NON-SITUATIONAL RESPONSES
A Study of the Book of Daniel
EXIT QUESTION: Am I Enough for You? (Part 1)
By J. Michael Strawn
As we bring our study of the book of Daniel to a close, I thought to ask the book an exit question. I wondered as we are sailing from the linguistic island of Daniel into other waters, and look over the bow, what can question might we ask? It turned out the opposite from what I was thinking about the book. I rather think the Lord is asking us a question that could be phrased like this: "Am I enough for you?"
In the book, he asks, "Am I enough for you, Daniel, in the middle of grave and very apparently dangerous circumstances?" "Am I enough for you, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, as you face the dangerous situation in what the world would consider to be certain death at the hands of the king and the fiery furnace?" In the world in which we live as we face all of these issues in life, and circumstances sometimes appear to move from bad to worse, at best we are always dealing with challenges to our faith. This exit question seems to be very primitive and important for us, wherein I hear the Lord asking us, "Am I enough for you?"
There would be two responses to that question. (1) One originates from the point of view of situational intelligence and that mind function would say, "No, you are not enough for me?" We would always, therefore, if we were operating on situational intelligence, be looking for some other thing. Something that would supplement, that would be in addition to the relationship with God. But the answer would be very definitive and would show up in the way in which one responds to world situations. "No you are not enough for me" in essence. (2) There is another response formed from a non-situational or a pushed intelligence and that mental function would say, "Yes, Lord, of course you are enough for me." And that mindset would demonstrate an assiduous disinterest in all other things.
Another way for the Lord to ask the question would be "Is my word enough for you?" Again situational intelligence would no doubt respond "no" while punctuated or pushed intelligence would say "yes." This as we notice is a question of the middle position. We have been talking about three-place logic. We drew it as "absolute priority" on the left hand side of the page, a stick figure in the middle which represents the mind of the believer, and the "world of material content" on the right hand side, thus completing a triadic structure. Therefore human intelligence is always to be placed in the middle position. It is a question of that middle position. It is in that position that the Lord would ask us the exit question, "Am I enough for you?" The subsequent mind (pushed intelligence, the manifestation of the non-situational intelligence of the Lord on earth formed into our minds by him) would say, "Yes." A mind that has still decided to operate on the position of human priority would categorically answer "no."
As we take a look at the book of Daniel, starting in Chapter 1 and reading through the book, there are a number of circumstances where the response of pushed intelligence is to be noted. We will look at each one of these briefly to try to grasp the significance of this question.
Daniel it is said here, "resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel…" Later Ashpenaz, while he is sympathetic, will deny Daniel his request, but the chief guard who will be next in line and most proximate to them on an everyday basis evidently will be more flexible and they will have this opportunity not to be defiled. The Lord had set this thing up. "God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy…" This is an indication of one of the things that the pushed intelligence is always up against. People are making decisions all around us. We have governments making decisions. There are federal, state and local officials making decisions. There are other kinds of social entities making decisions relative to the way life should be lived, the basis of rationality, what continuum of history we are in, etc. But the scripture here indicates that it is the Lord himself who is the arbiter of human sociology. There is a sociology in Babylonia into which Daniel and his three friends are injected. This sociology will make the immediate claim of having priority over them and over their circumstances. They are expected to conform to the human sociology instead of trying to escape its grasp or to redefine it in one way or another. However, we notice here that it is the Lord that controlled the impulse of the Babylonian sociology. This happens more than one time, but is very glaring here in verses 8 and 9.
Sociology can be, and usually is, an enemy of true faith. It stands over and against those of us who want to operate on the basis of pure faith in the world in which we live. It will oppose generally the individual who wishes to operate on the basis of non-situational responses to situations. Relations to contemporary sociology must be non-situational. And there are reasons why it has to be non-situational. One reason, and an immediate one, is the fact that the Lord has required this of us. Another is that it is the Lord himself who is the arbiter of these sociological structures. We let him shape these things and we let him proximate us to these sociological structures as he chooses. This happened on any number of occasions in the book of Daniel and it has happened to believers throughout the ages and we have a running record of this kind of thing where the Lord situates one in the human sociology just as the Lord has determined it. The human sociology will be bent to the shape of the will of God. The fact that these men were renamed by the Babylonian authorities (their new names were only a superficial proximity to the Babylonian sociology) was a manifestation of the power of the influence and of the perceptions that people had of the sociology. So we would say, "Yes, Lord, you are enough because you arbitrate those things. You are the arbiter of human sociology."
