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What if I told you that if you take your eyes off the LORD you
will wind up in a place where you don’t belong? This is not a metaphysical
theory of all my abundant hypotheses, theories, and speculations presented in
this series. This is a truth that has been proven and hammered out by empirical
evidence – our lives. Time and time again experience bears out the reality of
that warning. But what does that exactly mean, taking our eyes off the LORD? It’s
the same idea as a sheep that went astray because it did not keep its eyes on
the shepherd.
But what caused the separation? For the sheep, it had a gut response to greener pastures, but for us humans who were created in the image of God possessing a moral, spiritual, and self-awareness, unlike the sheep, the separation was caused by a choice to disagree with the Shepherd of our souls, not something stimulating impulse. Ours was a rational decision coming from observation and experience. The logic, however, in deciding to deviate from God’s will is not rational; it’s sin, a self-inflicted wound.
We don’t always agree with God’s position or decision in a matter. I truly believe this to be the precursor of why we take our eyes off the LORD, and we wind up in a place where we don’t belong, either motivated by a situation, the death threat in Elijah’s case, or sin’s natural gravitational pull to stray, particularly from stinking thinking. When we take our eyes off the LORD, we’re gone either way to a destination – a place we don’t belong.
But what caused the separation? For the sheep, it had a gut response to greener pastures, but for us humans who were created in the image of God possessing a moral, spiritual, and self-awareness, unlike the sheep, the separation was caused by a choice to disagree with the Shepherd of our souls, not something stimulating impulse. Ours was a rational decision coming from observation and experience. The logic, however, in deciding to deviate from God’s will is not rational; it’s sin, a self-inflicted wound.
We don’t always agree with God’s position or decision in a matter. I truly believe this to be the precursor of why we take our eyes off the LORD, and we wind up in a place where we don’t belong, either motivated by a situation, the death threat in Elijah’s case, or sin’s natural gravitational pull to stray, particularly from stinking thinking. When we take our eyes off the LORD, we’re gone either way to a destination – a place we don’t belong.
The best and safest place in the world is being in
the center of the will of God for our lives even under the imminent threat of death.
In that regard let me give you a couple of non-runners under some very adverse
conditions: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel’s friends) attending
Nebuchadnezzar’s campfire fellowship retreat, and Daniel going spelunking with some very hungry cute and cuddly kitties under the decree of Darius.
Sometimes staying focused on the LORD has to be learned the hard way more times than once, and there are a series of wrong places in our lives due to being a spiritual high-flight risk. Usually, it happens to those who think they know better than God!
Sometimes staying focused on the LORD has to be learned the hard way more times than once, and there are a series of wrong places in our lives due to being a spiritual high-flight risk. Usually, it happens to those who think they know better than God!
For Elijah, I believe the harbinger was God allowing Ahab and
Jezebel, the two-headed snake, to survive the shock and awe against the
prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel after the Northern Kingdom had been buffeted by a
severe famine for 3.5 years. The people saw that the Baal religion was nothing
more than a religious scam. They declared, “The LORD, He is God!” And at least
450 prophets of Baal were put to death. It is possible if Jezebel had been
present that day on Mt Carmel, that her presence alone after the fire came
down from heaven and consumed the altar for Yahweh, may have triggered the
people in seeking the lives of both her and her husband along with the false
prophets; it was obviously not their appointed time to die (cf. Heb 9:27); Elijah
thought differently; they deserved to die immediately. The contention may have been orbiting around the timing of their demise?
Now, think for just a moment about any notion of disagreeing with
God on anything. We know it’s sin. There is no suggestion here that disagreeing
with God is a good substitute for the word sin. But sin is a choice, not an
entity. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.
Getting back to that sinful notion of disagreeing with God, can you imagine
just how ludicrous that idea really is!
We are talking about a temporal and finite
man (us) in disagreement with God who is eternal and infinite, a pea-brain
versus all-knowing! There is no analogy
adequate for the incomparable. He knows everything in eternity past, eternity
present, and eternity future; this is said in a way that is relatable knowing
that tenses of time are irrelevant in eternity. Bluntly speaking, we are in no
position to argue with God Almighty! I rejoice in the fact that we serve a
Romans 8:28 God who is not whimsical and capricious as the gods of Greek
mythology. To coin a phrase, “In God we trust,” is a very good thing.
