Posts Tagged: God’s provisions
“Is God Allergic to You?”
Some of us may feel as if God is allergic to us. Yes, I often feel that way myself.
A friend of me did an online post in which he noted that his rescue cats, once their new master had earned their trust, would climb in his lap and purr contentedly. My friend concluded with a challenge to his readers to trust our Heavenly Master who has rescued us, and to be contented with what God gives us.
Contentment doesn’t come easily for me. Sometimes, it doesn’t come at all. I needed to hear about my friend and his cats. And, of course, I can never hear too much about God’s provisions.
One of the comments from a reader of my friend’s post was, “I’m allergic to cats. I sure hope God isn’t allergic to me!” My feline mind immediately jumped off the lap, and began to play with the notion of God being allergic to us.
There are some theologians who say that God is so holy that he can’t stand human sins, that God is, as it were, allergic to human wrongdoings. Perhaps they are right. I know that these thinkers are trying to safeguard the holiness of God, and also point out the deadly seriousness of sin. Points well taken!
However, this doesn’t mean that God is allergic to either sin or to us. According to the writer of the Gospel of John, Jesus was God who had come in the flesh. According to the New Testament, Jesus was God crawling into small, nasty cages to rescue us. Some of us bit him a lot in the process. He knew that we didn’t know any better.
And, according to all the Gospel writers, Jesus seems to have hung around with sinners. Good thing. We all are sinners—especially those of us who are pretty sure we’re not especially sinful sinners.
So, if God isn’t allergic to us, and if he is a most trustworthy of Rescuers and Masters, we should probably crawl up on God’s lap and purr contentedly. Don’t worry: It’s a big lap. There’s plenty of room.
“UNTIL QUAILS COME OUT OF YOUR NOSES!”
“. . . until it comes out of your noses . . .”
Numbers tells a common tale of human greed, stupidity, and faithlessness. The people of Israel were in the wilderness of Sinai, on their way to the Promised Land. The LORD God was providing manna for them every day, except for Sabbath. However, God was thoughtful enough to provide them a double portion of manna on the sixth day, right before Sabbath.
However, many of the Israelites decided that God’s faithfulness was pretty boring. They were tired of manna. I can hear them now: “Manna for breakfast, manna for lunch, manna for dinner! Fried manna, boiled manna, manna salad, manna casserole! WE HATE THIS MANNA!”
God’s response? He told them that he would send them plenty of meat, and that they would eat until the quail he would send would come out their noses!
Now before you (or I) go off on these ancient Israelites, we probably ought to consider our own selves. A little boy asked his mom, “Do we really need to thank God for leftovers?!?”
Right! Most of us have probably wondered the same thing.
A friend of mine and I were talking about work before our corporate worship service today. He has his own business. I asked him how business was right now. He said something like the following: “Almost too good,” he replied. “But whenever I hit a time when I don’t have a lot of work on the horizon, I start getting worried and cry out to God. Then he sends me a whole bunch of work, and reminds me of the story of the Israelites complaining about not having any meat. God says to me, ‘Pretty soon, you’ll have work coming out of your nose!’”
Complaining is a very serious sin. And it was not unique to ancient Israel. Paul refers to the events of the exodus from Egypt, and warns the Corinthian believers against falling into the same horrible trap.
“NLT 1 Corinthians 10:1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.
2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.
3 All of them ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,
7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”
8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.
10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.
11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
These Scriptures and my conversation with my friend have left me with uncomfortable questions about myself. Am I taking God’s faithfulness for granted? Am I regarding His faithfulness as routine or boring? Am I complaining, when I really have nothing about which to complain? Do I really want God to discipline me by giving me what I want until it comes out my nose?
How has your nose been here of late?
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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