Forsake Not Grace
Forsake Not Grace deals with the fact that if people rely on their own human self-effort, then God will abandon them to their own devices and they will be left to help themselves. This can be seen in the example of King Asa who at one time experienced a great victory by trusting in the Lord to defeat an enemy invasion of superior numbers. But later the same man forsook God’s help and tried to hire his own help from human sources.
2 Chronicles 16:7-9 (NIV)
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand.
9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Asa was victorious when he trusted in God but later, he tried to hire his help from an alien king instead of relying on the Lord and this brought a curse to him.
A Levite man especially has to guard his heart in this area and not forsake God’s grace. I know many Levite men who started off in faith and accomplished “impossible-things” by having faith in God. But later they started to slip and began to look to humans for their strength and they become like King Asa whose heart departed from the Lord. Then they were abandoned by God to help themselves using only their own human self-effort.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)
9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
The reason that King Asa would be at war after that point was that God would abandon him to his own devices to hire his help and leave him to work his politics and human alliances instead of receiving God’s help.
The same is also true of idolatry when someone worships an idol and gives praise to that idol for the good things God has provided for them.
Isaiah 42:8 (NASB)
8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
God will not share his glory with another nor give his praise to any graven images. God is a jealous God and is provoked to anger whenever someone gives glory to a false idol for the good things God has done. God will curse those who engage in such idolatry just to show them that no blessing comes from serving idols.
The same principle also applies to those who look to humans for their strength instead of God. God will not give his glory to another (including humans) so if a Levite looks to humans then God will be enraged and remove his blessing from that man.
In my lesson called “Defining God’s Direction” I give an example of how a meddling mother-in-law caused a pastor to build an apartment building for the purpose of raising money for his church. But as soon as he did this then all of the money dried up and they plunged into a huge financial crisis!
Excerpt from Defining God’s Direction:
It was his mother-in-law’s idea to build an apartment complex to earn money for the church but this project of human “self-effort” in raising funds caused the church finances to dry up! The ensuing financial pressure nearly caused this young pastor to commit suicide! Human “self-effort” will negate faith in God for income and the meddling of this older Levite woman caused the church funds to dry up by closing the avenue to faith! She did many things like this with her constant meddling and led the pastor to remark publicly that he actually “hated” this woman!
When a Levite man allows disorder in his church (like the meddling of a mother-in-law) as seen in the example above, then it can throw a wrench into faith and cause upheaval in everything! The principle to be seen here is that a soon as they did a project of “self-effort” to raise their own funds then God abandoned them to their own devices and the supernatural provision of God ceased.
This is a critical issue for Levites to consider because it has a wide application and whenever they look to humans for anything then it results in stopping the supernatural flow of God’s deliverance in finances.
I know of a Levite man who started his ministry by walking in faith and he accomplished great things for God. But over time he began to drift away from God and he increasingly more started to look to humans for his provision. Typically, this change takes place when a Levite initiates a project out of human self-effort and falsely claims that God told him to do such and such a thing. But in fact, God has no responsibility to finance something that humans have invented out of their own minds because it is not a project that was ordained by God. When they start a project in the “flesh” or (an idea derived from their sin nature) then they will have to keep it going in their own self-effort as well.
I have repeatedly witnessed Levite men go down the tubes as soon as they began projects that were derived their own ideas rather than from God. Once they started it then they had to constantly try to raise funds by self-effort without God’s help whatsoever! The man in my example started exaggerating in his magazines trying to raise more money. He had camp-meetings which become nothing more than fund raisers. He was selling books and tapes which he referred to as “products” and this become a “for-profit” business as well. It was for this reason that he had no more new revelation since “1942” and was forced to repeat his old stories from long-ago back in the day when he still walked with God. But he had no new experiences with God and no new revelation from God’s word because he had drifted far from trusting in God as he did when he first began his ministry.
Proverbs 4:23 (7KB)
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, and watch over it, for out of it spring the issues of life.
The Levite has to keep his heart with all diligence and watch over it carefully because the very “issues” of life spring forth from his heart motives. If a man drifts away from God (as King Asa did) then he will eventually forget God and engage in trying to do his own thing by his own self-effort. The believer is engaged in a long-distance marathon race and this also includes Levites. This means that they have to finish their race on earth until the end. If they start off good but later in life they drift away from God and rely on “self-effort” then God will abandon them to their own devices just as God abandoned King Asa to his own self-effort.
2 Chronicles 16:12-14 (NIV)
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.
13 Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers.
14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.
King Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet but even in this illness he did not seek help from the Lord but only to physicians (who could not help him). I believe this reflects the heart attitude of King Asa had changed from the way he was in the beginning of his reign when he fully trusted in God. God permitted this slow disease (it takes some time for a person to die of a foot disease) because this gave King Asa a chance to examine his heart and repent. But the fact that he did not seek God for help shows that King Asa had grown bitter at God and would not even pray when he was in trouble. The disease progressed and eventually killed King Asa. The people buried him in the City of David with honors because of the good things he had done and his faith in God which he displayed in the beginning of his reign. But the sad fact of the matter is that King Asa did not end well and finish his course in faith. But in the end of his life he seems to have grown bitter at God and faithless and looked only to humans for help instead of God.
