Friday, February 24, 2012

Faith - Above and Beyond Reason

For the past few weeks, my devotions have been taking me on a journey through the Old Testament. (I just finished GENESIS! YEY.) Thing is, I realized, there were SO many things I never knew about Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Abraham, Isaac, etc.

See, when Sunday school teachers teach you (you in your Elementary days) about the lives of these people, they DO not include the ff.:

1. Lot and his daughters (Gen. 19: 30-36)
Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

2. God actually saying that Jacob would be greater than Esau before Jacob deceived him and his father. (Gen. 25:23)
The LORD said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”

3. Commotion between Rachel and Leah, Jacob's wives. (Gen. 29:31-30:24)

*how they were bickering about who was loved more, how they plotted to be the "most loved," pleaded with God for children after children, etc.

4. Judah's first born son dying because of his wickedness. (Gen. 38:7)
 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.

5. Onan's, Judah's second son, wickedness and his punishment. (Gen. 38:9-10)
But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death also.

6. Judah and her daughter-in-law. (Gen. 38:13-27)

*him sleeping with her, her pretending to be a prostitute, him not following their customs, etc.

These are just some of the things I had to read through TWICE to check if I was reading the right thing. (There were even somethings with Jacob and his dealings with his uncle Laban, Abraham and his wives, Noah and his life after the flood, Laban and his tricks -- and basically anything and everything that has to do with human deception and imperfections.) If I were to put down all of them, you won't even care to read through them -- it's going to be way too long.

Of course, the first thing I did when I encountered these was to PRAY. I was lost. I didn't understand why these would even be recorded, why these were even significant, let alone allowed (in the loose sense of the word.) So I kept asking, and this was what I got:
Son, I am the Alpha and the Omega -- I am not bound by anything, especially not by the actions and humanity of My creation. My will has been set way before any of these people even knew who I am. My understanding of things, you will never grasp. Son, all these I've placed in My Bible to show you how MY WILL WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL. 

I have great plans for My creations, for people, for you. But of course, you don't always obey Me. You have your own wills, and I respect that. However, do not for a second even think that your decisions, and your plans, will ever be able to mess up My grand design. Son, everything is still in My control -- everything would work out for My glory.

I don't expect you to be able to comprehend adding all these together -- My will, My perfect plan and Sovereignty, your actions, your desires, your sins, the consequences of your sins, the over-all effect of My design, and your individual lives -- and have them work together in harmony, a harmony that only I can orchestrate.

I did not call you to try and understand Me. I called you to be My saint, to have FAITH in Me.

The world has tons and tons of definition of what FAITH is, for me, it's but one thing: trusting in what I do not understand. As Hebrews 11:1 puts it,
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Sure, I don't understand, but one thing I know: He IS IN CONTROL. His sovereignty CANNOT be affected by our humanity.

No comments: