God’s Domino Effect.

As children a lot of us would have got some playing cards of some sort and started to build one of those little structures that involves stacking the cards in little triangular shapes one layer on top of another. I used to love doing this. And I found over the years that it was the older, well used playing cards with their frayed edges that built the best stacks. Because the newer ones were still too new and shiney.

Or maybe we would get a set of domino blocks and stand them all on their ends one behind the other to watch them topple. There are plenty of videos on the internet showing these activites, all of them very entertaining in one way or another.

It was while watching some of these videos online that my thoughts made a connection between these activites and the sequence of bible studies I have been following lately. The studies were mostly about me getting myself into trouble and then Jesus having to teach me a lesson on the way out of them again. And that has been my recurring theme.

The reality of the matter is that any lessons that I have truly learned from God were not learned sitting on holy reverence but rather they were learned by me being grabbed by the scruff of my neck. I’d come along and start to build my little house of spiritual or scriptural cards and pretty soon they all fell down again. Rebuild and repeat, rebuild and repeat. Can I become all “holier than thou” and say “a calm sea never produced a good sailor?” “Ships are safe in the harbour, but that’s not what ships are for?”

The pattern used to annoy me in my early days of my faith. But as I started to study the bible more openly and more systematically I started to see that I was not alone with the cycle of rebuild and repeat.

Remember Moses’ brother, Aaron? He was chosen of God to help Moses confront Pharoah…

Exodus Ch6 (13) Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

And yet several chapters later Aaron was instrumental in building a golden calf to worship God in an alien way…

Exodus Ch32 (1) When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him." 

David was the mighty king who was nicknamed the giant-slayer…

1st Samuel Ch18 (6) When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. (7) As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." 

But a few chapters later we find David pretending to be mad…

1st Samuel Ch21 (12) David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. (13) So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. 

The reality is that we, like those men of old, are not yet at the place where God has finished with us. Infact maybe our troubles are actually just a springboard for what god has planned for us next. All we need to do is trust God and take that leap into His plans.

We need to get our eyes off the crisis and get our eyes onto Christ.

In Genesis 37 we read of Joseph’s brothers selling him off to slave traders. But they were just instruments in God’s plan. Later in the story we read…

Genesis Ch50 (18) His (Joseph’s) brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said. (19) But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? (20) You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (21) So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. 

God uses our troubles, and the troublesome people in our lives, to put us into a place where He needs us to be so that he can perform His wonders. Just because something doesn’t make sense now doesn’t mean that it won’t make sense later. God knows what He’s doing. All He wants from us is to continue to love and worship Him. Every day.

And we must recognise that someday, our pain will soon become our platform.

I waited for the Lord my God, and patiently did bear;
At length to me he did incline, my voice and cry to hear.
He took me from a fearful pit, and from the miry clay,
And on a rock he set my feet, establishing my way.

Redemption Hymnbook - Paraphrased from Psalm Ch40 (1-2)
 
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