“In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.”
On Saturday a week ago, I went to King’s Convenience Store across the way to procure some nutriment for my body, because I had become famished. And while I waited in line impatiently, a young man ahead of me was meticulously and methodically buying Lotto Tickets. I noticed that he already had selected a handful of tickets. It looked like he already had 30 in his hand. And while I waited in line to buy 2 link sandwiches, I witnesses him selecting 30 more Lotto Tickets.
Because a line was forming at the counter, a young man came to the other register, and I was spared the ordeal of waiting any longer for my links. And upon my departure, that young man was still purchasing even more Lotto Tickets.
And while I was crossing MLK returning to the church, it struck me that that young man is a classic example of the kind of person who will Not Let God Be God in their life. That young man is representative of that class of people who believe tenaciously in Luck, Chance, even Miss Cleo. He places his faith in some Blind Fate; some Lucky Pick of Numbers; some Random Pick of Ping-Pong Balls; a Toss of the Dice.
But what he and others like him fail to understand is the fact his belief is ignorance. Because those trivial occurrences in life which seems to have no meaning to us is but providence which arranges every so-called chance for purposes beyond our knowledge. Chance is providential coincidence which we cannot understand, and do not need to trouble ourselves about.
If chance is taken to mean the utter absence of all causal connections, then that is error; In Luke 10:32, our Savior says: “By chance a certain priest was going down that way.” By chance is not meant lack of cause, but the coincidence in an event of mutually independent series of causes. Therefore, the un-purposed meeting of two persons is spoken of as a chance one, when the movement of neither implies that of the other.
Not all chances are of equal importance. The casual meeting of a stranger in the street need not bring God’s providence before me, although I know that God arranges it. Yet I can conceive of that meeting as leading to religious conversation and to the stranger’s conversion. When we are prepared for them, we shall see many opportunities which are now as un-meaning to us as the gold in the river-beds was to the early Indians in California.
What I am laboring to impress upon our psyches at this point is that Chance is nothing but Providence.
And so, we need to Talk. I want to use the next Sundays’ preaching moments as a platform upon which to exhibit a Series of Messages entitled “LETTING GOD BE GOD.” The Text, upon which, I shall base my theological reasoning is NUMBERS 20:1-13.
But in this Introductory message today, I shall explore the Idea of “LETTING GOD BE GOD IN DEATH”
Based upon VERSE 1 OF NUMBERS CHAPTER 20.
The very premise to all these messages is the idea that ALL OF US, AT TIMES, MANIFEST A STUBBORN RESISTANCE TO AUTHORITY! AND ONE SUCH TIME IS THE DEATH OF A PROMINENT PERSON FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE.
It was the renown and profound Preacher/Pastor, Gardner C. Taylor who reminds us that Life Is A Journey. We are Pilgrims, not Motorists who are out to see interesting sights. Along the way, we shall see many fantastic and startling things, but we are Pilgrims and we are on our way somewhere. Said the Lord Jesus, “They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
Life Is A Road that Courses and Passes through the Years. It starts in the east with the dawn and fresh breezes of youth. How bright the path seems, how confident we are, what a spring and bounce there are in our steps! How happily we swing our arms and smile as we walk and skip along the road. The road passes thru the noonday -- how many of us have reached that point! The sun beats steadily upon us and we toil along and time passes quickly. LIFE IS A ROAD. On we go into the afternoon and “Our shadow begins to fall behind us.” That is a sure sign that the sun that in the morning was at our back is in the west and falling in front of us. On into the sunset, the twilight and then the way disappears from human view. We pass out of sight. LIFE IS A JOURNEY that ultimately ends at some point and place in time.
We are always passing thru various scenes and shifting circumstances. And these little experiences build up like some giant symphonic theme to a final moment of decision. In the Spanish bullfights the decisive time is called “the moment of truth.” It is the time when a final stroke must be made. On the other hand, the Greeks called the time of readiness “Kairos-the fullness of time,” that mystic moment when all that one has been and is and hopes to be must be flung into the balance for better or for worse.
Shakespeare sensed this peculiar, momentous time of decision which all of us know, and spoke of it as that gathering of events which produces the readiness of the tide to bear our frail hopes on to their golden port of destiny. He said: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, when taken at the flood leads on to victory. Omit it, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.”
Let me pause here long enough to say a word about our capacity to Make Decisions. The inability to make a moral commitment clearly and decisively and promptly and to stick by it may be the major weakness in our character. People may search one day for the reason why so a great a people as New Zion did not rise to lasting greatness. If this unhappy and unwelcome possibility happens, I believe they will say that here was a grand and blessed people. One thing they lacked: the capacity to seize promptly the initiative in a right cause and to make whatever sacrifice, over however long a period necessary, to bring that decision to a successful issue.
