Driving Out Rebellion
Journal 2005 03 12
Driving Out Rebellion
The night was chilly. Snowfall greeted the “travelers”. (They hadn’t advanced camp in more than 120 days.) And the chill wind of rebellion that blew through the Fort from the Charbonneau lodge (tipi) carried spiritual snow on its path. Frozen, cold rain in the form of snow is a good analogy to the cold, stiff decisions of foolishness and pride that cause rebellion to fall on a selfish heart.
Charbonneau’s hardened heart is unchanged overnight. The Captains revoke their verbal contract with him and require he move his lodge out of Fort Mandan.
Do you see the spiritual principle at work? The prophet Jeremiah said that God will “drive off rebellion”. And the Captain’s followed this same principled. They required the rebellion to be moved out of their camp. Immediately. So Charbonneau moved his lodge outside the Fort.
Outside the Fort the buffalo hide covered lodge was subject to all the dangers that man, beast and nature could bring. Charbonneau was now solely responsible for all of his family’s welfare.
Inside the wall of Fort Mandan they found safety and a sense of security. Inside the camp were the blessings of community. As a member of the community, or in this case army, Charbonneau was able to partake in the blessings of the community. Community provisions in the form of food, hides and anything else necessary to the completion of the mission were theirs. The community woodpile provided heat for the lodge. The blessings of the community were no longer theirs because of rebellion.
Now they had to gather wood, hunt meat, stand watch and trade for any goods they couldn’t procure. Independence brought about by rebellion. The fruit of getting our own way. Is it worth it?
Am I, are you, living in the fruit of rebellion? Are you feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed with the requirements of life? Do you feel personally responsible for all the requirements of daily life?
Look around you and examine with a Godly eye what you see. Is your “lodge” outside the protective walls of “the Kingdom”? Are you cutting the wood, hunting the meat, making the clothes, tending the garden (if you can keep the animals out of it long enough to harvest) and trying to produce enough extra goods to trade for what you can’t make that you have no time or energy to stand watch throughout night against raiders?
If your life in the modern world is analogous to this rebellious life on the prairie outside the Fort, knock on the gates of the Kingdom and plead for mercy to come back into the sanctuary your Father has prepared for you in His Kingdom. His Name is a fortified fortress with all the accompanying provision that comes from living inside His Kingdom.
Choose to live there. Under His command, under His authority receiving the blessings that exist inside His Kingdom. “…seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
Driving Out Rebellion
The night was chilly. Snowfall greeted the “travelers”. (They hadn’t advanced camp in more than 120 days.) And the chill wind of rebellion that blew through the Fort from the Charbonneau lodge (tipi) carried spiritual snow on its path. Frozen, cold rain in the form of snow is a good analogy to the cold, stiff decisions of foolishness and pride that cause rebellion to fall on a selfish heart.
Charbonneau’s hardened heart is unchanged overnight. The Captains revoke their verbal contract with him and require he move his lodge out of Fort Mandan.
Do you see the spiritual principle at work? The prophet Jeremiah said that God will “drive off rebellion”. And the Captain’s followed this same principled. They required the rebellion to be moved out of their camp. Immediately. So Charbonneau moved his lodge outside the Fort.
Outside the Fort the buffalo hide covered lodge was subject to all the dangers that man, beast and nature could bring. Charbonneau was now solely responsible for all of his family’s welfare.
Inside the wall of Fort Mandan they found safety and a sense of security. Inside the camp were the blessings of community. As a member of the community, or in this case army, Charbonneau was able to partake in the blessings of the community. Community provisions in the form of food, hides and anything else necessary to the completion of the mission were theirs. The community woodpile provided heat for the lodge. The blessings of the community were no longer theirs because of rebellion.
Now they had to gather wood, hunt meat, stand watch and trade for any goods they couldn’t procure. Independence brought about by rebellion. The fruit of getting our own way. Is it worth it?
Am I, are you, living in the fruit of rebellion? Are you feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed with the requirements of life? Do you feel personally responsible for all the requirements of daily life?
Look around you and examine with a Godly eye what you see. Is your “lodge” outside the protective walls of “the Kingdom”? Are you cutting the wood, hunting the meat, making the clothes, tending the garden (if you can keep the animals out of it long enough to harvest) and trying to produce enough extra goods to trade for what you can’t make that you have no time or energy to stand watch throughout night against raiders?
If your life in the modern world is analogous to this rebellious life on the prairie outside the Fort, knock on the gates of the Kingdom and plead for mercy to come back into the sanctuary your Father has prepared for you in His Kingdom. His Name is a fortified fortress with all the accompanying provision that comes from living inside His Kingdom.
Choose to live there. Under His command, under His authority receiving the blessings that exist inside His Kingdom. “…seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 10:46 PM
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