One of the coolest things
I’ve experienced in my walk with the Lord is how He sometimes teaches me
profound things through the almost off-hand comments of others. I was watching an old video of Don
Richardson (author of “Peace Child”) the other day and he mentioned how most of
the major Jewish characters of the Old
Testament are shown interacting with Gentiles;
Abraham and Abimelech; Issac and the Philistines; Jacob and Laban the Aramean; Joseph and the Egyptians; Moses and Jethro; Naomi and Ruth; David and the Philistines; Solomon and the queen of
Sheba; Jonah and the Assyrians of
Nineveh; Elijah and the widow of Zarephath; Elisha and the Naaman; Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar; Esther and King Ahasuerus; Ezra and King Artaxerxes; Nehemiah and King
Artaxerxes....
There are many others too,
and even the above list is notably absent of many on the Gentile side of the
equation. Blessing the nations was of course the whole point of God’s blessing the
nation of Israel in the first place (Gen 12:3). Yet if we understand that most of the OT is
concerned with exactly that, then it suggests that God is somehow more
publically at work when there is interaction with unreached people.
That makes sense, because
in such interactions He must reveal Himself through those who already know
Him. It is a small truth, but the
implication of that is huge. I know I
can experience God personally through
the spiritual disciplines (study of His Word, various forms of prayer,
etc). If I engage in more of those
disciplines I am bound to experience more of Him in my life – personally. Yet perhaps it would also be possible to
experience more of Him in my life publically
if I am involved in purposeful interaction with unreached people. After all, isn’t the whole point of being
blessed (by an experience of Him) to be a blessing to those who do not yet know
Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment