Course Corrections

Most of the time I have a fairly good sense of direction, which is one reason I scoff at the idea of a GPS. Who needs satellite positioning and step by step directions when you have a map? Who needs “Sari” or any number of available GPS voices to walk you through the step by step process, when you know where you are going and a vague sense of how to get there? I am usually fairly confident that I can figure things out on my own. Sometimes, that confidence works out well, and sometimes, well let’s say I can hear the voice in my head saying “recalculating.” Sometimes, I have to admit, I do find myself on entirely the wrong road, or the right road heading in the opposite direction from where I need to be.

Am I alone here? Or can many of us sometime think we are on the right course, even when we are confidently heading in the wrong direction? Even when we don’t like to admit it, we sometimes need a “Sari” or someone to intervene and get our attention. We need someone to alert us that we are headed on the wrong path. We need someone to correct our course and to get us back on the right path to our destination.

The Tower of Babel is the story of God intervening and correcting the course of mankind. He needed to get their attention. God had instructed mankind from the very beginning, Genesis 1:28, to “Be fruitful and increase in number: fill the whole earth and subdue it.” Yet, in the story of Babel, the people have forgotten those words. Their goal is to isolate themselves, to build a wall around the city, to keep to themselves, to keep from being scattered all across the earth. God wanted them to fill the earth, and they wanted to keep from filling the earth and stay in their nice comfort zone with each other. You can almost hear them asking, Why do we need anyone else? Why do we need to go anywhere else? We have everything we need right here. Let’s stay here forever.

But that was never God’s design. God called Abram out of his country, Genesis 12; He sent Paul to the Gentiles throughout Asia, (Acts). He calls us to take His love to the nations, to go into Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). He calls us to follow Him, wherever He leads, whether here at home or far abroad, across town serving or across the world.

And in the story of Babel, when ALL the people unanimously decided they didn’t need to follow, that they needed to stay and make for themselves a name and a tower, they were heading in the wrong direction, directly away from what God had commanded. Stephen Covey says leaders make sure the ladders they are climbing are leaning against the right walls. And here, no one was leading, no one was asking if they were doing the right thing. No one was speaking up reminding them of God’s greater purpose and His will.

So, God intervened and got their attention. He sent them a much-needed course correction, to re-orient the whole group of them to His will. He scattered them across the earth. He put them exactly where He wanted them to be all along, all over the earth. I can imagine His voice, saying “recalculating.”
It’s similar to the story of Jonah. God called Jonah to go and preach to the city of Ninevah. Jonah didn’t want to go, so he headed in the opposite direction. But God is sovereign and He issues course corrections, as needed. He got Jonah’s attention and redirected his path. God used a whale and some fishermen to accomplish His will. And He put Jonah back on the path to Ninevah, where He wanted Jonah all along.

That can seem kind of harsh, if we just look at the surface. God is sovereign and He is going to accomplish His will regardless. But if we look at His will, we see it’s not harsh at all. It’s because of His great love for us that He guides us and corrects us. As a loving Father, He wants the best for us, even if that means disciplining us. He works all things out for good in our lives and like a good Father, He has good things in store. Sometimes that means keeping us from the danger of ourselves, and sometimes that means getting our attention when we are heading in the wrong direction. God had great plans for Jonah’s life – to use him to ignite a large revival and bring a whole people group back to God. God used Babel for good by placing people all over the earth. From the very beginning God’s design was for all the nations and all the earth to know Him, His truth and His great love. A message that we are never to forget (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and one that Jesus would again command us to fulfill (Matthew 28:19-20).

God’s discipline is unpleasant at times, but I’m so glad that He is a loving Father that doesn’t allow us to continue down the wrong roads. I’m thankful for the course corrections in my life. They are proofs of a Father’s love and His master plan.

“Our Fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12: 10-11). Read another blog post on these verses here.

When has God corrected your course? In what ways has God’s discipline in your life brought a harvest of righteousness? Please share your comments and stories.

Giving, Stubborness, & Second Chances

Imagine two brothers, different personalities & interests. Imagine growing up together in a close-knit family and just imagine there is some sibling rivalry going on. Perhaps over the years, the brothers went their separate ways so to speak and made different choices in their lives. Then imagine them both coming to church and presenting their gifts to God - the fruits of their labor, time and energy. Now picture one of those brothers being recognized and commended for his offering and the other not. The second brother's offering was frowned upon and found to be wanting. And oh, the sibling rivalry comes full throttle and all that built up resentment from the years comes rushing back. That scene, between Cain & Abel, is where we pick up today with the Genesis Story, Genesis chapter 4.

This story is not so much about the sibling rivalry but really about Cain and his personal struggle with sin. Cain & Abel are brothers - Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer. Both of them came to present their offerings to God. Abel comes, we are told, bringing the firstborn of his flock (v 4). We find out in Hebrews, that Abel brought his offering in faith, out of a righteous heart toward God (Hebrews 11:4). In contrast, we are not told much about Cain’s offering, other than his offering was displeasing to God. We are not told that Cain gave the best, or the first fruits, or that his heart was righteous toward God. No such commentary.

I wonder how God reflects on our giving? If He were writing commentary on our offerings, would He say they reflect a righteous heart like Abel? Would He be pleased? Would He say that we had given our best and our first? Or does He look with displeasure on our offerings, seeing not just what we gave but what we held back from Him? Would he see our hearts were more focused on giving ourselves a pat on the back, or on truly worshipping God as the giver of all good things?

