On August 15 India, the largest Democracy in
the world, is celebrating its 68th Indpendence Day. I was born after the
Independence of India. One of my classmates and friends was born on August
15,1947. "Proclaim Liberty throughout the land." Leviticus 25:10
Those of you who live in the area join us
this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner channel 4 for our weekly Television
Outreach. We will gather tomorrow, Saturday , August 16, 2014 at Wesley UMC for
dinner and fellowship. The dinner will start at 5:30 PM. We will meet for
Worship on Sunday at 9 AM at Wesley UMC and at 10:15 at Union Center UMC. I
will be preaching from Daniel chapter 4, "He's got the whole world in His
hands". Join us for worship and witness.
I love Great Britain, the birthplace John
Wesley, David Livingstone, and William Carey. I love British poets and writers.
Samuel Johnson, who was born September 18, 1709, wasoften referred to as Dr. Johnson. Johnson was an English
writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist,
moralist, literary critic, and biographer. Dr. Samuel Johnson said, "man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies
disappointed".
This is a universal enigma.
Jesus is the answer to this predicament. We say, "Come to
Jesus and live". The Entertainment world is stunned at the sudden death
of Robin Williams. Robin William was very rich and very famous and he died a
very terrible death. There is pain and suffering around the corner and around
the globe. We are invited to come to Jesus and live. We need a firm foundation
in a chaotic and troubling times of the world. We need Jesus. Without Christ
the world is chaos. Jesus is the Christ in every crisis. In the Book of
Habakkuk, we find faith tested and faith triumphed.
Sunita and I had some deep
conversation last night. She reminded me, "Daddy, Jesus always leads in
triumph. "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads
us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the
knowledge of him everywhere." 2 Corinthians 2:14
Often in the midst of human suffering,
lawlessness, and violence we echo with Habakkuk,
“Why do
you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and
violence are before me; there is strife and conflict abounds. Therefore the law
is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so
that justice is perverted” (1. 3-4).
The Lord gives an
answer:
“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly
amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe,
even if you were told” (v. 5).
Perhaps you are familiar with the story of
Meriam Ibrahim, the 27-year-old medical doctor in Sudan who was arrested, tried
and convicted of apostasy and adultery. Her crime was that of supposedly
converting from Islam when in fact she had been raised as a Christian. She
wasn’t an “apostate” because you can’t leave a religion you never joined in the
first place. They accused her of adultery because she had a child with her
husband, a Christian from Sudan who emigrated to the United States. That is,
the “adultery” was really a charge of having sex with her own husband because
they didn’t recognize her marriage to a Christian. Sentenced to death by
hanging for apostasy and sentenced also to 100 lashes for adultery, she was
given a chance on the stand to recant her Christian faith. Time and again the
prosecutor badgered her to renounce Jesus. She refused each time.
Finally she said, “I am a Christian and I will
remain a Christian.”
“I am a Christian and I will remain a Christian”
As a result of her faithful witness, she was not only kept in jail but put in shackles. The authorities would not even unchain her when she gave birth in prison. Through it all, she steadfastly refused to renounce the name of Christ. After millions of people protested, she was recently allowed to leave Sudan with her husband and two children and has now entered the United States.
(For coverage of this story, see Meriam Ibrahim Arrives in U.S. and Meriam's Story Only the Tip of the
Iceberg.)
Very often in the Bible, things
had to get worse before they could get better. We see only a part of the picture. In the words of Dr Ray Prichard, "When it comes to
understanding what God is doing in the world, we are like ants on a Rembrandt.
We crawl across the dark brown and think all of life is dark brown. Then we hit
green and think, ’”Oh, this is better. Now all is green.” But soon comes the
dark blue and then a splash of yellow, a streak of red, and then another patch
of brown. On we journey, from one color to another, never realizing that God is
actually painting a masterpiece in our lives using all the colors of the
palette. One day we will discover that every color had its place, had a
reason, nothing was wasted or out of place. Just as there is a time and a
season for everything, there is also a color for every stage of life’s journey.
When the painting is finished, we will discover that we were part of his
masterpiece from the very beginning. "
God isn’t limited to what we think He ought to do.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9)
neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9)
