We read in Jonah 4:7, “But God appointed a worm at the rising of the dawn of the next day, and it struck the plant, and it withered.” (LITV)
As Jonah enjoyed the shade of the plant that God had prepared for him, the Lord appointed a worm that obeyed God’s bidding, and ate up the plant, so that it withered completely.
Notice how the storm that God sent on the sea when Jonah tried to run away from God, the fish that swallowed Jonah, the gourd that grew up instantly to provide shade to Jonah, and the worm that devoured the plant, were all obedient to God’s command. The storm and the fish played a crucial role is saving the people of Nineveh from destruction. All of these did as God bid them to, and they all did so without making a big deal of it.
However Jonah, had such a high opinion of himself that even after his work of preaching to the people of Nineveh was completed, he still put up a shelter, and waited eagerly to see when the Lord would destroy the city.
Matthew 21 narrates the incident referred to as the triumphal entry, when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. There is an imaginary story told about the donkey that Jesus rode upon. The people who welcomed Jesus spread their cloaks along with the branches of trees that they had cut down. As the donkey walked along carrying Jesus on his back, he was so elated at the attention they received. The next day the donkey spoke highly about his prominence to another donkey, and asked his donkey friend to come along to check out the rousing reception he would receive on the streets. As both the donkeys walked down the same streets, they were surprised to find that no one took notice of them, and instead everyone shooed them away for being in the way. What the donkey failed to realize was that the response he got earlier was not for himself, but for the Lord Jesus who rode on his back. Though this is an imaginary and humorous story, it conveys the powerful message that it is the Lord who makes us special, and without Him we are nothing. He alone is worthy of all our praise, worship and honor and He alone must be elevated in our lives.
Everything we received comes from God above
The disciples of John the Baptist brought a complaint to him and this is recorded in John 3:26, “So they went to John and told him, "Teacher, you remember the man who was with you on the east side of the Jordan, the one you spoke about? Well, he is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him!"” (GNB)
It seems that the disciples of John the Baptist were perturbed that all of John’s disciples were now going after Jesus. John the Baptist did not say to them, ‘yes I too have noticed this and let us spread some rumors to get them away from following Jesus.’ Instead this was the astounding response of John as found in the verse below.
We read in John 3:27, John answered, "No one can have anything unless God gives it.(GNB)
Also in John 3:30, “He must become more important while I become less important." (GNB)
John the Baptist understood the ministry that was entrusted to him and to Jesus, was from above. He also desired that Jesus should increase, and that he himself should decrease.
This is the right perspective everyone should have, but sadly when God begins to use someone, often they begin to feel so important, and start to promote themselves.
Serving God is our duty
Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 17:10, “Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’” (WEB)
Jesus is forthright to teach His disciples that after they have done all that He had commanded them to, they were to acknowledge two things; one that they were unworthy servants, and secondly that they had only done what was their duty.
Beware of false prophets
However, even today there are many like Jonah, who will elevate themselves like Jonah did. Then there are others who are followers, who promote their leaders so much that they are almost given a place equal to God Himself. This is a dangerous situation, as after some time, the followers of such men will not even be able to identify the wrong-doings of the ones they are blindly following.
Here’s a word of caution from the word of God about anyone who prophecies falsely.
We read in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, “But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.' "You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the LORD. If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and what he says does not come true, then it is not the LORD's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.” (GNB)
If ever you are in doubt if a prophecy is from God or not here’s a good test. When the words spoken by a prophet does not get fulfilled, then we can be certain that it was not from the Lord. If anyone does not stand firm in the word of God, they will surely be led astray into false teachings.
Though we are not to judge others, we do have the responsibility to assess these prophecies and teachings to see if they are founded on the word of God. If we do not take caution in this matter our faith will get derailed. Every time we hear the word of God, we must have our bible in hand, and must always check to see if it is in keeping with what God says, and must rely completely on the Holy Spirit to be our guide.
Moses’ burial place was not revealed
Moses was a leader whom God used mightily. God used Moses to perform wonders by bringing the ten plagues upon the people of Egypt, delivered the Israelites from cruel bondage, parted the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian army who pursued them, made water gush from the rock, turned the bitter water of Mara to sweet waters, and also spoke judgement on Korah and his accomplices who were swallowed up by the earth. One can imagine that Moses must have been held in high esteem by the people of Israel.
