Every day in our lives we are required to make multiple decisions about what is right or wrong or which path to take in any situation. But in all this when we struggle, we tend to forget that God is in complete control of everything and not even a grain of sand is not beyond His reach. As believers, we are His children and our way is already established as per God’s plan for us. But since we are also given free-will to make a choice, we tend to deviate and go on a tangent.
Chosen by God and free-will – We learn about God being Sovereign and everything is under His control. He never came into being for He always was and will be. When God revealed His name to Moses from the Burning Bush as ‘I AM WHO I AM’, this was confirmed (Exodus 3:14). He was, is and will always be complete in Himself. The act of creation of heaven and earth is not for His benefit in any manner but an expression of His love. It was this love that led Him to create everything needed by any one, beforehand. The Garden of Eden had all the best of everything for man to enjoy.
God knows all that is in our hearts, yet when Adam and Eve sinned, He came looking for them (Genesis 3:9-15). God in His love did not curse them but simply told them what their sin has brought on them. God created a perfect world and everything in it ‘was very good’ (Genesis 1:31). The natural order was also affected by their sin and ‘thorns and thistles’ came out of the earth. Apostle Paul confirms that the whole of creation suffered unwillingly and waits to be delivered from its present state (Romans 8:19-21). All believers are tasked by God to repair and restore the fallen nature of mankind with the Message of salvation and love of the Gospel. This will also help man to live in a better state.
After the three friends of Job had failed to convince Job of his sin, young Elihu spoke to Job, ‘Look to the heavens and see; and behold the clouds-they are higher than you. If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand’ (Job 35:5-7). Every law, commandment and instruction from God is to help us live better and even our entry into heaven, an act of His mercy, does not give Him any benefit. The free-will given to us does lead many to say, ‘I decline Your offer and You can find anyone else to do Your work?’ God’s creation is for the created beings and by turning away from the LORD God, we harm our own selves and not Him in any way.
Every desire fulfils a certain need and greater the need, the deeper and stronger is the desire. Some things we want, not that we need them but because others have them. That is our free-will working in us and we put as much effort into fulfilling that desire. A two-year child is attracted to everything he sees and cries out, ‘I want’ and it is a 100% I. Except God there is no one who has no needs and yet He put in great effort to create all of the universe to express His love. A child and even grown-ups get easily distracted from their ‘I wants’. But in all this we know that God thinks and has a plan specific for each one of us, ‘of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11-13). When we realise this our spiritual eyes are opened and we reach out in humble submission towards God. Along with this great future, He has promised, ‘you will seek Me and find Me, when you seek with all your heart’. God has chosen us to bless us and to live a life that He had decreed for all mankind in the Garden of Eden. When we turn to God in submission and love, He puts aside all the worship and songs of angels, and turns His full attention to see what ails us.
But why would the God of infinite glory and power choose us? Nobody knows the exact reason for this but I think He decided, when He created each individual in his mother’s womb, to receive pleasure in our cry to Him. There is nothing in it for God, for He invested Himself in creation and then in redemption. To free us from our sins, He permitted all our sins to be put on His own Son, our Redeemer, the Son of God ‘who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become His righteousness’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our sins pushed us away from the Holy God’s presence but Lord Jesus shed His blood on the cross to cleanse us of all sins and thus sanctify us for the work we were designed to do. The change starts in small ways from within and affects all those around us. In joy, then, we start reaching out to others to tell them this Good News to help them to turn to God and receive the blessings.
Symptoms of the ‘Chosen ones’ – Adam received the ‘breath of life’ when God breathed a part of Himself into the form of dust to turn him into ‘a living being’ (Genesis 2:7). Being made in His ‘image and likeness’, we carry godly characteristics in us and being separated from God due to sin, an inner urge remains in us to be with Him. This starts reflecting in the life of everyone but the forces of evil and darkness also affect us. Though one may do all sorts of evil, a pull to reach out To God definitely remains. Thus, no one can say that he is not chosen by God. God confused the language of mankind ‘that they may not understand one another’s speech’ (Genesis 11:7). The aim was to curtail sin and pride, leading to further downfall of man. With this every group of people created a god of their understanding, but the underlying urge remains the same, to seek and know God. Only those answer the call of God and turn to Him, in whom that spark of inner quest remains strongly burning.
The apparent changes in the life of the chosen are numerous in both spiritual and physical spheres. First, better understanding of the Word of God. Lord Jesus revealed a part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to ‘teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you’ (John 14:26. His gift is knowledge and wisdom, for better understanding.
Second, answered prayers. Since our knowledge is limited to the earthly, we do not fully understand how and what to pray for (Romans 8:26-27). But the indwelling Holy Spirit teaches us and also intercedes for us and God, knowing the mind of the Spirit, answers our prayers.
