The Teaching Method of the Bible: Chapter 1
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.
F. Michael Colacuori
C2026 F. Michael Colacuori
Contents
Verse #
Introduction
Chapter One: The Struggle
Chapter Two: It’s All About Relationships
Chapter Three: 1 We See Through a Glass Darkly
Chapter Four: 207 Return to the Land
Chapter Five: 274 The Struggle
Chapter Six: 367 The Kings
Chapter Seven: 615 The Historical Books
Chapter Eight: 874 The Poetic Books
Chapter Nine: 1206 The Major Prophets
Chapter Ten: 1596 The Minor Prophets
Chapter Eleven: 1739 The Gospels
Chapter Twelve: 1950 Acts
Chapter Thirteen: 2051 The Letters of Paul
Chapter Fourteen. 2529 Pauls Journey Continues
Chapter Fifteen: 3003 The Revelation
Chapter Sixteen: The Leap of Faith
Conclusion
Introduction
For my entire Christian life I have been told that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. I had accepted that; but, it took some time before becoming comfortable with it. Being in need of confirmation that the Bible actually was His word, the confirmation came slowly in the form of experiencing the way my life was changed when cautiously attempting to live by it. It required repeated confirmations; but gradually a moment came at which it could be fully accepted. Living by it has never become easy and I continue to search for a visible confirmation. Since God is invisible, I was not really expecting to encounter any visible confirmation. That amounted to unbelief.
We usually only see things that we are expecting to see and I was certain that no such visible confirmation could exist. For that reason, I wasn’t even looking for one. As might be expected, one never came. Never-the-less, it had been there all the time. Even though I was looking in the right place, it was no where to be found.
It had never occurred to me that the confirmation I was hoping to encounter could actually be found within the text itself. The repetition we are about to explore here is the visible evidence of the very close relationship between the visible and the invisible, the physical and the spiritual, between man and God.
The bible often seems to repeat itself or make closely related points in the same sentence. Humans sometime repeat themselves, but not at anything close to the frequency we are about to discover in the Bible. In fact, no human prepared document displays the frequent repetition that we are about to see. Only God does this.
While the Bible has been written by many people from different cultures during different times and places, the incorporation of the identical literary devise (apparent repetition) is present throughout the entire bible. The consistency has gone largely unnoticed. Because of the diversity between the writers, both linguistically and culturally, one might expect each of them to have their own stye of writing that would be evident as we read. But, they don’t. There is more to it than meets the eye.
Christians have always accepted that God had guided the hand of many different writers. Most of us have believed that God had guided their thinking while the writers had put Gods’ instructions into their own words. That would make sense. Man and God, working together had written the Bible.
However, God has been much more directly involved than we have ever imagined. In spite of significant human differences, the language and style of writing is exactly the same throughout. God had actually given the writers the precise words to use! The internal consistency has been overlooked for far too long.
The Bible, itself, not just contains, but IS evidence that the entire book has been directly written by God Himself. He had been involved far more intimately than we might have ever imagined. He is saying: “Heads up. I’m talking to you.”
Throughout the Bible we find sentences that are made up of two phrases that make the identical or very similar points. God seems to have duplicated Himself deliberately. The duplicate phrases the reader will soon notice are somewhat different because they are telling about two similar things taking place at the same time, but in two different ways, in two different worlds, the visible world and the invisible world. God is teaching us about two different worlds at the same time. Those hundreds of apparent repetitions are theactual vehicle that God is using to reveal Himself to us.
The huge number of repetitions are crucial. A single repetition may not seem significant. Only when their frequency mounts to impossibly large numbers does the idea gel that there must surely be a purpose for the frequency itself. Since we live in the physical world, our focus is entrenched there and the way we express things remains there, as well. However, God is not bound by what takes place in the physical world
We humans live not only in the physical world but also in the spiritual world. As each day passes, we find ourselves directing the greater portion of our attention onto the visible world. Even though the the bible and the Holy Spirit are our means of developing a better understanding of what takes place in the visible world,they are primarily focused on the invisible world. While God is continually revealing Himself to us from within the invisible world, our small part is accepting the teaching directed to us from the other world.
