Hiel of Bethel rebelled against God by rebuilding Jericho despite a divine curse that Joshua had invoked generations before (1 Kngs. 16:33, Josh. 6:26). Jericho represented the Lord's first victory in the establishment of a nation under Him. God had destroyed the city and it was not to be reconstructed. Any who dared would lose both his firstborn son and his youngest. Hiel disobeyed and received the consequences. Elijah appeared in the very next verse (17:1). It was not coincidence that God's servant was now speaking against the king.
The verses teach a godly principle--"don't rebuild what God has stopped."
Noah is a less severe example. After the many years of building the ark, Noah then lived inside it while the world was destroyed by the flood. When the time came to let the animals out and for his family to again take up the creation command to "be fruitful and multilply, and fill the earth" (Gen. 1:28, 9:1,7), did he hesitate? Was he tempted to hang on to the ark as something sacred when God was calling him to move forward? The ark was quickly becoming a sign of another time, another command of God. Would he try to renew that trace of the familiar or press forward into the new?
Would he try to rebuild what God had now stopped?
God gives fresh vision while we often have difficulty in letting go of the old. We may not provoke God as Hiel did, but we can swiftly become guilty of disobedience if we continue to ignore His call into a new direction.
Is God doing a new work? Don't rebuild what God has stopped.
Thought I entered a comment, but it disappeared...here's another. A really good point, and very encouraging when undergoing changes. Can be tempting to go back to the familiar, but it doesn't work after the season has passed.
ReplyDeleteThanks also for the email notice.
Sharon M.
Good thought. I used to think that once I started something for God, I was expected to do it till I die. As I matured I learned there can be seasons in our service and God will make sure we know when they change. Woe to me if I try to stay in summer when the leaves are falling.
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