Seeing the patterns of God . . .

For seventeen years, I wrote a weekly newspaper column. It was called “Parables” because God gave me insight into how much the events of this world point to spiritual truth. Through that, I realized manh things, especially His amazing oneness, His powerful hand in all that happens, both in creation and in the affairs of humanity.

It is easy to say that He designed the world that way, but I’m beginning to understand that this divine ‘dot-connecting’ goes beyond the design of a superior mind. That is, there is a cohesiveness in the created world that parallels the nature and working of God — and it is there simply because God is.

A crass illustration might be the presence of a large elephant in a small room. That huge animal affects everything in that space. If it sneezes, the entire room shakes. If it snoozes, everyone tiptoes.

Because of the working of God, an event happened in the Old Testament that points to a greater event in the years to come, an event that changed the world. This is a short episode, given only a few words, but it happened so God could use it to explain a vital truth. When He delivered His people from slavery in Egypt, they set out for the promised land, but like us, they were a rag tag group, prone to the same sins we are, particularly when life does not go the way we want:

“From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” (Numbers 21:4–9)

Their complaining illustrates mine, grumbling when things go contrary to what I want. The fiery serpents illustrate what happens to not only the health but the lives of people who are never happy; it eventually destroys us. Moses illustrates the role of an intercessor — a person who takes pity on those who are continually out of sorts and sinful; he prays for them. And the fiery serpent on the pole illustrates what happened to Jesus.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” (John 3:14)

I’m not certain how far this illustration goes. Did Jesus take on the pain and affliction of a people who hated the rule of God in their lives? Certainly. What does being ‘fiery’ have to do with it? I don’t know. I just know that this barely mentioned event in the lives of God’s people pointed ahead to the work of Christ on the cross for the salvation of my sin. It also pictures human responsibility — God arranged this saving event so that we who are ‘bitten’ by sin must look at Christ on the Cross that we might live.

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Jesus, I’m thinking that all the events of life somehow point to You. I am oblivious to most of them, but what You reveal is so lovely, so profound, so grandly filled with Your power and grace. Of course, I don’t want to see things that are not there, but am starting to think that I’ve the opposite problem — I am oblivious to that which is there, not connecting the dots between cause and effect, between Your involvement in the world and how You are using it to say, “Wake up My child — this world is all about the glory of God!”

Listen and respond accordingly

Hosea 1:1–2:23, Acts 1:1–26, Job 15:1–9, Revelation 2:2-5

Writers and speakers know that illustrations have great power to put a truth into the hearts and minds of their readers and audience. Sometimes I remember the stories for hours, days, even years afterwards.

God started this. In one situation, He instructed a prophet to marry a whore who was unfaithful to her husband so that the people of Israel would have a vivid understanding of their unfaithfulness to God.

In the beginning of his book, Hosea wrote what the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)

Hosea married a woman named Gomer and had three children by her. God told him to name two of them with words that meant, “She has not received mercy” and “Not my people.”

The first couple of chapters dramatize this way God used to show His love for His people and how He viewed their rebellion against Him. They were like a woman who forsakes her husband for another.

God’s passion and righteous jealousy deeply affect me. His severe love for His people and severe hatred for their sin moved Him to command His prophet do something that elsewhere He calls sinful and disgusting. This was so His people would realize the seriousness of their sin.

As I read it, I thought of the times I’ve relied on other people and other things when I should have been totally devoted to the Lord. I put myself in this story of God’s prophet and this immoral woman and it makes my stomach heave and my heart feel wretched. I get it. I understand the depth of God’s outrage and feelings of betrayal every time I drift away from my “first love” for Jesus Christ.

God refers to this in Revelation 2:2-5. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:2–5)

In these verses, God knows that His people were trying to live for Jesus. He knows my desire too, but he also knows how easily I can move from that first passion for Jesus into a reliance on other things, even on myself, rather than total dependence on Him. When He charges me with idolatry, I know exactly what He is talking about and exactly how He hates this sin.

Job did not experience this in the same way. His ‘friends’ charged him with sin but they missed the target. For example, Eliphaz accuses Job, “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good? But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.” (Job 15:2–6)

God later said that this was not right, and Job knew it was not right when he heard it. He knew that he was falsely accused because he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit. When the accusations hit, he knew he should not take them to heart; they were not right.

I need to be that sensitive. If I am accused or feel conviction and pay attention, I will also know if that conviction is from God. If it is not, then I can ignore it. Hosea listened. Job listened. I must also listen, and carefully.

The first Christians listened too. After the resurrection, Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism of Holy Spirit. They did. They asked Him if the kingdom would now be restored to Israel and he said this was not for them to know. Instead, they were to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And they listened and did as He said.

After that, Jesus ascended to heaven and they were told He would return the same way as He went up. They listened, believed Him, and lived accordingly. (Acts 1:4–11)

From today’s reading, I’m hearing God say, “You know how unloved you feel when people do not believe what you say. Remember this: if you love Me and have faith in me, then live like that. Listen to Me as a person who really does love and believe Me.”

Today’s application is simple: Consider Hosea and Job. Consider those early Christians and their love for Jesus. Consider how they listened — then go and do likewise.