God's Ways are not Our Ways - Deuteronomy 23-25 and Mark 14:1-26
As I said before God's laws reveal His nature. Many times they show us that His ways are not our ways. When we read one of His laws, we wonder why He commanded that to be done. We are not to throw out that law because we don't understand it, but we are to obey it, and seek to understand God's ways through it. There are several examples of this in our reading today.
We might wonder why a child of illegitimate birth was excluded from the assembly for 10 generations, when an Edomite and an Egyptian was permitted to come in. We might wonder why a woman who was divorced could not return to her previous husband. We may have a hard time understanding Levirate marriage, where a man takes his brother's widow, so his family name can be preserved. I think you can see what I mean. However, I have met people who would not obey, because they did not understand. This is a great mistake. God's ways are not our ways, so we must follow Him and trust Him who knows best in every case.
Look at Mark 14 from this perspective, too. How many of us would have agreed with the disciples who thought the spilling of the costly ointment was wasteful? It makes sense that it would have been better to use it for the poor, doesn't it? Jesus did not think that way at all. In fact, He made sure this lady was famous for spilling the ointment for His burial. Then, there is Judas Iscariot. How many of us would have chosen to have a disciple who would betray Jesus? Isn't that kind of strange? Doesn't it cause some people to wonder about people who follow Jesus? It shows us that God gives everyone an opportunity to believe in Jesus. He goes to great lengths to make sure they understand. Then, we might ask Jesus why He chose to use the setting of the Last Supper to reveal Judas? Was that not an intimate time with His believing disciples? Why did He not tell them about Judas at another time? Jesus knew that was the right time, even if it causes us to wonder. We must not allow ourselves to disobey or to disbelieve God, just because we don't understand everything completely. We must realize that His ways are not our ways. The more we get to know God and His ways, the more we will understand, and the more things will make sense. Believe me, God wants us to understand His ways, but it takes us a while to allow the Spirit to show us all of His ways.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 26-27 and Mark 14:27-53.
We might wonder why a child of illegitimate birth was excluded from the assembly for 10 generations, when an Edomite and an Egyptian was permitted to come in. We might wonder why a woman who was divorced could not return to her previous husband. We may have a hard time understanding Levirate marriage, where a man takes his brother's widow, so his family name can be preserved. I think you can see what I mean. However, I have met people who would not obey, because they did not understand. This is a great mistake. God's ways are not our ways, so we must follow Him and trust Him who knows best in every case.
Look at Mark 14 from this perspective, too. How many of us would have agreed with the disciples who thought the spilling of the costly ointment was wasteful? It makes sense that it would have been better to use it for the poor, doesn't it? Jesus did not think that way at all. In fact, He made sure this lady was famous for spilling the ointment for His burial. Then, there is Judas Iscariot. How many of us would have chosen to have a disciple who would betray Jesus? Isn't that kind of strange? Doesn't it cause some people to wonder about people who follow Jesus? It shows us that God gives everyone an opportunity to believe in Jesus. He goes to great lengths to make sure they understand. Then, we might ask Jesus why He chose to use the setting of the Last Supper to reveal Judas? Was that not an intimate time with His believing disciples? Why did He not tell them about Judas at another time? Jesus knew that was the right time, even if it causes us to wonder. We must not allow ourselves to disobey or to disbelieve God, just because we don't understand everything completely. We must realize that His ways are not our ways. The more we get to know God and His ways, the more we will understand, and the more things will make sense. Believe me, God wants us to understand His ways, but it takes us a while to allow the Spirit to show us all of His ways.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 26-27 and Mark 14:27-53.