Nobody’s Fool — Adam’s Angle

Something wonderful finally happened to you. You got a life changing e-mail from, of all people, a Nigerian Prince.

For some reason he has to flee his country and transfer his bank funds (exceeding 50 million dollars) into a foreign account. He’s willing to give you a small fee of $500,000 if you will let him use your account to hold the money. All you need to do is e-mail him your bank information and your passwords.

Skeptical? You should be. You need a healthy dose of suspicion to keep out of trouble. Still, there’s a danger to being over-suspicious: we may start to mistrust God.

Because scam artists are everywhere, we use mistrust to protect ourselves. But the problem comes when we doubt God’s goodness toward us. We second-guess His motives, and we deprive ourselves. As followers of a perfect and loving Father, we’ve got to learn that nobody’s fool is the worst kind of fool if his skepticism keeps him from receiving God’s goodness.

Too Good to be True

Life was rough in the early days of the church. In addition to the persecution, imprisonment and martyrdom of believers, famine was coming on the land (Acts 7:58-11:28). Even the apostles weren’t immune to the persecution — James was put to death (Acts 12:2). It seemed like all news was bad news.

The latest atrocity was that the apostle Peter was put in jail to await his “trial.” His sentence would likely be the same as James’. Things didn’t look good, but believers in the church got together to pray for Peter’s release (Acts 12:5).

It was the night before Peter’s trial, and — to God’s glory — Peter and the church got the miraculous deliverance everyone had been praying for. The only problem was that no one believed it.

Peter was attached to two guards, bound by chains, behind iron doors. Maximum security is no problem for God, though. He sent an angel to release Peter (Acts 12:6-11). Peter himself didn’t believe what was happening to him; he thought he was only seeing a vision (Acts 12:9). It wasn’t until the angel left him walking in the street by himself that he came to his senses: “Now I know without a doubt that the LORD sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches” (Acts 12:11).

He doubted at first, but was quick to act once he realized that God had made him a free man. He ran to tell the church.

Amen, Maybe

The church didn’t believe God’s good work at first, either. They were praying for Peter’s release, but were slow to catch on that their prayer had been answered — even when Peter was banging on their door.

When Rhoda, the servant girl at the house where the church was praying, came and told everyone that Peter was at the door, they thought she was nuts: “You’re out of your mind!” (Acts 12:15). It was just too good to be true.

But she insisted. So they figured that Rhoda had seen something. But it couldn’t literally be Peter, right? There must be some other explanation: “It must be his angel” (Acts 12:15). Even though they had been praying for Peter’s release, they kept on dismissing the goodness of God in the situation. There was just no way.

Fortunately, the believers eventually came to their senses when Peter kept on banging on the door. They let him in and they were amazed. God’s good answer to their prayers was a reality.

A Problem I’d Like to Have

Some of you reading this probably think that none of this relates to you: you haven’t had any super-blessing lately to doubt. No financial windfall has come in the mail. No Mr. Right has walked into your world. No miraculous answer to your prayer has materialized to blow your socks off. Well, don’t turn away just yet.

The truth is that if you’ve put your faith in Jesus Christ as your savior you do have super-blessings that you may be quick to discount: the forgiveness of your sins and access to come freely to the Father. Think about it: don’t we sometimes think that these blessings are too good to be true?

In regard to sin, we may trick ourselves and think that something other than Jesus’ sacrifice is what God needs: “Yeah, OK, I ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name, but — I’ll tell you what— I’ll also throw in seven solid quiet times this week, I’ll pay my tithe this month, and I’ll even read Leviticus.”

Been there? Then think about what John said: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John1:9).

Or what about access to the Father? Do you think God will hear your prayers more if you go to that conference or if you get up in the middle of the night to pray? Consider what the author of Hebrews had to say: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. . .Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

All of us who believe in Christ have these blessings, but sometimes we’re slow to take hold of them because of our skepticism. But God’s goodness to us in Christ is reality. Don’t miss out by second-guessing God — run freely and joyfully with the blessings you’ve been given in Him.

— Adam Pivec
6/14/08