Friendship With God?

By David Hobbs

 We’ve all sung this song at one time or another:

                I am a friend of God, 

                I am a friend of God, 

                I am a friend of God, He calls me “friend”

 What a wonderful revelation when we first realize we are friends with the creator and ruler of the universe! Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:15 that He no longer called them servants, but now He called them friends.

But there is a more to this idea of friendship with God than meets the eye. Let me illustrate. 

In Exodus 24:9 we see this account: 

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank. 

 What an incredible experience! I have served God for over 40 years and have never had an experience like that! They were invited up the mountain, saw God, were welcomed into His presence, and ate and drank with Him (a sign of fellowship, informality, and friendship). Who could blame them for going down the mountain singing, “I am a friend of God, I am a friend of God….” 

Fast forward a year or two….. 

 Nadab and Elihu 

Lev. 10:1--Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 

The 70 Elders 

Num. 14:26--And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me?... Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will o to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness…. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 

 Moses and Aaron 

Lev. 20:12--Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 

First Nadab and Elihu, then the 70 elders, then Moses and Aaron--none of the men who went up that mountain to share the fellowship meal with God entered the Promised Land. They all died in the wilderness under His disfavor--all except for Moses and Aaron under His wrath. Obviously friendship with God is not something to presume upon

The Outcry Over America

By David Hobbs

A few days ago, after midnight in the nearby city of Sacramento, a police officer sitting in his patrol car was approached by a man claiming there was a guy in a nearby parking lot with a gun. When the officer got out to investigate, the man viciously attacked him, punching him in the face and knocking him to the ground. The man then went for the dazed officer’s gun, and probably would have shot him, except for a couple of security guards in a nearby hospital who saw the fracas, rushed out and subdued the attacker.

Today a second man was arrested. This man was allegedly filming the attack while egging the attacker on. It looks to me like an ambush set up for the purpose of making a “snuff film” (which is defined by creepypasta.wikia.com as “a recording of the actual murder of [a] human being that is subsequently passed around for entertainment purposes.”)

During today’s prayer meeting, my heart broke for the depth of depravity to which our culture has sunk. We have long dealt with “senseless violence,” like when a troubled youth with a hellish upbringing lashes out at some innocent person who happens to cross his path at the wrong time. Though that is deeply troubling as well, at least it’s understandable. We can process it as the product of dysfunctional families, which we see all around us. But this was a new low. This was deliberate, intentional, not driven by some great emotion; apparently driven by nothing more than the desire to bring sick entertainment to a culture so jaded that nothing less shocks or even entertains any more. And there is no longer any fear of punishment, from God or even from man: killing a police officer used to be considered a heinous crime.

But I’m not trying to stir outrage. Those who can be outraged are already numb with shock over the implosion of our culture. Those who can’t, probably weren’t even moved by the harvesting and selling of fetal baby body parts, and can no longer be reached by anything. Spiritually they have become reprobates, their consciences seared by a hot iron as the Apostle Paul speaks.

In prayer I sensed the heart of God weeping, like He did in Noah’s day, when He was grieved in His heart by the depravity of man. He became sorry He made them, and determined to rid the earth of them. God was weeping, because it was not His will that any perish, and in His longsuffering He was waiting and hoping for man to repent. (Like right now we are in the middle of a weeklong revival in Olivehurst, hoping to turn the city from its evil course and save souls.)

But at the same time, the cry from the wickedness in America is great, and rises continually to His ears. In the days of Sodom, God said to Abraham in Gen. 18:20-21—“Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me;” We know what followed--judgment and the total destruction of Sodom and the surrounding cities.

In Leviticus 18:25 and 28, God warned that when the land became sufficiently defiled by the sin of its inhabitants, it would vomit them out, and it didn’t make any difference whether they were heathen or God’s people. In Romans 8:20-22, we see that all of creation is groaning because of sin. And in other places we see that shed blood cries out to God for vindication (Gen. 4:10)

I saw a crucial and delicate balancing act in heaven going on right now, even as I write this and as you read it. The sins of America are crying out to God for relief that comes only through judgment, while the land itself is crying out for permission to vomit out its inhabitants. There is a deafening, thunderous cry rising for judgment, while at the same time, the mercy and longsuffering of God are crying out to hold off a little longer. And God the judge of all is balancing the one against the other.

But the cry for judgment grows ever louder, as our sin becomes more blatant, like the incident in Sacramento shows. Now we are making movies of actual murders for their entertainment value and the cry for judgment reaches an almost feverish pitch. How much longer can mercy possibly hold it back?

Though it’s a peaceful fall day outside, warm, sunny and still, up in heaven things are raging over the fate of America, with many lives and eternal destinies hanging in the balance… hanging by a thread.