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Articles and Documents
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| A Chapel Presentation at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University | | << Return to list |
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November 14, 1995
By Laurel Damsteegt, MDiv, MPH
Multimedia Developer, Great Controversy Experience CD-ROM
About 2,000 years ago, God was about to bestow the highest honor in all of history on one human being on Earth. What kind of qualifications was He looking for? Good looks? Intelligence? Prestige? Assertiveness? Good social decorum? No!
He wanted someone He could trust with the future of all of Heaven.
If this one failed in the given assignment, a whole planet would be lost, Heaven itself would falter. This one would need to be able to follow ordersimplicitly, not create interpretations or rationales for orders, or take them as mere suggestions. This is why intelligence and assertiveness were not necessarily important on God's checklist.
He wanted someone humble enough to take His orders exactly, and not one that would take credit for working out everything wonderfully well. Isaiah 57:15 says: For thus saith the High and Lofty One That inhabiteth eternity, Whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
He was looking for someone who would be able to stand up to social stigma. Culture would not go her way.
I say her because God was indeed looking for a woman.
A woman! Once before God had trusted the whole planet's destiny to a woman. Unfortunately, she had not stood the test. Eve submitted to the enemythe food looked good, and she ate.
Eating the fruit had seemed so innocuous. But bound up in one little act was a test so profound it tried Eve's loyalty to the core. Would she obey God's simple request? Would she submit to His word?
Obedience often does not imply doing some great and grand thing. Sometimes there are specifics that God looks forlittle things that often could be regarded as inconsequential, like eating a piece of fruit or keeping one day over another. The loyalty of Bible characters was often tested by their adherence to the smallest of details. |
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