As we saw in last week's sermon, David used the metaphor of a rock when speaking of a place of security
and strength. The relevance to the people of the llanos who lived through an
annual flooding of their land was found in the name of their church building—La
Roca Viva; The Living Rock. These people know by experience the meaning of a
place of security and strength.
But David also
wrote of a rock in another way. I am certain that the people of the llanos could also closely relate to
this illustration of the rock.
For these people of the plains of Venezuela, when the rains began and their land became inundated with flood water, and the roads at best were reduced to muddy trails, getting from place to place usually involved a good amount of walking.
Also in David’s
day of course, traveling from one place to another mostly meant going by foot.
In daily lives
for these people of the llanos, good walking conditions are greatly valued, as
they also were in the days of David. In these Venezuelan plains, where the
people live much of their year struggling with the water and the mud, such
things as a dry path becomes a luxury where one may walk without having to be
on the guard constantly against slipping in the slime and the muck.
We all know that walking becomes much easier when the ground becomes dry. After a season of mud, or as in the case in northern climates, a season of ice and snow, it becomes a rare pleasure to walk without being constantly on the guard against slipping and falling. When applying this metaphor to one’s spiritual life, David wrote also of this:
I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay;
He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:1-3 BSB)
At the church of
La Roca Viva, after our swim in the river with the piranhas (which I mentioned
in the sermon last week), I sat with the pastor of the church. As he and I
spoke together, he told me of some of the rewards and trials of the work that
the Lord had given him to do in that place, and how life in general was living
in the llanos.
As we talked, I
could not help but notice his feet. We sat facing one another, a mere four of
five feet apart, and he had feet like I had never before seen. He had no shoes
on, so they were in obvious sight directly in front of me. I tried not to stare,
but I could hardly avoid inspecting them. His feet were extremely rough and
callused and had widened from walking bare-footed over many miles.
In those surroundings, it was not difficult to imagine those feet walking through the mud and the mire and trying to find firm footing. I could almost picture how pleasant it must have been for him and what a relief when finally, like the Lord did for David, God also gave the pastor a firm place on which to stand. When his path became dry, he walked with more confidence and his pace could quicken.
The Shoes with
the Logo, “The Gospel of Peace”
But there was something else that I thought of when I saw the pastor’s feet. It was not only David’s words of being lifted out of the mud and having one’s feet set on a rock. The sight of the pastor’s feet also made me think of the words that Isaiah wrote long ago. Again, who can miss the application?
How lovely are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7; quoted also in Romans 10:15)
A wealthy
person in a more affluent society may have been ashamed to show his bare feet
in this condition. The feet of the pastor were feet that would not fit into
Italian dress shoes. But these feet of the pastor needed no expensive shoes to
make them beautiful. They were the feet of a servant who carried the good news
to the scattered people of the llanos. This pastor was one of the instruments
through which God could express his love for the people of that area of the
world who sometimes had no other means to hear the Word of God from the
outside.
The trials through which the pastor was required to pass turned out to be the means of bringing a blessing to the people of his area. Indeed, is this not also what David said when God had put his feet on a solid rock? I will again quote the verses we earlier saw, but this time I will put some emphasis on certain words of the text:
I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay;
He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of
praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
To Those Who
Seek
We often speak
of our need to seek the Lord. We think of verses such as Isaiah 55:6: “Seek the
Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near,” or Luke 11:9:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will
be opened to you.”
The book of
Proverbs tells us that “Those who seek me diligently find me” (Proverbs 8:17).
God says
directly to us, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your
heart” (Jeremiah
29:13).
Seeking the Lord is important. It is our responsibility to do what is in our power to seek the ways of the Lord. But there is another perspective in all of this. It is not only we who seek. God also has always sought and is always seeking. God is seeking out those who would come to him.
The Seeking
Shepherd
Everyone loves
the story of the lost sheep. It is a picturesque and bucolic story of a loving
shepherd searching for a poor little lamb who has gone astray. It is a simple
story. It is one that we tell our small children. But in its simplicity, this
story speaks of a deep truth. God is seeking out those who are lost.
Remember that
Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
God said,
“Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out. As a shepherd
looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My
flock” (Ezekiel
34:11-12).