Realizing that the teaching present is not enough, we have to becomewillingto accept that teaching. In many cases, we also are expected to take action. Our action indicates that we have truly accepted what is being taught. However, we do not always respond. The fact that we may not be willing to address it, does not stop God; He continuously advances HIS teaching, even when we are (deliberately) not listening.
God lives and functions in both worlds and is equally comfortable with both. He does not have to learn how. He created both worlds and has, therefore, functioned in both since the very moment of their creation. We have also been created in both worlds, as well. However, since we focus our thinking far more on the natural world, we quickly learn more about it and our understanding of the invisible world falls behind.
What God expects us to gradually understand is that the two worlds are inextricably interconnected. What takes place in the visible world is a reflection of what is taking place in the invisible world. When anything occurs in the spiritual world, there will be a reflection in the natural world. It is our way of seeing into the invisible world. A reflection can only occur when the real is already there.
The visible becomes our learning curve as we attempt to understand the invisible world; but, the effort must be undertaken willingly. While we can attempt to turn our backs on the need to learn about the invisible, the need to understand it does not stop. Hopefully, the soon to be read, huge number of verses that plainly show the two worlds working together will enable us to realize that they are equally significant.
The Bible has been written by a combination of many people who lived in different cultures and times. Their language would not have been the same and each writer would have had his own way of expressing himself, determined by his own language, era, and the place he had lived. They were very different from one another. Things differ with the time and place of origin.
The Bible is not like that. Time and place is irrelevant and the way it expresses its’ teaching does not differ from book to book. It is the same throughout. In spite of significant differences found between humans, the Bible displays no difference even though it had been written by many different people who had lived in many different times, in many different cultures and circumstances.
In spite of the significant human differences, it has been written in the same literary style throughout. That would not be expected. The style embraces the repetition of two closely connected events, one from the physical world and one from the spiritual world.
The hundreds of easily overlooked repetitions are evidence of a common origin. What we are about to see is that God had not only told his servants what to say, He had told them exactly how to say it. That probably comes as a surprise. Never-the-less the entire bible is written in a very uniform style. That practice will gradually take on overwhelming significance as we progress.
There are many facets to the word of God. From a single verse, God may quicken something for us today and may reveal some additional truth from the same passage tomorrow. I can’t do that; I have a difficult time adequately explaining a single teaching for today. For me to use the same passage to teach something additional for tomorrow, is out of the question. That’s why you want God as your teacher, not me. I will surely make a complete mess of it. The Bible routinely does both all the time.The following attempt at an explanation for the frequent duality was found online:
“The Bible often repeats points in succession—a literary technique known as
parallelism—to emphasize critical truths, aid memorization, and ensure clarity,
reflecting the importance of the message. This repetition reinforces lessons,
acts as a safeguard against forgetting, and confirms testimony, often acting as a
"double witness" to a significant theme or event.”
That explanation clearly attempts to keep that entire situation within the physical realm. As with many things, when we only consider the natural world we will only see half, an important but none-the-less half, of the entire story. To gain a complete understanding we must consider both worlds, the earthly and the heavenly. They are always found together.
God knows, very well, that many of us will gloss over the text and fail to absorb the entire teaching being advanced. The teaching advanced is certainly critical to our understanding of who God is, how our relationship with Him is to work, and how we are to live. If we miss it, we will never arrive at christian maturity. God is very well aware that He will need to repeat Himself.
Some biblical repetitions can be for emphasis alone. However, that is usually not the case. While for we slow learners what seems to be a simple way to emphasize the importance of a teaching, there is an additional reason for it.
