The Better..

The good
The better.
The Christianly
The Godly

Good is often the nemesis of godly.

They say “nature abhors vacuums.” The scales are never balanced. We are taught acceptance and tolerance.

Sometimes I look at some of these stories from the good book and I am forced to question my understanding of things like faith, conviction, right and wrong. I reckon said that for most of us believers, our introduction to God was thru good and well-meaning Sunday school teachers. Our introduction to faith was mostly from the interpretation and level of grasp (conviction) of our teachers. They believed as far as made sense in their views and this is what they taught us.

In Gen 1 we find God. I picture him as standing on a cliff looking down onto earth and seeing that the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. In the preceding verse, we’re told that God created the heavens and the earth. But now we are showed the state of the earth and one must question how this perfect God could have created this drama we see in verse 2. And as a hint to something more happening here, heaven is not mentioned as having the same drama as earth. – selah!

In another place we find a nation, as it were, without hope. God looks out for some nondescript character and an angel is assigned to relay the message.
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together. NIV’84 Judg 6:11-16

It’s as though God was unaware of verse 1-10 of chapter 6. He started the discourse as though nothing was happening.

I’ve come to appreciate that we often think about it and it might appeal and excite us but when the rubber meets the road, like clockwork, we act differently. We know and have no shocks at Abraham getting a child at 90+ years. We know the story. ..it’s like 4 chapters long so it’s acceptable. But it’s another thing altogether to accept, revel and be established in ones place as a father, and not just any father, but a father of many nations, when your wife is medically-certified barren.

Nature abhors vacuums.

It’s one thing to rejoice at the hope of a land of promise, a land that’s flowing with milk and honey, especially when you’re coming from decades of slavery. Imagination can run wild here. (And it’s easy for this excitement to block out the part that might question how this land has just been there all this time uninhabited.) But it’s another thing altogether getting to this place and you find real, not 2022-metaphorically speaking, Giants. Just looking at one, I mean Shaq O’Neil has nothing on these guys. And Shaq is fun, these dudes were warriors… Keeping composure under these circumstances is a Masterclass session all on its own.

The scales are never balanced.

God is looking over at this void earth and his first statement has nothing to do with recreation as we might expect. He calls forth light. Not sun and moon, but another light. He separates light from darkness. – selah. When you really come to think about it, the creation story that follows has nothing to do with Gen 1.2, i.e God’s actions moving forward are in no way addressing the state described in verse 2. Selah Again! The sun, moon and stars were not created to remove the “darkness” as we might think, they were created to mark seasons! No wonder they came on day 4 not day 1. Selah again again!!

Gen 1.3 has nothing to do with darkness but light. He was happy with the light that came forth!! He was not happy because it removed the darkness, he never focussed on the darkness!! Besides he doesn’t need light light to see!!

Enough selahs, what’s the point?

I’ve learnt that it’s not the absence of giants that validates the promise of a promised land. Sometimes perfection, as we think it, is not a necessary ingredient for possibility. With God all things are possible. Sometimes saying yes to seeing the giants doesn’t mean saying no to the promise. Acknowledging that my wife is barren does not negate the promise of fatherhood, otherwise the gospels need editing. Noise is not might and numbers can lie. Nothing on the outside has to agree for possibility to be exist. The condition stands- “With God“!!!

Good men saw the giants and reported the facts. Good gods created the sun first because it was too dark.
Good fathers adopted children, started orphanages and lived happily thereafter..