Sometimes we look at the people in the Bible and can readily see the mistakes they made, but sometimes I wonder if we’d do any differently if we were in their circumstances.
If God promised that I would have a child when I’m so far past child-bearing years that I’m older than old, but then takes several more years before He completes that promise, wouldn’t my faith waver in the meantime? Abraham and Sarah saw and knew who God was and what He could do, but sometimes we humans tend to waver. If I were Abraham or Sarah, wouldn’t I have wondered if God had forgotten, or if I had even heard Him at all and not my own wishful thinking?
If God led my entire nation into a strange new land after miraculously freeing us from slavery, and then God did miracles on the way to keep us alive, would I start taking those miracles for granted like the Israelites did when God took them out of Egypt? We notice the stubbornness and stupidity of the Israelites complaining at God in the wilderness when they’d seen firsthand all that God could do and had even heard His voice on a mountain, but then we gloss over the times we have not recalled God’s past goodness to mind when we’re having a rough time. Don’t we sometimes feel like God should have taken care of us before we even got to the hard part? Don’t we sometimes blame Him for doing things that are meant to teach us just how much He cares?
If some homeless wild-man from the back-end of the wilderness shows up and starts talking like he’s some prophet after hundreds of years of prophetic silence from God, would I listen to him? Would I heed this man’s message to repent, from both my good works and my bad ones, and turn to God to be saved? Or would I write him off as just another mad man?
If another homeless dude from a no-good backwoods town shows up calling himself the Son of God, doing miracles, and making religious people uncomfortable, would I be following this man around, miracles or not? Would I realize that this was indeed the Messiah that God had promised? Or would I react the same way the Pharisees did?
Sometimes we don’t realize just how similar we are to the people in the Bible. It’s a good exercise to look at things from their perspective and see if we’re doing the same thing in our own lives. Sometimes we can be just as oblivious and unfaithful. But God deals with us the same way He dealt with them, and He’ll give us another chance to get it right.
Related:
The People in the Bible Are Real
A Little Extra Encouragement