The Bible is such a real-life type of book. It presents God in as much of His glory as we can handle with our human limitations. And, it also presents humans in their range of ridiculous to sublime. Thank God for both presentations!
Take the story of Hagar, for instance. Hagar was a maidservant to Sarah, Abraham's wife. When Sarah continued to be barren, even when stared down by the repeated promises of God to the contrary, she devised a plan (common in those days) to get a son by letting her husband procreate with Hagar. Hagar conceived and Ishmael was born. Later on in the story Hagar was banished from the camp, along with her teenage son. They were sent off into the desert, where they would have died if God had not rescued them. (Genesis 21). This was not the first time that Hagar had been rescued by God in the desert. When she saw that she had conceived by Abraham she began to flaunt the "accomplishment" in front of Sarah, her mistress, to the point that Sarah kicked her out of the camp. On that occasion, "the angel of the Lord", which most believe to be, not a regular angel, but instead a physical appearance of Jehovah God, appeared to rescue Hagar. We know this from Hagar's response in Genesis 16:13 (NET).
The Lord’s angel found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert—the spring that is along the road to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai.”
9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.”
13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!”
Here's the amazing part. Hagar had been pretty much a "nobody". She was an Egyptian slave girl, probably acquired by Sarah on one of her trips to Egypt with her husband. Even so, we read in Genesis 16 that God Himself physically appeared to her.
This was not Hagar's original plan. I'm quite sure she:
*never intended to become a maidservant
*never intended to bear Abraham's child
*never intended to be sent out into the wilderness, not once but twice
*never intended to see God face-to-face
*never intended to be the mother of all Arab peoples.
It just was not in her plan.
But, it was in God's plan.
Or, consider Paul. He had a grand plan. He was raised in a well-to-do Jewish family from Cyprus, a mediterranean island. He was a very highly regarded, very ardent Jew. He zealously persecuted Christians, whom he viewed as a blight on the face of Judaism, a pox that had to be eradicated, a heretical fringe element to be expunged! And, his plan was to destroy that fledgling cult. He pursued his goal with all his might, killing Christians left and right.
But this was not God's plan. 1 Corinthians 15:8-10 - -
8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
NET
"He appeared to me also." Paul came to see that he was of the same stature as the original 12 disciples, because a mark of such a person was that they had seen Jesus, face-to-face. Can't you just hear the wonder in Paul's voice? He admits it was as if he had been born at the wrong time! He marvels at the amazing acts of God, His unsearchable ways.
Paul also marvels at the fact that, of all people, he least deserved God's favor. A lot of us feel that way and, unfortunately, we get stuck there. I have a friend who absolutely cannot see herself as God sees her. I think that all of us have this problem to some degree or another, but for some of us, it is incapacitating, making our lives for Christ "lived in vain". The key to walking resplendent is to first see ourselves as God sees us: redeemed in Christ, restored, forgiven, free. And then, knowing this living in light of those truths, that glorious, liberating grace.
Paul recognized that it was through God's amazing grace that he was all those things, and only through His grace. You'll notice that he caught himself almost taking credit in verse 10, almost saying that it was his hard work that had brought him to a place of zealously serving Jesus Christ. Then, he stopped himself, to give credit where credit was due.
The point is this: it does not matter so much where you start out. What matters is where you end up. If you think otherwise you are deceived. We are all where we are because of the grace of God, not because of our own "good plans". On the other hand, you may have made some truly horrible choices. The path along the way may not be the one you wanted to walk or planned to walk. But, God is greater than your choices! He can still fashion you into a star in his kingdom in spite of your past! Did he not do that for Paul?
If you embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and seek to follow Him with your whole heart, you are going to be just where God wants you to be, regardless of the outward circumstances. Believe that! Embrace it, and thank God for it.
All of us who follow Christ are "unlikely stars".
Father, I thank you that each one of us, your children, is special in your eyes. You have a plan for each of us; none of us is insignificant to You. Help us to see ourselves as the princes and princesses you have made us, through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Give us a clear picture of the heritage we received when we received Jesus. And then, Lord God, urge us through Your Holy Spirit to walk in it, not bound by our past, but...resplendent. In Jesus' name, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment