Unexpected

This is the season when we celebrate God's salvation and deliverance provided for all mankind! He sent His Son, Jesus, to come to us in the flesh, born as a baby, in order to save us, as He promised. Although it was prophesied in scripture, most people of that time missed the birth of Christ and His purpose as our salvation, because they expected God to deliver them in a different way. They expected a different kind of a Savior. They had read and studied scripture, interpreted it throughout many generations, and thought that they had an understanding of the way in which God worked. How sad it would be to miss Christ and His deliverance in our lives because we have certain expectations about why, how, when, and to whom His deliverance comes. This week's Sabbath readings bring up this same issue for me. What seems right to men concerning how God must work, does not always take into account the unexpected ways of the LORD. In previous weeks, we read that God instructed Jacob to take his whole household, and go dwell in Egypt. God assured Jacob that He would be with him: "I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up (ala - "come up, offer, ascend, light, raised, arose, exalted, to be taken up") again." (Gen. 46:2-4). This promise from God also confirmed the message that Joseph had sent to his father from Egypt. As a result, Jacob took his whole household into Egypt to dwell. Abraham had other descendants in the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. They might have looked upon Jacob's leaving to go to Egypt as a fatal mistake. God's promise to Abraham and his seed was the land of Canaan, not Egypt. How could Jacob make this terrible mistake? However, Jacob had been directed by God, not men. As this Sabbath's reading, which is titled Sh'mot, or "Names", begins, all of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob are named (Ex. 1:1-5). I wonder if Jacob's sons might have thought at the time, "Our father is getting it all wrong! He is moving us all to Egypt only because he loves Joseph, and wants to be with him." Jacob died in Egypt, and Joseph and his brothers also died in Egypt. The people back in the Promised Land might, when they had heard this, said, "I told you so!". However, we know that Jacob had been directed by God. Could men have anticipated what God had in mind concerning Jacob and his descendants? While Jacob and his sons had lived in Egypt, God kept His promise and multiplied them greatly: "But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." (v. 7). Then a new king ruled in Egypt who had no knowledge of Joseph, and all that he had done for Egypt. This king looked upon all of the Israelites in his land, and he detested and feared them. Their numbers filled him with dread and he said: "...the children of Israel are more and mightier than we." (v. 9). The king put hard bondage upon the Hebrews, under strict taskmasters (mas - a burden as causing to faint, discomfited, melt away, discouraged"), making them build cities like Raamses, meaning "child of the sun", and Pithom, meaning "city of justice". Considering these terrible circumstances which developed, why would God have commanded Jacob in such a way? We find out that the Israelites were in Egypt for more than four hundred years (Ex. 12:40), as was prophesied to Abraham generations earlier (Gen. 15:13), and a good portion of those years were spent in slavery. Yet God directed Jacob to bring his whole household to a land that would eventually enslave the remnant, Jacob's precious descendants. When the Israelites grew even more in number, regardless of their terrible bondage, Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives, Shiph'rah (meaning "fair, brightness, beautiful, glisten, pleasing") and Pu'ah (meaning "splendid, to glitter, brilliancy"), to kill the Hebrew boy babies as soon as they were born (v. 16). Those babies were not born in "the land of dire straits", Egypt, because they did something to deserve it, or because they made a wrong choice, but because God ordained their birth in that land. The midwives lied to Pharaoh, and saved the Hebrew male children because they feared God (v. 17-19). Because of this, God dealt with the Hebrew midwives and blessed them. One male baby who would be miraculously saved from death was Moses, who would become the deliverer of God's people. The heavier the burden placed on God's people in Egypt, the more fruitful they were. Ultimately the Israelites were delivered miraculously out of their bondage by God with great wonders and judgments so that Israel, Egypt and the nations would know and glorify Him (Ex. 14:18, Ex. 15). God used the cruel, and lengthy enslavement of His chosen remnant for His purpose: to multiply them exceedingly, to accomplish their miraculous deliverance by His hand, and to bring the knowledge of His glory to all people. Who would have expected this? If it happened today, people might be making all sorts of assumptions about why the remnant of God was going through this, but it was for the glory of God, and the acomplishing of His plan. These descendants of Jacob were not perfect, and they would try God's patience in the wilderness. They would also experience great losses as God dealt with their (mis)understandings and expectations regarding Him. However, I thank them for the difficult role they played enduring through pain and hardship, and recording for us their triumphs and mistakes with God. The LORD revealed, however, that their deliverance from Egypt would wait until He had allowed the Canaanites, who inhabited the Promised Land, to come to the fullness of their wickedness: "But in the fourth generation they shall return here (Canaan), for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." (Gen. 15:16). Do we allow for the sovereign and omniscient timing of the LORD in our expectations? Even the timing of the birth of Christ was determined by God to occur "when the fullness of the time had come..." (Gal. 4:3-5). In another part of this Sabbath's reading from Isaiah, the LORD says, "...let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me...Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." (Isa. 27:5-6). We take hold of the LORD's strength. In another Sabbath reading portion, God deals directly with Job, as Job's expectations regarding his deliverance by God have not been met. Because Job's expectations were dashed, his faith in deliverance crumbled, and he bitterly wished that he had never been born. In Chapter 39, God revealed His plan of salvation to Job, and the spiritual warfare that ensues. This 39th chapter describes animals in the English translation, but in Hebrew, each keyword joins together to reveal the Gospel. (If you are interested in reading more about this, you can read a previous blog post titled "Revealed". You can find it in the right hand column of this page under the heading "Blog Archive": click on "2017", then "April", and then "Revealed".) In the next chapter, Chapter 40, Job was left speechless, and ashamed before God by this revelation, and God could then begin Job's deliverance. First God dealt with Job's incorrect expectations: "Would you indeed annul (parar -"break (to bits), make void, defeat, frustrate, divide, make ineffectual, violate") My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty...Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you." (Job 40:8-14, excerpt). It seems that our expectations of "who, why, what, how, where, and when" can actually limit God, and work against His perfect plan for us. The unexpected also relates to the Christmas story, and the birth of our Savior and Deliverer, Jesus. Religious experts at the time, thinking that they had an understanding of how God operated, would have stoned Mary, or at the very least shamed her and cast her out of their midst, because of her unexpected pregnancy, if God hadn't intervened with Joseph, Mary's betrothed (Mt. 1:18-21). Later, when the child was born, only a few recognized the signs of the birth, and came to see and honor the newly born King. Our expectations might question why God would put His Son in a stable, and in a manger used for animals? (Though He created the world (John 1:1-5, 14), the world had no room for Him.) Yet this is indeed what God did, and we sing about it now. Joseph, Mary's husband, was also told in a dream to take the child and mother to Egypt until God brought him word (Mt. 2:13-15). Although prophesied (Hos. 11:1), people might have asked, "Why would the child, if He was the Savior, the Messiah of Israel, go down to Egypt? That couldn't be right!" In the meantime, under the order of King Herod, the streets of Bethlehem and the surrounding area ran with the blood of young male children, as the king tried to prevent the prophesied Christ from appearing (Mt. 2:16). Of course, God knew beforehand the evil intentions of the king. Later in the life of Jesus, although it had been prophesied (Isa. 52-53-54, Psalm 22), most religious experts of the time would never have expected the Messiah to sacrifice Himself on a cross to fulfill His heavenly Father's plan. They concluded that this Man must be an evil-doer, rather than the Son of God. They felt confident that they were correct when Jesus did not "deliver Himself" from the cross as they taunted Him to do (Mt. 27:39-44). This was less than a week after throngs had welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem waving palm branches and crying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!" Who would have expected such a turn of events? Expectations can be tricky when it comes to God, and how we think He should work. Even His resurrection, though spoken of often by Jesus beforehand, was a shock to His disciples. They didn't expect to find an empty tomb. The miraculous Christmas birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ were full of the unexpected to man! Perhaps this Christmas, in the middle of these trying, but prophesied times (see Mt. 24, Luke 21) full of unexpected and shocking events daily, God is looking for our surrender to Him, and to His strength, in a way that surpasses our own understanding and expectations. God's Word says that the humbling and repentance of His people will bring healing (2 Chron. 7:13-14). Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost (panteles - "completely, perfectly, utterly, full-ended"), which must certainly be beyond the limitations of our expectations. I am praying for an "uttermost" Christmas. If you would like to know more about the unexpected ways of God, you can join me in prayer: "Heavenly Father, You know everything concerning my life, and concerning all of creation. You call the stars out each night by name. You have called each one of us by name also. You sent Your Son, Jesus, to us in a remarkable and unexpected way, for our salvation from sin, and for our deliverance from death. I place my trust in Your miraculous knowledge of me, and Your plan for me. I trust You to lead and guide me by Your Holy Spirit in all things, because You know all things. I give everything having to do with me and my household into the strength of the One who saves me to the uttermost, Jesus. Forgive me, Lord, when my understanding has limited You, or Your sovereignty over my life. This Christmas and always, I want to remember that the King of Kings was miraculously born into the world in order to be born into my heart. I pray these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."

