Nothing is impossible with God

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13:1–5)

This barren woman was startled, even fearful, when told by an angel that she would have a son and not an ordinary son. He would begin to defeat Israel’s most powerful enemy, the Philistines. It would be a long battle. After many defeats and efforts, they were ultimately subdued by King David around 1000 BC but continued to exist as a distinct group until that came to an end around 604 BC when Nebuchadnezzar finished their existence as a culture. However, since the name of Palestine comes from their name, perhaps the desire of that earlier enemy for Israeli land still exists.

As I read the above passage for personal application, two responses produced two emotions. One is that God prepared this woman to raise a child who would be a fighter for God. Sometimes his methods were wild and got him into trouble. He eventually died, taking with him many of those enemies. I know a bit about how she would feel as she watched him grow up and how God used him do those things he did. 

While some believe this is folklore, at least one researcher says, “the stories portray Yahweh working secretly, through human actions, with all their ambiguity, and openly, in direct answer to prayer, to defeat Israel’s enemies and the enemies’ god.” 

I tend to agree. I’ve also seen God use seemingly idiotic things like having sinful people deal with sinful people. I cannot judge God by the actions of such people. He had a plan and picked a most unlikely person to fulfill it. The NT backs this up.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26–31)

My other response is that I was told how to raise my children, but as a new Christian did not realize how foolish it was to think that my way would be just as good. I’m thankful that they live decent lives and do good, but regret not paying closer attention to the Lord. At the same time, I know that He can do whatever He wants with anyone’s life, so am able to trust Him with my family, including grandchildren and great grandchildren. That means my regrets always need to be replaced by trust. Manoah and his wife were not perfect parents, and Sampson was a far from perfect son, but God did what He wanted and blessed them anyway.

Jesus, I know how easily I can slip from faith to thinking I can earn Your favor (or miss it) by the way that I live. This is the biggest error of sin — supposing that “if I only knew better” would make me better instead of remembering that Your blessings are neither earned or deserved.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10)

 

Those God calls . . .

 

When a spirit-filled person finishes preaching the Word of God, the remark that I don’t want to hear is, “He is such a good speaker.”

Those who say it mean well. The sermon spoke to their heart, revealed sin and its remedy, or comforted them in some way yet the Word of God is clear; God  speaks through those whose hearts and mouths are yielded to Him. If someone, even a child, rebukes my sin or shares Jesus with me, God be praised. All glory is due to Him since He uses unqualified people to accomplish His purposes. Such a wonder!

The world’s value system honors people for their abilities, including self-confidence, but “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) His value system is so unlike ours.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)

MacArthur begins a look at the men that Jesus selected to be His disciples. We sometimes call them a motley crew for not one had any special qualifications:

The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Matthew 10:2–4)

The NT verifies that they were called according to God’s will, not our worldly standards:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26–31)

Our society is qualification-conscious with standards for everything from buying a big-ticket item, getting a credit card, or going to college. Employers, even churches, hire people with the highest qualifications. But God does not operate in that way. Rather than list the sins of Adam and Eve, or Lot, or Abraham, or Jacob, Moses, David, Jonah, Elijah, and Paul, I think of my own sins and am grieved and puzzled that God chose me to be His child. Doing remarkable things? Not me; just being a child of God is an incredible honor.

No one is qualified to do God’s work. Everyone sins and falls short. We see the power of God in how He can take anyone into His family and use anyone to accomplish His purposes. He can speak “out of the mouth of babes” and use most ordinary people and events. For instance, years ago my sister wrote a letter to our mother. Mom shared the letter with a visitor who told me decades later that God used that letter to bring her to a powerful and life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Who else could have pulled that off? Only God!

In living our lives and doing whatever we do, God is at work. We may not see it or expect Him to use us (my sister didn’t write that letter to change someone’s life) yet He can and He does.

Jesus, so often I’ve prayed telling You what to do, as if I was that wise. The reality is that You are wonderful and good and always a surprise. I’m learning to pray that Your perfect will is done, even in our imperfect world full of imperfect people, including those who are ‘good speakers’ as well as those who stammer and stutter. None of us are capable of being like Jesus without Jesus, and the world thought You were worthy of death. Forgive us for our upside-down values and help us see Your power despite our imperfections, when in fact, You even use them!

MEDITATE today on Luke 6:40: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” and keep my focus on Jesus.

 

 

 

It’s okay not to be okay

Judges 14; Jeremiah 27; Mark 13; Acts 18

God-appointed leaders are not always the wisest owls in the woods. Judges 14 describes some of Sampson’s antics (he was an Old Testament judge) and proves this NT passage:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)

This is a humbling comfort for a couple of reasons. The obvious is that it applies to me. God isn’t interested in the worldly standards that I was raised with. He cares nothing for high IQ’s, rank, prestige, human power, or anything else that I might accomplish or achieve. He picks those who have nothing to boast about, the weak and even those despised by their society. If I want fame and popularity, being a Christian is not the route to take.

Sampson did some silly things. He married outside the faith of his family and against the commands of God. He devised a riddle during his wedding celebrations with a wager and lost it because Philistine the wedding guests threatened his wife with death if she didn’t worm the answer out of him. She wept and whined until he told her, and then he attacked several Philistines to obtain what he needed to pay off his debt. He refused to go back to this wife and she was given to another man.

I can think of a few silly things in my past too. While I’d like to think that God chose me because of my better accomplishments, His Word says otherwise. His choices are not based on anything that I might be proud of but could be on the stuff that makes me blush. This is humbling.

The other reason this story and the NT word about God’s reasoning are comforting is that they explain a lot of what is happening in our world. We have leaders in many countries who think that Christians are the enemy. They overlook the good that is done, schools started, care given and so on and instead persecute God’s people and put many to death. Their view of what is valuable to their nation seems warped to me and in a very real way, the weak and foolish who are chosen by God are a mockery to this so-called wisdom of the world. God used a silly man like Sampson to defeat the enemies of His people. He also can use the weak people who are willing to die for their faith to heap judgment on today’s enemies, even those that seem to do things that please most of the population.

I realize this is a statement hard to understand. For me, it is about God’s value system, not mine and certainly not what the world seems to value. To God, human power and reasoning is full of sin and selfishness. Politicians lie to cover their mistakes, make outrageous claims about their power, and look down their noses at the people God has chosen for His children. In contrast, the people of God whose faith is strong will tell the truth even if it means death, are blessed with God’s strength in our weaknesses, and pray for those who have rejected the One who created them. I am humbled that God has put me into His family, that He did not leave me in that value system where I thought I was somebody when I am not.

In the end of the story, Sampson gave his life to do what God chose him to do. Others have been like him, weak in many areas yet used by God to do mighty things. As my devotional book says, Spirit-given power in one dimension of life does not by itself guarantee Spirit-impelled discipline and maturity in every dimension of life. And this is a humbling reality.

APPLY: Jesus is the vine, my source of all good things. In myself, I can do nothing and am nothing. God’s ways are not my ways yet even in this I can see His wisdom. Pride ruins people. He knows what I need to be humbly aware of my need to rely on Him and abide in Him. I must be glad that He chose me for His reasons and not for any from my old value system.