The Lutheran Hour
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"God’s Thoughts"
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Text: Matthew 11:2-6
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The Redeemer’s resurrection is history’s fork in the road. Faith in the Savior’s sacrifice and the redemption won on Calvary’s cross is forgiveness, hope, and heaven. The other path, the road of man’s wisdom leads to sadness, sorrow, and eternal loss. By God’s grace may every soul who hears this message today be led to confess “Christ is risen and He is risen for me!” God grant this saving truth to us all. Amen.
This story is not true, but it ought to be, for it deals with truth. It begins in the court of King Solomon who decided to have some fun with his most trusted aide. Solomon said, “Benaniah, there is a ring which I need you to bring to me. I would like to wear that ring for the festival of Sukkoth which is six months from now.”
Benaniah, with a certain degree of confidence replied, “If this ring can be found, I shall most certainly find it, your majesty. But may I ask how I will know the ring and why it is so special?” Solomon said, “This ring, while not magic, represents truth… a truth which will make the happy man sad and the sad man happy.” Now, Solomon was the wisest man in the world and he knew that finding this ring was an impossibility since such a ring did not exist. But Benaniah did not know this and he began to search. The days turned to weeks, the weeks became months and Benaniah kept searching. No ring matching the description of the one described in his quest was found… and he had no idea where to look next.
The night before the festival, discouraged, disgruntled, and depressed, Benaniah went for a walk. As he passed by a merchant with his simple jewelry, Benaniah, with nothing to lose asked, “Good sir, have you ever come across a ring which can rob a happy person of his happiness and bestow that singular gift upon the person who is sad?” Without a word, the old seller took a plain gold ring from his small selection of goods and scratched three Hebrew letters upon the ring. Gimel, zayin, yud which stands for “Gam zeh ya’avor” If your Hebrew is a bit rusty, that means… well, I’ll let the story tell you.
That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkoth with great festivity. At court, Solomon greeted his adviser saying, “Well, my friend, have you found that which I requested?” Solomon and his entire court smiled at the joke. They smiled until Benaniah reached into the folds of his robe and produced a small cloth-wrapped package. Inside was the ring with the letters inscribed. The package was handed to Solomon who unwrapped and inspected the ring. As he did, his smile vanished. He knew the abbreviation: “Gam zeh ya’avor”, means, “This too shall pass.” To those who are sad, the knowledge that their sadness will pass brings hope. For Solomon it meant his wealth, his wisdom, his power would someday disappear like a morning mist.
This too shall pass. There is an incredible truth contained in those words. That story got me to wondering, “Are there any other truths which need to be brought to light?” Scripture contains one around which this message centers. From the 55th chapter of Isaiah, verses 8 and 9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Read through the Bible, you can start just about anywhere and those words are shown true. God doesn’t think like we do; He doesn’t act like we do. At the beginning of time God had given our first ancestors all they could have asked for, more than they ever needed. All the Lord demanded was they avoid eating the fruit from one tree. It wasn’t much to ask; it didn’t take a great deal of effort on the parts of Adam and Eve. At least that’s the way it should have been, the way it should have stayed. But it didn’t. Man’s ways aren’t God’s ways and it didn’t take too long before the Lord’s law was broken, paradise was lost, and death had arrived. No, God’s ways, His thoughts aren’t ours.
That truth is clearly seen in the next chapters of Genesis. Rather than taking a lightning bolt and zapping those transgressors right where they stood, God felt sorry for them. Once again God showed His ways and thoughts are not ours. With compassion, grace, and mercy balancing God’s justice and righteous wrath the Lord promised to send His Son as a Sacrifice, a Substitute, a Savior to rescue humanity from the punishments it had so disobediently earned.
When God freed His chosen people from slavery, they should have been grateful. But our ways are not His. In the book of Exodus, with the regularity of a finely tuned time piece and right on schedule the Children of Israel complained. They were freed in chapter 12 of that book, but by Chapter 14 they’re whining, “Moses, were there no graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die?” Chapter 15: “And the people murmured against Moses saying, ‘What shall we drink?'” Chapter 16: …the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness (saying) … you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Chapter 17: “But the people…grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” You get the idea. The fact that God eventually brought this problematic people into the Promised Land says God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not ours.
