The Dark side of the Moon
For many years scientists believed that the moon did not rotate at all. Then later as telescopes became better and calculations more acute; they realized that the moon does indeed rotate. The moon rotates around on its axis very, very slowly. If I have understood the terms right, for every time the earth completes one revolution around the sun, or one lunar year; the moon however would have revolved around on its axis just one complete time! The phases of the moon are actually the angle of the earth’s shadow falling on the moon, so don’t think about them for now.
But what this slow rotation means is when you look at the moon tonight; you are seeing what was only visible a year ago. As the light from the sun shines on the moon, we are seeing barely at most, one half of the moon. That means that there is a dark side to the moon where for many, many calendar months the sun never shines upon. The temperature falls greatly below zero and darkness pervades.
I can’t help to think what epitomizes the permissive will of God more than the cold, dark, lightless side of the moon, that we never see but it is there. Being in God’s will is much like being in the light of the sun. The light from the sun illuminates things to our vision, so we do things, we see things, and we live our lives. God’s will is much like that to our lives as Christians. God’s will shines on us and we see what we should do as Christians, it is as plain as day! It seems that some Christians are always in the light doesn’t it? They always see God leading in the lives; they recognize God’s hand in what comes their way. I think that’s a little of what Paul had in mind as he wrote what we have read. The perfect will of God is like standing in the complete brightness of the noon day sun! Nothing is hidden for your vision, no shadows from the past night linger, no coldness of winter, no uncertainties.
Just as there is a bright side to God’s will, one that is obvious there also is a dark side which exists as well. A side where God allows things to happen which seem from the surface of things not to be associated with God at all, but they are. C.S. Lewis called it the shadow lands because the sun never shines there it seems; there Christians are called to suffer pain and loss, called to suffer at the very hands of evil itself, yet God has approved such.
Since we have started these lessons we have covered: running ahead of God’s will, stepping outside of God’s will, skipping some part of God’s will, helping God’s will by our own means. Can I say that all of these are somewhat uncomplicated to think about and reason if indeed these things are true of us. These are child’s play when it comes to think about what is called the permissive will of God. I know some Christians chose not to believe in the permissive will of God for their own certain reasons; yet the more I read the bible I am persuaded that there is such a thing as the permissive will of God and the misery or confidence that can be fold in it.
There are several reasons why Christians find themselves on the dark side of God’s will. But for the most part we will see that God’s permissive will comes about to punish and correct or mature and better us.
I. God’s Permissive Will brings Punishment
A. Balaam Numbers 22:1-22
Balaam is a strange figure in the bible. He obviously knew the God of Israel and yet he was associated with Balak of Moab a wicked man and nation. Yet for some reason it pleased God to include Balaam and his sorry example in the bible of us. What has puzzled people is what we see in v20-22, God said go in v20 and then we see God’s anger toward him going in v22. God Said Go but was very angry because He went. Why was God angry? There’s an answer to that.
The king of Moab, Balak wants Balaam to curse this people that have come out of Egypt, which is God’s people. Balaam is told by God, “…Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed”. Num 22:12 That was clear instructions was it not? God had revealed his will to Balaam and that should have settled the matter for Balaam. Talk about a yes or no answer; the answer was a NO! That seemed good for the time. But then a group of more honorable princes came and it is in this part that we see Balaam’s true heart. We begin to understand why Peter wrote what he did in 2Pe 2:15 “…following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”
Notice v18. That was more of a suggestion rather than a dismissal of this group. Balaam goes back to God and pushes the matter. God had revealed his will in v12 already. Don’t go or curse this people. That should have been enough for Balaam, but it wasn’t because Balaam apparently wanted some of Balak’s gold and takes the pious route. “Well, let me pray about it and see if God has changed his mind.” And it seemed God did change his mind, but then God gets angry in v22. God sent an angel with a drawn sword to kill Balaam. And you remember that his donkey saw the angels’ sword and turned away while Balaam was beating the donkey for his willfulness.
Balaam shows his insincerity towards God’s commands by asking after again when it should have been settled.
The answer to this passage is that God’s permission is actually apart of God’s punishment for Balaam.
The thing we ought to see here is that God often chastens his people not by stopping them cold in their tracks, not by placing them in positions where that can not do as they will, but by granting our requests and letting us have our own way! That is real punishment, when you can’t blame God at all for what has happened because we wanted to go this way and we fought God about it, we wouldn’t let it go when he said no, so in God’s permissive will he lets us have what we think we must have or we will die!
