“and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way” (Proverbs 23:19).

(…continues from part two…)

3)            Allowing alien thoughts in our minds always have psychological effects on us. It dampens our resolve to live up to Divine expectations. So, what did God do to keep Mosaic leadership? God stepped Moses down by taking his voice out of the picture and gave it to his brother, Aaron. Moses did not realize what he was getting himself into when he ignorantly shifted the responsibility of leadership from Jehovah’s shoulder unto the frailty of his own when in puerile exasperation he blurted, “I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me” (Numbers 11:14). A figurative caving under social pressure comes from psychological unpreparedness. What conclusion Moses arrived at underscores how psychologically deficient we are and how too prone to deficiency when people of proven sagacity allow themselves to lean, not on the LORD, but to our weaknesses.

“Moses is dead; arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and the people”

The language of the great Moses shows that he allowed his faith in God to take a beaten failure. Numbers 11:16-17 “And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. 17) And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.” Rather than tell God to strengthen him to overcome his problem, a sagacious Moses wailed like a spoiled infant. He got himself into sharing his leadership influence.

Joshua, no doubt, having learnt from Mosaic frailty, mourning his deceased leader but still had his faith guard intact, and not seeing himself too burdened with his responsibilities, God approached him first with Joshua 1:2 “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.” After telling him of his responsibility, God, giving him the secret that made Moses, told him, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:8). The psychological effects of adhering strictly to the word of God aided Joshua’s ownership of wherever the soles of his feet trod for Israel, the people of the LORD God.

Samson turned away from God’s Word.

The effect of turning a millimeter aside either to the right or to the left from the Scriptural command of God is so psychologically enervating that man becomes very blind, ignorant and insensitive to God’s omnipotence. Any wander off God’s will is the atrocious design of Satanism, with an intent to mock God’s creation. God is never the object of derision when we goof spiritually, the opprobrium is on the perpetrator of faithless act of the victim of Lucifer.

As great an individual Samson was, he lived a life of fatuity and nonchalance. How could he not remember that the One Who caused his locks to begin to grow again is the very One Who proclaimed, 6) “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7) Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7)? The effect of caving in to the dictates of the evil enemy had robbed him of the coolheadedness he needed to believe that God is so merciful and abundant in goodness and truth to not only restore also his eyes; He can return him to Israel to continue to be the Judge that He anointed him to be. Imagine the great wealth of faith experience Samson would have acquired, after his trials, as the Judge.

when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

The psychological effects of becoming terribly poor, during his epic trials, did not turn the eyes of Job away from the One he had believed, neither was Job ashamed. Job was of the persuasion that the Lord God was able save him from the attack of the enemy. Job, so sure of God’s Divine Insurance Company, made the asseveration, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9) On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10) But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:8-10). Job did not end his Godly life in penury. The Bible’s account of Job at the end is, “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13) He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14) And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. 15) And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. 16) After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations” (Job 42:12-16).

To get born again, say, believing every word of it, this prayer:

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”

(Concluded)

Read part two here

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