If we keep our eyes on the LORD we will be in the right place where we belong! Where is belong? It is in the will of God in alignment with the teaching of Scripture; we are in full agreement with His will because we are not in conflict with the teaching of Scripture. Sounding oversimplified? Profound doesn’t always require being complex in nature. When we are in non-conformity with His will (which is always in accordance with the Scripture), we are being disagreeable with Yahweh over something. Ignorance is a major problem in Christianity. His will parallels His Word. How can we know God's will apart from His Word? Well, that's another story. We quit thinking about, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (immediately and completely)” to my will be done on earth as it is on earth (disagreeing with God). We are challenging God’s sovereign right to rule in our affairs or the affairs of others, not a good thing.
If we keep our eyes on the LORD we will be in the right place where we belong! Where is belong? It is in the will of God in alignment with the teaching of Scripture; we are in full agreement with His will because we are not in conflict with the teaching of Scripture. Sounding oversimplified? Profound doesn’t always require being complex in nature. When we are in non-conformity with His will (which is always in accordance with the Scripture), we are being disagreeable with Yahweh over something. Ignorance is a major problem in Christianity. His will parallels His Word. How can we know God's will apart from His Word? Well, that's another story. We quit thinking about, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (immediately and completely)” to my will be done on earth as it is on earth (disagreeing with God). We are challenging God’s sovereign right to rule in our affairs or the affairs of others, not a good thing.
Many things surfaced in this series that reveal we are in a place where we don’t belong; this wasn’t exhaustive by any means and after the fact of taking our eyes off the LORD. What I was interested in was the why. What caused him to take his eyes off the LORD prior to the death threat? Jezy’s “Be my special Valentine's” messenger only revealed to us faith and trust had already been dismantled. The situation provided an easy launch pad for rocketing out of Jezreel. As we had already seen, I think there is a compelling case that Elijah disagreed with Yahweh over allowing Ahab and Jezebel to live. Now Jezebel is threatening his life! What madness is this! Elijah bailed, and Jezebel continued to Baal. This might be the very reason God providentially kept Jezebel at the winter palace during the Come to Jesus Meeting on Mt Carmel?
The value of this series will vary depending on the reader, but I hope that the main takeaway is when we take our eyes off the LORD we wind up in a place where we don’t belong. It is a place that serves no purpose for the glory of God. However, this spiritual optic issue doesn’t alert us to that fact before the damage is done. That is the effect; we need the cause more than just saying the generic word – sin which is theologically correct, by the way.
In my humble opinion, we can give it some kind of generic shape to conceptualize and identify when we are about to sin or take our eyes off the LORD. Whenever you or I begin to disagree with the teaching of Scripture which is our supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice (thinking precedes behavior), for whatever reason or rationale, we will take our eyes off God as sure as the air we are breathing. Taking our eyes off the LORD originates from the heart, and knowing we are entering into a disagreement with God should alert us that we are crossing biblical parameters.
If we don’t realign to the principles of the Scripture before our next step, we are going horizontal in our viewpoint like a tree falling. We need to immediately go and experience a 1 Jn 1:9 event, and thank God for the heads up! This is guarding our hearts. Whenever we sin against the LORD, we are already in disagreement with Him. Eve had already come to a disagreement with God – “I will not die,” chomp; “Then the eyes of both of them were opened” (Gn 3:7). When we take our eyes off the LORD, we see things we didn’t bargain on.
Before leaving, let’s read of Ahab’s demise; he would die in battle.
1Kgs 22:34 “Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, ‘“Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.’”
1 Kgs 22:35 – “The battle increased that day; and the king was
propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood
ran out from the wound onto the floor of the chariot.”
1 Kgs 22:38 – “Then
someone washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria, and the dogs licked up
his blood while the harlots bathed, according to the word of the LORD which He
had spoken” (through Elijah, 1 Kgs 21:17-19).
This is a fitting epitaph for King Ahab.
“But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up” (1 Kgs 21:25).
Now, let’s read of Jezebel’s death; she was thrown out a window and wound up as dog food and dog dung!
“And concerning Jezebel the LORD also spoke, saying, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel’” (Elijah prophesied to Ahab, 1 Kgs 21:23).
2 Kgs 9:32 – “And he [Jehu] looked up at the window (where Jezebel was), and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ So two or three eunuchs looked out at him.”