Unfortunately, regrettably, deplorably, humanity has, an almost infinite ability and a never-exhausted capacity to get things methodically, systematically and thoroughly messed up.
Do you doubt it? Don’t. Consider, the Lord gives us reasonable health for 60, 70, 80 years, but when the effects of sin cause our bodies to wear down, what do we do? Do we offer thanks for the good health we have enjoyed? We don’t. We demand to know of God, “How come you are being so cruel?” or “What have I done wrong that You are punishing me this way?”
The Lord sent His Son to redeem us. For 33 years Jesus was occupied with nothing other than offering Himself for us. God’s perfect Son came to keep the Commandments we break with such abandon; He came to resist the temptations which we find so sinfully scrumptious. Jesus’ substitution for us was an unprecedented and unrepeated labor of love. But these things were not the end of His work. Before the Christ could say, “It is finished”, He had to be rejected by the religious leaders of His own country; He had to have the neighbors from His boyhood hometown try to murder Him; He had to be rejected by the multitudes, deserted by His closest friends, and be betrayed by a disciple, betrayed with a kiss which should have been a sign of respect and honor.
Even then His work was not over. Jesus was put on trial for His life. The miracles He had performed should have shown Him as a great Lover of humanity; His teachings should have been respected as profound; His fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah ought to have identified Him, identified Him beyond any doubt, as being the world’s Redeemer. That is what should have happened, but our ways are not God’s ways and our thoughts are not His. The men who put Jesus on trial made up the rules as they went along. The trials were illegal, being held secretly and at night. The witnesses were bribed to lie about Jesus, a custom which almost always bodes poorly for the accused. The venue of His trial was constantly changed as were the charges brought against Him. Still, when the evidence had been presented, the man who would have to pronounce the verdict repeatedly stated, “He has done nothing wrong” and “I find no guilt connected to Him.” Would anybody we know say such a thing of us? They couldn’t.
They couldn’t say it about us, but it was most certainly true about Jesus. Jesus was guilty of nothing other than loving sinners and trying to save them. And how was this love and commitment honored? The Gospels tell us: He was whipped, whipped until a lesser man might have died. A crown made up of sharp thorns was jammed onto His head; He was spit upon by mockers, blindfolded and beaten and then when humankind’s creative hatred was starting to get bored by the exhibition, Jesus was led outside the city of Jerusalem and nailed to a cross. God’s innocent Son, the Christ Who was committed to being the Shepherd for the lost sheep; the Physician for the sick of soul; the Bread of life for the spiritually starving, the Door to heaven for those who had been locked out, this Jesus, the Son of God was nailed to a cross so He might die.
And there, even there, as He hung suspended between heaven and hell, even as His life was slowly sucked away in a painful death, He managed to speak. We might have cursed those who were responsible for putting us there, but God’s ways are not ours and His thoughts are not ours. Hanging, bleeding, dying, Jesus spoke. And in those short sentences He promised the comfort of heaven to a criminal; He took care of His mother and most wonderful and unbelievable of all, He asked His Father in heaven to forgive those who had hardened their hearts to the fulfillment of God’s promise who was dying before them. Then, with all being completed, with our redemption accomplished, Jesus committed Himself to His Father and He gave up the ghost.
Jesus gave up the ghost. With those words we are told God’s Son did not have His life stolen or snatched from Him … He gave His life so all who believe on Him, and by all, I mean every man, woman, and child, all who believe on Him might have eternal life. As a sign, a stamp, a seal that the Heavenly Father had accepted His sacrifice, on the third day after His corpse had been buried, a living Lord Jesus came out of His borrowed tomb. And lest anyone still have doubts if the resurrection was real, Jesus repeatedly let them see Him eat; feel His breath; hear His words, and, if they wished, touch His wounds. Was He real? He was.
That was God’s plan to save us, but God’s plan is not this world’s plan and His ways and thoughts are not ours. Humanity’s way has no room for a Divine and caring Creator; so, many prefer to ignore God’s miraculous reality and substitute humanity’s impossibility where nothing brings something out of nothing. God’s way says husbands love your wives and children respect your parents, but humanity’s way maintains God’s way is too restrictive and too restraining. Gladly, gleefully, we substitute a society where each person is his own master with his own set of rules or lack of rules. And as we cheer at our successes and celebrate Christianity’s demise, the wise of this world do not note the sadness and sorrow of souls who have no anchor; they ignore the desperation, the depression, the discouragement, and horrifying hopelessness of the faces all around them. Man’s ways are not God’s and our thoughts are not His.
