"Lighting the Fire"
Jotting – Week 48

Celebrate God’s Purpose

The game went like this: the first paired partners wrote a number of notes and placed them in various locations. Then they told the other pairs where to find the first note, which always told where to find the second note, which always told where to find the third note, etc., etc. I can’t remember if there was a limit to the number, but it was always fun to dash from one place to the next, inside and out, with siblings and cousins until discovering the final note, which always read: “Find us!” Then the hunt was on for the two who had hidden the notes. Lots of fun, lots of giggles, lots of rushing and hushing, but always victory in the end!

Celebrate Who God Is

When God revealed His plan to people, He first made Himself known to them: to Adam and Eve, He was their Creator, the One who had placed them in the Garden, who walked with them in the cool of the day, the One who promised a Savior first to them. To Noah, God was the One who walked with him (Genesis 6:9), the architect of the Ark, the Provider and Savior.

To Abraham and Sarah, God was God Most High, the Maker of the Covenant, the Keeper of promises. To Hagar, God was “You-are-the-God-who-sees.” To Moses, God was the great “I AM.” To Joshua, He was the One who would be with him, who would never leave nor forsake him. To Gideon, God was the Angel of the Lord he had seen face-to-face (Judges 6:22).

To David, God was the One who forgave the iniquity of his sin, a Fortress and Rock, the King of glory. To Elijah, He was the God who answers by fire. To the psalmist Asaph, He was the God who does wonders. Isaiah announced Him as “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). In speaking of Him to the king Belshazzar, Daniel called Him “the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” (Daniel 5:23).

Mary named Him “God my Savior” (Luke 1:47), and she and Joseph called Him “Son” (2:48). Andrew acclaimed Him as Messiah when telling his brother Peter about Him. Peter declared He was the “Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), then later called Him the “Prince of life” (Acts 3:15), Prince and Savior (5:31). Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man on many occasions.

What is God to you? The One who saves? Who forgives? Loves? Protects? Is He the Mighty One? The Everlasting Father? The Counselor? The Promise-Keeper? Name Him in accordance with something He has done for you this past week: the God who gives joy; the God who provides; the God who brings peace. Name and celebrate Him according to His attributes: Healer, Father, Love, Joy, Light, Bread from heaven, Savior, Comforter, Creator, Gift from heaven.

Celebrate what He can be for someone who needs to know Him and know His love through Jesus. Help that person see God for who He really is–and what He can be for those who haven’t seen Him–as He is: a Father, a Savior, a Comforter, a Refuge, the Rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:2), the God who hears, the God who fights for us, who mourns when we turn away, who calls us by name, who will “rejoice over you with gladness, ... quiet you with His love, ... rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

Celebrate God’s Plans

God does not unveil His entire plan at once. It was only in bits and pieces that the Lord let Joseph know His purpose for the sufferings and enslavement he had endured. It was only after years that Joseph saw God’s whole picture, shown through the reconciliation of brothers, the restoration of family ties, and the literal saving of the family from starvation.

Jonah had no idea that the Lord wanted to save the people of Nineveh. In fact, when he realized that God had “relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it” (Jonah 3:10), Jonah became exceedingly displeased and angry (Jonah 4:1). Then he built a shelter so he might stay and watch what God would do to the city. Though God provided–then destroyed–a plant to cover him to show Jonah the truth about His love, we’re never told that Jonah finally did “get it.”

It took Peter and the other disciples more than three years to “get it”–to learn that Jesus had come, not to build an earthly kingdom where one could sit on His right and the other on His left, but to suffer and die for their sins and the sins of the world. Even after the resurrection–just before Jesus ascended into heaven, they asked, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

Do we always “get it”? Do we always see our Savior’s purpose in allowing suffering and hardships come to us and to others? Do we always see that God might have some greater good behind what is happening in our lives–good for us, good for His Kingdom, good for someone who watches and waits to see how Christians react in difficult situations?

God’s specific purposes are not always plain to His people today. Yes, God wants all people to be saved and to know of Jesus Christ, their Savior. Yes, God wants the Good News of salvation proclaimed throughout the world. Yes, God sends us out, for “the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few” (Luke 10:2). But how He will use us in accomplishing that purpose, He lets us see only a portion at a time.

Do we always see the opportunities God sets before us to reach out to another in love, with words of God’s wisdom or the saving words of the Gospel? Let us ask for open eyes to see beyond our own circumstances and into the heart of God. Let us pray for open hearts to love as He loves. Let us pray for open hands to do His will even if the greater picture is still hidden from us. Even Paul wrote, “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Then let us celebrate God’s purpose in choosing us, in choosing us to tell our neighbor, our coworker, our boss, our classmate, our teacher, our ... (you fill in the blank) about Jesus. Let us celebrate God’s purpose for those He has chosen to reveal Himself through us that His will may be done in their lives as well.

Pray: God, whose name is above all names, hear us when we pray. We thank You for revealing Yourself to us through Scripture, through Your names, and most especially through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, You have a purpose for each of us–to be part of Your Kingdom work, to reach with the Light of Your grace into the darkness of sin and soul. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, show us Your purpose, step by step, till we accomplish Your goal for us. Then let us celebrate forever with You in Your heavenly Kingdom. In the name and for the sake of Jesus. Amen.