Hidden No Longer: "How Can I Get More of God in My Life?"
Hidden No Longer
“How Can I Get More of God in My Life?”
Larry R Evans
December 11, 2021
Introduction
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity”(Jeremiah 29:13,14)
On January 8, 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson made a speech to Congress. The U.S. had entered what would become known as WWI. Wilson delivered the so-called Fourteen Points. In it, he outlined America’s political postwar aims. The points were clear, concrete, and had specific objectives. Key tasks that were to be accomplished were laid out to Congress.
It was almost twenty-three years to the day, January 6, 1941, that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made a speech to Congress. WWII had erupted about seven months earlier. Roosevelt delivered the so-called Four Freedoms address in which he painted for Congress what America’s objectives were. Roosevelt spoke passionately about his vision and how they were defined by four liberties that comprised humanity’s birthright.
Wilson’s speech was short on vision and long on details. Roosevelt’s was the opposite. Wilson was pragmatic but uninspiring. Roosevelt was charismatic but vague. The first advised, the second inspired. One directed policy and the other released imaginations.
As we read the Bible, we find both. It awakens the imagination as well as informs the mind. Today’s study is an example. What we must not miss, what we must not minimize, is that at the heart of the revivals found in the Bible is God speaking through His Word. The dynamic relationship between the Holy Spirit and our character development is made clear in the book The Desire of Ages, p.671.
The Comforter is called “the Spirit of truth.” His work is to define and uphold truth. He first lives in the heart as the Spirit of truth, and in this way, He becomes the Comforter. There is comfort in truth but no real comfort in falsehood. Through false traditions, Satan gains his power over the mind. False standards misshape the character. The Holy Spirit exposes such error and expels it from the heart. By the Spirit of truth, working through the Word of God, Christ subdues His chosen people to Himself.
Hidden No Longer
If there is one consistent bright light in the history of God’s people, it is God Himself. Repeatedly He revealed His counsel to them. Judah’s history was a rollercoaster experience. Ahaz, for example, was one of the worst kings in Judah’s history. He practiced idolatry including sacrificing one of his sons (2 Kin.16:3-4). Instead of God, he placed his trust in an Assyrian king. This led to placing an Assyrian altar into the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kin. 16:10-16). Fortunately, he was succeeded by his son Hezekiah who initiated major religious reforms. But unfortunately, Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, became one of the worst kings by reconstructing altars for Baal, practicing magic, sacrificing children, and worshiping stars (2 Chron 33:1-10). Faithful Isaiah was killed. During this time, however, some of the reforms done by Hezekiah “had developed, in the hearts of many, a sturdiness of character that now served as a bulwark against the prevailing iniquity.” (PK 381)
QUESTION: Why do you think spiritual reforms often follow a time of deep apostasy, cruelty, and lawlessness?
Josiah was only eight years old when he became Judah’s king. He was king for more than 30 years. At the young age of about 15 or 16, he led a major reform.
QUESTIONS: What led to the reform? What preceded the discovery? Why is what preceded the discovery so vital to future “discoveries”?
Leading to the reform was a “discovery—a discovery found in the “house of the LORD.”
Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” (2 Kin 22:8)
Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, . . . saying, “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”(2 Kin 22:11-13)
In the 18th year of his reign, “the book of the law” was discovered in the temple. It was as though it had been hidden and kept hidden by the idolatrous desires of others. This discovery added strength to the developing reform which included the reinstatement of the celebration of the Passover. At the heart of the Passover was the reminder that it was God who brought hope, life, and purpose to His people. Prophets and Kings, p. 384, reminds us of an important truth found in the life of Josiah.
Born of a wicked king, beset with temptations to follow in his father's steps, and with few counselors to encourage him in the right way, Josiah nevertheless was true to the God of Israel. Warned by the errors of past generations, he chose to do right, instead of descending to the low level of sin and degradation to which his father and his grandfather had fallen. He “turned not aside to the right hand or the left.” As one who was to occupy a position of trust, he resolved to obey the instruction that had been given for the guidance of Israel's rulers, and his obedience made it possible for God to use him as a vessel unto honor.
