Hopeless Hopes

We are still on the message of God becoming quiet.

Incidentally, He did not go silent only on king Saul.

The Bible is replete with example and another of the same happening.

Hezekiah and Asa are other examples.

Today, however, I want us to look at instances where God appears to break that rule.

Who was Ahab?

The Bible records him as the most wicked king Israel ever had.

Yet we see God pursuing him again and again.

But that was not favouritism.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. (1Kings 21: 27 – 29)

God knew that Ahab’s heart had a soft spot for His message, a spot that his continued wickedness had almost extinguished.

That is why He pursued him.

Another person is also known as the most wicked king Judah had, the king whose wickedness had ensured that Judah goes to captivity. He was the king whose sin made God to tell Jeremiah not to pray for his people because Manasseh had sealed their case.

And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God. (2Chronicles 33: 12, 13)

Again, we see the same thing.

This hopeless character had some flicker of hope, a flicker that God in His awesomeness could not overlook.

Whereas God completely stopped from interacting with Saul and these other kings after their sin, these despicable sinners seemed always to have God’s eye on them.

Why is that so? I know many are wondering.

It boils on a simple truth. The difference between sin and rebellion.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:26)

It boils down to the state of our hearts.

Sin might be intentional and blatant. Rebellion is defiance.

Though they may appear similar, to God they are as difference as that between light and darkness.

You may remember that it was the reason that all adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness so that they do not enter the promised land.

And it was the same reason some characters were swallowed by the earth, among many other occurrences in the scriptures.

Knowing God’s will and choosing NOT to do it is what rebellion is all about.

Not knowing God’s will makes God appear lenient on us. However, choosing NOT to know God’s will may be worse than actual rebellion because it is seeking to forestall revelation.

It is akin to throwing away a map so that you can truly say that you got lost because you did not know the way.

I hope I am not making things more complicated.

It is important, however, to bring out the distinction between Hezekiah, Asa, Saul, and Manasseh and Ahab.

One side had clear orders that they disobeyed while the other was born in an environment of rebellion. One chose to do wrong while the other simply grew the sin they were part of.

In short, we can say that one knew the right and chose to disobey while the other only had sin to work with.

That is why they responded in ways that pleased God though the judgment due to their actions was not removed since as we know God must judge sin.

At the surface it appears as if God is unfair since He pursues the most wicked even as He completely refuses to speak to someone who appears to have a relationship with Him.

Spiting revelation, however, is most abominable to God because it seeks to slight Him. It seeks to demean Him to just a friend or, like we say in out language, our agemate.

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25)

That is why God must reveal His will even to the most wicked. That is why He must extend His love to the most despicable.

Because many times they will very easily respond very positively to His invitation.

Remember Jesus and His relationships in His earthly ministry? Who was the most responsive to His message?

It was the Ahabs and Manassehs of those days. It was the harlots and tax collectors. It was the Samaritans and the Romans.

Even as the religious right was always fighting Him.

The ones without the light ran towards the light that Christ possessed even as the ones who seemed to have the light scorned Him.

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:41)

Someone who has been exposed to the light bears greater responsibility for their response for it than the one without that exposure.

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. (James 3:1 WEB)

Allow me to bring another shocking verse for our consideration.

Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. (Matthew 21:31b)

What am I trying to get across?

We are accountable for the light we have accessed.

A misuse of that light will make God go silent on us even as He continues reaching out to the ones we have trashed in our self righteousness; the drug addicts, the tramps, the murderers and the characters Christ mentioned in that verse.

Or have we forgotten that we still have harlots and publicans amongst us?

Incidentally, my definition of a publican is that corrupt and self-seeking public servant; that representative who diverts public funds to his preferred projects, that public spokesperson who only speaks for issues beneficial to him and his circles, that leader who amasses public wealth to feather his retirement nest, that judicial officer who winks at a case involving his friend or supporter.

At the top of that pyramid of publicans you will of course find the ‘Gospel minister’ who will only go to minister where there is commensurate ‘returns’ and who will only pray and bless where his appreciation is guaranteed.

I am writing this as a gospel minister who has been at it for four decades and so know what I am saying.

However, the gospel minister does not strictly fit in the category of publicans but in the silent God team. I write this because most people place them there.

Allow me to stop here since I feel this message has the capacity to extend for a very long time.

But I trust that the message has sunk.

But in closing let me say that we will know where we are as we read and study the scriptures reverently.