#136: Missing Out?

"You will not die!" the serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5

Consecration is a solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. There is always this requirement for anyone who wants to carry the glory of God. Though corrupt and sinful as we are, God has provided a way for us to live in His presence. Because unfortunately, we are in a sinful world too, surrounded by sinful people, this way will always bring a very thick separation line between the world and us in conduct and many other ways. God is holy. He is set apart and so must we.

Everybody in scripture that moved with God was set apart: the priests, the prophets, even the whole nation of Israel. They were all different from the other people or nations. Today we see a trick the devil uses - to make us suddenly see our respective consecration as a cage that God has put us in and is making us to miss out on what everybody is enjoying. And we are now in a fix. Is God wicked? Does God really care about us?

In Psalms 73, the psalmist was envious of the wicked. They seemed to be living a free life; free to do whatever they wanted to do and whenever they wanted to do them without being bothered of any consequence. As a disciple of Jesus, we find ourselves in this situation that the psalmist was in. But the psalmist ended it with a revelation that we need to synchronize with and drive home before our envy for the wicked makes us to break our consecration:

17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;

    then I understood their final destiny.

18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;

    you cast them down to ruin.

 

19 How suddenly are they destroyed,

    completely swept away by terrors!

 

20 They are like a dream when one awakes;

    when you arise, Lord,

    you will despise them as fantasies.

21 When my heart was grieved

    and my spirit embittered,

 

22 I was senseless and ignorant;

    I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you;

    you hold me by my right hand.

 

24 You guide me with your counsel,

    and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

 

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

    but God is the strength of my heart

    and my portion forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;

    you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.

    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;

    I will tell of all your deeds.

If we do not realize what the psalmist realized (that there is certainly doom that awaits the wicked in his ways), we also miss out on the blessedness described in Psalms 1 and Proverbs 1: 10-19.

It was because the colt was obedient to the yoke of discipleship that it was just in the place that His master expected him to be in order to be used for the triumphant entry. The other colt of his age were roaming free on the streets, probably something to be envious about, but had he broken loose from the hedges placed round him, God would not have been able to us him at such a grand stage. It is because Daniel and his friends understood that they were not missing out on the king's meat that they were able to stand their ground and God honored them with 10 times more success than their peers who he should have otherwise been envious of.

Action Point: Trust God that He has your best interest at heart. That is the only way that you can remain in discipleship. No need being too suspicious. Take rest in God's wisdom and disciplinary dealing and the hedges and boundaries that He has placed around you. They are for a reason. Beware of the Devil's trick. You cannot outgrow or be strong enough to do what God has specifically told you not to do.