A Response to Events in Ukraine. Part 1
I don’t usually take on current events in any of my posts and articles but I think that today, I’m going to make an exception. I also often use some humor throughout my posts but, in light of the subject matter that I’m going to tackle, I’m going to make an exception on that one too. Today’s post is a business trip so let’s get to it.
Like most of you, I have found the recent events coming out of Ukraine to be both disgusting and alarming and, while I don’t know everything about what’s going on, on the surface anyway, here’s what it looks like from where I sit. To me, it looks like there’s a leader, Vladimir Putin, who is lusting after territory and power and has decided to do whatever it takes to satisfy that lust, no matter the consequences. The fact that innocent people on both sides of the conflict, including his own people, will be hurt, killed, and the whole world will be impacted, seems to be of little consequence to this man. If his plans succeed, the human suffering that will ensue will simply be an acceptable cost of doing business in his mind. The end will justify the means. In his region of the world, the man is a god player and, at the moment, he’s attempting to do as he pleases.
Now the question that many of you, especially those of you who are who I would call my non church attending readers, are at least tempted to ask, and are possibly even asking, is this, “Where is God right now and why isn’t He doing anything?” It’s a valid question with a valid answer. God is where He’s always been. He’s on His throne, He’s in control and, yes, He’s paying attention. And, in answer to the question regarding what He’s doing, this is just me talking here but I have this sneaking feeling that He’s just getting started. In other words, in terms of how God is going to respond, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Let me explain.
Throughout the Bible, one of the foundations of what it teaches is that God is in control of all things. Nothing happens without His permission. Now please notice that I did not say that He likes or approves of everything that happens, to say that is ridiculous. What I did say though, is that in order for something to happen, it has to have His permission first and, if He doesn’t like what’s going on, it will get a response from Him.
The first place where we see this principle illustrated is in Genesis 3, the story of the first act of rebellion by humanity against their Creator. In Genesis 2, the story of the Garden of Eden is recorded and in verse 15, God told Adam and Eve that they could eat from any tree in that garden except for one, the tree that he called, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The command was simple as were the consequences if they broke that command. Don’t eat from that tree because if you do, you will die.
Scripture is unclear how long of a time gap there was between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 but in Genesis 3, for the first time in human history, something that God didn’t want to happen was allowed to happen. Our ancestors desired the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and rebelled against God. They willfully trampled all over that command, ate the forbidden fruit and God permitted it to happen. The consequences of that act of rebellion were devastating. The intimate fellowship that Adam and Eve had enjoyed with their Creator was replaced with alienation and separation and physical death became a normal part of the human story. And it was experienced in a variety of forms. In fact, within one generation, the first premeditated murder was committed and the atrocities that have occurred since then could best be described as a downhill spiral. And God’s response? In the short term, Cain, the murderer was sentenced to a life sentence of perhaps what could best be described as vagrancy as the ground would no longer yield produce from anything that Cain planted. And the way that God addressed the downhill spiral? For the record, that’s what the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was all about and, as all important as that topic is, in light of today’s post, that’s a topic for another day.
Getting back to Ukraine, I would suggest to you that what we are seeing happening there is just another event in a series of events that have their roots in that original act of rebellion recorded in Genesis 3. At its core, it’s lust for power, it’s unrestrained greed for land and resources and it’s a total disregard for human life. What Vladimir Putin is doing right now is self-centered leadership on full display. (Yes, you can quote me on that. I am willing to go on record with that statement.) To use a fruit tree analogy, the events currently happening in Ukraine are another piece of fruit harvested from the tree of rebellion of Genesis 3. It’s not the first time in history that we’ve seen that fruit, nor will it be the last. However, if history has shown anything, it’s this. This evil fruit will not last and its expanse is always limited. Throughout history, tyrants and dictators have set out to build their empires by sin and oppression and always, especially in light of eternity and, often, even in light of the dictator’s aspirations, its success is short lived. Napoleon, Hitler, even recently, Putin’s predecessors, the USSR, found that their success was quite short lived and the reason is pretty simple. In order to promote their agendas, they have to trample God’s laws to do it and God fights back. Jesus, when asked to summarize God’s laws and standards for conduct succinctly, put it this way. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a standard that God expects to be lived out in His world and when leaders do not make an effort to do that, when they abuse their God given authority, when they overstep their boundaries, God tends to frustrate their efforts and, in some cases, removes them from power altogether.
In terms of application, I have to be honest with you. This particular post is more of a way that I am personally processing the events in Ukraine than it is anything else, and frankly, I have attempted to temper my anger a lot as I have written this. I won’t lie to you; I am biased because I have friends who either have served faithfully in Ukraine or are still there. That being said though, I am not afraid of the events that I see unfolding there because I trust God and I am fully convinced that, as chaotic as things may seem, God has things under control. In terms of how He will respond, while He may not respond in the way that we think that He will, or even in the way that we wish that He would, God will respond. He’s just getting started. God has an agenda for His world too and there’s no one out there who will prevent God from getting done what He wants to get done.
This is probably the first of three articles that I will post in this series although it may turn into being four articles, this is kind of uncharted territory for me and while I usually post an article weekly, in this series I’m going to try and push that time frame up a bit. Hopefully by Thursday of this week I will try and post another article with some practical, general responses that all of us can do as we look for ways to respond to this as well.
In conclusion, for right now, as you process this, I would recommend that you keep this fundamental truth in mind. God is sovereign, He’s all powerful and this is not too big for Him. He’s also omniscient so He knew it was coming before anyone else, Vladimir Putin included, did. So, just to further get proper focus, I would recommend that you read three Psalms this week and pay special attention to what they say about God. Read Psalms 145, 146, and 147 and, hopefully I’ll see you in two or three days.
Like most of you, I have found the recent events coming out of Ukraine to be both disgusting and alarming and, while I don’t know everything about what’s going on, on the surface anyway, here’s what it looks like from where I sit. To me, it looks like there’s a leader, Vladimir Putin, who is lusting after territory and power and has decided to do whatever it takes to satisfy that lust, no matter the consequences. The fact that innocent people on both sides of the conflict, including his own people, will be hurt, killed, and the whole world will be impacted, seems to be of little consequence to this man. If his plans succeed, the human suffering that will ensue will simply be an acceptable cost of doing business in his mind. The end will justify the means. In his region of the world, the man is a god player and, at the moment, he’s attempting to do as he pleases.
Now the question that many of you, especially those of you who are who I would call my non church attending readers, are at least tempted to ask, and are possibly even asking, is this, “Where is God right now and why isn’t He doing anything?” It’s a valid question with a valid answer. God is where He’s always been. He’s on His throne, He’s in control and, yes, He’s paying attention. And, in answer to the question regarding what He’s doing, this is just me talking here but I have this sneaking feeling that He’s just getting started. In other words, in terms of how God is going to respond, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Let me explain.
Throughout the Bible, one of the foundations of what it teaches is that God is in control of all things. Nothing happens without His permission. Now please notice that I did not say that He likes or approves of everything that happens, to say that is ridiculous. What I did say though, is that in order for something to happen, it has to have His permission first and, if He doesn’t like what’s going on, it will get a response from Him.