It will also be demonstrating that the teaching applies equally to two completely different worlds at the same moment, the physical world and the spiritual world. We can easily understand that the same teaching could be there twice to point out the significance. To understand that there had been a teaching from two separate worlds, for two different reasons, can be more difficult.
Since we live our lives out in the physical world, it tends to be our initial focus. However, the bibles’ primary purpose is to offer teaching about both worlds. Everything it offers visibly is ultimately bringing us to an understanding about the invisible world, all-the-while using the visible world as its teaching platform. We are reminded often that the Bible is ultimately looking into the invisible world.
It’s that reminder that we are frequently seeing. It might be a bit more difficult to remember that any teaching may apply to both worlds since we find ourselves living in both simultaneously. As we progress we will see that the physical and the spiritual appear together continuously. They not only appear together, they constantly interact with each other. What takes place in the material world is showing us how things also take place in the invisible world.
Here, I will attempt to show that there is both a physical and a spiritual component to everything that takes place in our lives. The physical, the seen, is a reflection of the spiritual, the unseen. Together, they are the real and the image (the reflection). When there is the real, there is automatically the image, the reflection. The interaction between the two is how the physical becomes a teaching platform revealing the invisible world.
Chapter One: The Struggle
For us, life on earth is a struggle. The struggle we experience is our feeble human attempt to understand the interaction between two worlds, the visible world and the invisible world. Our inability to move easily between them affects us all and I would like to offer some examples from my own life of the difficulties introduced by the conflict. I seldom get it right easily and that is in spite of having been a Christian for over fifty years. You might think I should have figured it out by now.
Here I am writing a book about that very subject and I still don’t fully grasp how it works. To make it more difficult, more often than not, I only see what God is doing after it has happened. Not only do I not get it right, but, none of us seem to. We all experience that progression and I hope to show how it’s important.
I also see it taking place in my own church. My late wife and I had left our church on three occasions. Twice it had to do with my wife’s involvement in leading worship. Churches were often short handed in that area and she had occasionally been called on to help. In one case, our founding pastor actually asked if we would be willing to help a sister church who found themselves without a worship leader. We had actually left our church at our pastors suggestion.
The third case fell at my feet. I had been asked to help by becoming involved in teaching. It ultimately became the way God led me to began writing. In all three cases, when whatever we had been sent out to do was finished, we always found ourselves gravitating back to our home church.
However, during our absence our membership had expired. Upon returning, I was told I needed to fill out a new application for membership, which I did. Eventually, I got the word that I was again a member; but, I was told I would also need to attend a class for new believers. All new members (as opposed to new believers) were expected to attend that class.
Really? I had sat through that class years earlier. I had been a christian for many years and had been a long standing active member. I had taught Sunday School there, had written christian books there, had been very involved in a ministry for boys, and had years earlier attended a class for new believers.
The founding pastor had once asked me to deliver the Sunday morning message in his absence (a practice frowned on by our denomination, since I am not an ordained minister). I had been very involved for many years. To be asked, at such a late date, to attend another class for new believers seemed strange. Now at eighty-five years old, I think of myself as an “old” believer.
What the church board had decided was that everyone should be treated inexactly the same way. Everyone had to do the same thing. Each new member had to attend the class. Their purpose was to be certain that everyone had absorbed at least some measure of understanding Gods word. Nobody was to opt out. They were attempting to treat everyone equally. On the surface, it sounded like a reasonable approach.
However, evidenceof having grown to spiritual maturity was not acceptable. The only acceptable evidence was having attended the class. Theattendance record became the visible evidence of maturity. It could be put on paper. A paper trail was visible documentation of maturity and ultimately became the stamp of approval.
The matter was being dealt with exclusively in the visible world. What could be documented on paper had become of greater importance than evidence of spiritual growth. The importance of the paper trail (the visible) had exceeded the evidence of a life having been changed (the invisible).
