Article of Faith: Ways of the Kingdom of God (1), By Femi Aribisala

God specialises in the everlasting.

Jeremiah had a bone to pick with God. He asked:

“Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?” (Jeremiah 12:1).

God offered him no satisfactory answer. Instead, He assured him that more things would confound him. God replied Jeremiah’s question with a question:

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” (Jeremiah 12:5).

The wicked prosper because the prosperity of men is not the prosperity of God. God can give what men give, and He sometimes does. But men cannot give what God gives. The prosperity that comes from men is temporal. But God’s prosperity is eternal.

It is like the current fad of regular exercise from going to the gym. Paul says instead:

Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (1 Timothy 4:7-8).

Men give what only has value in this world. But God gives what has value in this world and in the world to come.

Different Blessings

Jesus says:

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10).

Everything man values can be stolen, killed, or destroyed. But nothing like that can happen to things of God. Solomon says:

“I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

The blessings of God are everlasting, while those of men are time-bound. That means the blessings of men can be lost, and what can be lost can bring sorrow. But,

The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22).

The riches of this world must be relinquished.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (1 Timothy 6:7).

That means the riches of this world are fake. They are illusory.

For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven. (Proverbs 23:5).

True riches must be eternal. They only come from God.

Habakkuk’s Dilemma

Habakkuk faces a dilemma similar to Jeremiah’s. He asks God: “Why are things so bad and You do nothing?” “How can things be this bad when You are so good?”

God does not explain. Instead, He tells Habakkuk, “Just Wait. I am going to make things so much worse.”

Kingdom dynamics refer to God’s seemingly peculiar ways. Occasionally, we can understand why God does things the way He does. But He does not owe us an explanation. The important thing is to know the ways He does things and come to terms with them.

With God, expect the unexpected. Expect the extraordinary. The commonplace is of men. God can do and sometimes does the ordinary. But He only does this to humour men. His speciality is the extraordinary. God can do what man does. But man cannot do the amazing things God does.

Moreover, if we deserve what we get, then it is unlikely to be from God. God gives what we do not deserve. He says:

I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. (Exodus 33:19).

Solomon throws more light on this peculiarity:

“The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

Therefore, with God, be ready to receive what you don’t deserve.

If you can easily understand what is happening and why, then it is likely to be of men. But if you cannot easily understand it, then it is more likely to be of God. So, don’t be surprised if what happens to you surpasses your understanding.

Believe all things. (1 Cor 13:7). That means assume the best in all circumstances, whether good or bad. God works all things together for good for His children. (Romans 8:28). Therefore, in everything, give thanks. (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Relinquish the Past

Kingdom dynamics validate God. They make us aware that the invisible God is at work. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36). Therefore, His actions will be peculiar. They will be extraordinary. If they were normal, they could easily have been man-made. But because they are peculiar, they obviously do not originate from this world.

Do not be held captive by what happened in the past. The past is never a blueprint for the present. God says:

Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19).

Don’t complain like the church in the wilderness if there is no water. God can bring water out of the desert. He even brought water out of a rock. Job testifies to this wonderful work of God. He recalled a time:

When (his) steps through rich pasturage were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for (him) streams of oil! (Job 29:6).

God is a God of originality. No two things of God are the same. No two fingerprints are the same. No two irises are duplicates.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But He is the same in that He always does new things, and not that He only does the same things.

Therefore, Paul says:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14).

Disregard the Flesh

Paul also counsels:

From now on, regard no one according to the flesh. (2 Corinthians 5:16).

That is the reason why many people missed Christ. He came in the flesh but was 100 per cent divine.

According to the flesh, Jesus was common. He was born in a manger of very poor parentage. His parents could not afford a lamb as a sacrifice for the male child who opens the womb. They had to make do with the poor man’s substitute of a pair of turtledoves. (Luke 2:22-24). (Leviticus 12:8).

Jesus came from Nazareth, a city not even on the map. When Philip introduced Him to Nathanael, he asked disparagingly:

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:44).

Jesus did not go to school. He did not graduate from a Theological Seminary. This confounded the Jewish religious elite. They marvelled, asking:

“How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” (John 7:15).

But educational qualifications and credentials are only relevant in the world. They are irrelevant in the kingdom of God. God qualifies the unqualified and disqualified.

Paul says:

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

When Amos was challenged because of his pedigree, he said to Amaziah:

“I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel. Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord: You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not spout against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city; your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; your land shall be divided by survey line; you shall die in a defiled land.” Amos 7:14-17).

The Blind Eye

Don’t believe what you see, feel, or touch. That was the first contradiction I confronted in my relationship with God. He told me nothing would happen to me, and then I was shot. A bullet was lodged in my leg, but He insisted there was nothing wrong with my leg.

The naked eye cannot see what God is doing. Therefore:

Do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18).

To see, we have to be blind. Jesus puts this cryptically. He says:

“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” (John 9:39).

When God sent Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse as king of Israel, He warned him:

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel  16:7).

Children of God must learn to appreciate the beauty of holiness. (2 Chronicles 20:21). CONTINUED.