February 15, 2021 – Click here to listen
I read a poignant quote that seems to resonate ever more loudly in these difficult days. “For all the anxieties, pressures, and disappointments we wrestle with, it is encouraging to remember that God’s people are only on temporary assignment in the wilderness of this world.” – Dr. David Jeremiah
If you were to abide by this, how would it change your outlook? I think of the life of Jesus for my answer as He declared that indeed He was the Messiah. The Zealots of that era were expecting the Messiah to be a mighty warrior-king that would deliver them from the terrible oppression and yoke of the Romans through violent rebellion and war.
Jesus was quite the opposite. His short time on this planet was not spent fighting with the government. He was not traveling to Rome to meet with high government leaders or the emperor, nor was he building an army and encouraging open rebellion in the streets. Nor was He spending His time pursuing wealth, fame, power, or great accomplishments.
With the limited time He was allotted, He busied Himself with building God’s Kingdom which His followers have been adopted into. Should we be doing the same? I saw red when I read of Biden’s latest maneuver to take away our second amendment right to keep and bear arms. I feel the same about him opening the borders to a flood of illegal immigrants, stopping the XL pipeline, expanding abortion to other countries, the Iran and China appeasements and on and on. Quite frankly I have Zealot tendencies and “Give me liberty or give me death” races through my veins.
It is all but impossible to idly sit by and watch him and his administration dismantle our nation. I imagine that was how the Zealots felt. They were nothing more than slaves in their own country, corruption abounded, and the Romans harshly dealt with anyone who got out of line. Along comes Jesus and suggests that they turn the other cheek. When asked about paying taxes to the Romans he produced a coin and asked them whose image they saw. It was Caesar’s. He told them to render to Caesar what was His and render to God what was His.
I’m studying the book of Job and in chapter 28 he ignores the agony that he is enduring to talk about God’s wisdom of all of creation. It is quite the stirring speech as he talks of God’s infinite wisdom of virtually everything in all of creation. He suggests that it is wrong to seek our own wisdom versus God’s, and instead declaring that the definition of wisdom is seeking God’s wisdom.
Do we revere God’s word on this and other matters? I think Solomon borrowed this from Job when writing Ecclesiastes – (In the end wisdom is the fear, or reverence of God.) In Chapter 29 he looks back to his prime when everything was clicking for him. He had it all: respect, wealth, wisdom, family, and was a defender of the disadvantaged. He had enjoyed the friendly side of God’s presence, but now was suffering for reasons unknown to him. He had assumed he would live out his days as a satisfied old man, surrounded by children and grandchildren and left to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Instead he was stripped of everything and reduced to scraping lesions off his skin with a broken piece of pottery shard. He was not privy to why he was suffering, but he maintained his faith in God throughout it all.
Often, we find the mysteries of God and the “whys” of life are incomprehensible to us. Hint – We do not have the intellect of God nor are we privy to all of the information, especially His plans for us, and it is at those times we must put our complete faith and trust in Him and His unlimited wisdom.
Like it or not, we were put on this earth to satisfy His purpose for our lives and in the end, it is clear that purpose is to expand what Jesus started by adding lost souls to the Kingdom of God. It is there we will live for eternity and not here.
Phil. 3:20
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body . . .