A 50-Year-Old Prayer
Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me I pray
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.
This third verse of ‘Away in a Manger’ was sung by a ten year old in a Church Carol Service, Christmas 1970. The reel to reel recording was just recently digitized and I heard that ten year old’s voice for the first time in 50 years. That ten year old was me.
A 19 year old sat on a park bench on a sunny Spring afternoon, catching up on some Bible reading. A stranger sat down and started a conversation. The simple conversation about God and Church ended with a stunning question: ‘Have you ever thought of becoming a minister?’ The surprised teenager gave multiple excuses of his own incompetence, only to be left with ‘Well, think about it.’ A return to the particular Bible passage found the text jumping out in bold: ‘He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it’. (1Thess. 5:24) This led to a sense of call to ministry, and much needed assurance of help. That ‘call’ was over 40 years ago. That teenager was me.
Divine Competence
There is a wonderful pioneer spirit in these shores that as an immigrant from the United Kingdom, I find refreshing. The can-do, get it done, mentality has truly got things done, but there is a danger; a diabolically driven danger, that can lead the strong minded pioneer into a prideful indulgence. Bring that mentality into kingdom labors (coupled perhaps with a less than reformed theology) and you have a warped view that God is dragging his heels a little bit; needing our help.
Bring this into the world of Jewish mission and the subject of Israel, and you can have a whole world of pioneers who are going to make the Second Coming happen by obtaining all the necessary tools for the Third Temple, including the infamous red heifer.
If that 19 year old knew anything, it was that largely speaking, he knew nothing. My immediate reaction to ‘Think about it!’ was, I’m done thinking; I can’t. But the Scripture I next read was compelling. ‘He will do it’. And the submission to that call was, ‘I agree! If this call to ministry is going to happen, it will only be by Your doing!’
What a joy to reflect on that divine competence over 40, even 50 years (if we include that child’s prayer for divine nearness, love and fitting for heaven). He has never failed to deliver. He has never failed to ‘be able’; He has never failed to ‘do it’. I have been a Christian for 47 years. I have been a preacher for 37. (I wonder at my competence and my progress, but I never doubt His.)
If we couple together the Divine faithfulness (He is faithful), with Divine competence (He is able), and apply this to our longed for fulfilment of Romans 9-11, we then are able to enter into the world of prayerful optimism. I may take up in a future blog, the principle of persistent prayer, but for now I want to bring some application from this principle of divine competence.
The Puritan Hope
The biblical and reformed desire for Jewish mission, arising from the clear text that that God ‘is able to graft in again’ the natural branches, is not a vain hope. The puritan hope, or more accurately the apostolic hope – is rooted in a divine competence, as well as a divine faithfulness to his own promises and covenants.
Therefore our evangelistic activity must be under this umbrella of divine competence. We are not to intentionally engage our Jewish neighbors because we think God is dragging his heels. We do so in hope. Our ‘Bench’ ministry stories (the other half of this blog) charts many conversations of intentional engagement, in the ‘hope’ of a divine competence to take that which is dead and bring to life. But we are the ones who are to engage!
It is my longing and hope that the church at large, the tens of millions of Christians in N America would awaken in conscience to both the puritan hope for Israel, and the particular helplessness of Israel – and primarily of Israel living in these American shores. 6 million Jewish people live side by side with tens of millions of Christians; not by a historic accident, but by the stunning providence of a competent God! (See our Awakening the Conscience Course #4, ‘The Pirates of Providence’.)
If He is able, and He will do it, in the context of the fulfillment of Romans 11, it will be by the instruments of His activity; namely the Church. The 10 year old, and the 19 year old for that matter, had little ability, but became the vessel of divine activity. The Church in the USA needs to understand its calling as a vessel for divine activity. We may personally feel incompetent but we must not be inactive.
And then He takes the weak (1Cor 1:27) and shames the strong. He takes the foolishness of the gospel and shames the wise. He takes our simple words, our friendships, our connections, our trust, and transforms them into an aroma of Christ – to the saving of the lost, Jew and Gentile. And He does so divinely competent, to build His Church.
Your labor is not in vain. The ministry of CWI (N America) traces its history 180 years. It is not in vain. We live in the puritan hope of God’s faithful competence.
STEPHEN ATKINSON
