“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not” Lam3:22
I have known this particular verse of the scripture to be used in relation to attacks from the enemy; how the onslaught of the enemy has not been able to overcome us. In actual context it was written in relation to the desolation Jerusalem faced as a result of sin. The Lord turned away from the land which opened them up to a lot of adversity. In the midst of this adversity, the mercy of God still spoke on behalf of the people, hence, the affirmation that the mercy of the Lord didn’t allow them to be consumed.
Now, as I began to look into that scripture as we prayed in the light of the dispensation we are now, I discovered it is huge than the devil’s attack. In fact it wasn’t even about the enemy in the real context; it was about God and the sin that came in between His people and Him.
To be consumed means to be taken over by something. In a situation smoke starts to find its way into a room, soon, the room becomes filled with the smoke; it is then said that the smoke has consumed the house. In the Hebrew language, consume is translated as “Kalah” which means to be complete or to be used up. When a man is consumed by a thing, it means such a man has been used up; this is complete taking over.
Jesus met this man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9). This is a pool where crowd of sick people usually lay, waiting for a certain movement of the water, for an angel of the Lord came from time to time to disturb the water and the first person to step down into it afterwards was healed. When Jesus who was the master of the angels who does the movement of the water asked this certain man who had been sick for thirty eight years if he would like to be healed, the man responded that he can’t. The intriguing part was that the man also went ahead to explain why he cannot be healed and this was actually a genuine answer because that was how limited his knowledge was. He never knew the person before him was healing Himself. This man had been consumed (overtaken) by the condition he found himself. It is obvious he was just waiting there believing someday he was going to die. His condition had made him conclude he could never be healed.
You must understand that he was a believing man, if not, he could have left the poolside and decide to just die somewhere at home. He told Jesus that before he gets into the pool someone else gets there before him. This suggests to me that he could move, but not just as fast as was required to outsmart others who also needed healing. So, he could have decided to go home since he could never be healed.
Many believers are like that today; believers who know there is power in Jesus but have come to accept a particular condition as just not solvable. This man had faith but was consumed by the visible proofs of why he could never be healed. You could also have a justifiable reason. Professional or elderly reports and how much you have tried all years but nothing is happening can make you resign to fate on the issue. This is being consumed!
A man consumed does not hear or see the voice of faith but quickly calls the condition a dilemma of fate. Such a heart has been overtaken by knowledge not in consonance with the will of God.
To be consumed is not about attacks of the devil, it is allowing the pressures and cares of this world overcome the sight of God in you. When you begin to see how much of the troubles and pain you go through daily more than what the word of God says about you, gradually you become taken up till you are consumed. The thoughts that are not of God then begin to raise themselves above the knowledge of God in you. This is how some ended up in depression; they were consumed by the overwhelming pressure and demands of life that they could no longer handle it.
These are imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. When the pressure of how to get a job, have a life partner, have a child, pay your bills, get healed of a long recurring illness, pass an exam and some other issues gets to the point that it steals away your fellowship with God and knowledge of God concerning such that you come to accept the condition as God’s will for you, this is being consumed. Just like that man by the pool, you will not recognize Jesus even when He is resident in you. Remember the man also was believing!
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2Cor10:5
Are you consumed or almost consumed? Check!
Be Innovated
Olufemi Ibitoye
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