Respect God's Decisions

Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. (Numbers 16:1-11)

It happens these days; a congregation decides the leaders God appointed did everything wrong and they wanted to be treated as leaders themselves. Reading the rest of the story shows what God thinks of such behavior. He was angry, separated those who grumbled from the rest, then opened up the earth and swallowed the whole works, including their wives and children.

I’ve known of a church where the congregation was so difficult that their pastor committed suicide. Some leaders are dismissed, kindly or otherwise. Some just leave. The above passage says that the rebellion was actually against God's choice. Moses was not teaching false doctrine, or taking advantage of anyone. The problem was not with their leader but their desire to rule their own lives.

I know how that feels when trouble hits. Impatience wants it fixed, now. Yet God gave me two verses as a new Christian and these thoughts have made a difference. He will not let me forget His plans for me:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

After moving many times and attending many churches, I’ve seen that the Lord can use even poor preachers to teach me something. His goal is transformation — and Jesus never rebelled against anything that others would want fixed. Instead, He died for our sins.

The OT rebelled against God and He had every right to destroy them. He could do that to me also, but instead He sent Jesus who was swallowed up by death that I might live, that I might experience “all things” including the tough stuff so He could replicate Himself in me.

Jesus, how important to respect and learn from Your choices. I could complain — and be swallowed up by worldly and sinful values. I could grumble about a lot of things, complaining and demanding their removal. Doing that would totally miss the point of why You bring challenges into my life. Thank You for reminding me again to be thankful and trust You, no matter what. 

Grace undeserved

 

One of our friends struggles with the sovereignty of God when it comes to the evil in the world. He might say that God ‘allows evil’ but does not cause it to happen. He would also say that we are not puppets and what we do requires us to make decisions and act on them. It is sinful man that causes evil, not God.

Logically speaking, that could make humans sovereign over God, which makes mockery of His power. Several verses quote the Lord saying things like this: “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7) What if God, like a parent, allows His children to go their own way to teach us the folly of it? Caution is also needed here for the Bible also says:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:13–17)

“Calamity” is about an unfortunate event or a period of ruin. It points to the deserved punishment of wicked people but the righteous can also suffer such events. The prophets continually warned apostate Israel that calamity would happen to them because of their disobedience.

The last time our friend brought this up, he asked how God could be blamed for the evils done in the holocaust. He was almost in tears at the thought that the God he loves would do such a thing. At the time, I had nothing to say, but later thought about this and wondered what would happen if all of us got what we deserve? I’m not judging those who died, only saying that all fall short and do not deserve mercy.

Apart from grace, there is no leniency for sin. Apart from Jesus taking my punishment, I would have to suffer the consequences myself. In this life, the consequences could be shame, losses of many kinds, and calamities as the result of my own foolish choices. But because of Jesus, and because of grace and faith in Him, God spares me from eternal damnation (not necessarily from calamities). . . .  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17–21)

Could anything be more gracious? Instead of a shameful death, Jesus took that on Himself and suffered that I could be reconciled to God. I didn’t do anything to earn or deserve that, but shudder to think that many in this world say no to Jesus Christ and thus will bear whatever their sin warrants.

All this tells me that Jesus Christ is Lord over all people upon this earth. He is Lord over the righteous and the wicked, the living and the dead, the believing and the unbelieving Believers recognize, acknowledge and surrender to His lordship. Unbelievers deny it and rebel against it. But He is nonetheless Lord and His purposed will be accomplished.always and in all things.

PRAY: Lord, sometimes we ask the wrong questions. Instead of “Why did You save me?” It ought to be “Why do You save anyone?” Instead of “why did such calamity happen to them” it should be “What if we all got what we deserve?” You are God and You make those decisions. The ‘why’ of them is beyond my understanding. I do not deserve your grace, only wrath and certainly  calamity. It is only because of You that I’ve been allowed the grace of an abundant life and the incredible certainty of eternal life.

Waiting on God to deal with evil . . .

 

READ Amos 6–9

Yesterday I had a lengthy conversation with a Christian about the powers in this world who are governed by greed. He was anxious to ‘do something’ about the corruption yet If humanity could conquer evil, Jesus would not be necessary.

Before Jesus came, God made it clear that He will deal with corruption. It was happening then too. He called Amos, a farmer, to be His prophet to Israel and said:

“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall . . . .Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” (Amos 6:4-7)

The prosperity of greedy people does nothing for them when God determines it is time for judgment. No one can escape the wrath of God against sin: “For behold, the Lord commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits.” (6:11)

Amos reacted with compassion: “This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (Amos 7:4–5)

Not only did Amos plead for the people, he was persecuted by those that God told him to speak against:

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ” (7:10-17)

God was clear. There would be a day when He would make “the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight . . . . turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day” and He would “send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.” (8:9–12)

In those days, they tried to hide from Him but could not. His anger against their sin was powerful:

“For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’ (9:9–10)

Yet hope was also given. “Behold, the days are coming when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them.” (9:13–15)

It happened. They were exiled. Eventually, they got their land back. This is the same God that promises eternal life to all who trust in Him and the same God who will deal with the greed and evil that now seems so strong in our world, the same God who says:

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)

He is not done yet, and He does have the last word!