The first place where we see this principle illustrated is in Genesis 3, the story of the first act of rebellion by humanity against their Creator. In Genesis 2, the story of the Garden of Eden is recorded and in verse 15, God told Adam and Eve that they could eat from any tree in that garden except for one, the tree that he called, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The command was simple as were the consequences if they broke that command. Don’t eat from that tree because if you do, you will die.
Scripture is unclear how long of a time gap there was between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 but in Genesis 3, for the first time in human history, something that God didn’t want to happen was allowed to happen. Our ancestors desired the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and rebelled against God. They willfully trampled all over that command, ate the forbidden fruit and God permitted it to happen. The consequences of that act of rebellion were devastating. The intimate fellowship that Adam and Eve had enjoyed with their Creator was replaced with alienation and separation and physical death became a normal part of the human story. And it was experienced in a variety of forms. In fact, within one generation, the first premeditated murder was committed and the atrocities that have occurred since then could best be described as a downhill spiral. And God’s response? In the short term, Cain, the murderer was sentenced to a life sentence of perhaps what could best be described as vagrancy as the ground would no longer yield produce from anything that Cain planted. And the way that God addressed the downhill spiral? For the record, that’s what the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was all about and, as all important as that topic is, in light of today’s post, that’s a topic for another day.
Getting back to Ukraine, I would suggest to you that what we are seeing happening there is just another event in a series of events that have their roots in that original act of rebellion recorded in Genesis 3. At its core, it’s lust for power, it’s unrestrained greed for land and resources and it’s a total disregard for human life. What Vladimir Putin is doing right now is self-centered leadership on full display. (Yes, you can quote me on that. I am willing to go on record with that statement.) To use a fruit tree analogy, the events currently happening in Ukraine are another piece of fruit harvested from the tree of rebellion of Genesis 3. It’s not the first time in history that we’ve seen that fruit, nor will it be the last. However, if history has shown anything, it’s this. This evil fruit will not last and its expanse is always limited. Throughout history, tyrants and dictators have set out to build their empires by sin and oppression and always, especially in light of eternity and, often, even in light of the dictator’s aspirations, its success is short lived. Napoleon, Hitler, even recently, Putin’s predecessors, the USSR, found that their success was quite short lived and the reason is pretty simple. In order to promote their agendas, they have to trample God’s laws to do it and God fights back. Jesus, when asked to summarize God’s laws and standards for conduct succinctly, put it this way. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a standard that God expects to be lived out in His world and when leaders do not make an effort to do that, when they abuse their God given authority, when they overstep their boundaries, God tends to frustrate their efforts and, in some cases, removes them from power altogether.
In terms of application, I have to be honest with you. This particular post is more of a way that I am personally processing the events in Ukraine than it is anything else, and frankly, I have attempted to temper my anger a lot as I have written this. I won’t lie to you; I am biased because I have friends who either have served faithfully in Ukraine or are still there. That being said though, I am not afraid of the events that I see unfolding there because I trust God and I am fully convinced that, as chaotic as things may seem, God has things under control. In terms of how He will respond, while He may not respond in the way that we think that He will, or even in the way that we wish that He would, God will respond. He’s just getting started. God has an agenda for His world too and there’s no one out there who will prevent God from getting done what He wants to get done.
This is probably the first of three articles that I will post in this series although it may turn into being four articles, this is kind of uncharted territory for me and while I usually post an article weekly, in this series I’m going to try and push that time frame up a bit. Hopefully by Thursday of this week I will try and post another article with some practical, general responses that all of us can do as we look for ways to respond to this as well.
In conclusion, for right now, as you process this, I would recommend that you keep this fundamental truth in mind. God is sovereign, He’s all powerful and this is not too big for Him. He’s also omniscient so He knew it was coming before anyone else, Vladimir Putin included, did. So, just to further get proper focus, I would recommend that you read three Psalms this week and pay special attention to what they say about God. Read Psalms 145, 146, and 147 and, hopefully I’ll see you in two or three days.
A Response to Events in Ukraine. Part 2
Praying About What is Out of My Control
I had meant to get this out earlier this past week but looking back now, I’m kind of glad that I didn’t. Things have changed just in a week since I last posted so today’s post will be timelier for all of us. As I said last week, one of the primary reasons that I am not as worried about the events in the Ukraine as I might be is the realization that God is still on His throne and He still has this under His control. That means that nothing, however bad it might be, will happen without His permission. That being said however, the fact that God is still in control of all of this is not a license for us to sit back and do nothing. One of the things that God did when He created this spinning ball is that He appointed humans, that would be you and me, as His administrators of the planet. That means that when faced with a crisis like what is happening in Ukraine, and yes, let’s call the spade a spade, it is a crisis, 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes, as administrators, we are expected to act. All of us, and the first place to start is with a simple act called prayer.
In church this morning, my pastor, Scotty Scruggs, made this comment referring to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. “Prayer is not the only thing we can do but it is the main thing that we can do. It’s the primary thing that we can do.” He’s right. Prayer is the main way that God has chosen to act and exert His will in our world. It’s how He often chooses to get things done. Is it the most efficient way? I wouldn’t think so because God is all powerful and therefore, the most efficient way would be the same way that He created the universe in the first place, just issue the command and make it happen. However, His primary agenda it would appear is to transform us so that our character looks like His and so, that means, delegating responsibility back to us and allowing us to be part of the process. Is it messy? Oh yeah, but it’s also a lifelong procedure to get us back to where we were supposed to be in first place so it’s necessary.
So how do we pray for Ukraine? To answer that question, we probably need to define what prayer is. In spite of all of its formats, most of which are totally unnecessary I might add, prayer is simply talking with God. Prayer is essentially giving God an invitation to the party, it’s asking God to get involved in whatever is going on, or, to put it another way, it’s asking God what He’s trying to do and how we can cooperate with Him. So, using the Lord’s Prayer as our model, the first thing we need to do when we pray is to acknowledge God as God and verbally give Him the recognition that He deserves and then we need to ask Him what He’s trying to accomplish and how we can cooperate with Him.
As I have thought about this, really to effectively talk about how to pray for Ukraine, most things that we could pray for fall into one of two categories. There’s the things that we can control and the things that we can’t. Today, let’s talk about how to pray for what we can’t control, those things that are absolutely out of our control.
For the next few minutes, this is just going to be me spitballin’ and calling things as I see them. For starters, almost all of the shots are being called by men and women in the upper echelons of power and frankly, much of what is going on is pure evil that’s driven by greed. I’m also going on record as saying that a lot of it is demonic. I believe in a literal devil and I believe that, based on what the Bible has to say about him, Satan is behind all of this. Look at what’s going on. The greed, the deceit and outright lies, the unnecessary violence and death, it all has Satan’s signature all over it. God’s creation is being trashed by warfare and innocent lives are being lost. Therefore, first order of business is to pray that the forces of evil would be suppressed.
