A minister in the local paper had the following in his weekly commentary:

A small town pastor called on one of his older men to pray in a worship service.

“Lord, I don’t like buttermilk,” the old man began. “Lord, I don’t like lard; Lord I don’t like plain flour. But when they’re mixed together and baked in a hot oven, they sure do make tasty biscuits, and I just love biscuits. Please, Lord, help us to realize that, when we face things we don’t like in life, we need to wait and see what You’re making. After You get finished mixing and baking, it’ll probably be something even better than biscuits. Amen.”

Is this not how life is for the Christian? With all the ups and downs of life, we so often fail to see what God is doing with us and for us. We want the biscuits … right now. We want there to always be biscuits, but in the kitchen, the ingredients have to be mixed together first, and then heated in the oven.

As a Christian, we struggle with the curve balls life throws at us. Most certainly when struggles come upon us and the heat of the hot oven saps our strength, we cry out in despair. We want everything “fixed” post-haste. We want biscuits now.

None of us are exempt from trials. The Bible says, “…  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)

It is just as true that evil comes upon us all, the just and the unjust. There is so much suffering in the world, and Christians, as I have already stated, are not exempt. Whether it is medical problems, financial problems, addictions, bullying, censorship, divorce, death, persecutions, ridicule, and on and on and on, life has a whole volley of not so nice surprises to throw at us.

If we are not having problems, I’m sure we know of several among our own circle of family and friends who are, and there are many of whom we are not aware. Sooner or later, we will join others in having a lousy day.

Jesus said to us all when He left this earth that He would send the Comforter. Every Christian has the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, living within them. I am of the opinion that the Holy Spirit is truly a Comforter, in the truest sense of the word. He guides our eyes to look upon Jesus and to glorify Him in our lives. He leads us to the Father in prayer, which by the way, has been made possible by Jesus. We, as a child of God, can be comforted in our trials if we allow the Comforter to do in us what He was sent to do. What was He sent to do? He was sent to glorify Jesus Christ through us.

When I was in grade school (we called it “grade” school back then) the nurses would come to the schools occasionally to give all the students shots. I never did mind receiving a shot, but I recall a few others that were terrified. There was one girl in particular the nurses had to chase down the hall in order to give her the shot she needed. I quickly discovered that when the nurse gave me my shot, I hardly felt it if I looked at something in the room and concentrated on that object.

That same principle holds true for the Christian. There are times in life we are going to get a shot, but if we keep our eyes and our minds fixated upon Jesus, He will help us get through the hard times.

I have watched some Christians who seemed to always have a good day, and yet I knew they were suffering. Sadly, I’ve seen other Christians who were always having a bad day. What is the difference between the two? One kept their eyes on Jesus. The other was watching the needle penetrate their skin.

Believe me, I am not making light of anyone’s suffering. No sane person desires to suffer from anything. I know I don’t like the battering rams of life, but we all must eventually face it. How we face it, will determine how we progress through it. I am convinced by God’s Word, the smart ones will be fixated upon Jesus and not the problem. That doesn’t mean we ignore it. It doesn’t mean it won’t hurt. It simply means, “Hey, I’ve got to get through this hard time, and I need help. How do I get through this?”

“My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;” (Psalms 121:2-3)

Maybe we should consider the old man’s prayer at the beginning of this article. Maybe God wants to take the buttermilk, plain flour and lard of our life and make biscuits. If that is true, they need to be mixed and put in the oven first. Now that oven can get pretty hot, but when those biscuits are finished, “Yummmm, where’s the gravy?!”

I leave you with a very familiar Scripture, but what comfort it brings to the aching soul.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:28-39)

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

 

Compromise is not always a bad thing. It depends on the subject matter, the parties involved and I’m sure other factors that may need to be considered. So I will not say that compromise is always the wrong thing to do. For example, a good marriage always involves compromise in many situations.

However, when it comes to our relationship to God and His Holy Word the Bible, we cannot compromise. I do emphasize that our stance must be in line with the Bible and not just our own misguided opinion.

I believe one of the greatest failures of the church today is its compromising with the world. Instead of the church going out into the world evangelizing, the world has come in to the church and spread corruption. This has occurred basically because the churches have compromised God’s Word.

There is an old saying, “If a man will not stand for something, he will fall for anything.” Martin Luther King, Jr., made it even stronger by saying, “If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

There are many accounts in the Bible, and throughout history for that matter, of men and women who stood firmly upon the Holy Word of God and would not give an inch, often at the forfeiture of their own life. How many of us today have the same tenacity to cling to what God says, regardless of the cost? Obviously those folks are still among us, but they are few in number.

Not everyone who claims the name of Jesus knows Him as Savior and Lord. Satan has slithered into many of the churches and whispered compromising lies in the ears of most of the so-called leadership. Most of the flock has been so dumbed-down; they have no clue of what is from God and what is from man, because they take what is said as ‘gospel’, never searching the Scriptures; “Well, the preacher says so, so it must be true.” Again, it is largely a result of compromising our Lord’s Word.

