John 5:43 -- I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Today, Jesus points out He hasn't even come in His own name, but instead in God the Father's name. He wasn't trying to make it big and become Rabbi of the Year, but points out if someone had come in this manner, they would've been more open to receiving them.
If God's in a religious box that people control, with their understanding and traditions, then another person showing up can be dealt with. A person can be argued with, persuaded, discredited, persecuted, and ultimately silenced. However, if you are bringing God into it, outside the religious box, that means out of people's control, that is a frightful threat and to the religious wholly unacceptable.
It hits me that most us Christians are okay with the concept of God being God and doing God things, if those things meet our expectations. So, God can "work in mysterious ways" as long as those ways result in expected outcomes for me or fit the formula's I find acceptable. Formula's usually being: ME + DO SOMETHING GOOD = GOD GIVES ME WHAT I DESIRE FOR MY RIGHT NOW. We can handle God and all His ways if that formula keeps working in our favor.
Christian, what do you do when the formula doesn't work? What do you do when God doesn't work in a desired or expected way? Does it shake your faith? Does it cause you to doubt? Does it drive you away from Him?
Take a minute and read these verses below. Really let them sink in. I know it's a lot.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 -- Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 11:24-28 -- Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
2 Timothy 1:8-12 -- Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
Beloved, is the Jesus that Paul followed the same one you follow today? Did Paul not understand the formula or did the math not work for him? Yes, I'm being facetious, but the point is God is God and His thoughts and ways are not ours. He is higher and beyond anything we can imagine. When we presume to put Him in a box and apply our understanding and expectations to how He should work, it's easy to lose faith, question, and groan when He doesn't output what we expected Him to. That's due to us having our hands on the whole operation, not a failure of God.
Please hear me clearly say, God is so good! He does heal. He does provide. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. There are so many beautiful and powerful promises in His Word that we absolutely should cling to and expect. However, how, and when He fulfills things are under His sovereignty. Me not getting something now or how I expected it, doesn't diminish who He is or His power or the peace, stability, and victory I have in Christ Jesus! It didn't for Paul, why would we let it for us now?
Beloved, don't cherry pick verses from the Bible. Don't just hear someone preach healing, power, and promises for thirty minutes and give a handful of verses. Be the Berean, here it gladly, then get into the Word and read the verses in context. Study and pray over what was taught and make certain it lines up with all of God's Word.
All the frustration is due to lack of relationship with and knowing God's full Word and verses in context, rather than some failure of our faith or of God. The fix isn't more hollow head knowledge of the Bible either. It's walking in real relationship and getting to truly knowing Him, through reading His Word, prayer, worship, and being part of the Body of Christ every day. It's living life with Him, in Him, and for Him.
Well that was a lot for a Saturday morning. I pray you don't take any of this negatively. It is meant to open Christian eyes to KNOW God's Word. To walk in relationship with Jesus. To seek Holy Spirit's council and not man's alone. Men can be deceived and teach it without even knowing, so you'd better KNOW Jesus and KNOW God's Word!
Don't take my word on any of this. Please, I beg you, get in the Word and let God show you directly.
Comments