#345 Kingdom: Wasted Days And Wasted Years
When we consider all the days and years that we have wasted in our preparation for the Kingdom and for eternity, it becomes a source of great regret. We must find a solution to this problem before the end of our life of preparation here on the earth.
If we study the scriptures we find that this has always been a problem and something that God takes note of in scriptures. However, this is not always apparent to the casual reader. We discover this problem in the genealogies and also in the histories. Still, the fact that others have wasted many days and years throughout history is not our primary concern. The real concern is that we don’t waste our years by not preparing for eternity during our allotted time.
Many people have a sincere regret over all the lost days and years when they were not serving God. Others are confident that those years spent actively working in some ministry were especially fruitful and counted as days lived before God. Of course this is certainly possible. All service to God has a certain amount of validity.
We are also concerned that everybody involve themselves in some kind of profitable service that is recognized and ordained by God . We shall also see that not all “service” is acceptable to God. Our main concern is to see believers actively grow up spiritually and preparing themselves for eternity through a transformation in their inner life. To just sit and “believe” can be a serious mistake, that will be clearly seen when we all appear before the judgement seat of Christ to answer for the things done while we were in this body.
It would be devastating to come to the end of our life and realize that even though we have been “saved” for many years that God has only accredited a few days as our service to Him. We may be “saved” for 40 years but God may only recognize us as a few days old in the Lord. Most Christians would consider ALL the time they were “saved” as days and years as fruitful service and accredited to us by the Lord and registered to our account.
Since this is a new thought and a very strange concept in the modern church, we want to look and some scripture that reveals the reality of this truth.
When we look at the modern church and all the lukewarmness and shallow experiences and the gospel of salvation that is preached, we cannot help but grieve over how all this is viewed by God. It should be clear that the New Earth will be where most Christians will reside for eternity. Of course this is a tremendous place or “realm” but it is far short of what God has called us to in His eternal Purpose.
This problem of wasted days and wasted years can be seen in the very first chapters of the Bible.
We all are aware of the sin of Adam and Eve but the genealogy of Cain is of great interest when compared with the genealogy of Seth. This is evident when we see how God evaluates their years.
Genesis 4:16-18 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son — Enoch.
This is the end of God’s record of Cain and we never find out how long he lived or anything that he did with his life before God. In other words he is not in God’s book of remembrances as a faithful son. Why? Because he went out from the presence of the Lord and never lived before God or did His will! We discover that when he “went out” from the presence of the Lord, the record of his years ceased. He married, had children and built a city. He may have been “successful” but his life was not profitable to God.
Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”
Genesis 5:6-8 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enoch. 7 After he begot Enoch, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. 8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
Seth obviously is recorded much differently than is Cain. However, the interesting thing about this is that Adam’s years are also recorded. This may indicate that Adam served God after his initial fall.
Genesis 5:3-5 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
The Bible doesn’t indicate why there were over 100 years missing from the record of Adam. We only are told that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. We are told that both Adam and Seth had other children born to them but they have no record before God. Does that mean that didn’t serve God? We are not told. However, we are told that Seth has a record of the years he lived that are recorded by God.
Even Cain’s descendants are not identified by the number of years they lived. We are told Cain had descendants but they obviously didn’t serve God.
When we follow the genealogies we discover men and generations with parallel lives but one genealogy is very brief and indicates they lived, but nothing more. The other genealogy is very detailed and how many years he lived is properly recorded. If we carefully followed these lives we might determine how God numbers our days. We might also discover the days and years that God does not record our lives as profitable to Him.
Psalms 90:11-12 Who understands the power of Thine anger,
And Thy fury, according to the fear that is due Thee? 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.
Ephesians 5:15-18 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
If we look back at a calender years, we may easily count up the days since we have been “saved” but we cannot count our spiritual days in the same way that God counts our days. Who knows how many profitable days we have faithfully served the Lord according to His will. I suspect there are many fewer days that are recorded by God than we expect. Maybe many of the days that we have accredited to ourselves as lived before God, could even be rejected by God because they were just a fulfillment of our own ambitions and will.
As our days on earth begin to draw to a close, we become aware that we cannot waste even one hour of one day, if we are going to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives.
It is sad to see people who have been ‘saved’ for 30 or 40 years but their “spiritual age”, in terms of growth and maturity, may only be 1 year. This was Paul’s complaint against the believers in Corinth and to the Hebrews. According to the time they had been “saved” they should all be teachers but they were still just spiritual babies. They had not even progressed beyond the basic six foundations. It was NOT that the foundations had never been laid but that they had actually experienced very few of the foundations as spiritual life.
