Singing Hills RV Park, Cave City, Kentucky
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. ~ Proverbs 16:3
Today, the Lord led us to a church that was about 20 minutes away, although I’m not sure we can give spiritual credence to our decision this time. It was more selfishness on our part than any type of internal spiritual leading that took us there. We wanted an early service so we could have more play time, and all the churches near here didn’t start until at least 11am.
We found ourselves at River Lake church, and probably one of the most sincerely welcoming churches we’ve ever visited – – from the time we drove onto the property, right up until we left the building, we were handed off from one genuinely happy, smiling person to another and warmly welcomed. This is how every church should treat people. And they have the right idea for a visitor’s welcome gift . . . instead of a coffee mug that stays in your cupboard all the time, they hand out a t-shirt with their name on it. Nice gift for visitors, and advertising for the church. : )
The music wasn’t exactly our preference, but you could tell the worship team and the congregation were worshiping, so that’s what matters. River Lake reminded us of our son, Chris’ church – reaching out to all people where they are in the world today with no pharisaical sneers or comments or expectations or rules to follow. Just like Jesus did.
The Pastor is working on a series called “Cannonball – all in on God’s Plan”.
And his lessons have been coming from the book of Joshua. This weeks’ lesson was based on the time after ‘Joshua fit the battle of Jericho’. Chapter 7, when one man, Achan, kept some plunder from the battle and nearly brought God’s wrath down upon the entire nation. It was kinda funny we showed up this week, because we just did our own devotional on the very same subject in our personal devotions earlier this week.
He began his message talking about knock-offs. Things that look the same or sound the same, but aren’t authentic. He talked about off-brands of peanut butter and also chocolate sandwich cookies vs Jiff and Oreos. He made the whole thing very funny and interesting, but I think you get the picture.
A knock-off is what you buy when you don’t want to pay full price.
And just like food and clothes and accessories, there are Christian knock-offs. People who look or sound the same, but aren’t authentic. People not willing to pay the full price of discipleship.
Chapter 6 in Joshua ended on a high note. God enabled the Israelites to win their first battle, and not only did the walls fall and they took the city of Jericho, but when they were finished destroying everything, the ground was cursed so no one could ever build a city there again. The Israelites were living for and following God and His plan.
And then Chapter 7 begins – – But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things . . .
And now it’s time for a second battle and a new city. And it should’ve been easy, but they only sent a few men out and there was sin back at camp that needed dealt with, and so they lost 36 of their 3,000 men and were chased back to camp.
And Joshua and all the people were distraught. Verse 6 tells us that Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening.
Then God tells him to get up and find the sin in the camp, and furthermore, He won’t be with them until it’s done. So Joshua sets about narrowing down the suspects tribe by clan by family by man. Achan was found guilty of stealing and hiding a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels. And he admitted that he’d coveted them and taken them. And he admitted that he’d sinned against God, but in the Old Testament world, there was not much room for mercy. Lessons were hard and brutal, lest others got the same idea that it was okay to sin against God because there were no consequences or the consequences were acceptable. People who sinned against God in the Old Testament died for their sin. Such was the case for Achan. And his entire family also paid the price because they were aware of what he did. They had to be. They lived in a transient tent. So they were all stoned to death. The sin was dealt with and the nation set their relationship with God to rights.
We have a tendency to be like Achan; to diminish the power of sin in our lives. We know we sin, but we look at the consequences, and if it doesn’t seem to hurt anyone else, then it’s fine with us. We don’t realize that every time we sin is a statement of faith. Essentially, we’re saying to God, “I don’t believe . . . or . . . I don’t trust.”
We live in New Testament times when our sin is covered by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit lives within us. We should be walking through trials with the peace that gives us. And we definitely shouldn’t be living ‘like everybody else does’. God didn’t create us to be ‘normal’ or ‘average’. We are created to give Him glory (Ephesians 11). And when something goes wrong – because we all sin, all the time – fall on your face before God, just like Joshua did, asking God to point out what went wrong, and fix it. Remove the sin from your life.
We tend to have two trains of thought about that – – either we say, ‘It’s no big deal’, or we say ‘I’m a terrible person’ and stay in that frame of mind forever. Which allows the sin to multiply, because now we’re living with ego and pride as well. Essentially, we’re telling God ‘what’s a little sin?’ (ego and pride) or ‘You’re not big enough to forgive me’. (ego and pride) Either way, it’s wrong and now the sin is compounded.
Fall on your face, but then get up and move on. It’s a lesson, not a life sentence.
He went on to give us 5 questions to answer.
1. What’s buried? Is it something from your past? A pain? A hurt? A sin? Uncover it, deal with it, and move on.
2. What’s insignificant? Are you living with a sin that you consider insignificant? “I’m a good person!” All sin is equal in God’s eyes. Are you justifying your sin? It’s possible that you really are ‘okay’, but what about your kids? Are you leading them astray? What about others? If you say it’s okay, are they then led astray? We’re talking everyday stuff here like TV, movies and music or taking pens, etc. from work, or stealing other things – like not being charged for something at the store, but not saying anything. That kind of stuff.
3. Where have you given up? What part of your life have you decided you can’t change? “It’s just the way I am.” God doesn’t want you to stay like that. He’s big enough to change you, but He expects you to work on it. He’s not a magician or Santa.
4. What is it you don’t want to talk about? What subjects close you off to others? “I don’t want to talk about it.” What about that argument with your spouse, or a conflict at work or church that’s not resolved because you don’t want to talk about it? You have to resolve the issue and eliminate the sin, not just bury it. I’ll bet if Achan had returned to camp and admitted his sin right away, things would’ve gone a whole lot differently for him.
5. What is it you believe ‘we’ as in other Christians or the Pastor, are always talking about? Money, sex, etc.? When you feel that way, that’s God pointing out your area of sin or weakness.
After church, we stopped in the campground office to return the movies we’d borrowed this week and to mention our dilemma from last night. The wife was very apologetic that they didn’t get our message, and said if we’d reported them earlier in the evening, they would’ve come by and made them leave! We thought that sounded a little harsh, but she said everyone signs the paper, agreeing to their terms. Plus, he wasn’t supposed to have guests without paying for them. She said she’d be talking to the original guy and telling him he’s no longer welcome to camp here. Again . . . seemed a little harsh, but maybe they’ve learned over the years they have to be? She also offered us a full refund for yesterday, but we emphatically declined.
They were gone when we returned from our hike today. Should be a quiet night tonight. 😊
We spent our lovely Sunday afternoon, exploring the last remaining trails in the National Park. Our first stop; Cedar Sink.
This was a nice, although hilly trail that took us to a giant sinkhole. It’s also a place where a stream which passes underground, resurfaces, before going underground once again and ending up flowing into Green River. And because we didn’t traverse the trail properly the first time, we had to repeat about 100 stairs again. I have my suspicions that was Blaine’s plan all along . . . 😊
Our final destination here in Mammoth Cave National Park, was a short loop trail called, Turnhole Bend Spring; and although short, held its own opportunities for exploration!
We spotted a cave on the way back to the Jeep and went off-trail to check it out. Seemed safe enough, but I still kinda had the willies here because it’s off trail. I don’t know why it didn’t bother me at all to be on a Ranger led tour into the bowels of the earth, but this one? Different story. It must be because I trust the Park Rangers. If they’re okay, it’s okay for me to be okay. Make sense? Or maybe it’s because I hadn’t read about Floyd Collins yet . . .
Our day ended with a texted pre-school picture of our grandson, Kade. What a wonderful way to end the day!