“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16)
“Moses
my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the
Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the
Israelites. I will give you every place where you set
your foot, as I promised Moses.”
(Joshua 1:2-3)
“Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:1)
One of the things that Henry Blackabee
wrote about in Experiencing God is that God reveals Himself when He is
going to do something and that when He reveals Himself, He reveals His name
and/or His character. That led me to question how God revealed
Himself to me. The first answer was as my Guide. If I have learned anything or
experienced God in any way, I am more sure that it is as my Guide than I am of
any other thing. He has guided me. He is guiding me. I have no reason not to
expect Him to continue to guide me.
But as I turned out the light last
night, one of the issues on my mind was how else (if at all)
God has revealed Himself or some aspect of Himself. Aside from His guidance, the themes in my life right now seem to be competence, creativity, and service. Is
He revealing Himself in these themes? I don’t know, but maybe.
Then, Sunday morning, my pastor pointed
out something I’d never heard. The New Testament was originally written in
Greek, but Jesus would have taught in Aramaic. Apparently, two words in Aramaic would be translated as “blessed” in English. One means “blessed
from the perspective of the person blessed,” and the other means “blessed from
the perspective of others looking on.” He suggested that the latter was the
term used. I don’t have the linguistic knowledge to investigate that, but it recalled
to my mind that Abram was blessed to be a blessing and the idea I’ve shared
before that what the Old Testament revealed through nations, the New Testament
addresses through our internal lives. In other words, while Joshua and the
Israelites fought to capture the Promised Land that would be called Israel, we
fight to capture the promised land of our own souls. And we are raised up, as
the Pharoah was, to show God’s power and that His name (not ours) might be
proclaimed in all the earth because of what He does in us far more than of
what He does through us.
In other words, as much as I want
God to guide me through where I’m supposed to live, what I’m supposed to do,
etc., and as much as I want Him to lead me into being a beloved (if not
best-selling) novelist, I need to pay better attention to where He’s leading me
within myself. Drawing on another source of inspiration, John Ortberg is doing
a series of podcasts about our stories. He says we all have stories. God
designed us to have stories within His great story. The way that God reveals
Himself to people in the Bible also reveals their stories. What is it within my
story that I can give to others? It’s certainly not some great salvation story or one of great success (in the world’s eyes.) But if there’s anything, it’s likely
to be the story of my being guided by my Guide and where I go as a result.
This doesn’t mean God is
only doing one thing in my life. I’m sure it’s much more complex than I can imagine, but this is where the idea begins. In what ways has God
revealed Himself to you - particularly repeatedly? What might your life be God’s
way of revealing Himself to the nations? What internal land is He leading you
to conquer? And if all this sounds disjointed, remember that I’m exploring
the idea, too.
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