Don't Put God In The Box

'When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars that you set in place -  what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?' Psalm 8:3

Humanity limits Deity. We put God in a box, limiting his infinity to our finiteness. We perceive Him from our limited experiences, confine Him to our world views and expect Him to act within the scope of our personal preferences.

We experience God in the shallows and conceive of him with our shallow minds.  

The prophet Jonah is the Biblical example of such an attitude and behaviour. He first chose to run away from God's mission to preach to the people of Nineveh, a civilisation Jonah considered as evil and corrupt and undeserving of God's mercy and salvation. When that plan was thwarted by God's intervention, Jonah preached reluctantly but was surprised that the Ninevites repented and that God's stayed His hands at destroying the city. 

Jonah then had the audacity to complain about the mercy of God, became depressed and remorseful when his views were not considered. Even when God provide shade in his remorse, he felt that he had the right to complain and took issue with God removing the provided shade.

Jonah's attitude was an example of the pride of religious men who thought they knew better and could opined what God can and cannot do. We confine the Almighty into our own little huddle and box of limited understanding of God's universe. 

God is doing right only if He executed what we planned and conceived. Otherwise we feel that God has let us down. This was the example of the Prophet Elijah in the episodes at Mount Carmel and Mount Horeb (Sinai). 

Elijah had a spectacular, grandstanding show against the prophets of Baal. In dramatic fashion, he challenged them to a contest at Mount Carmel. With the prophets of Baal present, he asked God to bring fire from heaven to consume the altar of his sacrifice. The prophets of Baal called on their gods to do the same to no avail. But for Elijah, the Lord demonstrated His power in vivid drama, by fire which consumed Elijah's sacrifice.

Elijah had the notion that he had clearly demonstrated God's greatness so much so that the people, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel would all repent. He strutted off to the capital city, Jazreel presumably to confront king and people. He was met with indifference, no repentance happened. Instead Jezebel threatened to kill him in 24 hours. This caused Elijah to flee to Mount Horeb not only for protection but to stave off his depression and demand an explanation from God as to why Elijah's grand design did not work. 

There, in a cave on the mountain God ministered to Elijah, gently helping him to recover. God showed Elijah, His presence, not in the hurricane, earthquake nor fire but with a gentle whisper, a still small voice. 

God dealt with Elijah as so often with us, in unexpected ways. In a message entitled the Still Small Voice on 1 Kings 18 and 19, Timothy Keller eloquently expounded on experiences on Mount Carmel and Mount Sinai which is worth listening to. Timothy Keller drew three lessons:

• Do not confine God to your world view.

• God works in all sort of places,  even those not on your map that is where you least expected.

• Don't put God in your box.

Timothy quoted Elizabeth Elliot from her book Through The Gates of Splendor, "God is God and if he is God there is no place except in His will and that will always be immeasurably, unspeakably and infinitely beyond any of your largest notion about what He is about to do."

It is laughable how some of us in our conceit can conceive God. We treat God like a 'Jack in the Box,' a toy some of us had as children. We try to demonstrate God the same way we open up that box, putting up a show to impress. This often can end up being clownish. 

We cannot show God. Only God will show us who He is. Elijah brought down fire from heaven but God comes in whisper.  

Jimmy Owens wrote a song, 'He Cares For Me' that speaks of the greatness of God and a most wonderful truth is that this Almighty God cares for us.

Our God is far greater

Than words can make known

Exalted and holy, He reigns on His throne

In infinite splendour He rules over all

Yet He feeds the poor sparrows

And He knows when they fall

His power is great and will ever endure

His wisdom is peaceable, gentle and pure

But greater than all these glories I see

Is the glorious promise that He cares for me

The earth and the heavens

Are the works of His hands

And billions of angels

Obey His commands

He guides the great galaxies, spinning through space

Yet He gave us His Son as a gift of His grace

He rides the wild heavens

He strides through the sea

The high mountains tremble

To hear His decrees

His voice with great thundering

Sounds from above

But to His own children

He whispers His love

Who are we to say who can or cannot be saved by God? Who are we to choose whom should God care?  God comes in a multiplicity of ways and in a word of grace.

Lionel

God Of The Second Chances

 

Starry Starry Night - Australian Academy of Science

'When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is mankind the you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?' Psalm 8:3-4

The Book of Jonah depicted a merciful God and told the story of a God of the Second Chances. 

God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn the city of the impending doom if they did not turn from their wickedness. The Assyrian empire were extremely cruel. Their victories were followed by violent slaughter, enslavement and barbaric torture. The reluctant prophet Jonah, did not expect that the people would heed the warnings and repent of their evil deeds. Even so, Jonah did not expect God to be so merciful. Yet, dramatically and unexpectedly the Ninevites repented.

