September 29, 2024

Humility

Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/8375844229201734

Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/1236668740807765

Throughout the history of the world, we see a pattern. Now I should be clear, I view history as the continuing narrative of God’s immutable plan for His creation, or to put it another way, I consider the events of history through the “lens” of God’s sovereign will.

When we look through the pages of the Old Testament, we see a pattern of impossible odds and enabled victory. Now that is over simplified of course, the pattern is more like this; the people of God turn away from God, their affections, and dependance, and their worship are placed on or in something else. Each time this happens, the people forget about all the things that God has done on their behalf, and often turned to the worship of the “gods” of their neighboring nations, and they would adopt their pagan rituals as their own, and so many of those rituals went directly against Yahweh’s Laws, and folks, many of the rituals practiced victimized the weak and the vulnerable, and God would not stand for that…God did not want His people to take part in the rituals, or the cultural norms of the surrounding nations, because God’s people were to be different, or set apart. You see, there was a mutual agreement between Israel and God, or a covenant, “you will be my people, and I will be your God”. “You will be my people”, meant that the people of Israel would belong to God, and that meant that He would care for them. “I will be your God, meant that the people that God had chosen would keep His laws, and worship Him, and Him alone. Except they often didn’t.

So often Israel would be drawn away from true worship, and when that happened; life would get hard, and there was a reason for that. When Israel would look towards other nations to define what is right and what is wrong, their society would spiral down into darkness, and although God was always patient with them, eventually He would say…”ok, if you do not want to up hold your part in this covenant, then I will let you see what that will look like in your life”…God was not being unkind, rather, He was allowing them to experience the natural consequences of breaking their covenant, and without God’s hand protecting them, they became victimized by those stronger nations that they wanted to be like, and their lives would become hard… very hard! God always loved His children, so He would warn them through the prophets, and He would send signs of His power, like famines, and armies, but when they would not listen, He would give them over to what they desired, and that was to be like the other nations, and the nations they wanted to be like did not keep God’s Laws, and they were not under God’s covenant, and so they were not under His protection. Israel often experienced what it was like to live out from under God’s protective wing. But God was more faithful than the Israelites were, and He never left them in that place for long… but Israel often found themselves in dire straits.  But the darker the time, the worst the odds…The more evident God’s works appear before man.

You remember the account of King Jehoshaphat, right?   King Jehoshaphat found himself in a pickle! He received word that three neighboring nations had joined forces and were coming to destroy his city. There was no way that Judah could win a battle against these three bad boys, and to not win the battle meant destruction. Many of his men would die in battle, and the rest would be carried off into slavery. If you read about this in 2 Chronicles, you will see that it was a hopeless situation, but Jehoshaphat went before the Lord, and acknowledged that he and his people had no one else to turn to turn to, and that they would put their trust in God, and God, of course, had mercy! God caused the armies to turn on each other, and handed the victory to King Jehoshaphat, and all of his people were spared!

N ow if we take a look at Saul, and consider how very dark his life was before he met Jesus,  I mean Saul was a man who loved his job, but his job was to destroy people’s lives…and all because he did not agree with them. He had a blood lust; he was passionate in his endeavor to exterminate those Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. Paul began his life as Saul, and there was darkness in him. He had been taught the scriptures, where God shows that He is a God of love and deliverance, and Saul had read of a God who offered that love, and deliverance to anyone who would come to Him in repentance. But despite all Saul’s studying, he failed to see the God of mercy. I guess that is one of the reasons that Saul’s transformation is so brilliant, because the darkness of Saul’s life; his hate for Jesus and the people that He died for…and the passion that he had for his mission to destroy the church is so greatly contrasted by his new life as Paul. Paul’s life mission went from one of destroying the church, to one of building, educating, and encouraging the church that he once passionately opposed. He went from hating believers in Christ, to loving them so much that he risked his life to carry the truth, and further instruction to them. Paul went from hating Christ, to loving Him with everything that he had, including his life. The contrast is spectacular!

I have come to understand that often in God’s narrative we see God’s people facing impossible circumstances; Jehoshaphat, facing assured destruction. Paul facing the darkness of his heart. These are just two examples, but the Bible is full of them, where God shows Himself in a miraculous way, but His work shines brighter because of the darkness which precedes it.

As I think about the state of the world, and as I said last week, as I pray and lament about all the things; war in Ukraine, Israel’s current situation, the dock worker’s strike, general inflation, the rise in violence, human trafficking, abortion, the devastation of the hurricane, the people who are hurting, and needing help, the callous attitude I see towards those people affected….my list is long. But as I pray, I hear a voice, saying “Yes, it is dark, but because it is so dark, my deliverance will be so glaring, there will be no doubt that it is I who delivers.

The history of the people of God is repetitive. The people strayed from their first love; God, and they would fall into sin, and sin always brought about bondage, but once the people realized that their circumstances were beyond their control, and that they were hopeless and helpless, they then would turn to God, who would deliver them in a mighty way. Think of the Red Sea moment, think of the Jews being led out of slavery, think of Jehoshaphat…and think of Paul, which just so happens to be my favorite miracle, because God took a man with a stone cold heart, whose passion in life was to kill the message of love, and replaced his heart with a heart of love, and Paul’s light shown so brightly because of the darkness that he had been set free of, and his message of love shined brightly in the dark world that he lived in. We live in dark times, but God has not forgotten about us, He is still “writing” His story, and He is still in control of the narrative, and you have been placed, with intention, in this chapter of the story, the plot may seem dark, but our “role” is to shine bright in the darkness, and remember that a single ray of light penetrates the darkness!  – Ginny Axelrod