Knowing He is with me changes everything . . .

Joshua 24; Jeremiah 13; Matthew 27; Acts 4

The worst rainstorm I’ve experienced was in NC a couple of summers ago. If someone stood ten feet away, even five, I could not see them. Last night was the second worst. It came in two parts, both with enough rain to make a lake out of our parking lot and a force that squeezed water through a window that has no evidence of having any spaces for water to get through. We also have a hole in a window high over our door that looks like a pellet gun hole but no one was there to make it. Other parts of the city had a bit of hail but mostly water damage.

I felt twinges of fear yet comfort from knowing that Jesus controls the storms. Today’s readings also help me think about the human tendency to live according to what we want rather than what God has told us.

For instance, after gaining the land promised to them, God reminded them how they had not labored for it nor did they plant the vineyards and olive orchards they enjoyed. They needed to “fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness” and “put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.”

Joshua told them, “If it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

They said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who did . . . those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed . . . .” With their promises to serve, Joshua knew they would not. He said they were not able, but they insisted. (Joshua 24:13–24)

Years later, God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the results of those promises: “ . . . . This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like a rotted loincloth, good for nothing . . . . I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me . . .  that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.” (Jeremiah 13:6–11) Jeremiah later added:

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil? (Jeremiah 13:23)

The depth of their failure to listen to their God showed up again, this time several hundred years later as they made plans to arrest and kill the Son of God, their Messiah.

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:20–23)

This was the plan of God yet the horror of sin. Even after Jesus rose from the dead, the religious leaders were furious that His followers were “teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” and even more furious that “many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” (Acts 4:1–4)

APPLY: Physical storms are in the hands of God. So are the lashings out of people who hate Him and refuse to acknowledge Him. Either way, self-interest can override trust and good intentions and fear can make me want to hide in my basement. Jesus affirms that He is with me — no matter what threatens. Knowing that, I can speak the truth in love — to those who want to listen, pretend to listen, or refuse to listen. What happens to them and to me is up to the Lord, the One who controls the storms and is my Lord and Savior. Without Him, I would be like all others who assume their way is better than God’s way. No matter how religious a person wants to be, no one can ‘change their spots’ without the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.