Faith or Presumption
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Apologetics
- Fiction No
Deut: 1:21-26: Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22: And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23: And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24: And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25: And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
26: Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27-31: And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28: Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 29: Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30: The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31: And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
32-36: Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, 33: Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. 34: And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35: Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
37-39: Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. 38: But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39: Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
40-41: But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 41: Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
42-43: And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. 43: So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
44-46: And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. 45: And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 46: So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
There are many who teach about all the things God wants His people to have and has provided for Them. Many pastors and leaders assure people that they only have to believe and receive. This article is not to come against believing and receiving, for Jesus definitely taught that we can have what we have faith to receive from God. This article is to show the difference between faith and presumption.
The children of Israel did not believe and obey God and go up and take the land--they grumbled against Him and refused to go. Having provoked God’s anger, He told them that because of their rebellion or unbelief they were not going to have the promise land.
Then they were sorry. They wanted the promise land, they just didn’t want to fight the giants to get it. They didn’t want to do the hard stuff. They didn’t want to stick their necks out with nothing more substantial to go on, but God’s word and promise. Then when He said they couldn’t have it, they changed their minds and went to take it. Again they were not in the will of God. He said not to go, yet because He had originally said they were to go, they expected that if they obeyed now, He would let them have what they wanted.
Christians are doing a lot of this today. Here are some examples:
God said not to serve God and mammon, yet many Christians are consumed with earning and spending money with the same vigor as the world. (Matt: 6:24) Then when trouble comes, the leaders assure them that God will take care of them. Some come out of financial difficulty and some don’t. Some were tithing and some weren’t. Leaders think and teach that God is the people’s champion when they are not following His instructions. To depend upon God to take good care of you when you are a disobedient child is presumption and you will not enter the promise land, you will only succeed in dwelling in the land of whatever happens. The damage is the mixed testimonies and results that have caused God’s kingdom to appear to be unstable and incomprehensible.
God said, “You cannot be my disciple unless you forsake all to follow me.” (Lk: 14:33) Yet the congregation is told to witness to others about the good news. Should not we first make sure we have forsaken all before we go out and testify of God’s salvation? Why? Because the result of not living the life and then telling others that God saved your soul, is to confuse the issue and make salvation whatever people want it to be. To think that we are representatives of Jesus without forsaking all is presumption and we will not take the land. Instead we will pollute the waters of life.
God said, “What you sow, you will reap. If you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption. If you sow to the spirit you will reap eternal life.” (Gal: 6: 7-8) Many Christians are sowing to the flesh most of the time and to the spirit a little, yet they are told that they are Christ followers--people of God--the body of Christ. This is presumption; God said you will reap what you sow. Those who choose company that is worldly and who watch things on TV, movies, etc that Jesus died to set us free from, and those who listen to worldly music, etc are told that they are the body of Christ--this is blasphemy. The church that does not care about what they are sowing is presuming to be the church of the lord Jesus Christ. The damage again is very muddied waters. Unclear vision, unclear direction, unclear convictions, and an unclear gospel that goes forth to destroy the Truth of the word.
I’ve already cried out about the church not having on the full armor of God, yet they are told that they are in a safe place. What about what the Bible says about healing? Jesus bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases and by His stripes we were healed. (Isa: 53:5 Amp. V.) Today we are taught to believe for healing and if it doesn’t happen then it wasn’t God’s will. The Bible says He healed His people, but we are taught that He didn’t want this person and that one to have it. This again happened because of the muddied waters--the presumption. People presume that they are in God’s grace when they are not. They have not made Jesus their Lord, but they think that His promises are for them. Yet God said, “If ye are willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” (Isa: 1:19)
This teaching works in any area. If you are doing what God said to do, you can expect to receive what He said you can have. If you are floating along on a raft named God’s grace all that will happen to you is that your life will be spared as long as you stay on the raft. Floating along will not get you into the promise land.
© Sylvia Huffnagle
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huffnagl@verizon.net
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