Have you ever heard the saying, “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” That is also true with God! Be careful about what you pester God about, because he just might let you have it as in the form of punishment.
God’s perfect will meant that God would make Balaam rich if God wanted too.
B. Children of Israel Psa 78:27-31
The people complained and murmured that they didn’t have any meat to eat. But they went about asking it the wrong way not in faith. Notice these verses.
God gave then their request didn’t he? They had meat coming out of the noses and then the wrath of God came down upon them. Those quails were their last meal and they didn’t know it.
God’s perfect will for them was to look up into heaven and say, “God has got us this far, so we will trust him even more!” But they didn’t. Instead of faith their was complaining and so on.
This is not justification for us not to pray and seeking the Lord’s face. These had done what James says those Christians were doing in his day and that was praying amiss for things that they might consume it upon their lusts! That’s like praying for a million dollars then God gives it to you and all the headache connected with it or your certain destruction.
Listen when it comes down to it, we don’t know what even to ask the lord for. We have to get in his word to find out what we should ask the Lord for, instead of just going by our naturally sinful heart’s desires.
I remember reading of Dr. Criswell having a wealth family in his church. Their son lay dying on the bed. The mother turned to Criswell and vehemently insisted that God answer her prayers and let their son live! So she prayed for days that her son would live again, and after some time their son did live again. But Criswell said that they came to the point where they wished their son never was born. He grew to destroy their family business, wasted their entire fortune, shamed their family name and died himself involved in crime. Finally, the parents left this world as paupers, still broken hearted over their son.
What this incident taught Criswell is what we should also learn tonight. That we should want what God wants for our lives and nothing more! There is a line drawn between what we want in life and what God wants us to have. We step over that line God just may let us have what we think we must have!
C. Jews of the Captivity Jer 29: 8-10
Jeremiah preached a hard message to swallow. It was basically give yourself up to the invading army of Babylon and you shall live. But refuse or fight and you will did. God didn’t desire their extinction. God went on to say, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jer 29:11
It was God’s permissive will for them to be slaves to Babylon. That was the only way for them to survive.
The hardest thing about this message especially from the Jews’ point of view was that it sounded unpatriotic in their ears. It was like saying to us that we should give up and let Iraq, Iran, or whoever do what they want with us. That’s why so many rejected Jeremiah’s message and died! Listen, Judah at this time wasn’t walking with the Lord; in fact they had been for a long time away from the Lord. God’s will for those who wanted to live was to submit to the invaders as your punishment.
God was allowing his people to go into captivity as his permissive will. His perfect will was for them to put down their idols and return to the worship of the true God. They could have avoided all this war, death and famine but they would have none of that, so God punishes them.
II. God’s Permissive Will brings Maturity
Sometimes God’s permissive will brings other things beside judgment. Why does bad things happen to the best of Christians? Why is someone called on to suffer so? I think that God’s permissive will brings us into hard times not because we are sinful but because we to learn some deep lessons. Because God wants us to be more like his son, we are called walk in more darkness than light, we are alone more than in the crowd, that we might be more like Jesus!
God allowed some things in the lives of good people to make them the great people that we read of in the bible.
A. Joseph
Joseph was lied about, hated, sold into slavery, accused of a crime he didn’t do, locked up and to top it off forgotten while in prison.
All these things sound bad, and they were. But all these things came into Joseph’s life with God’s stamp of approval on it. God’s permissive will brought all this upon Joseph to mold and make his character into something that isn’t ordinary or common, but something that was truly one of a kind. We see something of that we he speaks to his brothers, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God(in His permissive will) meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Gen 50:20
B. Paul
Paul strikes me as the person that just wants to serve God. Yet, for the last few years of his life he was a prisoner. He was locked up and chained to a guard. Surely if he’s going to be any use to God, he must be free but he wasn’t. And it was God’s permissive will that he wasn’t. While in prison; the least place you would think that someone has joy, Paul does! If fact, he wrote a letter about the joy of Christians in the very joyless place we could think of! Paul writes that his incarceration has not hindered the gospel but rather has helped it!
“But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;” Phi 1:12-13
Paul realized that God’s permissive will brought him into the very presence of Caesar for him to witness.
That’s why he could have joy!
Closing:
God’s permissive will can bring judgment or greater blessings? The greatest deciding factor is us. Paul could have complained to God just like someone else, and we would not have the letter he wrote to the Philippines either.
Things that may seem not to be of God on the surface could possibly God’s will for our lives. Submission, acceptance, dependents upon God will make that dark time profitable.