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How Can I Know God?

September 2002

Do You Ever Talk To Yourself?

We many times chuckle whenever we hear someone talking to themselves. Strangely enough, we are told we all do it at one time or another. I can still remember walking up on my children when they were just little tykes and how I enjoyed listening to them carry on a one sided conversation with themselves.

I remember when my wife caught me talking to myself in my study and asked me why. I told her, “I like to talk to someone knowledgeable enough to understand me, and I like to listen to a person who knows what he is talking about.” It took me awhile to live that down.

Talking to ourselves is really a much more serious exercise of the mind than we think. It even effects our subconscious mind, and influences future decisions.

I read some time ago, “Everything we do today has it’s background in something we have said to ourselves yesterday.” In other words, we incubate life’s experiences and that affects our future actions.

I would like to present to you three persons in Scripture who held notable conversations with themselves.

I. THE FIRST PERSON is the RICH LAND OWNER in Luke 12:16-21:

“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do” I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, dring, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Here you have:

“ THE STUPID SOUL, SAYING SOMETHING FOOLISH TO ITSELF!”

This man actually thought he controlled the future, and that being fortunate in life was the equivalent of being happy. Happy people are those who have big cars, much wealth, fashionable clothes, good “connections” and are prospering. The unfortunate ones were those who were victims of misfortune, who lacked education, money, friends and health. After all, how could they be happy?

A person can believe anything they want, if they don’t care how wrong they are, in believing that. Being fortunate, having much wealth, and prosperity are not the same as happiness at all.

If it is the same, then our Lord Jesus was most unfortunate. He was poor, lonely, mistreated, and misunderstood. Paul tells us in II Corinthians 8:9; “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

In spite of all of this, in John 15:11 He said; “These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

If prosperity and happiness are synonymous, then St. Paul was most unfortunate.Here was a man without worldly goods, physically handicapped, (thorn in flesh), misunderstood by friends, slandered by foes, imprisoned, and beaten. Yet, when in prison he said, in

The real misnomer is not, doing without many pleasures in this life, but rather, telling your soul you would be happy and contented if you did have them. “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many days, Eat, Drink, and be Merry.”

The human soul was not created for goods, but for God. This is why Jesus said, in Mark 8:36,37; “ What shall if profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

II. THE SECOND PERSON who talked to himself was the Psalmist, King David.

Psalm 42:5. David said: “Why art thou cast down O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”

King David wrote these words while he was King, and in great trouble. He had been separated from the palace, was being taunted by his enemies, and starting to experience some bitterness over his present circumstances, compared to his “better days.” His circumstances were overwhelming, but David had learned that Faith will reason out all fears, and Hope will argue with his sorrows. In this passage, David was “faith talking” himself out of the dumps.

Here you have:

“ A SUFFERING SOUL SAYING SOMETHING FINE TO ITSELF.”

David knew that what happened to a man was not nearly as important as the way he reacts to it. Have you ever noticed how people react to tragedy? Some fade and give up, while others blossom. Some say “Amen,” while others say, “Oh Me!”

Please don’t fantasize by thinking once you are a Christian everything will automatically go smoothly. The Bible is clear in saying; John 16:33; “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Knowing this, does not relieve us of the responsibility of learning what it is trying to effect in our lives. The coming of tragedy and trouble does not remove our responsibility to examine, our moods; analyze our emotions; and test our attitudes. James tells us: James 1:2-4; “My Brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Paul exhorts us with these words in Romans 5:3-5; “...weglory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by tghe Holy Ghost...”

When David saw the present very bleak and brutal, he responded to it by saying; “Come on now, Why are you so cast down?”

In I Samuel 30:6; David was in exile; he was being chased by king Saul; was sent away from the battlefront by the Philistines; he found his city of Ziklag on fire; his family kidnaped, and his soldiers ready to stone him. It was then, in the darkest hour, David; “encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” I believe this was when David wisely looked back and remembered how faithfully the Lord had already delivered him from the bear and lion while he was just a shepherd boy; He recalled how the God of Israel had delivered Goliath into his hands before all the army of Israel, and said, “Lord, I don’t dare look around, I won’t look down, but I have looked back to remember your faithfulness in the past, and now I will look up!” Here is:

A SUFFERING SOUL SAYING SOMETHING FINE TO ITSELF!

Note: If you are suffering today, SAY SOMETHING FINE TO YOURSELF!

III. THE THIRD PERSON who talked to himself was THE PRODICAL SON.

Luke 15: 11-24 Jesus tells us about this young man who thought he was the top feather in a peacock’s tail. He was the local expert on life. (I heard an expert is a college kid fifteen miles out of town with a briefcase.) He was very independent and felt the little town he came from was beneath him. He could hear the big city calling him. He talked dad out of his inheritance and lived it up.