QUESTIONS: What truth does Josiah’s experience teach us about the role of God’s word in our reformation?
How much did Josiah’s attitude have on his reform and the reform of Judah?
Josiah had to overcome a family history of disobedience which he did. What kind of temptation have you had to face? What made it difficult?
QUESTION: A revival and a reformation are not the same. What do we find in Deuteronomy 10:12-14 that would help sustain a revival? Does this passage offer any assurance?
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.
The Call to Accountability
The message of Micah 6:1-8 is built on the message recorded by Moses. Micah presents what is referred to as a “covenant lawsuit.” It is a court-like setting. The courtroom setting is clear:
1. The call of witnesses (v.1)—Who are they?
2. The plaintiff’s address reviewing the benevolent acts (vv. 3-5) What has God done for them?
3. The defendant’s response (vv.6-7) What kind of attitude do they express?
4. The indictment (v.8) What does this “golden rule” of the Old Testament say about the people who were given the sanctuary, the Sabbath, and God’s presence? What is the essence of true worship and a life lived within God’s covenant?
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:8)
The courtroom verdict.
The verdict of the lawsuit rules against the city of Jerusalem (Mic. 6:9-16) Because of the prevalent injustice of the wealthy oppressors and the cunning merchants ripping off innocent people, it would share Samaria’s fate (vv. 10-12, 16; cf. 2:1-11; Amos 8:4-7) – Andrews Bible Commentary, Old Testament, p. 1116.
Daniel, the Prayerful Mediator
Daniel’s prayer (Dan. 9:1-19) is a summary of exactly what the nation had been warned about in Deuteronomy regarding the fruits of not keeping their end of the covenant. Twice Daniel referred back to the “law of Moses” which certainly included Deuteronomy and may have been referring to it in this instance.
Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. (Dan. 9:11)
“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. (Daniel 9:13)
How tragic that the nations around Israel were not saying “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people (Deut. 4:27-31; chap. 28), but instead Israel became a “reproach” (Dan. 9:16) to those same nations.
We began with the subtitle of our study, “How Can I Get More of God in My Life?” It is an important question.
QUESTION: If God is in our life, what do we learn from Daniel about praying for characteristics of sin in the lives of others, including the Church?
As Daniel prayed (Daniel 9), he prayed as the mediator for the people dispersed throughout the nations.
1. He stands before the Lord as their representative (see Heb. 7:25)
2. He identifies himself with the sinful people and asks God to forgive and bless them (Dan. 9:8-9)
3. He recognizes that God has shown Himself to be righteous in what He has done to His people. (Dan. 9:7)
4. He appeals to God’s mercy and not to human achievements as he prays for forgiveness. (Dan 9:18)
Hidden No Longer –
The Life of Surrender Is the Life of Victory
In one of the best books that I’ve read on the 3 Angels Messages, Cliff Goldstein wrote,
A man went to his 30-year high school reunion. After he left, thinking about how messed up so many of his old friends were, one thought entered his mind: If only people had kept the Ten Commandments—how much better their lives would have been! Imagine our world if everyone kept even just some. If no one violated the sixth commandment (murder), the seventh (adultery), the eighth (thievery), and the ninth (lying), our existence would be paradise compared to what it is now. – The Final Hope: Three Messages for an Anxious World, p.94.
More About Jesus
We must not hide God’s Word. It provides the hope so desperately needed. Today’s study reminds me of a beautiful song that we have all sung many times—More About Jesus. Note the first few stanzas:
More about Jesus would I know
More of His grace to others show
More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me
More, more about Jesus
More, more about Jesus
More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me
More about Jesus let me learn
More of His Holy will discern
Spirit of God, my teacher be
Showing the things of Christ to me
The call of Deuteronomy and Micah and Daniel urgently call us back to the study of God’s word. It must not remain hidden under the newspaper, the iPad, or stuck away on a bookshelf. It is there that we learn more about Jesus.
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