As humans we are very fickle. It is not often that we know what we really want. You have probably even said it yourself, “I’m so hungry but I just don’t know what I want to eat.” Of course, if you do not know, who is going to know, right? This is where the guessing game begins, and possibly a few marital spats can be attributed to this. I saw a little diddly the other day, a TikTok reel, which popped up on my news feed on social media, oh, the marvel of modern technology these days. Anyway, the man was saying, “I sure do need a vacation.” Then it shows him on a vacation, in the jungle hiking with his son, to which he replies, “I really think I needed therapy not a vacation.” So, who knows what he really wanted or even needed for that matter. He certainly did not know.
In Luke 11:9 Jesus said, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” And Luke 12:31-32 he continues, “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” If we are not receiving, James 4:3 tells us the most likely reason, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” The thing you are asking for, may very well be wholesome, but what is our motivation for asking for it? We certainly know that God is not blindsided. He sees even the intents of our hearts. God does not withhold things from us out of spite or malice, but He is God and knows the end from the beginning. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” We know that hind sight for us as humans is 20/20, and we often realize with a thankful heart after the fact why we did not receive that for which we begged. The consequences of having that wish could have been catastrophic and led to life altering circumstances. Luke 11 continues and elaborates, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Do not become discouraged when God answers, “No, maybe, or later.” He hears us and loves us.
God’s desire for us is that we should seek Him earnestly daily for direction and for answers to all issues that arise in our lives. Just as spouses become one flesh at marriage, we are the bride of Christ, and our desires begin to mesh with His as we walk with Him and learn more about Him from His word. As we continue our journey with him, we begin to change from selfish to unselfish, from carnally minded to spiritually minded, from impatient to longsuffering, from callused to compassionate. When he first created man in the Garden of Eden, it was so that he could enjoy communion with them daily. This is still what he desires, now that he has bridged the gulf that was created by sin, between God and man, through the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary. Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Though He wants to receive our praise and worship, unfortunately, we as His creation, starting with Adam and Eve, then the Israelites, now the Gentiles, always seem to have a better idea. The Israelites were professional grumblers and complainers. Never content and always very needy. They did not realize how blessed they were, but constantly had the attitude of “the grass is greener on the other side, until, you guessed it, they got to the other side. God was always fighting their battles for them, making them victorious and admired in the sight of all who witnessed their conquests, but they still wanted to be like other nations. Did I already mention humans are fickle?
God had set up priests and judges to govern and lead them, but they wanted kings to rule their land. They were too ignorant or self-absorbed to see that God was their King. Though God granted their wish, and allowed it, it turned out to be an extremely bad idea. 1 Samuel 8:4-22 says, “Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out on that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.”
Though God knew better, and everything he had told them through Samuel happened, He still loved his chosen people. He had made a covenant with Abraham, and therefore, He allowed them to continue hearing a word from him when needed, through the voice of the prophets. 1 Samuel 9:9 states, “(Before time in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spoke, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)” In 2 Chronicles 16 there is a story of Asa the king of Judah, who called for help from the King of the Syrians to assist in his war against Israel, and though they won, God was displeased and told him through the prophet, in verse 7 to 9, “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” Asa later died from a disease in his feet because he sought physicians instead of the Lord. He did not like what the seer, aka the prophet had told him, and put him in prison. In contrast, his son Jehoshaphat who reigned after him, pleased the Lord, and even brought in seers to instruct the people. And God allowed him to have a reign, free of wars and he became great in the sight of all men.
You have heard the saying, “Don’t kill the messenger.” This is something that happened literally, many times over, in scripture. The messenger was an extension of the message. In Asa’s case, he put Hanani the seer in prison, because he did not like the message, which was from God, not Hanani. In our day, though we do not kill them literally, they can get bludgeoned to death with our tongues. In Amos 7, the priest and king, literally asked Amos to stop prophesying and to kindly leave. “Also, Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord:” This was all because they did not like the message of judgement that Amos was bringing them, but Amos stayed true to his calling.
How many of us have been guilty of asking someone like a teacher, pastor, leader, or parent for advice, only to get mad and irritated with them when they do not say what we wanted to hear. How often have we left the church house upset, because the word of God hit us right between the eyes. We did not like it, or we were not ready to admit our wrongdoing, even though the action in and of itself, of going to church, was an acknowledgement that we needed to hear a word. We often start to moan and groan or criticize and chew the pastor up at the lunch table, all because we did not like what was said. It is because of our own rebellious heart. Though we know all the while that they are right, oh, the excuses we can weave together, squirming and trying to get the heat off ourselves. We are often just using God as a spare tire, when in fact, we should seek him first. He should be the first line of defense when we are in trouble.
It is a serious offense to God to reject his word because it is a rejection of Himself as he told Samuel. Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” In Isaiah 30:8-14 we read the word of a displeased God, to the Israelites, “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.”
We must stop and examine our hearts and attitudes. We desperately need a word from the Lord daily. His word comes to us pure and straight to invoke change within us. We are given the Spirit of God to lead and guide us, not to make us perfect in an instant. If that were so, we would be raptured on the spot. This may be an appealing proposition, however, who then would tell your loved ones about Jesus? We are still here because we still have a job to do, and we need a pure heart to get it done right. This happens through God speaking to us, molding and shaping us daily. The word of God is the final authority, so do not get angry with the seer, the prophet, or the messenger in your life if they are giving you a word from the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Psalm 119:89 says, “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”
We must be receptive to His word, no matter the medium by which it comes to us. God had to use a donkey to get Balaam’s attention in Numbers 22, because he was about to make a grave mistake in his ministry. It is a futile notion to argue just to be arguing in hopes of getting the last word in. We should admit when we are wrong, especially when it comes to the correction of God. God cannot be put into a box of just telling us everything we want to hear, nor can we change His word by pitching a childish tantrum, as we see by the behavior of the Israelites. Judgement came their way repeatedly. When we stand before the Judgement throne, Romans 14:11-12 tells us, “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So, then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” The final word will already be written in the book of life. We must stop our childish ways, and be a doer of the word, as we are admonished in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” Do not be angry at the seer!