Exposed

Reading the Sabbath portions for this week really made me stop and consider my faith, and the challenges to it. I think these issues are especially important for the time in which we live, and the days ahead. This Sabbath's portions are titled "Sh'mot", or "Names". I believe that these portions from the Old Testament, or Tanakh, are very relevant to the conditions of today, and the knowledge necessary for the days ahead, as we will see. Three examples from these readings deal with pivotal servants of God, who must contend with their fear, doubt, and unbelief. In Exodus 3, Moses is called by God to be the deliverer of His people who were suffering not only under hard bondage (Ex. 1:12-14), but the threat of murder of their children (v. 15). Moses, in exile from Egypt, heard the voice of God saying tht He has come down to deliver His people from the oppression of Pharaoh (Ex. 3:7-8). Not only will the LORD deliver them from slavery, but will bring them to "a good and large land". The LORD told Moses that He will send Moses to Pharaoh in order to accomplish this deliverance. Moses is taken aback and asks, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" The LORD assured Moses that He will go with Moses. Still unsure how this great deliverance will be pulled off (Moses is very familiar with the house of Pharaoh, and the greatness of his army), Moses asks God His name, and is told: "I AM WHO I AM" (v. 14). This deliverance is not just a work of God, but it is Who God IS. Do we know God in this way? Or do we just know Him by His works? Of His name, the LORD proclaimed, "This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations." Moses was still full of doubts and is shown amazing confirming signs by God: his shepherd's rod became a serpent and then a rod again, his hand became leprous and then was healed, water poured out became blood. In his fear and doubt, Moses told God that he was incapable of the assignment because he was slow of speech and tongue. Even after God assured Moses that He would "be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall say", Moses asked God to send someone else (Ex. 4:10-13). God became angry. The LORD then told Moses that He will also send his brother, Aaron, to be with Moses. Before Moses could even carefully consider all that God had shown and told him, fear, doubt, even unbelief had jumped in to make Moses resist the expressed will of God, and doubt the possibility of a miraculous deliverance of God's people from the hold of Pharaoh. In another Sabbath portion, God calls Jeremiah to be His prophet (Jer. 1). In this calling, the LORD reveals to Jeremiah that He knew, sanctified and ordained Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations before God formed him in the womb (v. 4-5). Jeremiah's immediate response in fear, doubt and avoidance was, "Ah, LORD GOD! Behold I cannot speak for I am a youth." (v. 6). Jeremiah did go on to serve God as a prophet through three kings' reigns. He not only prophesied the beginning and ending of Judah's 70 year exile, but also the basis of the end time's 70 weeks of years later revealed in detail to Daniel. We never plan to be overcome and respond in fear, doubt, and unbelief, but because they are our constant stalkers until they are exposed by God, they often jump in and respond for us automatically. Like Moses and Jeremiah, we often try to rationalize and make excuses for our fear, doubt and unbelief when they show themselves. In the third example from the Sabbath portion, poor tormented Job is given a wakeup call from God regarding the doubt and unbelief that has filled his heart in the face of his many painful trials. Job, a man used mightily by God (see Job 29), started out strong, but his ongoing, unexplained, unrelenting, tragic suffering caused him to give in to those fleshly stalkers: fear, doubt, and unbelief. Perhaps the door to those staalkers had been opened because Job had come to trust more in his own righteousness than in Who God is, and His name. God hinted at this possibility as He said to Job, "Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God?...Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty...Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you." (Job 40:6-14, excerpt). The story of Job teaches us that we must have endurance and patience even in the most dire trials, but there was even more accomplished through the trial of Job. God revealed to us knowledge of the Accuser of the Brethren, who accuses us before God day and night, and God made an open show of him through the trial of his servant Job (Job 2, Rev. 12:10-11). These great servants of God, Moses, Jeremiah, and Job, were vulnerable, as we are, to fear, doubt, and unbelief. In dealing with the lack of belief in Who the Person of God really is to us, what His name really indicates to us, Jesus asked, "...when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Lk. 18:8). We think that of course we trust God, of course we rely upon Him, but Jesus then told the parable of the man who thought himself righteous, more so than others, but the man was in truth, found wanting before God (v. 10-14). It is easy to fall into the trap of believing our own righteousness, believing that we are not vulnerable to fear, doubt, and unbelief, until we are tested, and those silent stalkers become quickly exposed. The testing of God exposes these things in our lives, because they are deadly to us. These destructive companions are lying right behind us to challenge us every step of the way. We face many trials and tests by God. Although it may seem that the challenges come from unjust men, trying circumstances, or even spiritual enemies, it is the Lord who is using these hardships for good- to expose our fears, doubts, and unbelief. Why is it important for these things to be revealed, even through great hardship to us? Our lives, our salvation, our purpose depends upon it. Truths are established, judgments are set, and God's name is revealed by and through the testing of His people: "...My people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here," says the LORD, "that My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them make them wail," says the LORD, "and My name is blasphemed continually every day. Therefore, My people shall know My name; Therefore, they shall know in that day that I am He that speaks: Behold, it is I." (Isa. 52:4-6). The testing and trials, whether small or extremely great, are not for God's benefit, but ultimately for ours, by the work that God does through them. We are familiar with the verses from James: "My brethren, count it all for joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (enduring, steadfastness, sustaining, cheerful hope and endurance; to remain, abide, not recede or flee)). But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4). How can we take joy in the trials that we face, as James tells us? Trials do not produce joy in the heart. However, the trials produce needed perfection. Considering how closely those three silent companions, fear, doubt, and unbelief, follow us, and how quickly they take every opportunity to overtake us, if trials can expose them, then those trials are indeed to our advantage. The endurance or patience produced by the trials of God is absolutely necessary for our salvation: "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." (Mt. 10:22). "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved." (Mt. 24:12-13). Great tests are coming, and fear, doubt and unbelief that we have not allowed God to reveal will shipwreck us. In the end times especially, endurance or patience rather than fear, doubt and unbelief, is and will be essential in believers for our spiritual survival: "By your patience (endurance) possess your souls." (Lk. 21:19. Even the defeat of Satan and his earthly servants is affected by the endurance of the saints: "He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints." (Rev. 13:10). The judgment of the Beast and those who cooperate with him is affected by the endurance of the saints: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Rev. 14:9-12). May the hidden companions, the stalkers of fear, doubt and unbelief be exposed, and may the people of God endure in faith in the days ahead. Our Father exposes those things that will destroy our faith. If you would like to begin your journey with God through the salvation and righteousness of His Son, Jesus, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, I understand that I cannot rely upon my own righteousness to be saved. I believe that You died and rose from the dead to become my righteousness, my faith, and my endurance. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit to help me, guide me, and teach me in the way of endurance and truth. Forgive me of my sins, and expose in me fear, doubt and unbelief. In Your holy name, which is a memorial to all generations forever, I pray. Amen."