God's Soverenity over all...today's reminder

Reading along in both Isaiah and Jeremiah this morning, I see the biblical record stating that God is not simply in control, but has his hand firmly on the wheel of destiny. There are many today who will grant that God is in control, but only insofar as he is able to correct history at critical points or change the bad outcomes into good ones for his chosen ones. But few give God the credit he deserves. The testimony of scripture doesn’t paint the picture of a God who is in a constant reaction mode, fixing up the things we mess with and waiting to see what we are going to do next. No, God is not surprised at our actions, but we are all (both regenerate and unregenerate) a part of the over-arching plan for his creation.

For example, in Isaiah 37 we read of Sennacherib, an Assyrian king with quite an attitude. It seems that in the preceding years and months, he and his army had enjoyed great success against all their conquests, without a single failure. In each and every instance, they had overcome their adversaries with little trouble. Stating this fact to King Hezekiah, they matter-of-factly mention that if Israel simply surrenders, it will work out much better for them…but the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Now Sennacherib is a pagan ruler, about as far from being one of God’s chosen children as one could possibly imagine. Yet God speaks through Isaiah to Sennacherib in verses 21 – 29 by asking him why he has mocked the LORD and why he is so haughty. Referring to Sennacherib’s success thus far, the LORD says in verse 26: “Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass…”.

It seems that although Sennacherib may have thought all this conquest was his idea, that the LORD was directing his steps all along. Even though this pagan king will still be responsible for every evil act he carried out (or had carried out), God was still directing each of his steps…and it was all to bring ultimate glory to God. Apparently what Paul states in Ephesians 1 (that God works ALL things according to the counsel of his will), actually means ALL things. As I moved in my reading to Jeremiah 10, I found it fascinating that God chose to drive home this truth with verse 23, which reads “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.”

To be certain, the twin truths that God is sovereign and in complete control, yet we are still responsible moral agents are difficult for us to get our brain around…perhaps even impossible. Many have decided that God is only sovereign to a point, but our free will still controls destiny. But that is a man-centered theology at best, and the scriptures certainly don’t bear this out.

There is some comfort though that the wrestling match between these truths is not new. In answer to the a question one might ask when faced with this truth, which is stated in Romans 9:19 as...“Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” Paul answers by simply stating a fact we all too often overlook. In the next verse (20) he states “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”.

In essence, Paul reminds us that this is God’s creation (not ours), and we are part of it…therefore, God gets to decide how it works…and not us.

God IS Sovereign over all, and works all things according to the counsel of his will.

We ARE responsible for our actions.

Everything accomplished will bring glory to God one way or the other….either as a vehicle through which he will display the wrath of his judgments against sin, or as a vehicle through which he will display the immeasurable riches of his grace.

To God be the glory !!!

Hall of Faith

I think all too many of us tend to think of ourselves as average, or perhaps below average, when we compare ourselves and our faith to that of the individuals mentioned in the Bible. In particular, there is a chapter in Hebrews (11) which is referred to often as the Hall of Faith. This chapter calls out many of the faithful and how they responded to God’s call into their lives, and is mentioned to serve as examples for the people to whom the book of Hebrews was written. Few of us would consider ourselves to be Hall of Faith worthy.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”, and many of our struggles with faith come about simply because we don’t see any unmistakable signs that God is directing our lives in a given direction. While this chapter mentions people of all kinds (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Issac, Joseph, and Moses to name a few), it also mentions someone I read about just the other day…Gideon.

In Judges 6, we read of God’s call on Gideon’s life, and far from just accepting everything he was told on faith, Gideon had more than a little “help” in this area. The call begins with a visitation from an angel, and during this encounter the angel takes his staff and touches it to some meat and bread. At that moment, fire springs up from the rock they were sitting on, and consumes them both.

Ah, but that wasn’t good enough for Gideon. He tells God that he will believe if God will cause the morning dew to soak a fleece set upon the ground, but make all the ground around it dry.

God does it.

Just to be sure, he then asks God to do the opposite (soak the ground around the fleece, but leave the fleece dry).

The next morning, God does this as well.

The story goes on with Gideon gathering 32,000 men of war to attack the Midianites, which would still have had the Israelites outnumbered. It is only at this point in the story that Gideon begins to show true faith and trust in the Lord. God tells him he has too many men, and to tell everyone who is afraid to go back home. I don’t know about you, but if more than 2 out of every 3 of my men then packed their things and left, that would discourage me.

