God's Faithful History

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one [was] Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: Exodus 1:15

"The Old Testament gives clues into the kind of history God is writing. Exodus identifies by name the two Hebrew midwives who helped save Moses' life but does not bother to record the name of the Pharaoh ruling Egypt (an omission that has baffled scholars ever since).

First Kings grant a total of eight verses to King Omri, even though secular historians regard him as one of Israel's most powerful kings.

In his own history, God does not seem impressed by size or power or wealth. Faith is what he wants, and the heroes who emerge are heroes of faith, not strength of wealth. God's history thus focuses on those who hold faithful to him, regardless of how things turn out.

When Nebuchadnezzar, one of many tyrants who persecute the Jews, threatens three young men with torture by fire, they respond: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Dan. 3:17-18, NIV).

Empires rise and fall, powerful leaders soar to power then topple from it. The same Nebuchadnezzar who tossed these three into a fiery furnace goes crazy, grazing on grass in the field like a cow. The succession of empires that follow his–Persia, Greece, Rome–so mighty in their day, join the dustbin of history even as God's people the Jews survive murderous pogroms.

Slowly, painstakingly, God writes his history on earth through the deeds of his faithful followers, one by one."

May our faithful deeds be part of that sacred history for the coming year.