The text says, "To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." Now suppose we drew a circle about the size of a quarter in the middle of the page to represent the "mind of the individual." Here is human intelligence and it’s operating within a situation. So we might say that human intelligence if unaided by the revelation of God is situation-specific. That is, it’s going to be pegged to the situation. The situation will cue its reactions to what the situation indicates. When the statement is made that "God gave" Daniel and these four young men wisdom and knowledge, we are talking about something that is not situation-specific in the sense that it is controlled by the situation, because it goes beyond the situation. Of course, it is an excess. It is a surplus. It goes beyond the requirements that are necessary. That’s what God has given.
So the Lord, when he speaks to these men in terms of knowledge and understanding, giving them these things as gifts, pushing this knowledge and understanding into the situational dimension, we are in fact describing what will come to be obvious to us as a non-situational surplus. It overflows the limits of any situation. That’s the reason this intelligence was given to them in the first place because non-situational intelligence (and its manifest form in the world in our minds, which we are calling pushed intelligence) will overflow the limits of any situation. That’s a remarkable statement that we are able to make as believers. This is another reason why we answer in the affirmative, "Oh, yes Lord. You are enough for us because you are the absolute surplus personified." And as he injects this wisdom and as we become recipients of pushed intelligence, the intelligence that we are given overflows. It goes beyond the limitations of any given situation. That’s why Christians will be able to respond the way they do. A lot of times with people in the church, I am mystified as to why there are constant complaints and difficulties, a sense of being overwhelmed, or beaten down or simply exhausted. I wonder if that is necessarily something quite expected from our relationship to the world situation, or if there is something that manifests a kind of shortfall. This knowledge and this understanding, this preparation of the mind, this new mind that has been shaped by the death of the old and by its reincarnation in pushed intelligence, represents the mind of the Lord himself as we have described it through these many discussions of the book of Daniel; and certainly would have to represent an entity that overflows the limit of any world situation.
One of the things then that is important for us to realize in this life is that we are constantly growing, constantly assimilating, constantly burgeoning in this absorption of this intelligence that is off the planet because for us it represents absolute non-situational surplus. If there is anything that you and I as human beings need it is a kind of surplus. We don’t necessarily need economic surplus and we don’t always have to have biological surplus. Although we would rather walk all of our days and as many as possible in good health instead of sickness, we don’t have to have health as much as we have to have this surplus of the mind. One of the great gifts that the Lord has given to us is access to this surplus. That is why to us it is the great treasure—why we would reach out for it. It is why David writes in the Psalms "I would seek for you, O Lord, as the deer pants for the water." Because this is refreshment, this is reinvigoration, this is transformation, this is life, this is what brings the fruit to the branches, and this is what sustains. No question about it. We would have to respond, "Oh yes, Lord. You are quite enough for us because you are the absolute surplus personified.
Let’s draw a large grid made up of three layers of blocks one on top of another on the page and mark it off with several squares in it, and let’s say that we take a big marker and we write the word "situation" and I start with the "s" at the top of the grid and bring the word down to the bottom of the grid. Moving from left hand to right hand, write the word "situation" so that the word "situation" seems to fill the grid. That’s the idea that we can use here in a helpful way to explain to us what we are talking about.
We live in world situations. We can’t avoid situations. But now what is the makeup of those situations? According to Daniel 2:14-49 and other places in scripture, these situations have an infrastructure. Things generally do have an infrastructure. This building that I am in has an infrastructure. Most of it I can’t see--the steel girders, the retaining walls that are placed outside of my immediate range of vision. I can’t see those things. I would never be able to see it all in one chunk anyway. But it has an infrastructure. My body has an infrastructure. Without my skeletal makeup I wouldn’t be able to hold my head upright or stand up or walk. It turns out that situations also have infrastructures. Now when Christians become aware of what God is opening up to us, it poses for us an entirely different appreciation of world situations. In 2:14-49, these four young men are minding their business. The Lord blasts into the mind of the king a particular dream. The king knows that the dream is too important to ignore. He does not ignore it and is on the trail to find out its essence and its meaning. He turns to his astrologers, these men who are representatives of the situational intelligence, but they fail him. He is rather incensed at that whole situation and he decides that he will do away with the entire class of wise men in the kingdom. That will include Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. Arioch, the captain of the guard, is sent out with instructions to put all of these types to death and knocks on Daniel’s door. And Daniel is rather startled by this. He asks the question, "Why is the king’s decree so harsh?" It’s also very precipitous. But he is going to see that there is much more going on here. Perhaps he will see it after the fact rather than before.
