Sunday, March 20, 2016

In Need of a Donkey



“...‘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 © 2016 by Sheryle Cruse

 

 


 

 


 

 

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