Welcome back to The Road2Wholeness
Blog! I hope you’re enjoying Life of LAB
2018. This is Blog 3 of
7. This blog is titled Decks vs.
Road. If it sounds familiar, you may be
thinking of our Free Online Novel
Series, The Decks and the Road. Please do keep following the series and prepare for the
last book “Renegotiating Kaylin” coming February 2019.
The idea for this blog came recently as I was reading from
the Word. I came to the story of two
prophets. The story is found in 1 Kings
chapter 13. A man of God traveled from
Judah to Bethel to deliver a word from God to King Jeroboam. The man speaks a word against the altar at
Bethel. His word is not received well by
the king, and the king stretches out his hand to seize the prophet. As he does, his hand shrivels up so that he
could not pull it back. The king says to
the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand
may be restored.” The prophet does, and
the King’s hand was restored. Also the
altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by
the man of God.
Later, the king invites the man to his home to eat, and
offers a gift, but the man of God refuses.
He replies, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would
not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the Lord:
‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” So he took another road and did not return by
the way he had come to Bethel.
As the man of God continues on his journey, a lion meets him
on the road and kills him. His body was
left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside
it. The lion had not eaten the body nor
mauled the donkey.
This is an interesting story and my spirit tells me there’s
a lot more to uncover than what will be shared here today. I should add that once the old prophet gets
the word that the man was killed he recovers the body and buries it. He then orders his sons to bury him beside
the man of God when he dies.
Okay, what just happened?
A lot! First, how is
it that a man who has seen the word of the Lord in such bold action, falls for
such a trick. Such are the decks. The decks are tricky, yet the road is
clear. For the law, God sent grace, but
for instruction, often times, there is only consequences. My first thought is damn. When reading the Old Testament, I must admit,
I’m often hurt by the lack of grace, and it always reminds me to appreciate
what the Lord Jesus has done.
Here, I’m left with many questions. Questions like, should God have taken into
consideration the fact that the man lied?
Secondly, why did God give such a certained word to this man who lied
and claimed to have gotten a word from an angel of the Lord? Perhaps the old prophet was only repeating
what he already knew by the same word the man of God had shared. Or did God figure, since you have taken this
man’s word over my direct command, then I’ll send the confirmation of my word
through this same man. Who knows, but
the man of God is killed and the old prophet orders that his body should rest beside him
at his death.
Could this be a strategically planned case of stolen
identity? Is the old prophet seeking to
share in the fame of the man of God who comes from Judah and shows that the
Lord is with him? Questions, questions…
but what can we learn?
First, God shows that the word of God is true, and the word
says, “A double minded person is wicked in all their ways.” One of the reasons why God promised to scatter
the chosen people and subject them to a ruthless ruler was because they had
witnessed so much of God’s power and had still been rebellious. Second, where was this prophet to go from there? What use or power or credibility would his
word have after he himself defies God’s command? How was he to bring the commands of God to
the people of God? And what strength
would God’s word have if he’d allowed this man to live? Not to mention, God would suddenly become a
partial God.
This is the truth about life without grace. It’s brutal.
And in the case of grace, for the same reason, it had to be made
available to all. Thus there is a road for the people of God who stumble. The road remains narrow. The road remains telling, but the road leads
to life. And also true to the word of
God that grants free will, there will always be the decks. With the decks however, a liar may disguise
himself as a prophet and without the commands and wisdom of God, the game of
where you’ll end up is not very telling.
So in the story of the decks and the road, if there’s anything
to compare and contrast; it’s certainty and question. The man of God had the certainty of God’s
word and chose to play it against the word of a stranger, and yet, in the story
of the decks and the road, stranger things have happened.
Remember to go within that you may never go without. The God within you awaits you. Until our paths collide again, I wish you... Peace, Love, Life, and Complete Wholeness in Christ. Join us tomorrow for day 4 of Life of LAB.
In Service,
NaTisha Renee Williams
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