William C. Turner, Jr. - "The Twist of Divine Knowledge" (June 25, 1989)

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	Good	0:03
	morning.	0:03
	I give thanks to my	0:06
	God for being in this place again and	0:09
	all of you	0:13
	who are here. I give thanks	0:16
	as well on this morning	0:19
	of worship for	0:22
	all the beautiful preparation for the word, for	0:24
	the experience of worship into which we have been led	0:30
	by Rosetta Breeze. Her singing is always a treat and	0:35
	by those who have led in	0:42
	the worship today. "And	0:46
	after the earthquake, a	0:49
	fire. But the Lord was not	0:55
	in the fire. After the fire, a	0:59
	still small	1:05
	voice. And it was so when Elijah heard it, that	1:08
	he wrapped his face in his mantle went out and stood	1:12
	in the entering of the cave. And	1:18
	behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doeth thou	1:22
	here, Elijah?"	1:27
	The twist of divine logic.	1:31
	Twisting is	1:38
	an unpredictable action that	1:42
	is exceedingly effective when it	1:46
	produces	1:52
	motion. A twist is a force that	1:52
	involves rotation. It may be done by the hand or	1:57
	some other tool. The energy measure involved is	2:01
	the	2:07
	torque, and it is directly proportional to the distance	2:09
	between the force and the point at which it is	2:12
	applied to a certain object.	2:17
	Often one does not	2:21
	know the amount of torque that	2:23
	is necessary to produce	2:26
	motion. I think all of us have had the experience of trying to twist a	2:29
	lid off a	2:34
	jar that would not	2:36
	turn, or we've experience the frustration of leaning and	2:38
	pressing on the wrench to turn the lugs to unscrew them and remove a	2:43
	wheel and the lugs are so tight, we just didn't have enough torque to	2:48
	make it	2:54
	turn. Well, our God is far	2:56
	more effective with those who yield to him.	3:00
	In our faithfulness we	3:05
	become subjects of the twist in divine	3:07
	logic. There's another sense in which the twist may	3:12
	be understood, it may refer to the	3:17
	shift, the course of a path, or an argument, may	3:19
	refer to the next step that does not follow all the turns in the	3:24
	route that must be traveled. Twists appear all	3:29
	over the place when with our	3:34
	feeble logic, we attempt to anticipate	3:37
	or make	3:42
	transparent the ways of our Lord. Without a doubt, the	3:44
	image of twisting stands out most prominently in my	3:50
	mind is the twisting of the tornado. You see, just a few	3:56
	weeks ago, I had one to twist through my yard, took down	4:00
	three trees, left one on the roof.	4:05
	I	4:10
	could discern no pattern to the twisting of the tornado. It	4:10
	hit one place, then it hit another	4:15
	place. Then on last Friday, I was traveling to Burlington. The weather was fine	4:18
	in Durham but just as I approached Burlington, a	4:22
	twister came. And somehow that twister packed enough wind	4:26
	to take a small sliver of wood and	4:31
	fire it through the side wall of a steel	4:35
	belted tire. It landed in the casing like it had been shot from	4:38
	an arrow. That's the nature of the	4:43
	twister in this state that has become tornado capital for	4:47
	the nation, a dubious distinction. Not so long ago, I was speaking with a man who's from	4:51
	California, and telling him how afraid I was of earthquakes. He told me, he said, "I live right over the San Andreas	4:56
	fault," I said, "how can you live there?" He looked at me, he said, "How can you live in North	5:01
	Carolina? Every time we turn around, we're worried about	5:06
	our relatives there, wondering	5:10
	whether another twister has home." One occasion, the	5:13
	weather forecaster, the meteorologist said that "If we had just	5:18
	had our radar	5:21
	working, we could have given a better	5:23
	report." But lo and behold, when the radar was working well,	5:26
	their reports didn't help us very much. The	5:30
	twister, a funnel of	5:35
