2 posts tagged “heard”
Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?
John the Baptist asked this question of his cousin Jesus. It was an important question to John, because he was at the moment a prisoner of King Herod. He was waiting to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and his liberty.
Go back and report to John what you see and hear: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.
Jesus preached the same message as John, but with an important twist. Oh yes, Jesus called for repentance, just like John, but He also preached that salvation was possible for all, even sinners, tax collectors, and their loathsome Roman overlords.
Jesus surely cared about his cousin John and wanted to free him from King Herod's prison, but He did not intervene to do that. Oh sure, He could have, but Jesus did not work that way. His kingdom was not of this world. His kingdom would come by invitation and response, not by His own divine power and might.
Take for example Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. Remember how He said the man lacked one thing? He told the man, Go, sell all you have, give it to the poor, and follow Me. Sadly, the man, who was actually a pretty good guy otherwise, could not do that. So the man walked away, unable to part with his riches and to enjoy being the 13th disciple of Jesus.
Did Jesus then run after the man and let him keep his materialistic god? No, he did not. He just let him go. He simply let him make his own decision. He respected his free will. Jesus did not really care about the man's money, but he did care about the man. He knew that the man's riches had a hold on him and he offered him a once in a life time opportunity to have true liberty!
I like the term being a non-anxious presence. To me it means what Jesus did here, addressing an issue but also showing he cared about the man. He cared enough to offer him a place in His own troupe of disciples. How sad that this man missed his opportunity for real liberation.
There are many who are weak and poor and need rescuing, but this man was not one of them. He was bound in a prison of his own making. He was possessed by his possessions.
How about you, my friend? Are you generously opening your hand to the poor at this Advent Christmas season and throughout the year? Are you still thinking that you can take it with you? Or, are you dedicating all that you are and all that you have to the Master who still invites you to follow Him today?
Jesus is waiting for you to make your choice.
Do it today.
From Exodus 16:2-15 NIV:
Verse 3: The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
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"If only ..."
How many times have you said that about something? How many times have you heard others say it, too?
In verse 3, above, we see the Israelites were grumbling to Moses and Aaron as they camped in the Desert of Sin.
We always remember well what we had in the past. When we suddenly have less, we grumble about it, like the Israelites did.
It comes to mind that people grumble a lot about gas prices. We'd like to blame foreign leaders, or the oil companies, or the Congress, or even the President for our troubles.
I remember in college in the late 1960s when I paid thirty cents per gallon for leaded regular gas for my car. I could get three gallons and change for less than a dollar. Sometimes all I had was a dollar.
A couple of days ago I filled up the tank in my nine year old car. Gas was $3.49 per gallon at a Shell station in nearby Hampstead, Maryland. I was glad to get it at that price, having seen it much higher at other stations lately.
The Israelites were not grumbling about having money or the price of anything. They left Egypt laden with silver and gold, but had little food and water. They fled Pharoah's chariots and army in haste.
I can understand their grumbling about their lack of food and water. They wanted to blame it all on their leaders, Moses and Aaron. But these brothers were only following God's orders to lead them out of Egypt and head for the Promised Land.
So the people were projecting their anger on their leaders, but it really was meant for God. And do you know what happened next?
Before Moses and Aaron could even turn to God and ask for help, God promised to help the people with meat and bread.
God told Moses:
"I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
If only, the people said. Little did they know, right then, that God was listening and God wanted to help them. Indeed, God had a promise to make and a plan to fulfill.
The next time you hear yourself or someone else say "If only ...", then remember that God hears you and others when we grumble.
God not only hears us, but God deeply cares for his own and already has a promise and plan to help us.
Do you think you can trust God to provide for your needs, even as God did it for the Israelites?
I'm willing to trust God like that. I think they still call that "Faith."
Will you, too?
