Fall
2006
The
Law Of Contrast
Wade E Taylor
Many years ago, I was privileged to speak at a ministers
retreat north of Anchorage, Alaska. A week after I returned
home, I was able to go to Barbados, an Island in the southern
part of the West Indies, for an intensely needed time of rest,
and to spend time in prayer.
When I left Anchorage, Alaska, it was considerably below
zero. The wind was driving the snow that was falling, and
the cold was bone chilling. When I arrived in Barbados, it
was 85 degrees and the sun was brightly shining on the palm
trees, especially on the multicolored flowers that were everywhere.
Both Alaska and Barbados were outstanding in their own ways.
I had exchanged majestic mile high, barren, yet impressive,
snow covered mountains and ice glaciers for palm and coconut
trees, along with the beautiful flowers and fruit trees that
were everywhere. The contrast between Alaska and Barbados
made a lasting impression on me.
Many truths in the Scripture are established thru contrast.
An example is in Luke 3:2:
“Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word
of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.”
Here, the religious system of that day is contrasted with
a man clothed in a leather girdle, alone in the wilderness,
but through whom God could speak. The irony and contrast in
this passage of Scripture is intense.
“Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests.”
The fully developed and functioning religious system of that
day should have been able to hear the present word of the
Lord. Since they could not hear, the Lord prepared an individual
who could hear; who, at the appointed time, said something
that had never been said before, “Behold, the Lamb of
God.”
Another example is the life of Abraham, which is contrasted
with that of Lot. Or, Isaac, who is contrasted with Ishmael,
or the life of Jacob, contrasted with that of Esau. In the
New Testament, Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus, is contrasted
with Martha, who served.
As I meditated on the contrast that I saw so vividly between
Alaska and Barbados, the Lord quickened these Scriptural contrasts
to me, and I saw a principle at work.
In each of the above situations that were set forth in Scripture
through contrast, the natural lineage sought its own way and
end, while the spiritual lineage was dependent on an act or
intervention of God for its establishment and provision. In
I Corinthians 15:45 we are told:
“That was not first which is spiritual, but that which
is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
Initially, the natural seemed to flourish, but ultimately
the spiritual lineage was brought forth to establish His purpose
and glory. The contrast in each of these instances in Scripture
is very pronounced and meaningful.
Many of us have struggled for years, seeking the higher purpose
of the Lord for our lives. Through the goodness of the Lord,
and the time in which we live, this is beginning to change.
The “line of the natural” (those who seemingly
are being blessed, while we patiently wait and trust), will
no longer predominate. We are beginning to enter a new day
in which the emphasis will be on the “spiritual line”
- the bringing forth of His higher purpose in preparing lives
to know His presence, His anointing, and His voice.
In our society, we have been taught that “bigger is
better,” and that “quantity is a sign of the Lord’s
blessing.” Yet in the Scriptural examples, this is clearly
disproven, as the establishing of the “Spiritual line”
required a time of testing and suffering. In each of these
examples, the Spiritual line flourished, after Divine Intervention
and provision.
This pattern and principle will find its full outworking
in each one of us, who are willing to place our lives in the
hands of the Lord.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be
not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-2
The Lord ever seeks to bring forth a “Spiritual line,”
those who experientially know Jesus, and desire to walk with
Him in the outworking of His present day purposes - as did
John the Baptist, who, through the time of his separation,
and the preparation of the Lord, became “the Voice of
One” crying in the wilderness.”
If you truly find yourself to be spiritually hungry, and
searching for “something more,” consider that
the Lord may be calling you to come apart to Himself.
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law,
the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside
of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire
out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
“And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this
great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the LORD
saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of
the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said,
Here am I. And he said, Draw not near here: put off your shoes
from off your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy
ground.
“Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And
Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And
the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people
which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of
their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
“And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand
of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to
a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Exodus 3:1-8a
So also for us, as we turn aside and allow the Lord to have
His way in our lives, that which He intends for us is far
better than anything that we could work out for ourselves.
“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed
them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God.” I Corinthians 2:9-10