Recognizing God ................ Parables 598

June 2, 1998

Dad “works better” with Mom around. They have been partners for nearly sixty years. Together they are much stronger than they are apart.

This is particularly true in the past few years. My mother has Alzheimers and my Dad has legs that will not work. He has been her mind and she his body. Now, both are struggling. Although they need each other, neither one is much help, either with memory or physical activity.

Since February, Dad has been separated from Mom because he needed nursing care. It is only across the street from her senior’s lodge, but life is frequently confusing for him. His memory plays tricks. Some days he thinks he sees my mother but it is someone else. Does he forget what she looks like? I don’t think so. When she visits, he recognizes her instantly. Whatever goes wrong when she is not there seems to work just fine when she is with him.

Their situation is sad, yet they enjoy small delights and are always thankful. They remind me constantly of things God is teaching me. Like them, I do better with others around, most of all God. He has been a faithful partner, even when my mind and body do not do whatever I want them to do. There are days when I am unsure of His presence, but others when I recognize Him instantly. No matter what goes wrong in my life, I know He is always close, whether I sense it or not. Because of Him, I enjoy small delights and am thankful.

For myself and others who believe in Christ, recognizing God is not a problem, yet it was for people in the first century. When Jesus came to earth, the Bible says, “the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

Odd that His own (referring to the Jews) would not know Him. Their relationship with God went back several centuries. Didn’t He act like the God they thought they knew? Didn’t He look familiar? Or were they having problems with their eyesight?

At that time in history, the Jewish people were under the thumb of Rome, humiliated by both military and economic defeat. The Romans tolerated their presence but life was not easy. For years, God had promised a Messiah, a great deliverer. Most people were certain He would come as a man of war.

However, Jesus was anything but that. Besides, He didn’t act like the God of the Old Testament who helped them battle their enemies. How could this Jesus be God? If He showed anger, it was not against Roman oppressors but against self-righteous Jews.

Once He made a whip and drove them from the temple, accusing them of greed and turning His Father’s house into a “den of thieves.” He even accused them of violating the laws of God, pointed out other sins but mainly condemning them for not believing God had sent Him to redeem them. A few realized who He was and followed Him. Those who refused to admit their sin and rejected all that Jesus offered them were the same people who did not recognize Him.

According to Scripture, these rejecters had “eyesight problems.” They were blind to the identity of Jesus because their sin kept them from seeing reality. Their lack of vision was correctable. All they needed to do was acknowledge that Jesus was no ordinary man and seek His true identity. If they admitted they were sinful, God would have cleansed them and opened their eyes. In refusing to do this, they missed their opportunity to know God through Christ.

For all who want to know Him today, the same principle applies. We too must acknowledge our sin, admit our helplessness, and keep our eyes open. God will reveal Himself. He will forgive and cleanse our sin. He will give us a new understanding of reality. And when He does, we will never forget what He looks like.

Whose Fault Is It? .............. Parables 286

September 25, 1991

Our oldest son used to have a black T-shirt with “SAN ANDREAS EARTHQUAKE COMPANY” written on the front and “IT’S NOT MY FAULT” written on the back. When my husband tells a story about people who refuse to take responsibility for work that are clearly theirs, we think of that shirt. The explanation for not getting the job done is almost always “It’s not my fault.”

Everyone protests, “It’s not my fault...” now and then. And many times it isn’t their fault. However, when it is, the results of refusing to accept responsibility can be just as disastrous as an earthquake.

Consider Adam and Eve when confronted in the garden. God, perhaps with the apple core or fruit pit in His hand says to Adam, “I thought I told you not to eat from that tree...” and Adam comes back with, “The woman You gave me, she gave me the fruit from the tree... it’s not my fault, check out Eve...” (Reread Genesis 3, he actually did say that!)

So God turns to Eve and asks about her disobedience to His command. She says, “The serpent deceived me, so it’s not my fault, check out that snake...”

God doesn’t bother to ask the serpent about his responsibility. He knows this snake is an embodiment of Satan. This critter is far from having any interest in God’s commands and has no intention of taking responsibility for leading Eve into sin. So instead of waiting for the snake’s “It’s not my fault,” the Lord curses him to a lifetime of crawling in the dust.

Then God promises Satan there would be: “enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel,” a prophecy referring to Jesus Christ who would eventually gain victory over this beguiling deceiver.

After that, God tells the two buck-passers the consequences of their irresponsible behavior. Women would face multiplied sorrow as mothers (all mothers can relate to that) and there would be conflict in marriage relationships (all marrieds can relate to that). The man is told that making a living would be tough because the earth was now cursed as a result of this sin. Adam would battle thorns and thistles from then on “because he heeded the voice of his wife...” Furthermore, spiritual (and eventually, physical) death would come upon them as they are now separated from God and banished from access to the Tree of Life.

Adam was responsible to make right decisions, not be governed by his wife’s wrong suggestion. Eve was responsible to evaluate what even snakes say to her and determine if her decision would fit into God’s will. Yet both of them blamed someone else for their choices.

Being responsible for what we do is not always easy. When someone gives me wrong directions, I want to blame them that I got lost. When someone hurts me, I want to blame them for my angry reaction. If I goof up, I too easily look for a scapegoat, not wanting to bear the burden of my own mistakes. However, my husband says workers who make good impressions on a construction site are those who go to a superior and say, “I did not get the job done properly but am willing to try again... what kind of help can I get?”

Did Adam ever say, “I disobeyed You God... I not only failed to stop my wife from sin but entered into it with her... I am guilty, help me do the right thing”? Or did Eve say, “I made a horrible mistake, I wanted something that You told me I should not have... please forgive me, change my wants...”? We don’t know for sure but the Bible does tell us an amazing thing: when we say, “It is my fault...please help me...” God does a wonderful thing: He forgives our mistakes and removes our guilt, producing freedom and new life. Taking responsibility is worth it.