Gen 24:2ff, “And Abraham said to his servant… 3 I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac." 5 The servant said to him, "Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?" 6 Abraham said to him, "See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there."… 29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban.”
After reading this passage, we can understand that for some reason depending on his alliance with God or perhaps because the Lord had sternly forbidden it, Abraham was scared stiff to see his son going back to the land of his fathers, even if it was just to take a wife. There was no going back to Mesopotamia as long as God had not yet given the land of Canaan to his seed.
A poorly informed observer could have erroneously concluded that God had forbidden Abraham and his descendants never to set foot again in his homeland; but he would have been very wrong. Indeed, many years later, “Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.” (Gen 28:1-2) So, this same Isaac that Abraham would not let return to his home country, was now asking his son, Abraham’s grandson, to go there in person!
This reminded me of how important it is to walk by the Spirit instead of following fashion. We are all different from each other and we all have our individual callings. It is not because someone did this and nothing happened or it even worked very well, that I must also jump on it. And it is not because God has clearly said ‘no’ to my neighbour, that He will necessarily say ‘no’ to me for the same thing: the terms of our covenant with Him are not the same.
God asked prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute; does this mean that pastors and Christians in general should tour the brothels when they start looking for a wife? Of course not!
God asked prophet Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot; is it enough for you to get up tomorrow and do the same?
Jesus healed a blind man by rubbing a mixture of mud and saliva on his eyes. Are you going to do the same without thinking if you have to pray for the blind? (Hos 1:2-3; Is 20:2-3; Jn 9:6)
These examples merely help us understand that the Lord can sometimes ask us to do things that seem absolutely insane; but it is rarely to set a precedent or start a new doctrine; hence the importance of walking by the Spirit.
Closer to home, I'll take my own example. I don’t and I will never put human hair based extensions or wigs on my head. This is something that God has placed in my heart; I cannot tell you exactly how I received it, but there was a time when I just knew they were not for me. I remember the day when I decided to have my heart set and went to the market to buy a particular kind of extension after asking the Lord that if it was really not His will for me to put this sort of hair, then I should not find what I was looking for. I went with two young ladies who were used to buying such products. We went round in the market for about 2 hours, going to the sellers who usually always had them, but found nothing. As I was ready to leave, one of them asked that we still try some other shops elsewhere. I stayed in the car, saying: "It's pointless; God doesn’t want it. I will not be marching in vain. You can go but you will not find anything." They actually came back empty-handed and could not just believe how a relatively common product had suddenly miraculously disappeared from the stalls. Later on, somebody to whom I had recounted the event said: “But there is nothing wrong with wearing such extensions: Pastor so and so wears them.” I replied: "I don’t know what their contract with God is; and there are certainly things that they are not allowed to do but which are lawful for me. Those extensions might be good for them, but they are not for me. I just cannot put on human hair products. This is somehow part of my vow of a Nazirite."
Thus Samson could not cut his beard or his hair and could not drink alcohol. Compliance with these prohibitions guaranteed the manifestation of the anointing of God on him as a supernatural strength; and the day that the razor blade went in his hair, the presence of the Lord departed from him with the disastrous consequences that we know.
We must learn to be very careful with trends and fads and pay attention to the terms of our covenant with God: not all mouths and stomachs can take the chili.
Have a wonderblessed week!
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