YAHWEH'S MOUTHPIECE

This is the final article in this series. You can view all the articles in this series here.

I’ve found joy, peace, grace and favour
I won’t go back, I can’t go back to the way it used to be
Before Your presence came and changed me

Psalm 85:10 “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.” The earlier verses of the chapter were a plea and prayer out of a burdened heart by the Psalmist. “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (verse 6). This was one of the anchor verses for the first article in this series.

Then comes an assurance of God’s favourable response unto His people but not without an instruction to abide and not return to folly.

The people of Israel were always in a cycle of backsliding, repentance, revival and restoration right from the days of their journeying from the land of Egypt. God labelled them a stiffnecked people. In one moment they are repenting and pleading with God for mercy. God hearkens to them and visits them, turning again their captivity. The next moment, they are back to where God just delivered them from. Is that not how many believers are today?

God will always turn to us in favour when we return to him, for He is plenteous in mercy. The mercy of God doesn’t end on this side of eternity but we rob ourselves of the fullness of good and attaining the height and reaching the end God has purposed for us when we constantly go into backsliding.

We are quick to forget where our backsliding took us and how the Lord wrought for us a great deliverance. One reason God instructed the people of Israel to keep the Passover and teach their children not just to observe it, but the significance of it was that they might continually remember, reverence God and serve Him. The Psalmist said, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” We forget the words which God spoke to us, we forget the instructions we received and covenants we had. I have no doubt that following through this series, the word of the Lord would have come to you. Do not forget. When we attend meetings that impact us, we enjoy the euphoria and probably publish posts about it, but weeks later, we don’t seem to remember anymore what happened to us.

Experiences are secured by consecrations. What did you lay on the altar after an encounter with Jehovah? That is what will keep you in remembrance of that experience and help you stay current and connected to Him. Jacob encountered God at Bethel. He wasn’t just awed by the terror of that place. He took that sone and set it up as a pillar, pouring oil on it. There he made a vow unto God and that altar became a landmark experience that God brought him back to. God later instructed him to return to Bethel. He had made consecrations there.

It is not enough to mark and make an altar out of an experience, we must constantly make progress with God as He leads on the journey. Abraham built altars but was constantly on the move. In that process, he secured the land that God had promised to give to his seed. At every instance, there was always a fresh encounter, experience and revelation of God he had. When we stay too long at a place, we begin to experience decay and rot. It doesn’t matter how fresh the water is when it was fetched, if it is kept in a place for long, it becomes corrupt and contaminated. The only way to remain ever fresh is to remain at the life-giving spring of water.

God is not stagnant, He is constantly on the move. If we choose to remain where God has moved from, we lose our signal and connection with God. In short, we lose the life of God. At a time of famine, God was committed to sustaining His prophet, Elijah. He led him to a brook and commissioned ravens to feed him. That wasn’t going to be forever. The brook dried up and He was instructed to move. When we fail to move as God has moved, we in no time experience dryness and drought. Not even in a world that is ever-changing and updating will we remain at a point and expect to be ever relevant. God takes us day by day into new experiences of Him. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out” (Romans 1:33). If we stay with God closely and journey with Him, we will discover that there is more in Him than we could ever discover.

I should also say that revival is beyond coming to a meeting and having a revelation of God. The endpoint on the heart of God is that the earth be filled with the knowledge of His glory. This is what God said unto Moses, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice..”

Here we see the possibility of seeing the glory of God, but not coming to the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. So our prayers should go beyond that we may see God’s glory, to that we may know His glory. All of Israel saw the fire on the mountain, the thundering, the lightning and the thick cloud that covered it, but only Moses dared to enter into the mount. From that point on, there was a clear distinction between Moses and all of Israel. “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7)

Jesus said, John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” When we move from God-sufficiency to self-sufficiency, we sooner than we think come to the realization that we can of our own selves do nothing. As the branch that is disconnected from the vine begins to whither, so do God’s people who do not abide in him. We then begin to tell stories and the historical experiences we’ve had which we cannot in any way be substantiated by the current reality of our experiences.

In Psalm 137:1, we find a tale there. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” Zion ought to be the place of our perpetual dwelling, but once iniquity and sin enter in we are dislocated from our place and begin to tell tales in Babylon of experiences we had in Zion. I choose to always have a present and current experience of the beauty and glory of Zion perpetually.

Lord, we thank You because have stirred up our hearts through Your word which You have communicated to us. We want revival indeed, in our lives and across our lands and the earth. Show us Your mercy, speak peace unto us bring us into the knowledge of Your glory and we will not turn again to folly. Keep us abiding in You and may we keep pressing for more of You till we and the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Amen.