To see the right and to seize it and to serve it no matter the cost is God’s mandate to this congregation. How a soul, how a church bears itself at those crossroads of decision determines the difference between success and failure.
As we look again at our Text at Verse 1, we discover that Israel is again at That Crossroad of Decision. They take their journey and move into the desert of Zin. This is the 39th year of their wilderness wanderings and their long exodus is on verge of completion. All of the long journey has been building up to this moment. The issue is: What would they do? Would they move on in confident hope to A LIFE OF VICTRIOUS ABUNDANCE IN TOTAL OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF GOD, or settle for MEDIOCRITY, FAILURE, REBELLION AND DEATH? This is the Time of Decision.
Well, we are told in verse 1 that instead of marching and moving onward to Canaan’s fair and happy land that “the people abode in Kadesh.” They decided to settle down in Kadesh. They opted for Kadesh as their permanent mailing address and home. They opted for the wilderness and the wild life over the Yoke of God in the domesticated domains of Canaan. Which all underscores the fact that at crucial times and critical junctures in our lives, we settle for the Kadeshes rather than the Canaans!
If you would read carefully verse 1, you would discover that Moses did not order the people to unpack and settle down; there was no order from God thru the lips of Moses to “pitch their tent pins”; there was no divine directive from God; but the People on their own decided that Kadesh was as far as they were going for the present time. And that’s the danger of settling down in places of our own choosing: It is an Act of Personal Rebellion Against the Authority and Leadership of the Lord! What looks like Delight is actually Death!!! For verse 1 states that as a consequence of that act of rebellion on the part of the people, “and Miriam Died There, and Was Buried There.”
Which leads me to conclude that ACTS OF PERSONAL REBELLION AGAINST THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LORD RESULT IN THE DEATH OF SOME PRIZED PERSON, PLAN, PASSION OR PROJECT!! Perhaps you will better grasp this fact once you have understood the Meaning and Message of the words “KADESH” and “MIRIAM.”
I. FIRST, LET’S DETERMINE WHAT HAS KADESH TO DO WITH REBELLION.
There are Two possible Meanings of the word translated “KADESH” in Verse 1. And I must confess that I had great difficulty in interpreting the meaning of this passage to our walk with the Lord. Because the differing nuances in meaning seemed to conflict with the content of the text. And so, I had to grapple with this word KADESH to arrive at a proper understanding of what the Lord was saying to you and I in verse 1.
The root of this word in the verb form means “to be PURE, CLEAN, HOLY or SACRED.” And so, some have translated this word to be KEDESH-SANCTUARY. And so, when I applied the word Sanctuary to Kadesh in verse 1 to read, “and the people abode in the Sanctuary,” it made sense until I began to question the text. Why would a sanctuary, a sacred place, a holy place be the cause of rebellion? For certainly it’s a good thing for the people of God to abide, to dwell, to live in a state of holiness and sanctification. Certainly the Lord would not object to us living in His character and nature which is Holy. And so, I had a problem with that interpretation of the word Kadesh. And particularly when I read in the latter of verse 13 that He “was Sanctified in them.” Why would God have to show Himself holy among a people who were living in His holiness; who abode in His Sanctuary?
So I turned to my Hebrew text and found out that the word KADESH actually means SACRED in the sense of a person who is devoted to an idol by Prostitution. Kadesh proper means a Sodomite, a person consecrated to Astarte or Venus and who prostitutes himself in her honor. So actually, verse 1 reads, “ and the people abode in idolatry or prostitution.” And that explains verse 13 why the people quarreled or rebelled against God and why He was sanctified or showed Himself holy among them.
So our text confronts us with a Decision: Either we must decide to Abide in the Sacrilegious Sanctuary of Satan or in the Sacred Sanctuary of the Sovereign Savior. Where have you decided to dwell? Where are you? At What place are you now in your pilgrimage? Sanctuaries can be either Sacred or Secular, Selfish and Satanic. Well, allow me to assist you in determining where you are right now.
*If you have a problem with Spiritual Authority and Leadership; if you are rebelling against the authority of the Lord by refusing to submit yourself to the spiritual authority of your under shepherd; if you question the decision-making and character of your spiritual leader; if you’d prefer to be in some other place with other folk; if you are constantly complaining and finding fault with others; then YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE LIVING IN THE SCARILEGIOUS SANCTUARY OF SATAN - THE KADESH OF REBELLION!!!
