The Inspired Leader: 101 Biblical Reflections for Becoming a Person of Influence (23 page)

PETER HITCHENS, BROTHER of the abrasive atheist, Christopher Hitchens, had renounced his faith and was living his life as a foreign journalist on his own terms and for his own pleasure. In 1982, he and his girlfriend took a vacation, traveling throughout Europe, enjoying fine restaurants, and visiting popular tourist sites. On a visit to the Hotel-Dieu in Beaune, France, they decided to view Roger van der Weyden’s fifteenth-century masterpiece,
The Last Judgment.
Hitchens was a seasoned, international journalist. He had lived in Moscow during the fall of the Soviet Union. He had survived a serious motorcycle accident, as well as mob violence in South Africa and Mogadishu. This well-educated, atheist was not easily impressed or intimidated.

Yet as he stood before Weyden’s portrayal of the final judgment of humanity, Hitchens found himself deeply moved. He notes, “I had a sudden, strong sense of religion being a thing of the present day, not imprisoned under thick layers of time. A large catalogue of misdeeds, ranging from the embarrassing to the appalling, replayed themselves rapidly in my head. I had absolutely no doubt that I was among the damned, if there were any damned… I had simply no idea that an adult could be frightened, in broad daylight and after a good lunch, by such things” (Peter Hitchens,
The Rage Against God,
101-103).

Divine encounters can occur at the least likely moment, even when you are not looking for them, or may not even believe in them. Jacob was a man no one could trust. He had brazenly lied to his father and greedily cheated his brother. His shameful conduct forced him to flee for his life into the desert. There, with nothing but a rock to lay his head upon, he experienced a life-changing dream. Suddenly heaven opened before him and he beheld angels at work carrying out their heavenly tasks right where he lay. “
Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it,”
he cried (Genesis 28:16).

Jacob was not looking for a meeting with God. In fact, after his unethical behavior, he probably doubted if God wanted anything to do with him. But it was, in fact, after Jacob had hit the bottom that God had him in a place where he was prepared to listen. God had always been near Jacob. Jacob had just been too preoccupied to respond to the God who was near. God promises that, if we will seek Him with all of our heart, we will “find” Him (Jeremiah 29:12-13). This is most certainly true. But it is also a reality that God seeks after
us.
He loves us far too much to leave our spiritual lives entirely up to us. He knows that no one naturally seeks after Him (Romans 3:11). Without the Holy Spirit’s drawing on our heart and His speaking to us through the circumstances of our lives, we would never find our way to God.

Divine encounters can occur during the most mundane moments of our day. We may be at work in our office, riding an elevator, talking with a colleague, reading a report, or in a meeting. Suddenly our spiritual senses detect that, just as with Jacob, God has been at work around us all the time. God fashions unique relationships with people. For one, like Peter Hitchens, God might speak through a work of art. For another, it might be through a contemporary Christian song. One could encounter God during a worship service at church, another during a walk in a park. Are you prepared for and open to a divine encounter today?

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. List the last divine encounter you experienced. Where was it? What did God do or say? How did it affect you? Do you tend to encounter God in the same circumstances and venues, or in a variety of settings?
   

2. Do you find that your Christian life is filled with ritual and religion without divine, personal encounters? If so, are you properly preparing yourself to meet with God? Are your spiritual senses alert to moments God might use to communicate with you?
   

3. Could it be that God is speaking but you are not hearing or recognizing that it is God? Consider significant or meaningful experiences you have had. Was God involved somehow? Could He have been sending a message that you did not recognize?
   

ALBERT EINSTEIN BECAME legendary for his phenomenal cognitive powers. In 1931, Edwin Hubble took Albert and Elsa Einstein on a visit to the enormous telescope on Mount Wilson, California. The scientists explained to Elsa that, with the state-of-the-art instrument, they could determine the scope and limit of the universe. “Well, my husband does that on the back of an old envelope,” she replied.

