"The Lord will rise up, he will rouse himself, to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task" (Isaiah 28:21) What do you think God's "strange work" and "alien task" is? And do you think he has done this strange work in your life specifically? I have a couple ideas of what some people might consider strange: (1) Maybe it is making the earth in six days? Now that sounds strange, doesn't it? It seems much more logical for complex human beings and a perfectly ordered ecosystem to be the product of random chances and lucky circumstantial happenings. For God to say "he made the world all by himself" sounds a little far fetched, doesn't it - - it is wacky to think an all-knowing and all-powerful God can make a perfect world in six days...isn't it? Wouldn't you rather bet your life and eternity on the almost certain truth that after a couple million years, one day a monkey woke up and felt like shaving? (2) Maybe God's strange work is choosing before creation whom he wants to become his children? The idea of predestination seems nutty, doesn't it? The teaching of election makes it seem like God can do anything he wants? Who does he think he is....God? Oh no, he needs us to choose him first so he knows who to choose. He should only be able to pick the people who deserve him and wanted him first, right? (3) Maybe his strange work is the creation of Eve? I better not go down that path.... According to scripture, his actual "strange work" is very strange indeed; listen to how Romans 11:32 explains it: "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all." Stop on this a second, it really is a strange thing to think about. This means that God has set up situations and circumstances in our life to cause us to rebel, fail and fall. He wants to expose our inability to attain his required perfection and standard of unblemished righteousness, so we will realize our need for him. The reason you feel like a failure most of the time, is because you are a failure - - it was designed that way so we would fully trust in him. Don't you get it? The hardest people to save are the ones who do not think they need saving! So in order for people to receive Jesus as their Savior, they must see & feel their brokenness. Now do you understand why this is so strange? Most brands of Christianity teach just the opposite: "God will only help those who help themselves"- - he wants winners and heroes doesn't he, not failures and flunkies? No, he loves failures because he loves you and me! In John 8:1-11 a woman is found committing adultery. Imagine her humiliation? She was paraded in front of a large crowd with hundreds of fingers pointing at her: "You whore!" According to Jewish law she deserved to be stoned. But what is ironic, at that moment, when her sin was fully exposed and she was utterly humiliated; Christ's compassion was completely aroused. She was closer to the grace of God in her complete brokenness than the Pharisees and bystanders were in their judgmental contempt. We are not saved by our righteousness, but by his mercy! Look it up, it is all over the bible. Where did we ever get this idea God will only have me if I am perfect? One of the most vivid verses in the bible that reveal God's strangeness is found in Hosea 2:10. The NIV captures is beautifully: "So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers, no one will take her out of my hands." God loves his people so much that he will utterly humiliate them. Why would he do this? So they have no where else to go but back to him. Our sin doesn't push God away, it is meant to awaken us up to how badly we need to run to him. Strange, isn't it?
3 Comments
Free-Will Hater
7/11/2014 12:46:56 am
"This means that God has set up situations and circumstances in our life to cause us to rebel, fail and fall."
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Christopher Weeks
7/11/2014 12:48:39 am
I do hate free will because I know what I freely choose when left to myself!
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Art
7/14/2014 02:37:22 am
Thanks for the reminder of what I have been saved from! I would have been one of the ones looking for stones. I like God's mercy ... but quick to judge others. I hate that part of me!
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