Walking Together

Amos 3:3 (NKJV)

³ Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 (NKJV)

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

I was compelled to go through the book of Amos once again today because I couldn`t understand why does God continues to show me these scriptures, and this verse stuck in my head especially after reading this book with the commentaries.  I think there are two important concepts here that are addressed and confirmed in both Old and New Testaments. I wanted to point out these scriptures from both Testaments to show once again that God doesn`t contradict His word, and what he said in the Old Testament, He also confirmed in the New covenant through Jesus.

There are two concepts here: horizontal and vertical. The horizontal- is our relationships with each other, husband and wife, between friends, family, etc. The vertical concept- is our relationships with God.

The scripture is very clear about reasons as to why the two walking together cannot walk in harmony and in agreement if they are unequally yoked; when one lives for the Lord while the other one carnally for one`s flesh. God is very clear here that there cannot be an agreement if the two do not walk together; if the two are not on the same page about what they believe and live for. This scripture spoke right into my heart after I met up with my husband yesterday to discuss our potential resolution to put a stop to our pending legal separation. I brought up the importance of having a truly Christian household where God is in control and is the foundation for everything else and using that as a starting foundation for our reconciliation. Although my husband agreed with me having a Christian family, our concepts about what a truly Christian is are significantly different, and that`s what contributed largely to the mess where we are now. I wanted to live for the Lord and to serve Him, and my husband kept pulling under yoke into the different direction of carnal living. The two cannot coincide together, and it produced a huge confrontation in addition to me uncovering many lies about him and later betrayal of him abandoning me and making me homeless.

As I was talking to my husband yesterday, I realized that there is nothing that could change between us until God completes His work, and this is why He kept bringing the book of Amos to my attention- it is to show me that God brings judgment to those who refuse to hearken and to turn their ways to the Lord. My husband was supposed to make his first child support payment to me on the first of July, and he didn`t. My heart just turned when I had to report to my attorney that my husband didn`t write me a check. I was trying to shield him from potential lien, and this is something that God showed me to stop doing because it interferes with the work that He tries to accomplish throughout our current circumstances; God showed me to stop protecting everyone I love, so He could do what`s necessary to accomplish His work. There is nothing more hurting than to see your own “flesh” being torn to pieces like my family is being torn down. Yet, God is very clear that He would not compromise with sin and will do whatever it takes to chasten us to bring us back to Him. I pray for a lot of patience and wisdom not to interfere with the work of the Lord, yet to do what is required of me in terms of showing mercy and grace when it`s my turn to respond.

The second concept here is – vertical, and that`s our relationships with Heavenly Father. How can we say we are Christians, if we live in sin, and we know that god hates sin and evil? The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). God doesn`t conform His standards based on what our social acceptance dictates.

I like the way Chuck Smith in his commentaries said:

Can you walk in harmony? Can you walk in unity unless there's an agreement? Of course the answer is, no. Now how can you walk with God if you're not in agreement with God? How can you walk with God and continue in iniquity, and in unrighteousness, and in sin? The answer is, you can't. You cannot walk with a holy God in a state of iniquity. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

God does not change His standards to accommodate our indulgences, and this is what I was trying to tell my husband- that I would not change my lifestyle to accommodate what he felt like doing if it goes against what God allows. Our family would be in this despair until God does work in my husband`s heart like He is doing it in mine. I was a backslider so many times in my life that it took me some serious afflictions and chastisement on God`s part to turn me around and to make me committed to God. I don`t know what it would take for my husband to get to the same place of brokenness, but I continue to pray for him. I know that God would not walk with him if he would not turn his ways and hearken to God. I also know that we would not walk together as a husband and wife until we are equally yoked under the same truth of God`s word.

If you think that you need a nudge in the back to yield to God, please don`t wait for the judgment from God to bring you back, but turn your ways and seek the Lord. God is merciful and He will meet you at the cross because He knows the steep price of His Son who bled for you and me. Our Father desires for us to seek Him and to walk along with Him. I personally don`t ever want to be called an enemy of God ever again. I may not always make the right decisions, but I know that so long as I seek His face and live for Him, He would guide me and preserve me on the right path.

If you feel like you need to fix your horizontal relationships, please note that they would not work without the vertical adjustment first. I could never fix my relationships with my husband if I didn`t fix my walk with the Lord first because otherwise I would be acting in flesh and not in the spirit, and the scripture is very clear of the consequence for that.

Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16-17 (NKJV):

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

The flesh would always want to pull in a different direction from what the spirit directs us to do because our flesh desires to sin and our spirit desires to live for the Lord. This is the battle that we each face, and we always have a choice how to battle with flesh. I use a lot of scripture for that and praying. Please don`t despair if you lose some battles but be encouraged that we have that victory in Christ to please the Lord and to make our best effort. I choose to walk in agreement with the Lord even if it means to suffer for His truth and to patiently wait until He completes His work in me and in my husband. I urge you to do the same.