"‘I made some of your children to be prophets and some of your young people to be Nazirites. People of Israel, isn’t this true?’ says the Lord. ‘But you made the Nazirites drink wine and told the prophets not to prophesy. Now I will make you get stuck, as a wagon loaded with grain gets stuck. No one will escape, not even the fastest runner. Strong people will not be strong enough; warriors will not be able to save themselves. Soldiers with bows and arrows will not stand and fight, and even fast runners will not get away; soldiers on horses will not escape alive. At that time even the bravest warriors will run away without their armor,’ says the Lord." (NCV)
God has always had a remnant and, within that remnant, He has always had prophets who spoke out His word with boldness. But there come times when we don’t want to hear what the prophets have to say and we do everything we can to shut them up, choosing instead to listen to what we want to listen to.
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV).
What God says—what His Word says—is always true. But it is a truth that is sometimes difficult to hear because it convicts us of our sin, it tears away the lusts of our flesh, and it exposes us to the truth of who we are, sinners. We don’t want to hear that. We want to hear that we should have good self-esteem, that we should love ourselves, that we shouldn’t judge others (and if we don’t judge them, we certainly aren’t going to judge ourselves). The Father, through Paul’s letter, warns us that we will have to endure sound doctrine. That means it won’t feel comfortable! But we need to do it for our own spiritual health. Unfortunately, the day will come—and may already be here—when people will refuse to endure sound teaching. Are we one of those people? God has appointed prophets to proclaim His Word. That Word may be difficult to hear. The Israelites told their prophets not to prophesy. They didn’t want to hear from the Lord.
They also told the Nazirites—those who had set themselves apart to God—to defile their vows and sin. Do we encourage others to sin so that we can feel better about our own choices? If we know that we aren’t supposed to do something, but we can get another "Christian" to also do it, we can justify that it isn’t such a problem. However, that isn’t the scriptural way to live.
"But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak . . . Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble." (1 Corinthians 8:9, 13 NKJV).
In 1 Corinthians, Paul discusses the matter of eating meat where another believer feels that eating such meat is a sin. Paul concludes his discussion by stating unequivocally that, if his actions would lead someone else to sin, he won’t do those actions. Are we so loving, so charitable? The Israelites, instead of encouraging each other to righteousness, actually encouraged each other to sin. The Nazirites had each taken a vow not to drink wine and yet the Israelites were encouraging them to break their vows. Have we ever done that? I think that sometimes we encourage others to follow our lead without thinking through the ramifications of our "advice." Just because it works for us doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be healthy or successful for someone else. We need to continually think back to the fruit of the Spirit—being loving, being kind, being gentle, being patient—when we are dealing with others, particularly those who may not be as spiritually or morally mature. Are we giving them the best advice? The best example? Paul said that he would give up eating meat in front of those who believed that eating meat sacrificed to idols was a sin. Paul knew it wasn’t a sin, but he was more concerned about the spiritual welfare of those around him than his own rights.
The Lord’s punishment for the children of Israel was harsh. He told them that the best and fastest warriors wouldn’t be able to stand against the punishment and that the bravest would run and hide. Because of the salvation of the Lord Jesus, we are able to trust that we won’t be punished for our sins, but it’s a given that God will cease to bless us while we are choosing to walk in sin.
"Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NRSV).
It’s interesting that here, in James, confession of sins comes before praying for each other. And then James describes the type of prayer; it is the prayer of the righteous, of the forgiven. As Christians, we avoid our "earned" punishments because the Lord Jesus bore them on the cross, but we still can take ourselves to the place where God refuses to hear our prayers because we are living in sin. The prayer that is powerful and effective is the prayer of the righteous—the forgiven—person. God loved the Israelites greatly, but He was angry at their sins. God loves us greatly, but He will refuse to hear our prayers when we choose sin over loving Him.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
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