Hosanna Restoration Church

As I read this scripture, a very clear thought came to mind, “don’t defy what you cannot deny!” All of these spiritual leaders realized that it must have been God who did the miracle. They could not deny it, but rather than consider it and pray about it, they chose to defy it. They wanted to crush this move of God. They had been privileged to catch a glimpse of His glory, but they made the wrong choice. Rather than turn and see what it was about as Moses did with the burning bush, they chose to try and put the bush out!

Whenever I see things like this in God’s Word I look to see if I can find a parallel in my own walk with God. Usually I can find many pictures that fit in perfectly. When I was young, God was up on a mountain somewhere. He was out of sight and out of mind for the most part. At least that is what I thought. There were times, which I see now, when there were little reminders of His presence, but then I pretty much ignored them. There were a few times that I looked into the clouds to see if He was there. Those of course were the times when I had a need. Looking back, I can see where He answered me, but of course I gave Him no praise or glory for it. Why in the world did He put up with that? I think it was because, though my actions denied Him, I never really defied Him.

Later on, there came that time when He passed by and I caught a glimpse of Him. It was like one of those shadows that a person gets in their peripheral vision. I did not really know it was Him, but I turned so I could get a better look. I guess I could say it was like a burning bush experience. I did not really know what was going on, but thought it just might be God. As things progressed, I became more and more convinced that it must be God! It was all strange, but it seemed better than anything else I had ever experienced so I just let it all go and said, “Lord show me the way.”

When this happened, most of the people who knew me before sort of denied it! It was a bit of shock! Even many Christians could not believe it. Some who denied it just sort of stood back to see what would happen. They pretty much responded to us with a “don’t call us we’ll call you!” After a time, it became pretty hard for anyone to deny that something remarkable had indeed taken place. Many who first preferred to watch, later followed Jesus themselves. There were however, those who not only chose to deny what God had done, they openly defied it. Twenty-two years later there are still some who would do anything to make it go away. To be honest, I have at times wondered if I should go away so they would not resist so much, but God says that is not the answer and I am thankful for that.

The warning to us all is to be careful that we do not defy what we cannot deny. Even as believers in Christ we can become so programmed to believe only what we want to and reject what does not fit our thinking that we will defy certain things, even when we cannot deny the finger print of God in the fruit of it. It may be that if we feel like we want to defy something it would be good time to try it before we throw it out.