Beneath The Surface

Do you want God's blessing? Do you want to see Him work the miraculous? Do you long to see Him take difficult situations and turn them easily for His purposes? Do you want to behold His marvelous works around you and His wondrous power on display?

My guess is you said yes to all the above. We all want to see God work and bless. Or do we. Upon closer examination I am not so sure. I make this statement based on my morning devotion.

Joshua 3:5 (ESV)
⁵  Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” 

Wonders awaited Joshua and Israel as they prepared to possess the promised land. They would soon behold God working in extraordinary fashion. They would see God turn the impossible to possible. They would witness the miraculous intervention on their behalves when all the odds seemed stacked against them.

That must have been a thrilling time. Like Joshua and Israel, we all want to see God perform wonders. The word wonders means marvelous, hard, difficult. They needed God to do such things. How could they otherwise hoped to possess a land of fortified cities and strong militaries.

We all want to see the wonders. We love it when God shows up and does wondrous things. We brag on Him when He makes the hard look easy. We celebrate Him when difficult paths and mountains are leveled smooth. We thank Him.

But let's back up. The wonders were not assured to come until after the people consecrated themselves. The word consecrate means cleanse, purify, dedicate, devote. Can you say today you are consecrated to God? Let me go a little deeper beneath the surface. Are you fully consecrated? Are you truly devoted? To ask it another way are there any areas in your life God has not possessed and ruled. In your mind? In your heart? In your attitude? In your actions? In your desires?

Are we a consecrated people? Do we hold back? We sing the song "I Surrender All" but do our lives back up what we sing? Are there areas in our lives where we have not waved the white flag of surrender to Jehovah?

Could it be that we miss out on some of God's wonderful work because we are not consecrated to Him? Let's break this down a little deeper. Let's go beneath the surface of this verse to deeper truth.

Are we living pure lives before the Holy One? Temptation abounds. Sin is everywhere. Can any of us say we are unscathed by sin? Has sin enslaved and kept us in bondage? Do we embrace sin while shunning holiness and the Holy One? Do we need His cleansing like David prayed for in Psalm 51?

When is the last time we took a long look inside our hearts and minds to clean house and repent?. Are our thoughts pure? Do we hate? Do we dwell on impurity, immorality, and impulses that please the flesh? Do we harbor hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, and malice in our hearts?

Can we say our hearts and minds are really consecrated to God? Do we truly give ourselves to private worship, private prayer, and private devotions? Are our efforts sincere and wholehearted? It is so much easier to go through the motions in religious activities. The Israelites did that very thing and God detested it. [Is 1:1-17] The very religious exercises they thought were pleasing to God and done in obedience were rejected and disgusting to God.

Does that ever happen with us? Do we really give ourselves to prayer and intercession for others? We often say we will pray for people but do we really pray with a consecrated and devoted heart? We read our Bibles but do we read them like a lover reading a love letter from his or her lover? We sit in religious services but do we devote ourselves to seeking and obeying God or are we content to just show up sometimes?

Can we say we are truly dedicated to the will of God? If so have we shared the gospel this week? Have we followed every place He has led? Are we obeying His commands?

It is so easy to read verses such as [Joshua 3:5] and only skim the surface. We want the wonders. We are not so quick to embrace the consecration. It is not an either or. It is both. When we consecrate ourselves to God we can be assured He will perform wonders.

If we are experiencing a lack of wonders from Yahweh could it be because we are not consecrated. The wonders are on the other side of living pure, cleansed, dedicated, and devoted. What will we do? Live consecrated or half hearted? God looks way beneath the surface to see beyond our exterior behavior. He looks at the heart. May He find a consecrated people beneath the surface.