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity revolutionized science. Einstein, being Jewish, claimed he was “enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.” He also adamantly denied that he was an atheist. Yet he never could find his way to a personal relationship with Christ. Einstein’s extensive and groundbreaking studies of the universe had convinced him that there must be a power greater than humanity, but he could never accept the personal God presented in the Christian Scriptures.

He did state, however, “I’m not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws” (Walter Isaacson,
Einstein, 386).
To the end of his life, Einstein was working on a mathematical equation that could unlock the secrets of the universe, but he never found the Person of Christ.

The apostle Paul, a brilliant thinker of his day, declared, “
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”
(Romans 1:18-20). Nature is filled with evidence that points to a Creator. He has left His fingerprints everywhere. The key is to recognize them.

The Gospel of Matthew records, “
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?’”
(Matthew 2:1-2). These wise men were probably astrologers. They studied the skies to understand their world. They would not have been believers, or Jewish, but Persian. They were students of nature, and particularly of the heavens. They wanted to understand their world and the secret to life. When the greatest intervention into human affairs in history occurred, they did not miss it!

For those seeking God, nature heralds His magnificence. You can see His handiwork everywhere, if you are looking. The more deeply scientists peer into space the more amazing the Creator appears. Scientific discoveries do not diminish our view of God, but cause us to pause in reverent wonder. At times we can be so busy racing to work and dashing from one meeting to the next that we fail to slow down and consider the vastness and the beauty of the world in which we live. Sometime soon, take time to look up at the night sky and carefully observe the stars. Consider the immensity of the Creator and your own smallness in comparison. Wise people study science and nature, and they eventually find Jesus.

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. In the next week, plan to go outside at night and take 15 minutes to stare into the sky. Observe the stars. Imagine the immensity of the universe. Consider the miracle of human life on planet Earth. Let God reveal to you His awesome power and His infinite love for you.
   

2. Find a good book by a Christian apologist. There are many brilliant Christian scientists who have discovered that the more they study science, the more it confirms the truths found in the Bible. Science does not disprove Scripture; it affirms it.
   

3. Do you feel the need to fully understand things before you believe them? Are you comfortable knowing that you will never completely understand God? You are limited in a physical world, while He is beyond it in a spiritual dimension. It is impossible for us to understand realities that are beyond our experience or comprehension. If you will not believe God until you know what God knows, you will forever be frustrated and lacking in faith.
   

WHILE HE IS consistently rated as one of America’s greatest leaders, George Washington did not live his life from one success to the next. After he was chosen to command the revolutionary forces against the armies of England, he lost most of his early battles and at times was severely outmaneuvered. After one of his defeats, John Adams commented, “In general, our generals were outgeneraled.” Yet Washington continued to grow and to learn, until he stood triumphant on the battlefield. David McCullough concluded, “He was not a brilliant strategist or tactician, not a gifted orator, not an intellectual. At several crucial moments he had shown marked indecision. He had made serious mistakes in judgment. But experience had been his great teacher from boyhood, and in this his greatest test, he learned steadily from experience. Above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake and he never gave up” (David McCullough,
1776,
293). Life can forgive those who make mistakes but it is harsh on the unteachable.

In the final week of Jesus’ life, we read, “
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him”
(John 12:1-2). Jesus could not have been blamed for avoiding Bethany. His enemies were plotting to kill Him if He came back (John 11:57). Yet Jesus had returned. Why? Because He wanted to spend time with His friends. In this account, the Gospel writer highlights four people who had walked with Jesus throughout His ministry.

There was
Martha
who, as usual, was serving Jesus. She had done so earlier, only at that time she had suffered from a severe attitude problem (Luke 10:38-42). She had focused so much on serving Jesus that she had neglected to
enjoy
Him. As a result, she began to compare her service to that which was being done by others. She began to feel sorry for herself and finally accused Jesus of not caring for her. Not so this time. As Martha had spent time with Jesus, she had learned to serve selflessly and, as a result, was now glorifying God through her efforts.