The second thing to remember is this. The people who are in authority, the ones who are making the decisions here, are only there because God permitted them to be there. In Daniel 2:21 said that God “removes kings and sets up other kings,” and in Proverbs 21:1, King Solomon compared the king’s heart to a stream of water that God held in the palm of His hand and He directs it in whatever direction that He wants it to go. The point here is that God is the one who, especially when asked, can manipulate the decision making process of the rulers so that the decisions that they make are ones dictated by mercy and justice and not greed. Seriously, when it comes to this matter of God directing a leader’s heart, even when the leader wasn’t asking God to do it, it wouldn’t be the first time it happened, nor will it be the last. In the Book of Ester, prayer and fasting was how Ester managed to get an audience with a fickle and insecure king without losing her head. Bottom line, pray that God will direct these leaders to do the right thing and pursue a peaceful resolution.
Also, pray for protection for the innocent civilians who are caught in the middle of all of this. Pray for their protection as they flee to safety. Pray that there would be a safe place for them to go once they get there. Pray that the citizens of the neighboring countries would be favorably deposed toward the refugees once they get there.
Pray, too, that the truth of what is really happening would come out. And especially pray that people on both sides of the conflict would know the truth. Here’s what is going on as I understand it. The Russian government has shut down social media access and outside news access to its citizens and also to its soldiers, many of whom are 18 or 19 year old kids really. They are only being told one side of the story which means they are only getting half of the truth at best with lies being conveniently filled in for the rest of the story. Once again, this has Satan’s fingerprints all over it. Jesus called Satan the father of lies and the way to combat any lie is with the truth. Ask God to reveal the truth and do it quickly.
The final thing to pray for is just peace. One of the titles that will someday be pinned on Jesus is that He will be called the Prince of Peace. Real peace is something that Jesus brings to the table. Pray that God will bring about the cessation of hostilities and replace warfare with peace.
In conclusion, usually I’m telling stories on this website taken from the Bible and applying it to life in 2022. In this situation, I’m not exactly telling it, I’m pointing us all in a direction so that we can have a hand in writing it. There’s a big difference here. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is happening right now and, through prayer, we have an opportunity to have a hand in writing the middle and the end of this story. Prayer moved the hand of God in the Bible and it moves the hand of God today. This was just some ideas on some things to pray for. Today, we focused entirely on things that most of us have no control over because we aren’t the decision makers. Next time, we’ll focus on praying about some things related to Ukraine that we actually do have a measure of control over. See you next time.
In church this morning, my pastor, Scotty Scruggs, made this comment referring to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. “Prayer is not the only thing we can do but it is the main thing that we can do. It’s the primary thing that we can do.” He’s right. Prayer is the main way that God has chosen to act and exert His will in our world. It’s how He often chooses to get things done. Is it the most efficient way? I wouldn’t think so because God is all powerful and therefore, the most efficient way would be the same way that He created the universe in the first place, just issue the command and make it happen. However, His primary agenda it would appear is to transform us so that our character looks like His and so, that means, delegating responsibility back to us and allowing us to be part of the process. Is it messy? Oh yeah, but it’s also a lifelong procedure to get us back to where we were supposed to be in first place so it’s necessary.
So how do we pray for Ukraine? To answer that question, we probably need to define what prayer is. In spite of all of its formats, most of which are totally unnecessary I might add, prayer is simply talking with God. Prayer is essentially giving God an invitation to the party, it’s asking God to get involved in whatever is going on, or, to put it another way, it’s asking God what He’s trying to do and how we can cooperate with Him. So, using the Lord’s Prayer as our model, the first thing we need to do when we pray is to acknowledge God as God and verbally give Him the recognition that He deserves and then we need to ask Him what He’s trying to accomplish and how we can cooperate with Him.
As I have thought about this, really to effectively talk about how to pray for Ukraine, most things that we could pray for fall into one of two categories. There’s the things that we can control and the things that we can’t. Today, let’s talk about how to pray for what we can’t control, those things that are absolutely out of our control.
For the next few minutes, this is just going to be me spitballin’ and calling things as I see them. For starters, almost all of the shots are being called by men and women in the upper echelons of power and frankly, much of what is going on is pure evil that’s driven by greed. I’m also going on record as saying that a lot of it is demonic. I believe in a literal devil and I believe that, based on what the Bible has to say about him, Satan is behind all of this. Look at what’s going on. The greed, the deceit and outright lies, the unnecessary violence and death, it all has Satan’s signature all over it. God’s creation is being trashed by warfare and innocent lives are being lost. Therefore, first order of business is to pray that the forces of evil would be suppressed.
The second thing to remember is this. The people who are in authority, the ones who are making the decisions here, are only there because God permitted them to be there. In Daniel 2:21 said that God “removes kings and sets up other kings,” and in Proverbs 21:1, King Solomon compared the king’s heart to a stream of water that God held in the palm of His hand and He directs it in whatever direction that He wants it to go. The point here is that God is the one who, especially when asked, can manipulate the decision making process of the rulers so that the decisions that they make are ones dictated by mercy and justice and not greed. Seriously, when it comes to this matter of God directing a leader’s heart, even when the leader wasn’t asking God to do it, it wouldn’t be the first time it happened, nor will it be the last. In the Book of Ester, prayer and fasting was how Ester managed to get an audience with a fickle and insecure king without losing her head. Bottom line, pray that God will direct these leaders to do the right thing and pursue a peaceful resolution.
Also, pray for protection for the innocent civilians who are caught in the middle of all of this. Pray for their protection as they flee to safety. Pray that there would be a safe place for them to go once they get there. Pray that the citizens of the neighboring countries would be favorably deposed toward the refugees once they get there.
Pray, too, that the truth of what is really happening would come out. And especially pray that people on both sides of the conflict would know the truth. Here’s what is going on as I understand it. The Russian government has shut down social media access and outside news access to its citizens and also to its soldiers, many of whom are 18 or 19 year old kids really. They are only being told one side of the story which means they are only getting half of the truth at best with lies being conveniently filled in for the rest of the story. Once again, this has Satan’s fingerprints all over it. Jesus called Satan the father of lies and the way to combat any lie is with the truth. Ask God to reveal the truth and do it quickly.
The final thing to pray for is just peace. One of the titles that will someday be pinned on Jesus is that He will be called the Prince of Peace. Real peace is something that Jesus brings to the table. Pray that God will bring about the cessation of hostilities and replace warfare with peace.
In conclusion, usually I’m telling stories on this website taken from the Bible and applying it to life in 2022. In this situation, I’m not exactly telling it, I’m pointing us all in a direction so that we can have a hand in writing it. There’s a big difference here. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is happening right now and, through prayer, we have an opportunity to have a hand in writing the middle and the end of this story. Prayer moved the hand of God in the Bible and it moves the hand of God today. This was just some ideas on some things to pray for. Today, we focused entirely on things that most of us have no control over because we aren’t the decision makers. Next time, we’ll focus on praying about some things related to Ukraine that we actually do have a measure of control over. See you next time.
