The heat on the rock

9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.

10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:9-10)

Many times in life, following God can become frustrating. 

Now don't stop reading. I'm not putting the Lord down in any way. I'm talking about from our human perspective. 

You see, we are excited. We receive an unction from the Lord about something and start to obey whatever he has told us to do. In our minds, we picture having a huge impact on people for the kingdom of God. We believe millions will experience closer walks with God, or new walks with God, as a result of our obedience to the Lord's direction. And, who knows? This may eventually happen.

Zerubbabel had received a word from the Lord and a grant from the king to rebuild the house of the Lord. And for a while, everything seemed to go well. They finished the foundation of the house of God pretty quickly. Everyone was excited. 

But, then came the trouble. The enemy found out about what was going on and began mocking and trying to stop the building. When that didn't work, they petitioned the new King to try and stop the work of God. When that didn't work, they began trying to physically attack them.

Ever feel like everything that can go wrong, is going wrong when you're trying to live for God- especially when you're trying to do a work of some kind for God? You look up at heaven and say, "But, Lord, I'm doing what you said. Why is this happening? 

Zerubbabel and the others grew weary. At one point in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 4:10), it says that the people grew tired of the work because of the attacks of the enemy and the lack of building supplies. They had developed a case of "this is hopeless, why are we trying?" So, God sent a prophet to encourage them. 

He told them that the same man that began the work would finish the work. The enemy's attacks would come to nothing. No matter what the enemy would try, God's work would be finished. It's a promise from God written in stone. 

And here's where I wanted to get to today. That stone. 

Do you want to know why things are happening when all you're trying to do is obey God? Do you want to know why God allows it to happen? Doesn't he know how frustrating it is to you? Doesn't he care how upset these attacks make you? I'm tired and I have nearly nothing to work with, Lord!

He sees and he knows.

But, he sees what you cannot see. 

The word plummet comes from two Hebrew words. The first means "Stone." 

Don't lose heart! Because the same rock (stone) you began working with is the same rock (Jesus) that you will work with through the whole process of doing what God's called you to do! In fact, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:!" (Philippians 1:6)

Take heart, if Jesus has given you a mission, he will help you to complete it! 

Now, the second Hebrew word that comes from "plummet" means, "alloy found in ore, mixed with silver which is separated from it by means of fire." You see, a little heat applied to the rock begins to separate the treasure and metal from the rock. 

Scripture says it this way:

 12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4:12-13)

Stay in the fight! The end of the process will be glorious to God and you'll be a part of it.

The reason that the Lord allows us to suffer is that the heat of trouble begins to work in our lives. 

It separates the impurities out of us. Fire is a much greater purifier than water. You can clean with water, but to really get into the nooks and crannies of say, an old iron chair, you gotta put some fire to it. It'll get all the grease, paint, and rust off the iron and allow it to be remolded into a usable and strong iron chair again. God allows fire in our lives to reshape, strengthen, and remold us so we're usable for him again.

The fire brings forth the metal in us that will give us the strength to not only finish the current work he has us doing but to stand firm in the face of the enemy's attacks. And it will work as the basis for beginning other (and more difficult) works that God will ask of us later. 

Furthermore, the heat of tribulation forces us to cling to God even more. This has the effect of bringing out God's treasure in our lives- his fruit. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

These fruits are not our natural human state of being. God knows that unless we learn to trust him and let him live through us, we will never have the fruit he requires in our lives. So, he gives us tasks that he knows we cannot do. 

The enemy sees a weak spot (because we cannot do it) and attacks us. This "turns up the heat" on us. We cling to God even more. This produces God's fruit in our lives that we would never have had before. And God just sits back and smiles at his handiwork in our lives. It's a beautiful treasure to him. 

He sees his love in our lives where we were once selfish and self-absorbed. He sees joy in our hearts. He sees peace in our minds. What once was rough has become gentle. Where we were impatient with people and circumstances, now we're longsuffering. We were once evil in our thoughts and actions, now we become good- looking for and trying to develop goodness in ourselves and others. Once we trusted in no one but ourselves, but now we have faith in him and his people- and in ourselves. We used to be proud and high headed, now we have become meek. Once we gave in to every whim of the flesh, but now we have become temperate (self-controlled). 

This makes it much easier for people to accept a word from God when we need to give it. They look at our lives and see the fruit of the spirit within. They will take what you have to say much more easily because they will know you've been with Jesus. How? Because they see him in you. 

But, without the fire, it would never happen. 

So, follow and obey the Lord in all things. Do what he tells you to do. And don't be surprised, but be thankful, when the heat turns up in your life. It's just God growing a little fruit within you, purifying you, and making you stronger. 

Lord, heat up our rocks and form us into who you want us to be. 

In a desperate world, people need hope.

Romans 8:24

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Colossians 1:27

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Jude 1:22-24

King James Version (KJV)

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

We live in a society gone crazy. To quote one preacher I heard a long time ago, "Right is wrong. Wrong is right. And whatever's grey? Have a happy day!"

Our world doesn't want Jesus. They don't want his word in school, at work, or in our courts. They don't want him mentioned in public, much less prayed to. Most folks don't want to "retain God in their knowledge." (Romans 1:28)

But, ignoring God doesn't change the fact that he is God. Nor does it change the consequences of disobeying him. The word says that we reap what we sew. (Galatians 6:7) So, we naturally, as his word says, begin to reap corruption when we sew to the flesh. (Galatians 6:8)

Amazingly, however, rather than repenting, people begin to look to other sources to solve their problems. They look to harder work. They trade spouses. They get heavily involved in politics.

In fact, I believe the reason folks are offended at the word of God in public places is that it reminds them that all their efforts to solve their own problems are in vain. Without Jesus, there is no hope.

And that is what every law, every new drug, every self help book, every new government program is trying to give people- hope.

Because of our sins, we find ourselves living in hell on earth. Our homes are in shambles. Our government is corrupt. The entertainment that is lifted up is twisted and evil. People are looking for real hope. But where can they find it?

The worlds hope is fleeting and comes with costs that no one wants to pay. What the celebrities push, and the politicians use to gain votes, and the drug dealers and alcohol merchants say will fix what ails us? It's all castles built on sinking sand.

I know and agree that we are to preach and teach against sin. I have no problem with standing against sin. Absolutely, we are to fight against the evils of our day with all our might. But, in our righteous stands, let's not forget one thing:

Those that we are trying to help are living in a hell- right now- on earth.

Deep down, where they really live, they know they're not right with God. They don't have to be told continuously. What they desperately need to know is that there is hope. They need to know the way out of their hog pin. They want out of the sinful seas that are dragging them under and are drowning them.

They need a lifeline. That lifeline of hope is Jesus.

Rather than beat them down all the time, can we not show the love and compassion of God to them? Can we not allow God to use us to reach into their situations and help them? Can we not be the arms of Jesus that reach out to tell them, "I see your sin, but I love you anyway?"

Lord, please give us your eyes, so we can see them the way you do.
                  give us your mind, so we can think of them like you do.
                  give us your strength, to help to lift them out.
                  give us your heart, to love them like you do.
                  give us your feet and hands, to go to them and help.

The only hope that this world has is Jesus. We, his church, are supposed to be Jesus to the world. Yes. Jesus sometimes showed anger and spoke harshly, when the hearer needed it. And we should too when God leads us that way- for he knows the hearts of the hearers.

But, more often than not, he showed them love and compassion and offered them the way of hope to escape the hell of this life. Should we not do the same?