Tenacity

 

                                                                                

photo by Laurie Collett 2024

Experts in child development have said that very young children do not particularly enjoy magic tricks because they view everything around them as magical. The sun appears every morning, only to disappear every evening, replacing the golden gleam of the day with the black velvet of the night sky, bejeweled with countless tiny diamonds.

Adults, on the other hand, can become jaded, failing to see the miracles occurring in our daily lives, or dismissing them as merely the predictable outcome of scientific principles, and of reactions involving matter and energy. We therefore are more likely to appreciate magic shows, in which our beliefs about reality seem to be challenged in ways that surprise and amaze us.

I enjoy a good magic show as one of many forms of entertainment, particularly if it is performed with artistry and storytelling. But when I want to see a miracle evolving before my eyes, I am blessed that I don’t have to fly to Las Vegas and pay top dollar to see a first-rate magician. Rather, I can just make a quick visit to the hydroponic garden in our laundry room!

God’s creation is miraculous indeed, far surpassing any illusion or sleight-of-hand we might experience in a theatre! How a tiny seed can contain the genetic blueprint for a complex plant, and then quickly develop into that plant when exposed to water, light, and a few nutrients, baffles the imagination. But with God, all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26).

The Lord Jesus Christ created plants and all things by the Word of His mouth (Genesis 1). He is the Living Water (John 4:10), the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), and the Bread of Life (John 6:35,48), providing all that plants need to grow, and all that we need to grow as Christians, who have trusted in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).

My most recent planting includes cucumbers, which astound me with their tenacity in accomplishing their God-given purpose. They germinate quickly, even when planted upside down! In that case, the young shoot still pushes up defiantly from its porous support, often sporting the remains of the seed coating like a jaunty cap!

They develop rapidly, first two undifferentiated primary leaves, then two secondary leaves that grow into mature, prickly cucumber leaves. Then lovely yellow flowers tilt their faces toward the light, and as these dry up, a green, fuzzy bump appears and soon elongates into an immature cucumber.

Meanwhile, thin tendrils spiral outward from the main stem, fanning out in all directions looking for something to support them. In my hydroponic garden, where various plants occupy neighboring pods, the cucumbers need constant close supervision!

Left unchecked, the curly, sticky ends of the tendrils loop themselves around whatever happens to be nearby – a lettuce leaf, a radish stem, the electric cords supplying the lights, or even the lights themselves. I marvel at their tenacity in wrapping so tightly around their neighbors, but I have to step in and untangle them, freeing the other plants and training the cucumber tendrils around a more suitable support, such as the pipes housing the hydroponic pods.

Such tenacity is widespread throughout God’s creation. In the two years since Hurricane Ian, it is reassuring to see the destroyed vegetation rebounding at our favorite beach getaway. Tall, lush Norfolk Island pine trees that once seemed to brush against the ceiling of heaven were felled to the ground by nearly 200 mph gales, leaving only jagged, ugly stumps. But these have gradually started to grow again, not nearly as tall, but at least graced with pine boughs.

A pair of osprey had nested there for many years, only to disappear after Ian when their home was destroyed. But recently, I have heard their plaintive cry near their former nest, and on our most recent trip, I saw a female perched near the top of the regrowing tree, while her mate circled lazily in the skies above. Thanks to their resilience and tenacity, chicks will follow soon, in the same neighborhood, if not the same nest that Ian destroyed.

It reminds me that God also endowed each of His children with a resolve to accomplish His unique purpose for their lives. Like the cucumbers, we too can be tenacious in clinging to various supports, some of which are more suitable than others. Do we attempt to succeed by being overly reliant on our neighbors, like the lettuce and radishes planted near the cucumbers? If so, are we perhaps inadvertently choking off their growth and not advancing our own?    

What happens when our comfort zone suddenly disappears, like the osprey nest washed away in the storm? Or even worse, when our entire support system crumbles, like the pine trees razed to the ground? Do we turn away from God and blame Him for our upheaval, or do we draw closer to Him in prayer and in His Word, relying on Him to sustain us no matter what our external circumstances?

