Allowing evil

"Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve His present end, the survival of many people." Genesis 50:20

God only allows the evil from which He can create a greater good. He is the ultimate Architect, Who can create from every blow to His building a stronger, more beautiful one. If this is not the case, then the blow is deflected. We need not fear harm done to us, for God would not allow it unless He has something much greater in mind. Joseph's brothers plotted murder but chose instead to sell him into slavery. God deflected the evil murder, but allowed slavery to befall Joseph in order to raise him up and save His people from famine.

Enter in

"Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights." Exodus 24:15-24

To those who did not have the trust and intimacy with the Lord that Moses did, the Lord was fire. And not just any fire, but a destructive, devouring fire that raged over the entire mountaintop. They would have thought Moses lost, delusional, that he would have ventured to the top of this mountain because he heard a voice in the desert.

And yet to Moses, it is a cloud that covers the mountain. A cloud is difficult to see through, making it difficult to comprehend where you are and where you are going, but it is a peaceful place. You are surrounded by droplets of life-giving water and the sounds of chaos are dampened and quieted to a clear silence. And so he goes up the mountain, and into the cloud to wait for his Lord as he was asked. It is not till the seventh day that the Lord speaks to him again, and he is there with the Lord until the fortieth day. For this trust and steadfastness of heart, for allowing the Lord to guide his senses, Moses receives instructions for the construction of the tabernacle. Moses is given the work through which God will be physically present among the people at all times!! God is giving Himself to the people who feared Him as a devouring fire, in the form of a protective presence, that they too may one day see the cloud and not the fire.

We must be like Moses. We must not allow the fear and disbelief of others to convince us that His protective, guiding cloud is a devouring fire. We must enter His sanctuary, enter His presence and accept His gifts that He may be present to the world.

Angels sent before us

"Behold I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Exodus 23:20-22

God sends His angel before the people of Israel, always present among them to guide them and direct them. He does the same for us. The challenge in life is not to find our path, but to listen to the will of the One who knows our path. For if we listen, if we spend our energy straining for the silence in our life that we may hear the voice of the angel He has sent before us, then our enemies and our obstacles are His enemies and obstacles. If we stray from his path, we are in the enemies' camps. In the dark woods we will find ourselves turning to them for protection and food. In this we align ourselves with our Lord's enemies; woe to him who does so willfully! But the Lord will ransom us; if we long for His protection then He will come and take us away from these dark places. He will send His light through the dense foliage to guide you to His clearing.

If we search for the path ourselves when we find ourselves in the woods, then our lives become noisy auctions. Every distraction, every ambition, every prideful notion will bid for our attention, our life. No matter the price the bidder is willing to "pay" us, we are selling ourselves to bondage to an enemy in order to protect ourselves from another enemy. But our freedom is priceless, and is the only path to the safety of our loving Father who will protect us from all enemies. We must follow the voice of God on the path of freedom, the path where we are safe and satisfied.

"Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Delighting is love in the form of gratitude; it is rejoicing at the greatness of the gift. This greatness can only be fathomed by giving away all of ourselves, for any self left within shrinks our capacity to receive the gift. To the extent that we give of self, we will receive. When we truly delight in the Lord we give ourselves entirely away, removing all obstacles to receiving His love. There is nothing left in the way of His union with us, and as our Eternal Lover, He will always unite with us when we remove the barriers! Every desire or void we have is ultimately a desire for union with our Lover; once we are united to Him, the desires of our hearts have been satisfied. Thus our Lord's promise will never fail: Take delight in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart.

Wrestling with God

"He took [his family] and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day." Genesis 32:23-24

We must remember that when we are challenged by people or situations in our lives, it is not only always allowed by God but often God Himself with whom we are wrestling. This theme is constant through Christ's ministry. God-become-man was constantly troubling those around Him with the things that He said and knew and did. However every time it was to better those with whom He wrestled, to point out to them a fault or weakness and provide them the grace to overcome it.

It is when Jacob is alone that he is challenged to his limits. We are often find ourselves isolated, and it is in those isolated reaches where God will push us and teach us. It may be that we are separated from community, or it may be a retreat into our hearts. Without our usual crutches and distractions, we must admit our weakness and thus begin the journey of accepting His grace and healing. As we grow stronger spiritually, these wrestling matches become training grounds for the world. He teaches us new ways to conquer the enemy. He hones our reactions and intuition. We become bold, like Jacob, in acquiring His blessings.

When our hands grow weary

"Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." Exodus 17:11-13

We were created for community; the fact that we are relational beings is stamped in our bodies as the physical expression of our souls. As we travel on God's path for us, we will find that we cannot do it alone. We need others around us who can hold up our arms when we no longer have the strength to do so ourselves; we need to be there to hold up the arms of another who is laboring for the Lord. If we are all one body in Christ, His hands will be steady until the going down of the sun, and God's Kingdom will reign on earth.

"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way...

...and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people." Genesis 13:21

Our Lord is always present to us in whatever form is fitting for our situation. He will never leave our side. However when we are used to traveling by day, and it becomes night, we often still look for the pillar of cloud and cry foul when we cannot see it. But He is there in the fire!! Casting light on the path we are to take. He knows that in the dark we cannot see the cloud, and so He uses the light and heat of the fire to light our way.

Then when the enemy approaches: "the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night." Genesis 14:9-20. At times we may not see God standing before us leading the way, for He has positioned Himself between us and the enemy, to protect us from harm. We must always seek God open to whatever form He may be taking, and be aware that His choice for revelation can alert us to the state of our spiritual life and our soul's safety or peril.