“I Have a Different Perspective”
What does God see when He looks at the mess of human history?
God and the Mess of Human History
Several years ago, I was leading a retreat in Northern California. About twenty younger leaders from around the nation had gathered to honor the legacy of Gaylord Enns, a spiritual father from the region.
Gaylord came into ministry during the Jesus Movement in the late 1960’s. Since 2001, he has carried a life message focused on Jesus’s New Commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Gaylord’s book, Love Revolution, is the book I have most recommended (aside from the Bible) in my life. Having seen the impact of His ministry on my own life and the lives of many others, I yearned to see that grace passed on from generation to generation.
On our final night together, we had an extended time of listening to God. The room was quiet, with some soft worship music playing as everyone listened to the Holy Spirit and wrote in their journals.
I had finished my listening time and was feeling encouraged by what God had said to me. But, looking around the room, I could see that several people were still encountering the Lord. We weren’t in a rush—I decided to extend our listening time by another ten minutes or so.
But what should I do with that extra time? My first impulse was to look at my phone, but that seemed inappropriate given our purpose.
Without giving it too much thought, I found my mind wandering down an interesting path.
Over the past several days, we had discussed some notable failures in church history, so that was fresh in my mind. I began discussing it with the Lord.
“Lord, the past 2,000 years of church history have been a complete mess.”
I was imagining various failures and heinous acts. Foremost in my thoughts were the tens of thousands of visible divisions within the church. Jesus prayed for us to be “one as He is one with the Father.” And yet, we seemed so far away from that goal, so far from where God wanted us to be.
Then, my mind shifted to the Old Testament.
“Lord, the history of Israel was an even bigger mess than the history of the church.”
Thinking on the 2,000-year history from Abraham to Jesus, most of it looked like a complete disaster. If you don’t believe me, re-read the book of Judges. Then hop over to 1 and 2 Kings. Or, just remember Jesus’s own verdict on the success of the Old Covenant in Matthew 24: “Not one stone [of the Temple] will be left on another.”
My mind continued to wander even further back in the biblical story.
“But Lord, before that, it was even worse. So bad you had to destroy everything and start over.”
Before the flood, malignant evil grew to such an extent that God had to wipe everything out except for eight people. When I think of the great evils of the 20th century, from concentration camps to genocide, to the murderous regimes of Germany, China, Japan, and the USSR, to the moral outrage of abortion on demand, it is frightening to think that whatever was happening before the flood was even worse.
As I gazed back, era by era, on the mess of human history, I was shocked by how bad it had been. I turned my grim assessment into a prayer:
“Lord, our history is such a mess. So many things, from the original creation to Israel, to the church, to our own lives, seem to fall shockingly short of their initial promise, of what you want to happen. What do you think about the mess of history?”
The Lord responded: “I have a different perspective.”
His tone was serious, and yet a little amused, like a father whose child is seriously wrong about something important, but wrong in a funny way. Hearing His voice filled me with anticipation. My perspective was so grim. I was thrilled to exchange my thoughts for His.
The Vision
Immediately, I began to have an inner vision. I saw a man with his feet planted firmly in a stream. His legs looked enormous, strong, and purposeful. As the vision panned upward, I saw that the man was bent over, intently swirling a circular metal object in the water.
The man was panning for gold. I saw immense piles of dirt and mud off to the side, but the man paid them no attention. He was focused on the water, on the pan, searching for gold.
In a flash of insight, I understood what the Lord was saying: He is not focused on the dirt and mess of history—He is looking for gold. Just as a miner is not discouraged by the piles of dirt that are not gold, so God is not discouraged by the mess. He is after gold.
My mind immediately went to a modern gold mine I had heard about in Nevada. The mine utilizes massive earth movers that can hold up to 240 tons each. Many of these ore deposits contain less than 1 gram of gold/ton of ore, meaning the vast majority of what is mined ends up as waste to be put back in the ground. However, none of the miners mind—their focus is not on waste, but on the payoff. Each of those truckloads of ore contains approximately $30,000 worth of gold. The precious just has to be separated from the common.
My perspective of history, focusing on the mess, was completely different from God’s—focusing on the gold. I knew the gold was what would endure, what would last forever. Suddenly, I felt in awe of God’s leadership and wisdom. He was taking temporal human history and leveraging it to extract something of eternal value. He was mining the temporary and extracting the eternal.