He and his three friends come together and they pray to the Lord in heaven for mercy. Sometime during the night the Lord gives them the answer. Then in verses 20-23, Daniel praises the Lord, prays to him and expresses his gratitude and he glorifies the Lord for all he has done. He recognizes something that has to be inherently recognizable in his prayer and in the outcome of this event; that is, the situation had an infrastructure. That infrastructure, however, was not what the king was capable of doing or what the bureaucracy could summon in terms of authority over these men. The infrastructure of this entire situation was the temporal exercise of the will of God. That’s a whopper!
When we look at world situations and you just write the word "situation" in your mind, we are going to have them. We are going to have biologic difficulties. We are going to have economic difficulties. We may find ourselves in the midst of great social unrest in our country one of these days and beyond. We are going to face all kinds of personal circumstances of one variety or another. But because we have given ourselves to the Lord, because we have chosen to live on the basis of faith, because we have made this express confession to the Lord, "Yes you are enough for us," he will take these situations in hand and create their infrastructure. The infrastructure doesn’t consist of the world of appearances or what we can calculate or what we can enumerate with our formalistic systems. But rather the situation is clearly possessed of an infrastructure that is of another order. It is created and made up of the exercise of the will of God upon the earth.
When things happen to us, there is no need to panic. There is no immediate need for fear or consternation or perplexity because we already know without knowing anything else about the situation, that it has an infrastructure. This infrastructure is created of something that we cannot see but we know full well by faith that it’s there. We know it because it was revealed to us. The infrastructure is the temporal exercise of the will of God upon the earth. The situation is going to be conformed to that infrastructure. In 2:18, that turns out to be the case undeniably because they pray to God for mercy. Daniel recognizes, "Lord, this has an infrastructure. You are involved here. You’ve brought this about. You are in charge." In 2:19, we are told that the meaning is revealed and so this has been precipitated by the Lord. These men were caught up in it. They did not exactly know what the point was but they were going to be told that their responsibility was to say, "Yes Lord, we don’t know everything. But we do know this. You are enough for us and we know why. Because when you decide to exercise your will in the temporal realm, situations develop. But your will is always the infrastructure." That’s the infrastructure that keeps the situation in place and it will also determine its outcome.
In 2:20, he will talk to the Lord about the power he has exercised. It’s the temporal exercise of power. In fact, the word and the idea of the power of God that is evidenced in the scripture almost always will involve the idea of the temporal exercise of that power. It’s not just abstract power. It is power as it is exercised within the temporal dimension. In 2:21, he will say that it has geopolitical implications. He will talk about changing times and seasons and setting up kings and deposes them. This is the world situation with its infrastructure of the will of God controlling it. The dream itself reveals an unfolding wave of successive kingdoms. This has to do with geopolitics. It’s also an epistemological framework. In verse 22, he will talk about the Lord revealing deep and hidden things. "He knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with him."
Pushed intelligence is the most proximate to this infrastructure. We cannot emphasize that enough. When we are dealing with these issues we ask, "How can we possibly understand that this is the case?" We can understand it because there is a proximity to the infrastructure. You can’t see it with the naked eye, but you can "see it" with pushed intelligence. That’s why pushed intelligence is another great advantage to us. We see things that cannot be seen. This is the development of the mind, the heart, and the soul. This is the development of the ability to see what cannot be seen. That’s what pushed intelligence is all about. And this pushed intelligence is the most proximate to that infrastructure. Situational intelligence would have to be conversely the most estranged from it. That’s why when certain circumstances develop, situations begin to take shape. The situational mentality feels distanced from the Lord and his involvement in the situation, and sometimes feels overwhelmed by the circumstance. Situational intelligence carries with it a very unfortunate side effect. It is estranged from the infrastructure that serves as the scaffolding for world situations. When we’re talking about pushed intelligence we are describing something that transforms the mind; that repositions human intelligence and puts it into that position of proximity to God’s will in any situation. That is something of an enormous order. Why would anybody not want to depart from situational intelligence in favor of clinging to a pushed intelligence, in favor of reaching out and wanting desperately this repositioning of the mind, which when it’s repositioned will, by its new proximity to the infrastructure, be able to "see" what cannot be seen otherwise? Situational intelligence will remain forever estranged and locked out.