2 Kgs 9:33 – “Then he said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot.”
2 Kgs 9:34 – “And when he [Jehu] had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, ‘Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's daughter.’”
This is a fitting epitaph for King Ahab.
“But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up” (1 Kgs 21:25).
Now, let’s read of Jezebel’s death; she was thrown out a window and wound up as dog food and dog dung!
“And concerning Jezebel the LORD also spoke, saying, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel’” (Elijah prophesied to Ahab, 1 Kgs 21:23).
2 Kgs 9:32 – “And he [Jehu] looked up at the window (where Jezebel was), and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ So two or three eunuchs looked out at him.”
2 Kgs 9:33 – “Then he said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot.”
2 Kgs 9:34 – “And when he [Jehu] had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, ‘Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's daughter.’”
2 Kgs 9:35 – “So
they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her
hands.” Even the dogs couldn’t stomach the tools used by the devil: the skull,
feet, and hands of Jezebel.
2 Kgs 9:36 – “Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, ‘This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying,’ ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;
2 Kgs 9:37 – “and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse [dog dung] on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, ‘Here lies Jezebel.’” Only her “infamy perpetuates her memory” (G. Campbell Morgan).
As soon as Ahab and Jezebel died both were consigned to a part of Hades for the unconverted, a disembodied state of conscious punishment; they have both been in the torrid environment of torment and terror in hell ever since 853 B.C., currently awaiting the Great White Throne judgment for the eternal sentencing to the lake of fire, the final destination of the wicked, in the future (Rev 20:10, 11-15). When Ahad and Jezebel are thrown into the lake of fire, the demons behind the Baals will be there, too. Won’t that be a reunion!
The lake of fire was never meant to be for humans (cf. Mt 25:41, “prepared for”); it was by personal choice – “I don’t want God in my life,” and anyone dying with such a desire, got or will get their desire to be separated from Yahweh forever. All believers will be there to view the sentencing of both great and small without Christ.
2 Kgs 9:36 – “Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, ‘This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying,’ ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;
2 Kgs 9:37 – “and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse [dog dung] on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, ‘Here lies Jezebel.’” Only her “infamy perpetuates her memory” (G. Campbell Morgan).
As soon as Ahab and Jezebel died both were consigned to a part of Hades for the unconverted, a disembodied state of conscious punishment; they have both been in the torrid environment of torment and terror in hell ever since 853 B.C., currently awaiting the Great White Throne judgment for the eternal sentencing to the lake of fire, the final destination of the wicked, in the future (Rev 20:10, 11-15). When Ahad and Jezebel are thrown into the lake of fire, the demons behind the Baals will be there, too. Won’t that be a reunion!
The lake of fire was never meant to be for humans (cf. Mt 25:41, “prepared for”); it was by personal choice – “I don’t want God in my life,” and anyone dying with such a desire, got or will get their desire to be separated from Yahweh forever. All believers will be there to view the sentencing of both great and small without Christ.
“The
devil and the damned
have punishment without pity,
misery without mercy,
sorrow
without succor,
crying
without comfort,
mischief
without measure,
torments
without end and past imagination.”
– Trapp
I wonder while Elijah was going up to heaven if he thought, but
for a fleeting moment, about the time under the broom tree when he
prayed to God “that he might die” (1 Kgs 19:4)? He had to have smiled and shook
his head saying, “That had to have been the stupidest prayer I had ever prayed!
Thank you, God, for not answering all of my prayers back there when I had taken
my eyes off of You!”
As soon as we find ourselves disagreeing with God, we are at the turning point of taking our eyes off Him. The next step is one of choice. One will take us to a place where we really don’t want to be, a place of burden; the other leads to a place of blessing. If you are at the Horeb Summit now, a place serving no purpose for the glory of God, you can’t be reassigned unless you reengage in His will; you have to agree with Yahweh to do that (1 Jn 1:9). <><
As soon as we find ourselves disagreeing with God, we are at the turning point of taking our eyes off Him. The next step is one of choice. One will take us to a place where we really don’t want to be, a place of burden; the other leads to a place of blessing. If you are at the Horeb Summit now, a place serving no purpose for the glory of God, you can’t be reassigned unless you reengage in His will; you have to agree with Yahweh to do that (1 Jn 1:9). <><
“Turn
your eyes upon Jesus,
Look
full in His wonderful face,
And
the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In
the light of His glory and grace.”
– Helen H. Lemmel, 1922
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