The saint, who is Abiding in the Sacred Sanctuary of the Savior, would not argue with God, disrespect His leaders, find fault and murmur against them constantly; would prefer death to life and question why God had brought them up out of the slavery of sin and death!!! I read somewhere that, “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
I read somewhere of those who abide in the Sanctuary of the Savior that “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust.”
I read somewhere that, “In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.” So no saint who lives in the Sanctuary of the Savior will find cause to rebel against the Lord.
But yet I must hasten to add that at times ALL OF US DWELL TEMPORARILY IN THE SANCTUARY OF SATAN - WE REBEL AGAINST THE AUTHORITY AND LEADERSHIP OF THE LORD!!
Haven’t you yielded to the workings of the flesh this week? Haven’t you allowed what you wanted to take precedence over what the will of God is? Haven’t you made a decision without consulting the Lord for His advise? Haven’t you opted to stay in a place that was in direct opposition to the order of God? Haven’t you sinned and come short of the glory of God?? Of course, you and I have. For I hear our brother John saying, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.“ And its at that point where we stayed in the Sanctuary of Satan. For Disobedience to God is Rebellion against His Leadership and Authority!!!
And so, you see WHAT KADESH HAS TO DO WITH REBELLION. If we are Dwelling in a Place or Condition that is SECULAR, SELFISH AND SATANIC IN NATURE WE ARE IN THE KADESH OF REBELLION!!!
BUT WHAT ABOUT MIRIAM, YOU ASK?
II. I SUBMIT TO US THAT TO ABIDE IN REBELLION WILL RESULT IN THE DEATH SOME PRIZED PERSON, PLAN, PASSION OR PROJECT. Verse 1 says: “and Miriam died there, and was buried there.”
That conjunction “And” in verse 1 after the Semicolon indicates that there is a Connection between the People Abode in Kadesh and the Death and Burial of Miriam.
We need to pay close attention to Divine Punctuation Marks!!! The Semicolon says that the sentence is not complete. To abide in Rebellion against God is Not the end of the story; there is a Continuation. The conjunction “And” says there is a Consequence to that Decision!!!
The Consequence to the people abiding in Kadesh was that Miraim Died There, and was Buried There; PERIOD!!! The Period says it’s a Complete Thought, the End of the Sentence, the Culmination of the Consequence. I Think we need to pay close attention to DIVINE PUNCTUATION MARKS!!!
That Semicolon and Conjunction announces that we cannot Rebel Against God and suffer No Consequences. That Semicolon and Conjunction reminds us that “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” That Semicolon and Conjunction remind us that though the Lord does not act immediately in chastisement does not mean that we have gotten away.
The Silence between the Semicolon and Conjunction testifies to the fact that Lord grants us a Period in which to Repent of our Sin. That Pause of Silence testifies to the fact that the Lord “is longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” But if not, then comes that Period of Culminating Consequences.
You see, God will write a PERIOD at the End of the Sentence, if we fail do Repentance between the Silence of that Semicolon and Conjunction of our Rebellion!!! And when God writes a Period, that’s the End of a PRIZED PERSON, PLAN, PASSION OR PORJECT!!! We can go ahead and Bury Them or IT in that Place called the Kadesh of Our Rebellion!!!
Let me close Part 1 of this Message entitled LETTING GOD BE GOD IN DEATH with this illustration.
For years now the City of Lubbock has not heeded the Warnings of God as it relates to the unjust dealings and racial prejudice of the Police Department. The vicious murders of the citizens of Lubbock, the long practice of racial profiling, the Gestapo Tactics, the illegal stopping and detention of Black males, the Hampton affair involving the Hampton University coaches; all have been ignored or denied.
But recently, I have perceived the sure hand of God at work in judgment. Officers being killed on motor-cycles, and the recent killing one of their own officers by one of their own officers.
The Long Pause of Silence was not filled with repentance; and so now, the City is dealing with that Period of Culminating Consequences.
God is writing a Period at the End of the Sentence because of Denial between the Semicolon and Conjunction of their Rebellion.
The City has opted to abide in the Kadesh of Rebellion, and now they are dealing with the Consequence of that Act: THE DEATH OF ITS POLICE OFFICERS; THE FIRING OF ITS POLICE CHIEF; LAWSUITS BEING FILED AND WHITE CITIZENS LOSING FAITH IN ITS POLICE FORCE.
God Has Written a Period. The Death of Police Officers, Quality Police Officers, Improved Community Relations.
The City of Lubbock’s Miriam Has Died and is being Buried in their Kadesh of Rebellion!!!
GOD IS GOING TO BE GOD, WHETHER WE LIKE IT NOT! EITHER WE CAN YIELD TO HIS AWESOME MIGHT OR BE DAMNED BY OUR REBELLION!