Third, increased power and spiritual strength. The last instructions of Lord Jesus, before His ascension into heaven, to the disciples, was to wait in Jerusalem till they receive this blessing (Acts 1:4). Before the day of Pentecost, they were hiding behind closed doors ‘for fear of the Jews’ (John 20:19). But later they could boldly challenge the authority of these leaders and preached the Gospel to them.
Fourth, our behaviour towards others changes leading to our good deeds. After washing the disciples’ feet and initiation of the Holy Communion, Lord Jesus said to them, ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another’ (John 13:34-35). And then He listed the following of this command as a proof of discipleship. When we do this our conduct towards others changes and we start empathising with those, who are suffering in any manner. Our love gets manifested in doing good for the needy. This could be through prayer and also through other material help. We are to love others in a selfless manner as our Lord has loved us.
Fifth, deep dependence on God. The chosen people of God are seen by the devil as his enemies and the forces of evil start looking for ways to turn us away from God. Apostle Peter has identified the devil as ‘your adversary’ who walks about as a ‘roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Peter 5:8). We are warned by the great Apostle Paul about this, ‘For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light’. He walks about like a lion and angel of light to imitate Lord Jesus, ‘the light of the world’ (John 8:12) and ‘the lion of Judah’. As the chosen of God we, first, ‘Submit to God’ and then in His power and authority we ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7).
God seeks His chosen ones to turn to Him and live the life of joy, happiness and victory. The blessing of abundance of all resources includes victory also and it is not only when the devil attacks. The promise of God is, ‘You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you’ (Leviticus 26:4-7). It is not all good and joy but the enemy will keep on looking for a chance. Luke 4:13 After his failed attempt to lead the Messiah astray, the devil ‘departed from Him (Lord Jesus) until an opportune time’. Even after the initial encounter, Lord Jesus was the target of the devil, who kept creating hurdles in His way. In spite of all the forces of evil attacking us, ‘yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’ (Romans 8:37).
Life of the ‘chosen Ones’ – God chooses everyone for a specific reason and a task. After Saul failed to be the king of Israel in the way God desired, he was rejected. Prophet Saul was then sent by God to anoint the son of Jesse of Bethlehem. First Eliab, the elder son and then all other sons, tall and good looking, were brought, but were rejected by God. Finally, the youngest, David was called, chosen and anointed as the next king to replace Saul. He was a man like all of us and committed great blunders. But he faced every foe with God as his strength and shield. He confronted Goliath, the giant, in the ‘name of the LORD Almighty, the God of armies of Israel’ (1 Samuel 17:45-46). He could then confidently declare that ‘the LORD will deliver you into my hand’.
The promise of Lord Jesus of a life of abundance covers all aspects of life (John 10:10). Spiritual abundance with the fullness of the Holy Spirit in us to fill us with ‘power, love and self-control’ (2 Timothy 1:7). He teaches us to make right decisions in life and avoid pitfalls. When we start walking right with God, success in all areas starts. As the chosen of God our role was never meant to live a perfect life for ourselves but by imitating Lord Jesus and be the way for someone else to have a blessed life. God looks for those who are willing to put aside their own selfish desires to fulfil His plan for our lives, to bring the ray of hope and light to others.
On our journey of life, like Job, we do suffer much, but not everything is from God, for some is the result of our past wrong decisions. In my life, God gave me abundant resources, financial and material, but I wasted much of that. Now the Lord is guiding me to move right to come out of the mess. I am chosen but my suffering is not from this. We face the demons of greed, lust, laziness and many others and many people want God to act without doing anything themselves. The thorns and thistles will be there but abundant crop is also there and we diligently work to get the treasures hidden in that.
We are reminded that innumerable saints and angels in heaven are our witnesses in this race of life (Hebrews 12:1-3). Like good marathon runners we must shed ‘everything that hinders and the sin that entangles’, retaining our focus on Lord Jesus ‘the author and perfecter of our faith’. The Holy Spirit in us knows our weaknesses and intercedes for us, even teaching us how to pray. In everything the promise of God is to be always with us. The Word of God assures us, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not scorch you’ (Isaiah 43:1-2).
God is Almighty and can stop all this pain to come on us but He lets it come to transform us into victors and touch others by our testimony in suffering. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were bound and thrown into the furnace heated seven times more but King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished to see ‘four men walking around in the fire’ (Daniel 3:25). He could even say, ‘and the form of the fourth one looks like the Son of God’. But the best part of this race of the chosen ones is that we can never lose, for even apparent falls are counted right and used for our transformation. Our place in the presence of the Lord in His mansion in heaven is definitely assured and that is the real and true reward.
Like the Israelites, on being led out of Egypt, we also, sometimes, are faced with a similar situation. The Red Sea in front, the Egyptian army of evil behind us to trap us and mountains on both sides. But our God definitely intervenes at the right time and the way ahead becomes clear and the enemies also flee. The way of following Lord Jesus is ‘narrow’ and walking on that looks difficult, but when we place our hand in His, everything becomes easy and smooth. Our responsibility is to retain our focus on Him and follow!
