Readings for today: Isaiah 43:14-45:10, Ephesians 3, Psalms 68:1-18, Proverbs 24:1-2
I am beginning to prepare my heart for Africa. These trips fill my soul in ways I cannot explain. Probably because I’m way outside my comfort zone when I go, I find God meeting me there in new and fresh ways. Now the travel is not easy. It’s a long 30+ hour trip from Denver to Yabelo. It involves multiple flights and a four hour car ride. One of the ways I pass the time on the plane is to look at the map that charts our progress as we go. I watch as we make our way from D.C. to Addis Ababa. We pass over Dublin, Rome, Cairo, Khartoum, Juba, and Entebbe. As we draw near, I look at the window to the east and I see names like Bahir Dar, Asmera, Djibouti, Jeddah, and Mogadishu. (There’s not much to the west…just a whole lot of desert.) We fly over Europe and Egypt and Sudan before finally landing in Ethiopia. I’ve fallen love with this part of the world. God has given me a heart for the people here. I have friends in some of these places. In others, they are still strangers though I hope one day to visit and get to know them. There is much darkness in this part of the world. A lot of idolatry. The worship of false gods. Isaiah’s words today are not so strange when you’ve seen some of the things I’ve seen. “The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.” (Isaiah 44:13-15) You see, I’ve met these carpenters. I’ve seen the craftsmen hard at work fashioning their idols. I’ve watched them bow down before them and it shatters my heart. I’ve wept over the lost. I’ve held those who are sick. I’ve prayed with those who are dying. I’ve seen the desperately poor. And I’ve dedicated my life to bringing them the hope of the gospel.
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) God created me for such a time as this. God has fashioned me for this purpose. He redeemed me so many years on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder so that I might fulfill His great plan to bring the gospel to the nations. This is why He called me by name. To set me apart. To serve His purposes. To take all that I am and all that I have and use me for His glory. I have no identity of my own. I have nothing to call my own. This is not just something I do in my spare time or support with the leftovers of my life. This is literally the reason I exist. “Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant…I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:21-22)
Now you may be tempted to believe dismiss this as my calling. As something that is unique to Doug Resler but nothing could be further from the truth. Every single person who has called on the name of the Lord has been saved and set apart for this glorious purpose. To bring the gospel to the nations! I love how the Apostle Paul describes it in Ephesians 3:8-10, “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” All of us have been created for this purpose. Called to this purpose. Redeemed for this purpose. To share with an unbelieving world the unsearchable riches of Christ! Starting at home and extending to the ends of the earth. Every resource you have been given. Every gift you have received. Every talent you have developed. Every life experience you have gone through, God has carefully orchestrated that you might serve His divine purposes. The reality is you don’t have to go to Africa to see idolatry. You don’t have to go to the Middle East to see the worship of false gods. Our nation and our neighborhoods are just as dark as places like Juba and Khartoum and Entebbe. The people we live among need the gospel just as desperately as the people I will have the opportunity to serve at the end of the month in Yabelo. When it comes to the Kingdom of God. When it comes to eternal life. We hold no advantage. We have no privilege of position. We will not be “boarding” first or get any special treatment. God has given us a truly great commission. To share the good news of the gospel. To go and tell the nations of all He has done! To sing a new song! To lift up praise to our King! To place our lives in His hands for Him to use as He sees fit according to His divine plan.
Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 45:11-48:11, Ephesians 4:1-16, Psalms 68:19-35, Proverbs 24:3-4