus as ten parts mercy and one part justice. In truth, if there wasn’t justice, mercy would have no meaning at all! (If you never say “no, “how much is your “yes “ worth?) There is confusion today about Messiah being the “end” or “culmination” of the Law/Torah. Some think this gives them permission to live however they want because they are “Free in the Spirit.”
This is not the case! That would be anarchy! This expression “end” often means the GOAL of something… Messiah was a living example before our eyes of what it meant to walk after our Elohim. We are to become more and more like Him…that is the goal!
But we have the latitude, the freedom to do as we choose. A reader called me this past month, saying that the realization I wrote about that we have the freedom to choose which path…God’s righteousness standard or our own… brought her to tears. The consequences don’t always play themselves out as quickly as we might think….and often people mistake no immediate consequence for NO CONSEQUENCES AT ALL. NOT! He is not slow but does want everyone to have time to make their best choice.
When I would say, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus” there was an early member of SAM who would respond, “No! don’t ask that! I’m not ready yet! And lots of people I know aren’t ready yet either!” As I understand it, His timing can be individual and corporate, and coming quickly may mean that He comes now to empower and call us to Himself as much as it may mean that He returns for the final judgment.
We do have the power to choose in our lives how much we want to incorporate of His teachings on how He wants us to live in preparation for meeting Him… our own personal end, or the final end! Do you remember the story of David moving the Ark with a nice new oxcart…and the chastisement when one reached out to steady it and immediately died? David struggled with this we are told…but apparently, he eventually understood that it wasn’t the “respect” he showed by having a new oxcart that mattered…it was that he hadn’t followed God’s command on how to move the Ark.
When my blinders to the importance of His WHOLE Word for these instructions was removed, I was really awestruck! As one who taught the Word personally and professionally, it hit me very hard that I seemed to have only been teaching part of the story! (I know that teachers will have greater accountability!) And as an early Bible study teacher often said, “Partial truth is really untruth.” When I began to see the beauty and symmetry of the whole Word and that He had laid it all out for us in His calendar, it amazed me how anyone ever wanted to step away from the whole! His calendar actually provides a sort of living map of the entire story of Messiah’s work on our behalf. When we walk it out as He outlined it, we learn more through each annual cycle in a way that I never saw play out in continuity in my church background.
But as you know, we are all a pretty stubborn bunch… and the Israelites were called out as being stiff necked to boot. Those of the first century who didn’t want to lose their positions in “the Church” did all they could to discredit Messiah and His followers, up to and including calling for His death. Later, with Paul at their head, they sought to destroy anyone who had chosen to follow Messiah Yeshua. Zealous Paul was intent on serving His God already, certainly NOT looking for Messiah at this point since he thought he already knew all he needed to know! Yet our Abba created a circumstance he couldn’t ignore!
His experience on the Road to Damascus is a dramatic story, but too often it is misrepresented as Paul being converted to the “Church” of Christianity, which DID NOT EXIST at that time. The name “Christian” was first derogatory, not a name the Believers took for themselves, and didn’t come along until later.
In SAM, we hear from people who lean on Paul completely as what is called a “New Testament” source, and we hear from those who think Paul was apostate, teaching against the Torah. This approach can lead to denial of the entire New Testament and turn people away from Messiah into Rabbinic Judaism. Peter was right that Paul’s words are sometimes difficult to understand.
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:16 NKJV).
There is our present-day danger, too: if we unknowingly twist understanding because we don’t have the background to recognize it in context! If you read it more closely, you will see that Paul/Sha’ul did no such thing as “conversion.” He did accept correction that he had misunderstood that Yeshua/Jesus WAS REALLLY the Son of the God he worshiped…and was incorrectly persecuting Him and His followers. He was blinded, humbled and then restored as it was made known to him what would be asked of him. He did then step outside of his role as a student of men…even though his teacher, Gamliel, was highly revered in the religious system... and looked first to Messiah. He was given a first-hand view of how the Scripture of the time, the Tanakh, foretold Messiah. He tolerated the lack of praise from men in order to receive the praise of His Mighty One! Paul paid a great price for this honor but never turned away, having experienced the direct call from Messiah.
He became known as the apostle to the Gentiles though he always went first to the Jews as he traveled. It’s funny how things have been interpreted about this to support the desire of men to separate themselves from “the Christ killers.” Teachers say things like he changed his name in a conversion. I have understood that the “both/and” of Hebrew logic is more accurate. He was a Jewish man who was also a Roman citizen, and he continued to use either version of his name as was helpful in any situation. He had unique status that our Mighty God used to spread the message, to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles.
As we watch wickedness in high places show itself ever more clearly in these crazy days, we can rejoice when we already know Him and are walking after Him in His commands, not apostate. If we need to make a course correction, He is faithful and just and will walk us through it all until we act on God’s standard of righteousness, not our own. We see all around us the fallout of the brokenness of a society that has ruled our God out of it….and we can see more and more clearly how some brazenly wicked people really have made it a point to deceive others. They have been taught that Lucifer is the God of this age. This has been identified as happening within church leadership currently as it was long ago.
“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 6:13-19 NIV).
They especially rejoice when they can draw out children of God into unholy unregenerate practices, so often sexual sin. It is the only way they can “hurt God” by going after His people, since they can’t assault Him directly. They target the apple of His eye instead!
Although we grieve for family and friends who have fallen away, we can intercede for them and can rejoice to know that our Elohim is STILL holding out His Hand to them, even when they aren’t looking for Him. We can echo Habbakuk and ask that He remember mercy in the midst of His wrath.
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