A Response to Events in Ukraine. Part 3
"God, Where Do I Fit In?"
Last week I wrote about how to pray for Ukraine and I especially focused in on praying for things that were out of our control. This is an especially good practice I think because, particularly when we are looking at a problem that we have little to no control over, it changes our focus and perspective from an “it’s all on us,” focus to “God, if you’re out there, help.” For the Jesus follower, we know God’s out there and that He hears and is working but for some of you readers who aren’t really sure, I get it, which is why I worded that last statement like I did. In any case, one of the reasons why we pray, although it’s definitely not the only reason, probably not even the primary reason in many cases, is that there’s a problem that we can’t solve and we’re asking God to fix things.
Today, I want to look at a different aspect of prayer. I want to look at things that we can pray about relating to Ukraine that we actually do have at least a measure of control over. The launching pad for this discussion is this question that I am sure many of us have asked, not just about Ukraine but many other things as well. How many of us have said something like this? “This is horrible but what can I do?” I know I have.
We want God to fix all this because after all, what can we do? We’re just people. Yeah, about that. What can we do? More than we think sometimes. Many years ago, I heard Josh McDowell say, “when God gets ready to do something, He takes a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, and He does it.” McDowell’s point was pretty simple. While God doesn’t have to use people to get things done in this world, He is sovereign and often, perhaps even usually, ordinary people are His instrument of choice to get things done. In other words, as we pray about the events in the Ukraine and we ask God to do something about it, paraphrasing here, oftentimes His response sounds something like this. “Yes, it’s horrible what’s happening right now and something does need to be done to help these people who are suffering. Get your coat on. We have work to do.” Loosely translated, God’s at it again. He wants to use us to answer our own prayer. So, what does that look like in the real world?
What it looks like is that it starts with us praying and what I want to do today is talk about how we can pray for the things that are within our control, the tangible ways that we can help. Now, if we seriously think about it, that’s not exactly a walk in the park. Defining the problem here, currently it’s estimated that over two million people have been forced to flee from their homes in Ukraine to neighboring countries in the west. Putting those numbers in perspective, that’s the equivalent of 25% of the population of New York City. Or, for my west coast readers, that’s the entire population of King County (Seattle included) that was forced to move on short notice leaving everything, even things classified as bare essentials, behind. And, speaking directly to those of us who are Jesus followers, to respond apathetically is not an option that is open to us. We must respond. The question though, is how? How do we best respond?
In Proverbs 16:3, Solomon wrote, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” As we begin determining what role we will play in the solution to the needs that will be coming out of Ukraine, this verse serves as a great launch point for our response. Perhaps our prayer could sound like something as simple as this. “God, the needs are great and they are growing daily. I know that You care and it grieves Your Spirit. I know that You want to do things and that You want to use people like me to help meet these needs. God, I’m available. Show me how I fit in Your plans. God, where do I fit in?” (By the way, when you pray those words, “God, I’m available, use me,” don’t be surprised when He takes you up on it.)
Like I did last week, for the next few minutes, I’m just gonna spitball some possibilities for ways that we can pray and get involved. It won’t be an exhaustive list and frankly, a lot of it will be my ideas, certainly open to debate. What I am going to do is throw out some suggestions and let you do with them what you wish.
First, remember this. Because the number of needs are so huge and growing daily, there’s a lot of opportunities to donate money and resources because it’s an all hands on deck crisis. We are going to be hit up for donations from all sides. Some of these requests will come from sources we know, some from those that we don’t know. The first place it would seem to me to start is to determine how much we can afford to donate (Predetermine this. Don’t let the needs drive the discussion necessarily.) and then go to a known source in our community that already has connections and is already doing something. Perhaps the company that you work for is doing something. Maybe, as in my case for example, your church is partnering with organizations already on the ground in Europe and are gathering donations. Maybe it’s an organization that you have heard of and it’s verified, reputable, and trustworthy. Go for it. And as you do this, pray. Perhaps, especially if you aren’t sure where to direct your resources, your prayer sounds something like this. “God, please direct me to a reliable organization that is already working as part of Your plans in Ukraine. There’s a lot of them out there, where do I best fit?”
Here’s another thing to consider as you are contemplating where to help. What is your passion? What has always drawn you, for as long as you can remember even, like a moth to a flame? Often, our passion is a good indicator of both our calling in the long term, and even the way that we can help in Ukraine, in the short term. Have you always had this soft spot for kids and babies? Find out who is doing that right now to meet these ever rising needs in Eastern Europe and find out how you can help, even in a small way. Perhaps it’s education. Let’s not kid ourselves. There are Ukrainians, regardless of how this all plays out, who will never be able to go back home…ever. That’s not being pessimistic, that’s just historical fact. That’s how it always plays out and these refugees will in some cases need funds for training in order to become productive members of whatever society that they land in. I could go on and on. Our prayer, however, might sound something like this. “God, I’ve always had this passion or, I have a strong interest in (fill in the blank). Do you want to use it to direct my involvement as I become part of Your solution here?”
All of this I believe falls back to a Biblical principle that is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God often uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect plans and often, He does it with just what they have in their hands. Moses played the major human role in Israel’s departure from Egypt in the Book of Exodus. When God called Moses for this task, Moses was a shepherd and his primary tool that he used in that occupation was his shepherd’s staff. Make no mistake here. The power that delivered Israel was 100% from God but the means, the tool if you will, that God often used to execute that deliverance was the staff that was in Moses’ hand. To paraphrase a Bible story here in condensed form, the conversation between Moses and God went something like this.
“Hey Moses, I’m gonna use you to deliver my people from bondage.”
“How, God? I don’t got no skills or tools.”
“What’s that you’ve got in your right hand?”
“It’s my staff.”
“That’ll work. Pack your bags, we’re goin’.”
Or let’s fast forward to the New Testament when Jesus was teaching and healing this crowd of people and the meeting went late. It was time for dinner and the disciples asked Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that the crowd, and them too, could buy food and get something to eat. Jesus, in typical Jesus’ style, told the disciple that they should give the crowds something to eat. The disciples thought he had lost his mind and asked the obvious question, “How do you expect us to do that? We only have five loaves and two fish.” (John, in his gospel, said that it was a small boy’s lunch.) Jesus told them to bring it to Him and using that, He produced enough food to feed the crowd.
In both cases what God asked the people that He was using to do was to bring them what they had, as small as it was, and He did the rest. And here’s the thing that we need to remember too. That’s exactly what He’s doing with us too. I’m indebted to Andy Stanley for this idea, even the exact verbiage now that I’m being honest. But basically, what God is asking us to do is to bring Him what we’ve got, to do what we can do, and then let Him do what only He can do.