The decision the board had made was keeping the issue entirely in the physical world. In the physical world it was what had been done that counted. The issue was being treated as if doing was the most important aspect of growth. Attending the class was what mattered.
In the spiritual world, it was an entirely different matter. Being was the actual goal. Understanding should rise to a new level. Knowing God is ultimately more important than knowing about Him.
As peculiar as it may seem, that directive had come from a board made up of 100% mature christians. Everyone on it had the well being of the church intensely at heart. I think, to a person, each of them would have literally wanted to die before doing something that might harm the church. Even today, they all spend considerable time in both fasting and prayer for the church. Board membership is a major responsibility and those on it take it very seriously.
In addition, they have each other to provide a crosscheck. They can call each other into question if anyone on it strikes out in an unexpected direction. They look out for each other. That being said, one might not expect such a solidly mature and dedicated group to make the same mistake that we all make; but they did. They had become mired in the physical world, just like the rest of us. None of us is immune and the battle rages throughout our christian experience.
That incident clearly shows the difficulty of maintaining focus on the spiritual world. It’s not easy. If an entire board of mature believers can be caught up in the physical world, we all can, and we do. There are no exceptions. We haveallfallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Leadership has been caught up in that type of thinking more than once. The church once had a pastor whose son became involved in some aspects of the church that had led to problems. Having been through that, the board determined not to allow that situation to repeat. Following that thinking, when a search was taking place for a new pastor, the decision had been made to not select someone who had a son who might want to become involved since that had led to trouble in the past. We learn by experience and it seemed like a reasonable option.
However, it was another choice made in the physical world. Anyone becoming involved in the church or in its leadership potentially might be a blessing but could also become a source of trouble. That’s one reason we have boards, Someone has to provide crosschecks and we need to remain alert. Trouble will always come from an unexpected quarter.
The church had been in hopes of choosing a new pastor who had some previous level of ministerial experience, a reasonable plan. However, any person who had several years of previous pastoral experience might have also reached an age at which he had a family. Many candidates may already have a son old enough to want to become involved.
That could be a good thing. However, the board had become wary because that relationship had once been a source of trouble. Never-the-less it did not necessarily mean that all sons or father/son relationships would become troublesome. While the board members were deliberately keeping their perspective in the visible world, the choice belonged in the invisible world.
The intense commitment of those on the board to do things “right” had itself led to conflict with every pastor who followed the founder. We can tell what is right in the visible world. What might be correct in the invisible world can be less obvious. We see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12).
With each successive pastor,conflict between the board and pastor always became a tug of war (between the physical and the spiritual). Getting beyond that point has never truly been achieved even though all parties involved are fully aware of the latent problem and have prayerfully attempted to avoid becoming caught up in conflict. They would have done nearly anything to prevent division.
The issue is not unique to those among our leadership as it is made up today. The difficulty has been ongoing for about thirty years. During that time many different people have been a part of our leadership. The difficulty of keeping spiritual issues in the spiritual arena and issues belonging in the physical world in their place is not unique to those on the present board. In all previous decades, everyone has experienced that struggle and whoever becomes a part of leadership in the future will face that same challenge. We have yet to overcome it.
Since that difficulty has manifested itself in many ways and many times, we observe that none of us have ever gotten truly beyond it. In short, since none of us ever entirely overcome the tendency to become stuck in the physical world, it’s doubtful that any of us ever will. We need to be prepared to make mistakes. However, we are not obligated to continue making the same ones. When we discover our mistakes we can change and not leave behind a trail of tears.
The board is completely committed to their responsibility. They understand what has been asked of them and willingly make many sacrifices to fulfill their obligation. They accept their responsibility and carry their burden day and night, so much so that they can sometimes fail to trust the Lord for His ultimate leading and guiding.
They are responsible for what takes place in the church. They have accepted the responsibility thatthey clearly have been called on to fulfill responsibilities that they take very personally. They willingly shoulder the heavy and time consuming burden of leadership. It can be easy to remember responsibility; but, in spite of their best effort, it can be hard to remember that God is ultimately in charge. It is His church and we are His servants. He calls the shots.
