This is as good a time as ever to remind you of an important truth.
The Lord can and does work within different cultures to bring about His Will.
This notion butts heads with the Western gentile church.
Since they’ve been the majority church for the past ten centuries or so…
They’ve become arrogant to the point where they think how God works within their culture is how He works in all cultures.
That just ain’t true homies.
Proof of this can be found in the Scriptures.
Look at the incident when David cut off a piece of King Saul’s robe.
He could’ve killed Saul and instantly taken the throne of Israel for himself.
But he didn’t.
By NOT taking matters into his own hands, and surrendering the future of Israel’s government and his own life to the Lord…
This answered many questions about future succession…
And how God’s sovereignty would determine Israel’s next king.
Or to put it another way, David needed to take the throne in a way that made it clear it was God’s will, not the result of human schemes.
Since Western culture is not a tribal-based society, this notion fails to connect with the Western mind.
But that’s the point and the takeaway here.
When reading the historical books of Scripture, especially the period of the kings, we can’t ignore that God carried out His Will through the Middle Eastern tribal intricacies of that time.
In other words, He met the people within their cultural framework.
How He operated may seem strange to us today…
But it wasn’t to folks back then.
So if you’re a Westerner, don’t think the way God operates in your culture is the end all be all of how He brings about His Will.
Here’s another point you may never have seriously considered.
There are many cultures all around the world, and God understands all of them.
I lived in Europe for two years and have been living in Asia for close to 20 years.
I can tell you how God works here ain’t exactly how He works over there.
The Scripture tells us God divided the human race into many groups and societies.
Yet, He brings about His Will despite the divisions and differences…
And He does it in a unique way in each nation.
If you speak with missionaries who travel to places like India and China, you’ll hear stories about how God showed His truth and glory in ways that only people in those cultures could understand.
These ways were often very different and strange to the missionaries.
Yet, since God is intimately familiar with all cultures, He can open their hearts to receive the gospel in ways we may never have dreamed of.
Ya feel me?
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