Fresh Bread # 114
WHY THE VEILS?
   
“It is the
Glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings to search out a
matter.” (Proverbs 25:2).
Oh, that men and
women would seek to know the Living God. He does not hide from them, but many
do not seek Him.
It is a wise child
of God who is willing to humble themselves and ask God “Why?” He says, “Those
who seek Me shall find Me, and that right early.” (Proverbs 8:17).
PHARAOH’S VEIL
For a long time I
couldn’t understand “why” God put a veil over the eyes of Pharaoh. God would
perform great miracles, but just when it looked like Pharaoh could see the
power of God working for His people, the children of Israel (the Jewish
nation)…the veil would drop again and Pharaoh would refuse to let God’s
children go.
Pharaoh’s pride and
arrogance finally got the best of him when our Lord led His children through
the Red Sea.
Pharaoh’s veil was
created by Pharaoh’s own choice to “harden his heart”. A hard heart draws a
veil that eventually turns into something like a metal blinder that only God
can break open or lift.
It is dangerous to
consistently refuse the Love of God.
ISRAEL’S VEIL
(Psalms 106)
Israel Sins Against God’s Love
If you will read
all of Psalms 106 you will see how the veil was formed over the eyes of our
Jewish ancestors.
Time after time God
blessed and rescued His people. But, once out of trouble…they would forget
God. Do we do the same today?
Verse 13 says, “They
soon forgot His works, they waited not for His counsel.” “The counsel of
the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.”
(Psalms 33:11). “There are many devices in a man’s heart, nevertheless the
counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” (Proverbs 19:21).
[The word “counsel”
makes a great “Walk-About”…study word.]
So, God said, “I
gave them up unto their own hearts’ lusts: and they walked in their own
counsels.” (Psalms 81:13).
FEAR OF THE LORD
We wonder sometimes
why we have almost an instinctive fear of the Lord. We know He is LOVE, but
love protects, guides, and directs toward an abundant life. I think it must
come through our ancestors who learned the consequences of walking in their
own counsel instead of God’s.
We have a right to
fear God. Some people think God never gets angry. He did. He does. And He
will again. Not at His children who have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus,
but by those who refuse to listen to His counsel.
He was so angry in
verse 23 of Psalm 106 that He wanted to destroy them. He was ready to kill
them all, had not Moses His chosen, stood before Him in the breach to turn away
His wrath, lest He should destroy them all.
Praise God for
God’s Mercy. He already had a man like Moses to stand in the gap for His
rebellious children. God’s plans had always been and still are, to bless His
children…not kill them.
But, they wouldn’t
listen to His counsel. Each time they resisted Him, their hearts became
a little harder so that not only were their ears closing more daily to hearing,
but their eyes to seeing the Goodness of God’s LOVE. They were not only deaf
now, but also spiritually blind.
BUT GOD ALWAYS
HAS A PLAN
God gave them their
request but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalms 106:15). They were His
First Love because they came first. Then, God sent His message to the
Gentiles (us)…a wild group of people who knew little about Jewish religious
traditions. People who would need to live by “faith” more than rules and
regulations. They would need to study and be taught things the Jews already
knew.
When our Lord began
to send His Message to the Gentiles, it was partly to make the Jews jealous.
But, also, to show His Great LOVE for all of His creation…the Jew, as well as
the Gentile.
BLINDNESS IN PART
Praise God! God
already has it in His plans, that the Jews will not always be in blindness.
And of course many of them are not blind today.
Romans 11:25-27
says that “blindness in part is happened to Israel.” I think this could refer
to the leanness of soul in Psalms 106: 15. They knew God but had not received
His Son Jesus as the Messiah.
After the “Fullness
of the Gentiles” has come about however, then all of Israel will be saved. Our
Lord Himself will do this because of His LOVE Covenant with them. (Verse 27).
Then they will see and understand. God, Himself will lift the veil from
their eyes.
SOME VEILS
ONLY
GOD CAN LIFT
Some veils only God
can lift. And, Oh how He must look forward to that glorious day when His first
loves sees Him as He really is: Pure LOVE, Pure Provision, Total Savior and
Lord, who always has only Good planned for them. (Jeremiah 29:11).
We all shall SEE
and KNOW, and UNDERSTAND that our Lord reigns and keeps His Covenant with us
from generation to generation.
NO WONDER
No wonder He asks
us to “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” and that “HE will lift the veils” from
both the Jews and the Gentiles: from our loved ones and ourselves. He wants
us all to see Him as he really is: all Goodness, Glory, and Love.
From the least to the greatest…God wants us all to
have a Clear Vision
Of
Himself.
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