November 30, 2006

My heart’s cry

Most of my extended family seem to have no interest in spiritual things. I suspect that some of them think that Christianity is foolish or narrow-minded. At least one cousin openly mocks those of us who do believe in Jesus Christ.

When praying for them, I used to think of ways I could convince them. After years of either no success or no opportunity, I went through a spell of feeling hopeless about change. Now I realize that only God can touch their hearts. After all, only He could get through to me, who was just as stubborn and blind, maybe even more so. Yet my heart wonders if God will bring them to Himself?

Like me, Jacob used to be a schemer too. And like me, he realized later in life that only God can bring salvation to his family. It comes out towards the end of Genesis when he calls his twelve sons together and offers them descriptions of what will happen to them. He is speaking not just to individuals but predicts what will happen to the tribes of which they are heads.

Not all the descriptions are positive. As Jacob speaks to Dan, he says he will be “a serpent by the way . . .” who bites horses’ heels and causes the riders to fall.

This must have made this father’s heart sad. His next words are a cry from his heart, “ I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!”

Jacob isn’t scheming now. He is telling God that his hope is in Him. He hopes that God will deliver this son, and his other sons, and all their descendants from judgment and condemnation. I understand this cry from the heart.

God gave Jacob his prophetic words, yet aside from that, it doesn’t seem realistic to expect God to deliver every last one of them. He didn’t. Dan’s tribe strayed from the laws of God, abandoned their God-given land, and are not mentioned in Revelation among the list of the tribes sealed by God and given special duties in the last days.

What happened to Dan and his tribe could happen to one or more of my family members. I hope not, and pray not, but at the same time must remember that His salvation is a gift of grace and mercy. Because we are all sinners and have rebelled against Him and resisted His will, the question is not a demanding, “Why don’t you save everyone?” but a grateful “Why have you saved any of us?”

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