Luke 5: Settling for Less

This year, I am not reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelations as I normally do. That gives one a great view of the Bible from a historical and chronological perspective.  This year, however, since God's perspective is all encompassing, I am reading several parts simultaneously.  I started in Genesis and the prophets and am now in the chronicles of the kings and Luke in the New Testament.  So I'm going to divert to Luke as far as this blog is concerned, at least for today.

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. -Luke 5:1-11 NIV

If you just read the version of the calling of the disciples in the book of  Matthew, you would get the impression that Jesus was casually walking by some fishermen and called out, "Follow me!"  This is not the case.  Jesus was already being followed by the crowds.  He saw Peter and his two fishing buddies, James and John, washing their nets after a disappointing night of catching nothing.  Jesus borrowed Peter's boat to preach to the crowd from the shore then rewarded the fishermen with a catch that their nets were barely able to contain. 

By the world's standards, Peter, James and John should have been content with this miraculous catch that provided them more income in a few minutes than they normally experienced in an entire night, and perhaps in an entire week.  What a gravy train they had discovered.  I suppose they could have asked Jesus to give them the power to have that type of catch every night so they could become millionaires, but instead they were in awe.  So much so, that they forgot about earthly practicalities and left everything and followed Jesus.

Sadly, today, I think most of us are interested in having our worldly needs met rather than meeting the source. When Jesus can reveal the Father to us, can reveal God himself, why do we settle for daily provision, when He is offering so much more?

2 Kings 25: Left Behind

But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. - 2 Kings 25: 12 NIV

It has always been true that the poorest remain, those that have nothing to offer are never taken into exile.  They have no talent, or so it would appear.

It is so easy today to feel left out. Christians are not a vibrant part of the culture any more.  They are not part of the intelligentsia.  Their influence on the arts is almost non-existent.  Today, a Christian is more likely to be a farmer or factory worker rather than a university professor.  They are more likely to be a house cleaner than a Hollywood star, a servant rather than the one being served.  Lest we become too disheartened, we need to remember that this is the way it has always been.  From the ratty bunch of brick makers that fled Egypt, to a rag tag group of fishermen and tax collectors, God's people have never been the acclaimed ones.  More often than not God's people have been the ones who were abased, but that has never meant that they were abandoned. 

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. - 2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. - 1 Cor. 1:27 NIV

These are the 'buts" of the gospel.  That is how God has always chosen to work. Instead of being rejected, the weak, the poor and unlovely are loved by the Father.  We need to remember that one day, we will not be the remnant, we will no longer be the ones left behind. 

2 Kings 23: A Brief Shining Moment

The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 
Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed. 
But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem. - 2 Kings 23:21-12 NIV

Of all the Old Testament kings, Josiah is my favorite.  His story is not as exciting as that of King David.  He didn't kill a pesky giant with a slingshot and small stone.  He didn't slay ten thousands of Israel's enemies.  All he did was try to be what God had wanted the Children of Israel to be all along, God followers.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. - 2 Kings 23:25

Josiah certainly didn't get this heart for the Lord from his family.  His father, Amon, was an evil, idol worshipper,  His grandfather, Manasseh finally followed the Lord, but only after years of building up the high places that his father, Hezekiah, destroyed, re-instituting idol worship, practicing sorcery and divination and even sacrificing his own son in the fire.

Josiah was surrounded by the wicked remnants of his family, yet his heart was open to the Lord and the more he learned about God's requirements, the more he instituted God's laws, with all his heart, soul and strength.  There were no compromises where Josiah was concerned. His family before and his sons after were not God followers, but during his lifetime, there was no mistaking what it meant to follow after God and keep the Law of Moses.  For one brief, shining moment, the hearts were turned to God.

2 Kings 18: Kings Will Be Kings

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.  2 Kings 18:5-8 NIV

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, which is translated as,  "The more things change, the more they stay the same.". This was certainly true of the kings of Israel and Judah.  The more wicked the kings and the people  became, the shorter the reigns of the kings.  Treachery followed treachery until there were no more kings in Israel and the people were taken into exile under a foreign ruler.

Things were to be different in Judah for several more generations.  Judah still occasionally had a godly king, and when that happened, the nation and it's people would prosper.  They were saved from the fate of Israel.  The king of Assyria was not able to subdue Judah while Hezekiah was king.  When Hezekiah died, godliness was forgotten and the kings and the people reverted to their sinful ways.  It's hard to keep God in charge when the people perceive that a king would to a much better job.

2 Kings 9: Bloody Murder

Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. - 2 Kings 9:30 NIV

The Kings of Israel were a murderous crew, murderous and sinful.  God would let them go so far, and then they had to pay.  This was especially true of the family of Ahab.  Even Judah was tainted by association, when Ahaziah, who was married to a daughter of Ahab, became king. God always intervenes at some point and so Jehu was anointed to succeed Joram as Israel's king.  With great zeal, he killed both Joram and Ahaziah, the kings of Israel and Judah.  He then destroyed the entire family of Ahab, including Ahab's wicked wife Jezebel.

Jezebel must have been a beauty, because when she heard the news of Jehu's claiming the throne, she prettied herself up and waited.  She failed to realize that while man looks on outward appearance, God can see the heart and her heart was anything but beautiful.  She met the fate Elijah prophesied.  She was devoured by the dogs. 

Beauty, at least beauty in the eyes of the world's standards cannot save us. We need to remember that in an age that is so obsessed with appearance and perfection.  The best makeup and latest hairstyle is not enough to cover up what lurks inside.  God still looks on the heart.  He sees right through all of our bloody, murderous hearts that no amount of makeup can cover up.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.



O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow;
no other fount I know;
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
nothing but the blood of Jesus. - Robert Lowry

2 Kings 6: Unopened Eyes

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 
And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. - 2 Kings 6:15-17 NIV

We live in a world of unopened eyes.  There are forces we cannot see that are surrounding us at all times. 

Years ago, I heard a young man from India tell about his conversion and his experiences before that as the child of a yogi who practiced astral projection.  The young man said that he learned from his father how to encounter out of body experiences.  However, he stated, they were not as one would think.  Out of body experiences took him to a frightening world where there were all kinds of demons and, ugly creatures as well as angelic beings floating in a universe we cannot see. 

Perhaps his story is true.  Certainly, from some of the Old Testament accounts, there is another realm to existence that we have yet to experience.  For now, we see through a glass darkly.  The whole of existence is not clear to us yet, but one day, we will see, we will be known, we will fully know.

2 Kings 3: Is There No Prophet Here?

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?” An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah. ” - 2 Kings 3:11, NIV

I have asked the same question myself many times as I view all that is going on in our world today.  Where are the prophets?   Where are the miracles?  Why do we not see God's hand moving against the corruption, decadence and despair of this world??  Why? 

I don 't have an answer, but I know this.  God is not dead and he is not asleep, unlike the other gods.

And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. - 1 Kings 18:27 KJV

 

The gods of this world are impotent, but not our God, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Sometimes I think that God has gone silent like in the intertestamental  period of the Bible.  If so, the silence is deafening, but it gives us great hope.  It was after that period of silence that the Messiah appeared. Can it be that this silence is leading up to his coming again?

1 Kings 17-22: Ahab

Many of us are like Elijah.  We serve the Lord.  We can attest to his miracle working power and provision.  We can even hear his voice sometimes, but trusting is another matter.  Elijah's life was interwoven with the life of his arch enemies, Ahab and Jezebel.  As a result, Elijah often failed to trust the God who provided food via a bunch of ravens and led him to the widow of Zarephath and her son, where God fed the three of them from her limited, but never dwindling, supply of oil and flour. 

