{"id":40906,"date":"2018-02-26T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T15:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/?p=40906"},"modified":"2022-12-12T07:40:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T15:40:20","slug":"god-can-show-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/god-can-show-up\/","title":{"rendered":"God Shows Up Where You Don’t Expect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is an excerpt from the For Everyone Commentary Series<\/a> by John Goldingay and N.T. Wright.<\/em> Learn how God can show up. He can be for us even when we don’t deserve it \u2014 or even expect it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WE DON’T ALWAYS GET WHAT WE DESERVE<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve remembered why I had that visit from the man I mentioned in connection with Lamentations 5. I\u2019d talked in class about a pastor who ignored a call from God to go and serve him abroad as a missionary. God blessed his subsequent ministry in England, even though he was not in the place where God had wanted him. One failure in obedience to God doesn\u2019t have to ruin your whole life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man who came to see me had been told that persisting with his new relationship and divorcing his wife so he could marry this other woman would mean God would never bless his new marriage. I told him you could never make such predictions because God is always having to decide afresh whether to be merciful or disciplinary. Our calling is to do the right thing because it\u2019s the right thing, not because we might forfeit God\u2019s blessing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LEARNING FROM EZEKIEL 1:1-28<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ezekiel\u2019s community is people who were transported to Babylon<\/strong> in 597; five years have now passed. Anyone with religious sensitivity or principle knew that they\u2019d deserved this fate (even if there were individuals like Ezekiel who didn\u2019t deserve it) and would wonder whether they could ever expect Yahweh<\/strong> to reach out to them in Babylon. Their feelings might be similar to those expressed in Lamentations after the further fall of Jerusalem in 587. They\u2019ve forfeited any right to expect God\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(We don\u2019t know what \u201cthe thirtieth year\u201d refers to. Maybe Ezekiel was thirty years old, the age when he might have taken up his ministry as a priest if he hadn\u2019t been transported to Babylon.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOD CAN SHOW UP<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Out of the blue, in a literal sense, Yahweh appears in Babylon. Maybe Ezekiel sees a literal storm approaching, with wind, cloud, and lightning. If so, Yahweh turns the literal storm into an appearance of his own cloud carriage. Yahweh is coming to his people in Babylon\u2014Babylon of all places!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that he\u2019s coming with a message of comfort; rather the opposite. It does mean he hasn\u2019t simply washed his hands of them.<\/strong> Perhaps the vision\u2019s significance is to show that Yahweh has already been present with his people in Babylon; he now enables this prophet to see behind the veil constituted by the heavens themselves, to see that Yahweh is present, and to report that fact to the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are limits to what God dares let Ezekiel see. Too direct an appearance of God would simply blind a mere human being. Most of what God lets Ezekiel see is his carriage pulled by four creatures\u2014not mere horses but combinations of human being, animal, and bird (so they can fly and transport God through the heavens). They\u2019re subsequently called cherubs<\/strong>. Their combined features give them great maneuverability, as do the crisscross wheels on the carriage that can go this way or that at will. But they\u2019re driven by one will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE LETS US SEE & EXPERIENCE HIS GREATNESS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The creatures support a platform on which there stands a throne; on the throne is a human-like figure. Ezekiel is looking from below, so he sees little of the figure. His experience parallels that of Isaiah, who sees only the hem of God\u2019s robe. While God can be pictured as lion-like or rock-like, more often God is described as human-like\u2014it links with the fact that human beings are made in God\u2019s image to represent God in the world. Ezekiel\u2019s account also safeguards God\u2019s transcendence (it won\u2019t let us think of God in too human terms) by using the name<\/strong> Shadday<\/em>. The traditional translation \u201cAlmighty<\/em>\u201d is a guess. The only other Hebrew word with which the Old Testament links the name is a verb meaning \u201cdestroy,\u201d so people might take \u201cShadday<\/em>\u201d to suggest \u201cdestroyer<\/em>\u201d; this understanding would suit Ezekiel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also a solemn fact that the storm comes from the north, the direction where people often located God\u2019s abode, but also the direction from which invaders came. But then it declares that there was something of a rainbow\u2019s appearance about this God, one who put his bow away and let it hang in the sky without string and without arrows (see Genesis 9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s appearing to Ezekiel is both good news and solemn news. For Ezekiel\u2019s audience and for people reading his messages in written form, it also indicates that we\u2019d better take his words seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE FOR EVERYONE COMMENTARY SERIES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did you enjoy how this commentary takes a passage of the Old Testament and relates it to daily life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The For Everyone Commentary Series<\/a> has 35 volumes<\/strong>, including books from both the Old and New Testament. Each volume includes the editors’ translations of the entire text. Then, each short passage is followed by background information, useful explanations and suggestions, and thoughts as to how the text can be relevant to our lives today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This resource works with the Resource Guide<\/a>, showing you relevant articles as you read the Bible. Also, verses and footnotes are linked for quick reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit our website to learn more about this well-loved commentary series<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
GET IT TODAY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

COMMENT BELOW: Where have you seen God show up where you didn’t expect or deserve?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is an excerpt from the For Everyone Commentary Series by John Goldingay and N.T. Wright. Learn how God can show up. He can be for us even when we don’t deserve it \u2014 or even expect it. WE DON’T ALWAYS GET WHAT WE DESERVE I\u2019ve remembered why I had that visit from the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5341],"tags":[5996],"class_list":{"0":"post-40906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-topical","8":"tag-for-everyone-commentary-series"},"yoast_head":"\nGod Shows Up Where You Don't Expect - Olive Tree Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"God can show up where we don't expect Him, when we aren't deserving. 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