Ministry Remnants: God Gets His Good Work Done or "God's Ways are Not Our Ways!"

Among reasons for not writing is knowing folks have too much to read and, alas, I have too much to say. Then there's the pesky Proverb: “Where there are many words, sin is not absent.” Yet words give rise to more: explaining, re-visiting, wondering, re-shaping. Such are these forays into “ministry remnants,” drawing on normal angst – occupational hazards – of a preacher. “Did I really say that?!”

If we cook a bad meal – which I never do for, mercifully, I do not cook -- the eaters know, and we might. So with preachers. They grieve for the failings while trusting the one who calls, knowing the eaters needs the best on offer. Maybe remnants are good, if only for the preacher, bringing addition, reflection, hoped-for resolution.

My remnant today is from a rumination on the value of reading the Old Testament at a fast pace. I mentioned how things rise to the surface and in my reading, the idea of stubbornness had emerged. First, Pharaoh's heart hardened, or made stubborn; second, God's painful reminder to his people about why he cleared the promised land. “I am not doing it because you are good, but because they have been bad,” he said to his chosen beloved (my paraphrase). “You are a stubborn people.”

As this second fell from my mouth it seemed I was calling my dear friends stubborn. Indeed I do not think of them as stubborn. But here one easily errs, for the human family has a great many things in common heritage, not least this matter of being head-strong. So, I dare to hope my reflection on hard-headedness gave aid to any listeners who needed to acknowledge and repent of their own stubbornness. One prays.

But the first is more difficult, for who can understand God's ways with people who suffered at His hand so His cause could proceed? Yet, I heard a sound of hope: “God hardened Pharaoh's heart so he could do great miracles.”

“Perhaps,” I had thought and so had to share, “God allows -- yea causes -- our own headstrong ways so he can work miracles in our lives as well."

Better Bible teachers might reply, “Nay. The lesson here is simply God using Pharaoh to further the needs of His people. Pharaoh's doom was well-earned, and do not forget, it was doom, not blessing. The miracle was not for him!”

So is the crumb worth having at all? You must decide I guess. For my part I see the head-strong ways of my youth – some that very-nearly doomed me – and I rejoice that God brings good from ill. I bow with joy in my heart, believing God is both great and good. And I savor the sanity of Job: “Even if his way with me is the end of me, yet I trust Him.” Or to quote Randall McElwain, “Life is short; God's purposes are long.”

Today I kneel, daring to believe – yea knowing – He does as He will with an end in mind that is good, always good, for me and for you. That is a remnant I can morsel and savor, food for the soul.