Elijah trusted God.  He never doubted that God could  burn up a water saturated offering and put the heathen god, Baal, to shame.  Elijah trusted God for everything except when it came to the ones in power, Ahab and Jezebel.  When they threatened him, he ran for his life, sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die.

He need not have worried.  God had it under control all along.  Ahab and Jezebel would never have been in their position of power if it had not been God's will.   God knew that it was not just the hearts of the kings that had turned against him.  It was the hearts of the people as well.  The hearts of the people chose to worship the Baals and all the other heathen gods.  The hearts of the people got the ruler they deserved. 

Ahab and Jezebel became just another name on the long list of the enemies of God who have done so much evil down through the centuries.  They may have made a name for themselves, but their power could never usurp that of the God of all creation. 

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. - Luke 1:50-52 NIV

1 Kings 16: Overthrown

As for the other events of Zimri’s reign, and the rebellion he carried out, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 
Then the people of Israel were split into two factions; half supported Tibni son of Ginath for king, and the other half supported Omri.
But Omri’s followers proved stronger than those of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king. - 1 Kings 16:20-22 NIV

What Solomon said about there being nothing new under the sun continues to play itself out in daily life.  The Arab Spring and the more recent upheaval in Egypt are merely copies of events three thousand years ago in the kingdom of Israel.  We consider ourselves so advanced, so civilized, but mankind has always been and always will be the same.  We're all jockeying for power.  We're all heading for a fall. All government is prone to political intrigue and upheaval.  No one is immune. 

As John Dahlberg-Acton, the 1st Baron of Acton, wrote in 1887, "I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it."

• Letter to Mandell Creighton (5 April 1887), published in Historical Essays and Studies, by John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (1907), edited by John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, Appendix, p. 504;

We live in a fallen world, and as such, our heroes are fallen as well, be they popes, politicians, or preachers.  We would do well to put our faith in the only One who is infallible, the only One who cannot be corrupted, the only One who cannot be overthrown.

1 Kings 13: Another Neglect

While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back. 
He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. 
You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.’” - 1 Kings 13:20-22 NIV

This story has always fascinated me.  How could two men hear a different word from the Lord?  That God spoke to the first prophet cannot be disputed.  Everything he prophesied about Israel eventually came true.  The old prophet, however, was not afraid to lie to get what he wanted, so he told the first prophet that God had told him to bring him to his house so he could eat and drink, contrary to the message he had heard from God.  The old prophet fabricated everything for his own means until he heard the true voice of God and realized the consequences of his actions. 

I think the lesson to be learned from this is that when we hear God speak, and know that it is truly his voice, we cannot listen to what anyone else would tell us on God's behalf.  We cannot neglect what God commands us for another voice.  God does not get confused and He does not confuse us.  If we are confused, it is not His voice we are hearing.

1 Kings 8: Neglect

“Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 
May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. 
May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. 
And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 
so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.” - 1 Kings 8:56-61 NIV

I love Solomon's prayer of dedication for the temple that he built, how he beseeches God over and over again to "Hear us from heaven." when we commit any of the sins against him that we are prone to commit.  When a man wrongs his neighbor, when the people have been defeated by their enemies, when there is no rain because of the people's sins, when famine, plague or any form of disaster or disease falls upon the people, Solomon prays. "Hear us from heaven."

So, I find myself guilty, guilty of neglect, of not following the Lord with my whole heart, just like the Children of Israel were prone to do.  There are a lot of outside forces I could blame it on:  I have responsibilities, life places so many demands on us, I'm weary from watching the world go to hell in a handbag, but none of these are sufficient.  I may not be prone to wander, but I am prone to neglect. 

Hebrews 2:3 states "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him."  There it is.  Just like the Children of Israel, we have been saved from the clutches of the one who seeks to destroy and with that salvation comes the responsibility of not neglecting it.  Thanks be to God that he is all loving and forgiving.  All we have to do is confess our sin and he will hear us from heaven and forgive.  All of our sins will be forgiven, even the sin of neglect.