Sometimes God removes not only our blessings, but what we believe we need to survive. Job lost his wealth, family, and health, all in short order, yet he never cursed God (Job 2:9-10). In turn, God rewarded His faithfulness by restoring to him what he had lost and doubling his material wealth (Job 42:10).

Noah preached to mockers for nearly a century, following God’s command to build an ark to withstand a global flood coming to an earth that had never experienced rain, and God rewarded him and his family by saving them from the deluge and appointing them to restart the human race (Genesis 5:32-10:1).

Moses graciously accepted God’s “time out,” spending years tending sheep in the desert until God used him to lead His people out of Egypt (Exodus 3) and to the Promised Land – a journey that would take four decades of governing a stubborn, rebellious, complaining people (Joshua 5:6).

David also spent his youth tending sheep, perhaps wondering if God would ever use the gifts He gave him of courage, leadership, music and poetry. Not only did God make David chief musician to King Saul and ultimately King himself (1 Samuel 16), but He allowed him to establish his house as perpetual ruler over Israel (Jeremiah 33:17; 1 Kings 2:45), which in the Millennial Kingdom will culminate in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Luke 1:32).

The tenacity of all these heroes of the faith (Hebrews 11) is surpassed only by that of our Lord and Savior, Who left His heavenly throne and came to earth as human flesh (John 1:14), knowing that He was born to die to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, reconciling sinful man to Holy God (John 1:29). He resisted every temptation that humanity has ever encountered, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He endured rejection by His own people, mockery from the religious leaders of His day, betrayal by His closest friends, and humiliation and physical suffering at the hands of those He came to save (Matthew 26-27).

Worst of all, Jesus Christ endured momentary separation from His Holy Father as He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He tenaciously set His face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7) as He viewed Jerusalem, where He would be sacrificed as a Lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). He endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy of bringing salvation and eternal life to all who trusted Him (Hebrews 12:2). 

May we follow His example of tenacity, clinging not to our possessions, status, or power, or even to our health and relationships, but in putting our complete faith in and reliance on Almighty God, Who alone can save, sustain, restore and redeem us!

© 2024 Laurie Collett

For Such A Time

 

"Queen Esther" by Hugues Merle

Next week begins the Jewish feast of Purim, which commemorates saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an evil official of the Persian Empire under king Ahasuerus who planned to exterminate all of Persia's Jewish subjects.

Thankfully, Haman’s plans were foiled by Queen Esther, favored wife of Ahasuerus, herself a Jewess whom God had placed in this position of influence “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). She was an orphan adopted by her uncle Mordecai, who realized that God had orchestrated her unlikely rise to royal status so that she could help save His people.

He had wisely advised her to conceal her Jewish identity until it was needed to fulfill God’s purpose for her life. But now that her people were threatened, she could appeal to the king’s love for her to deliver all of them, and even to defeat Haman in the process, who ended up hanged on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai (Esther 5-10).

It would not be the first time God had placed an outsider in the enemy’s camp to protect or deliver His chosen people. Joseph’s eleven brothers, consumed by jealousy, sold him into Egyptian slavery. But what they intended for evil, God used for good (Genesis 50:20).

Joseph’s eventual rise to most trusted advisor to Pharaoh, despite a tumultuous course of events including false imprisonment, ultimately allowed him to provide for his family during the severe famine, leading to a surprising reunion and preservation of his brothers, who gave rise to the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 37-50).

God spared the life of Moses, a baby condemned to die under Pharaoh’s cruel edict to kill all the Hebrew male infants born in Israel, while their older relatives were held captive for slave labor. God carefully arranged all the details so that Moses would be nursed by his own mother, discovered by Pharaoh’’s daughter as a basket carrying him floated by the river Nile shore where she was bathing, and raised as her own son (Exodus 2).

This position of great privilege in the Egyptian court, while Moses retained his loyalty to his fellow Hebrews, gave him a tremendous advantage years later.  In a moment of anger, Moses murdered an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, and fled into the wilderness, where he spent years in exile. God spoke to him from a burning bush and announced His calling (Exodus 3). Moses would return to Egypt and deliver God’s people from captivity, ultimately leading them to safety as God parted the Red Sea for their escape, then reuniting the waters so that the Egyptians pursuing them would perish (Exodus 14).

Nehemiah, trusted cup-bearer to pagan king Artaxerxes, was in a unique position to lead the rebuilding of the wall fortifying Jerusalem. When he heard of the wall’s destruction, he convinced the king not only to give him time off to supervise the project, but also letters ensuring his safety while traveling and even construction supplies (Nehemiah 1-2).

Through God’s grace, He had lifted up Esther from the Babylonian captivity into a position of influence in the king’s palace, just as He later would elevate a humble young girl, the virgin Mary, to the honored position of being the mother of Jesus Christ, the promised Savior of the world.

God chose and exalted Mary despite her modest position in life because she was willing to obey Him and follow His perfect plan, considering herself to be the handmaiden, or servant, of the Lord (Luke 1:38; 46-53). This is in keeping with God’s ability to humble the mighty and wealthy while giving riches and power to the poor and helpless (1 Samuel 2:4-8), just as He did for Esther.

These Biblical examples, and many others, remind me that we as Christians, who have been saved by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), may also have been placed by God into our unique sphere of influence “for such a time as this.” Surely the signs of the times, with wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes in unusual places, false prophets, wickedness, all increasing in frequency and intensity like labor pains, point to us living in the End Times (Matthew 24), that period before Jesus returns to gather His children at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Not all Christians are missionaries facing hardship in foreign lands, but all of us are pilgrims, passing through this world that is not our home, journeying toward the Promised Land of Heaven. En route, God allows all of us to undergo trials, for our ultimate good and His glory (Romans 8:28). He has equipped each of us with spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), talents, and resources, and has placed us where we can grow (Jeremiah 17:7-8) to fulfill His unique purpose for us, which He knew since before the beginning of time (Ephesians 2:10).

Jesus Christ Himself was the only One Who could ever fully complete the work God set out for Him to do (John 17:4). Sadly, each of us will fall short of perfect fulfillment of God’s designated mission for us, but the degree of our success will be based on our faith, obedience to God’s call, and character. If, by yielding to the Holy Spirit, we can emulate the integrity, compassion, dedication, perseverance, devotion and humility of Esther, Joseph, Moses, Nehemiah, and Mary, we are more likely to accomplish our Divine mission. 

In these End Times, may we recognize that we have been positioned in God's Kingdom "for such a time as this" and follow His perfect will, living with faith, integrity and purpose until He comes again!

© 2023 Laurie Collett

 

I

God’s Hand Writing

When the hand of God wrote in the Old Testament, it was on stone, and in the New Testament, it was on sand. Praise God for the difference!

All of the Bible is the Word of God, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit and recorded by men God specifically chose for this purpose (2 Timothy 3:16). Many of the words of Jesus, Son of God and God Himself, are recorded in the Scripture, as are words of God speaking as the Trinity (Genesis 1) or as God the Father (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35).

Yet there are special instances in the Bible where the hand of God actually wrote, and these would seem to have unique significance. The first time we are told of God writing, He uses His finger to engrave the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, not once, but twice, which was necessary because Moses in his anger destroyed the first set of tablets (Exodus 31:18; 32:15-16, 19; 34:1).

The Ten Commandments, or the Law, cannot save anyone, but rather serve as a mirror reflecting man’s sin (James 1:22-25). We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), so no one (except for Jesus Himself; Hebrews 4:15) is capable of keeping these commandments perfectly. We sin not only against God, rebelling against the first four commandments (Exodus 20:1-11), but also against one another, breaking the remaining commandments, which follow in a hierarchy or logical progression.

The fifth commandment is a transitional commandment between loving God and loving our neighbor, as it commands us to honor our parents (Exodus 20:12), who represent our first authority figure and hence become a model of how we will relate to God. The next three commandments prohibit killing, committing adultery, and stealing (Exodus 20:13-15), which are sinful acts against our neighbor. The ninth commandment prohibits lying (Exodus 20:16), which is sinful speech; and the tenth commandment prohibits coveting, or craving something belonging to someone else (Exodus 20:17), which is sinful thought.

Jesus extended this logical progression even further by stating that even looking at a woman with lust is committing adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:28), and that anger is equivalent to murder in the heart (Matthew 5:22). This made it abundantly clear that no one can keep the Ten Commandments, because to keep them perfectly requires controlling not only one’s actions, but one’s words and even one’s thoughts and emotions.

The Law, written by God’s hand on tablets of stone, therefore represents God’s judgment – He judges man by this absolute standard and finds that we are all sinners deserving eternal punishment in hell. Only by the perfect sacrifice of His Son to pay our sin debt in full can sinful man be reconciled to holy God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Colossians 1:20-22; Hebrews 2:17).

When God looks at those who put their faith in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son (1 Corinthians 15) as the only way to Heaven (John 14:6), He sees not our sins, but the perfect righteousness of His Son (Romans 4:5-8). In an amazing and mysterious transaction, our sin was credited to Jesus’s account, and His righteousness was credited to our account. God’s judgment no longer will result in our eternal punishment in hell; instead, His grace offers us eternal and abundant life with Him in Heaven (Romans 5:10-21).

The second time we see God’s hand writing, it also delivers a message of judgment, written on the plaster of a stone wall in a royal banquet hall (Daniel 5). Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was guilty of desecrating the sacred gold and silver vessels of God’s temple, allowing his princes, wives and concubines to drink from them as they toasted their pagan gods (v. 2-4). He was therefore committing idolatry (not to mention adultery and using precious objects his father stole from God’s temple), dishonoring God and honoring his own false gods.

He also committed the sin of pride (v. 22) and rebellion against God, even though he had seen the severe punishment God had given his father Nebuchadnezzar for stealing the sacred vessels, being prideful, and failing to acknowledge that it was God Who gave him all his power and glory (v. 18).

Daniel interprets the written message for Belshazzar: Daniel 5:26 MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Just as the Ten Commandments convey God’s judgment against all sinners, this message reveals God’s judgment against the king for the sins of pride, rebellion and idolatry, and should serve as a sober warning to all rulers who falsely think they obtained their power through their own merit instead of as a gift from God. As predicted, Belshazzar was murdered that very night, and Darius from Medes seized the Chaldean kingdom (v.30-31).

The third time we see God writing, the wording of the message is not revealed, yet the effect was similar: it made those who saw it aware of their sin. A woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus by angry Pharisees, asking whether He agrees or disagrees that she should be put to death as commanded in the law of Moses (John 8:4-5). He almost seems to ignore them, yet begins writing with His finger in the sand (v. 6). Finally, He says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” then continues to write on the ground. One by one, the accusers leave, convicted by their own guilty conscience (v. 6-9).

Unlike the Old Testament incidents of God writing, this incident shows Jesus writing not indelibly by etching the message into stone, but by tracing the words in the dirt where they could easily be blown away by the wind, covered by footprints, or washed away by the rain. His sacrifice on the cross allowed our judgment to be erased and gone forever. Man in his rebellion cannot escape God’s judgment, any more than Moses breaking the first set of tablets in anger meant that God would revoke the law He commanded His people to keep.

But Jesus’ own words reveal that He came not to judge or to condemn (John 8: 11,15), but to forgive, love, and pay our debt to God the Judge so that all who have faith in Him will have their sins forgiven, their judgment repealed, and their freedom assured for all eternity.

Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

© 2012 Laurie Collett