Mar 2:21  No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.

 

Many times we can “revert” or “adapt” in an uncomfortable or an impossible situation.  We tend to revert back to what we have been taught or lean to the teaching of quick fixes.   Even if it didn’t work when we learned it, we revert to it because it is so engrained into us.  It is comfortable to us.  Or we try a way that sounds too good to be true… and it always is.

 

I think of the years that we spent trying to sell our house in North Carolina after the housing market crashed.  We tried everything to no avail and were so very frustrated.  Someone told us that there was an “easy fix”.  They told us that all we had to do was take a statue of  St. Anthony and bury him in  our backyard, upside down – and in a short time, the house would sell.

 

At the same time,  another friend who was actually DOING this and finding no success got into a discussion with a group of friends that were with me watching a football game.  A third friend listening intently piped up and said,  “Well,  there’s your problem.  You have been burying St. Anthony instead of St. Joseph.  That is of course why it’s not working.  And good luck now, finding anything that you’ve lost because you just buried the patron saint of lost causes.”

 

I sit and marvel at all the quick fixes that are absolutely ridiculous.  It’s kind of like the commercial where people are doing strange superstitious things so their football team will win the game.  The tag line is:  “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.”

 

As I Christian,  I must say… It’s ALWAYS weird, win OR lose.  It’s like these people become marionettes with strings pulled by the enemy to make God’s powerful creation look like monkeys.  And, thus their teaching on evolution appears eerily on point.

 

We have got to be Christians of the Word.  Not the world.  God’s word tells us that we need to be obedient and willing.  If we are… we shall eat the good of the land.  (Isaiah 1:19)

 

God told us to ask.  (John 14:13) Ask Him what to do in the critical situation.  Don’t ask Him to bless what YOU’VE come up with as a solution. Don’t just react to circumstance by what has made you feel comfortable in the past.  Don’t react because of what you have learned in the past.   In other words…  for each NEW circumstance, there is a NEW solution.  It’s kind of like the reverse of the opening scripture.  If you apply a worn out idea to a new problem, it will make the problem worse…  or let me say it another way.  If you use your “new and great idea” on an old problem… again, it will become worse.

 

Moses was a man trained in Egypt.  He was brought up knowing NO manual labor because he was royalty.  When he wanted something,  he called for it,  and when it didn’t come – he used force to get it.  Some royalty is like a spoiled child that stomps his feet and beats the dog when he can’t get his own way.

 

Moses,  was in the desert,  surrounded by many whining complainers who were very thirsty.  God had instructed Moses to “speak” to the rock and that rock would bring forth water.  Speak to the ground that it would release a well of water.   Even the smartest of people know that when you need water in a desert place, you have to strike the ground.  Psalm 84 tells you to “Dig a well”.

 

Moses got frustrated with the criticism and gave in to his comfort zone.  He became royalty all over again, and reverted to what he learned as a child.  If you can’t get what you want, use force.  I mean, the people are already mocking him because there is no water and he hadn’t led them to a decent place where water was abundant.  People started calling him a poor leader, inadequate,  uninsightful,  “wrong-way Moses” who couldn’t lead them to water, much less a promised land. 

 

Nobody identified who their God was.  Moses, in a panic, struck the rock that was moist.  Twice.   You can read the account here:

 

Num 20:4  And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

Num 20:5  And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.

Num 20:6  And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.

Num 20:7  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Num 20:8  Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

Num 20:9  And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

Num 20:10  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

Num 20:11  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

Num 20:12  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 

 

We can not “revert” as a dare from the enemy or when we are under duress.  We can not blindly start tossing forth scripture like a machine gun – spraying the ammunition everywhere hoping we will hit something.  We need to learn how to follow the recipe for each critical situation… decently.  In order.  Line upon line.  Precept upon precept.  Here a little.  There a little. (Isaiah 28:13)

 

• Stop.        This means stop walking, stop talking.  BE STILL.
• Listen.  You don’t have to describe the      situation, you don’t have to call 100 of the top American evangelists to      pray for you.  You just have to be      still and listen.
• He will put forth a solution.  He may tell you to speak a word.  He may tell you to stand still.  He might tell you to be quiet.  He may tell you to rub your head three      times,  push your belly out and      shout, “HMMMM”.  Whatever He tells      you to do… listen carefully.
• After and only after listening… DO      exactly what He told you.
• When is seems like it’s not working…      BE PATIENT.  Let Him Work His Plan.

 

 

And finally…. To those who say… I’ve done what God told me to do, and still – NOTHING!!!   I have just one word to tell you.   The water will come.

 

The water, Moses… will come IF you did what you were supposed to do and IF you respect the timing of the Lord.  Read that sentence again you Moses’ out there who are waiting for water.

 

Don’t revert back to what you did before.  Don’t revert to the world’s great ideas.  Don’t lean to your own understanding.  And DON’T LET WHO YOU WERE YESTERDAY DEFINE WHO YOU ARE TODAY.  You are a part of a higher royalty that needs not use force to secure your blessing.

 

And an “oh, by the way”.  Should you hear God’s answer,  think it’s ridiculous, and do it your own way…  you just MIGHT get water the old fashioned way.  Go ahead and get your blessings outside the word of God and outside of the boundaries He set up. 

 

Of course, consider Moses, who was then disqualified from participating in the bigger picture and the promise of a new land where you couldn’t use sticks and stones to knock down Jericho’s walls.  God was trying to teach a spoken word ministry which was the perfect tool for the problems in the promised land.

 

Have you been banging your head against a door that won’t open?  This is a new door and a new lock…  get a new key.

 

Lam 3:22-23  It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

 

Pro 3:5-8  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

 

Worship with me today:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70&list=PLWtYAWkxYrSNhjAj8iIGIGqNp0BH0IHM7