Before I close today, there’s one last thing that I want to bring up and it’s a real thing here, a legit thing, and it’s this. For the past two years our world has been lit up by Covid and the economic fallout from this has been flat nasty. Some of you reading this have lost everything and you don’t know when, or even if, you’ll ever recover. You’d like to donate but, you know, you just don’t have it. Seriously, you aren’t blowing smoke, you’re stating a fact. So, what do you do? May I suggest one thing. Give God whatcha got. Let me repeat that, and I’ll even spell it correctly this time. Give. God. What. You’ve. Got. If all you’ve got right now is the time to pray. Cool. Give Him what you’ve got. Maybe you want to pray something like this. “God, I don’t have any money right now and You know that. I am though, willing to be a conduit. If You send some money my way that I don’t have right now, I’m willing to give it.” Maybe you collect change that you find for the next month, and at the end of the month you give that. I know. There isn’t nearly as much change laying around as there used to be but there’s still some. Maybe it’s a yard sale or you sell some stuff you have laying around on Craig’s List. You’re just doing what you can. And if the revenue that’s produced is not very much, don’t worry about it. Story time. When it comes to stories about giving in the Bible, the person who is at the front of the list is the person who gave the least in terms of dollars and cents. She was this poor widow who landed on Jesus’ radar and He pointed her generosity out to His disciples. It wasn’t the amount that she gave but rather the percentage of her income that she gave. She actually only gave two small copper coins but it was all she had and Jesus commended her for that. I guess what I’m suggesting is this. If you’re wanting to give but can’t, take it to God in prayer, and then see what happens. Let God be God and act in obedience to however He provides. You will have done all that you can and that’s all that you can do.
Next week I think I’m going to wrap this series up with some thoughts on how we should be treating another group of people who are also impacted by all of this. I’m not going to tip my hand though. You’re going to have to show up next week to read what I have to say. See you then.
Copyright 2022 by Sam Roach
Today, I want to look at a different aspect of prayer. I want to look at things that we can pray about relating to Ukraine that we actually do have at least a measure of control over. The launching pad for this discussion is this question that I am sure many of us have asked, not just about Ukraine but many other things as well. How many of us have said something like this? “This is horrible but what can I do?” I know I have.
We want God to fix all this because after all, what can we do? We’re just people. Yeah, about that. What can we do? More than we think sometimes. Many years ago, I heard Josh McDowell say, “when God gets ready to do something, He takes a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, and He does it.” McDowell’s point was pretty simple. While God doesn’t have to use people to get things done in this world, He is sovereign and often, perhaps even usually, ordinary people are His instrument of choice to get things done. In other words, as we pray about the events in the Ukraine and we ask God to do something about it, paraphrasing here, oftentimes His response sounds something like this. “Yes, it’s horrible what’s happening right now and something does need to be done to help these people who are suffering. Get your coat on. We have work to do.” Loosely translated, God’s at it again. He wants to use us to answer our own prayer. So, what does that look like in the real world?
What it looks like is that it starts with us praying and what I want to do today is talk about how we can pray for the things that are within our control, the tangible ways that we can help. Now, if we seriously think about it, that’s not exactly a walk in the park. Defining the problem here, currently it’s estimated that over two million people have been forced to flee from their homes in Ukraine to neighboring countries in the west. Putting those numbers in perspective, that’s the equivalent of 25% of the population of New York City. Or, for my west coast readers, that’s the entire population of King County (Seattle included) that was forced to move on short notice leaving everything, even things classified as bare essentials, behind. And, speaking directly to those of us who are Jesus followers, to respond apathetically is not an option that is open to us. We must respond. The question though, is how? How do we best respond?
In Proverbs 16:3, Solomon wrote, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” As we begin determining what role we will play in the solution to the needs that will be coming out of Ukraine, this verse serves as a great launch point for our response. Perhaps our prayer could sound like something as simple as this. “God, the needs are great and they are growing daily. I know that You care and it grieves Your Spirit. I know that You want to do things and that You want to use people like me to help meet these needs. God, I’m available. Show me how I fit in Your plans. God, where do I fit in?” (By the way, when you pray those words, “God, I’m available, use me,” don’t be surprised when He takes you up on it.)
Like I did last week, for the next few minutes, I’m just gonna spitball some possibilities for ways that we can pray and get involved. It won’t be an exhaustive list and frankly, a lot of it will be my ideas, certainly open to debate. What I am going to do is throw out some suggestions and let you do with them what you wish.
First, remember this. Because the number of needs are so huge and growing daily, there’s a lot of opportunities to donate money and resources because it’s an all hands on deck crisis. We are going to be hit up for donations from all sides. Some of these requests will come from sources we know, some from those that we don’t know. The first place it would seem to me to start is to determine how much we can afford to donate (Predetermine this. Don’t let the needs drive the discussion necessarily.) and then go to a known source in our community that already has connections and is already doing something. Perhaps the company that you work for is doing something. Maybe, as in my case for example, your church is partnering with organizations already on the ground in Europe and are gathering donations. Maybe it’s an organization that you have heard of and it’s verified, reputable, and trustworthy. Go for it. And as you do this, pray. Perhaps, especially if you aren’t sure where to direct your resources, your prayer sounds something like this. “God, please direct me to a reliable organization that is already working as part of Your plans in Ukraine. There’s a lot of them out there, where do I best fit?”
Here’s another thing to consider as you are contemplating where to help. What is your passion? What has always drawn you, for as long as you can remember even, like a moth to a flame? Often, our passion is a good indicator of both our calling in the long term, and even the way that we can help in Ukraine, in the short term. Have you always had this soft spot for kids and babies? Find out who is doing that right now to meet these ever rising needs in Eastern Europe and find out how you can help, even in a small way. Perhaps it’s education. Let’s not kid ourselves. There are Ukrainians, regardless of how this all plays out, who will never be able to go back home…ever. That’s not being pessimistic, that’s just historical fact. That’s how it always plays out and these refugees will in some cases need funds for training in order to become productive members of whatever society that they land in. I could go on and on. Our prayer, however, might sound something like this. “God, I’ve always had this passion or, I have a strong interest in (fill in the blank). Do you want to use it to direct my involvement as I become part of Your solution here?”
All of this I believe falls back to a Biblical principle that is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God often uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect plans and often, He does it with just what they have in their hands. Moses played the major human role in Israel’s departure from Egypt in the Book of Exodus. When God called Moses for this task, Moses was a shepherd and his primary tool that he used in that occupation was his shepherd’s staff. Make no mistake here. The power that delivered Israel was 100% from God but the means, the tool if you will, that God often used to execute that deliverance was the staff that was in Moses’ hand. To paraphrase a Bible story here in condensed form, the conversation between Moses and God went something like this.
“Hey Moses, I’m gonna use you to deliver my people from bondage.”
“How, God? I don’t got no skills or tools.”
“What’s that you’ve got in your right hand?”
“It’s my staff.”
“That’ll work. Pack your bags, we’re goin’.”
Or let’s fast forward to the New Testament when Jesus was teaching and healing this crowd of people and the meeting went late. It was time for dinner and the disciples asked Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that the crowd, and them too, could buy food and get something to eat. Jesus, in typical Jesus’ style, told the disciple that they should give the crowds something to eat. The disciples thought he had lost his mind and asked the obvious question, “How do you expect us to do that? We only have five loaves and two fish.” (John, in his gospel, said that it was a small boy’s lunch.) Jesus told them to bring it to Him and using that, He produced enough food to feed the crowd.
