Taken from The Oil That Makes Glad by A. B. Saint
Keeping in Remembrance our “God Moments”
2 Peter chapter 1 falls open before me. In this chapter the Apostle Peter is writing to those of like precious faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He moves quickly on in his writings to introduce or discuss that weighty matter of the absolute necessity of there being continued Christian Growth in every believer’s life. Sometimes in Church these verses are referred to as the ‘ladder of faith,’ or the ‘ladder of victory.’ It has been well noted that the first rung of the ladder begins with faith and the last rung ends with love. Naturally, the question raised in my own life has to be, which rung of this ladder am I on and if I am to do a stock-take of my own spiritual life, where do I find myself at this particular point in time. Am I moving on in my Christian faith or am I stationary?
Suddenly, and quite out of the blue, I see a picture of myself when I was a little child in church, for it was there that Jesus became a reality to me. Oh, I had heard stories about Him, and along with the other children in Sunday School I had sung hymns and choruses about Him. My mother had taught me to recite those usual nightly prayers unto God which youngsters pray before going to sleep and so on, but I vividly remember as if it were yesterday, that it was on a dark, wintery, Sunday evening in Church, when I, as a young child whose age was only in single figures, gave my heart to Him. It was there that He became a reality to me.
I had, I suppose, what we would refer to today as being a conversion experience. It was just as real to me as was the Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. No bright light shone down upon me, I heard no audible voice, but nevertheless, even as a young child, Christ arrested me and captured my imagination and has been a reality to me ever since. My faith and my trust in the Lord has grown over the years and He is now more precious to me than He ever has been. I am glad to be reading Peter’s reminder to keep pressing on in the Lord and in so doing be neither barren nor unfruitful in my Christian life, nor stumble or fall along the way.
Are you like me; do you also love hearing of how other people began their walk with Christ? Every testimony is unique, and we thank God for everyone which tell of glorious salvation conversions, lives changed by the Power of God, sometimes even in the most unusual settings. They tell stories of discovering Christ through near death experiences, finding Christ through a dream, out in the African bush, sitting on a park bench, on a hospital ward, working out at the gym, ordinary people who had extraordinary encounters with God. It is some time ago now since I read George Mullers biography and I feel compelled whilst writing this, to take it up again and re-read about his conversion.
The Conversion of George Muller
It was on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of November 1825, that a friend of his invited him to a Meeting that same evening. The Meeting was for prayer, praise and the reading of God’s Word. Not understanding why, but Muller felt compelled to go. Arriving at the home where the Meeting was to he held, he was joyously welcomed. It was on this night that his spiritual eyes were opened and on their return home he said to his friend, “All we saw on our journey to Switzerland, and all our former pleasures, are as nothing compared to this evening.” As a strange peace and rest fell upon his soul, Mullers life would never be quite the same again, and from this point in time his life’s work slowly began to reveal itself to him. It was the prayers of the homeowner as he prayed upon his knees that touched Muller. He was afterwards heard to say, “I am much more learned than this illiterate man, but I could not pray as well as he.”
The Conversion of Adoniram Judson
Another man who was used in the service of Christ was Adoniram Judson, a man greatly used by God in his time and a man who was later to suffer much for his faith. He was born into the home of a strict Congregational minister in 1788. He was a brilliant scholar who achieved many attainments. However, at College at the age of 20 he turned his back on God and became a committed atheist, due in part to the teachings and opinions of a friend named Jacob Eames. He says of himself that at that time he lived a “wild and reckless life.” His parents had been absolutely mortified that their son should so turn his back upon God. Nonetheless God still had His Hand upon Judson, and a surprising moment came into his life which would reverse things and change him forever.
His biography tells that it was whilst he was away from home, that something happened which caused him to begin to re-engage with his Christian Faith. Night was falling and Judson needed a place to stay. Riding on horse- back, he rode on until he saw an inn which might offer him a room for the night. The inn was full of weary travellers, and he was told by the innkeeper that there was only one room available which was next to the room of a man who lay dying. Judson quickly brushed this news aside and told the innkeeper that as he was a committed atheist, this would not bother him.
As he lay down to sleep, all through the night he could hear the many cries and groans of the dying man in the next room. Such sounds of distress coming from that room caused Judson himself to reflect upon the subject of death and also his lapsed faith in Christ. When morning came and it was time for hm to leave and to pay his bill, he asked after the dying man. He asked the innkeeper two questions; one was if the man was still alive, and the other was his name. Imagine his surprise to learn that the dead man was Jacob Eames.
Judson eventually made his way back home to his parent’s house with the words lost and dead, still impressed upon his mind. For quite some time afterwards, Judson still had a battle between his intellectual processes and absolute faith in the Scriptures, but thank God, a little while after he saw the error of his ways and re-committed his life to Christ and this time was truly saved.
Praise God for the diverse ways He uses in connecting or re-connecting with the souls of men. “God Moments” are a wonderful thing and I know from my own experience, can happen at the most unexpected times. Of course, God is Omnipresent, He is the God who is always there. Consider what David writes in Psalm 139. He says,
“Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.”
The fleeing sinner cannot escape Him, and the frailest saint cannot confine Him. God is always with His people, but sometimes some moments seem more profound than others. At times God loves to surprise us with tokens of His Grace along the way.
“God Moments” in The Bible
Simeon and Anna come to mind, when in the Temple that day, had one of these God Moments each. They both knew they were looking into the face of the Christ Child, even the Messiah. This was such a profound experience that Simeon was heard to declare, “Lord, now let Thy servant depart in peace, according to thy Word: for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation.”
