Faith or Extraction?

Every now and then a TV show reminds me of what Christians deal with as we try to serve our Lord, and this season one show in particular served as a reflection of one of the more difficult aspects of a life of faith. Recently Fox Television introduced a reality series called Extracted in which twelve teams work together to try to win $250,000. The teams were made up of one amateur survivalist who attempted to live in the woods of British Columbia and two family members or friends who lived in a nearby cabin, serving as a support team for the survivalist. The support teams competed to earn equipment and food that was sent to the survivalists, with the possibility that the losing team of each round might wind up sending an empty crate out to their teammates.

The support teams could see and hear the survivalists and had the ability to pull their survivalists out of the game by hitting a big red “Extraction” button but doing so would mean the end of the game for both the survivalists and the support teams. This set up left the support teams with two questions. What were they willing to do to earn the best supplies for their survivalist teammates? As suspected, some of them were willing to lie and manipulate others to improve their odds of winning. Then there was the big question. How much suffering would any support team allow before hitting the button and extracting their teammate from the woods?

There are times in my life where I feel like I am in a reality competition like Extracted, times where I feel like I am a survivalist enduring trial after trial while God watches from a nearby cabin. At times I feel like I am in the middle of nowhere with my very survival at stake and my only hope is that God is doing everything He can to get me what I need. Then there are times when life gets so difficult that I wish God would hit the “extract” button, doing something miraculous to pull me out of whatever I find myself in. I often wish He would help me avoid difficulty, but He often allows life to crash in, while telling me to, “Have faith!”

When I hear those words, I know I have a choice. I can choose to trust in God, knowing that His plan is perfect and it involves me reaching the goal He has set before me. I can choose to have faith, or I can ask to be extracted: pulled out of the situation without trusting that God has everything under control. I know which one I should choose but I don’t always act like it. Which one do you choose? Faith or extraction?

Like Christ, Go and Change Lives

Matthew 8:3 tells us that Jesus touched a leper and completely changed the man’s life. He could have simply given a command and the man would have been healed. Instead, Jesus touched one who was an outcast and I believe this is still how God responds to broken people. He touches them and He invests Himself in each individual person, no matter what situation they are in.

According to the law, a leper was to be declared unclean by the priest who examined him/her (Leviticus 13:3, 8). Jesus, by touching the leper, should also have been declared unclean but instead the leper was healed. Jesus then sends the former leper away to follow the law as prescribed for the day of cleansing healed lepers in Leviticus 14.

By touching the leper Jesus proved that He is not bound by the law in the same way that a mere human would have been. If He were a pagan we could accept this as Him simply being someone who was not born under the covenant between God and Israel, although we would still expect Him to contract leprosy. As Mary’s child, Jesus was Jewish and thus born under the covenant. As such the law should have applied and He should have been unclean immediately after touching the leper. The fact that the leper was immediately healed shows that this is not the case.

Assuming the law to be true, there is only one other explanation. Jesus was something or someone Who by nature was not governed by the same weaknesses that other people experienced. His lineage was also the Holy Spirit, making Him the Son of God. By His very nature He was on the other side of the Old Covenant: The side held, not by a human but by God Himself. The rules on that side of the agreement were different as they called for God to be Lord and to deliver. Jesus was God and Lord and He routinely delivered people. The healing of the leper was the evidence of this delivery and of the fact that Jesus is God.

It was Jesus’ nature as God incarnate that not only kept Him from becoming unclean but also gave Him the power to cleanse that which was by nature unclean. That same nature dwells in all of God’s children in the form of the Holy Spirit of God. By nature, He cleanses us and by nature keeps us clean with His word. Thus, by nature we are to touch broken people like Jesus did, even when we are afraid of being made unclean. We are to let Jesus touch them through us so that instead of us becoming unclean, they are cleansed by the power of the Spirit of God. And we are to know by His power that Jesus is God and LORD of all.

Like Christ, His followers should be ready to touch those who are less fortunate, sharing the Gospel that sets people free. Are you ready to be like Christ? Are you ready to answer the call to change lives?

 

(Note: This is based on an entry I wrote in my journal back in 2019. While researching more recently I came across a webpage on evidenceunseen.com where James Rochford makes a similar argument about Matthew 8:3)

How Can Prayer Help Us See What God Sees?

The burning bush drew Moses into a conversation with God and into a life altering prayer time where God revealed Himself. This conversation did not fit the normal definition of prayer where we make our desires known to God. In fact, God spoke first, letting Moses know exactly why the Creator of the universe wanted to get his attention.

“I have surely seen…”

Would you like to see the world as God sees it? True, we get the opportunity to see God’s viewpoint every time we open the Bible but what if there was a way to go much deeper? What if God wants us to see the world through His eyes? Would that be worth it for you to spend a couple of extra minutes in prayer beyond the point when you finish asking for what you want?

Exodus 3:7

After introducing Himself in Exodus 3:6, God tells Moses that He has seen the oppression of His people in Egypt. Moses of course knew of this oppression, having seen it firsthand. He had even tried to do something about the situation, however by trying to solve a problem his way he managed to get himself run out of town. But now God wanted Moses to know that He was not blind to the suffering of the people of Israel. He could see and He could hear, and He was determined to do more than just watch from a distance (verse 8).

While letting Moses know that He saw the oppression, God calls the people of Israel His people. Keep in mind that this is before God issued the Ten Commandments and before the people of Israel entered a covenant with Him. Yet, He saw them as His people, and He was responding to the cries of His people. He wanted Moses to know that He was coming to His own, and not to just some folks whom He happen to know about. In doing so, God allows Moses to see things from His point of view, giving him a perfect view of the world around him.

What’s interesting is that Moses had not spoken up until this point. He just listened and God did all the talking. This is completely different from the definition of prayer mentioned in Part 1 of the burning bush posts. That definition, along with most of what is taught about prayer, involves us talking, telling God what we want, either for ourselves or for those around us. But the example set by Moses at the burning bush involves listening as God gives His point of view.

Can prayer help us see what God sees? Based on what happened to Moses, I believe the answer is yes. But for this to happen we need to be willing to listen, not just talk. If prayer is a conversation, we need to give God time to speak. We need to spend time in the Bible, which is God speaking to us, but we also need to be quiet and let Him say what He wants to, how He wants to.

Moses did not know what to expect when he turned to see what was going on at the burning bush. Likewise, I believe we all need time when we quietly approach God in prayer with only an expectation of God revealing His point of view to those who are willing to listen.

 

See Also: Series page – Moses’Prayer Life Series