In both cases what God asked the people that He was using to do was to bring them what they had, as small as it was, and He did the rest. And here’s the thing that we need to remember too. That’s exactly what He’s doing with us too. I’m indebted to Andy Stanley for this idea, even the exact verbiage now that I’m being honest. But basically, what God is asking us to do is to bring Him what we’ve got, to do what we can do, and then let Him do what only He can do.
Before I close today, there’s one last thing that I want to bring up and it’s a real thing here, a legit thing, and it’s this. For the past two years our world has been lit up by Covid and the economic fallout from this has been flat nasty. Some of you reading this have lost everything and you don’t know when, or even if, you’ll ever recover. You’d like to donate but, you know, you just don’t have it. Seriously, you aren’t blowing smoke, you’re stating a fact. So, what do you do? May I suggest one thing. Give God whatcha got. Let me repeat that, and I’ll even spell it correctly this time. Give. God. What. You’ve. Got. If all you’ve got right now is the time to pray. Cool. Give Him what you’ve got. Maybe you want to pray something like this. “God, I don’t have any money right now and You know that. I am though, willing to be a conduit. If You send some money my way that I don’t have right now, I’m willing to give it.” Maybe you collect change that you find for the next month, and at the end of the month you give that. I know. There isn’t nearly as much change laying around as there used to be but there’s still some. Maybe it’s a yard sale or you sell some stuff you have laying around on Craig’s List. You’re just doing what you can. And if the revenue that’s produced is not very much, don’t worry about it. Story time. When it comes to stories about giving in the Bible, the person who is at the front of the list is the person who gave the least in terms of dollars and cents. She was this poor widow who landed on Jesus’ radar and He pointed her generosity out to His disciples. It wasn’t the amount that she gave but rather the percentage of her income that she gave. She actually only gave two small copper coins but it was all she had and Jesus commended her for that. I guess what I’m suggesting is this. If you’re wanting to give but can’t, take it to God in prayer, and then see what happens. Let God be God and act in obedience to however He provides. You will have done all that you can and that’s all that you can do.
Next week I think I’m going to wrap this series up with some thoughts on how we should be treating another group of people who are also impacted by all of this. I’m not going to tip my hand though. You’re going to have to show up next week to read what I have to say. See you then.
Copyright 2022 by Sam Roach
A Response to Events in Ukraine. Part 4
"Where Do We Go From Here. Random Thoughts"
Today I’m going wrap up this series with just some random thoughts about how to move forward as we deal with what’s happened in Ukraine. Much of today’s article is just my personal opinion as I read the Bible and attempt to apply it to daily life as I attempt to transition this website back to my objectives for creating it in the first place. That being said, here goes.
One of the things that the Bible instructs us to do, especially those of us who claim to follow Jesus, is to pray for those in authority, the political leaders, and this has to apply to political leaders across the board, even those leaders in Russia. Paul, in his letter to Timothy wrote, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1–4) Pray specifically that they will have the wisdom to govern well and the humility to repent and change course when it’s obvious that it’s the right thing to do. Whether you call yourself a Jesus follower or not, praying for these people is just the prudent thing to do because we aren’t the ones making the decisions, those leaders are, and the better decisions they make, the better off it will be for all of us. Think about it. We’re the ones who will feel the brunt of their decisions if they make stupid decisions, not them. (Do you really think that the price of gas right now is hurting Putin and Biden in their wallets?) Yeah, pray for these guys. At the very least our personal budgets depend on it.
They aren’t the only leaders who need our prayers though, there’s also another group that we should be praying for. We should be praying to for the leaders of the humanitarian aid organizations that are either on the ground in Eastern Europe or are supporting partners who are on the ground in Eastern Europe. They need wisdom to discern how to best allocate their limited resources. We should also be praying that they would obtain the necessary resources to serve the people who are suffering desperately within their sphere of influence. The bottom line is that this crisis, has brought with it a lot of pressure and the leaders of both governments and larger nonprofits have to set policies and protocols out of a lack of a better word for it to deal with it. Trust me, they are appreciative of prayers that are offered on their behalf because their days are long and the jobs they have to do are just thankless.
Another thing that we need to do I think is to shift our focus from ourselves to those around us. We need to shift our gaze from the person we see in the mirror to the people we see in the window, the people who we interact with every day. I’m not sure who first said this, but it’s true. “Everyone you see is fighting a battle that you know nothing about so be kind.” It’s always been true but since Covid and now this, look at the gas prices and the supply line issues, it’s even more true. Give grace and be kind because people are facing personal crisis like we haven’t seen in years. To my Jesus following readers, we need to sit up and pay attention because we have been presented once again with an opportunity to serve others, to love others like Jesus loves them. We have been presented with an opportunity to demonstrate what a life of holiness, love and service looks like. What will we do with that opportunity though? What will we do today to serve others and help make their life better? Will we live like Jesus or we live selfishly? That’s the question.
Now lastly, I really want to talk to Jesus followers like myself although what I am about to say could apply to others too, I suppose. In the Old Testament, during the dedication ceremony of the Jewish Temple, King Solomon offered a prayer of dedication that’s way too long for me to quote here but in it, he asked that when God’s people rebelled and then turned away from that rebellion and asked for forgiveness, that God would forgive them. He also asked, among other things, that God would actually listen to the prayers of His people. He asked that the prayers of the people wouldn’t just be a religious ritual but that God would actually hear them. To pray like that isn’t all that farfetched, is it? Face it, many of us either pray that prayer or at least would like to except that we wonder if it’s okay to do that. Based on what happened next, apparently it is.
God actually responded to Solomon and, according to the writers of Chronicles, it was in a dream. God’s answer came in the same format that Solomon had prayed originally, much like a conversation. Paraphrasing here, God told Solomon that He had heard his prayer, and that when God allowed life to go completely sideways because of His people’s sin, that if God’s people would humble themselves and pray and renounce their rebellion and change their behavior, that He would forgive them and restore things. He also said that He would listen to the people as they prayed if they were willing to admit their rebellion and turn from it. And then God did something else kind of interesting. He essentially told Solomon that his personal success and the success of the rest of the nation, hinged around one thing. They had to let God be God. They had to let God define the difference between what was right and what was wrong and they had to conform to that definition. The terminology that the Old Testament writers used was that Solomon or whoever the leader was, and the people, had to turn away from serving idols and had to serve God alone. If they would serve God, things would go well for them. If they chose to live otherwise, they were on their own and things would get ugly. Editorial comment here: Sometimes ugly was the result of God’s direct involvement, sometimes it was the result of the lack of God’s direct involvement because the people just did stupid stuff.
