If only they knew ...

It was Paul who birthed this thought in me in his first letter to the church in Corinth. In chapter 2, he explains the hidden plan of God which has been revealed to all saints through the spirit.  I often tell students that when I speak to them during a life skill lesson, I am not trying to tell them what to do or how to live their lives, but that I am giving them information to make informed decisions. I believe that this is helpful because the next time they make decisions, they will remember what the consequences are which may ultimately affect their choices. For instance you are more likely to change/stop bad habits if I told you of their long term consequence on your life holistically, than if I just told you to stop your bad habits. Because of this knowledge, my eyes got stuck on a specific verse which says quite a lot about how people’s actions and probably even thoughts could change “if only they knew” the plan.  “... what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God – [that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages of our glorification [to life us up into the glory of his presence]. None of the rulers of our age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for it they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” If only the rulers of the day knew that Jesus would rise from the dead and establish the biggest movement in history, they would not have killed Him. Their ignorance of God divine plan led to the victory over death through the death of Christ, which they thought was a goal on their team, but in essence; they had just scored an own goal. 

There are actually a few “if only they knew” moments in the events towards the crucifixion of Jesus.  When Jesus was questioned by Pilate and did not respond, in attempt to intimidate him he said: “do you not realize that I have the power to release you or to crucify you” to which Jesus replied: “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above.” It’s almost as if Jesus is saying “No ... you have it twisted, you are the one that needs to realize here, not me. ‘if only you knew’ that my father has actually given you the power, you would not say that.” Pilate seemed to be the one in the position of power, but would soon realize that it was the other way around. At the arrest of Jesus, Peter draws his sword and cuts the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus immediately rebukes his ignorance by ordering him to put away his sword and he said these words to him: “don’t you realize that I could ask my father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them immediately? But if I did, how would the scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”  Peter himself did not understand the plan, it was not yet revealed to him even though Jesus had spoken to them about it.  If only he knew/understood that Jesus had to go through the struggle and the pain for the purpose of God to prevail, he would not have struck the soldier’s ear off.  It is much like our lives sometimes, we want the pain and struggle to go away and we don’t realize that the pain is there for a lesson that we must learn. Some of the struggles that we go through were divinely planned for our character to be built, in preparation for all the responsibilities that God has for us in the future and if only we knew that, we would; just like Christ endure the struggle/pain with hope in Christ who has plans to prosper us and not to harm us.  Romans 5 clarifies that we rejoice in our struggles because they develop in us “perseverance; perseverance character; character hope.”

In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and asks her for a drink. This simple request turns into a racial issue and Jesus; knowing exactly what the woman really needs says these words: “if only you knew the gift of God for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”(Emphasis added). The woman did not know that she was talking to the promised Christ, the Son of the Living God.  She was ignorant of the fact that he was able to satisfy her deep need for love and acceptance.  I bet you that if she knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah, her response to Jesus would have been different.  This is a classic example of how the plan of God is hidden and can only be known through the Spirit of God that is in us.  As soon as the woman realized who she was talking to, she left her jar there and went into the city to tell everyone of the man who told her everything about herself.  You see, Joseph’s brothers would never have sold him if they knew that they would need him in a time of famine.  The people would never have drowned if they had listened to the counsel of Noah when he announced the coming of the flood.  Nebuchadnezzar would never have thrown the 3 men in the fiery fire if he knew that the Son of Man would save them, neither would they have thrown Daniel in the Lion’s den if they knew that God would shut their mouth. All the things that happened above were all in the plan of God to show his greatness to man, but when they happened it was tough and seemed like God was not in them at all. Regardless of them being hard, people endured and in the end reaped the benefits of enduring hardship.  Won’t you have a different view of pain and struggles, now that you KNOW that it all is in the divine plan of the Most High God who cannot be mistaken?

God Bless You all and Thanx for reading

Sello Scalo Mmane

Self Sufficiency Vs Dependence. Part II

When human beings are left to themselves, they are a danger to themselves.  Sundar Singh puts it this way; “it is possible for the sheep to wander from the fold and the shepherd, and find in the jungle good pasturage, but they are all the time in danger of being torn to pieces by wild beasts, which will be their fate in the end.  But those who abide in the fold and with the shepherd, though they may appear to be sick and feeble, are certainly free from anger and in the shepherds care. This is the difference between believers and unbelievers.” Most of us would agree that this is the story of our lives; we wandered off into the jungle called “I want to do it MY way” and as a result we were almost torn to pieces by beasts and we have the scars in deep in our hearts to prove it.  For some us, we are still in this jungle and have no intention of getting back to the shepherd because the pasturage that we have found by ourselves is a bit too nice to let go of. Our experience can attest that commonly all the things that are not nice are good for us, and all the nice things are commonly not good for us.  Think of how you don’t like your veggies (that are good for u), but love your sweets (which are not so good for you) or how abstinence from sex until marriage is such a tough thing than just doing it now.  When we are relying on ourselves to get by, we end up hurting ourselves.  Ultimately, self-reliance is covert arrogance which says to God; thanks but no thanks. It is like saying to God: “Look I know you created this world and you know everything about it, but frankly I don’t need you to get around, I can be my own navigator.”  I used to live like this until I met Jesus and I realized that I needed a spiritual navigator whose batteries will never go flat, after all it was Jesus who said “without HIM we can do nothing.”

I was going through my bible the other day and came across a very interesting story of a man who demonstrated dependence in God instead of self-reliance.  It is found in 2 Chronicles 20, where 3 nations unite to attack the Israelites in attempt to annihilate them all.  At the word of the messengers about the coming of the army and how close they are, King Jehoshaphat immediately calls for a fast and enquires of the Lord. This struck me because I know that whenever I am faced with a struggle, the first person that I consult is ME, and if I don’t succeed; then only do I consult God.  But this man of God does not even look for the power within himself because he acknowledges that he is weak without God.  While they are fasting, Jehoshaphat makes this prayer of total helplessness to God (v:12b) “... we are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We don’t know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” Notice that this is not only an acknowledgement of physical powerlessness, but also that of Intellect. He says that they do not “know” what to do, they have no clue how to deal with this. What he basically says in this prayer is “Lord if you don’t save us, we are doomed!”  I was shocked at the Lord’s instruction from there, he orders them to march against them, for he will fight on their behalf; all they have to do is march against the enemy (with no weapons). The Lord fights on their behalf and they did not even lift a finger in the battle, all they did was praise and worship God.  Their helplessness moved God to fight on their behalf; He could not stand and watch his helpless children be defeated by pagan nations. Now these people took God at his word and did not carry some swords or any other artillery to protect themselves just in case God does not show up, they fully relied on him to come through for them and he did, because the bible declares that those who trust in the Lord will never be put to shame.

You know how your life is right now, and you know if you are part of the fold that is under the care of the shepherd, totally relying on Him to take them to greener pastures or if you are the sheep that wandered off in the jungle to enjoy your OWN pasturage which you found by yourself.  What is stopping you from depending on God? How about you give Him a chance to prove that he takes care of the sheep that is under his care?

God Bless You stax and thanx for reading.

Sello “Scalo” Mmane