While the bulk of the responsibility is shouldered by those on the church board, the responsibility extends to everyone. Each of us is expected to support the board with prayer and share in the work load. We are all part of the same church and we should all share in the needed effort. None of us are to be “pew warmers”.
One of the most difficult things for christian people to learn is to quickly and clearly hear and recognize the voice of the Lord. Most christians are willing to act when they are certain God is speaking. However, knowing when he is speaking can still be a challenge. Hearing his still small voice can be difficult (1 Kings 19:12).
There are many distractions, loud and demanding voices, that must be sorted out. That’s where we all get into trouble. We are sometimes unable to distinguish whether it was God, our own voice, or the enemy. None of us have adequately learned discernment.
Look at it this way. If an entire board of spiritually mature believers who are doing their absolute best to make sound choices for the church, a group who are both fasting and prayerfully considering their decisions, a group who have thought long and hard about them, a group who knows that their decisions will have a far reaching effect, can still make choices that make sense only in the visible world, then it becomes easy to see that its a difficult bridge to cross.
Recognizing the problem does not automatically mean we have found an answer and we grapple with it while attempting to avoid doing so. We know that we are to rest in the Lord. We know that it is Gods’ church and we are His servants; but, we still allow ourselves to act without recognizing His leading. It is a struggle that becoming mature christians does not seem to take us beyond.
For any upcoming issue, decision day will eventually come. After prayerful consideration of an issue, the board will eventually put it to a vote. Many times that moment will arrive without a sought after clear word from the Lord. Nearly every issue taking place in the visible world will be made by humans, more often than not by the church board and some choices will be difficult.
The board cannot go it alone. As a congregation, we may not be praying earnestly enough for those in leadership. The board needs everyones support. The enemy will clearly want the church to stray off course and he will attempt to entice us to chase rabbits. We need to remain continuously aware of what God is doing in our midst. Knowing His will for us requires continual attention.
In the case of our particular church, God had already shown us, many years ago. at least a portion of what He has for us. From the founding of the church in 1964, He has frequently called people to leave the church to enter full time ministry, usually to become either a pastor or missionary.
By the time I first heard a number put to that calling, there had already been about twenty who had been called into full time service and there have been more who have stepped up since. Twenty is an absolutely unheard of number. Churches often become properly excited and rejoice when one from their midst is called into full time service. Since I first heard that, there have been at least three additional people who have found themselves called into full time service.
God has clearly been using our church to raise up full time workers for decades and I believe that is likely to continue. That’s not to say it’s the only thing He may have for us. He may have more; but, we do know at least one way we can expect Him to use us in the future. We are likely to see additional people called into full time service in years to come. Not every church knows exactly how God plans to use them. For some unknown reason, we have been different. We have been blessed in an unusual way.
Those who have been called from our midst have been a part of us. We are now called to support them. That surely means both financially and prayerfully. They all need help, especially in the early stages of their preparation or training. If they become missionaries, they may need financial help for years to come. For us, it’s not a calling to be taken lightly. God has sent out from our midst over twenty in whose ministry we already have a significant part.
The church also has a bulletin board with pictures of missionaries who are supported financially. When a missionary is supported financially, the obligation to also provide prayer covering is automatic and there are many pictures on that board.
As you can easily see, the church has a great many ministries in which we have become involved. Between those called from our congregation and the missionaries we support, there are well over forty who we are called to support by name, an almost unbelievable number. We do not have to ask what God expects of us. We do not have to seek his face to know what He has for us. We have been shown. We are expected to step up and act. Thankfully, the church has been responding for for sixty years.
Prayer support for those many who have been sent out is a major responsibility of the entire church and we have many prayer warriors even though we are not a large church. It’s a good match. A large church is not necessary to respond to the call for prayer that God has laid on us. In fact, a prayer meeting will normally have the smallest attendance of any meeting a church will have throughout the week.