From our
perspective, we see the need to seek out the Lord. But from God’s perspective,
that is, from the eternal perspective, he sees the people of the world as if we
were a flock of scattered sheep who need to be sought and brought back into his
care. The scattering came about because of sin. This is the great rebellion
against God that began in the Garden of Eden and has continued to this day. It
has had consequences far beyond what we sometimes imagine.
If you follow
the entire story of the Bible throughout its pages, you will see a God who is
seeking the lost. It is true that there are other aspects to God’s character
that we learn about in the Scripture. We learn of his love for all that is good
and his hatred for all that is evil. We learn of his promise of forgiveness to
all who would ask it of him and we learn of his promise of punishment for all
who reject him. We learn all of these things about God in the Bible, and many
more things.
And among all
of these characteristics of God, we also see a God who seeks: He is seeking for
those who would be his children and part of his household in the heavenly
kingdom.
Many people see
God in the Old Testament as being concerned only with the nation that he began
through the patriarch Abraham, that is the nation of Israel. Many people reading
the Old Testament think that God chose only those people and was opposed to all
other nations. Many people think that he established the nation of Israel as a
means to destroy other nations.
But this was
not God’s purpose. He wanted to destroy, and he will destroy evil, that is true,
but this was not God’s purpose in calling out a nation. His words to Abraham
demonstrate what was truly the purpose of God:
“I will make
you into a great nation,” God told Abraham. “I will bless you; I will make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you and curse those who curse you; and through you, all the families of the
earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3 emphases added).
We see in this calling of Abraham that God will indeed reward good deeds and punish those who are opposed to good, but we also see a God who seeks. He is seeking to bless these scattered ones.
Our Seeking God
Go out, go out through the gates; prepare the way for the
people!
Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones;
raise a banner for the nations!
Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the ends of the earth,
“Say to Daughter Zion: See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense goes before Him.”
And they will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of
The LORD; and you will be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken. (Isaiah
62:10-12 BSB)
For this is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I Myself
will search for My flock and seek them out. As a shepherd looks for his
scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock.
I will rescue them from all the places to which they were
scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the
peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I
will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the
settlements of the land. I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty
mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a
good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.” (Ezekiel 34:11-16 BSB)
Sent to Seek
This sentiment
of God to seek out the lost extends into the New Testament as well: “Go into
all the world and preach the good news,” Jesus told his disciples (Mark 16:15).
I think that it
is significant that at the Last Supper, on the night before Jesus would be
brought to trial and to be crucified, that he girded a towel around his waist,
poured some water into a basin, and then, one by one, he proceeded to wash the
disciples’ feet.
I know that the
main lesson that he was teaching on that night was that they should serve one
another and serve others. Jesus told them, “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an
example so that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).
But I also like
the fact that he demonstrated this act of servanthood by washing their feet.
These would be the feet that Jesus had commissioned to go out to proclaim the
good news to all who would listen and believe. These would be the feet that
would go out to seek those scattered sheep who were lost in the wilderness of
the world. He was sending these disciples to seek the lost ones.
“And how shall
they preach unless they are sent?” Paul writes. “As it is written: ‘How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and who bring
glad tidings of good things!’” (Romans 10 15)
Paul also urges
us to put on what he calls “the armor of God.” Do we not remember that part of
these instructions is to have our feet “fitted with the readiness of the gospel
of peace?” (Ephesians 6:15)
God is still sending those out who would preach the gospel of peace. This calling to go does not exclude our little Log Church of Tripoli. God has never intended that we huddle together every Sunday and stay within the confines of our church. This call to “go” also involves you and it involves me.
The Pastor’s
Feet
That pastor of the
church in the llanos of Venezuela had feet like I had never before seen. They
were calloused and had scars from cuts and wounds that had healed. They were
feet that had become widened from walking on paths that were muddy and slippery,
and also on paths that were rocky and hard. They were feet for which any shoe
salesman would have a very hard time finding shoes that would fit.
They were among the most beautiful feet that I had ever seen.
***************************
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who
bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim
salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7 BSB)
***************************
“Look to the mountains—the feet of one who brings good
news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows.” (Nahum 1:15
BSB)
“With your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel
of peace…’Go into all the world and preach the gospel’” (Ephesians
6:15; Mark 16:15)
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