Singing Mountains and Clapping Trees
By Pastor Jim May
What a world we live in! If there was ever a time that could be compared to the days of Noah, today is that time. People are running back and forth across the land, covering the entire face of the earth like ants on an anthill. We are consumed with gathering of things, providing for the needs of the body and storing up treasures to enjoy the “good life” but that good life somehow always seems to be just a little farther ahead than we can reach.
The way that people live today reminds me of the old mule who is tricked into plowing the field by hanging a carrot in front of his eyes. That mule never realizes that he can never really eat the carrot until his job is done. It is put there, always just out of reach, to keep his eyes focused straight ahead, and to mesmerize him to the point that he never even notices what he is really accomplishing by plowing the field.
That’s the way that most of mankind is living right now. Satan has a lot of carrots that he dangles in front of our noses. He knows what the flesh desires and he has perfected his means of drawing our attention to something that we really want, but in the meantime he has blinded us to the real purpose behind it all.
Just as surely as the blinders and the carrot keep that mule from seeing the truth, so does the devil use spiritual blinders and fleshly carrots to blind men from understanding what is really going on in their lives. When that mule finishes his plowing, he is given the carrot as a reward for doing his job, but what happened to the juicy carrot that he started out chasing after? All during the long, hot day, the sun has slowly dried up that carrot. It’s not so juicy or tasty now, but the change has come so gradually that the mule doesn’t even give it a thought. He takes that carrot eagerly and then goes about his business as usual thinking that he has finally won.
My friend, that’s the way it is in this life if we are constantly chasing after the things of the world that the devil is dangling before our eyes. That new home looks so wonderful. That new car is just mesmerizing. We can just imagine what it will be like to move into a house where the windows aren’t cracked, the driveway isn’t filled with holes, the floors aren’t all scratched and nicked and the smell of fresh paint and new carpet fills the air. I’ve been in a lot of new homes lately and that feeling of newness always seems to fire a little bit of a desire to have it for my own. Like someone said, “I have to go home and take an aspirin. I’m getting a fever for a new house or a new car, and I know I can’t afford it.”
Let’s think about that new car, boat or whatever else we might want for a moment. Some years ago I was involved in a business venture where part of our plan was to entice people into something called “Dream-building”. It was all designed to create within them a mental picture of something that would push their buttons and cause them to want to work hard, and do whatever it took, so that they could have their dream. We would sit and talk with them, asking them what they really wanted out of life. Whatever they would say that they wanted, I would key in on that and really do my best to make it real to them. The more detailed I could make that dream, the more they would believe that they could have it and then the harder they would be willing to work. The bigger the dream, and the more they believed it, the bigger the price they would be willing to pay to get it.
I would take them, every Sunday afternoon, through a parade of new homes so that their dreams could come alive. I would take them down to the Hummer dealerships, the Cadillac dealerships, or to the boats, the motorcycles or whatever they wanted. We would sit in the seats of the Mercedes Benz, or the BMW’s and take them for a drive. We would let them smell the new leather, feel the car’s smoothness on the road and see how it handled. We would even arrange for a group to ride on a rally nice motor home. And sometimes arrangements were made to take those who really worked hard, chasing their dreams, on a dream vacation in the hopes of creating an ever bigger dream. We would get pictures of their dreams so that they could put them on the refrigerator, or on the bathroom mirror or wherever they would go on a frequent basis.
Our motto was, “If the Dream is Big Enough, the Facts Don’t Count!” That meant that if you wanted something bad enough, you would be willing to do whatever it took to get it and that no obstacle would be bigger than your dream to stop you. In a very real sense
Those of us who were best at “spinning the dream” in the heart and mind of people were the most successful in the business. Our goal, in the process of building a dream, was to get that dream from their head to their heart. Your head may desire it, but your heart will make you chase after it until you get it.
The thing that I want to point out to you this morning is that Satan is the best “Dream Builder” in the earth. He knows what each of us desires in the flesh. He knows how to put things in front of you to make you want them. He knows what pushes your buttons and he will see to it that you get those buttons pushed. He knows that if he can get your head and your heart filled with a desire for the things of this life, then he has the battle won.
That’s why most of mankind never gives the things of God a thought. They never think of eternity but only live for now, for today, and for what they want today. I am reminded of one thing that I learned many years ago. It’s a simple statement and yet so very true.
“People will give up what they want most of all, just to have what they want right now.”
Most people want to be debt free and have a secure financial future. But what do they do? They buy anything and everything that their heart desires, getting deep into debt, having to work multiple jobs just to pay the bills and then end up ruining their credit and losing everything that they have in the end.
I was riding along on Friday morning, talking with someone about all of the nice, but very expensive homes that are being built all around our area right now. People will get out of school, get a good job and then go get a new house, a new car, a new boat, new furniture, all the latest electronic gadgets and everything that it took their parents 40 years to get. It all looks good until the notes come due. The house note at 1500 or more each month, a car note at $400 or more, furniture notes, credit card bills, and on it goes until their debt load is far greater than their monthly income, until finally, it all comes crashing down in the bankruptcy court and they are forced to start over and live the way they should have to begin with. It’s only a matter of time until the carrot explodes, leaving them with nothing but a feeling of being had. The people of this world who control the money and whose only aim in life is to get whatever everyone else has, lie awake at night just thinking of ways to find the next “Sucker”.
P. T. Barnum, who started the Barnum and Bailey Brother’s Circus had it right when He said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” The bankers of this world are depending upon it, and so is the devil.
Its one thing to chase the carrot and end up financially bankrupt; and physically, emotionally and mentally broken; but what is really much worse is to end spiritually bankrupt and dead in sin; only to find out much too late that the thing you really wanted is lost forever. How many people are lost today, not knowing anything about the things of God, and will leave this life unprepared to meet God! Satan is shouting with glee every minute of the day because his plan works so well that the Lake of Fire is growing ever larger because of all the suckers who fall into his trap.
