A Safe Space

Nimrod was a great man, one of the first great men. In the bible he was called a mighty hunter. There are theories that he was the source for the Gilgamesh epic. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, he was the founder of Babylon, the first kingdom of man.

Yes, Nimrod was a great man…he was also a moron.

Josephus, who lived during the time of Jesus’ walk on this earth, said that Nimrod founded and led the first great city, the city of Babylon. This was years after the flood when Noah and his family began to repopulate the planet. Nimrod was indeed a powerful figure. The world would love him today. He was charismatic, strong, manly and super arrogant. In his quest for power, he organized the city’s population to build a great big building, called a ziggurat. It was basically a pyramid type structure with a large base so it can be built really high. The purpose for the structure was to create a safe place that would withstand another flood and if need be, enable the men of the earth to storm the gates of heaven and overthrow God.

From Josephus:

Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.

Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion ...

Notice how the populous just seems to follow this man because he is so impressive. They also get fueled by him to reject faith in God and God’s followers as cowards or weak fools. There are also historical records that suggest Nimrod began to persecute those who didn’t line up with the popular beliefs by tossing them into a large furnace.

Minus the furnace, so far, this scenario sounds way too familiar. If this were a road map, we would be very close to our destination.

So why would a man be so bold as to oppose God and why would so many follow?

God made this universe. God is in control of this universe. It is not broken, it is not running wild or in an errant direction. No, God IS in charge and does have a plan.

We just don’t like His plan.

I get it. Most days I don’t like it either. Life is painful. Life is discouraging. Life sucks. So how do we hang on, when day after day we see little hope of change and we struggle with the hurt offered by those who think they are better, because they have less pain?

This is hard. Yes, Jesus said it would be. It is hard to trust God when it looks like He has lost it, is a jerk, or just left the scene so we must fend for ourselves. This is impossible for people who have very little evidence that God even exists at all.

Fortunately for me, I have a great deal of evidence. But I also have had a great deal of pain and disappointment. The two do seem to go hand in hand. God is not stupid. He does offer more evidence for some, except that it also seems that these “chosen ones” will need it…

Look, God is the author of this entire story. This is in the scriptures. No one is above Him. Not the devil, not our so called free will, nothing is above Him. He is in complete control. Ah, but that means He is ultimately responsible for our pain.

Yes, He is.

Why is this so hard to swallow? It is what the bible teaches. You can avoid certain passages all you want, but it is there…throughout the entire book.

How can God be good then? Simple, because HE defined Good based on Him. We don’t get to change the definition in HIS universe any more than we can unseat Him.

Yes, God is good. Life can really suck, but it also says over and over in that amazing book, that He does have a reason for it. All He asks of us is to trust Him. He says it will work out really, really well for those who do.

There are people who have really, really hard lives. Lives that I know I would not survive with my faith intact if I had to live them. I really feel for those who do. All I can do is encourage them to find and trust God. For at least in trusting Him, the end result will be worth it. I have no doubts that this is true…” my evidence” and all.

I really feel for those who will not ever find Him and find a real purpose for their struggle in life. I can’t judge them, for it was not my intelligence or “goodness” than enabled my faith to grow. No, that alone came from God. He didn’t do it for me because I was better. In fact, the bible gives no reason for God picking His children at all. He just does it as He wants.

Does this seem unfair to you? I guess it would if I were not one that He picked. There is scripture that implies that those who don’t find Him were never really alive in the first place. Maybe this will help.

Ephesians 2:2-10

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Even so, if that is the case, I still feel sorry for those who will never find Him. They DON’T deserve it. They didn’t earn it. How could they, for if they were given Faith in the first place, they would not live evil lives. So on one hand, I despise evil behavior, but on the other I sympathize with the perpetrators because they were made to do so.

Romans 9:14-24

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”

20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”

21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

HERE IS THE KICKER:

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?

23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—

24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Look, we can’t possibly understand the plan and purpose of God. We can’t unless He reveals it to us. We don’t deserve His grace. We will never earn His grace, but we can make Him smile.

He is a good God, supreme being, author, creator, master planner, and ruler over everything.

This world is not broken. It is moving along exactly as intended. God did not leave. God is not unkind. All of this pain, all of this sorrow, is most definitely necessary for the great plan of God. If it weren’t, it would not be happening.

Think of Jesus in Gethsemane. Even though He was God, He says this prayer asking the Father (basically Himself) that if at all possible, they could do this another way.

Why would God, God in the flesh, do this?? I believe He did it as an example for us, much like everything else that happens in that entire book. It was OK for Him to request better. It was OK for Him to be upset, frustrated and even scared of the coming pain He was going to face. But, the great response is what He wants of us…”yet, not my will, but yours be done.”

Life is hard because it is supposed to be. No, He is not expecting us to come to some place of faith were we can overcome everything by making it go away. We are to come to a place where regardless of what we want; we will plod forward trusting in our Father to make it valuable either here in this life or the next. Jesus didn’t come unto His own until He died and rose again. Should you have better?

What if God has that for you? Can you still trust Him? Can you still walk with Him? What are your options?

Well, you could always join the effort to rebel against His plan and build whatever the newest Nimrod wants in order to storm the gates of heaven.

God’s response to that first time was to confuse their languages.

This next time, His response will be a bit more dramatic.

He is going to return.

Then we will have a safe space.