God's Remnants

My husband and I had an impromptu Bible-study the other night. Once again I was whining and this time I was whining about feeling like an outsider in my own home and wallowing in the world, in general. Yes I know, wah wah wah. And as usual, God used my beloved to set me straight.

Throughout man's history those who live outside of the ways world have always been set apart as God's remnant. God has and will always cull His people and if there are any doubts to this, we only have to look at the Bible for evidence.

Let's start with the most basic of stories: In the beginning, there was Adam and Eve and amongst their offspring were Cain and Abel. From the beginning, God favored Abel which eventually led to Cain's murderous jealousy. Also, consider Enoch who walked with God. And then there was Noah and his family. Imagine an entire civilization wiped out from the face of the Earth in a sweeping flood of unimaginable proportions.

Let's not forget Abraham and how once again God made a choice. From Abraham, God decreed that His chosen was going to come from the loins of Isaac and not Ishmael. From Isaac, he culled the herd again and chose Jacob and his 12 instead of Esau and his descendants. From the 12 tribes of Israel, God banished 10 from the Book of Life. From the 2 remaining tribes taken into captivity by the Babylonians, only a handful returned to rebuild Jerusalem. Even in the most innocuous of circumstances such Gideon's fighting men. God made His choices clear. And as His "chosen" people turn their backs on Him, He makes a way for others to be grafted in through the sacrifice of His Son.

Fast forward to the end of days, we are told that God still continues the culling process. In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John writes of those who will fall away when the persecutions intensify.

And always, those who follow steadfastly are the same ones ultimately chosen even before creation. It's sobering to realize that majority of the world's population were created by God simply for the purpose of bringing His chosen to that one moment of clarity for which they were created. Just like Pharaoh - but more tragic because after all, being created in God's image, we are all wired to hear the call of the Lord and still not all of us will become His remnants.

How does this apply to my whining? It made me realize that compromise with the world is one of the many roads that leads away from the Lord and in the end, I know I would rather be alone against the world than be in it cast away from the Lord's remnant.