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                          Right Song - Wrong Side

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By David Wilkerson
May 11, 1990
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          The children of Israel were in a hopeless predicament!

          The Red Sea was before them; the mountains were to the
          left and right; and Pharaoh and his iron chariots were
          closing in from the rear. God's people seemed
          helplessly trapped -- like sitting ducks, just waiting
          to be cut down. Yet believe it or not, God purposely
          had led them into this precarious spot!

          It was panic time in the camp of Israel. Men shook with
          fear, and women and children wept as they huddled
          around grandparents and relatives. Suddenly Moses was
          mobbed by irate family leaders who cried, "Surely this
          is the end! Weren't there enough graves in Egypt to
          bury us there? You had to drag us out here to die. We
          told you in Egypt to let us alone. It was better to be
          slaves there than to die in this miserable wilderness!"

          I wonder if even Moses had a moment of trepidation
          about their circumstances. Yet when this man of God
          wept, the Lord seems to have chided him: "Wherefore
          criest thou unto me?" (Exodus 14:15).

          No one in Israel could have known what a great
          deliverance God was about to bring for them! Suddenly
          the winds parted the sea, and the people walked through
          the parted waves on dry ground. When Pharaoh and his
          powerful army tried to follow, the waters began to rage
          again -- closing in and drowning them all!

          What a sight -- it must have been! The people of God
          looked back from the other side and saw their mighty
          enemy destroyed like tin soldiers. Then a song went up
          in the camp as, once again, they realized God had
          delivered them from impossible circumstances! Scripture
          records their reaction -- and the song they sang:

          "Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the
          Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed
          the Lord, and his servant Moses. Then sang Moses and
          the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and
          spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath
          triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he
          thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song,
          and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will
          prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will
          exalt him" (Exodus 14:31, 15:1-2).

          You may know this glorious song of victory, taken
          directly from the Scriptures. Christians lift up their
          voices to sing it in many churches today.

          But, beloved, note the following words and emphasis in
          this passage -- because they are the heart of this
          message!

          "Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the
          Egyptians... THEN sang Moses and the children of Israel
          this song" (Exodus 14:31, 15: 1).

          They sang the right song -- but they sang it on the
          wrong side! Israel's song was not sung in true faith,
          because they sang it only on the other side of the Red
          Sea -- the side of victory and not of testing!

          You see, there are two sides to all our trials and
          temptations: the testing side and the breakthrough
          side; the east side of darkness and hopelessness, and
          the west side of victory and deliverance. Any doubter
          can sing after the testing has passed and the victory
          has come. Rather, it's on the testing side that the
          Lord wants us to learn to sing His praises. He deserves
          our worship in the darkest moment, when there appears
          to be no way out, when it is absolutely hopeless -- and
          He alone can deliver!

          You can imagine the scene in Israel after their
          victory: Miriam dancing with all the maidens,
          tambourines shaking, everyone singing and shouting
          praises to God. Scripture says they exclaimed boldly:
          "The people shall hear, and be afraid... the dukes of
          Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling
          shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of
          Canaan shall melt away" (Exodus 15:14-15).

          How secure and powerful they must have felt. But the
          victory was hollow because Israel had already failed
          the test that day! Only Moses had a right to sing on
          the west side. Before the waters parted, the people had
          moaned and groaned and complained and cried!

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                        The Great Need of This Hour
                         Is for Christians To Learn
                      To Sing the Song of Deliverance
                   On the Testing Side of Their Trouble.

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          God's purposes in allowing us to stumble into hopeless
          crises is to test us -- to build in us a foundation of
          trust in Him! How else will His people be able to trust
          Him for all the battles that lie ahead?

          We've all heard a lot recently about ministers falling
          into sins such as adultery and financial scandal. But
          much worse in God's eyes is the growing numbers of
          ministers who walk away from the ministry because
          they've allowed doubt and fear to overcome them.

          We receive letters from all over the country telling us
          whole congregations are falling into temptation and
          ruin because the pastor who once preached -- faith gave
          up and left. He couldn't sing the right song on the
          right side!

          Beloved, every crisis you face right now is an
          opportunity to learn to trust God -- to build a
          foundation for everything that comes at you for the
          rest of your life! This test was an opportunity for
          Israel to put a mirror to their heart and show them the
          doubt inside -- so they might turn to God in faith!

          If only they had remembered the miracles they'd
          witnessed in Egypt, they would have been able to say,
          "Live or die, we are the Lord's!" They could have
          encouraged one another by lifting up a song of praise
          -- the same song they eventually sang on the wrong
          side: "Great is our God, and greatly to be praised...."
          It could have spread throughout the camp and ignited
          their faith! That would have established a foundation
          for an abiding faith in God! It would have begun a
          faith so fire-tested and unshakable that it would have
          seen them through the hardships of the wilderness and
          the battles of Canaan. It would have established them
          as the people of God on earth -- a light unto the
          nations!

