“...‘The Lord needs it.’”
Luke 19:34
Palm Sunday
brings to mind Passover, Easter, Jesus and waving palm leaves. We can get so
caught up in the Majesty of God, we bypass the lowly, ordinary elements
incorporated in the glory, in example, the donkey.
Whether you,
indeed, refer to it as a donkey, burro or a colt, it still does not change the reality; God uses anything of His choosing.
Check this
passage out:
28 “After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to
Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the
hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 ‘Go
to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied
there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If
anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had
told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked
them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’
34 They replied, ‘The Lord needs it.’
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and
put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their
cloaks on the road.
37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the
Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in
loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Peace in heaven and
glory in the highest!’
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher,
rebuke your disciples!’
40 ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones
will cry out.’
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
42 and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what
would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.’”
Luke 19:28- Luke 19:42
This,
however, wasn’t the first time
donkeys were of use for God’s purposes: some examples include...
Genesis 22:3...
“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
Genesis 42:26...
“...they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.”
Genesis 44:3...
“As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.”
Exodus 4:20...
“So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.”
And let’s not forget Balaam’s donkey. You
gotta check this puppy out!
“21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his
donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 But God
was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey,
and his two servants were with him. 23 When
the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in
the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field.
Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.
24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through
the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the
donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed
close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey
again.
26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a
narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the
left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his
staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done
to you to make you beat me these three times?’
29 Balaam answered the donkey, ‘You have made a
fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.’
30 The donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your own
donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of
doing this to you?’
‘No,’ he
said.
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw
the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his
sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
32 The angel of the Lord asked him, ‘Why have you beaten
your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path
is a reckless one before me.33 The donkey saw me and turned
away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly
have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.’”
Okay, okay, there’s a theme here, donkeys and
what they can do...kinda like...us.
A lot of times, we make God and faith so
complicated. But the willingness factor
gets downplayed repeatedly. And willingness is no small thing.
First, God
chooses...
“I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”
Isaiah 41:9
Again, it’s not a small thing. Next, however,
the ball is in our court. What do we choose?
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed
may live.”
Deuteronomy 30:19
There’s a blessing in it, if we choose
God...
“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the
land.”
Isaiah 1:19
And it might be all too easy, except for one
thing we have in common with the donkey: stubbornness. The old saying goes
“stubborn as a mule,” right?
“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be
destroyed, and that without remedy.”’
Proverbs 29:1
“And the LORD said unto Moses, ‘I
have seen this people, and, behold, it is
a stiffnecked people.’”
Exodus 32:9
“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”
Acts 7:51
Yikes.
But it’s not hopeless. Again, there’s choice. Choice from God’s decision
to create, call and use us and our choice to willingly respond with a yes to
that decision.
It’s a process of untangling from lies we’ve spent a lifetime
believing....
We’re hopeless...
We’re useless...
We’re stupid...
We’re unwanted...
We’re unloved...
God refutes those lies with the Truth of Who He is...
“Since you were precious in my sight… I have loved you…”
Isaiah 43:4
“I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”
Isaiah 41:9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my
ways, says the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My
thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to
glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 3:18
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go:
I will guide you with My eye.”
Psalm 32:8
“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a
good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the
Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
“Behold, I am the Lord,
the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”
Jeremiah 32:27
“The LORD hath appeared of old unto
me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee.”
Jeremiah 31:3
“We love him, because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.”
John 3:16
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
If
God can choose a donkey for such great Glory as to propel Jesus to fulfill His purpose, how can He choose you and
me?
And
how WILL we respond to that call?
God
needed a donkey then.
And
God needs us now to be who He created
us to be!
Copyright © 2015 by
Sheryle Cruse
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