Capturing the idiosyncrasies of real people in compact Bible stories is skillful. The ancient biblical literature is filled with literary masterpieces; treasured short stories of flawed people tapdancing between success and sabotaging God’s work through their quirks and insecurities.
Peter’s famous mood swings vacillate between heroic and pathetic. And how could Abraham have been so proactive in his worship of God and so passive in his family’s dysfunctional relationships? Jacob’s treacherous villainy gives us every reason to mistrust him. Yet, God still uses and blesses him. Figure it out!? God’s employment of such freckled people provides poignant lessons for today.
1. Learning from our dirty laundry
When Sarah tries, by human effort, to produce a human child to fulfill God’s miraculous promise, we see the damage a lack of trust in God can cause. This tragic story of Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant, being used, mishandled, and mistreated by Sarah (God’s people) becomes a vivid life lesson for us.
In relaying these stories, the Bible is not prescribing that we live exactly like these people lived. The narratives in the Bible are descriptive, not prescriptive. Stories about sexuality, cruelty, oppression, polygamy, or abuse do not tell us how to act. They are honestly reporting how badly we can act. God uses His people’s dirty laundry, as much as anything, to teach us what we should not do. We would be wise to learn from the mistakes of others. Elijah’s sudden collapse into hopelessness is cautionary. Cain’s emotional brooding forces us to face our own hearts’ hidden jealousies. The deceitfulness of Levi and Simeon is a terrifying warning against offense and vengeance.
2. Taking people off the pedestal God belongs on
God is the hero; people are flawed and even unsavory. That is the lesson. Ecclesiastes writes, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins” (7:20). But God!—He is pure, honest, and righteous. He is superlative and unlike anyone else. Psalms says, “He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.” Stop turning to human leaders; turn to the Holy One of Israel. He is the good King who rules over us.
Jesus Christ is the unblemished Lamb of God and uncreated Son of the Father on high. Keep Jesus at the center of your adoration, not a charismatic leader or institution. People are fallible. Popes sin. Pastors and saints fall into temptation and succumb to deception. Institutions drift. Though we do need role models, we have to be careful not to put people on the pedestal that only Jesus belongs on.
3. There’s room for us in God’s story
People are at the center of God‘s passion and plans. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). There’s still plenty of room for real people in God’s story. God uses a multitude of personalities, talents, and vocations: the quiet and humble, the talented and powerful, the administrator and artist, the prophet and elder. It is God’s mission and God’s work through us and not for our own advancement or glory.
There’s room for us, and there’s even room for our mistakes. “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land” (Deuteronomy 9:2). God uses us despite our failures. God’s grace chokes out our spiritual pride. In the community of faith, there’s no airbrushing our sins away. We are painfully tarnished, and God’s costly atonement for our sins reminds us of the responsibilities and damages our choices have. Still, God welcomes us into His family and mission. Join the club of flawed and fallible people. There are no genetically modified superstars, and none better than the rest. Because of His great love, we are being saved and healed.
4. God focuses on the unexpected and internal
As humans, we often look at the world through our human passions and interests. We want to be the strongest, smartest, most successful, most impactful, most powerful, or most beautiful. The Bible mentions none of these as being important to God. “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). God is looking for people who will trust in Him, worship Him, and produce the fruit of love in His Kingdom. He’s drilling into our character and influencing our relationships. It’s not that we can’t be talented or excel at what we do. Rather, God is reuniting our talents with His Spirit of love. Whether you have ten talents or one talent is inconsequential to your inclusion in God’s family and mission.
On the other hand, your character is vital. Not only does the quality of your character have eternal consequences, but it is also essential to giving and receiving love. Your character will shape the quality of your love for God and people. God loves the “least” and the “greatest” equally. So offer your talents sacrificially to the Lord. But what He really desires is selflessness and love expressing itself maturely.
5. Transformation is three-dimensional
Through these human stories, we experience God’s life in the everyday moments. Faith is about an entire way of living in the world, a migration through the wilderness and wonders of life, not just a classroom chalkboard full of rules. God is a Father who loves us and not a schoolmaster who drills us. Therefore, transformation is not simplistic. He is renewing our habits, emotions, inner thoughts, and prejudices. It is more like poetry and less like computer programming.
Through these human stories, we encounter a loving Father leading His wayward children. We can learn from our mistakes. And despite our errors, God is working out His full spectrum of redemption in us. Transformation, though slow, is the enduring work of being shaped into God’s wonderful and trustworthy likeness. So don’t get discouraged in your own failures and don’t lose your faith when other people let you down. Only God fits on our pedestals, not spiritual pride or the idolizing of others. Jesus is our good King and hero, and we can cling to Him; “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
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