          But Israel did not sing. They lost all confidence in
          the love of their heavenly Father -- and accused God of
          neglecting them!

          A dear brother in the Lord recently unburdened his
          heart to me about a deep, dark trial he has endured for
          some time now. About a year ago he gave up a well
          paying job because he saw that in the near future he
          would have to compromise to remain there. For months he
          has sent out numerous resumes, but nothing has opened
          up for him.

          This has been a time of severe testing for him, and he
          has received all sorts of advice from well-meaning
          Christian friends. Some tell him there must be sin in
          his life that's why God hasn't opened a door. Others
          say, "If you just have enough faith..."

          But this brother told me, "If God is trying to tell me
          something in all this, I'm not getting the message. I
          just don't see the purpose yet. It's okay for people to
          encourage someone like me who is hurting - but until
          you go through it yourself, you just can't know the
          pain! I love the Lord, but it looks so hopeless. This
          trial just keeps dragging on -- and I keep hitting dead
          ends everywhere I turn!"

          Then he said something that struck me deep within --
          and became the spark for this message: "I want to come
          out of this trial with a testimony. I don't want God to
          just give me another job, deliver me from my troubles,
          and allow me to continue on without my having learned
          anything of Him.

          "People all around are watching me and I want them to
          see a testimony to God. I want to come through tested
          and tried. Otherwise, all I've learned about trusting
          the Lord is nothing but empty theory. Unless it works
          in hard times, it's useless!"

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                      The Flesh Argues, "Who Can Sing
                      When You're Hurting So Badly?"

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          Some would say, "But it's not natural to sing songs of
          deliverance in such pain. If we'd been in Israel's
          shoes, we'd have cried in fear, too. It's only human to
          worry when you think of your spouse and family -- when
          you're unemployed, your children are in trouble and all
          kinds of problems are facing you."

          Brothers and sisters, God doesn't see it that way. His
          perspective is vastly different from ours. Was He
          heartless to say as He did to Moses, "Why are you
          crying out to me? Tell the people to move on!" Does
          this mean He doesn't care about our human passions and
          hurts?

          No! Scripture says, "Thou hast seen how that the Lord
          thy God bear thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all
          the way that ye went" (Deuteronomy 1:31). He was a
          loving, caring father. And He didn't take kindly to
          their endless insults and insinuations that He had
          forsaken them!

          You may have teenagers in your family. As you see
          what's happening in our country, our cities, our
          schools, you may wonder if God's able to hold things
          together. But don't even begin to think that our
          loving, heavenly Father doesn't hear your prayers and
          won't keep a wall of fire around your children!

          The Lord told Israel, "Moreover your little ones, which
          ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in
          that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they
          shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and
          they shall possess it" (Deuteronomy 1:39). God
          delivered the children -- but not the adults who
          refused to trust Him!

          There's nothing wrong with going to the Lord when
          you're hurting, and crying, "Help!" God understands
          when you're heartbroken and things look black. David
          said, "In my distress... I cried unto my God" (Psalm
          18:6).

          But the time comes when the Holy Spirit meets you in
          the prayer closet and says, as He did to Moses, "Why
          are you still crying? When will faith rise up in your
          heart?"

          You see, God knows you're not in danger. He knows the
          way He's going to use to deliver you. In fact, He has a
          million ways. You just can't see them when your back is
          to the wall! For the children of Israel, the wall was
          the Red Sea. If they'd have tried going into the
          mountains, the lions and beasts would have devoured
          them. They were stuck, trapped -- right where God
          wanted them!

          They received God's deliverance that day -- and they
          sang afterward. But their song was shallow, without
          foundation. Here is the proof that it was shallow:
          Three days later they were back to their old ways of
          doubt and fear!

          All they did in their hour of crisis was suppress their
          fear. They pushed it down inside and slapped on a
          coating of praise. They never dealt a death-blow to
          doubt. Yet that was the whole purpose behind the
          crisis!

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                      The World Requires of Us A Song
                        In the Midst of Hard Times!

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          Beloved, there is a song that can be sung -- and it
          must be sung on the right side. And you can be sure
          that if the world knows you're a Christian, they will
          demand it of you. The Psalmist says, "They that carried
          us away required of us a song; and they that wasted us
          required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs
          of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange
          land?" (Psalm 137:3-4).

          The people of God were in the hardest place of their
          lifetime. And as they were carried away, their captors
          required of them a song. Yet there was no life in them
          anymore -- nothing but depression, despair,
          hopelessness!