Hebrews 5:11-6:3 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we shall do, if God permits.
My theory is that our spiritual days and years are counted according to our personal condition before the Lord as much as our “service for Him.” Many only count their physical “service” to God as profitable and take no account of their spiritual growth or spiritual condition before God.
We are aware that when we were dead in trespasses and sins that NO eternal days were accounted to us. What most of us are not aware of is that AFTER we are born again there may still be NO days of profitable service accounted to us in God’s book of remembrance. That means days of experiential spiritual growth and actual days when we do the will of Go
Christ, Our Passover Lamb
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Exodus 12:1-4 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
Until we have actually experienced the reality of Passover and eaten of the Passover Lamb we have not begun. The day you participate in Passover is the very beginning of days for you! Your “years accredited by the Lord” begins at this moment! Of course Passover is not fulfilled until we EAT the Passover Lamb. This is the message of John 6.
John 6:53-54 Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
The revelation given is this; Jesus Christ IS our Passover Lamb and unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood there is NO LIFE in us. Most preach that this scripture is fulfilled by taking the Lord’s Table. If the Lord’s Table, with the bread and the cup, actually fulfilled this requirement, multitudes in the visible church would have “Life.” Still, it is obvious that at the present time they do not have this kind of Life, Zoe.
In other words Passover was the beginning of days for Israel according to how God measures “days.” The “days” in Egypt were lost days. The Month of Abib became the first month of the new way of keeping track of the years for Israel. On the first month of each year this feast was repeated and marked a new beginning. They kept Passover again after the Tabernacle was given and functioning at Mt. Sinai. This signaled a brand new beginning under the Law. However, after they left Mt. Sinai they didn’t keep Passover again for about 38 years. There was no new beginning in the wilderness. After about 38 years they entered Canaan and then kept Passover, which signaled a new beginning.
After they had slain the Passover in Egypt, they came out of bondage and left Egypt which signaled a new beginning. After we believe in the Lord and participate in the Passover Lamb, we begin a new way of measuring our years. However, we cannot be certain that every day thereafter is a day that can be counted toward our spiritual life before God. Multitudes of believers are totally wasting their time on earth by just living to please themselves.
It is really sad to see someone “accept the Lord” on their death bed and then rejoice in the mercy of God, but not realizing that they have wasted their former years in something that just didn’t count toward eternity. Still, God may accredit as many days to their account before the Lord as others who have been “saved” for years but never served the Lord by doing His will.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Multitudes who were born again during the Charismatic Renewal in the 70's and 80's may only be 2 years old before God in their spiritual life. How could this be? Because their days are just not counted as lived before God, by doing His will and growing up into Christ or being conformed to His image.
I did this part of the study several years ago but I will recall it for this study on “Wasted Days And Wasted Years.” This has to do with the discrepancy between the years reported in the Bible when the Children of Israel came out of Egypt until Solomon began to build the Temple. This difference of years have been used to show the errancy of scriptures by ignorant men who fail to search the scriptures. We will use it to show many wasted years!
1 Kings 6:1-2 Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
This clearly says that it was 480 years after Israel came out of the land of Egypt that Solomon began to build the temple. However, if we add up the historic years, according to the years different men ruled Israel, it adds up to 570 years between Egypt and the reign of Solomon. Then it was after the third year of Solomon’s rule that he began to build the temple which adds up to 573 years. The difference of 93 years is what is pointed out as an error in the scripture.
Our purpose in this study is to show that these 93 years was not counted by God because they served other gods during this time.
First we will add up the years in question.
Acts 13:18-22 “And for a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 “And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance — all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. 20 “And after these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 “And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 “And after He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
2 Samuel 5:4-5 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
(1) Wandered in The Wilderness for 40 years.
(2) Was in the Land for 450 years ruled by prophets.
(3) Saul Ruled for 40 years.
(4) David ruled for 40 years.
(5) This adds up to 570 years
(6) Solomon reigned for 3 years before he began to build.
(7) This adds up to 573 years.
The problem appears when we read in 1 Kings that it was in the 480 th year that Solomon began to build. There is obviously a 93 year difference between these two accounts. This reveals a very important spiritual principle that will help us to see how God keeps track of our time in His book.
Judges 3:8-9 Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cuhan- rishathaim eight years. (8 years)
Judges 3:14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. (18 Years)
Judges 4:2-3 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3 And the sons of Israel cried to the LORD; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years. (20 Years)
Judges 6:1 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. (7 years)
Judges 13:1 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. (40 years)
8 + 18 + 20 + 7 + 40 = 93 years.
573 years - 93 years = 480 years.
Since it is obvious that God didn’t count these 93 years that Israel served other gods, it reveals something extremely important for us to number our days wisely.
But why doesn’t Paul number the years this way in Acts 13? It is the natural history of Israel that Paul was sharing and is therefore historic years. Yet this is NOT how God measures their OR our spiritual history. We may have a natural history with God according to our historic count as 40 years but God’s spiritual record may only be counted as 2 years. This is the extreme difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom Government of God and the casual way the church interprets Christian life. We may evaluate ourselves as “mature Christians” while God evaluates us as babes in Christ.
Revelation 3:17-18 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
Our evaluation of our spiritual life may be quite different than God’s evaluation of the reality of our actual experience before God.
If we could count up our wasted days and wasted years when we lived casually before God and didn’t work or didn’t change, we would surely panic! These few years we live on the earth are the ONLY days that we are given to prepare for eternity. Only what we do with these years before God is recorded by Him.
***Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. ****
Regardless of how we may have casually wasted our life in the past, we surely must begin immediately to rectify the situation and begin to redeem the time because the days are passing very quickly.
We have shown in other studies how the Children of Israel wasted their ONLY time of preparation in the wilderness and failed to enter into the Promised Land. They had about a two year period to finish the preliminary preparation in the wilderness to be ready to possess the land. However, they wasted 38 years in the wilderness because they complained against God and Moses, and Miriam and Aaron and against their food and their hardships. Even with all their childish behavior there were about 250 Levites that thought they were priests of God and should be leading Israel. God cut them off from the living very quickly. This ignorance is repeated in the church daily.
Israel turned a 11 day march from Mt. Sinai to the border of Canaan into a 38 year journey of wasted days. I have confronted problems in my life that should have been reconciled in four or five days that took over two years. I count those as 720 wasted days.
The life of Abraham is a record of how God was able to record different times in Abraham’s life as profitable or as wasted days or years. Therefore, Abraham becomes a type or picture for us to recognize and evaluate if we are wasting these years of preparation for eternity and the Kingdom Government of God. Of course it is possible that we are fully redeeming the time we have been given.
The ignorant may assume that the days which God evaluates as a complete waste of time are very few, however, God may think most of our time was wasted and only a few were profitable. The church in Revelation 3 was also 100% wrong!
Genesis 12:1-2 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;
Genesis 12:5-6 And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh
Abram obeyed partially by going out of Ur of the Caldeans but he also took his relatives with him, along with a lot of other people. It is interesting that Abram’s age is not recorded when he settled in Haran. We know he was 75 years old when he left Haran! However, if he had not obeyed and went out into God’s will, we would never have heard about Abram again. If he had failed to obey, he may have felt strange for a day or two but he could have soon gotten over the sad feeling.
From Acts 7 we learn that Abram also took his father Terah with him. We also learn that Abram only went as far as Haran and settled there. His father died there in Haran. Then God called Abram again as we saw in Genesis 12:1 It was at this time that Abram was 75 years old. Now at this obedience we see that God recognized the years of his life. This was a totally new beginning for Abram from here onward.
However, there was still lot and his wife and a bunch of others with Abram. We can assume that up until the time that Abram left Haran there were 75 wasted years. It is true that he came out of Ur but he stopped half way to Canaan. This is a picture and the experience of a great part of the visible church. They started but never arrived at God’s destination, neither will they receive God’s blessing!
The application is this; All the days that we spend at places like Haran are wasted days. This reveals to us what it means to redeem the time. Lord, teach us to count our days as you count them as profitable days or as wasted days.
As we follow the history of Abram we find other times of wasted days and years.
Genesis 16:15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Genesis 17 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,
God promised Abram a son but Abram used his own strength and fleshly wisdom and conceived a son by Hagar. His name was Ishmael and he was a son of Abram’s flesh. Ishmael was not birthed by the promise but by the power and zeal of man’s flesh.
Therefore, there are 13 years missing from Abram’s record and nothing is recorded about Abram and Abram doesn’t build another altar to God during this time. Why? Because he missed the will and purpose of God. Still, when God speaks to Abram again, 13 years had passed and now scripture tells us Abram was 99 years old. We can now expect a new beginning. Even the 13 years that Ishmael was growing up were wasted years.
Galatians 4:21-25 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is allegorically speaking: for these women are two covenants, one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Giving birth to a 1000 new souls who are born out of our fleshly efforts and zeal it not true evangelism. A 1000 new souls born into slavery to the flesh is not producing true Christianity.
Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.
Producing children of the Spirit is producing children of the promise who are heirs of God. The children of the flesh cannot inherit with the children of the Spirit.
Gal 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
It might even be true that all the days we walk in the flesh could be wasted days as God counts days. Why? Because those who walk in the flesh CANNOT please God. We should be aware that when we have sinners say certain words after us that this is not the same ministry as getting them delivered from the flesh and birthed into the Jerusalem above. Producing sons of the flesh [Hagar] is not proper evangelism.
It is surely not uncommon for 30 days to pass among believers without one recordable day. These are 30 wasted days. It is sad that several years can pass without one recordable day in God’s book of remembrances.
Revelation 20:11-14 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
When Abram was 99 years old he received the covenant of circumcision and their obedience to the covenant began a whole new era of progress and fruitfulness. Abraham had other sons to another wife but everything he had he gave to Isaac. Why? Isaac was the ONLY son that Abraham begat according to the promise. He was born of the Spirit while Ishmael was born of the flesh. Abraham died when he was 175 years old.
Galatians 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”
There is also this whole issue of appearing before God with empty hands. That means with nothing to offer to God from the first fruits of our harvest from our field that we personally have planted and brought to the maturity of harvest.
Exodus 23:15 You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
Exodus 34:16 Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
Exodus 34:20 And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
In order to emphasize the magnitude of this statement we will look at one of the parables dealing with the harvest. There were three main harvest times in Israel. (1) At the Feast of Passover [ born again] (2) at the Feast of Pentecost [ born of the Spirit] (3) at the Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the harvest year.
Matthew 13:37-40 And He answered and said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
Exodus 23:16-17 Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
The harvest that is permissible to present to the Lord at the end of the age is what we have sown AND what we have harvested from what we have planted in our field.
Trying to offer the First Fruits of what someone else has labored for will be unacceptable or dangerous. Therefore, these parables that Jesus gave demonstrate a very important principle in the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
Matthew 20:3-4 “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said,’ You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’
Matthew 20:5-7 “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 “And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’
We always preach about the pay for the laborers that worked but in this
study we want to emphasize those who are standing idle in the time of harvest.
We could ask; Why have you been standing idle this whole harvest day? Well, no one hired us! That is no excuse! Go immediately into the harvest field and redeem the little time you have left. But Lord, I am not good at harvesting! Then you will NOT appear before the Lord empty handed!
The application for the church is obvious. Most of the visible church is standing idle and planting nothing, watering nothing, growing nothing and harvesting nothing. If we ask why are you standing idle; they will answer “Well we hired a pastor to do that kind of work. After all, he is trained for that and he harvests for us.” We are like the land owner who goes out to hire laborers.
But don’t you realize that no one can appear before God empty handed? Well we don’t work by that system. We are using the corporate harvest system where the pastor will appear before God for us and we will share in his harvest because we paid his salary. He will go up to the feasts three times a year instead of us. He is our representative before God and acts in our behalf. Since we are just believers, the harvest is not our problem.
Even though this sounds ridiculous, it is exactly the way many churches teach or at least imply. This IS the way the Old Covenant priesthood functioned when the priests represented the people before God.
Now that priesthood after the order of Aaron has been done away with because it could not bring anyone to perfection. That means that ONLY the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek is recognized by God. Many groups have missed the clear teaching in Hebrews 7 and designed their ministry after the Old Testament priesthood.
Judges 17:10 Micah then said to him, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance.” So the Levite went in.
Hiring a Levite to be your priest is a popular concept even today, but God
has called ALL New Covenant believers to be a Kingdom of Priests after the order of Melchizedek.
The only requirement of the old system is that the believers pay their tithe, attend the meetings and don’t cause trouble. This “system” is certain to cost the believers many “Wasted Days AND Wasted Years.”
If we related the history of Jacob, we would again see wasted days and wasted years. Even after his name was changed to Israel or a prince with God there were wasted days and wasted years. In the life of Samson we also see this same wasted experience with God. In fact this is so common in scripture that we can see it over and over.
We see God directing peoples lives by both His voice and by outward circumstances. When those who had a heart for God and acknowledged God’s mercy and His voice and made a consecration, from then onward if they forgot their consecration, God spoke to them through circumstances.
God may be speaking to us today [ those of us who have made our consecration before God ] through outward circumstances. We may not realize
that God is reminding us about our Peniel experience or about our experience at Bethel.
God’s concern for us is that if we have wasted many days or even years that we waste no more. The “son of my right hand” is God’s call to us. Gen 35:18