Do you recognize your AHA moments? I’m often oblivious to God’s holy thumpings. These are preludes to God trying to get our attention. I think there’s definitely an order to the process: first the thump, then, hopefully, the AHA.
That’s what happened the other day when I was looking at the wall by my front door. It was gentle this time, so I almost missed it. Then the AHA came, Jesus, right next to my alarm system box. No, you can’t see him, but he was there. Then the question came: which one do I trust to protect me? If I call myself a Christian, the answer should be obvious: Jesus. But is it? I mean, having an alarm system isn’t “anti-Christian” any more than wearing a seat belt.
Let’s consider both from a practical standpoint. Jesus came to show us God’s love and protection up close and personal. One example I love is John 8:1-11. Yes, I took “creative license with it,” but if you believe every word in Scripture comes from the mouth of God, we need to talk!
But I digress.
Imagine the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees, being all full of themselves and their pride in following the law, caught a woman accused of adultery and stood her in front of Jesus as if to say, “Here, we’re going to stone this woman to death, and you can’t do anything about it because it’s the law. So there!” Everyone was lined up with their stones, ready and eager to make an example of her.
But Jesus stopped them all with just a few words that went straight to their hearts: “Go ahead, any one of you without sin, have at.” They all stood silent. “Great, way to ruin our fun.” You could hear the stones hit the ground, one after another, until they all walked away. What wasn’t mentioned was the reaction of the scribes and Pharisees. They seemed to quietly pack up their folding chairs and sneak away in the crowd. Way to ruin a good party, Jesus!
So Jesus stood alone with the woman, her head still hanging in shame. He showed her that everyone had walked away. But she still felt deep shame not just from her sinfulness, but from the condemnation of others, and could not look Jesus in the eyes. Then he lovingly asked (10-11), “Has anyone condemned you?” When she answered, “No one, Lord,” Jesus replied, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Now, imagine our friend, the sinner, had a security system like mine. She could set it every time she had a male visitor, so it would warn her if anyone tried to force their way into her house while he was there. I’m not sure how they would protect themselves if that happened and the entire village showed up, but stay with me here. Maybe the alarm would scare them all away or give him time to hide in the closet. The problem is that it would only protect her inside the house. As soon as she stepped outside, she was open game for the village idiots waiting in the bushes. And remember, there was no DoorDash to bring her groceries, so she would have to go out at some point.
Anyway, Jesus is available 24/7, every moment of our lives, but we seem to forget that. Maybe we think he’s too busy for us, or doesn’t care, or has given up on us because of all our sinfulness and failures. That’s the lie Satan wants us to believe because he knows if we truly trusted God, we would be unstoppable.
Oh, and have you ever wondered what happened to that “sinful” woman Jesus loved back to life? I read somewhere that she started a GoFundMe account, raised enough money to convert an old temple into a shelter for women, and hired advocates to represent them pro bono in front of those same unscrupulous leaders who condemned her. YES! What goes around comes around.
And so, in conclusion:
Go ahead and set your alarm and head off the bed, assured it will work, most of the time, probably, unless there’s a terrible storm, all the power lines come down, you have no electricity for days, and the looters start arriving en masse. Then what?
Conversely, in your day-to-day encounters with life, when those same looters work hard to steal your peace, put your trust in our never-off-duty, never-too-busy Jesus.