Because that is so, authors without understanding make their fortunes writing fictional
books which undermine God’s inspired Holy Word; Schools try to teach students, but
they forget any education which neglects the spirituality of their charges is a poor and
pitiful thing. We banish God from classroom and courtroom; we expel Him from family
and morality: we outlaw Him from business and leisure and then when chaos ensues,
when hatred erupts in violence and war, when drug trafficking sweeps through our
streets and violence stalks our walled and gated neighborhoods, we do not look to
ourselves, we do not blame ourselves; we do not reform ourselves, we say, “God, how
can You be so cruel, so uncaring, so … so unchristian?”God’s ways are not ours, but they ought to be; His thoughts are not ours, but they should be. That was the message of John the Baptist. Before the Baptizer had ever been born, the Lord broke 400 years of prophetic silence to tell an old priest, John’s father, that his yet unconceived son was being sent to encourage sad arid sinful souls to get real; to forsake their foolish attempts to improve upon God’s perfection. John’s parents were told their boy’s life would be spent saying to sinful souls: “Repent, God’s ways are better than yours; Repent, His thoughts are a mighty improvement on anything your brain can think
up.nJohn fulfilled that prophecy made to his father. In the wilderness the Holy Spirit came to
John and said, “My camel-clothed, locust-eating prophet, it’s time to let ‘er rip. John tell
these folks they need some help; let them know they’re headed the wrong way; do what
you can so I can turn them around.” John did as he was told. When the respected pillars
of the community came out to hear him, he let them have it with both barrels. “Repent”,
John said, “Give up your wicked ways and get in the groove with God’s.” When serious
sinners came out to him, John said, “No more pretending, you guys are on the path to
eternal destruction. Repent and see what God is trying to do through Jesus Who is
coming,”It was a powerful ministry. It stayed that way for a while It stayed that way until the time Jesus began to preach. After that the crowds started to leave the Baptizer to hear the new Rabbi from Nazareth. When John’s disciples came to him all fluttery and flustered saying: “Do you realize what Jesus is doing? Hey, aren’t you concerned about Him stealing your crowds and your thunder?” To that John said, “I know God’s ways aren’t ours and His thoughts aren’t ours. I’ll keep on preaching but you guys need to know, Jesus is going to grow in popularity and I’m going to shrink.”
John did keep on preaching. He preached to the rich and poor, the respected and reviled, the commoner and King. It was the preaching against the King, condemning the monarch’s adulterous, incestuous relationship which got John thrown into prison. There the man who had wandered free in the wilderness was kept under lock and key. Best. guess, for a year-and-a-half he was kept shut away. And did he shake his fist at the heavens, did he get angry at God for putting him there? He didn’t. He kept preaching. That preaching would end his life. John knew that was a possibility. But he also knew God’s ways were best, God’s thoughts were right. And John said, “Thy will be done.”
At the beginning of this message we spoke of truth. Do you remember Solomon’s truth? “Gam zeh ya’avor.” This too shall pass. That is humankind’s truth. It makes the sad a little happier, the happy a lot sadder. This too shall pass is humankind’s truth. In contrast to man’s wisdom, I share with you today the truth of John’s Savior, the world’s Redeemer. I encourage you, weigh the two. If you do, you will find a Savior Who had better thoughts, better ways and righter truth than anything the world can offer. And what is that right truth that John proclaimed? It is this: “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” That is God’s thought, it is God’s blood-bought eternity, and that, dear friends, will not pass. It is the truth. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers)
December 12, 2010
Topic: Praying for a GirlfriendAnnouncer: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions about prayer. I’m Mark Eischer.
Klaus: Hi, Mark. Christmas is coming, children are praying.
Announcer: And, today’s question deals with that topic of prayer… But, before we do, I’d like to turn the microphone over to Dr. Douglas Rutt, who’s our International Director here at Lutheran Hour Ministries, to tell us more about a special project that’s underway right now.
