Sermonette: God's Playbook Series #4

 This September, we are examining God’s Playbook. We’re looking at the various choices and decisions that God has made preserved in the Bible. Plays God has run, that we would be wise to expect he might run again.

 When we talk about monumental moments in God’s plan, one of the moments that ought to make the list every time is God freeing his people from Egypt. Israel had grown from 12 brothers into an entire nation; but in the process, they had become slaves of Egypt. Then God sends Moses to perform 10 of the most dramatic miracles in the Bible, not to mention the parting of the Red Sea. Forever after, prophets would say “God freed you from Egypt with a mighty arm.” (Found in Deuteronomy 5:15 along with many other places in the Bible). The “mighty arm” refers to the power God demonstrated in freeing his people. God had to use so much power, because the man who resisted him demonstrated extreme stubbornness to releasing God’s people. This man, the Pharaoh of Egypt’s resolve was so strong that it allowed God to demonstrate even more extreme love to crush Pharaoh’s sinful will. Had Pharaoh been a weaker man, God’s freeing of his people wouldn’t have been the dramatic demonstration of love that we have today. God’s love worked through the vile acts of the monstrous, baby-killer Pharaoh.

 This could be painted as a simple battle of good versus evil, except it keeps repeating. During the Judges period, God utilized the pagan nations to punish his people. Much later, God utilized Shalmaneser and the Assyrians as well as Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to annihilate his people as a final punishment for their sins. Both nations are not only pagan but truly evil in the idols they worshiped and the way they treated people. However, before you get too used to the ‘evil leaders used as punishment’ theme, turn a few more pages to see who rescues and replants Israel. Is it Esther, Daniel, or a descendent of David? No. Its king Cyrus, then later Darius, and finally Xerxes of the Persian empire.

 None of these kings were God-followers in the slightest. Freeing God’s people was merely a political tool to gather favor in their empires. Xerxes wasn’t even a nice guy (he’s the king in Esther if you’d like to know more about him).

 All of these men: Pharaoh, Shalmaneser, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes were not good men. Most of them deserved absolute hatred for the abhorrent things they did. However, God used them. Through all of them, God accomplished amazing and sometimes beautiful things. Not because they were holy, but because God is awesome and so much more powerful than them.

 Today, we live in a very divided country. Some of us think the current president is terrible, some believe the previous president was terrible. And some of us think both of them are pretty bad. I won’t try to change your allegiance today, but I do challenge you to realize a well-worn play in God’s playbook is accomplishing truly awesome things through downright terrible people. You may not always agree with our current leaders, you might even struggle with the sin of hating them. Today, I exhort you to force your perspective to recognize that God might be doing something through them. God used Moses, and he used Pharaoh. God used David, and he used Nebuchadnezzar. God used Paul, and he used Nero.

 Whether you think our leaders are angels or demons, I challenge you to keep your mind out of the tabloids and focus on what matters: What is God doing, and how do I get on board?