The Missing Works of the Lord

 July 9, 2024

Tuesday

There is little doubt that America is less Christian that it once was. Statistics reveal that less people attend church each year. Biblical standards seem to be sliding off of a cliff. Right is no longer right and wrong is no longer wrong by Christian standards. Many people want to go back to the time when Christians ruled the media and airwaves. Going backwards is rarely the right answer. So, maybe we should go forward.

Christians are good at seeing the outward actions without seeing the inward ones. Nearly all of the churches mentioned in Revelation had some great outward actions. Nearly all of them had fatal flaws too. Most Christians in America would be satisfied if more people attended their church without any changes being made. In other words, they would like to return to 1955 but have no idea what was really going on in 1955.

The problem is not superficial. The problem isn't that we can't reproduce 1955 either. The problem is that we are not seeing God work among us. We are preaching a good news gospel without seeing God have any part in it. I ask you, Can you tell me about any works of the Lord in your church? Now, don't try to make up something. I mean, when God works, it is easy to see. Splitting a sea, water stopping when the Jordan was crossed and seeing the walls of Jericho fall weren't things that people could ignore.

When it was said that Jesus couldn't do many miracles in Nazareth, it was the unbelief of the people that kept these miracles from happening. God would not act without receiving glory. The people weren't about to give Him glory so He didn't act. Is that what is going on today? Are we a generation who doesn't know the works of the Lord?

Look at what happened in the Book of Judges.

Judges 2:7 (NASB 2020) ⁷ The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

Then, a new generation was born.

Judges 2:10 (NASB 2020) ¹⁰ All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.

The first generation served the Lord. The elders who survived after Joshua served the Lord. The next generation neither knew the Lord nor His works. This seems the best way to have a diminishing number of people serving the Lord. God works among a people who serve Him. Those who don't give Him glory do not see His glory. This is what I believe is happening to us today.

Now, I realize that some have decided that God doesn't do miracles anymore. They will be quick to explain away everything the Lord has done. On the other hand, there are those who want to claim that every last thing that happens is an act of God. They claim every disaster is His judgment. They claim every good thing as coming from Him. Too often, these are so vague that only a few people will say that these are works of the Lord. Thus, we are a people who do not know the works of the Lord. We don't know them for we haven't seen them.

So, I ask you to join me in asking God to do a work that we can't deny comes from Him. Pray that there will be little doubt that it is Him. Pray that His manifest presence is known by those who believe first so that they can identify Him and proclaim Him to others. Pray that God will do something that man cannot duplicate. Pray that we will give Him all the glory. Then, pray that we will return to serving Him completely.

If we do this, it won't be 1955. It will be better.