Daniel’s friends, Mishael, Hananiah and Azariah (I prefer to call them by their Jewish names) have been arrested because they have refused to do the king’s bidding. They have refused to bow down to this gold image that they have set up on the plain of Dura. So they are dragged before him and they are threatened with death in the fiery furnace by being burned alive which would not have been pleasant under any circumstances. Still having been given yet one more occasion to recant, they refuse to do so. This was of great import in my mind when studying through this because we are all going to pass through moments of great affliction of one variety or another. Life is going to be hard. We know that anyway. We have to make our minds up to it. We are going to be put into positions to suffer just like these four young men were in the book of Daniel, just like the church was in 1st Peter, and other places in scripture, and the persecution against the church in the book of Acts. We are going to be afflicted. It has taken me awhile to understand the value of these afflictions. We are told in 1st Peter that it helps to build our faith and that is quite true.
Here’s another aspect of it. In our affliction, it brings the scripture to center stage. I would like to illustrate that. Let’s draw a kind of stage on a piece of paper. Put little "x’s" all over the stage that would represent the things that populate that stage. I am using the word "stage" in the theatrical sense. The stage of life so to speak is populated by many things, many problems, many ideas, numerous populations of various realities, there are many distractions. In that kind of a mix, the scripture often is placed way back on the stage, hardly center stage at all. But when our distresses are shaped, we know and we are committed to the proposition that these things will be dealt with through scripture. Therefore, when asked why we are dealing with circumstances the way we are, we will always respond in one way. That is, "We are dealing with the situation in this way because of the word of God." In Daniel Chapter 3, when these men were arrested and they were brought before the king, they were expected to bow down and they refused to do so, obviously Nebuchadnezzar was somewhat dismayed by this. In 3:15, he says more or less, "If you are willing to bow down, we’ll make this whole problem go away and pick up just like we were before. But if not, it’s in the fiery furnace for you." Then he says, once you’re in there, "Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" They still refuse to do the king’s bidding. They have rejected the edict and they have rejected this demand to bow down. If the question were asked, "Why are you not bowing down in the face of this full-blown tangible reality, which you know has taken the lives of others? Others have died in this way," they would have answered, "We are not bowing down. We are responding this way because of the word of God." You see what happens is that the scripture placed in the back automatically begins to move forward to center stage and it occupies the stage, and it fills the stage, and it renders insignificant all the other populations on the stage of ideas, realities and distractions and problems. They mean nothing. The word of God is brought to center stage. So it is really legitimately true that when we are suffering grievous afflictions—things even that are often to be thought of as unspeakable—one great thing is happening and we should never forget this: The Lord is using these afflictions to bring the scripture to center stage if we are faithful in the middle of this great persecution or great afflictions or great traumas of life. Why do we respond the way we do? Why not panic? Why not run from the scene? Why not handle things is a very different way? Because of the word of God.
In Chapter 2, these four men did not panic when the threat is made against their lives. They did not panic when the threat of death was "certifiable" because of the word of God. It brought the word of God center stage and people had to take note of it. Why are we doing what we are doing? Because of the word of God, because of the revelation. And the Lord can use my affliction to bring his will to the center stage. Why did Daniel pray in Chapter 6 and break the edict of Darius? Why did he do this knowing that once the decree had been published, once the edict had gone out, that he stood liable to it that he could be arrested and executed, thrown into the lion’s den and be torn to pieces? Why did he decide to pray? Daniel would have had only one response—because of the word of God. His actions brought the word of God from the back of the stage to center stage. And that’s where the Lord wants it to be.
