Tuesday, July 17,
2012, 7:55 a.m. – The Lord woke me with the song “Jesus, Lead Me” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Acts 17
(quoting vv. 22-34a NIV 1984):
Paul then stood up in
the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way
you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your
objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown
god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the
world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in
temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed
anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole
earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they
should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for
him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live
and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his
offspring.’
“Therefore since we
are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or
silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God
overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he
has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the
dead.”
When they heard about
the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want
to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. A few men
became followers of Paul and believed.
Full of Idols
Paul was in Athens
waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him. While he was waiting, he observed
that Athens was a city full of idols, and that distressed him greatly. So he
reasoned (articulated; rationalized or debated) with the Jews and God-fearing
Greeks in the synagogue, and with any people who happened to be in the marketplace
on a day-to-day basis, and he preached the good news about Jesus Christ and the
resurrection. So, they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,
the council of elders in Athens. There they said to him, “May we know what this
new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to
our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” Athens was known as a city where
the people spent their time talking about and listening to the latest ideas.
So, their question could have stemmed merely from intellectual curiosity.
The Unknown God
Paul addressed these
men (and women) with much wisdom and discernment. He began with his observations
concerning their idols. He perceived that they were a very religious people. He
told them, too, how he had noticed their altar to “An Unknown God.” He used this
observation, then, to present the gospel to them. This approach of his is a
good example for us to know how to begin conversations with people for the
purpose of sharing Christ with them, time permitting. Sometimes we don’t have
time for lengthy discussions with people, though. Anyway… he told them that he
was going to proclaim to them their “Unknown God.”
Human Hands
I believe this
section of the passage is really where the meat of the passage is contained
(See vv. 24-34). Paul explained that the God (the one and only true God) who
created the world and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in temples built by human hands. Even when the Ark of the Covenant
was housed in a physical temple built by human hands, by God’s design and
purposes, God was not confined within the walls of that building, because he is
everywhere at all times. Yet, his presence was in that earthly temple, and that
is where the people went to meet with God and to make sacrifices for their
sins. That was then. This is now. God’s temple is now in the human hearts of
those who have chosen to leave their lives of sin behind them, and by faith to
walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ with their lives, surrendering their
selfish wills to the will of the Father in heaven. We, as Christ’s followers,
are his temple, his Body, and his sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies now dwells
within our hearts. We, the people of God, are the church.
Paul went on to say
that God, as well, is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he is the giver of life to all men and to everything else that has
life. This does not mean that God does not desire our obedient service to him.
He does! What it does mean is that God doesn’t have to have us helping him out.
In other words, God is not interested in what we want to do for him, out of our
own minds and wills, thinking somehow God will be pleased with us if only we do
such and such, nor does he need our unsolicited help in doing his job. He is
God! He can handle any situation and he can do all the work that is necessary
for his will and purposes to be accomplished. Yet, he chooses us, mere mortals,
to serve him in doing what he has called and chosen for us to do, that we might
share in the blessings of obedience, and in the fruit of the labor in other
people’s lives. Yet, we must do it his way, in his timing, under his direction,
and with willing and receptive hearts to hear from him, and to obey whatever he
asks of us to do. We can’t pick and choose how we will serve God, especially
while holding on to sinful attitudes or behaviors.
The Set Times
Not only is God the
giver of life to all mankind, but he determined the times set for us and the
exact places where we should live. Does that blow you away? It does me! Psalm
139 says something very similar to this when it says that it was God who knit
us together in the wombs of our mothers, and, not only that, but all the days
ordained for us were written in his book before one of them came into being.
Wow! Do you get what this is saying? You were not an accident of nature or of
poor planning on the part of your parents. It was no accident, either, that you
had (or have) the parents to whom you were born. In fact, for those of us who
were born into homes where we suffered much abuse, God put us there on purpose
and for a reason. “Whoa!” you say. “God is a loving God. He would not put me in
a family where he knew I was going to be severely abused.” Really? – Where does
it say that in scripture? I know this seems harsh, but it is the reality of
what Paul and King David wrote about. I believe God had a similar conversation
with Jeremiah, Moses, Job and others.
