God's Initiative

Part of becoming humble is learning that it is always God's initiative to speak with us. Nouwen writes about it:

"We can close our eyes as tightly as we can and clasp our hands as firmly as possible, but God speaks only when he wants to speak. When we realize this our pressing, pushing, and pulling become quite amusing. Sometimes we act like children who close their eyes and think that they can make the world go away.
After having done everything to make some space for God, it is still God who comes on his own initiative. But we have a promise upon which we base our hope: the promise of his love. So our life can rightly be a waiting in expectation, but waiting patiently and with a smile. Then, indeed, we shall be really surprised and full of joy and gratitude when he comes."

Who Does Jesus Want To Be In His Churches?

The woman said, "I know that the Messiah will come. He is the one we call Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
"I am that one," Jesus told her, "and I am speaking to you now." (John 4:25-26)

As I am reading the Gospel of John, I am once more impressed with Jesus. He is commonly found in the company of the sick, the rejected and the forgotten. In this particular instance, Jesus is revealing His identity as the long-expected Messiah to a promiscuous Samaritan woman. He tells her but keeps it from many others. It seems that Jesus really liked hanging out with the marginalized people. This fact raises the question of what kind of people are in our churches. If Jesus chose to be with the broken, the poor and the disenfranchised, why are we trying so hard to attract the middle-upper-class people, the educated and those who have it all together? Sure, they also need Jesus, but why are we giving them the highest priority? By the way, we do that by planting churches in growing, affluent areas as opposed to poor, falling apart neighborhoods. It is not always the case but seems to be a general trend in evangelical circles.

Patience

Patience is really an extension of humility. It is an admision that my timing may not be the best and my judgment that I need something right now may be wrong. Patience is humbly designating someone else to decide when something needs to happen. Like humility, patience is very difficult to cultivate.

Stretching My Hand Against the Lord's Appointed

David also said, "As the LORD lives, surely the LORD will strike him (Saul), or his day will come that he dies, or he will go down into battle and perish. The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD'S anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jug of water, and let us go."(1 Samuel 26:10,11)

Here is the second time David has spared Saul's life. Considering that all of David's problems were caused by King Saul, it hardly seems wise for David not to kill him and avoid all the danger, uncertainty and inconvenience. But David did not want to stop his suffering before God decided to do so. He did not think it his place to kill the Lord's chosen king and left it to Him.
This passage reminds me of this place in Matthew's Gospel:

And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?"(Matthew 26:51-54)

Peter tried stopping Jesus' suffering before it was God's time to end it. Jesus was determined to suffer to the extent decided by the Father. So, be way of application, I think that I am sometimes tempted by an opportunity to end whatever difficult time I may be going through. I should be patient to wait until God Himself ends it. Like He did with David and later with Jesus.

Loving the One Who Suffers

Kierkegaard said that he who himself does not wish to suffer cannot love him who has. We can not love Christ if we do not share in His sufferings and identify with Him in pain, humiliation and sorrow. Neither can we rejoice and participate in His Resurrection if we could not weep while He was on the Cross. Most of us have forgotten that the call to discipleship most definitely means suffering. Lent is a reminder of God's limiting Himself to become the lowliest of men and a chance for us to limit ourselves just a little bit to be closer to Jesus.

David and Goliath

The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field." Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands."(1 Samuel 17:43-47)

This may quite possibly be the coolest dialogue in the Bible. "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" "You come to with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts..." It is just great.
It is worth mentioning during Lent that David exhibited tremendous confidence in the Lord and remained humble. The Lord was going to defeat Goliath and David simply trusted Him. God prepared David for this battle by giving Him the experience of fighting lions and bears. So, this trust was learned and David's faith proved true in the past.

Mainstream Christianity?

Lately I have been trying to answer this question: Can Christianity be both authentic and mainstream? In other words, can true discipleship happen where there is little opposition and struggle? Maybe, I have been reading Kierkegaard too much. Being counter-cultural seems to be an essential part of being a follower of Jesus. Historically, a case can be made that the Church went into a spiritual decline as soon as it became a dominant faith of a particular society. When becoming a Christian brings social status and material gain, one should hardly expect many people converting simply because of Jesus.