So our suffering does serve a noble and worthwhile purpose on the earth. Why is it that we don’t respond verbally to such abuse that develops in life among people? Because of the word of God. Why do you show restraint? Because of the word of God. Why are you not fearful when you face the biological crises of life? Because of the word of God. Why are you responding to these realities the way you do? Because of the word of God. What happens is it brings it out of the shadows—brings it out of the wings and on to center stage. Why did Joshua and Caleb at Kadesh Barnea risk their lives to try and turn their brethren back from faithlessness? Deuteronomy Chapter 1 is a great illustration of that but it’s also discussed in the book of Numbers 13 and 14. Why did they do what they did? Why did Caleb run out and say, "We beseech you brethren. Do not take this tack with the Lord." They did this because of the word of the Lord. They knew what the Lord had promised. They knew that his statements to them would be fulfilled. Why was there no fear found in David of such a variety that would have neutralized his service to the Lord in the 1 Samuel 17 when he faced Goliath? Because of the word of the Lord. He knew he was there for a specific purpose. He knew the great stature of the giant. He knew the history of this man. He knew that Israel was outnumbered by the Philistine army on the other side of the valley. It didn’t make any difference. Why was he doing what he was doing? Why was he willing to go down into the valley and face this monster of a man? Because he was prideful and arrogant as some thought? Because he was a youthful novice and had no exposure to this kind of combat and was interested to see what it would be like? No! He took that position because of the word of God.
Our afflictions rightly interpreted help bring scripture to the center stage. My little personal stage of life can be a place where the word of God is brought to a place of centrality and where it is exhibited. All of us working together as the body of Christ around the world, at all ages, are going to be afflicted and when we are afflicted just like the brethren in 1 Peter, we will respond non-situationally. And some people will say, perhaps even government authorities, why are you doing this foolishness? We will say because of the word of God. There is no other answer for us other than, "Yes, Lord. We know you are enough for us because our afflictions are a trip wire to bring scripture to center stage.
This is the chapter where Nebuchadnezzar had been given a dream. The Lord had pushed the dream into his mind. He was given the image of a great, big tree. The tree represents him and he is going to be cut down because he is arrogant and cruel and heartless and he has overstepped his bounds and the Lord is about to bring him back to heel. The Lord is the finalization of the universe. There is no question about that statement. According to Chapter 4:34-37, Nebuchadnezzar now responding to the Lord after he has been driven insane and been in this condition for seven seasons, says "At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’" Now in verse 37, Nebuchadnezzar says, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride (like me) he is able to humble."
These words indicate that the Lord is the finalizer of the universe. He determines what is going to happen. He is the finalization of the universe. "His kingdom endures forever." Now all of these others that Nebuchadnezzar has been informed about that run from the head of gold, which represents Nebuchadnezzar, down to the feet of the mixture of iron and clay, which represents the Romans, will come to an end. He will finalize them. He will finalize all of history. When you are a great big tree out there and you think you are the only one on the block and that you are in charge of your destiny, you can be finalized too. So it was as the Lord sent his angels and chopped down the great big tree. He is the finalization of the universe; and if he is that, then he is the finalization of our lives and he is the finalization of our situations. Now that is another one of those whopper-like truths that the Lord teaches us here.
If the Lord is the finalization of the universe, if his word, his personality stands as the finalization of that, then most assuredly he and he alone is the finalization of our lives and our situations. That is what the Lord would say to us, "Why do you worry? The hairs of your head are numbered. The Lord knows your destiny. The Lord is in charge of what is going to happen to you." He would say in Romans Chapter 8 a lot of wonderful things about the destiny of Christians, about their earthly and material existence as more than conquerors. He is the finalization of our individual lives and he is the finalization of our situations. So every situation that we face does have this finality to it. The finalization of our lives is not an event and it’s not a date on the calendar when the situation is terminated and it is not some particular outcome necessarily. It is a person. And that One that is the finalization of all situations, no matter what the situation is, is the Lord himself.
In Daniel Chapter 2 when Daniel and his three friends were facing a death threat, there was a finalization of that situation and it was the Lord himself. He steps in and says, "This is what will happen." In Chapter 3, when Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael were threatened by death in its most excruciating way it was the Lord who acted as the finalization of that situation. Even Nebuchadnezzar comes to recognize that fact. In Daniel 3:28, the text says, "Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Babylonian names given to them), who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." That’s a question of finalization. In Chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar realizes that he and his own existence and his situation can be finalized. He says in verse 37, "…those who walk in pride he is able to humble." God is the finalizer. He does this all over the globe, all through time.