Nonetheless this is what the Lord did as recorded Deuteronomy 34:5-6, “So Moses, the LORD's servant, died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said he would. The LORD buried him in a valley in Moab, opposite the town of Bethpeor, but to this day no one knows the exact place of his burial.” (GNB)
When this mighty leader died, God Himself buried him, and no one was told where Moses was buried. The reason I believe God did this was that if the people of Israel knew the whereabouts of the place, they would have erected a huge monument for their leader, and made it a sacred place of worship, and would have deified Moses.
Moses was revered and Jesus was not recognized
We know that Jesus came countless generations later after Moses. When Jesus healed a man who was born blind as recorded in John Chapter 9, these were the words of the Pharisees who interrogated the blind man whose eyes Jesus had opened.
In John 9:28-29, we read, They insulted him and said, "You are that fellow's disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for that fellow, however, we do not even know where he comes from!" (GNB)
It was indeed sad that the religious leaders in Jesus’ day did not recognize who He was, and were content to gloat over the fact that they were disciples of Moses. The temple in Jerusalem was elaborate, and all the regular worship and rituals were being conducted as always, but woefully the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes failed to comprehend that Jesus was the Messiah whom Moses also had predicted about. There were so many prophecies in the Old Testament that pointed to Jesus, and at one point Jesus Himself stood in the temple to declare that those prophecies were fulfilled in Him, and yet they were unwilling to accept Him. The reason for their predicament was that everything had become mere rituals and traditions.
As we study the above verses carefully we will learn some important truths. If we and our children do not study and meditate on the word of God as we should, we too are likely to become disciples of men or slaves of men, who do not understand the will of God. Even today we have made traditions of many things. Going to church once a week for an hour is enough for many believers who have no time to read the word, meditate on it or to spend time in prayer. Nonetheless, they want God to bless them, and their children assuming that they have done their part in attending church once a week.
It is really crucial that we set things in order in our lives, failing which we will become slaves of men, and miss out on the vision and purpose for which God called us. Surely, it would be a tragic if we knew all the traditions, but did not know Jesus personally, and had no relationship with Him. No wonder then that for many when challenged with having to make some vital decisions, they run to others hoping that they would pray and guide them aright. Our God is our Father, and with Him is no favoritism. He will listen to anyone who will call upon Him. The leadership in the church was established by God to give guidance to the children of God, but erroneously many have held on to their leaders, and have let go of God. Every believer must pray and seek God’s guidance for every decision in their lives, and as we do so the Lord will speak to us specifically through His word.
We are bought with a price
Paul writing to the church at Corinth says it this way in 1 Corinthians 7:23, “God bought you for a price; so do not become slaves of people.” (GNB)
We realize then that this problem existed even in the early church where people had become more loyal to men, and had actually become slaves of men.
God’s word reminds us that we were bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ that He shed on the cross as an atonement for our sins. The death of Jesus delivered us from the clutches of Satan, and God redeemed us from eternal destruction. All those who receive Jesus, and put their faith in Him have become His children, and have the privilege of calling God, ‘Abba Father’. Therefore think about the privileged relationship we have with God, and let us never become slaves of men.
The bronze serpent was destroyed
As the people of Israel journeyed through the wilderness, at one point they grumbled against the Lord, and were stricken with venomous snakes which caused the death of many. Moses went to the Lord and pleaded to Him on behalf of the people, when God commanded him to make a bronze serpent that was mounted on a pole. Everyone who beheld the bronze serpent was healed, and did not die. This is a known incident, but strangely somewhere down the line some of the Israelites began to worship this bronze serpent.
It is indeed an interesting fact that people either hold on to someone or they want to cling on to some object that they want to venerate.
In the history of Israel there was King Hezekiah who ruled over them for a given period of time. This is what Hezekiah did during his reign.
We read in 2 Kings 18:4, “He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor.” (GNB)
Though the purpose of the bronze serpent was fulfilled in the wilderness, the Israelites kept it safe, and did not want to let go of it. They burned incense in its honor, which implied that they prayed to that bronze serpent, something the Lord detested. King Hezekiah who wanted to eradicate all forms of pagan practices in His kingdom, made sure that the bronze serpent too was totally destroyed.
