2011-04-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I asked the question: Is God ever mean or evil? The Holy Spirit directed me to tell the story of Noah’s unhappy experience with the sinfulness of his son, Ham from GN 9: 20-27. Noah got drunk and fell asleep in his tent naked. His son, Ham, came in without waking Noah or asking permission, and thus saw his father’s nakedness. Rather than to cover his father, he called his brother, Shem and Japheth, to look, but they turned their faces away. Noah then awoke and put a curse on Canaan, saying, “Canaan will be the slave of Shem, Japheth, and God.” Of course, we know the later history of how the Israelites, the progeny from Shem’s line, conquered the Canaanites under the leadership of Joshua.
We are challenged to view the heart of God in so many different contexts. Furthermore, we are challenged to learn to trust God, a action that isn’t easy for us. Shem and Japheth knew what their brother was trying to get them to do was wrong, and that is why their progeny didn’t suffer the troubles that Ham’s did. [By the way, Japheth’s progeny populated what is today Europe; Shem’s what is today Israel and parts of the Middle East, and Ham’s what is today Africa]. Kay Arthur, a fine teacher and writer, says to us, “Lay your head between the shoulders of El Shaddai [God Who is All-Sufficient] and hear His heartbeat. Now decide if He is mean or evil.” We must consider honestly and openly our own experience with Him to come to our own conclusions.
Anyone who says it was easy for him to learn to trust the Lord isn’t telling the truth. If anyone was perfect at doing that, he wouldn’t be here; he would already be glorified and living in heaven with the Father.
MT 14: 29-31 tells a story of just how hard it is for a good human being, Peter, to really trust God. At the sight of Jesus walking across the water, His disciples, then in a boat, were challenged to respond. “Then Peter spoke up, ‘Lord, if is really you, order me to come out on the water to You.’ ‘Come!’ answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he cried. Jesus didn’t let Peter drown, but He did say, ‘What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?’” The question is: why do any of us doubt? Christ has told us He will protect us, but still we question and doubt Him. If this is not imperfect faith, then what is it? Casting doubt is one of the adversary’s favorite fiery darts to toss at us. We are led by him to look to other humans first for help, rather than seeking out God first. He wants to keep our thinking contained within the bounds of Newtonian physics and earthly matters. He wants to prevent us from thinking in eternal terms.
Consider the words to a very familiar hymn, Amazing Grace. I was drawn to this hymn early on in my own exposure to Christianity. “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; its grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we first begin. Amazing grace! How warm the sound, that gave new life to me. He will my Shield and Portion be, His word my hope secures.” Not a word of this wonderful hymn isn’t true. And yet, it was written by John Newton, a former slave-trader, a transporter and seller of human beings!
If a man like this is forgiven by God, and I believe he was, then surely people like you and me can be forgiven too. We don’t deserve it; God just does this out of His love for us. We can’t take any credit for our being forgiven or even being given faith by the Holy Spirit-faith in the Son of God Who gave His physical life on the cross for us [JN 3: 16; EPH 2: 8-9]. God not only forgives our sin, but He also forgets it [HE 8: 12]. Surely these are not the acts of a Being Who is ever evil or mean. Instead, if we look back on our own history with Him, we will see in that His love and trustworthiness [PS 107: 43]. Will God keep His promise to lead us home to heaven? I believe He will. PS 138: 8, “You will do everything You have promised; Lord, your love is eternal. Complete the work that You have begun.” What our question should be: Are we willing to be resolute in our faith and trust in Him? Not the other way around. God is our Covenant Partner, and His love for us is complete and eternal. We absolutely need to learn to trust Him. Our very eternal lives depend on it.
PRAYER: O Lord, when will we learn? Those of us who spend daily time in the Scriptures and in prayer realize that You have provided us with countless pieces of evidence that You are trustworthy and have no evil in You. Sometimes Your decisions are hard for us to understand at the time, or they are disappointing to us, because we don’t see Your lofty perspective [IS 55: 8-9]. Often that is because we don’t consider an issue in the context of eternity, but put a more limited, earthly boundary on our thoughts. Your word can help us to gain Your perspective, if we will only take the time to seek You out first and trust in what You tell us. JER 29: 11-13, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to bring you the future for which you hope. Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me and you will find Me, because you will seek Me with all your heart.” You are a God we can trust. Your power to accomplish Your will transcends the things a man can do. JER 32: 26-27, “Then the Lord said to me, ‘I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Nothing is too difficult for Me.’” While others have reported things in the Scriptures that God has done, things like giving a young David the power to slay a giant, Goliath, with a simple sling shot [1 SAM 17: 50], we still question God’s ability to be trusted to take care of His own. Moreover, You have given each of us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through Your own Holy Spirit, and still, we question if You can be trusted. Interestingly, You have done things we can’t quite understand at the time, which have been the only righteous choice of what to do. Joseph’s brothers had a hard time understanding the forgiving heart Joseph had, because of the perspective You gave him. GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” In many ways, Joseph prefigured Christ, Whose sacrifice saves many lives. We thank You, Lord, for the love You show us and the goodness that is always in You. In Christ’s holy and mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am led by the Holy Spirit to continue examining the question: Is God Ever Evil or Mean? This time, we will look at mankind’s rebellion against God’s command, “be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth.” This rebellion has massive consequences that still are happening today. How this impacts our covenant relationship with God is also of major importance. But we will leave that for next week. For now, we must listen for God’s heartbeat, and we can’t help noticing it gets faster when he is waiting to see us decide whether or not we will disappoint Him with the choices we make. He relaxes when someone makes a Kingdom choice, a choice that is in line with God’s word. Do we take the time to put our ear to God’s chest to listen for His heartbeat? Do we listen for His words to us, which sometime come in a soft whisper? Is God’s will the same our ours? Are we trusting in Him? Each of us needs to examine our own thoughts and behavior. Each of us needs to check these things against God’s teaching. Our Lord doesn’t hold back, keep secrets, or act with exclusivity. He makes His will clear to us, so that we will know the way along the hard road that extends from the narrow gate [MT 7: 13-14]. Before his conversion to belief in Christ, we know that John Newton and other slave-traders of his day never made a statement like this one that Christ made, in JN 15: 13-15, “The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. And you are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I call you friend, because I have told you everything I heard from My Father.” So, we cannot claim that the Lord hasn’t made His will clear. We must decide if we think He is being mean or evil by telling us what we should do. I claim He should be praised and thanked forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15