God knows how we are made. After all, He made us. He understands our innate desire for more things and better things. He gave us that desire. He gave us the power to get wealth and to be prosperous in this life. God wants His people to be blessed. But God also knows that we can become obsessed with the things of the world so He puts a limit on what He will allow us to have. He doesn’t do that as a punishment, or because He wants to limit us, but because He loves us. God wants you to be prosperous spiritually most of all. After your relationship with Him is right, and your heart is set upon things eternal, and the greatest desires of your heart are to be with Jesus in Heaven, then, and only then, will He begin to pour out more blessings in your life.
Let me remind you that God never promises to give you every desire of your heart in this life. He reserves those gifts for when we reach our eternal home in Glory. What God does promise is that He will provide your every need in this life, and that He will always make a way for you to serve Him and live according to His will for your life.
The problem is that many Christians try to short-circuit God’s plans and to provide for themselves whatever they want without ever asking God if it His will. That’s when Christians join the ranks of the “Suckers” and get caught up in Satan’s plan for their destruction.
That’s why God speaks to us through the Prophet Isaiah and give us some warnings and some instructions concerning the things of this world.
Isaiah 55:1-3, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."
Can you see that God knows what is happening right now? None of the things that are happening are new to mankind. It’s the same old story that has been there since Adam fell in the Garden of Eden. It’s that same desire for the “forbidden fruit” that drive us today. That forbidden fruit may not be an apple. It can be anything that God says isn’t good for us to taste of.
We spend everything we have to buy things that don’t satisfy, to impress people that we don’t even like, and then wind up with what we really don’t want anyway because it all seems to just decay and turn to dust before our eyes or becomes a constant drain on our finances and our time that could be spent better serving the Lord.
What God wants you to know is that the things that are most valuable in this life are things that cost you nothing! Instead, they are freely given. The things that satisfy most are not material possessions and toys to give you moments of pleasure, but they are health, joy, love, mercy, grace, life itself and most of all, eternal salvation for your soul through the Blood of Jesus Christ.
That thirst on the inside can’t be quenched by beer, wine or any other form of earthly beverage because it’s a spiritual thirst that can only be quenched by the water of the Word of God and the watering of the Holy Spirit in your heart. That hunger in the pit of your stomach isn’t going to be satisfied by just eating a Twinkie. Your spirit is hungry too, craving for the eternal things of God and a strong relationship with the One who created it and gave it life in the beginning.
We can’t be blessed the God wants to bless us, and we will never feel the wonderful mercy of God, and we will certainly never experience the fulfillment of His covenant of Grace until we have put Him as the center of our lives and given His will first place above our own will.
Isaiah 55:6-9, "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Don’t try to figure out why God’s way works and yours doesn’t. God knows a lot more than all of us and He surely knows what’s best for your life. The ways of the flesh and the ways of the world that are in your heart to satisfy your desires are exactly opposite from what God would do. He can, and will, perform miracles to bring the blessings to you, but you have to trust Him to let Him do it His way. You have to quit chasing your dream, and start chasing God. Then He will either fulfill your dream or give you a bigger and better dream to chase that will really be fulfilling.
Isaiah 55:10-11, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
Do you believe that whatever God says, He will do? Then listen to what Isaiah is saying here. God’s Word is like the rain and snow that fall from the sky, soak into the ground, water the earth, bring forth seeds and crops, then goes back into the sky and begins the cycle all over again. The same water that was here when God created the earth is still here today. And it is continuously doing its job without fail.
That’s the way that the Word of God and the Promises of God are to those who will trust Him. His Word never fails. It always accomplishes what God means for it to do. His Word, living in you through Jesus Christ, will constantly water, bring forth seed and give you a bountiful harvest of the blessings of God. God wants to bless you abundantly and give the abundant life, but it can only come if you are living in obedience to that Word that He sends to bring it forth.
A garden that won’t accept water into the ground will die from drought, so will the blessings that God intends to send to you. If you live in disobedience to the Word of the Lord, your soul will die from the drought and no blessings will come. I am convinced that this is the reason so many of God’s people are not blessed today. It’s because they won’t allow the Word to have its effect in their hearts and lives.
But what does God promise to those who will allow the Word to cleanse their hearts? What does He promise to those who will chase the dream of making Heaven their home and allow Jesus to be the Lord of their lives?
Isaiah 55:12-13, "For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
It just doesn’t get any better than this. God promises to give you joy that the world can’t take away. He promises a peace in your heart that nothing in this world can destroy. Those things in your life that seem like mountains will only cause you to sing and shout the victory as they melt away before you. The whole creation will seem a brighter place for you and it when the wind blows through the trees it will seems as though they are only applauding your efforts and praising the God who is blessing you so abundantly.
Instead of thorns to constantly goad you into serving the devil to obtain the things of the world, you will see good things growing in the garden of your life. Instead of briars that scrape and cut you, making your heart bleed with sadness and your body ache with pain at the sight of the storm clouds, you will be blessed with the sweet-smelling flowers of life as God fills your heart with His joy and love.
And finally, if you will but serve the Lord, God promises that you will never be cut off. You will have an eternal reward in the presence of God. Every desire of your heart will be fulfilled and you will know nothing but pure happiness and love for ever and ever.
Do you know Jesus today? Have you been a “Sucker” for the devil? Today can be your turning point. Why not give your heart and life to Jesus right now. Come and just receive the free salvation, free blessings and the free eternal reward that Jesus has already bought for you. Come, while the Spirit of God is calling.
