The Eye of the Needle: Part Five
The eye of the needle is the toughest place you’ll ever walk through. In fact, you may not be able to stand upright when you face it.
But be assured, it is a necessary experience in any life and it will prove what you are made of.
Paul, Job, and even the nation of Israel passed through their own gates, be it through persecution, illness, loss, or fear of the future in uncertain times. The early Christians were boiled in oil, crucified upside down, fed to the lions in the coliseum, and served as living torches in Nero’s garden.
It is important that we understand a key concept:
Acts 5:41 speaks of those who were “counted worthy” to be tried.
We are commanded to “enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Matthew 23:12 instructs us how this entire process works: “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
So, how are we to show the world our God has all the answers and “owns the cattle on a thousand hills” yet be humbled?
Paul said in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
It is possible to be full of God, full of compassion and help for the lost or fellow saints while still yearning for more of God.
This is what we are called to do:
• to be full of the Holy Ghost but desire to be filled anew each day;
• to give into men’s bosoms freely of your substance yet seek sustenance for yourself from God.
You see, there is a danger in being satisfied spiritually. The children of Israel found themselves satisfied with the journey’s manna and doubted God once they arrived at Canaan’s gates.
It was the attitude of, “Why try anything new? Why ask for more? What we’ve got going on ain’t that bad. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Yes, I supposed I’ve just constructed the Israelites as hicks from a little backwoods town in some part of the country where ‘ya’ll’ is a proper noun!
The particular eye of the needle they faced was the giants of the land of Canaan. The giants could be avoided if they simply chose not to walk through the gates.
Have you ever seen giants in the way of your promise? Your ministry? Your miracle?
Have you decided to just let it go, refusing to walk through the door the Lord has opened due to the trial the passage might become?
Israel turned away from Canaan due to their lack of faith in God and an overabundance of faith in the reasoning of man! They were filled with their own credibility!
They were sentenced to remain in the wilderness for forty years because of their inability to humble themselves and realize that it is God who gives the increase—it was never about their ability to begin with!
Many might say, ‘Well, what’s so bad about that?’
• They were still fed with manna,
• They still had a man of God leading them,
• They still had a tabernacle to go to,
• Their shoes and clothes still never wore out,
• And they were still lead by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.
So what was so bad about staying in their comfort zone?
Simple: They no longer had a promise!
Likewise, we today can become so full with yesterday’s successes and our own reasoning that we find ourselves in the same wilderness:
• We are still fed with the Word of God,
• We still have a good pastor,
• We still attend church and have a hooping, hollering good time,
• We still witness the miraculous around us,
• And we still experience blessings of having our earthly needs taken care of.
But we’ve lost sight of the Promise of Heaven! The promise of ministry to the lost! The drive of purpose in our souls!
Scripture urges us to stir ourselves lest we become like Gideon who “said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him” (Judges 16:20).
Some of you are facing trials right now or even a calling to ministry that is beyond you. You’ve tried all your own riches (your talents, your know-how, your methods, your experience) yet the Giant still stands!
Unless, however, you humble yourself and realize that without God’s intervention, you cannot stand.
When you face the eye of the needle, what will you do?
Will you stand, proudly loaded with worldly concepts and a self-serving mentality just outside the gates of Canaan?
Or will you humble yourself as the camel, laying aside your earthly treasures so that you may enter in at the straight gate?
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51:17).
Let us rather be rich in faith toward God.
