April 26--Where You Can Find Jesus

Though Jesus is highly exalted, he hangs out in lowly places with riff-raff and sinners.  He comes alongside those who suffer, while throwing out the bad guys.  Today's passages give us the stories:  Judges 6, Luke 23:1-25, Psalm 94, Proverbs 14:5-6.

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Eve reads her Bible journal aloud on this episode.

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Transcript

Judges 6

Luke 23:1-25

Psalm 94, Prayer, Proverbs 14:5-6

SPEAKER_00 0:00

April twenty sixth Where you can find Jesus? I won't be reading the scripture references. For those, please check the written post. Redbox RX sent an email saying that the refills for my prescriptions were being shipped, but the truth was I hadn't requested them. What's worse, my check card would be charged any moment without my permission. I called them up to see what was what. Let's just say I wasn't at my best worrying about too much month at the end of the money, as my father used to say, and not having enough to cover it. The person on the other end was cold and efficient, explaining yes, you did give us permission to send automatic refills when you filled out the initial paperwork and signed up for our services. Oh that, I thought. Maybe I should start reading the fine print. I had a couple of other questions about future shipments and whether or not she could refund today's charges, and I was anxious to get some answers that would stop the calculator from running hot in my head. And maybe I interrupted her to ask them. I'm not sure. Funny how fuzzy memory can be when you're maybe the one who's messing up. What I am sure of is that she interrupted me before I could finish asking them, and she talked down to me with yes, yes, I know you want that answer, but this is what I'm trying to tell you. And she said it annoyed and not at all kindly. More like the way you talk to that pesky neighbor boy after he rides by on his bike and kicks your blooming peonies, more like tightly controlled contempt. When I asked if there was someone else I could work with as I was having trouble with her tone and manner, she said no, she was the only one working in her department, and then she began to explain all over again what she'd already said as if she'd just noted my birth date and thought this lady could be Loony. And while admittedly I wasn't at my best, as mentioned earlier, I was totally sane and in complete control of my judgment about what she was doing wrong, and I told her you're defensive and rude and not any good at your job, and I hung up on her. I spent the next little while thinking it all over and remembering everything about her poor intentions and intonations along with her downright contempt. I felt completely justified writing it all up on Trust Pilate, and I thought that was the end of it. Only I hadn't finished this blog post yet about where you can find Jesus. I still had the introduction to write, and getting back to it, I suddenly felt queasy and not at all right, whereas just moments before I was altogether righteous. What have I done to that poor awful girl? I whispered inside my head. I didn't really want God to answer me, which is why I only whispered, but he must have heard me because the freshest bracing breath of wind came over me. Wouldn't you like to let this go and move on? And I thought, wow, I really would. Righteous as I'd felt before, I was embarrassed now because I knew what it would take for me to give up the contempt I felt and have love return. I'd have to call her back and apologize for my tone and manner. Oh Jesus, help me. I imagined how wonderful I'd feel to own what I did and ask forgiveness and hang up, but this time only after saying goodbye first. I dialed the number and waited. After multiple recordings of we're experiencing a high volume of calls and elevator music, I was finally given an email address and phone number to call back during normal business hours, and I was disconnected. I was a little let down. I wanted that glorious feeling I'd imagined, but I emailed my apology instead and I felt better. Then I took down my one star review on Trust Pilate, which was true, but was also unkind. I don't think Jesus was anywhere in it, except that he helped me figure out how to delete it. Sometimes writing for this blog makes me see more of myself than I want to see. Today's passages have more to say about where we can find Jesus. The Old Testament chapter is Judges six. Gideon is tapped by God's angel to save Israel from the Midianites who were spoiling their crops and taking away their other food sources. It's gotten so bad the Israelites have been hiding in the caves and clefts of nearby mountains. Gideon is threshing grain in a wine vat to hide it just in case Midian comes calling when God's angel shows up and tells him, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior, end quote. I'm taken with Gideon's honest disbelief because he's from the smallest tribe, and he's the puniest one in it. Find someone else, he seems to be saying, but the angel says that God is with him and will use Gideon to save his people. Gideon's plucky, and he's got a few bones to pick, and with God no less, for one, the angel's dead wrong. God can't be with Israel because he's allowing Midian to oppress them. What's more, it's God's fault they're in this fix. Rather than seeing Midian as God's discipline for Israel's disobedience, Gideon says God's abandoned his people. Even though he's been assured multiple times by God's angel that God will go with him, Gideon asks for a sign that this is really God who's sending him. He prepares a meal for the angel, and when the angel touches it with his stick, the rock burns it up. But this isn't enough to convince Gideon. He asks for more signs, first a wet and