To Do As You Ask

05.18.13

Psalm 78.68  68 …but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. (ESV)

Judah was the fourth-born son of the patriarch Jacob. The fourth-born was not usually the one to whom the keys of authority were passed in families or kingdoms of old. That always went to the first-born son. But God doesn’t do as man does. God is not a God of conventional thinking or doing. God chooses whom He chooses for reasons that are His own.

God chose the nation of Israel to be His special people with whom He had a special relationship based upon a special law that He gave them to follow. Antiquity reveals that the Jews weren’t the only people-group which had laws to guide them in their interactions with each other and with their God. But God’s law for them was special and He expected them to abide by it in faith believing it was the only way for them to live.

Then God chose another people-group known to the Jews as the Gentiles. The Gentiles were: “of or pertaining to any people not Jewish.” And what God gave to them was grace, not law. God gave them love, not regulation. And God desires for the Gentiles of all ages to abide in faith in His grace that He loves them and His love will transform them.

What I saw in this Psalm today was God’s choice. I was born a Gentile: one to whom the only law I am to live by is love: love for God, and love for my fellow man. God seems to bless the man who loves Him and loves his fellow man. God chose Jews to live in faith by the Law and Gentiles to live in faith by love.

I know there’s a bunch of theology out there which would call me naïve and unlearned and I accept that. But there is also a principle by which I am supposed to live and it simplifies theology down to this: the love of God begets the love for God and the love for God is shown by the love for man. Consider this old poem:

Abou Ben Adhem

BY LEIGH HUNT

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,

And saw, within the moonlight in his room,

Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,

An angel writing in a book of gold:—

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the presence in the room he said,

"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,

And with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"

Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,

But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

         The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night

It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blest,

And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

And my prayer: Father, may my love for You be like that of Abou: I cannot love my fellow man without Your loving me first and to that I am chosen – not of merit, I have none. Not of intellect, mine is small. Not of skill, I lack. Only that You have chosen the unlikely to succeed, to do as You ask, and Lord that is my prayer: to do as You ask and where I struggle the most: loving You by loving men. Amen.