November 2003

HINDS’ FEET IN HIGH PLACES

Part 19

“He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,
and sets me on my high places!”

(2 Sa 22:34)

       What happens when men insist on taking their lives into their own hands, calling themselves masters of their own fate? And what happens when these men purport themselves to be “believers” in Christ? They may honor Him as Lord with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him! (Mk 7:6) They do not behave as a people overcome by Grace! They do not offer Him the deference of slave to Master- yet that is the meaning of, “Lord”! They may acknowledge Him as Creator; they may confess Him as Savior; they may even address Him as Father; but they dare not call Him, Lord, till they are ready to totally subjugate themselves to Christ- as a willing prisoner of Love! This is what a title Paul felt privileged to call himself, [See: Eph 3:1; 4:1; 2 Ti 1:8; Phm 1, 9] A love-slave is one with no will of his own! His Master’s slightest wish is his command! He even tries to anticipate his Master’s need before it is spoken forth!
        A slave is the living reflection of his master’s life! As a faithful servant, he is worth his weight in gold to his master, but also, in Scripture, a devoted slave is often promoted to the rank of overseer, or sometimes, is even given the affection and elevated status reserved for a son- especially if his master has no natural son of his own. They who cannot utterly yield to God’s sovereign Will can never call Him, King! Have you ever wondered why residents of a king’s domain are called his “subjects”? The Dict. says the root for subject lit. means: “To throw under” (as to hurl something under the wheels of a moving vehicle)! It is then defined: “To owe allegiance and obedience to the power or dominion of another.” It also means: “A vassal [Dict root: “servant; or anyone who is under the protection of his lord or anyone to whom he has vowed homage and faithfulness; one who is in a subordinate position, or is set under another’s authority or control or is subservient to a monarch and his laws!!”
        These lowly depictions don’t sound like joyful residents of the “high places”, but they are! For it is only when we humble ourselves that we become the animate expression of the Living God!
        You must realize “Your body is the Temple (dwelling place) of the Holy Spirit which is from God! YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR OWN; YOU WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE! Therefore, glorify God in you body and spirit- for these are both God’s!!” (1 Co 6:19-20)
        A seducing spirit has entered organized religion to intoxicate its people with the heady wine of self-righteousness! It has filled empty heads with “knowledge that puffs up, instead of with love that edifies”! (1 Co 8:1) It deifies “man’s will” over God’s Will; elevates “man’s choice” higher than God’s choice; and supplants Divine Interpretation of Scripture with“man’s interpretation”! What a sad state of affairs!
        Consider the consequences when Adam and Eve took their fate- and that of their posterity- into their own hands- producing a mixed seed of good and evil in their firstborn, Cain and Abel!! As we know, the good fell victim to the evil! And what came from Abram and Sarai taking their fate into their own hands- making Hagar a surrogate mother to a “natural heir”, called “Ishmael”, who would later despise the chosen son, Isaac, who was born from the “anointed union” of Abraham and Sarah; but also he would become the father of many tribes who would war against Israel- even today! And what of Lot and his family who were rescued by angels from Sodom and Gomorrah? Lot’s wife disobeyed and looked back at the destruction of those wicked cities and was turned into a pillar of salt! Then Lot’s two daughters despaired of ever having marital relations, so they plotted to get their father drunk and sleep with him- and by him, beget incestuous sons named: Ben-ammi, the father of all Ammonites, and Moab, the father of all Moabites! These two warring nations beset Israel for generations! What became of these two? “The Lord of hosts and God of Israel has said, As I live, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon shall be as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles and salt-pits and a perpetual desolation: and the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.!” (Zeph 2:9)

“Here was the burden of Moab. Because Ar of Moab was laid waste
and brought to silence during the night; and because Kir of Moab
was laid waste and brought to silence during the night; Moab has
gone up to the high places of Bajith and Dibon to weep!! He will
howl over Nebo and Medeba; and baldness shall be on all their
heads. Their beards will be cut off and they will gird themselves
with sackcloth in their streets and on the tops of their houses!
Everyone will howl with abundant weeping in their streets.” (Isa 15:1-3)

      These “high places” that once received sacrifices to idols, was now a location for weeping! Sooner or later, a man’s sins must catch up with him, and for Moab, this was the hour of reckoning.
        God will not permit the carnal mind to vaunt itself indefinitely. His Righteous Judgment eventually supplants the natural man’s foolish judgment when “The Truth shall make us free!” (Jn 8:32)

[TO BE CONTINUED]