'And the people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least they declared a fast and put on burlap (sackcloth) to show their sorrow.' Jonah 3:5 (NLT)

Nineveh

The king of Nineveh declared

"People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change His mind and hold back His fierce anger from destroying us." Jonah 3:8,9 (NLT)

God gave them a reprieve, a second chance

'When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, He changed His mind and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened.' Jonah 3:10

The Bible is replete with accounts of the many times the people of God rebelled, worshipped false gods and created idols for themselves. Time and time again God relented, gave them many chances when they humbled themselves and turned to him.

Exodus 32 recorded the great sin of the Golden Calf at the time when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The Israelites turned against God and to idolatry. God had said that His anger will burn against them and that He may destroy them. But Moses sought favour with God and in the end it was recorded in Exodus 32:14, almost to the letter, as in Jonah 3:10,

'Then God changed His mind and did not bring to His people  the disaster He had threatened.' 

God relented.

Repentance and revival occur with communities and churches; it also can occur for us in personal encounters. This was Jonah's experience in the belly of the fish. Jonah had refused to obey God's call, ran away from Him only to be brought to the depths of despair. In that desperation Jonah came to his senses, 

'Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and He answered me. I called to You from the land of the dead, and Lord, You heard me....But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord." Jonah 2:1 and 6b, 7a (NLT)

Mr Guan Yeow Kwang, speaking at the Charis Methodist Church on the 26 June 2022, described this second chance as being rescued from the ultimate low, plucked out of the watery grave. Guan said, when we repent we will

• Remember God
• Receive God's Grace
• Rediscover God's Intimacy

This was King David's experience too and he eloquently described this in Psalm 51.

'Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stains of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognise my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence, and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.'

Amazing Grace! Timothy Keller dedicated his book on Jonah (Ref 1), The Prodigal Prophet to John Newton. Keller wrote

'In gratitude to God for the life and ministry of John Newton (1725-1807) who also turned back to God during a storm, and became a pastor who has taught us, and untold number of others, the beauty of amazing grace'

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved;

how precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come:

'tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

his word my hope secures;

he will my shield and portion be

as long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease:

I shall possess, within the veil,

a life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

the sun forbear to shine;

but God, who called me here below,

will be forever mine

We should gaze at the night sky, consider the stars and the heavens; then realise how fortunate and privilege we are, recipients of God's mercy and grace.

'But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.' John 1:12

Lionel

Ref 1: Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet, Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy. Hodder and Stoughton, 2018

Christian Missions - Christian Witness or Culture Subjugation?

'Then you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.' John 8:32

Kent Nerburn's book “Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce” is a story of a band of Red Indians, 800 men, women and children, who were relentlessly pursued by the US Army. In 1877, they were illegally forced from their homeland in Oregon. In an attempt to break free from the reservation where they were quartered, this band led by a series of chiefs conducted a 1,500 miles retreat to try and reach sanctuary in British Canada. They outmaneuvered five US armies but finally about 40 miles from the Canadian border and freedom, the tired Nez Perce, surrounded by US forces and laden with wounded and sick, surrendered. They could have escaped if they left their wounded, their sick, their women and children behind. 

Their remaining Chief, Joseph or Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekht or Thunder Rising in the Mountains negotiated a settlement to repatriate to their homeland in high Willowa Valley in the mountains of eastern Oregon. But the US government recapitulated on its promises and sent them under harsh and privation conditions to the Indian Reservation Territory in Oklahoma. Many members of the tribe died during the repatriation especially the elderly and children (Ref 1).

What is rather concerning for the Christian community is a side and obscure story about the effect early Christian missions had on the Indian tribes. While some missionaries are kind, others are exploitative. Along with the preaching of the good news, came the inevitable subjugation of a proud Indian culture. When Jesus said “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” he was meaning freedom from sin and the bondage attached to the sinful nature. It was not an intention to replace a perceived inferior culture with a superior one. The Gospel message has become adulterated by way of life of the missionary, an unwelcomed superiority complex. When the unconverted Nez Perce rejected this subjugation, they were seen as unrepentant savages.

The US government thinking that the church would probably be benevolent to these communities appointed Indian Reservation Agents from the Christian community, the Quakers and Presbyterians. However, these so called Christian agents were corrupt, withheld and pilfered the already meager privileges and supplies consigned to the Indians.

The betrayal was eloquently uttered in these words of the Chief Joseph, “Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle. Good words cannot give me back my children. Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.”

The disgraceful behavior of Christians are contrasted with the honourable behaviour of the Indians, the non-Christians. The Book of Jonah also showed this disgraceful contrast. Twice the prophet Jonah encountered people who were racially and religiously different from him, once on board ship in a storm and again in the evangelistic crusade in Nineveh. Jonah's behaviour towards these pagans (an unfortunate derogatory term to describe non-Christians) were dismissive whereas the pagans acted admirably. Timothy Keller (Ref 2) wrote that one of the main messages of the Book of Jonah is that 'God cares how we believers (Christians) relate to and treat people who are deeply different from us. God wants us to treat people of different races and faiths in a way that is respectful, loving, generous and just. 