Rutt: Thanks, Mark. Today I would like to invite our listeners to help us provide children’s Bibles this Christmas season to kids in hard-to-reach parts of the world. Arirat Donkan is a nine year old girl living in the plains of northeastern Thailand. Her parents are day laborers who earn income infrequently, which means the family is very poor. But, her father recently converted to Christianity, and now Arirat loves to pray with him each morning and looks forward to going to Sunday worship services so she can read the Bible verses to her grandmother. Sunday mornings are her only chance to read the Bible because her family, as well as other kids in her Sunday school class, cannot afford to purchase one.
This Christmas season you can help us provide a Bible for Arirat, her classmates, and other kids around the world who are in need of their Savior. Every dollar you donate will help us put Bibles into the hands of children who cannot afford to buy one. A gift of $15 allows us to provide two of these children with a Bible of their own.
Thank you, Dr. Rutt, and if you’d like to help us provide Bibles for these children, you can
call our toll-free number: 1-855-JOHN-316. That’s 1-855-JOHN-316 or go to our Website: wvvw.lhm.org/Bibles and find out how you can be part of making a donation. We want to thank you, Dr. Rutt, and we also want to thank you, our listeners, for your prayerful consideration of this project.Announcer: And now back to our question for today, a listener wants to know, what is the best way to pray? He tells us that his girlfriend broke up with him about 2 years ago. He went through some very intense emotional times afterward and, as a result, he found himself praying more and more.
Klaus: A wise thing to do. God says, “cast your cares on Me,” because I care for you.
Announcer: Our listener continues: “1 feel, though, as though two years of prayers have
not been answered. So, am I praying wrong? Is it bad that I keep praying for the same thing over and over again? And, how can I get back on track? Klaus: You know, Mark, the question is, is he praying to get back with this girl who broke
up with him? Praying that the earth opens up and swallows her? Is he asking the Lord to
help him find another girl to replace the first? What’s he praying for? Announcer: Well, he doesn’t say. He just says he’s prayed for two years now without an answer… or, at least an answer that he found acceptable.Klaus: OK. Let’s look at a couple of possible scenarios. Suppose he’s praying that God would bring him and the girl back together and that hasn’t happened.
Announcer: Right He would feel his prayer has not been answered. Klaus: Yeah. Of course, it may be the Lord is actually giving him what was needed, but not necessarily what he wanted.
Announcer: In much the same way that a good father gives the kids what they need but not necessarily everything they asked for. Klaus: Yeah, exactly. The father, not the children, should be in the driver’s seat
Announcer: What else could you say about this situation? Klaus: Well, is it possible that the man is praying that the Lord will punish this ex¬girlfriend?
Announcer: And, I have to say we don’t know that that’s the case. Klaus: Yeah, probably not Still, sometimes when somebody makes us suffer, it’s not
unheard that we want to give them a taste of their own medicine. Do you think the Lord ought honor that kind of prayer? Announcer: I’d be surprised if He did. Klaus: Me, too. If God zapped everyone who was hated by someone, there wouldn’t be
many folks left standing. Announcer: OK. So, what else can we say here? Klaus: Well, suppose he’s praying he finds a new girlfriend. I think that is probably the
most likely scenario. He’s been praying to meet someone, that hasn’t happened yetAnnouncer: Right What would you say to him about that? Klaus: Well, I’d still say the Lord is doing the right thing by His children. It seems our
friend has had a hard time letting go of the past Is he emotionally ready for a new girl? Maybe the timing isn’t right-the Lord is teaching him patience.Announcer: And, how would you summarize all of this for us today? Klaus: The common thread is this: God answers our prayer. But He doesn’t take orders as to how or when. He is still God and we are not For our young man, I’d say: “Keep on praying, but make sure you add, ‘not my will, Lord, but Your will be done.'”
Announcer: This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selection for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding” From And My Mouth Will Declare Your Praise by
the Children’s Choirs of 51. Paul’s Lutheran Church (© 199751. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Ft Wayne, Indiana)“Prepare the Royal Highway” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Noel Grand Jeu et Duo” by Louis-Claude Daquin. From On Christmas Night by Jeffrey Blersch (© 2010 Jeffrey Blersch)
“Adeste Fideles” by John F. Wade, arr. Jeffrey Blersch. From On Christmas Night by Jeffrey Blersch (© 2010 Jeffrey Blersch)