Learning to Sing in the Birdcage
Sabbath School Lesson
October 20, 2007
Larry R Evans
Questions for Reflection
1. The degree of our happiness is the degree to which God is our Shepherd.
True or False [Ex.14:9-14]
2. The key to being led by God is our ability to maintain the proper attitude.
True or False [Jer 29:11-14]
3. The hardest part in trusting God is putting our trust in the leaders He
chooses. True or False [Ex. 14:31]
4. God is more interested in changing our thinking than in changing our circumstances. True or False [Ex.15:22-27]
5. Once we reach 65 years of age we are no longer strangers to this world. True or False [1 Peter 1:1,2; Lk 18:16, 17]
6. God always leads us to green pastures and by still waters. True or False [Ps 23:2; Heb.11:32-40]
INTRODUCTION
An overriding question of this week’s lesson is this: Does God ever lead His people into experiences that He knows will include suffering? After reflecting earlier upon Psalm 23 where the Good Shepherd leads His sheep to green pastures and still waters such a question almost demands an enthusiastic, “Of course not!” Our lesson today may challenge your thinking in that regard.
Ellen White, in her book The Ministry of Healing, used an illustration which is quite enlightening.
“In the full light of day, and in hearing of the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage, and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark, he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought forth, and even after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward.” (Ministry of Healing, p. 472)
What “song” do you sing? When did you learn to sing the song you sing now? If during difficult times you knew that a purpose behind the dark days was to give you a new and more beautiful song, would it have helped? How open would you be to adding more verses to the song you now sing?
Perhaps we should also ask if our present “happiness” is the criterion that should be used. Note the following passage:
Ex 14:9-14
9 The Egyptians--all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops--pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (from New International Version)
Ex 14:29-31
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (from New International Version)
How safe is it to use our present circumstances as an indicator of future happiness?
- The key to being led by God is our ability to maintain the proper attitude. True and False [Jer 29:11-14]
Using the previous example, was God dependent on the proper attitude before He led His people out of Egypt? How important was the “attitude” of Moses to God? To the people?
Jer 29:11-14
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." (NIV)
- The hardest part in trusting God is putting our trust in the leaders He chooses. True or False—You tell me. [Ex. 14:31]
At times even good leaders are hard to trust and occasionally the distrust of such leaders can bring disillusionment not only of the leader and the organization they represent but even of God, Himself. Sometimes the fault may be with the leader but sometimes the fault may be in those who are being led.
Referring back to the deliverance from Egypt:
Ex 14:11-12
1 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
It is clear that in the face of the crisis, God’s appointed leadership was not trusted. In this case, Moses proved to be trustworthy and received the trust of His people but not so in every case and with every leader. The example of Saul is one such example.
Whether we be leader or the one being led the following counsel in the context of Saul’s experience is certainly instructive:
“We do not know what great interests may be at stake in the proving of God. There is no safety except in strict obedience to the word of God. All His promises are made upon condition of faith and obedience, and a failure to comply with His commands cuts off the fulfillment to us of the rich provisions of the Scriptures. We should not follow impulse, nor rely on the judgment of men; we should look to the revealed will of God and walk according to His definite commandment, no matter what circumstances may surround us. God will take care of the results; by faithfulness to His word we may in time of trial prove before men and angels that the Lord can trust us in difficult places to carry out His will, honor His name, and bless His people. {PP 621-622}
- God is more interested in changing our thinking than in changing our circumstances. True [Ex.15:22-27]
Ex 15:22-27
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23
When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter .
(That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" 25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water. (from New International Version)
“In our own strength it is impossible for us to deny the clamors of our fallen nature. Through this channel Satan will bring temptation upon us. Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human being to take advantage of hereditary weakness, and by his false insinuations to ensnare all whose trust is not in God. . . . It is not His will that we should b e placed at a disadvantage in the conflict with Satan. He would not have us intimidated and discouraged by the assaults of the serpent. ‘Be of good cheer,’ he says; ‘I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33.” Desire of Ages 123-124.
- Once we reach 65 years of age we are no longer strangers in this world. Maybe and Maybe Not [1 Peter 1:1,2; Lk 18:16, 17]
Is it possible to be 70 years old and NOT be “a stranger to this world?” Is it possible to be a child and “a stranger to this world?” What does Peter mean in 1 Peter 1:1, 3-6?
The word used here for strangers literally means [ones] away from home. It is used metaphorically for those who viewed heaven as their permanent home. But Peter doesn’t stop there. He goes on to talk about the trials they endure while away from their home.
1 Peter 1:1-2
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, . . .
1 Peter 1:3-9
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 (from New International Version)
“The Christian is pictured as beset by a variety of annoyances, problems, disappointments, and griefs, all of which Satan uses in his attempts to destroy personal faith in God.” (7 SDABC, p.552) These trials help refine the Christian’s faith which in the end results in praise, glory and honor when Christ is revealed.
As I travel to countries where I have never been before I feel like a stranger: the language is different, the food is different, I dress differently to those around me. There is a redeeming factor and it usually comes on Sabbath. When I enter the church I may look around and not recognize anyone but there is something about worshiping together that makes me feel at home.
It has been said that, “We don't live in the world and go to church," but rather. "We live in the Church and go out into the world." Can that really be said of us?
- God always leads us to green pastures and by still waters. False [Ps 23:2; Heb.11:32-40]
It is true that the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 takes care of us but are the “paths of righteousness” leading us to the green pastures and still waters? Note the paths which some Bible heroes walked:
Heb 11:32 I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more--Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . .
Heb 11:33 Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions,
Heb 11:34 fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies.
Heb 11:35 Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection.
Heb 11:36 Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons.
Heb 11:37 We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless--
Heb 11:38 the world didn't deserve them!--making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.
Heb 11:39 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised.
Heb 11:40 God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
It is our human tendency to look at hardships and trials from an individualistic perspective but Hebrews pushes us back so that we see not only the brush strokes but the magnificent picture being painted. We are reminded in verse 4o that our experience is part of a much larger picture being painted upon the canvass of earth’s salvation history—a path that leads to green pastures and still waters with reminders along each step of the way that our Shepherd has not forsaken us.
The writer of Hebrews “set out to prove that we have a great High Priest ministering on our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary, and to appeal to all Christians to enter into His presence by faith (see ch.4:14,16). In the 11th chapter he implies that, by faith, the worthies of old lived, as it were, in the very presence of God.” (7 SDABC, p.477)
“It was to Peter a bitter lesson, and one which he learned but slowly, that the path of Christ on earth lay through agony and humiliation. The disciple shrank from fellowship with his Lord in suffering. But in the heat of the furnace fire he was to learn its blessing. Long afterward, when his active form was bowed with the burden of years and labors, he wrote, ‘Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy’" (1 Peter 4:12, 13). {Ellen G White, Conflict and Courage, p. 312}
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