God honored King Hezekiah
The consequence of this action by King Hezekiah was that, 2 Kings 18:7, “So the LORD was with him, and he was successful in everything he did.” (GNB)
Whenever, we hold on to a person or thing instead of God, we are bound to go far away from Him. If there are such bondages in our lives, we must set them right for if we fail to do so it will certainly affect our future generations.
Here are some things that we should adhere to as children of God.
1. Set right your relationship with God.
Run to God for everything instead of running to men. One person narrated how he had gone for prayer to a prominent leader for guidance regarding an important decision he had to make. As the leader was busy he was made to wait for a very long time. As he sat waiting, the Lord spoke to him, and asked him what he was doing there. The man said, ‘Lord I am waiting for this person to pray for me regards the decision I have to make’ and the Lord said to him, ‘Son I am with you right where you are, why did you forget me and came seeking after a man?’
Each one of us needs to get our relationship with God straightened out, acknowledge that He is with us, place all our burdens on the Lord, and seek to do His will alone. The Holy Spirit of God is with us, and if we read the word of God prayerfully, surely the Lord will speak to us individually.
2. Listen to the word of God and decide to act according to it.
A man of God shared a testimony of how he was challenged with problems from certain people in his ministry. As the problems kept propping up frequently, he decided to fast and pray to seek the Lord in that matter. He was open to changing himself if there was anything amiss in his own life, and as he waited on the Lord and read His word, the Lord spoke to him through His word that the ones who were against him were not those whom God approved of.
3. Teach them to your children
Even many believing parents are unaware that we are living in extremely trying times. Ever since the pandemic started there has been a ban on gatherings, but lots of effort has been taken by God’s servants to get the messages out online. However, many people take these telecasts lightly, and make many excuses for not watching them, the most common being that they have poor connectivity or weak network connections.
Interestingly, when the schools announced that classes will be held online for the children, the same parents go all out to get the best connection possible so that their children do no miss out on the online classes. The greatest shock for such parents will be when their children for whom they gave the best education, in the most reputed schools grow up to make choices that are totally contradictory to the word of God. This will happen only because they did not teach their children to love God and His word, but were content to just have a form of religiosity. If we do not teach our children what is right and wrong based on the word of God, and give them opportunities to hear the word of God regularly, they will make decisions that would certainly grieve our hearts. This is the reason why there are many families challenged with children who are in homosexual relationships or are opting for divorce and remarriage.
As much as we give importance to secular education, every believing parent much give far greater importance to their children reading the word of God, and to walking in the truth. We live in times when there is much obscenity in everything, and in a subtle way young minds are constantly being bombarded with impurity. If we are not careful to guide our children in the ways of God, we will certainly find that they will go astray.
4. Do not be slaves to any man
God has appointed the church, and has ordained Pastors and elders to lead the church. The Lord has entrusted the church with a five-fold ministry. We should joyfully serve along with the leaders whom God has appointed over us, but we should never become a slave to anyone. If you take the word that is preached as it is without doing your own personal study of the word of God, you are in a way becoming slaves of men.
5. Do not have any objects or relics that God does not approve of
Many people have some objects in their house which they consider sacred because it was brought from some sacred place. They have this understanding that their home is protected because of these relics. Actually these relics which you think are a blessing become objects of curse. Anything that God does not approve of should be discarded from our homes. Let God’s presence remain in our homes, and everything that God is not pleased with be cast out of our homes.
This pandemic and lockdowns I believe are God’s admonition to all of us. All that Jesus foretold as events that precede the second coming of the Lord is being fulfilled, and His coming is most certainly close at hand. The Lord Jesus is coming for those who truly love Him, who obey Him, listen to His voice, and do His will. Of the ten virgins Jesus spoke about five of them were not ready. There was nothing else wrong with them, they were simply not prepared to receive the Lord, and the doors were shut on them. Those who have read this message are reminded that all of us must be ready to receive the Lord. Let us run this race of life with faith, and may the Lord give us strength and victory to reach the goal that He has set before us.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