	wind, blows where it will and nobody knows its course.	5:37
	So it is with our	5:42
	God. Like the twister, we do not know God's ways.	5:44
	God's ways have a logic of	5:50
	their own.	5:54
	The setting of this text is following the great contest	5:56
	on Carmel, between the prophets of Baal, prophets of the Lord	5:59
	of Israel. The God of Israel answered by	6:04
	fire and the people were compelled to confess	6:08
	their Lord.	6:12
	Prophets of Baal were ordered slain and God sent rain to relieve	6:14
	the	6:19
	drought that had been upon the land. Jezebel	6:20
	was	6:24
	not through with Elijah.	6:24
	Her prayer was for the gods to do more to	6:28
	her than had befallen the prophets if she did not	6:32
	take Elijah's	6:36
	life within one day. So Elijah	6:37
	fled into the wilderness, lodged under a juniper	6:42
	tree, where he received the ministry of angels.	6:47
	Out of the cave, the Lord called his	6:51
	servant, let him know that he had not forsaken	6:54
	him, that he had not left	6:58
	him alone. Even following dramatic success, there	7:00
	remained unfinished business for the Lord's servant.	7:06
	There is a twist in divine	7:10
	logic that turns us towards	7:15
	heaven's program when we are yielded to our	7:19
	God. Twist number	7:23
	one is that you are	7:28
	not	7:33
	forsaken, even when you	7:34
	feel all alone. Here the prophet had	7:36
	escaped from that wicked woman with his knife, leaving	7:40
	in haste,	7:44
	as he was bound to do, he made no provisions for the journey.	7:46
	No bread, no meat, no pillow for his head. He was left	7:52
	to rely totally and	7:56
	completely on the mercy of	7:59
	God and no doubt he felt forsaken. How	8:02
	ironic but how true that, so often in those	8:07
	moments when we ought to feel the safest, that is, by our	8:12
	confession, those	8:17
	are the moments when we are	8:19
	most afraid. You are like Elijah, you are like me, most	8:22
	of you are. We don't want to be left alone completely on the	8:26
	mercy of God. We don't prefer to rely on God in	8:31
	that radical sense. We would prefer to	8:36
	know where our meal is coming from when	8:40
	we leave this place. There are not many of us who would like to leave this place, not	8:43
	knowing how we're going to eat today or tomorrow. We don't really want to trust	8:48
	God that way, we'd prefer	8:54
	to have some measure of	8:56
	control over our situation. We really don't want	8:59
	that unbuffered encounter with God.	9:03
	We don't want it any more than we want to stand in the presence of a tornado, a	9:08
	twister that we don't understand and whose pattern we	9:14
	cannot predict.	9:20
	Oh, that direct encounter with God leaves us out of control; we must	9:21
	rely on God in a radical way.	9:27
	It's quite a twist when we are caught in that situation, where we are helpless with	9:31
	all of our knowledge, totally	9:38
	dependent and	9:41
	reliant on God. In that state of	9:43
	semi-consciousness, dazed by the danger of	9:48
	the ordeal, exhausted by the exacting trials of	9:53
	his escape route, prophet	9:58
	probably did not know whether he was	10:01
	awake or whether he was asleep. But in such a condition, he	10:05
	was awakened by the angel's touch and	10:10
	fed with ministrations from the God who loved him and	10:15
	who said through such ministrations, "I have	10:20
	not forsaken you.	10:25
	I have not left you alone."	10:27
	Now this twist may be somewhat difficult to	10:32
	fathom fully. We have never	10:36
	been on the run for our convictions but I	10:39
	tell you people literally live in our time like Elijah, running	10:43
	for their life because they dare	10:49
	to stand for their conviction. Four young men	10:55
	were killed not	10:59
	so long ago in Philadelphia, Mississippi.	11:01
	We count the years and the numbers seem large, but that wasn't so long	11:06
	ago when they died, because they dared to break	11:11
	the back of Jim Crow in the	11:14
