Guest post by Dan Scott:
God Complicates Things
Jackie and I have been reading in Genesis lately. The stories are well known… Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… but the DRAMA is still unbelievable. And on this latest trip though Genesis an inescapable fact comes home to me: God complicates things ON PURPOSE to reveal Himself better!
For example – Jacob. God could have just made Jacob the older brother to begin with if He wanted him to be the one who received the blessing and inheritance. That would have been so easy. Everybody expects the older brother to receive the blessing. No need to stress over it…
He could have simply put it in Laban’s heart to bless Jacob willingly rather than using Laban to bless Jacob against his will. Laban changed Jacob’s wages 10 times to try NOT to bless Jacob, but God did it anyway. Speckled sheep… stripped sheep… black sheep… it’s unbelievable! (Gen.31:7-9) Etc. etc…
But His ways are displayed BETTER in stark contrast to what we’d normally expect. He doesn’t just act on our behalf, He does it in ways that violate the norm… that defy expectations… that overcome the odds (odds of course that He stacked up to begin with!)… that DISPLAY Him as the “God of the impossible”. Our God. God to be feared. God that even our ungodly acquaintances and godless enemies come to recognize and bow to. (Check out Gen. 21:22-23, 26:28)
He is not interested in simply blessing us and keeping His promises to us in the easiest, most logical way possible. He intentionally DISRUPTS our lives, out of a loving, merciful desire to make Himself known – not only to us, but to the NATIONS – those among whom He sent us to live as strangers and aliens! (Gen.23:4)
Lord, we can’t claim to understand Your ways. They are too wonderful for us. But we choose the only reasonable choice – to humble ourselves under Your mighty hand and worship!
What complications in your life are you fed up with?
Take a new look at it from God’s perspective.