I want to break God’s answer down just a bit here and bring it home to us today. The first thing that God told Solomon was that He heard his prayer. Solomon, at the time, had acknowledged God for who He was, and God responded. Know what? If God did it for Solomon, He’ll do it for us. Secondly, He said that if the people rebelled and essentially became god players and disregarded God’s laws, that He would send trouble in various forms. Now, for the record, to say that God caused Covid or that God caused the Ukrainian crisis might be an oversimplification and may even be true but, what is true is that God permitted these things to happen. The question for many of us is why? Why did God permit this?
The answer to this could very well be discovered by looking at God’s response to Solomon. God said, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves…” Stop right there. Who are the people today who would be called God’s people and are identified as belonging to Him? This isn’t rocket science, it’s Christians, Jesus followers. Church, He’s talking to us. If we will humble ourselves. Stop again. God is going right to the heart of the issue, pride. Are we proud? I don’t know, you tell me. Actually, I kind of think that we are except that in our case church, we often manifest it in socially acceptable ways. Track with me for a minute. We often have with this self-delusion that we’re somehow better than other people. And, even if we aren’t, which we’re not in God’s opinion, we spin the evidence so that it looks like we are. No, I’m not lying. I’m just following the public evidence trail that we’ve posted in our tweets and our social media posts. For the record, I’m not saying that we should quit posting stuff on social media etc... I’m just saying that it’s time for us to examine our motives and weed out the pride that we find because it’s infiltrating other parts of our lives as well and it’s quite insidious. Another thing about it is that it’s often not something that we’re all that aware of. It’s in our blind spot but one of the best ways that I have discovered from personal experience to uncover sin like this in my life is to pray something like this. “God, am I doing anything right now that you don’t like? Or am I not doing something that you really wish that I would do? God, show me what offends you in my life so I can cooperate with you and course correct my life so that it pleases you. Please grant me the ability to make the necessary changes.”
The next part of God’s response, using a churchy word here, was that He called on His people to repent. In other words, He wanted them to stop writing their own moral codes and live by His. Tying this in with what Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily, and follow Me.” This is costly and it transcends across all areas of our lives. It means loving people we don’t even like. It means our labels for people have to go. Jesus might have labeled people occasionally (He had some pretty harsh words for the Pharisees and Sadducees and teachers of the Law) but that wasn’t His go to verbiage. He only went there if He had to and He only based it on behavior, (often their pride) and He never stopped loving these people. Even the sheep and goats reference (sorry those of you who don’t attend church, you won’t get this reference but my church goers should pick right up on it and they’re kind of who I am talking to here right now anyway.) won’t happen until much later. Bottom line, the labels that we pin on other people have to go if for no other reason that it dehumanizes them these people who are made in the image of God.
Then there’s our checkbook. It’s one of the clearest indicators often regarding whether or not God is really God in our life. It’s no accident that the pivot point in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was when He said, “You cannot serve God and money.” Rick Warren, when preaching on this passage once stated this. “Notice that Jesus didn’t say that you shouldn’t serve God and money but rather that you couldn’t serve God and money. It’s impossible to serve both. You either have to serve one or the other but you can’t do both.” Are we the owners of our checkbooks, our stuff, or are we stewards of them? Yes, we will have to be wise as we steward the resources that God has entrusted us with (read last week’s post again if necessary) but we are going to have to field this issue when it comes to who is God, God or us.
Do we have a long way to go in this process that we call repentance? Probably. I do. But here’s the challenge for us in the upcoming days, months, years, as we respond to the events happening in Ukraine. For any of you who are like me and claim to be a Jesus follower, we are going to have to be poster children of what repentance looks like to those who are not following Jesus yet. For many people, we are going to be the only open Bible that many of the people we come in contact with will ever read. Paul, his letters, called us ambassadors. We represent Jesus. For many of us, including me, we have to examine ourselves and repent. We need to dig deeper and allow God to rearrange the areas of our lives that we’ve held back from Him. Repentance. We are going to have to change our moral codes, the codes that we live by, even possibly our political positions, so that they align with His. For all of us, we are going to have to go back and read our Bibles regularly but not for the goal to gain knowledge but for the goal of becoming like Jesus right down to the core of our being. Will we be disciplined and feel uncomfortable? Yeah, probably. But it’s absolutely necessary. There’s no other way.
Going back to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His followers that they were to be the light of the world, (a living example of how to handle whatever life throws them) and the salt of the earth. (A preservative to combat decay.) Those are our marching orders and the bottom line is that the events happening in Ukraine have created a situation where that mission is critical. The world needs us to step up to the plate, so, what will we do? Do the serious work of allowing God to examine us and repent where He indicates that we need to repent, and then get into the muck of getting our hands dirty as we work alongside of God in this messy business of loving people as Jesus loves them – and us. Or are we going to pass? That’s the decision we’re all facing.
I do hope that this series has been helpful to you who have begun to follow this site over the past few months. Like I said in the beginning, I don’t usually deal with current events but I just sensed that there was a need to go there. I sensed a need for a Christian response to the current situation. Next week I’ll get back to specifically examining the life of Jesus and applying it to us. See you next week.
Copyright by Sam Roach 2022
One of the things that the Bible instructs us to do, especially those of us who claim to follow Jesus, is to pray for those in authority, the political leaders, and this has to apply to political leaders across the board, even those leaders in Russia. Paul, in his letter to Timothy wrote, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1–4) Pray specifically that they will have the wisdom to govern well and the humility to repent and change course when it’s obvious that it’s the right thing to do. Whether you call yourself a Jesus follower or not, praying for these people is just the prudent thing to do because we aren’t the ones making the decisions, those leaders are, and the better decisions they make, the better off it will be for all of us. Think about it. We’re the ones who will feel the brunt of their decisions if they make stupid decisions, not them. (Do you really think that the price of gas right now is hurting Putin and Biden in their wallets?) Yeah, pray for these guys. At the very least our personal budgets depend on it.
They aren’t the only leaders who need our prayers though, there’s also another group that we should be praying for. We should be praying to for the leaders of the humanitarian aid organizations that are either on the ground in Eastern Europe or are supporting partners who are on the ground in Eastern Europe. They need wisdom to discern how to best allocate their limited resources. We should also be praying that they would obtain the necessary resources to serve the people who are suffering desperately within their sphere of influence. The bottom line is that this crisis, has brought with it a lot of pressure and the leaders of both governments and larger nonprofits have to set policies and protocols out of a lack of a better word for it to deal with it. Trust me, they are appreciative of prayers that are offered on their behalf because their days are long and the jobs they have to do are just thankless.
Another thing that we need to do I think is to shift our focus from ourselves to those around us. We need to shift our gaze from the person we see in the mirror to the people we see in the window, the people who we interact with every day. I’m not sure who first said this, but it’s true. “Everyone you see is fighting a battle that you know nothing about so be kind.” It’s always been true but since Covid and now this, look at the gas prices and the supply line issues, it’s even more true. Give grace and be kind because people are facing personal crisis like we haven’t seen in years. To my Jesus following readers, we need to sit up and pay attention because we have been presented once again with an opportunity to serve others, to love others like Jesus loves them. We have been presented with an opportunity to demonstrate what a life of holiness, love and service looks like. What will we do with that opportunity though? What will we do today to serve others and help make their life better? Will we live like Jesus or we live selfishly? That’s the question.