	south through their witness, through their efforts. Workers	11:17
	and priests are tortured and	11:22
	killed in Central and South America constantly for	11:26
	challenging injustice	11:30
	and oppression. In	11:32
	South Africa, Mandela remains in manacles just	11:34
	because he wants to be a man. In China, students	11:39
	were crushed by tanks because they called for	11:44
	democracy and	11:49
	reform. Workers have been executed with a bullet through	11:50
	the back of their head and the bill for the bullet sent to their	11:54
	parents simply	11:59
	because they wanted to express the yearning in	12:02
	their soul. On our	12:06
	job, among our friends, in	12:08
	moments of unpublicized witness, we often need	12:12
	the	12:17
	experience of this twist in the divine logic	12:19
	that lets us know that we have not been forsaken.	12:22
	Every indication but the direct ministrations of the Lord, say	12:28
	to	12:33
	us that everything has been	12:35
	lost. Twist number	12:39
	two is you can't predict the	12:41
	mode of God's sustaining presence. Eijah was	12:44
	one who was familiar with the mighty workings of the	12:51
	Lord through his tenure as	12:54
	a prophet. Lord had shown him power,	12:56
	might, and strength. God had used this	13:01
	prophet to give signs to the people. This is the	13:05
	same prophet whom	13:10
	God used to stretch the meal	13:11
	and the oil for a widow who was	13:15
	caught in the midst of a famine in a sin-sick land.	13:18
	This is the	13:23
	same prophet that God had used in a manner that was so effective 'til	13:24
	the king of Syria believed there was a spy in the camp.	13:29
	When the King sent his hosts to flush him out of the mountains of Dothan, God	13:35
	struck them with blindness. This is the	13:41
	prophet who shut the heavens with the word of his	13:45
	mouth, with his prayer called down	13:49
	fire from heaven. He was familiar with the God who shakes	13:52
	the foundations of the earth. There is another, those	13:57
	marvelous twists in	14:01
	divine	14:06
	logic that we see in our text. For the Lord does not answer in	14:06
	either of those magnificent modes	14:12
	available for divine communication. No, the answer	14:16
	comes in a still, small	14:21
	voice. There can be no question from the record of sacred	14:26
	Scripture and the witness of countless generations that God is a worker	14:30
	of	14:36
	wonders. God is	14:38
	free to choose those	14:40
	less.... means for giving confidence to	14:42
	those who	15:02
	trust and serve him. It is not	15:08
	as	15:11
	though there is some divine opposition to	15:12
	spectacular modes of communication.	15:17
	But the main object of the	15:19
	Almighty is to get our attention, leave	15:23
	us with no	15:26
	question that God is worthy	15:29
	of our trust. Here it is that	15:31
	the still small voice got the attention of	15:35
	the	15:40
	prophet in the midst of his anxieties. A	15:41
	still small voice requires	15:47
	a special	15:53
	sort of attention. It does not compete with	15:55
	other sounds in order to get our ear. That's the way	16:00
	God speaks sometimes, only when our full attention	16:05
	is given. Not only are we forced to	16:10
	stop by its stillness, but we are quietened	16:14
	by its smallness, soothed by	16:19
	its serenity, consoled by its power. As	16:23
	we walk with the Lord, we learn to be thankful for this	16:28
	twist in divine logic. God	16:33
	will not always compete with	16:37
	the sounds that boom in our universe.	16:40
	Don't make the mistake of insisting	16:46
	that God always vindicate the promise with	16:51
	trouncing defeats of the enemy, with trouncing	16:55
	defeats of those who supply opposition to	17:00
	our efforts.	17:05
	Do not demand financial success, a body	17:07
	free of pain, a mind free of worry	17:11
	and of anxiety. We stand to miss some of	17:16
	the most precious assurances. We can only hear the	17:20
	earthquake, the wind, the crackling of	17:25
	the fire.	17:30