Thankfully, in our small church, we have many prayer warriors. God says that one can put a thousand to flight; but, two can put ten thousand to flight. We are doing that. We are a small but powerful church. It’s praying together makes a church powerful.
There could be other things He expects us to watch over; but, no more will be called if we are not faithful with what He has already entrusted us. We have a major responsibility and it is not the responsibility of the board alone. The entire congregation is called to action. We don’t have to ask what we are to do. God has clearly shown us at least one thing He requires of us and it began over a half century ago.
Mans part is always carried out imperfectly. People make a complete mess of it and often move in some direction that is the exact opposite of what God had intended. We seldom clearly understand what God is doing and that would seem to make things more difficult for Him. However, the mistaken ways of man do not upend the plan of God. God nudges man and he, perhaps reluctantly, takes the first misunderstood step; but once that initial step is taken, God takes over and His plan blossoms just as He had intended in spite of the poorly understood beginning attempted by men.
In the book of Genesis, God moved Jacobs favorite son, Joseph, into Egypt. He did it in preparation for the movement of the entire family there and He did it while they were all failing to trust Him to provide for their needs where they had been living, in the land that He had not only promised but had bought Abraham into. They were already living in the Promised Land and they knew it. Yet, they left Canaan (the spiritual) in search of what the world could offer. They left in search of food (the physical).
The way Joseph entered Egypt was carried out in the imperfect way of man. Everyone had his own seemingly ungodly part in moving Joseph into Egypt ahead of the family. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his own family who had failed to recognize the place God had for him. They were thinking only of the jealousy and hatred they felt toward their brother. The plan of God was the farthest thing from their mind.
All the brothers were doing things in the way of man. They were living in the physical world with no thought about the counterpart, the spiritual world. Never-the-less, Gods plan came about right on schedule in spite of the short sighted way of man. Through Joseph, God took care of His people in Egypt. God was in control.
The way it came about seemed very strange. Out of jealously, the brothers wanted to kill Joseph. That their anger and jealously could have grown to such a high level shows how badly their relationships had been running downhill. They were done with Joseph. All-the-while Joseph was doing nothing to cause them to develop hatred or jealously.
Or, well? Maybe he did. He had told them about his dreams in which he would rule over them, not once, but twice. In spite of Josephs own shortcomings, as a young person, God had singled him out to be used in a highly unusual way. However, Joseph did not receive his call because he was perfect or ready. He was not; but he would gradually continue to experience his own growth in the Lord.
Joseph had actually responded to his call in an imperfect way. He had not entirely learned how to function in Gods world. But, he was growing. He should never never have told his family what was coming. Joseph was ready and willing but not quite able. His imperfect actions caused him to end up in a pit. However, being put in a pit was only the beginning. The pit was due to his own shortcomings.
However, there would eventually be a second pit (prison), one not due to his actions. Through both, Joseph was becoming the man of God that would be needed and he had been chosen long before he became ready to accept the challenge that lay ahead.
Jacob had not grown to maturity either. He clearly had a favorite son and had given Joseph his “coat of many colors”, a coat that had purposefully set Joseph visibly apart. Jacob was openly telling his other sons that Joseph was special. He should never have openly identified Joseph as his favorite son.
Reuben, the one expected to assume leadership of the family following the death of Jacob, exhibited weak leadership when he sought to prevent his brothers from killing Joseph. He suggested putting Joseph in a pit planing to secretly return him to his father. He never had the opportunity. He exhibited weak leadership and was not ready to assume the leadership of his family that would eventually be needed.
Judah was no better. It was he who came up with the idea of selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites. They were relatives and even they had a part in what appeared to be an almost unbelievable treatment of Joseph. To them, he was only a commodity.
