The message of Scripture is that we can trust God to care enough about his people to be willing to run this same risk. It is true that if we insist on going our own way, God will eventually let us go. But he does not give us up easily. He persuades; he warns; he disciplines. He would much rather speak to us quietly as he finally could to Elijah. But if we cannot hear the still small voice, he will speak through earthquake, wind, and fire. Sometimes, at very critical moments, it has been necessary for God to use extreme measures to gain our attention and respect. On such occasions our reluctant reverence has been largely the result of fear. But God has thereby gained another opportunity to speak, to warn us again before we are hopelessly out of reach, to win some of us back to trust—and to find that there really is no need to be afraid. Jesus said that he wants us all to be his friends (John 15:14, 15). Could this also be true of the Father? Does God regard us warmly, even respectfully, as if we were not only his children but his friends? Philip asked Jesus about this one day: “‘Show us the Father, Lord, and we shall be satisfied.’ “‘Have I been such a long time with you,’ returned Jesus, ‘without your really knowing me, Philip?’” (John 14:8, 9, Phillips). But the disciples were not asking about Jesus. They loved him. They welcomed his invitation to be his friends. They felt surprisingly comfortable in the presence of the One they worshiped as God’s Son. What they wanted to know was the truth about the God who had thundered on Mount Sinai, who had drowned the world in the Flood, who had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; the God who had consumed Nadab and Abihu and opened the earth to swallow up rebellious Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who had ordered the stoning of Achan and had rained fire down from heaven on Mount Carmel. “Jesus, could the Father be like you?” And the Lord replied, “The man who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (verses 9, 10, Phillips). The Father is just as gracious and loving as the Son. He is just as understanding and willing to forgive. This is why Jesus could tell his disciples that when he returned to heaven it would not be necessary for him to beg the Father to do good things for them. “I need make no promise to plead to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you” (John 16:26, 27, Phillips). “And as for those distressing stories of discipline and death,” Jesus might have continued, “you must not take them to mean that the Father is less merciful than I am. It was I who led Israel through the wilderness. The instructions to Moses were mine.” Paul understood this when he wrote, using the familiar Biblical symbol of the rock, “They all drank from the supernatural rock that accompanied their travels—and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4, neb). Some find it difficult to worship God as both infinite creator and gentle friend. When the fear is gone, when there is no display of majesty and power, reverence seems to fade away. So long as Jesus miraculously fed the crowds, healed the sick, and raised the dead, the people were ready to worship him and crown him king. But when he answered his enemies with such gentleness, when he treated sinners with such patience and respect, when he explained that his kingdom would not be set up by force, when on Calvary he humbly submitted to such abuse, most of his followers either left or scoffed at his claim to be the Son of God. Judas was one of those who mistook graciousness for weakness. When Jesus knelt to wash the disciples’ feet, Judas despised him for his humility. The god Judas could respect would never degrade himself in such a manner. Which inspires you to greater reverence and worship: the terrifying manifestation of God’s power on Mount Sinai or the picture of the great Creator quietly weeping on the Mount of Olives? Which stirs you more: the fire on Mount Carmel or the still small voice at the mouth of the cave?
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 21:09:26 +0000