Acts 2:12,13 – “So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean? Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
The Lord does things differently from what anyone would expect. He chooses unusual people to be carriers of revival. At Pentecost He chose an uneducated fisherman, to reach the gentiles He chose a murderous, cursing Pharisee, in the Great Awakening in America He used a 24 year old Englishman, in Wales He used a 26 year old coal miner, and Azusa Street was led by the one-eyed son of a slave from South Louisiana. Paul said that God chooses the foolish to confound the wise. In a similar way revival doesn’t come the way one would expect. It often includes extreme laughter, unusual bodily movements, trances, falling to the floor, intoxicated behavior, and speaking in strange dialects. Revival can be quite messy. As a result, church people can easily become offended and actually oppose outpourings of God in His church. Here are some thoughts from Arthur Wallis on God’s Stumbling Block.
“There are always some who are desirous of revival until it comes, and then they bitterly oppose it because it has not come in the way they anticipated. The instrument that God used, or the channel through which the blessing flowed, was not what their convictions had led them to expect. They looked to see an Eliab or an Abinadab chosen for this great work, but the Lord, who “looketh on the heart,” chose a David. They thought that their own local church, their own fellowship which was so scriptural and right, would see the beginning of the work, but God chose to work elsewhere, and this became to them a stumbling block. To all who handle the work of revival, this should be a solemn warning of the great danger of yielding to jealousy and prejudice, which blind the eyes, harden the heart and hinder the Spirit.”
Jesus was actually called a ‘stone of stumbling’ to the spiritual leaders of His day. They never expected to see the Messiah cloaked in humility. When He began to heal the sick on the Sabbath day the leaders were totally offended. On the Day of Pentecost, the unusual response by the 120 followers of Jesus caused quite an upheaval. Many were attracted and converted, many others were offended by the strange effects of the outpouring and opposed the move of God. The question begging to be asked, are you attracted or offended by the unusual outpourings of the Lord?
1 thought on “GOD’S STUMBLING BLOCK”
The “cares” of this life are our biggest and most challenging obstacle that can lead us to a distraction or all the way to total defeat depending upon our “spiritual condition”. The sneaky part is that the “cares” evolve and change and who has not been in the midst of celebrating a well earned lesson, only to find a brand new battle that “came out of no where” Isn’t it funny how judging other peoples “challenges” seem clear to us, when at times we are clueless to our own. The answers are always in His Word, and sometimes we don’t really want to see them.