WALKING WITH YHWH
(Reprint From MySpace Blog Post Sept. 2007)
Well my Friends…again, by popular demand, I take another Walk with YHWH however today I must admit I feel a tad under the weather (yet it is beautiful out today) .
I suppose my first lesson today is that to walk with YHWH is not to always FEEL like going for a walk. Sometimes when we feel tired we have difficulty letting YHWH take control and lead us because we by nature are selfish.
“My Son, “ Came YHWH’s familiar inner voice, “I know that today you do not feel like walking and I realize that you would much rather simply go back to sleep…. But people must be made aware of a few things and by sacrificing your desires I will show you some things in this world they need to hear. You have selected wisely by doing my will over your own and though tired I will give you the strength you need.”
On each walk I never know exactly where I am to go. The foremost rule of these walks is to just place one foot in front of another by Faith and not even consider where I am stepping next nor what YHWH might say… To remain open is quite tough at times since my own thoughts will sometimes drift or I will try to decide for YHWH what He will say… this is not the way it works and the message always ends up being different than anything I preconceive,,, as it should be.
I ended up in an area I rarely step and had to cross a place where a building had recently been torn apart to make room for who knows what.
“My Son, look at what you see…a pile of rubble that once was a building of purpose. Realize that this building was once a business and that people worked here yet now it is just a pile of junk. Do you remember what it was?”
I stopped and considered this question… No, I could not recall.
“See? “ continued YHWH, “You do not know what was here and likewise the world has again and again rebuilt itself. One important thing destroyed with another important thing rebuilt…. Yet how important could each have been?…Each rebuilding must seem just as important as the last and thus has man forgotten what is important.”
Huh? I thought… That sounded wise but what was the point?
“EXACTLY!” came YHWH’s response, “The point is that what is important one moment to man changes rapidly but let me say that what is important to ME stays the same. Man bases his world on the need to reassess and change so rapidly that he hardly considers what has import.. No, he thinks his next idea is the idea that will make him rich, famous or satisfied…yet, man is NEVER satisfied.”
I walked further and came to a road where several auto dealerships line up end to end. In fact, Beaverton, Oregon is almost one big Automobile market. It almost seems sometimes that the minute they break down one business a new car dealership rises in it’s place.
“My Son, How many cars does a man truly need?” Questioned My Father.
I answered that perhaps only a single car was needed by most people.
I was surprised a bit by YHWH’s response when He announced “No, man NEEDS no cars… Man WANTS cars but what man simply needs is a way to get from one place to another“.
“Man often confuses ‘need” and ‘want” and let me get this straight. I am not a God who provides to man simply what he wants… I provide what man needs… beyond that I often allow man to gain what he wants but I have found that man teaches a wrong thinking that somehow I bless their wantonness… no, I bless their needs only… beyond that only shows selfish ambition and hedonism. This selfishness only becomes a curse yet they curse Me when they lose what I never gave them as though they deserved better than another man.”
Taking on what I do I have lost far more than I have gained by human standards. Although I have a background of someone who is capable of high income in well paying fields that offer social status and glamour I chose to do what I do without so much as placing my full name or image before men.
I make no money from sharing God’s words and I am not to even ask for funding. Sometimes this effects me because when I go out I see just how many cool things are available if I had money,, yet, I have been asked pretty much to maintain a vow of poverty.
“What men think they own” says YHWH “often only owns them.”
Still, like any human being I sometimes wish I could buy things I wanted but have found great joy in remaining true to my Father over my own desires for wealth or fame.
“Commercialism is a disease”, Said my Father, “ People feel that they must buy whatever they desire and yet are never satisfied. The wealthier the man the more society owns him for he must continue to upgrade, update and add-to all the things he acquires. Each step upward only leads to needing more and yet…like the building you saw…all things eventually end up rubble, so what has he gained?”
Obviously man gains little by acquiring STUFF. I remembered that when I made the most money and had the most “stuff” I likewise found it harder to keep up and it was the debts that were produced by seeking what I wanted that eventually made me fall for once the method of keeping the flow of income was removed the stuff I had became more of a problem than a solution and what I gained..I lost quickly.
God opened my eyes to all the businesses and what they offered.
“How much of what you see is actually NEEDED?” He asked.
I looked all around and realized that since all that is really needed is food and shelter that all the rest was being promoted to make me WANT what I really did not NEED.
Then God reminded me of a special I had watched on TV last night called “Tupok Resurrection” . The show was about the Rapper Tupoc Shakir and showed his concern for the people he had grown up with in the Projects. I will not say he lived a guilt free life and certainly he did much that God felt did not keep in step with what He believed. HOWEVER to judge this young man harshly for what he was trying to do to educate people about the inner-city conditions is to be ill-informed regarding the reasons that gangs do the things they do.
Poverty at the level lived by all too many people drives men to become almost animal in their behavior. Gangs are often joined to avoid death and have a place to belong in a place no one belongs. Middle America lives in fear of Gangs and yet for some who have no family and no opportunities for success… tell me this.. What choice is there? These people cannot even get jobs at McDonalds and the lure of big money leads many to take and sell drugs to eliminate the pain and provide for a family hardly able to meet the basic needs.
Middle America and the wealthy can complain all they wish and send more police to keep things in some limited order but until they can figure out how to provide opportunity where there is none perhaps these people should judge less and do more. These problems are the result of desperation created by a society that values greed over need and if the Christian church would do what it was called to it would first help these people and then debate over which denomination has God’s favor.
“My Son” said God as we made our way back home,” When you write tell my people to stop changing cars each year and stop complaining when they do not get what they WANT… Tell them rather to buy the basics and live on simplicity that they might provide unselfishly to those who have greater need than themselves.”
“Explain to them that those who have NEED are more important to provide for than a church building fund. Until they can find a cure they must stop complaining and offer a solution. Tell them to realize that there is a day of great balancing coming very soon in which those without shall be given more and those who have much shall lose that which they have. To ‘feed my sheep’ means more than providing spiritual teachings…it means actually feeding the hungry for empty stomachs must be first given sustenance for the spirit to receive it’s food.”
BE LOVE & BE LOVED!
