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DO
YOU KNOW GOD’S WAYS ~~~OR JUST HIS ACTS?
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death"
(Proverbs 14:12).
Way: Travel or movement along a certain route or
in a certain direction; a path of life;
course or habits or conduct (Webster’s New World
Dictionary).
Every day of our lives we are in a 'way' going
some place. Our lives are moving on even if we
are lounging in the recliner in our living rooms. We are surrounded with
people and
circumstances that influence that way. It is of
utmost importance that we know the way to go
on this journey lest we choose the wrong way. If
there is a way that 'seemeth to be right' but
apparently is not, then there must be another way
that IS right. The challenge is to know the
right way and walk toward its end which will be 'life.'
"Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts;
Consider your ways" (Haggai 1:5). Consider
means to look at closely. Our ways are a product
of our 'contents'... what we have put into
ourselves. Our contents fire our imagination; our
imagination kindles our drives and ambitions
creating our ways. Imagination is a strong
motivator. It has created beautiful masterpieces
of art, giant financial corporations, kids’ unique birthday parties, sent
space vehicles to the
moon; you name it, someone imagined it. It has
been said if you can imagine it, you can do it.
That is true in a spiritual sense. If we see ourselves walking in the ways
of God, we will aim for
that goal and achieve it. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk
in my ways, and if thou
wilt keep my charge, then 'I will give thee places to walk'." (Zechariah
3:7).
Solomon’s dedicatory prayer of the temple included
"That he may incline our hearts unto him,
to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes,
and his judgments,
which he commanded our fathers" (1 Kings 8:58).
His father, David, had set an example for Solomon.
He said, "For I have kept the way of the Lord, and
have not wickedly departed from
my God" (2 Samuel 22:22). Further, Solomon added to his temple prayer, "hear'forgive'
and
give to every man according to his ways, whose
heart thou knoweth" (1 Kings 8:39).
Since the Bible clearly teaches that there are
multiple choices of ways, our responsibility is to
be perfectly sure that we have chosen and are
following the right way and not the way 'that
seemeth right.' The seemingly right, but wrong,
way leads to death; the right way leads to life.
Jesus left no margin of error when He said 'I am
the way.' He said He had come that we might
have life, which included overcoming death. The
only safe way to go is to follow Jesus and the
way He marked for us. "let all thy ways be established" (Proverbs 4:27).
This means that we are walking the path that Jesus
has already established and we have established
His ways as our
ways. The benefits are beyond comprehension;
"blessed are they that keep my ways"
(Proverbs 8:32). Enoch knew what it meant to walk
in God’s ways and walked right
into heaven! (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5).
Proverbs 4:26 advises "Ponder the path of thy
feet, and let all thy ways be established." Many
of the leaders of Israel and Judah did not walk in
the right way. They walked in the ways of error
and caused God’s people to follow them. In spite
of the evil leaders and erring people, God’s way
was to discipline and draw them back to Him,
forgive and restore true worship. Just as Jeremiah
spoke for God to Israel, He is saying to us today,
"Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the
old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest
for your souls"
(Jeremiah 6:16). But like Israel, too many times
we have said, 'We will not walk therein.'
The old path was established, pounded by the feet
of saints following the Lord in previous
generations. It had been tried and was true,
leading to God’s ways. It was solid, secure
where one would not get stuck in the mire of some 'new' path.
God is still seeking those who will walk in His
ways and promises great blessings to those who
will do so. "If my people which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles
7:14). It is time that we heard from heaven. It is
time
for repentance and healing; time to walk in God’s ways.
We have devised so many 'ways' to walk in our own
power, by our own understanding that we
need to stop in our tracks, consider our ways and
seek out the old path (God’s way). "Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all they ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6). "For he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in
all thy ways" (Psalm 91:11). These promises are
faithful and
true, but the condition is that we seek God’s way and make it our way.
What is God’s way? With so much hanging on the
need to walk His way, that is our greatest
need and responsibility...to 'find' His way. God said seek out the path;
Jesus said 'seek and you
will find.' That’s the place to start, seek for it. But what about Romans
11:33 "how unsearchable are his judgments,
and his ways past finding out!"? Most of the
things we learn through human efforts are
discovered by trial and error. After we have
eliminated all the things that have failed,
we observe what is left and assume that is the answer. God’s ways cannot
be evaluated and
known by any human process; they are 'past finding out' beyond our means
of comprehension.
We will beat ourselves to death by that method and
still come up with the wrong answer.
