But we see Jesus

 

 He never leaves Himself without a witness.  This is a truth that I have been learning in new ways these days.  Sometimes it feels like the world is spinning out of control.  Sometimes when I look at the world around me, evil seems quite powerful and I find myself wondering at the restraint of God in many situations. 

 

All one has to do is to take a look at the headlines

- A pastor being condemned to death simply for refusing to deny His Savior. 

- Thousands whose names we don’t know who suffer daily for their faith. 

- Wars and rumors of war in the middle east, central asia and Africa. 

- Millions of orphans around the world. 

- Millions who don’t know where there next meal is coming for. 

It is tempting but inadvisable to shut out those images by not watching or reading the news. 

But how long before it hits much closer to home? 

- When you receive word that a seminary friend died on the mission field from an accident less than two months after arriving?

- When a friend’s mother-in-law dies 30 years before her time?

- When a neighbor is lost and struggling?  

- When co-workers battle major health concerns?  

Evil and suffering are real and we wonder where Jesus is in it all.  And yet….the beautiful thing is that He never leaves Himself without a witness if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear.

I have been struck anew by this reality and seen it several times in the last week alone

Ruth meets Boaz from http://www.bible-art.info

My small group has been reading through the Bible and this last week we read the book of Judges.  Not the most uplifting book.  I finished and found myself shocked again at the perversity and depravity of man.  I asked Jesus what He wanted to say to us through this book?  I felt like He told me to turn the page.  I did and do you know comes after Judges?  Ruth.  One of the greatest love stories in the Bible.  A story of redemption and a true picture of what God the Father had in mind for the redemption of all of mankind.  A kinsman-redeemer, while strange to our ears was very familiar to this audience and God knew we needed someone who was “kin” to us, someone that was fully human but also someone who was fully God to redeem us from sin and death.  This book that begins with famine, death and despair ends with Naomi holding the grandfather of King David on her lap. The root of Jesse through whom our Savior would one day come.  What a story.  

But do you know what the amazing thing is?  I had never noticed the first line of the little book of Ruth.  It says, “In the days when the judges ruled…”  In the days when depravity ruled the earth God gives us this beautiful story to those with ears to hear and eyes to see.  I love it!  He never leaves Himself without a witness. 

 Later that week was Fasching here in Kandern.  It is a Carnival, Mardi Gras type of celebration, complete with scary costumes, large amounts of alcohol and all that goes with it.  The music and noise could be heard all day just outside my apartment.  That evening though I went to the concert of a local missionary.   She is a concert pianist and uses her talent to share the Gospel.  So the German community was invited and the Gospel was shared in the context of a beautiful concert.  A witness, a light on a dark day.  What a blessing.

Marcia, Barb and Michelle

The next day I had the privilege of taking three wonderful ladies from my home church to visit the city of Strasbourg. We took a boat tour of the city learned that one of the oldest Protestant churches in France is now a theater.  This similar situation was repeated later on in the tour breaking my heart for a country and a continent that has produced the likes of John Calvin (who lived several years in Strasbourg), Blaise Pascal, Martin Luther, the Pietists and Fenelon and yet they are virtually unknown.  But in the midst of grieving this loss I looked up and to my right I saw a huge banner, easily read from the boat, for an Alpha Course inviting people to come and explore Christianity.   

A light, a witness in a dark place.

The steeple of Notre Dame de Strasbourg.  Pointing heavenward.

I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me these precious reminders that even when the darkness seems great – He is greater still.  And He is not distant, He is not uninvolved – He is in it with us and longing for us to see the light that He is shining even in the dark places.  The voice of a pastor who has been condemned to die echoing around the world.  The voice of an author (Eric Metaxas) speaking profound and courageous truths at the National Prayer Breakfast.  The voice of a Victoria Secret model who did what was foolish in the eyes of the world and quit her job in order to honor God and her husband.  He never leaves Himself without a witness.   How have you seen Him lately?

Hebrews 2:8b-9

“Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.  At present, we do not yet see everything in subjections to him…but we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”