Judgment, Gender, and Provision

A short time ago, on December 7, God showed me a couple of things back-to-back. As I was praying, I saw hands washing a green pot. All the nasty dried food inside was being cleaned out. I knew that the next step in the process would be to put it upside down on a dish cloth to dry. The vision ended. There was a pause, and then God showed me my wife placing the same pot on the counter. Only this time it was full to the top with soup. I could see mushrooms on the top. It was ready to eat.

While I was thinking about this first vision (God, what does this mean?), the passage in 1 Kings 21:9-15, about King Manasseh came to mind. I am quoting from The Message:

But the people didn't listen. Manasseh led them off the beaten path into practices of evil even exceeding the evil of the pagan nations that GOD had earlier destroyed. GOD, thoroughly fed up, sent word through his servants the prophets: "Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these outrageous sins, eclipsing the sin-performance of the Amorites before him, setting new records in evil, using foul idols to debase Judah into a nation of sinners, this is my judgment, GOD's verdict: I, the God of Israel, will visit catastrophe on Jerusalem and Judah, a doom so terrible that when people hear of it they'll shake their heads in disbelief, saying, 'I can't believe it!'

"I'll visit the fate of Samaria on Jerusalem, a rerun of Ahab's doom. I'll wipe out Jerusalem as you would wipe out a dish, wiping it out and turning it over to dry. I'll get rid of what's left of my inheritance, dumping them on their enemies. If their enemies can salvage anything from them, they're welcome to it. They've been nothing but trouble to me from the day their ancestors left Egypt until now. They pushed me to my limit; I won't put up with their evil any longer."

So what did this mean exactly? Is President Biden with his agenda a type of Manasseh, leading his people into sin? Is God's Judgment pending for America? Or is the vision for me personally, telling me there are things in my life that need to be cleaned up? (Could it be both???)

When God's judgment DID come on Jerusalem and Judah, it was several generations later. Manassas' son reigned only two years before being assassinated, and then his grandson Josiah became king at age 8. But at age 26, Josiah started restoring the rundown temple structure, and the Book of the Law was found. Here is 2 Kings 22:11-14, quoted from The Message:

When the king heard what was written in the book, God's Revelation, he ripped his robes in dismay. And then he called for Hilkiah the priest [and four royal advisors]. He ordered them all: "Go and pray to GOD for me and for this people- for all of Judah! Find out what we must do in response to what is written in this book that has just been found! GOD's anger must be burning furiously against us -- our ancestors haven't obeyed a thing written in this book, followed none of the instructions directed to us."

Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went straight to Huldah the prophetess. She was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, who was in charge of the palace wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter...

I need to go on a rabbit trail here, but I think this is important. Notice that the genealogy of her husband is listed? His grandfather was currently holding a position in the royal court. This probably puts her in her late teens or early 20's. Right? So here is a woman, not only that, but a young woman in this patriarchal society, whom the king's advisors go to in order to inquire of God. I believe that if you use your spiritual gifts, God will place you in a place where they will be used further; that God will bring people to you to be ministered to. So be ready. I believe they went to her, because she already had reputation as one who hears from God-- such that the kings advisors make a beeline to her specifically as soon as the king directed them. I am reminded of Paul's instructions to Timothy in I Timothy 4: 12 (NIV),

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

I submit to you that God is not constrained by societal norms for age and Gender! Witness also the prophetess Anna, (Luke 2:36-38) who had been married seven years, and a widow for 84 years. The scripture notes that she was VERY old. "She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying." But when Joseph and Mary presented the baby Jesus at the temple to be circumcised and dedicated to God, she was there.

Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Back in 2 Kings 22, the five men consulted with Huldah the prophetess.

In response to them she said, "GOD's word, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you here that I'm on my way to bring the doom of judgment on this place and this people. Every word written in the book read by the king of Judah will happen. And why? Because they've deserted me and taken up with other gods, making me thoroughly angry by setting up their god-making businesses. My anger is burning white-hot against this place and nobody is going to put it out.

And ALSO tell the king of Judah, since he sent you to ask GOD for direction; tell him this, GOD's comment on what he read in the book: 'Because you took seriously the doom of judgment I spoke against this place and people, and because you responded in humble repentance, tearing your robe in dismay and weeping before me, I'm taking you seriously. GOD's word: I'll take care of you. You'll have a quiet death and be buried in peace. You won't be around to see the doom that I'm going to bring on this place.' "

The men took her message back to the king.

So here we see God's judgement on a kingdom deferred because the king repented. (In the book of Jonah, we see God's planned judgement on Ninevah cancelled because the king and the people repented and turned back to God. (Much to the annoyance of the prophet Jonah, who very much wanted to see them all smoked.) If God's judgment is pending for America, will repentance as a nation defer it or even cancel it?

I find it interesting that these two visions came to me early in the morning of December 7-- Pearl Harbor Day-- when a sneak attack brought America formally into World War II. This was the same war in which America had been arming its allies for the previous two years, without officially being a "direct party to the conflict." (Sound familiar?) That all changed on December 7. Was the fact that God showed me this on Pearl Harbor Day symbolic of a future enemy surprise attack, which will bring us formally into the war? I wonder...

In the second vision, I was shown that same pot, only now it was full of soup. Mushroom soup, specifically. When asking God what it meant, two passages came to mind. The first was 2 Kings 19:28-31. In context, king Sennacherib of Assyria was attacking Jerusalem, and king Hezekiah (father of the previously mentioned king Manassas) had come to enquire of God. God tells him through the prophet Isaiah that Sennacherib would return to his own country and they would be delivered:

[to Sennacherib] "... Because you rage against me and your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came."

"This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:

"This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Zion a band of survivors.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

To my mind, the full pot of soup God showed me represents Provision, and the mushrooms are a visual reference to the above verse: "This year you will eat what grows by itself." What grows by itself? Wild mushrooms!

The second passage that came to mind was Jeremiah 32:42-44. Generations have passed. Josiah's son Zedekiah is now king, and Jerusalem is under seige and about to fall to the Babylonians. It is utter disaster. But then God offers a word of hope. I am quoting here from The Message:

"Yes, this is GOD's Message: 'I will certainly bring this huge catastrophe on this people, but I will also usher in a wondeful life of prosperity. I promise. Fields are going to be bought again, yes, in this very country that you assume is going to end up desolate-- gone to the dogs, unlivable, wrecked by the Babylonians. Yes, people will buy farms again, and legally, with deeds of purchase, sealed documents, proper witnesses... I will restore everything that was lost.' GOD's Decree."

Judgement was brought on them, yes. But it was followed by provision and prosperity. Just like the vision of the pot full of soup immediately followed the vision of the pot being cleansed. So what's our takeaway here? We ask God to bring us to a place of individual and national cleansing and repentance, and then we trust in His provision.

"Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish..."

-decree of the king of Nineveh, Jonah 3:9

The pot in question...