Wild, not tame

Peter Neilson April 30, 2024 2 1

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Acts 1: 6-8 (NIVUK)

6 Then they gathered round him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’

7 He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

Six weeks of meeting with the Risen Lord teaching about the Kingdom of God – and they still got it wrong! Their question could not have been more wrong.

They were wrong about timing. God’s timing is not our timing to know or to dictate.

They were wrong in thinking God was going to “restore” their glory days. C.S. Lewis said that one prayer the Lord does not answer is, ‘Encore!’

They were wrong in assuming the Kingdom of God was a political system. God’s way of doing things cannot be contained within the contours of one political system or philosophy.

They were wrong about their focus on Israel. The centrifugal impetus of God’s Spirit crosses natural and national boundaries to make Jesus known to the ends of the earth.

How wrong we can be in our expectations of God. The wild Spirit of Jesus will set us right and set us free if we are open to correction and new connections.

Prayer:

God our Father, our times are in Your hands,

Be they slow in answering our prayers or hastening us to our end.

Lord Jesus, make our minds and hearts open and teachable,

where we are dull in understanding, and slow to obey.

Holy Spirit, our lives are at Your disposal today,

To go where You send us and to do what You tell us. AMEN