After my last devotional, one of my dear readers, made the following comment and asked a couple of very good questions:
“Oh wow, that was intense. Could feel the intensity of this devotion, started crying as I read it. Why do some see and others do not? Why do some see when they are further away from the scene than those up close? Why does God burden some who would rather not be burdened and just love on Him, get to see? Is seeing a privilege when it hurts so much to see?
This devotional is my humble attempt to answer some of those questions.
It is a very difficult place to be when you see something that others don’t see especially when it is not a good news about a situation. It requires wisdom and patience to know how to navigate through this delicate situation.
In this devotional, I would like to concentrate on those who see, but are not in authority over people. These could be watchmen in the house, discerning people, prophetic people, or a whole host of other types of people who listen to God speak or see God lead in a certain direction.
Many times we pray for God’s revelation, but we should also think about once God gives revelation or interpretation of something, how do we administer it appropriately? Fortunately for us, the scripture has many examples of this.
In Genesis we read the account of Joseph and how God gave him a couple of big dreams. It wasn’t Joseph’s fault that he had the dream, so he shared what he saw with his father and his brothers. No one took it very well including his own father who loved him more than all the others. The dream wasn’t received well because his family thought he was thinking too highly of himself (Genesis 37)!!
In Esther’s situation, both Esther and Mordecai saw that Haman was the true enemy who is trying to annihilate the Jews, but they couldn’t just go directly and tell that to the king. They fasted, prayed, and God gave a strategy to Esther on how to present the truth to the king. It wasn’t an emotional reaction to the fear of getting killed by Haman. It was a prayerful, calm, calculated decision that could save her life as well as the other Jews. She still had to risk her life by going to the king uninvited (Esther 4 -6)
“ Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.”(Ezekiel 3:16-19)
In Ezekiel’s situation God spoke very directly telling him that he expects Ezekiel to speak what the Lord is asking him to speak to the Israelites. If he didn’t their blood would be on his hands, but if he did and they didn’t listen, they would be responsible for what they had heard.
Here are some things we need to think about as the messengers of God:
Have the right expectation as a messenger- If we are going to be successful in our ministry to the Lord and others, we must let go of the expectation of being heard, appreciated, or having the message implemented. There is no place in the scripture where God gives a guarantee to his people that if they do the right thing, things will change right away. There are times that those who are called to be watchmen will see more than what the Lord wants shared. There is also the possibility that once the message is shared, it doesn’t get a positive response, and may even raise criticism or hostility.
The question is not how many people agree with the message, but does God confirm it? If we truly are going to be followers of Christ, we need to do everything to please Him. It means over time, the fear of rejection of man must decrease, and being content with God’s affirmation alone must increase!!!
The heart of the Messenger must remain pure– Things take time and it is important to stay humble, teachable, and changeable. If we stay in the right place with the Lord, He will show us if there is an adjustment that we need to make. If God has not placed us in the position of authority, then we are not responsible for the message to be heard, received, or implemented. We are responsible to share the message with respect, honor, and love, to deliver it to those who need to hear it. Then we need to wash our hands and walk away from it. We can pray that God would accomplish his purpose through it. Then we go about our business praising God, knowing we have been obedient to the Lord. We also need to keep our hearts pure. This is not a easy thing to do, but it is an important step in our development process.
Recognize God will protect His interests- We need to remind ourselves of Romans 8:28,
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. that God will work everything for good of those who love him who are called by His name.”
Joseph learned that his dreams weren’t a mistake while it took years before God fulfilled the dreams He had given him. Esther was able to save the people because of her patience and wisdom on how to go about delivering the message and in the process risking her life. Ezekiel faithfully shared what God had asked him to share without the guarantee that people would listen to him. The Lord cares about the message and the messenger. He will not allow His interests to be trampled on, even when it looks like a defeat for a time period. Just think about the cross and how it looked like a defeat to God’s plan, but the enemy had underestimated God!!
The Messenger grows in his/her calling- There will always be situations that what we see others don’t see yet. There will be times of seemingly defeat, when we feel like quitting, but if we hang on, keep the right attitude, and trust God, the Lord will stretch and grow us in our gifting and calling. That means we don’t run from giving a message even if it isn’t received or appreciated. We don’t back down from what we have seen or heard. We don’t apologize for it. We also can’t take things personally; we’re just a messenger. We must stay humble and keep doing life as we used to, allowing God to use time to bring clarity to what needs attention. This teaches us to be secure in Christ. We must recognize that if we have delivered the message faithfully, whether there is a change or not, we have not compromised in our walk with God. We are not responsible for others doing their part.
God is trusting the messenger- While at times it may not feel that way, it is a privilege when God trusts us by sharing a message. The trust gives us the stewardship of delivering the message faithfully which causes a great burden sometimes. We need to learn how to carry this burden without allowing it to crush us because that is not God’s will for us. I have personally observed that those who have labored through a certain burden over a period of time, have a greater maturity in their gift and a greater clarity in what they see because they have paid a price for it!! God rewards our faithfulness, and at the end of the day it makes it all worth it!!
Think about a situation that God shared a message that was not easy to deliver. How would you administer the message today?