Where You Are

 February 24, 2023

Fellow Christians look at me a bit skeptically when in response to their question, I tell them my favorite Bible verse. Actually, I think they think I’m a bit weird, but that may or may not have any connection to my favorite verse. It’s from Luke 3, verses 1 and 2:

“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”

No, I haven’t memorized it. I get easily confused by all the names, but the reason I love these two verses is because of how they help me put things in perspective. Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, and Caiaphas were the movers and shakers of their day. If we were to update the story for today, we would hear (if you lived in in my neck of the woods of New York State),

“In the 3rd year of Joe Biden, when Kathy Hochul was governor of New York, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand senators, Paul Wendell county executive, George Borello state senator of the 57th district, Andy Goodell Assemblyman, and Willie Rosas mayor of Dunkirk…”

 And then, instead of the Word of the Lord coming to John in the wilderness, it would be, “the Word of the Lord came to (put your name here in whatever backwater place you live).” We tend to think it’s the movers and shakers, the politicians and elites who are making the world spin on its axis. They pontificate and we genuflect, but it’s all just a sham. God isn’t impressed. 

Instead of speaking through the high and mighty, he comes to John in the wilderness, an ordinary man unmoved by the pomp and ceremony, someone who has allowed the wilderness to strip him of pretension and illusion. John isn’t distracted; he’s listening, and he hears God.

Once upon a time when things were really cooking at Park church, I happened to be driving through Lockport, NY. I drove by a small UM church, a white-framed chapel on the corner of an intersection. It was surrounded by houses, and to my shame, I made a judgment about why church in the midst of so many houses remained small. I asked the Lord, “What could I have accomplished if I lived in the middle of so many people?”

God’s response was immediate, and humbling: “Jim, I couldn’t have done anything more with you there than I’m doing where you are. I’m doing the best I can with what I have to work with.” Point taken, Lord. Correction received. 

Don’t despise where you are. You may be off the beaten path; you may feel you’ve been overlooked, that the real action is happening somewhere else. Right now, it appears the action is happening in Wilmore, KY, at Asbury. But if God didn’t place you in Wilmore, don’t seek to go there. He put you where you are because it’s where he can best speak to you and get your attention. Pay no mind to the high and mighty. God isn’t speaking to them. He’s speaking to you in your wilderness. And what he says, the world needs to hear.