Moses is a man we are all familiar with and also a good example, among many others, of one who would not compromise what God had told him. You recall that God brought ten plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians for refusing to let Israel go and serve God in the wilderness. During these plagues Pharaoh tried five times to persuade Moses to compromise.

These are the 10 Plagues on Egypt and where they are located in Scripture.

1. Blood:                         Exodus 7:14f
2. Frogs:                         Exodus 8:1f
3. Gnats:                         Exodus 8:16f
4. Flies:                           Exodus 8:20f
5. On Livestock:             Exodus 9:1f
6. Boils:                          Exodus 9:8f
7. Hail:                            Exodus 9:13f
8. Locusts:                      Exodus 10:1f
9. Darkness:                             Exodus 10:21f
10. Death to Firstborn:     Exodus 11:1f

Opportunity to Compromise #1:

After the fourth plague of flies Pharaoh says to Moses, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.” (Exodus 8:25)

Pharaoh said in effect, “Sure, sacrifice to your God, but you must do so here, not in the wilderness.” Moses rejected this compromise, because that is not what God said.

 

Satan says to professing Christians today, “You can have your cake and eat it too. The world has changed. You can worship God, and still enjoy all the world has to offer. Claim Christ, but you really don’t have to change anything in your life. You’re a good person, and God won’t mind at all.”

Unfortunately, unlike Moses, most today have decided to remain in Egypt and worship with Pharaoh, perhaps thinking that to compromise is the Christian thing to do.

Opportunity to Compromise #2:

Again after the fourth plague of flies Pharaoh says in Exodus 8:28, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far.”

So now, Pharaoh is saying, “Okay, you may sacrifice to your God, and since you will not do so here, I will let you go into the wilderness, but you can’t go very far.”

Moses has already told Pharaoh they must go a three days journey into the wilderness to worship their God. Not going very far is not in compliance with God’s Word, so Moses rejects Pharaoh’s compromise.

There are also those professing Christians who are like Lot’s wife. They have left their former life, but they longingly look back with a fond remembrance of all they enjoyed in the Egypt. Sooner or later (most likely sooner) they will be drawn back to Egypt because they decided to serve two masters, but what does Jesus say about that?

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “ (Matthew 6:24)

Opportunity to Compromise #3:

After the seventh plague of hail Pharaoh has this to say to Moses, “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said, “But tell me who will be going.” (Exodus 10:8)

Moses has already told Pharaoh who is going. God said that all of Israel will be leaving. There is no need to name names. This is a waste of time and just a ploy to get Moses mind off his reason for being there.

Satan tries his best, and often succeeds, to draw the unsuspecting professing Christian into a dialogue. Why do so many think they can have a discussion with that old serpent and win? Moses let God do his talking, then left it at that. We should do the same.

Opportunity to Compromise #4:

Again, after the seventh plague of hail, Pharaoh offers up another compromise, “No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” (Exodus 10:11)

Now Pharaoh is trying to twist what God has said through Moses. God has never said that just the men are to leave, He said all of Israel is to leave. Moses again rejects Pharaoh.

“Maybe it would be okay to just have a ‘boy’s night out’ and leave the women and children home. We could get a break from the ‘little woman’ and the noisy young’uns and have a nice quiet worship time.” Moses didn’t think so, because that again, is not what God required. How often are families broken up during worship time, each going their own way, when they should be worshipping God together, as a unit?

Opportunity to Compromise #5:

After the ninth plague of darkness Pharaoh comes up with one more compromise. He says, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.” (Exodus 10:24)

Notice that the first two times Pharaoh brought up these ridiculous compromises he referred to “sacrifices,” but the last three times he changed it to “worship.” Regardless, how are the Israelites going to worship without sacrificing, and how are they going to sacrifice without their livestock?

All of that doesn’t matter anyway. None of this complies with God’s Word. Therefore, Moses rejects Pharaoh again.

This reminds me of countless times I have been in a worship service and noticed that almost no one was carrying a Bible. Would somebody tell me how we can worship God without a Bible? It can’t be done! Yet, in most ‘worship’ services today, the Word of God is only an afterthought, and after hearing the watered down, tasteless dribble coming from the pulpit, it is obvious the speaker isn’t interested in the Word either.

Each time Moses had an opportunity to compromise God’s Word, but he stood strong on the Word of God against Pharaoh. All Israel, after the tenth plague, left Egypt and went to the wilderness. Our problem today is comparable to those who wanted to return to Egypt. However, those who will not compromise would rather be with God in the wilderness than with Pharaoh in Egypt. Who is your God? Is Pharaoh your god, or is God your God? It is way past time for many to get off the fence.

God is telling us in the following Scriptures that we must not compromise Him or His Word.

“The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

“Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” (Numbers 16:21)

“Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “… Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.” (Ezra 10:10-11)

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers … Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14, 17-18)

“Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “ ‘Come out of her, my people,’so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” (Revelation 18:4-5)

The churches today are overrun with sin that flows from the pulpit to the pews and back. There is little if any interest in what God says, and in living for Him as one who is holy (set apart). Only a few have traveled to the wilderness as Moses and Paul (Galatians 1:15-18). Most have remained in Egypt, and in Egypt they will die.

 

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html