Take note of poor Hagar at her lowest moment out in the wilderness, alone except for her young son. The water in the bottle having dried up caused her to cry out to the Lord. Her God Moment is about to dawn upon her, as the Lord opens her eyes to see a well of life giving water from which she can fill her bottle.
Reflect upon King Hezekiah in the day of his sickness. In the natural this was a sickness unto death. In desperation, the weeping king turned his face to the wall and prayed. But wait, God is going to do something for him although not yet revealed to him. His God Moment will soon take place, for even as he prays, and Isaiah the prophet is walking away from him, the Lord in His Mercy grants the health of the king to be restored.
And what of the two on the road to Emmaus. The Crucifixion has just taken place and they are walking along the road in despondency. Jesus Himself draws near but they do not recognise Him. It is only later when they constrain Him to come home with them, that it is in the breaking of the bread that their eyes are opened, and He is recognised for who He is. What a precious God Moment.
Cast your mind back to the day of the Resurrection, did not Mary Magdalene have a God Moment when the Risen Christ called out her name? Bless God there are umpteen God Moments dotted throughout the Scriptures for us to read and I think the patriarch Jacob had one of the most special.
The Life of Jacob
Turn with me now to Genesis chapter 28.
Some bible characters are allotted only a couple of verses each, and others are nameless to us and yet a full ten chapters of Scripture are given over to this man Jacob. The Word of God never glosses over any act of transgression, any wrongdoing or any misdemeanour. The people etched on the pages of the bible were human just like us. By the time we catch up with Jacob he has stolen his brother’s birth right and the blessing. Manipulation and deception has taken place, his brother threatens his life, and his mother feels it would be wiser for him to hastily leave the family home and go in search of a godly wife.
When we pick up the story he is on his way to the home of his Uncle Laban. In ten chapters much is spoken of him, his life, his wives, his scheming uncle, his trials along the way, his sorrows and his eventual demise. Here he is, alone, away from the only home he has ever known. His future lies stretched out before him but at this moment it is veiled. The sun had already set, he can go no further on his travels and taking a stone, or stones for a pillow, he lays himself down to sleep. No fluffy pillow for him to rest his head upon that night, but stones were easy to lay hands on in this bleak and desolate site in which he finds himself.
Jacob’s “God Moment” of Consecration
As he begins to drift off a remarkable thing starts to take place. In a night vision, or in his dream, he sees a ladder, the top of which reaches unto heaven, and he sees the very angels of God ascending and descending upon it and the God of all Creation standing above it. Not only does this scene, this vista, appear before him, but God Himself has something very special to say to him. The favour of God rests upon him and unrestrained blessings reach his ears.
The message is profound yet personal, on that night it is for his ears alone. The promise it seems passes down from his grandfather Abraham to Isaac his father, and then on to Jacob. The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is to come from his seed, even from the tribe of Judah and verse 14 of Genesis chapter 28, tells us, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” No wonder an awesome fear came upon him, he knew he had been in the Presence of Almighty God.
That barren place, that bleak and cheerless place, had become for him the veritable House of God and in his heart the actual gate of Heaven. This was no longer Luz but Beth-el. Much like Moses in the backside of the desert, who turning aside to see the bush that continued burning, was told by Almighty God to take off his shoes from off his feet, for the place whereon he was standing was holy ground. What had previously been to Jacob mere common ground has now for him become holy ground, for he exclaims, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.”
That night he learned that Heaven has no wish to isolate itself from earth. He was to learn the lesson that God ever seeks to connect with man. He was to learn that God will use any way possible to draw near to man to save and heal and guide man, to inspire, to comfort and to exhort man. Jacob needed to know that God loved him on a personal level, and that God knew where he was at any given time.
It is not surprising therefore that the Scriptures tell us that he rose up early in the morning whilst the vision was uppermost in his mind and erected a pillar of stones and hallowed it by pouring oil upon it. He consecrated it and at that moment also consecrated his life to God. Most of us are like Jacob in these special God Moments when our faith is renewed, and our desire is to reconsecrate our lives unto Him.
We learn time after time that our God is a faithful God and is a God who has a plan and a purpose for all our lives. This spot would forever be etched upon his memory for here he met with Almighty God. Living when he lived, little did Jacob understand that in type, the ladder itself was a picture of the Coming Lord Jesus Christ, for He alone is the Door, the Life, the Truth and the Way, the only access into Heaven. In John’s Gospel chapter 1 and verse 51, a reference is made of this ladder by the Lord Himself when He is speaking to Nathaniel, and it is worth reading. If Jacob saw what he saw in Old Testament times how much more is to be revealed through the Christ of the New Testament. Much has already been revealed we know but there are still future revelations still to come.
We began by looking at Peters Second Epistle Chapter One and ended with the Old Testament reading from Genesis chapter 28. The story of a ladder connects them both. A Christian lady I once knew told me she never ever read anything from the Old Testament, only from the New, yet undoubtedly both are needed to be read surely. Is not the New Testament contained in the Old and the Old Testament revealed in the New?
Prayer: Lord, help us to remember these special times, these God Moments which You graciously bring into our lives and help us like Jacob to set markers against them, special remembrances of them, that in the days which lie ahead they shall cause us to look back and understand that all these things were given us for a reason. And if at times throughout the years we fail and we surely will, lead us back again as you did Jacob to Beth-el, to these memorial settings, that we may remember how far we have fallen, and so our love for you be rekindled, re-ignited, re-awakened that we might know again that stirring of Your Holy Spirit in the Place of Consecration.
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 