Friday: Further Thought ~ Restless and Rebellious
Further Thought:
“Now they seemed sincerely to repent of their sinful conduct; but they sorrowed because of the result of their evil course rather than from a sense of their ingratitude and disobedience. When they found that the Lord did not relent in His decree, their self-will again arose, and they declared that they would not return into the wilderness.
Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
In commanding them to retire from the land of their enemies, God tested their apparent submission and proved that it was not real. They knew that they had deeply sinned in allowing their rash feelings to control them and in seeking to slay the spies who had urged them to obey God; but they were only terrified to find that they had made a fearful mistake, the consequences of which would prove disastrous to themselves. Their hearts were unchanged, and they only needed an excuse to occasion a similar outbreak. This presented itself when Moses, by the authority of God, commanded them to go back into the wilderness.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 391.
“But faith is in no sense allied to presumption. Only he who has true faith is secure against presumption. For presumption is Satan’s counterfeit of faith. Faith claims God’s promises, and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises, but uses them as Satan did, to excuse transgression. Faith would have led our first parents to trust the love of God, and to obey His commands. Presumption led them to transgress His law, believing that His great love would save them from the consequence of their sin. It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the conditions on which mercy is to be granted. Genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 126.
Discussion Questions:
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Just a thought: Does restless and rebellion go together inevitably, or are there alternatives? I think all of us at times get restless and become dissatisfied with the status quo. We want to move on to other things. The fact that I was born in New Zealand is due to my great-grandparents and grandparents became restless in their home countries of England and Scotland. They and many of their families joined the great migration to the antipodes in the late 1800s to start new lives. They were dissatisfied with where they were living and looked forward to the opportunities in a new land. I think my Scottish ancestors probably were hoping to find somewhere where it was warm.
They channelled their restlessness into action and moved to a new country rather than staying in the old country and becoming rebellious. Did the new country offer rest? Well it depends what you call rest. My maternal grandfather moved from the green, well-developed, flat fields of Oxfordshire in England to the bracken and teatree covered hills and gullies of volcanic New Zealand. He worked hard to convert scrubland into pastures that would support a diary herd. Was that restful?
Restful does not mean to lie down and have a snooze in the warm afternoon sun. Perhaps a more fitting meaning it means at peace with both God and yourself.
Several years ago a couple of Australian men were involved in trafficking drugs between Bali (Indonesia) and Australia. They were caught by the Indonesian authorities and put in prison and ultimately tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. The judicial process took several years and during their time of imprisonment these men became Christians and both worked very hard to improve the lot of their fellow prisoners. They lived as true Christians selflessly sharing and helping as often as they could. Their restlessness was turned into working for others. In spite of the diplomatic protests from the Australian government, there men were executed by a firing squad. Both men accepted their fate and according to witnesses died while singing "Abide with Me".
These restless young men were at peace with themselves and with God. And it wasn't just at death that they found that peace. They had lived their lives in prison with that "rest".
The big picture, take away from this week's lesson is quite possibly that restlessness does not have to turn into rebellion, but can be an opportunity for a new beginning.
That was a great school of thought Sir Maurice.
"restlessness does not have to turn into rebellion, but can be an opportunity for a new beginning."
A touching story indeed. Lord will you find faith in me(despite my restlessness and rebellion) when you come?****sobing****
Why are people restless - according to Maslow their needs are not being met.
He postulated that there is a hierachy of needs, his 5 levels of needs are - physical, security, belonging & love, esteem, transcendence. Basic needs that are not met tend to take more of our attention and energy. For example it is well known that a hungry child struggles at school work thus in my country we have a school feeding program.
How does this apply to the progress of the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land? The LORD rescued them, gave them food and security and offered them love and belonging. However it seemed that they were not satisfied, they did not feel what they deemed were their physical and security needs had been fully met. Thus they were too preoccupied with basic needs to appreciate the love and belonging the LORD was offering them. They needed to learn to trust that the LORD knew what was best for them before they could progress to the higher levels.
In our mission to draw people to Jesus do we recognize the various levels people may be on like Jesus did? He fed and healed them, gave them acceptance, love, belonging, esteem and then taught them about the kingdom and invited them to join Him in it.
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thess 5:18.
Further Thought ~ Restless and Rebellious
Human beings will never be at rest in our physical, spiritual, mental, emotional and social life until we get to know Jesus the source of our rest and peace. The one who provides all things whatsoever....In the Maslow's hierarchy of needs it is said humans will never reach to the top, or be satified when he gets their. Did we ever asked ourselves how the haves, have so much yet he always tries to get more? Check out Solomon in the bible. Did he had rest? What was his conclusion?
Did you know of anyone who checks the fridge and it has all the food one could eat, then check the cupboards which is full then concluded we have nothing to eat in this place/house. Some even go on to order food from outside. What about anyone who has closets/wall droves/drawers/hampers of clothing yet we say we have nothing to wear to church or go to work or cant give to others. In our every day life, are we restless and rebellious against God. To me restless and rebellion can appear in small and subtle ways that Satan blind our eyes to the reality of them.
"Genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures."
Here is a promise that we often think of as Christ giving the power to preform miracles. I do believe it also has the promise that if we allow Christ to work the growth of faith in us. We can through Him resist temptation as He did.
The Promise is:
"I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
John 14:12 AMPC
Did you catch that, steadfastly believe in Christ. Daily prayer and getting into the Scriptures.
Regarding the discussion questions:
1. Simply put, faith = obedience, presumption = unbelief and actions which are contrary to the will of God. Too often self is relied upon rather than seeking to know the will of God on any matter. Many convince themselves that God is not so particular and will overlook their preferences, though contrary to His revealed will. Such reasoning will only lead to failure in the end.
2. For those struggling with forgiveness while experiencing the fallout of their transgression, we could begin by sharing the “exceeding great and precious promises” of God, and show the examples of those who repented, and were accepted of God while the results of their wrongdoing could not be fully undone.
There are two things that come to mind through this lesson of what I desire hopefully with a pure motive: contentment (Philippians 4:11) and the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:6)
Faith will supply both, which comes by "hearing" the word of God(Rom 10:17)!