Today's Scripture Reading (January 1, 2024): Matthew 14
Sometimes, we are forced to do
things we don't want to do. It is part of life. There are a lot of things that
I don't want to do, but I must. Some of these things are just not part of my
personality. And some things simply don't make sense. I speak a lot about love,
but the pushback I get is also very real; there are some people who we don't
want to love or feel that we can't love because the evil they have done is too
much. We are commanded to forgive, yet forgiveness often feels like it is
letting the people who have hurt us off the hook, like we are giving them a
free pass for bad behavior. Forgiveness doesn't make sense, yet that is precisely
what we are commanded to do.
Jesus's
command to the disciples to go on ahead didn't make any sense. They probably
knew that their leader was under considerable stress. John was dead. Now, after
the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, I suspect that every fiber of
their being wanted to do nothing more than protect their leader. But Jesus
needed them to learn to obey him even when their obedience didn't make sense.
Back in the
glory days of the Holiness movement, Evangelist Lawrence Hicks tells a story
about the movement of the Holy Spirit in a Methodist Church. He had been
speaking all week at the church, and although the crowds were good, not many
had sought God at an altar of prayer. On Saturday night, Hicks spoke one last
time to the crowd and then sang a song of invitation. No one came. According to
Hicks, they sang two more songs of Invitation, but still no one came. One man
had been busy interceding with his son in the back row, and he asked Hicks if
they could sing one more time.
Hicks says it
was in the middle of the first stanza when the break came. The young man came
down the aisle, tears streaming down his cheeks and vowing not to move from his
place until he knew the forgiveness of God's grace had been extended to him. Hicks
says that in less than a minute, in a church that had resisted the call of God
all week, the altar was filled until there was no more room.
Hicks was
asked if he would consider coming back again the next night, Sunday night. He
said he would, went home to preach to his congregation, and returned the next
night. Hicks reported that when he came in sight of the church, he was
confronted with a multitude of cars, so many that he had to park his car quite
a distance from the church building and walk towards the worship service that
was evidently ongoing.
Once Hicks
reached the church, he found it so full of people that he had difficulty getting
to the platform, where he immediately inquired about what was happening. He was
told that the people had met for Sunday School, the Holy Spirit had come upon
them, and they had been there all day, with the numbers growing, praying for
souls.
Lawrence
Hicks, without any singing or preaching, immediately gave an invitation for the
people to come and meet with God. It didn't make sense to sing one more song, but
when God tells us something, we need to obey.
If
the disciples hadn't made that crossing alone, they would have missed out on
one of the most spectacular private miracles in the Bible. Peter would never
have walked on water, even if it was just for a few steps. Obedience allows God
to move in our lives. There is nothing I want more than to be part of the move
of God. If that is to happen, then I must learn to obey, even when what God asks
of me doesn't make sense.
I
was speaking with a mentor many years ago. At the time, he was pastoring a
church in another country, and the church seemed to be making no moves. As he
sought God, God revealed a lack of obedience among the people. Until that
changed, God was handicapped in their midst. It wasn't that God didn't want to
move; he couldn't move.
Jesus
compelled his disciples to leave him behind, even though they felt they needed
to protect him. But Jesus knew that the disciples needed to learn obedience so
that he could move in their midst. Nothing has changed. God still compels us
into obedience that sometimes makes no sense to us so that he can move in our
midst.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: Luke 9
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