Focus: God's Modus Operandi

Text: Jer.1:10

"See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to ROOT OUT, and to PULL DOWN, and to DESTROY, and to THROW DOWN, to BUILD, and to PLANT."

God is involved in demolition and construction. That is His modus operandi - His system of operation. God is never interested in patchwork. He doesn't believe in a mess or in mixing things up unnecessarily. God hates unholy alliance. He says, "Come out from among them, and be you separate…" He doesn't tolerate pouring a new wine into an old wine skin, or using a new cloth to patch an old one. Jesus Christ says, "But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil" (Mt.5:37). 

Paul says, "But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea"(2Cor.1:18,19). 

In Christ there is no coexistence between yes and no. It is either yes or no response to any issue. There is no room for lies, deception, hypocrisy or compromise.

God never builds on anyone's foundation nor manages a faulty one. He employs us to participate with Him in what He is doing. Whenever and wherever He steps into action, He begins with demolition. He brings down structures constructed in contradiction with His laid down principles and blueprint. Every structure raised without due diligence to His modus operandi is marked for total demolition. He tells Jeremiah, "To root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down…" No stone must be left on top of the other. 

What God builds is always different from what man builds. The enemy sows tares, but God plants wheat. God visited the site of the Tower of Babel, looked at the city that man was building, disapproved of it, and put an end to the faulty project. God speaks through Jeremiah, "And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD" (Jer.31:28).

When man finishes building, God brings His plumbline. In Amos, we read, "Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more" (Ams.7:7,8). The leaders who built Israel missed the divine blueprint. Even with the plumbline in their hands they could not get the structure right. God applied His own plumbline and discovered that there was a structural error. Israel as a building lacked structural integrity. It was not built to last. There was need for demolition and reconstruction.

God must get us right. He desires to put things right in our lives. He goes all the way in dealing with our moral flaws and character issues. He hates seeing us dominated and enslaved by the sin of idolatry.

When it came to the matter of idols, God says of Ephraim, "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone" (Hos.4:7). In 8:4, God says, "They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off." In 13:2, He says, "And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves." 

Through the Babylonian captivity God demolished idolatry in Israel, so that in Hos.14:8, God says, "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found." God demolished and reconstructed. God's story never ends with demolition and destruction, but with planting and construction. We are God's garden and building. He will keep working on us until He gets what He wants. Paul says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil.1:6). 

Christ is working on the church to "present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph.5:27). There is "a time to break down, and a time to build up." You are God's project, and He won't let anyone ruin you for Him. He is set on getting the best out of you. You are going to end up as God's unique edifice, His beautiful and fruitful garden. God's modus operandi applies to you - from demolition to construction. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter