The God of second chances

People of Hope Part 13:  Saul/Paul

Monday devotions@work 29 June 2020

We all have those moments in life that we would rather seriously forget, right? Or am I the only one? You know, that ONE THING that if you could have your life over, you would go back and change it? You will make a different choice or respond in a different manner? Like all of us, Paul or Saul as he was initially named, also had those moments in his life.

In Acts 7:57-60 we read how the people literally covered their ears in a bid not to hear what Stephen was explaining to them. Can you imagine that? Well yes, how many times did you or I not turn a deaf ear when God spoke to us?

When we read further, we read that the people stoned Stephen and while they were killing him, they gave their clothes to Saul to look after. Saul was there when Stephen was stoned to death, he heard Stephen pray for his attackers for forgiveness, and saw when he died, but not only that – Chapter 8 starts with chilling words – it says, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen do death”. He was not just looking after the clothes. It’s not a matter of he just happened to be there. He agreed with what happened, but it did not stop there for Saul.

Acts 8:3 says Saul started ravaging against the church. He went from house to house actively seeking to find believers, and when he found them, he dragged them off, whether men or women, and delivered them up to the authorities to be put into prison. The result of the persecution was that the believers were scattered throughout the country and started telling others about Jesus wherever they went. Thus, because the people were now moving all over the country, Saul had to extend his territory of operation in order to successfully persecute believers. In Acts 9 we read that he was “breathing threats and murder” against the disciples as he went to ask the High Priest for letters to travel to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him the authority to arrest believers and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners.

It was for this purpose that Saul travelled to Damascus. Little did he know that his life was about to be drastically changed. On his way there we read how Jesus literally stopped him in his tracks. As a light flashed from heaven, he fell down and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?” I can imagine the thoughts in his mind. What are you talking about? Who are you? I don’t even know who you are, and you accuse me of persecuting you? Well yes, that’s sort of the point. Of course Saul would not have persecuted the disciples if he knew Jesus. But he did not. The people who were with him heard the voice but did not see anyone, so they were equally dumbfounded as they witnessed the moment.

Jesus clearly identifies with His disciples in this moment, because technically Saul was persecuting the disciples – but Jesus pertinently asks him, “Why do you persecute Me?” He seems to take persecution of his people very personally. Then Jesus tells him to get up, go to Damascus and wait for further instruction – only when he did get up, he was blind. Those with him had to lead him into the city. Can you imagine this moment? Great big Saul, the big hardened persecutor of the church, is being led into the city blind and confronted with his own misguided loyalty to a “God” he clearly did not know, in spite of all the studying he did of the scriptures at the feet of Gamaliel – a great, prestigious and revered teacher of his time. Nothing Saul learned could have prepared him for this moment. Nothing in his whole frame of reference, nothing in his carefully studied and accepted paradigm of who God was and how to serve him, fitted into this moment of his life. The God he met on the road to Damascus did not fit into Saul’s carefully crafted box of ‘truth’. Saul’s life would never be the same again – he did not have the luxury to even consider going back to anything that was remotely familiar or ‘normal’ for him. In one moment, everything changed. For three days he did not eat, nor did he drink – I cannot even try to imagine the emotions and thoughts that goes through one’s being if you have poured all of your life, enthusiasm and energy into doing something you believed was right, just to realize in one moment that you were not just wrong, but dead wrong – but you were persecuting God Himself. I think I would also not eat nor drink anything. How do you come back from that moment? How do you pick up your head and put one foot before the other, let alone come back to have and live a purposeful life?

God was not done with Saul and God is not done with me nor with you, no matter how big the mess or how deep the hole that He must go to in order to fetch us in. God appears in a vision to Ananias, one of His disciples, and He sends him to Saul, and Ananias does not receive this with extreme enthusiasm. He says, “Lord, I have heard of this man and all the harm he does to Your disciples and here he has the authority to do the same?” And You tell me he is praying, and You send me to pray for him that he can be healed?” Well yes, Ananias, I know who this man is and what he has done but I have a different plan for him. I have chosen him to be My instrument. I have chosen him to CARRY MY NAME before the Gentiles, before Kings, and before the sons of Israel. So Ananias went, prayed for Saul and he was healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized, and began to proclaim that Jesus was the Son of God in the synagogues.

God did not choose Saul suddenly at that moment in history. God had chosen him before the foundation of the earth. God made Saul, created him to carry His Name from the beginning of time. It was planned like this for Saul, but Saul still had a choice – he could have been like the people who stoned Stephen, and covered his ears. He could have stuck his fingers in his ears saying, I don’t want to hear and yes, I am blind, but that must have been the work of the sun in my eyes - and he could have continued to persecute the disciples. His U-turn required of him to acknowledge that he was wrong. It required of him to humiliate himself and start proclaiming the opposite of what he had been proclaiming up to that point. He could not save face in any way, he had to bow the knee and admit, “I was wrong, I made a mess, I caused a lot of people a lot of harm but I am willing to make a complete turnaround”. Saul did make the turn around and he became one of the most well-known disciples of the early New Testament church. God took his mess, cleaned it up, and opened his eyes so he could see the Messiah.

It does not matter how big the mess is that we are in. How deep or dark that hole is in our own eyes. God’s arm is not too short to help. He is the God that specializes in second chances.

Do you need a second chance? A chance to come back from THAT thing you would desperately like to change, or wish you could make disappear with all your heart?

Ask Him to dig you out of that mess – He will.

Come worship with Phil Wickham as he sings "Living Hope"

©2020 All rights reserved HG Venter

What is in a name?

People of Hope Part 12: Jabez
Monday devotions @work 22 June 2020

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

9 Now Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”

During the past week it was Youth Day, and I came across the story of a young man that really seemed to have had a rough start in life. Yet he had an amazing attitude and was able to rise above his circumstances and have a meaningful life.

Imagine you were Jabez. We do not know much about him except that he is mentioned briefly in a long list of genealogy in 1 Chronicles 4. Amongst this long list of names there unexpectedly appears a paragraph giving us a brief description of him. Jabez is called ‘more honourable’ than his brothers, and that seems to be a good testimony of how his life turned out in the end. It is quite different from the start though, since we are told that his mother named him Jabez because she ‘bore him in pain’. Eisch! Imagine going through life with a name that reminds you of the fact that your mother birthed you in pain? As if it was your fault. I was wondering, what on earth was his mother thinking? Imagine the laughs at school when at the beginning of the year he is asked his name and he must spell it for the teacher. Imagine the Facebook comments and WhatsApp jokes. However, Jabez seems to have been a remarkable young man with a great faith and attitude, although we can deduce from his prayer that he did not take this issue lightly. The mere fact that he specifically prays about this already tells us that he was acutely aware of what his name meant and what it stood for. As we read further, we read about his response to this and his prayer to God.

10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”

Imagine that attitude! Simply – I am not going to let this influence who I am. I am going to live in the opposite spirit, and I have a God who knows my heart and I am going to ask of Him the opposite of what was declared over me. I am asking Him to bless me – to enlarge my ‘territory’, which is symbolic of an area over which we have an influence. It’s like Jabez is saying, “I did not have a say in my circumstances or in the name that was chosen for me, but now I am asking that God will bless me and enlarge my area of influence so that I will not cause pain”. He is asking for a bigger area of influence in which he can come into the opposite spirit so that, as God blesses him, he would be able to become a blessing to others. He could have been the victim here and played the victim card saying, “Circumstances caused me to become someone who causes pain” or saying, “I will never amount to anything much because I just cause pain wherever I go” or, “If my mother thought I would cause pain then I guess that is all I can amount to”, but he does not do that. He actively decides to live in the opposite spirit. Apart from asking God’s blessing for himself, he also asked that God would keep him from evil. I believe this is a key point in his prayer, illustrating a heart that wanted to be good, do good, and be a blessing to others. It demonstrates a keen understanding of what I sow is what I will reap, and of knowing that if I live out of evil, neither I nor my neighbour will be blessed. And that was not the choice Jabez wanted to make. Choices and actions have consequences and he understood that. He petitions God to protect him from evil and that God’s hand would be on his life, so that he will not cause pain, and he asks for a bigger sphere of influence in which he can be a blessing to others, alleviating their pain and blessing them with whatever good things God blesses him with. Well, God answered his prayer:

“… and God granted him his request…”

God gave him a larger area of influence and I am sure he grabbed on to that opportunity with all his might, therefore the testimony of him states that he was more honourable than his brothers. His brothers possibly had a better start but seemingly did less.

May we learn this lesson from Jabez when we are young. That we do not have to be victims of our circumstances and that we can rise above every adversity. So yes, the youth of today have many challenges, but these do not have to be devastating - they need to be faced with an attitude of coming into the opposite spirit, of being kept from evil, and overcoming though prayer and faith in a God to whom nothing is impossible. 

Let us join Kristene Dimarco in a declaration in song as she sings:  "I am no victim"

©2020 Copyright: All rights reserved. HG Venter

Serving the servant

People of Hope Part 11:  The Roman Centurion
Monday devotions@work 15 June 2020

In Math 8:5-13 there is a remarkable story of faith and hope and servanthood. It is the story of the Roman centurion seeking help from Jesus for his paralyzed servant.

5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 

 Let us start off this story by finding out more about the centurion:

• A centurion is a Roman soldier appointed over a garrison of 100 men. Thus, this man was in a position of authority. But not only that – He was a Roman.
• At that time in history the Romans were in government over Israel, and therefore this centurion was a government agent that was appointed in a position of authority over Jesus, Who was a Jew.
• The centurion was also the servant’s employer, which means that he was in a position of authority over his servant.

Thinking about this, it gives us some understanding about what this centurion actually did when he chose to go to Jesus to seek help for his servant.