The vision flashed to a view of my own life, shown as a bag attached to God’s side. I could see that there was quite a bit of gold in the rocks, but there were still a lot of other rocks and impurities—they were more visually evident than the gold. It was clear I had a lot of refining to go through until I reached my end-state. However, it was comforting to know that God was evaluating me based on the gold he saw inside of me, not based on all the impurities that remained. At this point, I realized I was having a vision of God as a gold miner in Northern California, the home of the 1849 gold rush.
I left the experience with a fresh appreciation of the Lord’s leadership in history. What from my perspective looked like a messy process full of fits and starts appeared to him as a well-defined and wise project that was right on schedule. God’s confidence in his leadership is one of the reasons why the Bible is so open and honest about the failings of some of its greatest heroes.
However, I was also left with a question: If God is looking for gold in human history, what is the gold?
What is the Gold?
The imagery of smelting and refining precious metals is used throughout Scripture as an image of how God uses affliction and trial to bring forth purity in His people.
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction…” Isaiah 48:10
“For you have tried us, O God, You have refined us as silver is refined.” Psalm 66:10
“I will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them.” Zechariah 13:9
The apostle Peter picks up on this theme, giving us a definite name for the gold that God is after.
“These [difficult trials] have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:7
Faith in Jesus Christ, which has been tested and proven, is the gold God is after. He is looking for faith!
“For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His…” 2 Chron. 16:9
Our purpose and desires affect what we see. Have you ever considered buying a specific type of car, only to suddenly see it everywhere? Likewise, a farmer sees completely different things on a piece of land than a hiker.
Just as a miner looks at a stream and sees the potential for gold, God looks at the earth and sees faith. When he sees a measure of faith, he moves to test it so that it is purified into something with “proven genuineness.”
Good Works
We have already linked the “gold” that God is after on earth to faith. Are there other things God is trying to extract from the mess of human history?
One widespread error in understanding God’s plan of salvation is the notion that our own good works can save us from our sins. As Ephesians makes clear, we are saved not by works, but by the free grace of God which is made available to us through faith.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created for good works in Christ Jesus…” Ephesians 2:8-10
However, that does not mean that good works have no place in God’s salvation plan. In fact, we are “saved”, recreated in Christ Jesus, for the sake of good works. Just as it is absurd to expect “good works” from an unborn child as a condition of being born, even so our own good works cannot save us. And, just as we should expect good and productive deeds as those children grow, so Father God is looking for good works from us.
We are not saved “by” our works. But we are saved “for” works. They are the gold that God is looking for. As the apostle James says, “I will show you my faith by my works.” Good works are the glittering glory of the gold of faith.
Fruit
The Apostle Paul is mindful of what God is looking for; however, he uses a different metaphor to describe it. If a miner has pure gold as their end-goal, a farmer has fruit.
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11
Paul describes “the fruit of righteousness” as the ultimate product that God wants from His people. This ought to make us think of the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5. God is doing what He is doing on earth so that there will be a harvest of love and good deeds, fruits of righteousness from this temporal realm that will be revealed “in the day of Christ” (i.e., at the second coming), resulting in glory and praise to God.
Of course, this is not the only passage that speaks of fruit as something we are producing for the eternal glory of God, nor the only passage that speaks of God as a farmer.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener [farmer]. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:1-8
God the Father is a farmer, and as such, He is after fruit. Scripture refers to this fruit in a variety of ways.
Righteous Character
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” Galatians 5:22
Love and Good Works
“…bearing fruit in every good work…” Colossians 1:10
Making Disciples of Nations and People
“The Harvest [of people] is plentiful, but the workers are few…” Matt. 9:37
Answered Prayer, Miraculous Deeds
“Ask whatever you wish [in prayer] and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit [miraculous answers to prayer], showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8
All of these things bring eternal glory and honor to God. All of these things will endure eternally; they are the gold that God is after in this age.
Our Father is an excellent leader. While we may look around and see massive piles of dross and dirt, make no mistake: He is after gold, and He is going to get it. When all is said and done, no one will care about or remember the dirt of history, except insofar as the contrast magnifies God’s glory. What will endure are the gold of faith, hope, and love—fruits of righteousness abounding to the eternal glory of God.