Chosen and Chaos

Throughout time man has been chosen by God to do specific tasks for Him.  After the man has accepted the Lord's hand on his life the mission begins.  Some of the missions have been huge and life changing.  Some of them are not so huge.  Some of them we know nothing of because they are small and only known by the few who have been involved or touched by the mission assigned to them. 

Here are examples of several of the chosen and their chaotic lives after that:

Abraham was chosen to have as "many descendants as there are stars in the heavens" and be the "father of many nations". Genesis Chapters 15-17 tells the story of God's covenant with Abraham.

Genesis  15: 5 (NKJV) - Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Genesis 17:5 (NKJV) -No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

The Chapters in Genesis reveal the chaos that ensued after the covenant was placed between God and Abraham.  Trouble with Sarah and then between Sarah and Hagar. Trouble between Issac and Ishmael.  Trouble with other family members.  Trouble with other nations and people.  Life became chaotic for Abraham but the Lord remained with him and lead him through all of the trials and hardships and of course now, thousands of years later, we see that God kept His promise (covenant) with Abraham. Life was very chaotic for a very long period of time after God chose Abram to become Abraham to lead the chosen people of the One True God.

Moses was chosen to get the "Chosen People" out of slavery in Egypt.  Once Moses accepted the mission chaos ensued and persisted for decades.  The Pharaoh and his army tried to kill them all.  Because of the rebellion and faithlessness of the people they all wandered in a barren desert for decades and were never allowed into the land promised to them by God. Moses died in the desert along with his brother and sister who were also chosen of God. Life was very chaotic for Moses and those who followed him after they were called out of bondage. 

Joshua was chosen to lead the people into the Promised Land and to conquer and destroy all the evil in the land.  He only did part of what was commanded and chaos ensued.  Many years passed and the Chosen People became infected by the evil that was allowed to continue in the lands. More chaotic times for the chosen people who would not follow the commandments given to them by God.

All of the Prophets were chosen and given the tasks to warn the people of what was to come if they did not return their hearts to God and worship only Him.  When Prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, spoke about the wrath of God that would come if they did not return their hearts to Father God and follow His commandments, chaos ensued and they were hated by the people. Because of the people's hard hearts they were scattered across the lands and again spent time in slavery to other nations for hundred of years.

In the chaos of the times the people cried out for a king to lead them.  God gave them King Saul who did not work out quite the way the people wanted.  They cried and begged for more.  King David was chosen by God. His life quiet as a shepherd in the field was gone. His life was filled with chaos after that.

In scripture everything goes quiet for several hundred years but history proves these years were filled with chaos.

When Jesus came to earth to offer the final sacrifice for mankind, He chose people to learn His ways, teach His ways and walk with Him.  For three years the Apostles lived with Him on a daily basis and for much of that time they still did not understand why He was here and exactly what He was doing or saying.  There was chaos while Jesus preached and taught the people. Then He was crucified.  The Apostles scattered and hid.  Though Jesus came back, spoke encouragement to them and lived with them for a short time He left once again. And though He sent the Holy Spirit to be with them  there was still chaos.  The Apostles and followers of "The Way" were persecuted, hunted, imprisoned, killed.  Even through all of the chaos, people still came to accept the promises of Jesus to forgive them and to save them from this chaotic world into a new world of love, peace, and beauty with no chaos when time on this earth was finished!

Chosen. Chaos. Chosen. Chaos. Chosen. Chaos.  It seems to be a pattern we can learn from.  For us to desire to be chosen by God to be His people, we have to be willing to admit and accept that more than likely chaos will ensue.  We are not going to be any different than any of the others who have been chosen.  Any person that comes to the Lord after heeding His call to accept salvation and walk with Him have to be willing to understand the walk is not an easy one from the human perspective.  The world belongs to the evil one and he roams looking to continue chaos wherever and whenever possible.  We who have been chosen and accept the tasks of the Lord, should all come to the understanding that this is a war, not just a fight, between good and evil.  It has been this way since the beginning when the original man was deceived by the evil one.  Chaos ensued when they were asked to leave the Garden because of their disobedience.

Being chosen by the Creator of the Universe is amazing.  Being chosen by the Creator of the Universe is messy.  He wants us to spread His message of love and forgiveness to others.  Many of them do not want to hear it and will persecute those who try.  But there will be those who hear and receive the message.  They will understand that they have been chosen to be a part of the kingdom of God.  Many will try and fail again and again and wonder why their lives still contain chaos.  Many will not be able to endure the chaos that comes with walking in the territory of Father, Son, and Spirit.  They will lose heart. 

But.....

When we go to scripture and read the full stories of the chosen we can see there were miracles.  There were healing's.  There were promises fulfilled.  There was honor bestowed.  There was love and mercy.  There was the Hand of God moving for and with His chosen people regardless of the faithlessness and rebellion.  The same is true today when we truly look and watch for God's hand moving.  There are still miracles today.  The world will not tell you about them but the people will rejoice when one of those miracles touches their lives and they will shout for joy from the rooftops!  They will not allow the world to silence them! There are those who have been held in the clutches of the devil for years and whose spirits are awakened by the Spirit of God and will sing praises for the rest of their lives to any who can hear and will listen!  

Since the very beginning when God breathed life into mankind all He wanted was a people to share life and relationship with.  All He wanted to do was love and adore.  But He did not want people to love Him because He said so.  He wanted people to want to love Him!  He was not going to force anyone to love Him.  I wonder if this freewill clause also holds a chaos clause.  If so, He is the one who sets all plans in place. therefore trust is the issue.  

Psalms 33:10 (NIV) - The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) - In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

The chosen of God will have chaos in their lives.  It's part of the plan. The chosen of God rejoice even in the chaos.  That's the plan and it's been shown throughout time that the plan is a good one!  We praise God in the quiet, peaceful times and we praise God in the chaos.