So what can we do to find God’s ways? First, we
have to want to walk in His ways more than
anything else. We have to be so tired of walking
in our own way that we are willing to completely
abandon it; otherwise, when it beckons us, we will
wander back to our old ways. Our ways are not
God’s ways. "For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). We aren’t capable of even
imagining what God’s ways are: "For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). Heavens higher than the
earth! That’s high! Unfathomable!
God sent Israel word through Moses that, "Ye shall
walk in all the ways which the Lord your
God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that
it may be well with you.."
(Deuteronomy 5:33). He called them to Mt Sinai to
speak to them so they would know His ways.
In spite of the blessings God promised Israel if
they would walk in His way, they were not willing
to complete forsake their ways and learn His ways.
They backed off and said to Moses, "Speak
thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God
speak with us": (Exodus 20:19). The only thing
that makes us back away from God, from having
intimacy with Him, to listen to what He says, to
walk
in His ways is SIN. God’s Word exposes sin and makes us accountable,
requiring repentance.
If we are not ready to forsake our ways and follow
God’s ways, we will not want to hear from
God; it brings condemnation, so we will back away
and seek another voice that will placate
our conscience rather than condemn. God condemns us only to redeem us!
Israel preferred the voice of a man over the voice
of God. They backed away from God’s voice.
They would not give up their idolatrous ways and
walk in God’s way. Because of this decision
made by them, from that time they only saw God’s
acts. They missed His ways. "He made known
his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of
Israel" (Psalm 103:7). Israel was content to
just be on the perimeter of what God was doing,
just observers. What God had desired was
participants, people who world walk with Him in
His ways, follow Him wherever He would lead,
trust Him to always care for them and bring them safely to the Promise
Land. He is still seeking
that kind of relationship from us.
Moses was not satisfied to just know God’s 'acts';
he wanted to know God’s ways. His heart-cry
was 'God, show me your glory, [your ways].' Acts are observable with the
naked eye. 'The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork'
(Psalm 19:1).
Every human being on the face of the earth, every
bird, every animal can see God’s handiwork.
Even the blind and deaf can experience the
handiwork of God in some way. But that doesn’t
mean they know His ways; they only know His acts.
We usually know what motivates us. Do we now what
motivates God, what are His ways, what motivates
Him to perform His acts? He wants us to know His
heart, His 'ways' The only method
of knowing God’s ways is to study what He has already told us in His Word.
If we could study all
the sciences in the world and solve all mathematical equations, that
method would never show us God’s ways; but we can
look into His Word and find all we need to know
there, just waiting to be revealed to us. That
sounds too simplistic, but it is the 'secret' to
knowing God’s ways.
Quoting David, "Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life" (Acts 2:28). The ways of life
are God’s ways. When we know God’s ways, we know
God, we know life. John said the world
did not know Jesus (John 1:10), but that Jesus
declared God (John 1:18). Jesus told His followers
if they had seen Him they had seen God (John 14:9). Many people in Jesus’
day saw His acts of mercy, salvation and healing,
but they did not know Him or His ways. One very
well-known, often-quoted verse reveals God’s ways
to us: "For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life"
(John 3:16). Seems too elemental to be the formula
to know God, doesn’t it? What we know of
God is capsulated in Jesus. When Moses desired to know God and see His
glory, God caused
His glory to pass by Moses and identified it for
him. First he identified Himself--Lord God,
followed by His glory--mercy, grace,
longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth,
judgment.
These are the attributes which define God and were
present in Jesus. When we only see His acts
of mercy, grace, etc., and don’t hone our intimate relationship with Him
to know His ways, we will miss out on the most
glorious relationship with Him. If we focus on who
He is, and why He acts
as He does, then our knowledge of Him will
increase on a plane higher than just enjoying the
fruits of His acts. We can sit in heavenly places
with Him and let His ways keep expanding our
understanding and know Him with the intimacy of a
cherished friend who knows and understands
us and whom we can know and be shown His ways.
Otherwise, we will be like the two-year-old who
just takes for granted that the toy, candy, gift
was supposed to be his without being cognizant of
the parental love that was behind the act. To know
only the acts of God and not His ways is to take
for granted the most precious and valuable thing
we have on this earth...a personal relationship with our God who loves us
with an everlasting love.
May we say with Paul, "That I may know Him"
(Philippians 3:10). That I may know His
ways and never take for granted His acts.
Delores Adams
Copyrighted. All rights reserved.
God's Ways Notebook
Alice's Legacy
Remembering Alice
The "Handkerchief" has been
anointed and prayed over by several believers who
care
about you and want to help you realize your full
potential in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
~The
Ten Commandments~
 
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