God's Will, Who Can Know It?
Jeremiah 17; Revelation 2
[13] O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee, shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. [14] Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be whole: save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
Jeremiah 17:13-14 GNV
It is only right that as I write down my meditative thoughts on God's will that also I must remember that God has free reign to examine my own heart. Of course He can, after all, He can do anything He wants, but His desire is that He wants us to want Him to do exactly that all the time. He wants us to want Him... Sounds simple enough.
Me: Why bring this up now God? I'm already writing about how you have stepped in to correct me.
God: Just write this down. There is much that you yourself needs to remember. After all when you meditate, often enough it is to let Me show your failures too. Others need to allow themselves to be open and vunerable to me the same way to know being open to Me brings proof to what My Son Jesus said:
[17] For God sent not his Son into the world, that he should condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. [18] He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of that only begotten Son of God.
John 3:17-18 GNV
Being open to God doesn't mean inviting Him to condemn us, but that He might work in our lives to purify us.
So what is it that God wants me to write about right here?
Many years ago I built a very solid heavy duty box to use as an object lesson for teaching children some Scriptural truths. On the outside it looks like a big, yet not a big deal box made out of 3/4” plywood. The front has a door. And the door has no outside handle. It must be opened from the inside. This comes from Revelation 3. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open the door..." Yes, God could force Himself in, but He doesn't. He has given us free choice. It is His desire that we choose to open our hearts to Him, our lives to Him. There is no door latch or door knob, we must be willing to open the door from the inside.
But once I opened that door, or in this case opened the front panel of this box there was only an empty wallpapered room, nothing else. As I showed an empty, but very clean room it reminded me of the person who had demons cast out, emptied of all that is wrong inside. As Jesus taught:
[43] Now when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh throughout dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. [44] Then he saith, I will return into mine house from whence I came: and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. [45] Then he goeth, and taketh unto him seven other spirits worse then himself, and they enter in, and dwell there: and the end of that man is worse then the beginning. Even so shall it be with this wicked generation.
Matthew 12:43-45 GNV
To often we are satisfied to have evil gone out of our lives, but then we just have ourselves clean and looking good. It isn't that we don't have room for Jesus in our lives. We think our good is sufficient. We don't invite Him into our lives. The evil spirit that has gone out comes back and finds it nice and clean, go and gets seven other evil spirits worse than itself, and so that life instead of nice and clean is so much worse than when one wicked spirit was there alone. We cannot just clean up our lives, we need Jesus Christ in our life.
At this time I open up a third panel in my wooden box. This last panel has an area painted in the traditional shape of a heart. While all around it is plain plywood the heart itself is red with black lines drawn as being a house plan, living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, even closets. Why so elaborate? As an object lesson it is important to have some details that make it very applicable to our lives. We may let Jesus come into our lives, but do we let Him only into our "living room"? How about the kitchen of our lives to determine what we eat, fill our lives? What about the secret areas of our bedrooms, even all that we shove or hide in our closets or under our beds? Does He have access to the entirety of our lives? Do we want, as He desires, to set open to Him all of our life?
I see now Lord why you wanted me to write that out. It fits into what You were using tonight's strange dream (been having them all week), the verse for the day, Jeremiah 17:7, to open up all of Jeremiah 17 to contrast the desperately wicked heart to the person who has God as his praise. All to often our lives, well, my life gets filled in so many things, with so many things, This isn't the full and running over life as described in Luke 6;38, but just so much squeezes in on you, the daily time in God's Word, the blessings of being married, but also the responsibilities, much extra time required at work, time for children and grandchildren, and, oh yes, the meditation journal for the week... and "can't I have just some time alone to myself"? And then the Lord brings to mind:
[2] I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear with them which are euil, and hast examined them which say they are Apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars. [3] And thou wast burdened, and hast patience, and for my Names sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. [4] Nevertheles, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. [5] Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works: or else I will come against thee shortly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou amend.
Revelation 2:2-5 GNV
Looking back at Jeremiah 17 the contrast is just as stark.
[7] Blessed be the man, that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
Jeremiah 17:7 GNV
Then...
[9] The heart is deceitful and wicked above all things, who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9 GNV
And then returning to...
[14] Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be whole: save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14 GNV
This night's dream of running away of necessity had me consider that while meditating on the will of God I myself needed my own heart checked to recognize that in all my busyness for God in godly pursuits and selfish pursuits that I needed to repent and return to my first love, Jesus Christ.