|
|
|
|
God-Appointed Boundaries (Amplified Bible) Our attitude toward God-appointed boundaries determines the level of our contentment and of our spiritual maturity. Ever since the serpent tempted Eve to question the authority and fairness of God’s Word--because of its Divine restrictions--men have either disobeyed those limitations through rebellion, accepted them through obedience, or added to them through legalism. Those who refuse Divine limitations inevitably exchange truth for a lie, light for darkness, good for evil, and liberty for license. “Thus says the Lord, Stand by the roads and look and ask for the eternal paths, where is the good, old way; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said we will not walk in it” {Jer 6:16}. For the past several weeks I have meditated on the first portion of Proverbs 23:10: “Remove not the old landmark...” Viewing the Ten Commandments as the landmark of the Old Testament, and the Cross as the landmark of the New, we see increasing efforts to remove any trace of either landmark. Legal battles continue to rage against public display of the Ten Commandments and anti-Christian sentiment increases daily. Resentful of restrictions, carnal men are ill-disposed to accept the narrow way of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. And to surrender one’s self unto a “daily dying” is beyond both reason and nature, they argue. Human covetousness and disregard for God’s commands are illustrated in the biblical account of Ahab’s desire for the vineyard belonging to his neighbor Naboth. God had specified that the land of the Israelites “shall not be sold into perpetual ownership, for the land is Mine; you are [only] strangers and temporary residents with Me” {Lev. 25:23} and that no inheritance “shall...be transferred from one tribe to another, but each of the tribes of the Israelites shall cling to its own inheritance” {Num 35:9}. Even though King Ahab was “incited by his wife Jezebel” {I Kings 21:25}, the Lord held him equally responsible. “Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, close beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria, and...Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if you prefer, I will give you its worth in money. Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you” {I Kings 21:1-3}. That Ahab failed to discern the true value of that which God provides is evident by his offering to give Naboth “a better vineyard.” Upon seeing her husband’s distress, a result of not getting that which he coveted, Jezebel plotted to obtain the vineyard through the testimony of false witnesses, thus resulting in Naboth’s death by stoning. Jezebel disobeyed two of God’s restrictions, for He had commanded, “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, in the land which the Lord your God give you to possess, which the men of old [the first dividers of the land] set” and “One witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or any wrong in connection with any sin he commits; only on the testimony of two or three witnesses shall a charge be established” {Deut. 19:14-15}. Neither of the two witnesses was credible, for she had instructed, “set two men, base fellows, before [Naboth], and let them bear witness against him, saying, You cursed and renounced God and the king. Then carry him out and stone him to death” {I Kings 21:10}. Like Ahab, the city rulers submitted to Jezebel’s wicked scheme: “And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who dwelt there, did as Jezebel had directed in the letters sent them” {I Kings 21:11}. At the exact time Naboth went to take possession of the vineyard, “the word of the Lord came to Elijah,” instructing him to meet Ahab “who is in the vineyard of Naboth, which he has gone to possess” {vs. 17-18}. There, Elijah pronounced God’s judgment upon both the covetous king and his wife who had incited him to do evil. “Cursed be he who moves (back) his neighbor’s landmark” {Deut 27:17}. Obedience within our assigned borders prepares us for expansion. We see this principle illustrated in the life of Joseph who was rewarded with increased authority after proving himself faithful in his God-appointed places of trial. “His feet they hurt with fetters, he was laid in chains of iron and his soul entered into the iron; Until his word [to his cruel brothers] came true, the word of the Lord tried and tested him” {Ps 105:18-19}. David, too, experienced adversity as a prelude to God’s enlargement: “You have freed me when I was hemmed in and enlarged me when I was in distress” {Ps 4:1b}, and by his own testimony, the apostle Paul learned to be content whether being abased or abounding {Phil 4:11}. Should we not willingly submit to the Lord Almighty Who rules nature and yet allows mankind freedom to choose his response to God-ordained boundaries? “Do you not fear and reverence Me? says the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me? I, Who placed the sand for the boundary of the sea, a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass and by an everlasting ordinance beyond which it cannot go? And though the waves of the sea toss and shake themselves, yet they cannot prevail [against the feeble grains of sand which God has ordained by nature sufficient for His purpose]; though the billows roar, yet they cannot pass over that barrier. [Is not such a God to be reverently feared and worshipped?]” {Jer 5:22} -Ruth French February Newsletter 2002 | Good and Evil part 1 of 2 | The Golden Rule Pastor's Journal February 2001 | God's Way | God-Appointed Boundaries |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
|
|
Copyright © 1995-2007 Living Word Christian
Fellowship, Inc.
|