In Chapter 5, he is the finalization of the reign of Belshazzar. When he is involved in that drunken orgy with 1000 of his nobles and his wives and concubines and he has the temerity to bring in the goblets that belong to the Lord himself. Just because the Jews were brought into Babylonian captivity and the goblets taken from Judah and put into the treasure house of the Babylonians did not mean that they belonged to him as Belshazzar thought. They never did belong to him. They belonged to the Lord. So when he sets himself up against the Lord and he does not honor the God who holds in his hand his life and all of his ways. The Lord decides to finalize this man and his reign, which he does that very night. He is the finalizer of situations. In Chapter 6, Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den. The Lord himself will finalize that situation and so the angel shuts the mouths of the lions so Daniel is not destroyed. We have no need to think of results in circumstances or situations. We have no need to think of possibilities, the way things could turn out, what they might produce. We have no need to think of potentials—all of the things that could happen. Sometimes we think of these potentialities as inevitabilities. We have no need to think of inevitabilities. We have no need to think of death. Why? Because God is the finalization of all things. The non-situational intelligence is not concerned with results and possibilities and potentialities and death. We are not concerned with inevitabilities. We are concerned with finalizations. There is only one finalization and that is the Lord himself and his word. This is inescapable. Daniel knew this to be the case.
In the book of Exodus Chapters 1 and following, the people of Israel are going to be put upon by pharaoh and the Egyptian empire. A young man is born, put into a little wicker basket and was sent down the river, which must have been somewhat heartwrenching for his mother to do. But we know, as we open up the book of Exodus, what the outcome is from the beginning. That’s because God is the finalization of their situation. In Exodus 2:1-10, in the life of Moses the baby, others wish him dead, but not the Lord. Other babies died, but not this one because this one was going to be used in a special way to liberate the people of Israel years down the road. This man will live to be 120 years old. Put in the basket, he is sent down the river. Perhaps his mother and father were thinking about possibilities and potentialities, even the potential of death and other kinds of results. But we need to think in terms of finalization. In Exodus 2:11-15, in a fit of rage and in a sense a manifestation of respect for his peers, his fellow Jews, he killed a taskmaster and flees. In Exodus 3:1-22, some years later he stands before the Lord at the burning bush. He stands before the providence of God and he is told what the outcome will be. In verse 22, the Lord says, "…And so you will plunder the Egyptians (as you leave behind captivity)" Why can he make that statement? Because the Lord himself is the finalization of the universe and he is the finalization of all situations.
It doesn’t matter what happens to us. It doesn’t matter what we are going to go through. We might not like it—life’s going to be hard and we have to make up our minds to that—we know that in advance. But the Lord will see us through. He is the finalization of our situation. We don’t need to think about other things I suppose. In Exodus, Chapter 7 running through Chapter 11, there’s the record of the plagues. The Lord is finalizing the Egyptian empire. Even at one point, the Egyptian hierarchy will come to pharaoh and say, "Let these people go. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined." The Lord is the great finalizer. He sets up kings and he removes them. We live in a world that is going to be controlled by this personality of God. Our lives will be controlled by him. This is another reason why we must always bear in mind the fear of God and when we face temptations and are pulled by the carnal side of us, when we are pulled by the flesh, why we dare not give into those things for the Lord has a way of finalizing things. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but he will finalize them ultimately.
In Exodus 13:19, we have something demonstrated there about the faith of Joseph. He, now dead many years, had told his people when he died "You take my bones with you." The scripture says that Moses gathered up the bones of Joseph and they took them with them when they left Egyptian captivity. Joseph had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place." Here is man through faith who understood that God is the finalization of the universe. He is the finalization of circumstances. He is the finalization of civilization. Our friends in the field of historiography need to take that lesson sorely to heart. In Exodus 14:1-31, they cross the Red Sea and it is obvious there that the Lord will finalize the apparent military might of the Egyptian empire. We have to respond in the affirmative. "Oh yes Lord you are quite enough for us because you are the finalization of the universe." Since that’s the case, we look to him as the finalization of all situations. He is even the finalization of our economic problems, our health problems, our everyday routine circumstances. It’s a great blessing to be in the hands of such a one.
We will continue our discussion of the response of a pushed intelligence to the question asked by the Lord of us, "Am I enough for you? in Part II.