• He obviously cared deeply for his servant. This man had value in the centurion’s eyes – not only the life of the servant mattered, but the quality of his life mattered to him.
• The centurion does not fall into pride. He acknowledges that he does not have the means neither in the natural, nor in the spirit, to help his servant. He does not allow pride to stand in the way of this man’s healing. No - he humbles himself by acknowledging that Jesus - who in the natural is subjected to his authority – has more authority than him in the spirit, goes to Jesus and asks for help. At that moment the centurion, this man of authority, became the servant. He served his servant with a hope and faith that was not just mere words. He put that hope and faith into action and went to Jesus requesting His help.
  
  
  7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

Jesus immediately agrees to go to the centurion’s house and to heal the servant – however the centurion answers:

“Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

• There is a bit of background information to this moment that maybe is not so clear from this particular passage. If we take the culture of the day into account, particularly in relation to the rabbi’s of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the centurion would no doubt have been familiar with the fact that the rabbi’s of the day would not enter the house of a gentile - they believed it made them ceremonially unclean. With this in his mind it may be that he is saying to Jesus that he knows He can send someone else, and therefore does not have to come to his house Himself.
• From his answer we can deduce that this centurion understood authority. He understood that, just as he is in authority, so is Jesus. In fact, he acknowledges that Jesus has a higher position of authority than himself. I wonder what his expectation was of how Jesus was going to heal his servant. Maybe he thought that the rabbi would send one of His disciples to be ceremonially defiled rather than be defiled Himself? Clearly, he did not yet understand that Jesus cannot be defiled, since He is the One who cleanses us. Or maybe it could be that he was saying to Jesus, “I am Your servant – send me, to serve my servant with healing and life?” If the latter was true, he literally asked Jesus to impart the authority to heal the servant to him.
• This was a man in a position of authority that was clearly willing to serve. He understood leadership to be servanthood. He was not too proud to serve, even though he was in a position of leadership. He understood that authority is given with the purpose to serve. That authority can only be true authority if it serves people with life, healing, and quality of life.

Jesus looked at this man and said:

10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!

And in verse 13: Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

• Jesus was willing to go Himself, but He did not physically go, neither did He send a disciple. He said to the centurion “Go your way and as you believed – so let it be done for you!” So, what was the way of the centurion and what was done for him? The way of the centurion was the way of faith – as he believed, so it was done for him.
• I think he and his messengers made a beeline home. I think he could not get home fast enough. He believed, had a great faith, that against all odds Jesus would heal his servant. According to Luke 7, by the time the messengers got home they found the servant up and well. The servant was healed that same hour!

If we believed, like the centurion did, that leadership and authority are given to us for only one purpose and that is to serve, life – and history – would have looked much different. To serve God, to serve people, His creation, and His Kingdom with the authority He imparts to us, should be our only goal.

Come let us worship our Servant King with Graham Kendrick

... and with Misty Edwards in Servant of All from her album relentless...

©2020 Copyright: All rights reserved. HG Venter

What do you immerse yourself in?

Monday devotions @work 8 June 2020

©2020 Copyright Karien Le Roux photography

I am sure we all have different expectations and maybe uncertainties about this year and the way it is playing out is probably a huge surprise to all of us as we are expected to deal with vastly unexpected and unplanned challenges. It may be that we are discouraged by some of the news reports we are flooded with. I think we are all aware of the potential storms ahead, on different fronts of life. As I was praying and contemplating all this year may (or may not) bring, I believe I heard Holy Spirit ask a question:

"What do you immerse yourself in?"

And so the question set off a quest to firstly do some introspection in terms of what I immerse myself into, but also to go to scripture and see what did the people in the Bible immerse themselves into? Although this is not by far a completed journey, in fact, I suspect that I will journey with this question for the rest of this year, here are some of my thoughts so far:

What we immerse ourselves in is a choice - and it has consequences:

What did Adam and Eve immerse themselves in?
The presence of God in the cool of the evening breeze as He came to walk with them...
And then: The doubt the enemy brought...

What did Noah immerse Himself in?
Fulfilling the task in obedience to God's word to him...
And then: Overindulging in wine...

What did Abraham immerse Himself in?
In his covenant with God...
And then: Into making his own plan to fulfil the promise God made to him..?

What did Moses immerse Himself in?
The presence of God in the tent of meeting...
And yet there was the moment of 'Will I bring water out of this rock for you...?'

What did David immerse himself in?
Worship of a Sovereign God, being a man after God's heart
And yet there was Bathsheba...

And so I can go on all though the Bible and right into my own life...

What is it that God wants to draw our attention to or warn us about? Maybe many different things but surely, He wants to make us attentive to staying immersed in Him. In His presence, His love, His plans for us. (Jer. 29:11)

In John 15:3-4 (NKJ) He encourages us with this:

'You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless it abides in Me"

As this year progress and unfold, let us keep this question in mind:

"What am I immersing myself in?"

Let us immerse ourselves in Him completely, and let us guard our hearts against the if's, why's and but's of this life...

Let us continuously immerse ourselves in His Hope, His presence, His promises to us, in Faith... In Him as the Vine, the source of life, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Spend a few moments in worship with Matt Redman and His Song "Abide with Me"

 ©2020 Copyright:  All rights reserved HG Venter