Then Jesus said a famine hit the land and the small town boy was broke. It got so bad he found himself, a Jewish lad, having to feed a pen full of “unclean animals.” Not only was the job unbearable, but he wasn’t making enough money to feed himself. He was starting to eat the husks of corn the hogs were eating when he “came to himself.” Then he started talking to himself.

In verses 17-19, we read; “how many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants.”

Here you have:

“ A STARVED SOUL, SAYING SOMETHING FITTING TO ITSELF.”

He had learned a few things in the school of hard knocks. He now perceived life as it really was. He no longer felt like the top feather in a peacock’s tail. He dropped the mask of pretense and quit kidding himself. “He came to himself.”

How are you and I treating our rebellion or disobedience to the known will of God? Are we among those who “confess our sins,” but don’t “forsake them?” If you and I have a humiliating defeat in our lives that we are ashamed of; That’s not enough: We must totally forsake and surrender it decisively to Jesus Christ. It might be a broken vow we have made to the Lord, in the past, or a temper driven relationship we might have with another person, where we have been unwilling to say, “I’m sorry, will you please forgive me?”

Whatever it might be, don’t gloss it over, don’t conceal, excuse or deny it. We must, just as the Prodigal, make a decision and act on it. Proverbs 28:13 says: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Remember, he said; I will arise and go to my Father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,” Our Destiny hangs upon Our willingness to make such a decision!

IN CONCLUSION: Let me ask; What do you say to your soul? Don’t be stupid and say something foolish, like: “My soul will be happy if I have “Things.” If you are suffering as a believer, say the fine thing to your soul “Hope thou in God.”. If your soul is starvingfor spiritual reality, say something fitting to it. “I will arise and go to my Father.”

The Apostle Peter, summed it all up very succinctly when he said in I Peter 5:6,7;“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.”

In Ephesians 5:17-20, Paul the Apostle told us how a WISE AND SPIRITUAL MAN speaks to himself. “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; SPEAKING TO YOURSELVES in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Whenever you talk to yourself, what are YOU SAYING?

FORBIDDEN MARRIAGES?

Some of you have asked me to explain what is meant by “Forbidden Marriages.”

The World Book Encyclopedia, interprets the word “forbidden” as, “a prohibition” or “something not allowed,” or “something against the law or rules.”

In the Old Testament there are many passages where God forbids certain relationships and makes it clear He will never recognize them as Creator God of all mankind. These relationships, as described in the Bible are:

1. Israel with other peoples: Deuteronomy 7:3, 6, 11. It was for this reason Ezra demanded those Israelite men who had returned from exile, to separate from their “strange wives”. (Ezra 10:10-14 & 19 & 44. These were forbidden marriages which The God of Israel did not recognize or affirm. Had He done so, He would have violated His own holiness.
   
2. Close relatives; i.e., mother & son; father and daughter; cousins; husband or wife with in-laws, etc. Leviticus 16:6 & 19:17.
   
3. One sex marriages: Leviticus 20:13 The Lord declares this to be an abomination in His sight, and declares it’s punishment, if not repented of before death, is eternal judgement. I Corinthians 6:9,10; Galatians 5:19;“uncleanness,” also translated, “impurities, and orgies.”

Whenever someone dares to make a statement like this, many people cry; “judgementalism, legalism, bigotry. You have no right to judge others.”

Let me immediately say, I have judged no one by the previous statements. I do not need to judge them, and if I did, it would mean nothing. What we must understand is we have an eternal standard, or measuring rod by which all things can be judged; It is the Eternal Word of God. I judged no one. The word of God condemns all such behavior, and if I say I am a born again Christian, I have no choice but to agree with God’s judgement, because it is PERFECT.

Since these are all forbidden, it means individuals wanting to enter into such forbidden relationships, can say vows until they are blue in the face, but since it is God alone who determines who He will declare to be “one,” and who He won’t, theirs is an exercise in futility. If they die in that condition, they; “shall not inheritthe kingdom of God.”

Again, let me say, I did not say this! God did! If you have a problem with that, take it up with Him. Maybe I should add one more thing just in case you are actually considering taking it up with Him. Malachi 3:6; “For I am the Lord, I change not;” John 12:48 “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

According to II Chronicles 36, God, in His mercy and compassion, allows His servants, the prophets, to warn of what He says is sin. It goes on to say that if those who hear His prophets ignore them, He will have “no more compassion,” but will judge them “with no mercy or compassion.” “Let him that hath ears, hear what the Spirit says to the Church.”