I know what you are thinking. You guys just sit around and talk about sports, politics, and business and not much time is spent discussing the Sunday School lesson.
Not so with these guys! They study and discuss the lesson.
I remember one class where the Sunday School lesson was on the resurrection of Jesus and the men discussed how God seems to carry out His plans and purposes in the most unexpected ways.
They observed that it was the women, not the apostles that were the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. It was shepherds, not the religious leaders whom God told about the birth of the Savior.
This same observation was made by the Psalmist in this verse.
God follows a pattern of behavior in which He uses
the unexpected,
the unknown,
and the least likely to accomplish His redemptive plan.
The Psalmist declares that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone of God's temple.
Yes, God uses rejects to accomplish His will! In fact, when you read the Bible you quickly discover that God mainly uses rejects!
Jesus quoted these verses in Matthew 21:42 to the chief priests and the Pharisees in the Temple to indicate that He would be rejected by the Jewish religious leaders, but He would become the basis on which God's Kingdom would be established.
But why does God behave in this way? The Psalmist explains it like this: So we will know our salvation comes from the Lord!
The Apostle Paul provides a similar explanation: "God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
God chooses and uses:
the weak,
the foolish,
the insignificant,
and the despised in this world
to confound
the powerful,
the intellectual,
the important,
and the admired of this world.
God uses rejects to demonstrate His power, to display His sovereignty, to proclaim that He is the one accomplishing our salvation, not us. Not even those of us who think we are special or important!
But it's not because God needs to boast. It's because we need to know that God is the Source of our salvation. If our salvation is not a salvation that God produces, then it's not a salvation worth having because it's not one that can really save us from God's wrath!
"Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb...Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God" (Revelation 7:10; 19:1, HCSB).
No comments:
Post a Comment
I want to learn from you, please share your thoughts with me.