Discipling the Undisciplined no. 419
"But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them . . ."
Happy Wednesday! Happy Fast Day! I pray that today’s posting will bless your journey with King Jesus in helping expand your relationship with Him. I pray that your walk this week is a blessed one that reflects His light in your life. May His blessings of peace, mercy, and forgiveness permeate each part of your daily walk. Today, we are going to continue the study of the gospel according to Luke and the acts of the apostles of Jesus.
“On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were infuriated and wanted to put the emissaries to death. But one of the members of the Sanhedrin rose to his feet, a Parush named Gamli’el, a teacher of the Torah highly respected by all the people. He ordered the men put outside for a little while and then addressed the court:
‘Men of Isra’el, take care what you do to these people. Some time ago, there was a rebellion under Todah, who claimed to be somebody special; and a number of men, maybe four hundred, rallied behind him. But upon his being put to death, his whole following was broken up and came to nothing. After this, Y’hudah HaG’lili led another uprising, back at the time of the enrollment for the Roman tax; and he got some people to defect to him. But he was killed, and all his followers were scattered. So in the present case, my advice to you is not to interfere with these people, but to leave them alone. For if this idea or this movement has a human origin, it will collapse. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them; you might even find yourselves fighting God!’
They heeded his advice. After summoning the emissaries and flogging them, they commanded them not to speak in the name of Yeshua, and let them go. The emissaries left the Sanhedrin overjoyed at having been considered worthy of suffering disgrace on account of him. And not for a single day, either in the Temple court or in private homes, did they stop teaching and proclaiming the Good News that Yeshua is the Messiah” (Acts of Emissaries of Yeshua (Act) 5:33-42).
Things tend to die out and lose steam after awhile. Unless the fire of our passions get stoked, we tend to lose interest. And that is what Gamli’el cautions the Sanhedrin. He tells them that these revolutions tend to fizzle out after the leader of the revolution dies. And tells them, “For if this idea or this movement has a human origin, it will collapse. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them; you might even find yourselves fighting God!”
This is easily seen in the way the corporate media stokes fears and stirs up passionate responses that are then moved from one topic to another. There is not a consistent and persistent message, the message is brief and changing. And those movements collapse without someone stoking the passions. BUT greater issues of loving, serving, and healing brought forward by God keep moving forward. And the emissaries were joyful in being beaten and told to stop teaching, they were joyful for the persecution.
A lot of us are fighting God. We have a life that is out of alignment with the Kingdom of God. And living out of alignment with God’s Kingdom makes things meaningless. We feel directionless and empty despite having done so much. BUT, without God in our lives, everything else is not ever going to be enough to fill that God-sized hole we have in our lives. And struggle and fight all we may, nothing is going to take the place of a relationship with Him. It is an exercise in futility.
For decades I set myself into an adversarial relationship with God and the church. Over the past few years, God and I are getting our relationship fixed, however, I still face adversarial relationships with folks that besmirch His name. I am not a fan of folks telling lies about the love, mercy, and forgiveness that is foundational to His Kingdom. I do have to surrender the idea that I am going to win those battles. I know God will fight His own battles and reveal Himself. BUT, I continue to wrestle with Him in becoming the person He wants me to become. And that wrestling and changing occurs through loving, serving, and healing in my relationship with Him and others. I am still working on getting good at loving others and loving God. It’s a life long project.
Try working with God rather than fighting Him? This isn’t a recipe for prosperity or getting what you want out of life, however, it is a perfect recipe for creating the life He intends for us to live. And when we stop being stiff necked and hard headed, we can listen to what He wants to speak into our lives. And that is going to allow us to grow more human.
Live free. Be a blessing. Grace and Shalom to your home.