God uses the mess...

As a "Christian," why does my stomach turn when I use that word to describe myself, I have related with God's words in a lot of different ways throughout my life, so many different ideas, concepts, feelings and thoughts creep into my mind when I consider my relationship with the Word of God. Over the past 6ish years, I have been purified from so many of the ugly associations I have with the Bible, and God has brought me to a place where I can finally connect with it in the context it was meant to connect with us in.

Bottom line is, if we approach God's word with our first intention being anything other than to connect with the heart of God, we will miss the point entirely. The Bible is not foremost about knowledge, instruction or learning, its not mostly about telling a story, it's not even mostly about its characters, God, us, etc. It is mostly about God's desire to glorify himself through the revelation of His heart for a fallen people.

If such a bold statement is tough for you to swallow, I'm sorry. The truth is, until we recognize this, we will never be able to experience the it's ability to, convict, instruct, guide, teach, etc. Our ability to be transformed by the power of God's word is dependent on our ability to connect first with the God of the word in genuine relationship.

I spent a good chunk of my morning in the book of Genesis. An interesting book, seen mostly as the book about creation. The crazy thing is the creation story is such a tiny portion of what the book of Genesis has to offer its reader.

What I found this morning as I read Genesis looking for the heart of God for a broken person... me, is that Genesis is really a story about God choosing to engage with a fallen world, both physical and spiritual. When man chose to sin, it separated us from God, and in an instant gave God the opportunity to show us something that is vital to our understanding of this God. Our behavior, actions and faithfulness are not pre-requisites to God using, forming, giving to, and loving us. He did it all in spite of us. That is the story of Adam and Eve, that is the story of Noah, and Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.

What man conceives in sin, God redeems for His own glory. What man produces in unfaithfulness, God uses to establish His rule in the hearts of people.

In particular, Ishmael, the illegitimate son of Abraham, conceived in his Wife's servant Hagar is an example of how God takes pride, arrogance, unfaithfulness, and deceit and uses it to draw people to himself.

Genesis chapter 16 tells the story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar and the conception of Ishmael. The entire story is filled with problems... Why would God bless, establish, and make great a person who acts and thinks in the crazy ways Abram does? Who is he kidding? The idea of Ismael is the most pure example of human control and pride, and yet just one chapter later in Genesis 17, God makes clear his desire to use brokenness to change the world. Speaking of Ishmael he says...

²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

Wow! This is so cool... bottom line, God is bigger than our mess... he wants to use it to transform us, and turn is into people passionate of loving and serving him.

You're sin is not strong enough of to stain the work of the cross. My deceitful heart is not ugly enough to end the covenant God established with Abraham. God can use my mess, and yours.

Live in the power of this reality today, and every day the rest of your life.