Don't Go Into That Cave! (The Watch Letter)

Genesis 19:30: And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

Let's rewind. How did Lot end up in a cave? The short answer is permissive will. The reason is a little more detailed. But before I go forward, I want you to know this was not the original blog for today. When I went to prepare to edit and post the original one I wrote yesterday, the Lord brought me to Lot. He is dealing about how he has to give us alternative routes and words because we won't accept his original intent. And it disappoints Him, because he has so much more in store for us but we limit him, by our sin --- fear is birthed out of it. His laborers in ministry and his literal and spiritual angels (another word for messengers) have to work twice as hard to help us because we reject what he originally sends to them and through them.

Ok, now back to the blog.....

After God delivered Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord had his angels to deliver him to a safe place He had prepared for him - a high place - the mountains, let's call this the place of God's perfect will. But because of fear and worrying about what his outcome would be, Lot petitioned the Lord to let him go to the plains (a low place - the easy way out, no climbing required).

You see, Lot tried to take control of his future and God's plan because he was too afraid to trust God for what the other side would look like. He wanted an easier path, because sin and fear cause you to think God's perfect will and his commandments are too hard. So, trying to do things his way was just as disobedient as just simply telling the Lord "no, I won't go." But because God loved Lot and wanted to still guide him as far as he could, and will not force himself on anyone, he PERMITTED Lot to go to the plain.

But, imagine if Lot would have went to the mountain as soon as God said it? What did God have waiting for him? What protections were there? What opportunities were awaiting his family? It makes me think of Moses. God used the mountain to speak to Moses and provide the commandments that have guided so many into obedience to God. The mountain represented a place of divine revelation. Imagine what could have happened for Lot and his family if he would have went to the mountain like the Lord directed originally, but instead he set his heart toward the plain, and once there he was afraid. Fear causes us to believe blessings won't happen the way we want, so we try to create them. Catch this... Lot was more comfortable in the plain. The word plain means simple, flat or ordinary. Would we rather have this than the glorious things God has prepared? Maybe, we don't want to go outside of our comfort zone and our opinions to reach his expressed word and let it live in us.

So, once the destruction of the cities began to take place, Lot once again was struck with fear, which can also be a form of pride. You can think you know better than God when you're fearing obeying his word and not trusting he knows best. So, he headed toward the mountain only out of fear of what was happening near the plains not obedience or a desire to put God first (which was the message at service the other night). Even though God saved him, he did not put God first, he was focused on SELF-PRESERVATION. His delayed obedience led him to run to a cave to hide, again out of fear. God didn't say go to the cave at first, he said go to the mountains.

At church, our pastor Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn has often been given special messages of encouragement, DIRECTION, and blessing that God has sent for the body and the saints, but by the time we get to church we become so full of disobedience, pride, fear, unwillingness, and hardness that we are not fertile ground enough to receive the planting of the word, so the Lord has to turn the message so that Chief Apostle can first break up the fallow ground of our hearts so the sent word can be planted. In a lot of ways this makes the church like Lot, God had a plan, a way of escape, a will and end goal for him and his family, but when he got to the place of deliverance he hardened his heart to what God wanted for him.

Basically, when you are not open to whatever God or his representative is saying or directing, you are telling him that you want permissive will ...so the messages change and we get fed the word perhaps in the form of milk instead, but we miss out on the original meal with meat, veggies and more. It's like going to a restaurant for steak but because you don't want to wait you eat ice cream instead because its quick and easy to consume, and you leave unfulfilled.

When we harden our hearts toward God's perfect will, he instead allows for permissive will. He will permit us to do some things but it wasn't plan A. And when we petition God to let us have our own way like Lot did, he will not intrude upon our will, but he may give us room to do what we want knowing that we will have to face consequences or he could simply turn us over to our own minds, when we refuse his way over and over again.

And Lot indeed faced consequences, he would be raped by his own daughters and much more would fall upon his bloodline (read about Ammon and Moab his children and descendants and the trouble that followed) because he went into the cave.

A cave represents a place of coldness, darkness, seclusion. It can also mean to fall, tumble, give into. If you're in a cave, come out, and if you're headed that way stop and turn around - go to the top of the mountain where God is.

I wrote this message before the broadcast came out today, but - just by the title, the messages will tie again because God's word is constant and his people are on one accord. The broadcast from Chief Apostle Gunn "Are You Ready to Receive?" is available here: https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=5166314836674138&wix-music-comp-id=comp-kjfzbgm

Please read these versus in Genesis 19 and let it be a reminder that God want's you at the top of the mountain not in the cave...

14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:

28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

37 And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.