Those questions haunt me, as I think they should haunt all of us. I want to please God. I want to give God my best, but I know I don’t always live up to that. Sometimes, I put everything else in my life first and then give Him whatever time, money, energy is left over. And I know it must grieve Him so much; it so displeases and dishonors Him. But there is hope, for me and for all of us. God calls us back to Himself, reminds us that He only is worthy of our worship and praise. He wants and expects our best.

Look at how He responds to Cain – God engages Cain in conversation. He doesn’t just get angry at Cain and ignore him or punish him. Rather, He gets right to the heart of the matter and asks Cain to look at his own behavior, to examine his own heart. God lets Cain know this is not a favorite contest between Cain & Abel, but rather a matter of Cain’s heart. In fact, God clearly tells Cain that if he will do what is right, he will be accepted too (v7). But Cain is stubborn. He doesn’t listen. He gets angry at God and at Abel. God says, look at this. “Sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it” (v4). Cain ignores God’s warnings. He blazes on by, gives in to his anger, and kills his brother Abel. He let sin win.

I’ve been there too. Maybe we all have, times when we get stubborn toward God, when we know we are wrong, but don’t want to hear it, don’t want to change. There have been times I have known I was in dangerous territory, when I felt sin crouching at my door. And I had the chance to walk away, but I didn’t, times when I let sin win. And those times brought serious consequences, just like they did for Cain (vv 10-16). But thankfully, there have also been times when I made the better choice, when I saw the dangers ahead, when God got my attention, and I was able to escape the danger, times when God’s grace spared me from walking down the wrong path. I’m so grateful for those times, times when I had a second chance to do the right thing and to make the right choice, to have the right heart toward God and toward others.

The right heart… what was God looking for in Cain? What did he desire? And what does he desire from us? All through the sermon today on this story, one passage kept coming to my mind in answer to this question, Romans 12:1-2 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship….then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

What God wanted all along was Cain’s heart, a heart that would seek to please Him – that was the act of worship, not bringing produce to lay on an altar, but bringing his life to the altar, as one set apart for the will and pleasure of God. And that is what God desires of each of us – to give Him our lives, our best, our all, to worship Him and to please Him with the way we live our lives.

Note: This reflection was prompted by Dr Mike Toby's sermon on 9/17 on Genesis 4. This sermon is part of a series of messages on Genesis at First Baptist Church Woodway.To download sermons, visit the church website: http://www.fbcwoodway.org/resources/sermons/.

Eden - The Center of God's Will

The Garden of Eden - a place created especially for Adam & Eve, a place of indescribable beauty and unmistakable pleasure – Here, Adam & Eve were free to enjoy the best of God’s creation under His provision and protection. This was paradise created by God for them, out of His good will and for His good pleasure. When he saw that it was not good for man to be alone, He created woman (Genesis 2: 18). The garden was full of trees that were “pleasing to the eye and good for food” (2:9). In every sense, He wanted the very best for them and for us.

Sometimes we think that God’s will is this scary place, somewhere to be dreaded and feared, somewhere horrible where God might call us to go, or that He wants something bad for us, that He is someone who wants to take away our freedom or that He is unreasonable and unjust. But that’s not the truth of scripture. Here, from the very beginning, God creates beauty and goodness for His children. He wanted them to enjoy the abundance of life and to have an incredibly intimate and beautiful relationship with Him.

The goodness of these plans is echoed in Jeremiah. Even while proclaiming the coming judgment and exile of the Israelites, even when bad days were coming, God reminds them that He is working for their ultimate good. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). And indeed Jesus comes (God Himself) and proclaims, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

With those assurances that God cares and is working for my good and for our good, we don’t have to be afraid of His will. We don’t have to wonder if God is out to get us or to make us miserable. He’s not. He takes delight in us, and He wants the very best for us. That doesn’t mean that He caters to our desires, or is our genie in a bottle to grant our wishes. It means He is a loving Father that sees the bigger picture, that gives us boundaries to protect us from harm, instructs us in the ways that we should go, so that we will have a good and abundant life in Him, that we can enjoy the richness and intimacy of a relationship with Him.

At times, we question that goodness, particularly when God allows pain and suffering to come into our lives, or when His will seems the opposite of our desires. But James tells us that God even uses the trials of this life to work for our good. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1: 4). Paul iterates the same point in Romans – “And we know that in all things (even the bad things) God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Even in the face of evil, God works for good. What others mean for harm, God uses for good (Genesis 50:20). Even when we can’t see it or don’t understand it, the truth remains, God is good and we can trust that His will for us is good. “His ways are higher than our ways” (Isaiah 55: 8-9). When we follow, He leads us to green pastures and still waters; He restores our souls (Psalm 23: 2-3).

The Garden of Eden, then, is a picture of God’s great goodness, the richness and pleasure of a Father pouring out His blessing on His children, unhindered by sin and with complete and wonderful fellowship with God. What an image of what it looks like to be in the center of God’s will! That, my friends, is where I want to be. Don’t you?


Note: This reflection was prompted by Dr Mike Toby's sermon series on Genesis at First Baptist Church Woodway. To download sermons, visit the church website: http://www.fbcwoodway.org/resources/sermons/.