Wise as ... Serpents????

My Uncle Leo, our resident lawyer and judge in the family, went to visit my first husband, Steve, when he was in the hospital in what would be his last stay there.

Grateful for my uncle's company, I vented my displeasure in angry asides, complaining about the heartless doctor on call that weekend who had entered the room dictating devastating prognoses into his little hand-held machine. His cold, calloused manner, radiating not even an ounce of warmth or compassion, offended me. He had jabbered into that machine not caring who heard. Here we were, striving to stand on God's promises of healing, and he comes in with no thought of tempering the harshness of the reality he perceived by couching his words with tasteful gentleness. Nope, this guy gave no thought to how his words might pierce us. His cold dictation felt like the ruthless swishing of an enemy's sword. A good bedside manner he did not have!

Instead of commiserating with me, my uncle said something that stuck with me through the years. "Sometimes, Janine," he chided me, "we can learn from those who most offend us. We should ask ourselves what God might be trying to say to us." He did not elaborate more on what he meant, but somehow his words quieted me. I hugged them to my vest and, when a few days later Steve did indeed fulfill the heartless doctor's worst predictions, I blinked.

Yes, we had been standing on God's promises of health and healing. Yes, we had seen Steve healed supernaturally in the past from other afflictions, one in a uniquely dramatic fashion. But would it have been wrong to prepare for the worst? Would that have been denying our faith in God? Steve had always echoed Auntie Trinie's stance on the Second Coming: live like Jesus will come tomorrow, but prepare your business and ministry as if He will tarry many more years. It is not a lack of faith to prepare as if the answer to our prayers might tarry for a long while--because it just might. Only God knows the exact minute when we will see the actual manifestation of the answer to a prayer ... Maybe that doctor I dubbed "horrid" had in fact been a subtle signal from God for the need to prepare.

God in His mercy did prepare me in many ways for Steve's home going. For that I will always be grateful. But if Steve and I had put a little more thought into Jesus's words promoting the need for preparation (Luke 14), we might have put a little more effort into preparing for the possibility of my being on my own. That would have helped me avoid many a pitfall. I had never been on my own financially until I was widowed and without that needed preparation, sad to say, I bear the financial scars to prove the need for it. If only ... Maybe there was something to Uncle Leo's admonition.

Through the years, when unsettling things shook me to the core, I would remember my Uncle's words and meditate on what good might be gleaned from the situation. Much like leaning on Romans 8:28, where the children of God are promised "that all things work together for good to them that love God." Yet, like many truths that I have "on the shelf", waiting till that propitious time when it will please God to enlighten me about them, I knew in my heart of hearts that there was more to be understood regarding the difficult people and things in life. Yup, there was. I was missing the meaning of what can be learned from the well of Lahairoi.

I just listened to an excellent teaching by Dr. Oscar Brooks on the subject. That was the extrapolation I had been waiting for. (FYI--You can find many short devotionals/teachings, as well as a few sermons, by Dr. Brooks on YouTube. Unfortunately, this one was in Spanish, meaning my dear English-only friends will be unable to understand that specific post).

Jesus said we are to be harmless as doves, but wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16). We are not to act like serpents, but we are to use wisdom in our actions, including planning wisely. Shame on us, that we fail to walk in wisdom in many of our dealings in this life; with good reason Jesus said, "the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light" ((Luke 16:8).

Lahairoi was the place where God had spoken to young Hagar when she was with child, fleeing from her cruel mistress. The child grew up to become the father of the Arab tribes. To this day his descendants are at odds with God's chosen people. Yet, knowing that, God had mercy on that young mother, had mercy on that babe, and saved their lives, even though He knew the evil that would evolve in the future from and through him.

God has mercy on the just and the unjust (John 5:45). It is a concept that is foreign to the natural mind. What manner of love is this that God has mercy even on those who do evil? It is almost beyond our minuscule, finite comprehension. God is simply so ... infinite, so beyond our ability to comprehend ... No wonder we need to read His Word to try to understand even a little of His precepts.

Anyway, years later, Isaac, the half brother of that first Arab child, Ishmael, is camping at the same place where God had showed mercy towards that half-brother who grew up to be a bur in his side. Why? As Brother Brooks explained, because we can learn even from those who are not in the way of our faith.

It was there at Lahairoi, God's point of contact with Isaac's nemesis, that Isaac camped, waited, prayed--and received the bride God had prepared for him. His comfort and blessing came at a place you'd think he would avoid with fervent disdain. But Isaac knew that we can learn even from those who do not follow our God. It was there at Lahairoi that God met with him--and gave him the desires of his heart. Other people might have thought he was crazy for inhabiting that place, but Isaac knew we can learn from our enemies.

Like Bro. Brooks said, we're not saying to follow the beliefs of the unbelievers. But we are to be wise as serpents. If there is a practice the unbelievers embrace that would benefit the Kingdom of God, why not emulate them? There are sects who do not believe that salvation comes through Jesus the Son of God, and yet they send their youths for two years into the mission field. While their beliefs are erroneous, some of their practices are worthy of emulation. Imagine if we encouraged our young people to do the same. Historically, mission trips have made great impact on our youth. Most who participate in such trips do not become missionaries, but such experiences open their hearts to the needs of others, to the ministry, to God's own heart.

Another sect selflessly goes about knocking on doors, weekend after weekend. While their beliefs are wrong, imagine what would happen if we were as persistent in our sharing of the gospel. We are not to follow error, but if an unbeliever shows characteristics that would glorify our Lord, it would behoove us to take them to heart.

Note that water (the good stuff) has to be pulled out from a well. The life-giving water won't just appear in our hands--we have to work at it, draw it out. Sometimes God allows us to be in contact with situations and people who rub us the wrong way. But even there, in that hurtful situation, having to bear with that hurtful person, there is something God would have us learn.

Don't be hard headed like I was in the hospital, blind to what God was trying to prepare me for. Ask God to help you pull out the good from that seemingly atrocious situation or person.

May our eyes be open to the hidden blessings at the wells of Lahairoi in our lives.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths"

(Proverbs 3:5-6).