I don’t know everything, and believe it or not, neither do you.

When I was a kid, I really thought I knew everything. When I was a teenager, it was worse. Not only was I always right, but everyone else (and it didn’t matter if it was everyone else) was wrong. Sound familiar?

I think we all have a little of that in us. But as I’ve gotten older, I have realized that there are often more than one right answer, or not always one right answer. Sometimes everyone can be a little right and a little wrong at the same time. It’s pretty narrow minded to think that I, and I alone, am wise enough to discern everything in a superior manner from mankind. And yet, that is basically how I would act. Man I was arrogant.

But as a business law professor I had in college told me, the point of his class was to “know enough to know you don’t know very much, but at least you will know you don’t know, so maybe you’ll ask someone who does and listen to him or her.” It is a bit of a tongue twister, but pretty profound actually when it comes to the truths in life.

And yet, while I had realized this, in general, I really became convinced last night that I was falling back into my old trap with religion. Yes, I believe that the Bible is the truth and infallible Word of God for numerous reason. And while God has revealed enough of Himself that you can know what you need to know to start your walk with Him in it, it’s not everything because God still speaks. Now, some of you may think that sounds like heresy. I would have just a few years ago. And we have to be very careful because while God is still speaking, He can’t contradict Himself. So the Word is our foundation. But we still need to listen to what God is telling us now and telling the people He is using in grand ways.

The way that I had this realization is by hearing what God is doing in Africa right now. Africa is basically an entire continent largely built on spirituality. Africans have an incredible awareness that everything is spiritual, even if they don’t believe in Christ. If you go out into the tribes, there are still witch doctors who can say a word and kill you. I’ve heard it from many people who have seen it first hand. We read the Old and New Testament and see God doing amazing miracles. And we also see the devil performing them (like Pharoah’s magicians). Why have we so convinced ourselves that just because we don’t see it first hand anymore, that stuff doesn’t happen anymore? It’s ridiculous if you think about it. Nowhere in the Bible does it say at the end, and now no more people will be raised from the dead, or limbs regrown, or demons cast out. Nowhere.

And yet, when I hear it, the first thing that comes in my mind is doubt. I’m skeptical. And while I tell myself that if I saw it first hand, then I wouldn’t be skeptical, I think that’s a lie too. When the Israelites were leaving Egypt, they had a cloud of fire to guide them at night and woke up to find bread (manna) on the ground each day… and they doubted God. Satan is just really good at making us question the awesomeness of God. Because if we really got it, if we really understood that there is a spiritual war going on, it would change us. Probably the greatest con the devil ever pulled is just convincing the world that he doesn’t exist .

In Algeria specifically, God is doing incredible things. They passed a policy last year to try to stop it. Officially, you can get 5 years in prison just for trying to “shake the faith” of a Muslim. Unofficially, a lot of the time, if people find out you are a Christian, you just get killed. And yet, there are incredible things happening there.

There have been documented cases where literally everyone in a village would have the same identical vision in their dreams. And God reaches them that way because that is how many need to see it with that Spiritual world they live in. They need to see the power of God to not be terrified by the power of a witch doctor or the threat of pending death by the dominant Muslim powers (it is the official religion of Algeria). And in one village the following morning after everyone had the same dream where Jesus came to them, one person finally had the guts to say what happened and that he had accepted Christ. And then everyone else chipped in the same happened. An entire village saved in one night by a dream.

What God is doing with those people is even more incredible. Since they are limited by what they can tell people, they are praying, for hours a day, what they call “the crazy Jesus prayer.” Literally, these people are seeing Jesus every night and talking to them and praying He comes to others in that region the same way. And it is happening. And that’s awesome.

The speaker I knew last night has a friend in Egypt doing mission work. She met a guy who was preaching the Gospel to people in his village by telling the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den. When she was brought up the Bible, the guy was like, “What’s that?” He had never seen a Bible, but He said that Jesus had come to him the previous night and told him a story to share.

I don’t know why I can’t commune with God that way. Maybe God knows we would probably freak out in our “civilized” western society to have such an interaction. I don’t need to know why God talks to me in different ways than he talks to others. But God is revealing Himself in magnificent ways around the world. And you see the fruits of their labors and you can’t deny it. Those people have something powerful to share and we need to listen.

I heard the analogy of a puzzle. We each know a little something God has given us by grace. But only by getting together can we really see and understand the whole picture of what He is doing.

As for me, I know I only see pieces of that picture right now. I want to see the whole thing….

~ by unclewormwood on April 20, 2007.