When Nothing Seems to Make Sense… (Faith to Bridge the Gap)
Sunday morning, our Pastor said that if an employment recruiter was seeking men to work with Jesus, they would have rejected most of the apostles because of their poor experience level. He said Judas’ resume quite possibly made him perfect for the job. I started thinking about the fact that Jesus truly picked Judas. I mean He purposely picked him! The man in whom He invested His love…the man He knew was going to cost Him His life was one of Jesus’ “picks”.
Then I thought about the seemingly senseless things that have recently been “picked” to happen or “allowed” to happen to us personally or to those we love.
But…if God chose Judas and He chose Pharaoh and now in our lifetime He has chosen Trump and before him, Obama…perhaps the problem with us is we think short term. We don’t think with an eternal perspective like God does. In His realm, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand is like one day. He has forever mapped out. He planned that Rahab the harlot would be part of the lineage of Jesus. He worked it out where David would be part of that lineage and Ruth would be part of that lineage.
He picked your great, great grandfather and put him together with your great, great grandmother and then your great grandparents, your grandparents and parents in order for you to be born and used in the ways He is now using you. If you allow God to work in and through you, your mistakes become your strengths in the lives of people who have made the same mistakes or are making them even now. Your life means immensely more in some people’s lives than it would have, had you not made those mistakes.
Judas had to be picked because Jesus had to die. Some tragic events in my life, caused by others, stretched me in ways that ultimately strengthened me. My life has meant more to those around me because of those tragic events. I can absolutely tell you the same about my daughter who is now pouring her life into others.
So…the pattern is there. The pattern of tragedy and God’s work. Some respond to His hand and His love and some reject both.
But God sees the beginning and the end. He watched Rahab, the young woman He created and loved, as she became a prostitute and yet…that woman was obviously moving toward God when she hid the disciples.
She was beginning to fear God. She believed He would destroy her city and she asked to be protected. Despite her career choice, God protected her because she believed and chose to take a step toward Him by protecting His men. I feel certain that by the time she hung that fabric out her window, she had changed careers. She still bore the name of her past…but her recent actions spoke of her faith in God and her love for His people. Now here she is in God’s word…shown as being in the family line of Jesus!
That’s us. The picture is bigger than what we see. It goes beyond our fears and our discouragement and the lack of hope we sometimes feel because so many things don’t make sense. Still…because of who we know God is, we can trust that in the grand scope of eternity, those things will one day make sense.
Sure, we can take the discussion further with our angry questions and our demands to know what Almighty God knows. We somehow feel as though our demands blow holes in what we see as a mixed up and unreasonable plan which negatively affects our here and now. We rebel against the pain in (hopefully temporary) moments of pride…ignorance…arrogance.
When nothing seems to make sense…as hard as it hurts some days, we can choose to get back to trusting His hand and His heart …or not.
Simply put…we have a choice.
Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV) 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:18-32 (MSG) 18 I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished. GOD is a lost cause.” 19 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. 20 I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom. 21 But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: 22 GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. 23 They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! 24 I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. 25 GOD proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. 26 It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from GOD. 27 It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times. 28 When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. 29 Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. 30 Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst” is never the worst. 31 Why? Because the Master won’t ever walk out and fail to return. 32 If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
Mannasplace 