His Ways - Not Ours

Bienhome Muivah *

"No eye has ever seen,
No ear has heard,
No mind has conceived
What God has prepared for those who love him"
(I Cor. 2:9-10)

God sees the things differently from the way we see things. Sometimes what we see gets scary, and even frightening. This isn't bad. We are afraid of these new things because they are things we have never seen before, or thought of before. New frontiers are frightening, but also exhilarating. They challenge our comfort zones and show us new horizons.

The new things are essential if we are to move on Him. A favorite lie of the trickster says there is nothing new under the sun, so don't try anything different from what have been taught. While it is true that there is nothing new in God; for us mortals, everything is new. Everyday there are new adventures, new revelations, and new understandings of His vast universe.

We need to see the Bible, not as a pantry with everything in its place, but as a window through which we see eternity. Every time you open the Bible, there are new discoveries, new wonders to explore.

Too many people see the Bible as our spiritual encyclopedia, where everything is explained and laid out to see and believe. But in the truth, we should see the Bible as our spiritual humble telescope, always exploring the boundless horizons of our eternal God.

Jesus broke the mole of the doctrines of the Jewish religion. He turned their world upside down by the things He taught and demonstrated. He made them look outside their belief system, their theology, their doctrine, and their particular sect of Judaism.

How many times do you think the Jewish people saw Jesus healed somebody by having mud from spit rubbed in his eyes? Before Jesus did it, how many times do you think they saw that happen? What would happen if I grabbed some dirt, spat in it, walked around, and slammed it on people who have deaf ears, blind eyes, or a stuffy nose?

And yet when Jesus did the unthinkable, he brought sight to a blind man. We think we are so much more sophisticated now than they were back then, so it wasn't such a big deal to "hock a loogie", rub dust in it, and smear it in someone's eyes. But this wasn't an everyday occurrence, and it was at least as marginally disgusting then as it would be now, except for the fact that Jesus did it.

And how about John the Baptist making a passionate plea for people to repent and be baptized? In the midst of his passionate plea, the Pharisees came to be baptized. Here is John the Baptist with his wild eyes, and locust pieces. He's preaching at the river side when he sees the Pharisees coming forward to repent and to be baptized. John the Baptist, instead of being overwhelmed with joy at this amazing turn of events looks at them and shouts, "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?"

They look at him, undoubtedly a bit startled, and said, "You".

"Well then you better bring forth the fruit that proves you are repenting" was John ungrateful response (Mt. 3:7-9).

Now if a religious leader or somebody very important were to answer an altar call today, how many people would be happy about that? God does things in unexpected ways. When we expect Him to do things our way, and it doesn't happen, we resist Him.

His strange ways: When God comes in the door, sometimes He comes in strange ways. Sometimes He uses the strangest–looking and strangest-sounding people because He is not interested in our attachment to the outward appearance; He is looking for a people who can hear, understand, and recognized Christ from within. He's seeking people who can look beyond the outward appearance and see Jesus.

Many believers have lived a life of external Christianity, satisfied with the façade of religion and missing the power of God. He wants to change us from within and make our lives truly worth living. He is not interested in how big our churches are. He is interested in people who are prepared to carry Jesus, who is living inside of us, to the four corner of the earth.

Let God's will be done!