Wednesday, February 20, 2013
1. Abraham-disillusionment with God: teaches that God is in the business of blowing
dim coals of faith into life and is often present when least recognized.
dim coals of faith into life and is often present when least recognized.
2. Jacob-contending with God: teaches that truly spiritual battles often mask themselves,
at least initially, as mere mundane matters and that god's grace and persistence, not my
doings, are in control of my life.
at least initially, as mere mundane matters and that god's grace and persistence, not my
doings, are in control of my life.
3. Moses-fear of inadequacy: teaches that the ultimate question in following God is
whether we will be responsive to the call of God regardless of potential consequences for
it is in the everyday that God is Lord or nothing.
whether we will be responsive to the call of God regardless of potential consequences for
it is in the everyday that God is Lord or nothing.
4. Gideon-faith to act: teaches that God is in the business of transforming what is into
what might be, sometimes requiring that He must make us weak in order to use us and
that even weak faith pleases Him when it previals over cowardice, fear, or superstition.
what might be, sometimes requiring that He must make us weak in order to use us and
that even weak faith pleases Him when it previals over cowardice, fear, or superstition.
5. Jonah-grieved by grace: teaches that Gods will is that we know and trust Him, learn
mercy and justice and that we and those we love-and those we do not love-find
salvation; His grace goes out to the undeserving, thereby transforming enemies into
friends.
mercy and justice and that we and those we love-and those we do not love-find
salvation; His grace goes out to the undeserving, thereby transforming enemies into
friends.
6. Mary-God of the impossible: teaches that if God is to accomplish His will in our sorry
and sordid world, He must go to lengths that exceed anything humanly imaginable and
that the manifestation of God is present whever a believer submits to His will.
and sordid world, He must go to lengths that exceed anything humanly imaginable and
that the manifestation of God is present whever a believer submits to His will.
7. Jesus-supreme obedience: magnificent chapter that teaches much, much more than
this but it is not necessarily a bad thing but a very good thing if the opposite of what we
pray for appears to happed.
this but it is not necessarily a bad thing but a very good thing if the opposite of what we
pray for appears to happed.
8. Ananias-converting the converted: teaches that if we and the world were left to
ourselves we would all, despite of our good intentions, refashion God in our own image
and change the Gospel of Jesus Christ into something other than and less than it is,
defacing and destroying the only true hope the world has. In reality, God remains in
control and the future is full of surprises.
ourselves we would all, despite of our good intentions, refashion God in our own image
and change the Gospel of Jesus Christ into something other than and less than it is,
defacing and destroying the only true hope the world has. In reality, God remains in
control and the future is full of surprises.
Bonus: There is a wonderful sentence in the chapter on Abraham, "it is an unspeakable consolation to know that salvation depends on God and not on our faltering faith."
With the obvious exception of Jesus, all of these figures show how the God of the Bible does not draw intrepid souls upward to Olympian heights. Nor can God be found by concentrating our powers and plumbing the depths within. God does something more unsettling: He breaks into this world, our lives, even when He is unexpected and sometimes (like Jonah who was so mad at God that his last recorded words are “I am so angry I want to die!”) unwelcome. God joins us in our weakest and worse moments. The world is not a safe place after all, if by safe we mean safe from visitations of the Holy One. There is a Divine Intruder among us . . . and “you mustn't press Him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame Lion.”
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