          Multitudes of Christians are in the same position
          today. You may be trapped by your circumstances. The
          devil is chasing you down coming at you 90 miles per
          hour with an old temptation. You're on the edge of
          giving up, thinking, "I can't make it. In spite of all
          my crying and praying, it looks like I'll be this way
          as long as I live. That old bondage is going to hound
          me forever!"

          When Israel fell into the Babylonian bondage, their
          captors cried to them, "Sing for us! Play for us! We've
          heard all about you and what your God did for you. Our
          spies told us everything! Now take out your tambourines
          and bring out your harps. Play us a song! Show us your
          joy in your God!"

          I don't believe this demand was made only in mockery. I
          believe it was also a pitiful plea. The Babylonians'
          gods had left them empty and dry. They had no hope. But
          they had heard Israel singing to their God -- a God who
          had seen them through impossible circumstances. They
          said, "These people have a God who can open a sea for
          them. His fire comes down from heaven. He stands
          against their enemies. There's got to be something to
          this God of theirs!"

          Like all the world they wanted to see a people who
          endured the same problems they endured and faced the
          same battles they faced -- yet who could sing and shout
          and hold their faith in the darkest of hours! The
          Babylonians demanded a song because there's something
          in every person's heart that cries out, "Where on the
          face of the earth is there something that can make you
          sing even when you've lost everything?" They needed a
          testimony! And it is important that the children of
          God, wherever they are at whatever time, sing the songs
          of Zion: "God, I believe You, no matter what's
          happening!"

          The world is not going to respond to just another
          testimony, however. Church programs often leave people
          dead and dry. Even healings nowadays can have little
          impact because the world has seen so much of "miracle
          medicine" -- heart transplants, limb transplants, eye
          transplants.

          No, the world is shouting to us, "You can show us a
          miracle! It isn't the Red Sea opening up that impresses
          us. It's not seeing the blind given sight or the lame
          healed. It's that you can look at the darkest hour of
          your life, a situation that's hopeless to all human
          reasoning -- and yet you smile with joy, singing
          praises to God! That's the miracle we want to see!"

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                   Your Doubts Must Be Dealt a Death-Blow
                         On the Testing Side Or You
                     Will Become a Confirmed Murmurer!

                      -------------------------------

          If you don't deal with your doubts, you'll be given
          over to a spirit of murmuring and complaining. You'll
          live that way and die that way. Your doubts cannot
          simply be suppressed. They have to be pulled out by the
          roots!

          Let's look at Israel just three days after their
          deliverance from Egypt. They had been singing, shaking
          their tambourines and testifying to the power and
          strength of a mighty God, boasting that He was leading
          and protecting them. Then they arrived at Marah which
          means "waters of bitterness." This was to be another
          testing place for them.

          You see, God just keeps allowing crisis after crisis
          until we finally get the lesson. If we keep refusing to
          learn it, a time comes when He gives us over to our own
          bitterness and murmuring. "And they went three days in
          the wilderness, and found no water.... And the people
          murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?"
          (Exodus 15:22, 24).

          On Sunday, they were having a great time -- singing,
          dancing and praising! Now it's Wednesday -- and they're
          already in trouble. Another crisis, and they're falling
          apart!

          How could a people lose their confidence so quickly?
          Because they never had any! They never had that
          foundation built under them!

          So again they failed the test! They had learned
          absolutely nothing from their previous crisis -- and
          again they missed an opportunity to shine forth the
          greatness of their God. From that day on Israel was
          beyond learning anything from God!

          They even began to take His goodness for granted. They
          had no food, so He sent them manna from heaven. He
          dropped quails out of the sky, piling them up outside
          of the camp three feet high. But not a word of
          thanksgiving was heard! Instead, the people turned to
          greed, hoarding all that God gave them. Israel became
          stiff necked!

          Oh, what a shame it is to go from crisis to crisis and
          learn nothing in the process! It carries with it a
          curse -- that you will be given over to a spirit of
          murmuring!

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                      Four Great Deliverance's Later,
                      They're Given One Last Chance!

                      -------------------------------

          Israel had witnessed God's miracle at the Red Sea.
          They'd seen the healing waters at Marah. They saw the
          water flow from the rock on Mount Horeb. And they saw
          manna and quails appear from heaven.

          Now they were poised and ready to go into the Promised
          Land. God had given them one final opportunity to come
          to the ground of trust and faith in Him.

          They had sent 12 spies into Canaan and 10 came back
          with an evil report: "Surely it floweth with milk and
          honey.... (But) the cities are walled, and very
          great.... We are not able to go up against the people;
          for they are stronger than we... The land eateth up the
          inhabitants... and all the people we saw in it are men
          of great stature. And there we saw the giants... and we
          were in our own sight as grasshoppers" (Numbers
          13:27-28, 31-33).

