Nancy Campbell posts are filled with abundant wisdom. This article is spot on, as I think about and do my best, to teach younger women. I pray you will read and share it.
REVOLTED AND GONE
by Nancy Campbell
(used by permission)
I am a freedom lover. In fact, I am a freedom fighter. However, I also believe in boundaries. True freedom is only found in the boundaries that God assigns for us. A train running on its tracks is free to go anywhere the tracks take it. However, if the train decides it doesn’t want the confinement of tracks and veers off, it would be its destruction.
God puts boundaries on nature. God has put limits on the seas and the oceans. Psalm 104:9 says: “Thou hast set a bound (for the waters) that they may not pass over.” Proverbs 8:29 says: “He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment . . . “
God gave the angels of Heaven their boundary. Jude 1:6 (GW) tells us: “They (the angels) were held in darkness, bound by eternal chains. These are the angels who didn’t keep their position of authority but abandoned their assigned place.”
God masterminded the holy estate of marriage, the most beautiful estate on earth when we live it according to God’s plans. But God has placed boundaries on marriage. When a couple are joined as one on their wedding day, they enter into the exclusivity of marriage. We don’t share our marriage with anyone else. Oh yes, we open our homes and lives to encompass people, but our marriage is sacred. We will never embark on a personal relationship with someone of the opposite sex apart from with our husband.
God has given to women a powerful domain over which to rule. God planned for women to be queen of their homes and be the continuers of godly generations revealing the likeness and image of God.
God does not intend us to enter the realm of the male domain. Of course, we can if we want, but it will be to our detriment. God’s blessings are poured out in the domain that He gives to us.
And our domain, mother, is a glorious domain. Did you read my article, LET’S GET BACK THE GLORY, in the current issue of Above Rubies?
I love David’s confession in Psalm 6:5, 6 (GW): Your boundary lines mark out pleasant (delightful) places for me. Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful.”
I love the *CJB version: “Pleasant places were measured out for me; I am CONTENT with my heritage.” It is a beautiful thing when we are content within the boundaries that God assigns to us. In these boundary lines we have the greatest freedom because God is also the author of freedom. He wants us to live free.
The words of Jeremiah 5:22, 23 are challenging: “Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.”
Wow, God uses the example of how even the oceans, although they roar and toss, cannot pass God’s boundary lines. And yet, unbelievably, His people do it. God mandated boundaries for His people Israel. He gave them laws and decrees, not to imprison them but to bless them, to make them healthy, and to make them His special and chosen people in all the world. But they didn’t want it. “THEY ARE REVOLTED AND GONE!”
This is often our testimony of many women in the church today. They don’t understand that God’s truths do not inhibit us. They set us free. But they don’t want freedom within their boundaries. They want their own kind of freedom. God mandated for women to be in the home. But where are they? Most homes in America are empty today. The mothers have REVOLTED AND GONE!
This passage continues in verse 25. “Your sins have withholden GOOD THINGS from you.” We miss out on the “GOOD THINGS” when we move away from the boundaries God has assigned for us.
Let’s embrace all that God has for us and live in the fullness of the blessings He longs for us.
Drawing you back to His glorious ways, Nancy Campbell
Painting by Jessica Zemsky
P.S. Oh help! I can imagine the reaction to some of my above statements. I must say that I know that most women today are brainwashed by our humanistic society. They have beautiful hearts, would never want to do anything to offend God, and think their lifestyle is absolutely normal because that is all they know. Most women today are ignorant of God’s Word and His plan for women and so they are ignorantly living their lives outside the home. Others are in very difficult financial situations and are forced, often against their will, to vacate the home. Feminism has been very successful in making it more difficult for women as they have lowered men’s wages and advocated for their so-called women’s rights.
I understand the many reasons, dear mothers, but at the same time, as an older mother, I must be faithful to teach what God says from His Word. I know that our society is so far away from God’s original intention that it’s a long road back. To some it even looks impossible. But ultimate revival is for us to turn back. We cannot live under the fount of His full blessings unless we live in the boundary lines He has designated for us.
* CJB is the Complete Jewish Bible, which I use and highly recommend. I especially like the CJB Study Bible.
Nancy Campbell's website is a gold mine of wisdom and encouragement: ABOVE RUBIES.
