Recently, I sent a private Facebook message to a friend of
mine who leads an international ministry. My message was prophetic in nature
and would seem somewhat cryptic to the casual reader. I trust this leader and
knew he would be able to move past the nature of the word and understand its
substance.
This leader and others like him are called upon to deal with
issues that have a very wide and diverse audience. What I felt the Lord was saying to this
leader, and to the rest of us, was this – “the issues are not the issue.” The
human-issues we face each day are not always the God-issue we need to discover.
These God-issues are buried deep beneath our history, our preferences and our
current culture. It is in the discovery of these God-issues that we find peace
and resolution amidst the surface turmoil of cultural opinion.
Most of the headlines printed today are in response to diverse
people groups responding to even more diverse opinions they each hold about how
this life should be lived. The clash of these opinions produces the headlines.
Behind these visible and reactionary headlines is always a deeper God-issue
waiting to be discovered. The truth of the deeper God-issues must be discovered
and understood if the Church is going fulfill her mission on planet earth.
A danger the Church faces in our current cultural context is
the demand to provide a quick and shallow response for complex issues. We must have a response, but it cannot be
reactive, it must be the result of God revealing truth to us. Revelation is not nervous about timing. Revelation is sourced from eternity without
the pressure of time.
Whenever I have made quick and visceral responses I have
found that my first answer was generally to the issues I was facing on the
surface instead of the deeper God-issue He wanted to process with me. Many
times I had the right answer, but the wrong response. There is always something
deeper when we are relating to God and it is in the process of this relationship
that He invites us to journey with Him towards the discovery of His deeper
truth.
Today, give God some time to develop a deeper understanding
within you about His heart for each subject that requires a response from you. In the end, the deeper God-issue you discover
will always reflect His heart, not a human response.
This is such a timely word for us today. Complex issues deserve more thought, prayer, and patience than we usually give them before voicing our opinions. Quick answers usually result in regret.