https://youtube/watch?v=3zd1bYIYKLg VEGETABLES AND WATER Janet was getting worried. Her husband and parents had been complaining about the fact that she was very lean. In fact, her mother, Rachel, had asked her to stop coming to visit because nosy, audacious neighbors were asking why her daughter, a married woman, was looking so lean. Was her husband maltreating her? Were things difficult for them financially? Was she sick? Was she not happy in her marriage? Rachel wanted the annoying questions to stop. She knew that Janet’s husband, Ron, was taking very good care of Janet. She also knew that Janet and Ron were doing well financially so there was no question of lack of money for food and other basic necessities. The ‘problem’ was that Janet was constantly fasting, holding vigils and doing a lot of other things in God’s service. Additionally, she had a full-time job. The couple also had young children and, of course, being a mother is another full-time job. When Janet got tired of the complaints from her husband and parents and also the insults from people who looked down on her and disrespected her because to them she looked like she was suffering, she decided to talk to the Lord about the situation. She asked the Lord to tell her if she would ever put on some flesh and stop looking thin. If the answer was ‘no’, He should let her know so that she could condition her mind to get used to the situation and know what to tell her husband, parents and everyone else that asked her what was going on. In response to her question, the Lord took Janet to the King James Version of Exodus 23:25, “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” The Lord asked Janet if she believed that He was able to so bless her food and water that even if she ate just once in seven days because she was serving Him in fasting, prayer, etc. whatever she consumed would accomplish in her the same thing that eating three times every day would do. Janet believed it and told God so. She then went ahead and prayed God to do just that for her. Sure enough, Janet soon began to put on weight without diminishing her commitment to the Lord’s work including the number of days she fasted in a week. Her husband became happy. Her parents began pleading with her to come for a visit. Brethren in Janet’s church, her co-workers, neighbors and several others began to ask for the name of whatever vitamin she was using that was making such a big difference in her. Her answer to everyone that asked was “Exodus 23:25”, and then she would go on to tell them about her discussion with the Lord. This story of Janet brings to mind the story of Daniel recorded in Daniel 1:5-16, “The king also gave orders that every day they were to be given the same food and wine as the members of the royal court. After three years of this training they were to appear before the king. Among those chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah… Daniel made up his mind not to let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him… Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, ‘The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you dont look as fit as the other young men, he may kill me.’ So Daniel went to the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends. ‘Test us for ten days,’ he said. ‘Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look.’ He agreed to let them try it for ten days. When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food. So from then on the guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provided” (GNT) There are very many things that are contending with our desire and efforts to be who God wants us to be. Sometimes we are faced with unsolicited opinions and questions as it happened in the case of Janet. For instance, you are very brilliant and probably have a very good degree from an Ivy League school and a great, well-paying job. Then suddenly the Lord asks you to quit your job, pack up your belongings, sell your beautiful house in the city and move, with your family, to a remote village where God has an assignment for you. And it is very clear that you will be far from the comforts that you are used to. You have no problem with God’s instruction; your spouse is not kicking against it either. However, everybody else thinks you are crazy for obeying that kind of instruction from God. It might be in a different area that God is asking you for a sacrifice which will make you ‘appear lean and poor’ to others. You might be tempted to pay attention to what people are saying and turn your back on God’s will for your life, just like Janet could have decided to stop doing the things God wanted her to do just so that she could look more presentable and respectable before men. However, if you choose, like Janet, to turn deaf ears to the opinions of people around you; if you refuse to allow your own fears to deter you, and you move in the direction in which the Lord is leading you and trust Him to take care of all that concerns you, you will eventually discover that God never leaves His obedient ones high and dry. The way the Lord will visit you may not be dramatic like in Janet’s case. But you need to understand that no matter how ‘lean’ you look on the outside, you are ‘fat and heavy’ on the inside because you are walking in the counsel of the Lord, fulfilling His pleasure. 2nd Corinthians 4:14-18, “We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us, together with you, into His presence. All this is for your sake; and as Gods grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving. For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever” (GNT). Think about the souls (including yours) that will rejoice in eternity because of your present sacrifice. Has God decided that you should consume nothing other than ‘vegetables and water’? Trust Him that that is all you need for now. In His sight you are actually ‘healthier and stronger’ than those who have rejected His will and seem to be enjoying what the prince of this world is offering them. Even if friends/family members have abandoned you because they think you are out of your mind, just stay focused. What God is accomplishing in you and through you is great and will be made manifest in due course. And surely, you will be rewarded for your obedience.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 05:33:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015