          The report caused utter chaos in the camp of Israel.
          Every pent-up emotion, every doubt and fear that had
          built up inside, came churning out in anger at God!
          When Joshua stood up and said, "God is with us! God is
          able!", they all wanted to stone him!

          The people didn't know it -- at the time, but this
          testing was to prepare them for their first battle in
          Canaan, at Jericho.

          The spies told them, "The first thing you're going to
          find in there is a walled city called Jericho. It's
          impenetrable. There's simply no way in! We have no
          weapons, no battering rams. It's useless, hopeless. Why
          even try to go over there?" Beloved, that talk came
          right out of hell! And that is exactly what the devil
          wants you to think about your problems: "There's no way
          out of this." Yet you know God already has a plan! You
          just can't see it. All you see is that wall ahead of
          you.

          But God sees infinitely more than you do. To Him, there
          is no wall there. It's an easy thing for Him to go
          right through it. There are no complications involved
          for Him, because He doesn't recognize the power of the
          enemy. It's time to begin to trust Him!

          For Israel, this was a final chance. It was a time to
          rise up and sing, to show God their trust! It was time
          for someone to stand up and say, "We thought we were
          dead at the Red Sea -- and He delivered us! We thought
          it was the end for us at the bitter waters of Marah and
          He delivered us! We thought we were dying of hunger in
          the wilderness -- and He delivered us! We thought it
          was all over many times. But every time God brought us
          out of danger. He has brought us safely thus far! Let
          us testify to the world that our God is able!'

          Yet no one did! Israel failed its final test! Where was
          the victory, the song? There was none! Israel only
          wept!

          "And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and
          cried, and the people wept that night. And all the
          children of Israel murmured against Moses and against
          Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would
          God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God
          we had died in this wilderness!

          "And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land,
          to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children
          should be a prey? were it not better for us to return
          to Egypt? And they said to one another, Let us make a
          captain, and let us return into Egypt.

          "Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all
          the assembly of the congregation of the children of
          Israel.... And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will
          this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere
          they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed
          among them?" (Numbers 14:1-5,11).

          Finally, God' s patience ended. Listen to what He said
          to the confirmed murmurers: "Tomorrow turn you, and get
          you into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea....
          Your children shall wander in the wilderness forty
          years... until your carcasses be wasted in the
          wilderness (Numbers 14:25, 33).

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                 Jesus, heal our doubt Fear and unbelief.

                      -------------------------------

          "Ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth
          is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
          tossed. For let not that man think that he shall
          receive any thing of the Lord" (James 1:6-7).

          The world is full of Christians today who will not hold
          onto God's holy Word. They think it is an innocent
          thing to sit at the table in the house of God and
          murmur and complain, as if God doesn't hear. God does
          hear our murmurings! They are accusations that He does
          not care, insinuations that He has let us down!

          God has warned me not to give voice to nagging doubts
          and fears -- not to my wife, not to friends, not to
          loved ones, not to colleagues. God says to take those
          doubts to the cross and say, "Jesus, heal my unbelief!
          Take it out!"

          Israel spent the next 40 years in turmoil --
          backbiting, complaining, jealous, full of bitterness.
          What a miserable existence they led -- still claiming
          to be the children of God, still claiming to be holy.
          But that was their testimony -- not God's.

          There's no job, no deliverance, for a man or woman who
          complains continually before God. You'll stay
          unemployed the rest of your life! Or if you do get a
          job, it'll be a yoke around your neck! This is a matter
          of life or death! You must come to a place where you
          learn to trust Him. If you learn it now, the next time
          a crisis comes you'll sing and shout with praises to
          your Deliverer! Oh, the victory will be there -- but
          more importantly, you'll have dealt a death-blow to all
          doubt, fear and unbelief.

          Where do you start? By looking right into the mirror of
          God's Word! Consider your words and actions over the
          last 30 days: Have you been murmuring? complaining You
          may answer, "Yes -- but I haven't been murmuring at
          God!" Oh yes, you have! No matter where or to whom you
          complain, It's all directed at God!

          Every place I turn In my Bible, I see: "Trust Me, and
          I'll see you through! Just commit your ways to Me."
          What does that require? Simply this: Stand still and
          see the salvation of the Lord. You ask, "But what if
          nothing happens?" That response reveals doubt and fear!

          Dear saint, turn to God today and say, "Lord, I've done
          everything I know how to do in my situation. I know
          there's nothing I can do to fix the problem anyway. I'm
          going to trust You -- and wait for Your victory.

          Let God make you a testimony to the world -- a witness
          of His faithfulness. Love Him with all your heart right
          now. Give Him all your problems, all your faith and
          trust -- and He will give you the right song on the
          right side!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
          be posted publicly on other web pages. The Lorain
          County Free-Net Chapel holds exclusive rights from
          World Challenge, Inc. to publicly post these messages
          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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