The life of King Asa serves as a big warning also to Levites that they must daily keep and maintain their right heart motives before God and see to it that they do not slip over into trusting in humans for their strength and that they do not abandon God. They also must be on guard for their own sin nature within which cries out to have activity and do big projects and invents all kinds of nonsense that is not of God. The voice of the sin nature is loud and can drown out the still small voice of God! Once they start down the pathway of doing a project in the “flesh” of self-effort then they will have to keep it going by self-effort as well. The labor of doing things by self-effort can be compared to paddling a canoe upstream. They can beat the water to a froth with by paddling hard only to gain an inch forward and if they relax a moment they will float back and lose everything that they had gained. It is the same with trying to raise money in self-effort to keep a project going that was initiated in self-effort. It is a constant struggle and they have no rest day or night and such pressure can push them to become dishonest and deceptive and do outlandish things to raise money! They can even end up “exaggerating” and “faking-it-in-the-flesh” and eventually drift into deception and lies and putting on a “show” just to raise money to keep their flesh-projects going!
See the link “Faking it in the Flesh” for more details.
In the case of King Asa his feet rotted off with a terrible disease and this can also serve as a depiction of someone who is running by self-effort until they wear their feet down to stubs and are running on ankle-bones! That is what it is like operating in human “self-effort” without the grace of God to help them in any way or shape or form!
When a Levite does nothing more and nothing less than exactly what God tells them to do then they will experience peace and joy. If they do not start any false-projects of their own initiation they also will not have to raise funds to support it out of their own self-effort.
Another way to depict walking in God’s grace is like walking on a conveyor belt as is often found in large international airports. If a person walks on a moving conveyor belt it is like they take one step but cover over 20-feet in one stride! The wind is blowing in their hair as they move a great distance with every step they take! This can be used to depict the anointing and walking in God’s grace because everything they do is productive and easy because God’s grace is upon them!
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I believe that these scriptures can also be applied to Levites who do nothing more and nothing less than exactly what God tells them to do (without adding any of their own baggage on top of what God told them to do. When they follow Jesus and walk in perfect obedience then God is carrying all of the weight and the money comes in when it is needed and the burden is light for them because they are walking in God’s grace.
Sin of Self-Sufficiency
2 Samuel 24:10-11 (NASB)
10 Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
David realized his great sin in numbering the fighting troops and saw his sin of “self-sufficiency” and confessed that he had done a very foolish thing because this sin opened the door to judgement. The same principle exists that a Levite is not to look to human strength for his help. This has application in kings not hiring help from other kings instead of trusting God in battle and it applied to David numbering his fighting men to measure his military strength instead of trusting in God. The sin of “self-sufficiency” can cause a once blessed man of God to be cursed and abandoned to his own self-effort.
Psalm 147:10-11 (NLT2)
10 He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might.
11 No, the LORD’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
God does not take pleasure in natural things like the strength of a horse or in natural human strength. God’s delight is upon those who fear him and upon those who hope in his unfailing love. This is what faith is all about to trust in the Lord without wavering.
Psalm 26:1 (NIV)
1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
David prayed for God’s vindication and he led a blameless life so that he would have confidence toward God and David trusted in the Lord without wavering. It is of vital importance that every Levite learn to trust in the Lord without wavering. When they look to humans for help then that is an example of wavering. When they rely on human “self-effort” then that is an example of wavering. They must examine their heart motives continually to guard themselves that they do not slip into trusting in humans. Those who look to humans instead of God are cursed by God and will be abandoned to their own devices and God will no longer help them.
We as Levites should always avoid pride and self-sufficiency which are enemies of trusting in the Lord. The sin nature is within every believer (including Levites) and it will cry out to do this or that thing or start some project or do anything just to create their own livelihood and income. All sorts of schemes are derived from the human sin nature within Levites to raise their own support or create a livelihood or organize their own income sources but this is all a work of “self-effort” which will bring them out of God’s grace.
Again, King Asa is an example of a godly man who trusted God in the beginning and accomplished great things by faith! But later in life he fell from God and started to trust in his own self-effort. Even when suffering a slow lingering death by foot disease King Asa still resorted to humans for help instead of God! While it is not wrong to go to a doctor it should still be noted that God should be the “first-resort” of the believer instead of the “last-resort” after all-natural help has failed them.
Having faith in God is largely a heart-issue which deals with human motives and it is for this reason that each and every Levite must guard their heart motives with all diligence because their eternal destiny can depend on their heart condition. It is way too easy for any Levite to drift away from the faith they had in the beginning and start to drift into relying on humans for their strength. Once this happens then they will cut themselves off from God and from God’s grace and they will be abandoned to their own devices and this can result in their total ruination and possibly damnation in the afterlife.
Nothing is worth going to hell over so every Levite must guard their heart motives with diligence and be honest with themselves and start no projects in the “flesh” of “self-effort” and thus they will not have to keep these same projects going by own “self-effort” and fund raising.
Walking in grace is all about doing nothing more and nothing less than what God has called them to do. Then they will have their needs met without resorting to raising funds by self-effort. The kingdom of God will progress when human projects are removed and only the things that God has ordained remain. Then the Levites can experience walking in God’s grace and having their needs met without any pressure or trouble that comes from “self-effort” in fund raising.