A Personal Testimony
I was born into a
family where I faced much abuse in many and varied respects. I used to cry
myself to sleep at night, holding myself in my own arms, rocking myself to give
myself comfort. I used to pray something like this: “Please God, let me live to
see the day when someone I love loves me.” Now, that did not mean I was
completely unloved. I had people who loved me, but due to the abuse and neglect
(emotional), I felt very much unloved. I had the advantage, though, of being
brought up in an evangelical church where they really taught the word of God
and God’s love, so I knew God loved me. And, I knew God was there for me to
give me comfort, encouragement, hope, and healing, etc. I accepted Jesus Christ
to be my Lord and Savior when I was about seven years old. Yet, what I didn’t truly
know or understand was God’s sovereignty (control) over the circumstances of my
life.
So, why is it
important to understand and accept this? Without realizing it, I subconsciously
believed that God/Jesus was somehow limited in power and ability to do anything
about my circumstances other than to just be there for me to help me through my
troubled times. I mean, if I actually believed that God placed me in that
family, on purpose, and that he had the power to remove me or to keep me from
being abused, and yet he did not, I would have to accept that God stood there
and watched and did nothing to stop the abuse, but actually much more than
that, that he put me in that family knowing I would be abused. Ouch! Do you see
where I am going with this? So, in my mind I must have determined that God had no
control over my circumstances, and that he was limited in what he could do to
get me out of them, and so I reduced God to merely being my comforter, guide,
friend, etc.
So, when difficult
things continued in my life, and I faced even more abusive situations,
eventually I lost patience with God, in reality. I became angry and self-destructive,
and I took my life and circumstances into my own hands, on and off again. Wow!
That is always bad!! Then one day, in God’s love and mercy, he brought me to a
place where I called on him to show me anything in my life that was not right
with him or with others. I asked him to show me anyone I had not forgiven. The
name he gave me was “Jesus.” Wow! I would have never imagined, yet it was true.
I was holding bitterness and resentment in my heart, unknowingly, against my
God because he allowed all those bad things in my life. And, I had to forgive
my Jesus, although he had done no wrong, and I had to accept Psalm 139 and Acts
17 and Jeremiah 1, et al, i.e. I had to accept that God put me in that family
for a reason, and that he allowed the other abuses and misfortunate
circumstances of my life for a reason. He had a plan and a purpose beyond my comprehension,
but when I accepted his plan, then the floodgates of heaven opened up and God
poured out his Holy Spirit upon me in healing of mind, heart, emotion and body.
Hallelujah!
So, what was the
purpose? Paul said God did this – determined the times set for us and the
places where we would live – so that men (and women) “would seek him and
perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of
us.” Isn’t that so true? It is human nature to call on God in the bad times and
to forget him in the good times. Yet, the reason goes beyond just so we will
call upon him in truth, which is the primary reason, but it is so we will
understand that our lives revolve around him and that we are here on this earth
for a purpose, and it is not to live to please ourselves. God has a plan for
each one of us, and he purposed to and uses our life situations and
circumstances to prepare us for that plan. I would not be who I am, doing what
I am doing, if I had not gone through what I went through in my life. All that
was preparation in making me and molding me into the person God had planned for
me to be even before I was a gleam in my parent’s eyes.
Not Who We Think
Yet, many people
like to make up their own god, i.e. they like to create an image of God that
fits with their own theology, lifestyle, beliefs, comfort zone, etc., and so
they refuse to believe that a loving God would purpose that we go through such
difficulties, yet that is what God’s word teaches us, and Jesus set the example
for us, as did the apostles and prophets before them. They like to think God
will not judge us, too, or that he does not require that we walk in obedience
to him, leaving our lives of sin behind us. Yet, Paul said that God commands
all people everywhere to repent (to turn away from our sins), for he has set a
day when he will judge, whether we want to accept that or not.
So, let’s stop
fooling ourselves, or making up our own images of God to fit our own purposes,
and let us accept God’s plan and purposes for our lives, and submit ourselves
willfully and lovingly to walk with him all the rest of our days, not matter
what.
Jesus, Lead Me / An Original Work / July 22, 2011
Jesus, lead me all the way.
Be my hope and be my stay.
Gently lead me where I should go,
So Your Spirit, I want to know.
Open up my heart to You.
Fill me with Your love and truth.
Make my heart want to obey.
Be my Lord today. Gently lead always.
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Cleanse my heart, and make me whole;
Be transformed in my heart today,
As I turn from my sin and pray.
Make Your will known to my heart.
May I not from You depart.
How I long to hear You now,
As I humbly bow. Jesus, hear me now.
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