Does It Matter?

Abraham aka Bapa Orang Beriman (the father of all who believe) is one of famous Bible VIPs you've ever heard, I believe. This post is going to discuss a little bit of his story, trust me, this is not gossiping.

Quick update, I've just finished my last papers on Tuesday, PTL!
I had crazy timetable this semester, seriously crazy and I'm crazily serious...
(Okay, it's cheesy, pardon me)
Because y'all didn't ask me what happened, so I'm not going to describe how busy it was.

Just recently, I finally got back to my long-forgotten activity: Meeting with people (people? what people?) Their questions were great, and truth be told, some were left unanswered due to my limitation of knowledge (pertanyaan2nya si Welni menyadarkan gua buat balik mendalami Alkitab lagi setelah beberapa lama vacuum).

I found many people think that the people in Bible were like "The Bible Superheroes" or something, they were born sensitive to God's voice, born as a faithful servant of God, or they lived their faithful life as God's people with minimized problems.
So they started assuming that communicating with God is limited to some people, even till this day.

No, it's not, peeps...
You can accuse people to be too spiritual compared to others, but what if I tell you that's it's a matter of perspective and expectation?
I mean, do you see God's Word as His Word so that you can know Him?
Do you expect to know Him deeper as you read the Scripture more?
Do you believe that more than you want to hear God's voice, He wants you to hear it?

"They are just too religious that's why they can speak like that"
No, they are not...
The same Bible they have, you have
The same Jesus they worship, you worship
The same seconds in a day they have, you have
Maybe they just desire more, expect more of God rather than us?
And especially, maybe they are just more obedient compared to us?

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Many people can say how much they want to hear from God, but only a few of them actually do what's needed to hear from God.

You'll see, that even for some people that do hear from God, some things were not as clear as the sky you might have depicted about hearing from God.
And sometimes, to believe in God means to be prepared to do something ridiculous.
Oh, people won't always understand by the way, and you might not either.

Now, I'm bringing father Abraham back on screen...
What if I tell you that sometimes he doesn't even understand what he's doing?

"No, it's not possible, he's the father of our faith after all. He was close to God and he always heard from God"
Forget about "the father of all who believe", what about "the father who tried to kill his own son"?
Do you think he understood what he was doing when building the altar of sacrifice?

For the sake of modern illustration, I'm sorry if you think that I'm taking this story too far, let's say some people heard of it (didn't really happen though).
Seeing how it goes in this era, I would say they would start gossiping about him:
"Hey, do you hear about that old man who tried to kill his son?"
"Yeah yeah, I even heard that he was going to do it on an altar"
"For real? Anyway I don't think that son was his real son, I mean, he's old, you know"
etc etc...

And what would be the justification from Abraham?
"Well... God told me so"?? (so helpful, bro)
Some people who heard Abraham's old story partially might ask, "you mean that God who you said promised you to be a nation?"

You see, even if Abraham tried to justify his doing by saying that God didn't really mean to kill Isaac and stuffs, everything that was mentioned in Genesis 22:12, not everyone would believe or understand his story.
God knows Abraham's capability to handle His command, that's why He gave some "weird" commands to this old guy not other people.
I believe God still gives unexpected commands to His people, and that's precisely why some people including you yourself might not understand fully.

Isaiah 55:9 says:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Abraham didn't really understand why he needed to sacrifice Isaac.

And if we were Abraham, you wouldn't, I wouldn't, we wouldn't. 

But, does it matter? God, in His mysterious ways, let Isaac live and showed His mercy and grace throughout Abraham's and Sara's life.

Abraham, while being given a promise to be a nation through Isaac, died before witnessing the fulfillment of God's promise. Does it matter?

History proved the fulfillment of God's promise anyway.

You, doing what God wants you to do while you don't really understand His intention, and some people try to talk you out of it or maybe say that you've heard wrong things.

Does it matter?

It's not like God will never give the revelation to His people, because sometimes He will, according to His will not ours. But what happen if He doesn't explain to you what He's doing through you?

And that's my question is about, does it matter?

God doesn't always make sense and He often works in ways we cannot see.

Does it matter?

You don't have to always understand, you don't have to make everybody understand either. As long as what you've heard is in harmony with the Scripture, stop giving your attention to satisfying people's doubts and start paying attention to what God wants you to do.

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Pastor Steven said, "You cannot question every season of your life when you don't understand the purpose of it because God's provision are often hidden in plans we cannot understand until we get there"

"God, it is You who matters the most in my life. You can do everything, have everything in my life including my reasoning about Your ways. Teach me to abide in You, because I know that You are faithful forever and ever"


Reference

[1]                 A. Chai (2012). Cartoons for Faith [Online]. Available:
                      https://www.facebook.com/cartoonsforfaith