Now lastly, I really want to talk to Jesus followers like myself although what I am about to say could apply to others too, I suppose. In the Old Testament, during the dedication ceremony of the Jewish Temple, King Solomon offered a prayer of dedication that’s way too long for me to quote here but in it, he asked that when God’s people rebelled and then turned away from that rebellion and asked for forgiveness, that God would forgive them. He also asked, among other things, that God would actually listen to the prayers of His people. He asked that the prayers of the people wouldn’t just be a religious ritual but that God would actually hear them. To pray like that isn’t all that farfetched, is it? Face it, many of us either pray that prayer or at least would like to except that we wonder if it’s okay to do that. Based on what happened next, apparently it is.
God actually responded to Solomon and, according to the writers of Chronicles, it was in a dream. God’s answer came in the same format that Solomon had prayed originally, much like a conversation. Paraphrasing here, God told Solomon that He had heard his prayer, and that when God allowed life to go completely sideways because of His people’s sin, that if God’s people would humble themselves and pray and renounce their rebellion and change their behavior, that He would forgive them and restore things. He also said that He would listen to the people as they prayed if they were willing to admit their rebellion and turn from it. And then God did something else kind of interesting. He essentially told Solomon that his personal success and the success of the rest of the nation, hinged around one thing. They had to let God be God. They had to let God define the difference between what was right and what was wrong and they had to conform to that definition. The terminology that the Old Testament writers used was that Solomon or whoever the leader was, and the people, had to turn away from serving idols and had to serve God alone. If they would serve God, things would go well for them. If they chose to live otherwise, they were on their own and things would get ugly. Editorial comment here: Sometimes ugly was the result of God’s direct involvement, sometimes it was the result of the lack of God’s direct involvement because the people just did stupid stuff.
I want to break God’s answer down just a bit here and bring it home to us today. The first thing that God told Solomon was that He heard his prayer. Solomon, at the time, had acknowledged God for who He was, and God responded. Know what? If God did it for Solomon, He’ll do it for us. Secondly, He said that if the people rebelled and essentially became god players and disregarded God’s laws, that He would send trouble in various forms. Now, for the record, to say that God caused Covid or that God caused the Ukrainian crisis might be an oversimplification and may even be true but, what is true is that God permitted these things to happen. The question for many of us is why? Why did God permit this?
The answer to this could very well be discovered by looking at God’s response to Solomon. God said, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves…” Stop right there. Who are the people today who would be called God’s people and are identified as belonging to Him? This isn’t rocket science, it’s Christians, Jesus followers. Church, He’s talking to us. If we will humble ourselves. Stop again. God is going right to the heart of the issue, pride. Are we proud? I don’t know, you tell me. Actually, I kind of think that we are except that in our case church, we often manifest it in socially acceptable ways. Track with me for a minute. We often have with this self-delusion that we’re somehow better than other people. And, even if we aren’t, which we’re not in God’s opinion, we spin the evidence so that it looks like we are. No, I’m not lying. I’m just following the public evidence trail that we’ve posted in our tweets and our social media posts. For the record, I’m not saying that we should quit posting stuff on social media etc... I’m just saying that it’s time for us to examine our motives and weed out the pride that we find because it’s infiltrating other parts of our lives as well and it’s quite insidious. Another thing about it is that it’s often not something that we’re all that aware of. It’s in our blind spot but one of the best ways that I have discovered from personal experience to uncover sin like this in my life is to pray something like this. “God, am I doing anything right now that you don’t like? Or am I not doing something that you really wish that I would do? God, show me what offends you in my life so I can cooperate with you and course correct my life so that it pleases you. Please grant me the ability to make the necessary changes.”
The next part of God’s response, using a churchy word here, was that He called on His people to repent. In other words, He wanted them to stop writing their own moral codes and live by His. Tying this in with what Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily, and follow Me.” This is costly and it transcends across all areas of our lives. It means loving people we don’t even like. It means our labels for people have to go. Jesus might have labeled people occasionally (He had some pretty harsh words for the Pharisees and Sadducees and teachers of the Law) but that wasn’t His go to verbiage. He only went there if He had to and He only based it on behavior, (often their pride) and He never stopped loving these people. Even the sheep and goats reference (sorry those of you who don’t attend church, you won’t get this reference but my church goers should pick right up on it and they’re kind of who I am talking to here right now anyway.) won’t happen until much later. Bottom line, the labels that we pin on other people have to go if for no other reason that it dehumanizes them these people who are made in the image of God.
Then there’s our checkbook. It’s one of the clearest indicators often regarding whether or not God is really God in our life. It’s no accident that the pivot point in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was when He said, “You cannot serve God and money.” Rick Warren, when preaching on this passage once stated this. “Notice that Jesus didn’t say that you shouldn’t serve God and money but rather that you couldn’t serve God and money. It’s impossible to serve both. You either have to serve one or the other but you can’t do both.” Are we the owners of our checkbooks, our stuff, or are we stewards of them? Yes, we will have to be wise as we steward the resources that God has entrusted us with (read last week’s post again if necessary) but we are going to have to field this issue when it comes to who is God, God or us.
Do we have a long way to go in this process that we call repentance? Probably. I do. But here’s the challenge for us in the upcoming days, months, years, as we respond to the events happening in Ukraine. For any of you who are like me and claim to be a Jesus follower, we are going to have to be poster children of what repentance looks like to those who are not following Jesus yet. For many people, we are going to be the only open Bible that many of the people we come in contact with will ever read. Paul, his letters, called us ambassadors. We represent Jesus. For many of us, including me, we have to examine ourselves and repent. We need to dig deeper and allow God to rearrange the areas of our lives that we’ve held back from Him. Repentance. We are going to have to change our moral codes, the codes that we live by, even possibly our political positions, so that they align with His. For all of us, we are going to have to go back and read our Bibles regularly but not for the goal to gain knowledge but for the goal of becoming like Jesus right down to the core of our being. Will we be disciplined and feel uncomfortable? Yeah, probably. But it’s absolutely necessary. There’s no other way.
Going back to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His followers that they were to be the light of the world, (a living example of how to handle whatever life throws them) and the salt of the earth. (A preservative to combat decay.) Those are our marching orders and the bottom line is that the events happening in Ukraine have created a situation where that mission is critical. The world needs us to step up to the plate, so, what will we do? Do the serious work of allowing God to examine us and repent where He indicates that we need to repent, and then get into the muck of getting our hands dirty as we work alongside of God in this messy business of loving people as Jesus loves them – and us. Or are we going to pass? That’s the decision we’re all facing.
I do hope that this series has been helpful to you who have begun to follow this site over the past few months. Like I said in the beginning, I don’t usually deal with current events but I just sensed that there was a need to go there. I sensed a need for a Christian response to the current situation. Next week I’ll get back to specifically examining the life of Jesus and applying it to us. See you next week.
Copyright by Sam Roach 2022