We had an interesting English class today. The English ability of these students ranges from barely able to understand simple sentences, to one of the best translators I have met here in Ukraine. When this class started several years ago, the students were given the choice of what they wanted to read and discuss as a way to practice their English. Mel was willing to read through some of the classics with them (English/American ones of course!) but they all insisted they wanted to read the Bible. Over the years, several of the students have left for one reason or another, yet several of the original students still attend each week, and we had new students even today. We have read Romans, I and II Samuel, a combination of Kings and Chronicles, Acts, and now we are working our way through Genesis together. Today’s lesson was not a pretty one as it was all about Jacob’s two wives, Leah and Rachel, in terrible jealousy having a race to produce the most children. There were several new words for some of the students (such as jealousy, vindication, borne, etc.). After vocabulary and phrases were studied and discussed, there was a very lively discussion about the story.
As we did last week, Mel and I left afterward and went for dinner at a pizza place. This week, however, there were only a few people in the little café. The music was also quieter much of the time, which meant we could talk without having to practically shout at each other, and no one was nearby to listen. Our discussion started with the lesson and progressed into current worldwide events.
I am glad that I believe in the total sovereignty of God. I am also glad that we are not left with only part of the story in Genesis. Oh yes, I know that we know very little about the every day lives of anyone in the book. We only know the highlights, and sometimes the very lowest points of their lives, but what God chose to reveal to us is really what matters the most. I thought ahead to “the rest of the story” and found myself feeling somewhat blue over it. I did not feel much better the longer we talked. To look back on history from our time, to be able to read what others said about the patriarchs throughout the rest of the Bible, and to see what is happening in our world today – I ask myself many times: “How do people mentally survive without faith in a sovereign God?”
For many will come in my name claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.
Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nations will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
All of these are the beginning of birth pains.”
Mel and I talked about what it must have been like to live during the time of Jacob. His family was so very dysfunctional – in fact, that word seems very inadequate to describe them. Lying, cheating, murder, attempted murder, sexual sins – the list goes on and on! And during it all, great changes were taking place all over the world. There is no way Jacob or his sons could have known of the famine that would come in just a few years. None of them, including Joseph, could have foreseen the period of slavery in Egypt or their miraculous freeing 430 years later. None of them could have dreamed of the results their actions would produce many generations later, even down to this very day. Yes, these men lived in times of great change, in fact – they were the main characters in those changes and did not know it.
Our world is in a state of great change today. I realize that all of the news we get via internet and BBC is biased, usually toward the extreme negative. Yet, I read what is happening in the Middle East, I read of the changes happening in the United States (moral decline at such an accelerated rate and the growing influence and total acceptance of Islam as being good are two examples). I see what is happening in different churches, both here and in Western Europe and the US. I shake my head in disbelief and cry out (silently, in my mind and prayers) – God protect your people! God have mercy on us!
At a recent Bible study a person was in attendance who began contradicting what the leader said during the first five minutes of the study. This person was openly antagonistic during the whole lesson and refused to listen to anyone other than me, and then in open disbelief. And I wondered – why is this person doing this. This person is very new to the study, has only come to church a couple of times, is a “new believer.” What is the ultimate purpose here – to really search out the truth, or to cause division, confusion and ultimate destruction?
After dinner this evening we came home and settled in for the night. Mel downloaded email and was hit with an email that took some time to translate. The result is that we realize again that we have “an informer” within the church. For those who live in the West, this may seem like something out of a fairy tale, or something from out of a movie set during the Cold War. We forget that a ‘war’ is still being fought – it is a spiritual war and it is raging all around us, but that spiritual war has a physical side as well. We have been aware of this situation for quite some time, knowing that this person exists, just not knowing who he or she is. We may never know for sure. But God knows. And ultimately we can rest in that.
and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
At that time many will turn away from the faith
and will betray
and hate each other,
and many false prophets will appear
and deceive many people.
Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold,
but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
But it is hard. It is hard to look back over our conversations with different people, our meetings with people, to remember those we have had in our home and at our table, to remember the faces of our loved ones here. And know that one of them is not who we think they are. One of them is a Judas. It is very hard.
So, what does a person do in a situation like this? Confront and take all your friends to task, searching for The One (but what if it is Two)? Distrust everyone we know? Barricade our hearts and our home from others? Give up and go home?
will be preached in the whole world
as a testimony to all nations,
and then the end will come. Matthew 24:4-14
I am reminded of Jesus in this situation. Oh how often I am reminded of His words of warning and encouragement. If these things happened to Him, the Son of God, will they not happen to us, His children, as well? Yes, they will – and they are.
I am also reminded of His prophesies of the Last Days, of Paul’s words to Timothy and to the Thessalonian church. These things happened to Paul. They happen all over the world, every day.
But God is sovereign! “They” mean it for evil, for our failure, for the church’s destruction – but God means it for good.
How sweet those first two words are to me! But God I must rest in Him.