then a dry fleece, and God complies. And I have to wonder why God indulges him, doesn't he say not to test him? I'm also wondering why God doesn't choose someone who already trusts him, why he doesn't pick a Levite whose job it is to be spiritual and do the work of the tabernacle, why he doesn't choose someone from a believing family at the least, rather than the son of a confirmed idolater who's built an altar to Baal and an ashira pole at his own house. How is it that Gideon was the best candidate for saving Israel? When I think about others that God's used to advance his kingdom in the Old Testament, Jacob and Joseph, Moses and Aaron, Samson and David, I see that God sends the last person you'd expect. He doesn't seem to care all that much about outward appearances or even inward ones, come to think of it. Whether deceiver or bragger, stutterer or coward, hothead or adulterer turned murderer, God uses these and others like them to share his saving message. He uses whoever he has to work with, and it's rarely the fine and upstanding person. In the New Testament he chooses a woman with seven demons, an educated fisherman, a murdering fanatic, lepers and blind men, a dead man, a lame man, a hooker, a thief. These he delivers and then he sends them out to tell others what he's done for them, not what they've done for themselves or done for him, because Jesus is the big deal. God takes sinners, saves them, and uses their saving stories to save others. It's a strategy that's been advancing his kingdom steadily for thousands of years. It's a strategy that proclaims his power and glory to use whoever he chooses to do what they cannot do without him. And this is encouraging because God doesn't need super Christians. He needs humble ones who know they're sinners, who know they're not good enough, who are certain they don't have what it takes, but have come to rely on Jesus for everything they're not. These are those he delights in. When Jesus enabled Peter and his friends to haul in a catch of fish large enough to sink two boats, Peter said, Leave me, I'm a sinner. I'm not good enough to walk with you, my paraphrase. But Jesus said not to worry, from that day on he'd be fishing for men and women. Turned out Peter had all the qualification he needed. He was a sinner who needed Jesus, and he knew it. After Jesus died and rose and went back to heaven, Peter caught thousands of believers in Jesus using his preaching net. This is the only qualification any of us needs to be fit for service in God's kingdom, a deep conviction that we are sinners who need saving, because with it we will depend on Jesus for what we say, what we do, where we go. We will rely on Jesus for everything. We will do more in Jesus' service than we had any idea of. Want to do great things in God's kingdom? Then walk the low road of dependence and service. This is still where you can find Jesus, humble and highly exalted. The New Testament passage is Luke twenty three, one to twenty five. We find Jesus accused, misunderstood, mocked, and silent in this passage. With his life at stake, why wouldn't he speak up in his own self defense? Saving humanity was why he came to earth, and he wouldn't shirk the work in the last hour. Dying for sinners was the cup his father gave him, and he would drink it. He entrusted himself, quote, to him who judges justly end quote, and left the details with God to deal with. When you're accused, misunderstood, and mocked, find comfort in the fact that Jesus has been there and he knows what you're going through. Put your hope in his word to work all things out for your good, regardless of what's going on in the moment. Ask for help to overcome evil with good and silence those who want to harm you. I've walked through more minefields than I can count and come out unscathed by trusting in Jesus. You can too. Where can you find Jesus? Standing at your right hand, guarding and guiding you because he suffered shame, so you don't have to From Psalm ninety four. Where is God when bad guys walk all over his people, exploiting and abusing them? Where is he when they brag about their evil and even kill those who get in their way? The Psalmist says God is right there, hearing and seeing it all. He knows exactly what's going on. You can be sure that quote justice is on its way, end quote, and that good hearts will be lifted up when it arrives. When the Psalmist was in a tight spot, God stood up for him and took his side, even when it looked like the wicked had the upper hand. As soon as he began to slip he cried out, and God's love reached down and held him fast. God became his hideout, his high mountain retreat. He's a safe place to hide anytime you need it. When storms and chaos come, you can run to him and find relief in his word, a quote, circle of quiet within the clamor of evil. God promises that evil will boomerang on bad guys. They don't get away with anything. When you're tempted to be afraid and despair, take heart. God knows what's going on, he will vindicate you and destroy evil for good, quote. He will never walk away from his people, never desert his precious people. Where can you find Jesus? Welcoming you at his safe house while fighting your bad guys and beating the tar out of them. Prayer. God, my conscience, the foot of the cross, his empty tomb, the low road, my right hand, your high mountain hideaway, so many places where Jesus meets and teaches and welcomes me. Thank you, He's everywhere I am. In Jesus' name, so be it. From Proverbs 14, 5 to 6. Truth tellers never lie, while liars make a business of never telling the truth. Naysayers search for wisdom and never find it, while yea sayers find it everywhere they look. Passages in Judges, Luke, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in the yearly Bible. This is Eve de Bartleaban Roebuck.