Imagine this story as told by Monty Python. The commander and leader of the people goes
and prays, returns and shares the strategy.
"We're to march round the city once a day for six days with priests
carrying shofars, then on the seventh day we'll march round seven times and
then the priests will blow the shofars, we'll all shout and God says then the
walls will fall flat. Got it?" My
reaction to God telling me that would be that it is the most ludicrous plan of
attack I could imagine. Joshua, however,
is prepared to do whatever the Lord tells him, no matter whether it makes sense
or not. The people, it seems, are
prepared to receive and follow the plan as well. Do you see the creation parallel in the
days? The work is completely and
entirely the Lord's, they are the heralds.
That is the work given to His people, announcing the kingdom of God is
near at hand.
There is Genesis language in this scene as well. Those of us who have liturgical worship
recognize this passage well, we repeat it each and every week. In Genesis 3 when Eve is presented with
temptation we hear, "
she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave
some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." The difference in the two passages is plain,
Jesus took the bread and blessed it and then took the cup and gave thanks
before sharing it with the disciples, He offered it for the blessing of the Father,
something Eve could not and did not do.
Where is that true in your life? Did
you read the last sentence of the passage, that all the disciples did the same,
said they wouldn't deny Jesus no matter what?
We know what Peter did, but we don't even see them in the action after
the arrest of Jesus. We are not as
strong as we think we are. We are to
stand not in our own strength but in His.
Do we trust in the sovereignty of God? I am a bit concerned about that for many
Christians. Too many Christians are too
deeply concerned and live in fear because of the political realities of the
day. It is true on both sides in
America. It doesn't mean we shouldn't
care and shouldn’t participate in the process but in the end it isn't the
government of man that matters and it isn't the economic system that matters,
all of this is fallen. Our hope is not
in this world, we should live with hope and not fear no matter what the current
circumstances are and we should work more fervently for the coming and
establishment of God's kingdom than for a political party or earthly
kingdom. His ways are truly not our ways
and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
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