Many had contributed to the way in which Joseph had entered Egypt. Everyone was behaving according to his own instincts and nobody, not even Joseph, was seeking guidance from the Lord. With so many poor human choices having been involved, it might seem odd that God’s plan ever came to pass at all.
In spite of the sorry state of the entire family all doing things mans’ way, the wrong way, God’s plan did not fail. Joseph arrived in Egypt right on schedule. In spite of additional human failure in Egypt, Joseph eventually rose to become the man of God that was needed and the ongoing support needed by the fledgling Hebrews was provided for generations. In spite of many human failures, God’s plan for Jacob came off without a hitch.
His plan had not simply been to protect His tiny family during the drought, but for the next four hundred years. At first the family was far too small in number to protect themselves from other nations that were larger and more powerful. They needed a protectorate nation while slowly growing in numbers. While they didn’t understand it, slavery was actually Gods way of protecting them for the entire four hundred years. While they did not recognize their own need, they were being led, one step at a time by their God.
The physical, mans way, always comes first. Once man has fouled things up royally God then steps up, takes over, uses what had inadequately been “offered”, and brings things to a perfect conclusion. He did that even while it might seem that man had caused things to become so fouled up that a successful conclusion would appear to be beyond reach.
This story clearly demonstrates the continuously imperfect way of man as opposed to the perfect way of God. While we are all expected to do our best, we never get it entirely right. None of us ever do. That does not mean we should go about moaning and complaining that we do the things the way we do.
We are expected to rejoice in the Lord. Our task is to recognize our own inadequacies and trust only in Him. Try as we might (and should) we remain human and our only route to success is to lean heavily on God. He gets it right. Putting our trust in Him at each new juncture is difficult. That’s where our humanity becomes evident. We may get it right once, but living it on an ongoing basis is where we lose it. We remain human and humans blow it.
Accepting responsibility is to be commended. While failing to understand the way God is already moving in our lives is is not simply our way, it is inevitable. As we mature in the Lord, our responsibility increases. However, that does not mean we are to cling tightly to tradition. God is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22,23) and what He does today may not be the same thing we have seen Him do in the past. We need to hear Gods voice for today.
He is speaking to us by bringing us through things in the physical world that have their primary purpose in the spiritual world. Making that leap is difficult for we earthbound creatures. We are reluctant to let go because we are unable to identify the next step God has for us. Clinging to our past would seem to be safe. Never-the-less, if God is “new every morning”, the place where God wants us to be encamped never seems to be where we find ourselves.
We are called to understand what He is doing from within the invisible world, the world into which we cannot easily see. Never-the-less, that is where we are to primarily direct our attention. We continuously make choices in the physical world (that seem to be only about the physical world), but that will have their greatest consequences in the spiritual world.
Be that as it may, God is always in control. Our responsibility is to recognize that He is in control and that we are not. Letting go can be difficult. But, if we fail to do so we will miss much of what He has for us. That may not take place entirely in the physical world. Remember, the physical is the reflection of the spiritual. The consequences will always be in both worlds. While the visible, the more easily understood, will have its place in the physical world, the most significant and real, but more difficult, will take place in the spiritual world.
Discernment is our only way to transition to the place where we hear His voice. We have not because we ask not (James 4:2,3). If we ask for discernment, we have asked according to the will of God and he will answer us. However, that may not mean that we will have the needed discernment for the next issue that confronts us. We will probably need to pray for discernment all over again. We will need a restart. We are slowly learning to see into two worlds at once, both the visible and the invisible.
It seems to be a never ending struggle. If that was not the case, by now, I would probably have found it easier to see what God is doing. But, it remains difficult. It is very easy to overlook the way the physical and the spiritual, the visible and the invisible, the real and the image, interact throughout the entire Bible. I still fail to grasp it.
As you progress through this book you will see that the Bible makes mention of the physical and the spiritual interacting together far more frequently than you might ever have imagined. It’s the teaching method of the Bible.