	There is confidence and quietness that bears us up into the	17:32
	presence of the Lord.	17:38
	On some occasions, the divine logic twists and	17:40
	demand that we be still and know our God.	17:45
	Twist number	17:50
	three is that you are not finished when	17:53
	you think you	17:58
	are. Surely the	18:01
	prophet wanted to take a rest, following	18:02
	that ordeal	18:06
	on Carmel, following his running from that wicked	18:07
	woman named Jezebel, just so much pushing	18:12
	around, we've had enough.	18:15
	I think I know my limit, every once in a while, I feel it. Now, I just don't want to	18:18
	be pushed anymore.	18:23
	I don't feel like standing in the attack mode or in	18:25
	the fleeing mode all the time.	18:30
	Sometimes I want to be free.	18:34
	Sometimes I just want to rest. Sometimes I	18:39
	want to relax. But alas, just at	18:43
	the time we're ready to settle	18:48
	down, relax, the announcement comes, followed	18:53
	by the summons: "You are not finished yet.	18:57
	There is more	19:03
	work to do." All who have been faithful	19:05
	to the	19:09
	Lord have had or will have those	19:11
	moments when we would	19:15
	prefer no more assignments, no	19:16
	more appointments to committees, no more	19:21
	task force, no more trips to the school board, no	19:26
	more visits to the classroom, no	19:31
	more of those taxing and trying meetings when	19:35
	we try to persuade someone to change the	19:39
	method of their madness. So	19:44
	many times, we'd prefer to just leave the government alone and let the running of	19:48
	the city or the nation fall into the	19:52
	hands of the elected officials, persons who are paid to safeguard the	19:56
	public interest and we could spend our time in	20:00
	the suburbs on vacations in the mountains, down at	20:05
	the beach.	20:09
	Don't you ever get to that place where you just don't	20:11
	want any more assignments? No more telephone calls, nobody	20:14
	bothering	20:20
	you. No one requesting your	20:22
	effort or your labor. Those of my generation are quick to	20:24
	recall how much time and energy we put into the Civil Rights movement, protest	20:29
	against the Vietnam	20:35
	war, so many other causes that claimed our	20:37
	attention along the way. But alas, there is	20:42
	the	20:46
	presence of persisting and pernicious	20:47
	poverty in our land.	20:52
	There are the threats that our atmosphere and that our water	20:54
	and our land will be poisoned.	20:59
	When we look around us, there is trouble from every	21:01
	side. The hopeless condition of the homeless.	21:06
	The depravity of drug traffic with its wars and its addiction.	21:11
	Generation around us being ushered into the	21:18
	ignorance and valuelessness that just may be	21:22
	the greatest threat to our culture.	21:26
	What else could God possibly ask following	21:30
	this ordeal on Carmel and	21:35
	this chase by Jezebel?	21:38
	That's the logical question to ask, this	21:41
	point where	21:46
	Elijah is being sent forth. And so help me,	21:48
	I have tremendous sympathy for the prophet when	21:53
	I read this account. There's only so	21:57
	much that can be asked in a	22:03
	reasonable manner.	22:07
	Ah, that the twist of divine logic. Even	22:09
	though the prophet felt like taking a rest, the	22:14
	moment that God sent	22:20
	him was the time to anoint a new king in Syria, new	22:22
	commander over the people of God, and	22:29
	a prophet in the land of Israel.	22:31
	Through the anointing of Hazael, Jehu and	22:36
	Elisha, vengeance would be visited upon	22:38
	the house of Om	22:44
	ri and the sordid acts of Jezebel would be	22:46
	brought to an end.	22:49
	Tired, rest broken, weary, feeling that we have	22:53
	no more to	22:57
	give, God says to us, "There	22:58
	is	23:02
	another act that I require of you," and	23:03
	who in the hand of	23:09
	God can say no?	23:11
	Finally, there's the fourth twist and this is perhaps the most frustrating one of	23:15
