Tom Wiles | For The Times-Post
Plans and purposes
The Lord Almighty has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will come about according to my purposes. I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel; I will trample them on my mountains. My people will no longer be their slaves. I have a plan for the whole earth, for my mighty power reaches throughout the world. The Lord Almighty has spoken — who can change his plans? When his hand moves, who can stop him?” — Isaiah 14:24-27
I had every intention of following through.
The weather was great. The grass was long. The mower was ready to roll.
Nothing but green lights. It was go-time!
However, after some unexpected lengthy conversations and meetings I had failed to take into account, the setting of the sun canceled go-time. My plan was blown up.
My checklist item that read, “Mow the yard,” was still on the list.
In our verses for the day, God reveals that this breakdown between plan and reality is one he never experiences.
It will all happen as he has planned.
His purposes will not be thwarted.
These are bold claims given the world appears to be a train wreck and getting worse every passing year.
On what basis does he make this claim?
On two things. His identity: Lord Almighty. His resources: mighty power.
Our perception is the world is in chaos.
Our response tends to be panic and doomsday thinking.
The reality, as Isaiah reveals, is we are actually seeing history moving forward according to God’s purposes.
His plan is sure and it is good.
The implications of these truths are quite staggering.
They leave us in a place where we have to answer one of those core questions in life.
Do I trust in the Lord and his mighty power or not?
And so, it begins…
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. — Genesis 1:1 – 3:24
“I don’t know” were the only words that flashed through my mind when I considered the question before me.
It’s a curious thing how a course of action can begin so well and end up so poorly.
I hadn’t planned on having to hire someone to fix my drywall disaster – sizable gaps, corners not coming together right and broken pieces held on with several nails – but that was my reality.
God didn’t have to create anything. He chose to create.
Everything did not come from nothing. It came from someone.
For him, the world and everything in it including humanity was brought into existence in perfect fellowship with its Creator and with itself.
By the end of Genesis 3, humanity had broken all the sacred bonds and unleashed the darkness that permeates human existence.
But God, even in his judgment, provided the promise of a coming restorer.
It’s one thing to mess up our own work, but it’s really a bummer to mess up someone else’s.
In regards to God’s perfect creation, there are no words to sufficiently capture the havoc that humanity let loose.
We have to come to terms with the reality of the situation or we’ll never look for the proper solution to it.
The lie that the same humanity who fouled up God’s world in the first place is going to be the one to fix it must be rejected.
The truth of a divine reconciler, Jesus, must be accepted.
Abram the warrior
When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan. — Genesis 14:1-24
“Well, I didn’t see that coming,” I said to myself.
He was a pretty unassuming kid. He looked just like all the rest of us.
However, his reputation as a pitcher had gone through our whole Little League age group.
Nobody could hit his pitches.
I stepped up and was greeted by a pitch I didn’t even see until the catcher threw the ball back to him.
Basically, by closing my eyes and swinging at the next pitch, I somehow managed a ground rule double.
The story in Genesis 14 is a real shocker.
If it were a King David story, we wouldn’t even pause.
Trained warriors. Chasing down enemy armies. Strategically dividing up troops for a middle-of-the-night fight.
Abram? Yep.
With his relatives’ lives on the line, he went into battle. No hesitating. No fear.
The enemy armies had no idea what hit them and they ran. He kept chasing them until he recovered all that was lost.
It’s an easy mistake to make.
We fail to appreciate the fullness of a person on a regular basis.
Most tragically, this mistake is made regarding Jesus all the time.
It was a mistake made by everyone when he walked on this earth.
He looked just like all the rest of us.
The Bible tells us Jesus is King, Creator, God, Judge, Savior and that’s just the start!
It’s time for our caricatures of Jesus to be set aside.
Buckle up!
The real Jesus is awesome to behold.
His goal? Recover the lost.
Tom Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.