An Elephant Never Forgets! (Galatians 4)
Galatians 4.7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. [nkjv]
The African elephant is the largest land animal in the world. In 1956, the largest elephant ever recorded was found in Angola, weighing in at 12,000 kilograms, with a shoulder height of 14 feet! These enormous creatures have incredible strength. In Africa elephants routinely knock over entire trees just to get to the tender branches they like to eat. In India, angry elephant herds have been known to push railway trains off their tracks!
I find it totally amazing that such a powerful animal could ever find itself in captivity. Yet we see them all the time in circuses and zoos all around the world. Despite how incredibly powerful these animals are, they have a weakness. You see, an elephant never forgets!
When an elephant is young, each night it is tied to a tree with a strong chain around its foot. The baby elephant wants to roam and struggles instinctively with all its might to be free, yet because of its small size and weight cannot break the chain. After many nights of struggle and failure, this defeat is etched into the young elephant's mind and they no longer resist.
When the elephant is fully grown, it can be tied with just a small rope to a stake. This powerful 12,000 kilogram animal could easily break free from it captivity yet its mind has been conditioned through its past experiences to believe resistance is futile. So it doesn't even make an attempt!
God's Word tells me that I have been forgiven of all my sins and washed clean by the blood of Jesus. It says I am a new creation. I have been made righteous. I am more than a conquerer, I can do all things and that when God is for me who can stand against me.
It says that I was once a slave to sin but Jesus has set me free.
Yet despite His complete work at Calvary, we often allow our past experiences to hold us captive. We still think like slaves when God calls us sons!
And we wonder why our Christian walk lacks power.
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A question on Galatians 4:13 "You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first"
Would this infirmity relate to Paul's Thorn in his flesh?
Galatians 4:13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
God speaks to us through His word and sometimes it is very personal. This verse brings my life into perspective. Sometimes God will allow or even inflict an ailment that is meant to bring us closer to Him. Of course illness can sometimes drive people away from God if they don’t accept the test of faith. God will send us challenges in life and if we recognize His hand at work we can fulfill His purpose for us.
Two and a half years ago I contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which left me dramatically debilitated. It was a shock in that I lost complete control and use of muscles and nerves in the legs and feet, arms and hands and some parts of the core of my body. At no stage however did I feel in any danger or have major concern. I had always travelled in a parallel path with God, that is, I believed in the good way of living but this is not God’s way. There is more to life than just being and doing good, our human efforts are not enough we also have to have our faith in Jesus as our saviour. In the same way as Paul overcame his persecution of Christians through physical infirmity, I was able to see the truth and overcome the great lie of man’s ability to live without God. As I lay in my hospital bed I began to ask God what He wanted from me because this was not an accident, it was meant to happen. God wanted to use me in His way and it had taken a serious physical affliction to realise this purpose.
I have been a teacher for over 30 years and through the experiences and opportunities to study young people, that God has provided, I am ready to follow a new path. To preach God’s message was Paul’s mission, I am not a preacher or even a teacher in the traditional sense but I believe God has given me the skills and talents to spread His word to young people in a way that is relevant to them.
So the message of spreading God’s word after a physical infirmity has special significance for me.
What exactly was Paul’s physical infirmity? Some believe his problem was depression, or epilepsy, or that his illness was connected with the thorn in the flesh mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12. None of these can be established with certainty.
According to Acts 13, Paul came to the region of Galatia – specifically, the city of Pisidian Antioch – from the city of Perga in the region of Pamphylia. We know a few things about Perga – first, it was the place where John Mark abandoned Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:13), and the trials related to the physical infirmity may have had something to do with it. Second, Perga was in a lowland, marshy area. The Galatian city of Pisidian Antioch was some 3,600 feet higher than Perga. It has been suggested that Paul’s physical infirmity was a type of malaria common to the lowlands of Perga. William Barclay describes this malaria as producing a terrible pain that was like “a red-hot bar thrust through the forehead.”
However, we should remember what Morris quotes from Stamm: “The difficulty of diagnosing the case of a living patient should warn us of the futility of attempting it for one who has been dead almost nineteen hundred years.”
Even though Paul was not a great example of strength and power because of his physical infirmity, the Galatians still received him, and they received him honorably. They embraced Paul so generously that they would have plucked out [their] own eyes and given them to Paul if that could somehow meet his need. (verse 15)
“Obviously, a plucked-out eye would be a gift nobody could use, but Paul’s point is that his converts had been ready to do anything for him in those early days.” (Morris)
This leads some to believe that Paul’s physical infirmity had something to do with his eyes. Noted Greek scholars such as Wuest, Rendall, and Robertson believe that the nuances of the Greek text indicate that Paul’s physical infirmity as an eye problem. Galatians 6:11 – where Paul makes reference to large letters written with his own hand – may also support this idea.
But Cole rightly notes: “Those who see here a proof that Paul suffered from ophthalmia, or some similar eye-disease, are welcome to do so. Certainly with smoky fires, no chimneys, and oil lamps, one would expect a high incidence of eye trouble in the first-century Mediterranean world. To one who had spent years poring over crabbed Hebrew tomes the risk might well be greater. But again we have no proof.”
But the real point here is that despite whatever Paul’s infirmity was, the Galatians did not despise or reject him. “As physical infirmity and illness were regarded by Jews and Gentiles alike as a symbol of divine displeasure or punishment, there would have been a natural temptation for the Galatians to despise Paul and reject his message.” This is exactly what the Galatians did not do. Even though Paul seemed weak and afflicted, they embraced him and responded to his message of grace and God’s love.
Verse 6: ...God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts...
Verse 18: It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good...
Both of these verses stood out to me. Can't really explain why. I'm not very good at explaining :)
Galatians 4:12
Dear brothers and sisters,I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws.
As a child I was afraid of God, I was taught you must do this or that or you will be punished.
Of course I thought I wasn't good enough because I wasn't able to carry out these laws pefectly all the time.
Now I know the truth I am indeed free.
Galatians 4:5 "God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children."
This speaks of choice - God chose us! When a couple become parents naturally, they have not chosen the child they are given, unlike adoptive parents who are able to physically choose the child that comes into their family.
Here we are told that God sent Jesus to free us from the slavery we were once under to enable us to become His children. And with that entry into His family it gives us all the rights and privileges of a natural heir.
He chose us! And it doesn't seem to be because we have so much to offer Him - after all He's God! It's like trying to get a present for President Obama's birthday - what do you give a guy who's known as the most powerful man on the planet? We can't give Him anything He hasn't given us already. Nothing we can do or say puts us in His league and yet He loved us so much He opened His arms and He chose us!
The magnitude of His love is seen here in that though He knows how we so often fail Him He sees what we can be in Him. He chooses us! Although it has cost him so much down through the years - even the death of Jesus -amazingly enough we are worth it to Him! He chooses us!
What an awesome God - what an amazing love!
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