Last night at dinner we had our family worship time - yes, at the dinner table - and my teaching came from 1 Kings 19 (inspired a great bit by this sermon by Ligon Duncan (http://t4g.org/media/2012/04/the-underestimated-god/) which would be well worth your time to listen to). In the chapter before, Elijah had just been used mightily by God to strike down the priests of Baal after God showed Himself to be the One and Only God by devouring Elijah's sacrifice, while the priests of Baal were left hanging by their idol of a god. As Ligon explains in his sermon, Elijah's greatest desire was to see God glorified, and in that, to see all of Israel turn away from the mute, lifeless idols they worshiped and to the Living God - Elijah wanted to see a nationwide revival so that God would be worshiped as he ought to. And so when we get to 1 Kings 19, and Jezebel threatens Elijah, there's a plot twist - Elijah runs for his life. He just witnessed the power of the LORD God as He sent fire from heaven to devour the sacrifice, the water in the trench around it, the stones, the wood, and even the dust; he had just put to death the priests of Baal; he had just outrun a chariot across the desert; he was vividly familiar with the power and faithfulness of God. But in the face of a threat from a mere woman (a vicious woman, but still a woman) he runs for his life. Why? Again, as Ligon points out, Elijah ran away and wanted to die a discouraged man. God's fierce power hadn't melted the heart of Jezebel and Ahab, the killing of the priests had only enraged them further, and Israel remained faithful to their idols. God hadn't worked the way Elijah wanted Him to. Elijah desired a good thing - to see God glorified in the faithfulness of Israel - but he was disintegrated when it didn't happen as he imagined it.
How does this make any sense to 2 little girls 1 and 2 years old? Am I throwing seeds on unfruitful ground?
Let me show you why it matters that my daughters learn this story and it's application:
Their mommy is sick with a disease she'll be fighting the rest of her life, unless the Lord decides to heal her. She'll have good days, for sure. But it's the bad days that will be trying - and the bad days will be equally as bad as the good days are good. She'll be tired alot. She may pass out. She may go to the hospital. They may be displaced from us again. She won't be able to do all the things that other mommies do with their little girls. They'll have to rely on their daddy - who has to go to work and spends maybe 2 hours in the evening with them 5 days a week in addition to the weekends - to make up for all the things mommy can't do on her sick days. Since most of their time will be spent with mommy in a days time, they'll have more disappointments than met expectations. To little girls who are still too young to understand even the simple things of the goodness of God in suffering, this gives lots of opportunity for their sinful hearts to justify their rebellion against God - and it's here where it matters most.
They're going to see me love my wife, their mommy, and they're going to see me doing my best - but they won't see me be able to fix mommy's problem. They're going to see us pray, hear us read the Scriptures, sing with us extolling the goodness and majesty of the Triune God; they're going to hear us go on and on about the goodness of God expressed in Jesus Christ, His son, and the wonder of the Holy Spirit's work in the Christian's life. And then they're going to see mommy not being well all the time. They may see her get worse. I know my own heart and how I struggle with suffering and the goodness of God, so multiply that in relation to their limited understanding and lack of the Holy Spirit, and we have a problem. This is why they need to know this story. They need to know that God isn't going to always work the way they want Him to - even if it's a good way. God loves their mommy, but He loves His glory more - and there's a relationship between those two that I'll get to in a moment.
And it's also why they need to know it's application. Elijah, after having seen the glory of God displayed before the "prophets" of Baal, runs into the desert at the threat of Jezebel and wants to die. Instead of allowing that, God feeds him by way of an angel with some bread and water (twice), and sends him on his way to Mt. Horeb. It's here where, contrary to the way this scripture has been abused to justify listening for that "still small voice" of God, Elijah again encounters the glory of God in a way he doesn't like very much. God passes by the mountain and causes a catastrophe - an earthquake, a fire, a great wind that causes the mountains to crumble - and it seems that Elijah looks for God in those awesome displays of power, as the scripture recites that "God was not in" any of those. But then a low whisper comes, and it seems that God is there because Elijah goes out of the cave, albeit with his cloak wrapped around his face (and as Ligon pointed out, it's hard to see anything with your cloak wrapped around your face). God then rebukes Elijah, gives him assignments - one which includes his succession - and effectively ends Elijah's ministry after which he takes him up in a chariot of fire before Elisha, his replacement. And then, oh boy then, a thousand years later, God sends Elijah down the the mountain whereupon stands 3 ordinary men with the Glorious One, Immanuel, Jesus Christ and Elijah gets to see him! Jesus' face is transfigured and a vision of His glory displayed before the men and before Elijah who comes from heaven with Moses (Luke 9:28-36) - God reveals His glory to Elijah, His Son Jesus Christ who would atone for all who repent and believe the gospel. Elijah got to see the glory of God as he never imagined it! How God chose to glorify Himself was infinitely greater than what Elijah expected or desired, and how God chose to give his servant the very joy of his heart, the very thing Elijah truly longed for, was a far greater joy than what Elijah would have experienced had God done it his way!
Remember how I said that our girls need to know this story and it's application, and that I'd connect the dots between my wife's suffering, God's love for her, and His love for His own glory? My girls need to know that although what they desire is good, and that although they love their mommy, and I love my wife, that God, her Father loves her so much more than we do, and He loves His glory too and desires a better thing than we do because of those two facts. And how those two meet is that if God loves their mommy way more than we do, and he's allowing her to suffer with this illness, then His love is expressed in that her illness will glorify Him in a way that her wellness never could, and that it will make her to enjoy Him more than her wellness ever did. We teach our daughters what the Westminster Catechism sums up from Scripture: that God created us to glorify Himself and that we may enjoy Him forever. And contrary to us glossing over her illness with happy platitudes and smiles in a varnish that will collapse when their sinful hearts bear more fruit, I am convinced that we need to reinforce the truth that our God, the God of the Bible, our Father in Heaven, His Son and Holy Spirit, our Triune God is working all things together for their mommy's good and His glory - and by extension, their good too.
So here's what I told our girls last night to apply what they'd heard in the life of Elijah (and again, it was a variation of what Ligon had preached, so go listen - it's an hour, but an hour worth your time):
"You know how mommy is sick, and that sometimes she's in the hospital?" Ayrie shook her head, and Naomi shoved a handful of rice in her mouth (gotta work on that one, Naomi), "And you know how when you pray for dinner and you pray to "God our Father?" Ayrie shook her head again, and Naomi was still stuffing her face. "Ok. And you know how daddy loves mommy? Well, God, mommy's Father in Heaven, loves her way more than daddy does. And He's got a plan to use mommy's sickness to glorify Himself, and to make mommy enjoy Him even more than she does now."
They may not completely understand now, but I want to plant the seed there and continue to water it, trusting our Father to give the growth. It may be that she will continue in her rebellion and grow to hate God because of an unrepentant heart, in which case I can praise God that He gave me the knowledge to teach my daughter the truth about who He is, though I will mourn my daughter's rebellion. But the flip side of that scares me more: gloss over the truth, which may be hard to understand, with rainbows and unicorns and cute puppies telling her that everything will be OK - and when things get as bad as they possibly could, be left with my hands in the air, full of broken promises, having provoked my daughters to sin against the Lord and be a cause for their rebellion. No thanks; I'll go with the former.
Relatedly, if this is the means by which God intends to be glorified in the salvation of my daughters as they learn that God is sovereign over suffering and sickness and uses those things for their good to His glory in Jesus Christ, then praise God for answering our prayer to raise up Godly girls for His kingdom. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment