FAILURE IN GOD’S EYES?

You tried but it didn’t go well.

Brace yourself! It should be well established by now that my posts are often not an easy read because I don’t have a natural talent. But if you persevere, you may discover more about the God of the Bible than you ever imagined. The best result for me would be that you check me out to prove I am wrong.

But if you happen to like what you read, there’s more to be found here.

The Great Commission

The Greek grammar of the Great Commission is that it is an order as if barked by the Sargent Major on parade. Quick march! Right turn! Halt! And the like. No discussion tolerated. Probably the majority of the ordinary Christians in the pews attempt this but it seems that they are not successful and despondency sets in. I once heard a sermon which portrayed Moses as a failure for the forty years he spent the other side of the black stump. “If only he had faith . . .”

But it is well known that God says, “My ways are not your ways.” So what was Moses doing in the backside of the desert for 40 years? The précis of Moses’s career is simple.

• 40 years thinking he was a Somebody.
• 40 years becoming a Nobody.
• 40 years being a Nobody for THE SOMEBODY.

He is described as being the meekest of men. Unfortunately, meek rhymes with weak so the Biblically illiterate hear the unspoken words, “Gentle Jesus meek and mild,” and the implication is that Christians are instructed to be sissies (regardless of sex). But the transforming power of actually investigating the word and not just listening to gossip is amazing. Meek has the flavour of controlled power. Think of a well-trained stallion in a equestrian dressage competition with a petite woman on his back. She controls him with knee and foot pressures that are so subtle only the skilled eye can see them. (Look Mum, no hands!)

Sitting around?

“Wait upon the Lord,” carried a different meaning in the time of King James. It meant being at beck-and-call to obey immediately. A personal example today was a top-notch waiter in a top-notch restaurant. All the big spenders requested him personally because he knew them and their habits. He would watch the eyes of Mr Money because he knew the signals. They never spoke. Things always went well. The tips were huge!!

The Holy Spirit tells us that this is what is required. In Psalm 32:8 He writes, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide (H3289 — yāʿaṣ) you with My eye.” The less rigorous versions of the Bible translate along the lines, “Watch over you with my eye,” or, “Council you while watching over you with my eye.” But “watching” is not mentioned in the definition recorded in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex. In those forty years of (sic)failure God was training Moses to be a better waiter.

Does this mean that we just sit around and do nothing? Remember, some Waiters stand around and wait on Mr Money — others just stand around (where there are no tips to be had).

But you haven’t been sitting around

You have taken the Great Commission seriously, you are being as obedient as you can manage, you are not trying to work your way into Heaven, you are trying what you think are God Ideas — but still you seem to fall on your face. They turn out to be only good ideas. I heard a story that encourages me; perhaps it will do the same to you.

The London School of Economics

An English Evangelist, J John, tells the story of his friend, a student at the LSE, who booked to give a lunch-time talk on Christianity. The recognised format was 20 minutes speaking, 10 minutes questions. Normally they were not well attended but this was sitting-on-the-steps full; and they had come well rehearsed. When he opened his mouth to speak, the cacophony began and he couldn’t be heard. He closed his mouth — it stopped — he opened his mouth — it began. This went on for the twenty minutes; most of which was spent in silence with him standing before the educated elite. The only thing he was allowed to say was, “Any questions?” No takers.

He was dejected as a failure. However, a few weeks later he was walking in the corridor and someone approached to thank him for giving the talk and that he, the one who approached, had accepted the Lord Jesus as his Lord and Saviour; giving his reason, “I saw you take all that abuse. You could have left but you didn’t. I thought there must be something in this that I should know about.” The rest is history. It seems obvious that the Holy Spirit had gathered the pack of wolves, the speaker, and the person in the audience, for the latter. Not for the rabid wolves. (There may have been other fruit at a later date. It wasn’t part of the story.) We just don’t know everything that is going on. God makes it clear that He is not obligated to tell us.

Holy Spirit moving under the RADAR

In general, Europe seems to be in the ‘Post Christian’ era but He is flying under the RADAR. My personal experience with this was passing through Moscow one Sunday afternoon. The only English TV to be found was on Russian State TV. It was an English Evangelist preaching the Gospel to a small Romanian congregation, via Romanian translator, with Russian sub-titles. The Evangelist may have been disappointed at the small crowd but he was actually reaching three groups of people with a potential audience of Russia including the Muslims in, and immediately around Russia who pick up Russian TV. And . . . it was all paid for by . . . Vladimir Putin. Have we got a God with a sense of humour, or what.

Apostle Paul’s own list of his successes

It is not unreasonable to deduce that Paul knew a bit about this Jesus Business. The Scriptures clearly state that he was Personally tutored by Christ, Himself. He (Paul) gives his own list of achievements, “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” A different perspective.

There is also a reply given to an application he made to a Missions Board to be found at https://www.biblebelievers.com/Letter_to_Paul.html .

Be encouraged.

We are told that the Pillars of the Faith mentioned in the Hall of Faith of Hebrews 11 did not see on the Earth what they had been shown in their spirit. Also, in the oldest book in the Bible, Job, he makes the first Prophecy about God’s Redemption Plan. It is written in Job 19:25–27, I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

So be strong you Saint, you Prince of El, you Princess of Ya, be strong and take heart and trust in the Lord.

The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.

All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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