	all. For this one is the divine logic which	23:20
	informs the prophet at the end of the ordeal that	23:25
	he's not the only faithful one left. What a	23:29
	twist.	23:33
	Put yourself in Elijah's place, I can imagine myself thinking, if	23:34
	not	23:40
	saying, "Well, thank you God for telling me,	23:41
	now, that I'm not the only one. And that there	23:46
	are seven thousand of those who are faithful.	23:50
	Seven thousand, why, I could have used some help	23:53
	on Mt. Carmel. I could have used some help	23:57
	when I was running from Jezebel. Thank you, like thank you for telling me	24:01
	now that I'm not the only	24:07
	one.	24:11
	Thank you for telling me now.	24:13
	But, but, but, but, but, why send me when you've	24:15
	got seven thousand more? Send one up	24:19
	to Damascus to anoint Hazael. Send another over	24:23
	to Jehu, to	24:28
	anoint another commander. I	24:30
	don't mind going over to to Abelmeholah to anoin	24:32
	t Elisha to be my successor, I kind of like the son of Shaphat,	24:37
	I wouldn't mind doing that	24:42
	but why can't you let somebody else go	24:43
	to that dangerous	24:48
	city of Damascus? Now you tell me after	24:50
	all my	24:56
	trouble that there are seven thousand have not bowed	24:57
	a knee to Baal and who have not kissed	25:02
	him." But I tell you, that's the twist in	25:07
	divine logic.	25:13
	Lord only tells the prophet of the	25:17
	others who are faithful, after	25:21
	reinforcing Elijah's own faith.	25:25
	Only after drawing a "Yes" from his lips and	25:31
	from his heart does God let him know that he is	25:37
	not alone. Can't you see the Spirit twisting a "Yes" out	25:42
	of his soul?	25:48
	Have you ever felt the Spirit twisting a	25:52
	Yes out of your	25:57
	soul? Compelling a "Yes" before	25:58
	informing	26:03
	you of the support you have around you? Look	26:04
	at the way the Lord does business. He feeds the	26:09
	prophet with angel food, sends	26:15
	an angel to touch him.	26:16
	God speaks in a still small voice, letting	26:22
	him know that he is not forsaken, that he is not	26:26
	alone, and from the bottom of	26:32
	his heart to the depths of his soul, the	26:35
	Spirit commands and yes, even twists a "Yes"	26:40
	from him.	26:44
	Then the announcement, "I have not left you alone." No,	26:48
	this final twist. All of the	26:56
	evidence is arrayed to tell	27:00
	us that we are the only ones who	27:02
	are left, we need to expect seven thousand have	27:06
	not bowed their knee or kissed Baal. Let Baal be	27:12
	disappointed again. Be one in	27:21
	that faithful number. All the	27:25
	children are not doing drugs, throwing their	27:29
	lives away. Everybody isn't dealing	27:33
	dirty and living crooked. Oh that the	27:39
	seven	27:43
	thousand who have not bowed would	27:44
	rise up and obey the command of	27:48
	the Lord, not	27:53
	leaving the handful to feel that they have	27:55
	been left alone. Let the divine logic twist	28:00
	on in your	28:07
	life.	28:21

Item Info

Title:

William C. Turner, Jr. - "The Twist of Divine Knowledge" (June 25, 1989)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 0:03. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 28:17.
Four points regarding the "Twist of divine logic" - We are not forsaken; God's mode of sustaining presence is unpredictable; We are not finished when we think we are; We are not the only faithful ones. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4pn8xw6k

Date:

June 25, 1989

Speaker:

Turner, William Clair, 1948-

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

1 Kings

Chapter and Verse:

1 Kings 19:9-18

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0440
ref8638_mo0
uachapelsermaud
duke:321075
dcrau001367
ark:/87924/r4pn8xw6k
8d73a69f-179d-459d-ade8-925f69a17712

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William C. Turner, Jr. - "The Twist of Divine Knowledge" (June 25, 1989)

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