The Old Testament has several names of God. He is called Jehovah Elohim (Gen 2:4-5), Jehovah Adonai (Gen 15:2, 8), Jehovah Jireh (Gen 22:8-14), Jehovah Nissi (Exo 17:15), Jehovah Rapha (Exo 15:26), and Jehovah Sneaky. Okay, no, the\at last name does not appear in the pages of your Bible. There are quite a few names of God in there, but that's not one of them. Not that it shouldn't be.
I've been noting of late how many times in Scripture God uses bad things to produce good results. Over and over again, it seems, He takes a bad situation and uses it for a good purpose that you never see coming until it's there. Take, for instance, the story of Joseph. His brothers hate him (bad) and seek to kill him (bad) and eventually sell him into slavery (bad). From there it doesn't seem to get better. Slavery, false accusation of rape, prison, forgotten. "But God." You know the story. He ends up the #2 guy in Egypt, saves Egypt from a famine, and saves his family at the same time. When he talks about it with his brothers, he tells them, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Gen 50:21). That's Jehovah Sneaky.
That's one example. They're all through the Bible. Time and again bad things are happening and time and again God uses them for good. The Passover, a richly symbolic image of our Passover Lamb, occurred at the end of 10 torments and resulted in the deaths of all of Egypt's firstborn sons, producing a vivid picture of God's protection of His people. Jonah ran from God, got stuck in a storm that God sent (Jonah 1:4), and ended up getting thrown overboard. The outcome of that little event was that a boatload of sailors came to know YHWH up close and personal (Jonah 1:14-16). Oh, and Nineveh was spared God's wrath. In Romans 11 we read that God gave His people "a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." (Rom 11:8). That seems harsh. Israel stumbled, but there was a purpose behind it. Because of their sin, salvation came to the Gentiles (Rom 11:12). Because salvation came to the Gentiles, Israel would be made jealous (Rom 11:14). The sequence concludes, "In this way all Israel will be saved." (Rom 11:26). Now that's a twist, isn't it? That's Jehovah Sneaky.
This life is full of the unpleasant. Bad things happen. Sometimes they're natural events. Sometimes they're sin. Sometimes a combination. In this life we have the certainty of facing trouble. It is this certainty that I address in this reference to Jehovah Sneaky. We have equal certainty that God works all things together for good. And we see that He can be sneaky about it. He can (and does) take the worst circumstances and turn them for the greatest good. "I did not see that coming." That should give us hope in troubling times.
5 comments:
Twenty years ago many in the church steadfastly held that climate change is a lie. Do any of you observe that attitude still in 2021? Or has it tipped over to, "Climate change is happening; it is bad prima facie; God wants it to happen for a long-term good purpose"?
That's stretching the topic a long way, isn't it?
Many people still question anthropogenic climate change. Not all of them are church people. Not a small number of them are scientists. What does that have to do with church?
I was just wondering how the Lord is leading people on this particular issue. It would be comforting to hear it is truly a non-issue.
I'm not at all clear on the connection between church and climate change. I'm not at all comfortable with "how the Lord is leading people" on something about which He has nothing to say. I'm not sure how to answer your question because I don't speak for "the church" and, frankly, I don't discuss it with too many people given the pile of important stuff to discuss.
Haha... I think Israel stumbled a lot. Didn't they get a slap on the bottom every other generation or so?
I can just imagine God sitting on a rock watching Moses approach with his people and as he stops in front of God, tired and exhausted God says,
"Keep walking, hero."
And Moses trudges on, waving his people on behind him to keep up.
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