One of the aspects which drew me to our church was the simplicity of the Gospel. When the Lord saved my soul, many churches, preachers and other persons gave me their version of the Gospel and eventually I found it so complex that I was completely confused. What worried me even more was that I could not testify to other people because I was not able to understand such a complex gospel or to carry it across.
When I entered the church as a novice, my expectations therefore were the same as that of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:11 – “I thought that he (Elisha) would come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?”
The reasoning of the tradition from which I came was exactly the same – but I could not get rid of my leprosy (sin) there and the rivers there (baptism) weren’t the right rivers.
Paul points this out (1 Cor. 1:26) – “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no-one may boast before him. “
The first apostles and congregation (Acts 2:46) “ …broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” and in 2 Cor 1:12 Paul writes, “Now this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in this world…in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.
In the scriptures I also see that the Father and Son answered the people simply or with simplicity.
In the argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead, they asked the Lord Jesus for his opinion and his simple answer was that God is the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that God is not the God of the dead (Luke 20:37)
As already mentions, Elisha told Naaman – “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan.”
As a matter of fact nowhere in the Bible do I see that the Lord Jesus gave long explanations about anything. His example and his words were short and powerful.
To the rich young man he said, “Keep my commandments’ and, “Come here and follow me.”
To the young man who first wanted to go and bury his father, the Lord Jesus said,” Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead (Matt. 8:22).
I myself once suffered from severe back pain at the conference and expected that prayers would be said for me – the answer was: “You have come all this way – go and confess.”
The Lord is not interested in our qualifications and knowledge, and these are often barriers so that the Lord cannot achieve his purpose in our lives. When I pray and ask that the Lord conclude a matter for me in a certain way, I always think of the refrain: “God has a thousand ways to answer every prayer” – I usually do not have more than one or two answers to that.
Recently I testified that should the Lord want me to serve him like a zombie I would be prepared to do so. This may be exaggerating, but in my own case it is necessary to come to such a realisation as I am in a consulting profession and I find it difficult not to advise the Lord.
However, I can assure you that from all my experience that all the advice I have given the Lord and others have after long consideration proven to be the wrong advice and today I am absolutely certain that the only advice comes from the Lord (and that is always the simplest advice).
Many of us have also often received advice from the Lord and it was always so simple that it seemed to be almost ridiculous, but if we did follow it, in the end it worked out well for us.
We know what advice Elisha had previously received from the Lord – to visit a widow during a time of drought – it seems to be completely wrong.
What I have also noticed is the way in which the Lord gives us good advice by forcing us to do self-examination through asking us a simple question.
To Cain he said, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Gen. 4:9)
He asked Balaam: Who are these men with you?” (Num. 22:9).
He asked Elija, “What are you doing here?” (1 Kings 19:9).
He asked Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9).
His instruction to man is just as short and simple. To each one of us He says: “Give me your heart.”
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