We continue to face the same error in modern missions, where well intended Christians and churches use their superior spending power in the interest of social concerns to secure conversions of poor and unreached people groups. There was no regard for preserving what is good and acceptable in the indigenous culture and conditions of these people. We cannot replace genuine Christian love by just the showering of gifts. 

The quotation of Chief Joseph is an indictment whenever the Living Word becomes replaced by hollow words. Are we evangelizing with the Living Word or has 'there been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.' 

Timothy Keller pointed out that two lessons from the Book of Jonah can help Christian missions from committing the same pitfalls.

• Seek the Common Good. Like Jonah and the sailors, believers and nonbelievers are in the same boat of this crooked world. God is the God of all people and we need to see ourselves as part of the whole human community and not only as members of the faith community.

• Recognise the Common Grace. God bestows gifts of wisdom, moral insights, goodness and beauty across humanity, regardless of race or religious beliefs. Christians are to respect and learn from the wisdom God gives to others who are non-believers.

This is a perennial challenge for Christian Missions. 'I Love to Tell the Story' but let us to so with grace, mercy and truth.

I love to tell the story

Of unseen things above

Of Jesus and his glory

Of Jesus and his love

I love to tell the story

Because I know 'tis true

It satisfies my longings

As nothing else can do

I love to tell the story

'Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

Of Jesus and his love

I love to tell the story

For those who know it best

Seem hungering and thirsting

To hear it like the rest

And when, in scenes of glory

I sing the new, new song

'Twill be the old, old story

That I have loved so long

I love to tell the story

'Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

Of Jesus and his love

To tell the old, old story

Of Jesus and his love

Lionel

Ref 1: http://nativeamericanrhymes.com/chiefs/joseph.htm

Ref 2: Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet, Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy. Hodder and Stoughton, 2018

Updated, article first published 13 Apr 2007

In The Belly Of A Whale

Whale (Pastel painting by Christine Lee, Feb 2021)

'Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn his fierce anger so that we will not perish.' Jonah 3:8-9

On the 27 Jan 2021, the Internal Security Department disclosed that a 16 year old Singaporean Protestant Christian was arrested for plotting to attack two mosques in Singapore. He was influenced by online antipathy towards Islam. The Singaporean protestant community was in for a rude shock, that in our midst there may be individuals who have such radical views as to plot harm against our fellow Muslim citizens

Timothy Keller in the book The Prodigal Prophet (Ref 1) on the book of Jonah explained that such Christians have shallow identities resulting in some being racists. These professing Christians have a self-righteous image, blinded to their flaws and sins; hostile to those who are different.

Jonah the prophet was like that, he was a nasty and self-righteous person. He could not believe that God would save those he considered to be irredeemable. He had bias and negative views of people who are racially and religiously different from him; a toxic disdain of people with different faiths. So when God ordered him to preach to the people of Nineveh in order that they could repent and turn to God, he was flabbergasted and defiant. He simply refused and sailed away in the opposite direction. 

God punished him. While at sea a raging storm broke. What followed was a seemingly implausible event. Jonah was thrown into the sea during that severe storm and was swallowed by a big fish. In the belly of the whale, Jonah prayed, "In my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help and you listen to my cry." Jonah 2:1-2. Three days later, that big fish vomited him onto a beach.  

Upclose Whale-Watching@Merimbula, NSW Australia-5 Sep 2008

People who debate whether this is a real story or a fairy tale will miss the real miracle behind the Jonah story, the wonderful grace of God. Despite the incorrigible nature of the Ninevites, Jonah was sent to these people to preach repentance and a return to God. Unexpectedly, they heeded Jonah's warnings, God showed them mercy and the city of Nineveh was saved. Thus, Jonah's shameful behaviour helped demonstrate God's grace for people beyond the Christian community. God saved the city just as He rescued Jonah. 

The Book of Jonah shows how much God desires us to be peacemakers, to build bridges across different communities and faiths. It was very heartening that the day after the troubling news broke, Muslim and Christian leaders met to singularly condemn this terror plot and to reaffirm mutual trust. Thereafter the newspapers carried articles of the necessity to maintain religious harmony and respect for different races and religions.

Are there bigoted people like Jonah around, imprisoned by the narrowness of their self-righteous prejudices? God's grace can turn them around. God's love can build bridges across many communities and help maintain the harmony between the various races.    

There is a old familiar song, Wonderful Grace of Jesus which clearly states what this Grace has done and will do for all of us.

Wonderful Grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free;
O the Wonderful Grace of Jesus reaches me!

Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaching to all the lost;

By it I have been pardoned, saved to the uttermost.
Chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty;
O the Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaches me!

Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled;
By its transforming power,
Making me God's dear child,
Purchasing peace and Heaven, for all eternity;
And the Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaches me!

Refrain

Wonderful the matchless Grace of Jesus,
the matchless Grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
the rolling sea;
Wonderful Grace, all sufficient for me, for even me
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame
my sin and shame,
O magnify the precious name of Jesus,
PRAISE HIS NAME!

Lionel

Ref 1: Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet - Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy. Hodder and Stoughton, 2018.