With only 10,000 men left, God tells him he still has too many men. Taking the remaining force to a river, he tells everyone to drink from the river. Only those who lap the water like a dog are retained. Now the faith must really kick in, since only 3% of the men drink in this way (300 of them).

Now very few of us are called into physical battles with Midianite hordes, but we are called to walk in the light as Christ walked in the light, to care for the hurting and poor, and to share our testimonies and the gospel with those around us…both those we know and those we do not.

Yet no one is causing fire to leap from rocks, or giving us signs in the dew. Instead, we are in many ways called to a higher standard. In John 20:29, Jesus tells Thomas (another follower who had to see evidence or a sign first) that those who believe without seeing are blessed, and 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

God isn’t looking at how many Midianites we kill.…no, he is looking at our hearts. Even in the small things, we are to walk by faith. We are to continue to obey, even when there is no evidence that we are on the right track except that we are following God’s word. Instead of making exceptions for ourselves when our planned actions are contrary to God’s direction for our lives, we simply obey. We share our material things with those in need around us, our time and effort with those who need us, and our faith with others, even if no one ever responds positively in our presence.

When the roll is called up there one day, we may be quite surprised to hear the tales of the people who are in God’s Hall of Faith. I believe that ranked above those who needed a sign and fought might battles, will be the quiet man who simply shares the good news with others, the housewife who cares for the sick, the child of God who shares the good news with others, and the person who gives of himself to provide food for those who have none, gives to a homeless shelter, or helps to provide relief to the hurting in the world.

Where will you be in the Hall of Faith…?

Just some interesting tidbits

As I continue on with my Bible reading plan (which is a bit "different" to say the least), I find some rather interesting things I just didn't think about before. In Genesis 20:12, when Abraham is trying to explain himself to Abimelech as to why he said that Sarah was his sister, I learned that part of the reason (aside from fearing he would be killed because men would want her (she must have been quite special, since by the time of Genesis 20 she was 90 years old...and he was still afraid they would kill him to possess her), was that she WAS actually his sister...the daughter of his father.

Aside from the "really...?" factor of all this, it is interesting to note that 400+ years later God would relay through Moses to the people of Israel that sleeping with the daughter of one's father (much less marrying her) is an abomination that would cause the two of them to be cutoff from the sight of the children of their people (or banished from the congregation) (Leviticus 18:9, 20:17, and Deuteronomy 27:22).

So why was this not condemned in the Bible? There are some things we simply aren't told, and must simply believe that God works through the sinfulness of man sometimes to bring about his purposes. We do know that things were somewhat "colorful" in those times, and that God uses it all for his purposes. Nahor (Abraham's brother), has sex with his other brother's daughter and has a son called Bethuel, who fathers Laban (the father of Leah and Rachel whom Jacob (Issac's son) marries to setup the patriarchs of the twelve tribes).

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Another one that had me scratching my head for a while was when Jesus touches the leper in Matthew 8:2 in order to cleanse him. Just a day or two earlier I had read in Leviticus 5:3-6 that touching someone who was unclean (and lepers "qualify" for this (Leviticus 13:3 among other references)) was in itself a sin....at least according to the Law given by God to Moses, to in turn give to the children of Israel.

Scratching my head, because we are told in at least three places in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, and 1 Peter 2:22) that Christ did not sin while on earth.

In Haggai 2:12-13 we learn that if one touches something unclean with something holy, the holy thing doesn't make the unclean thing clean....the holy thing is defiled.

No, the only way you can touch someone or something unclean and not become unclean yourself is if you make the other person or thing clean in the process. There is only one person who can transfer cleanness, and that is God. When Jesus touched the leper, He was essentially making another claim to deity.

Jesus certainly didn't have to touch him to heal him (he performed a few long-distance healings), but he DID touch him.

Jesus, who is totally pure and holy, knowing nothing of sin himself, left the glory of heaven to become one of us, touching the foulness of humanity, but not defiling himself in the process. Instead, the uncleanness he touches, becomes clean by his power.

In whom do you trust?

In my reading yesterday, I came across a familiar couple of verses in Psalms:

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalms 9:9-10 (ESV)

Verse 10 always seems to challenge me. Those who know God's name, who have come to have an experiential knowledge of God's character in their own lives, put their trust in him. But what does it mean to really place our trust in God?

If we were to depend upon the dictionary definition of trust, it would mean that we would rely on the integrity, strength, ability, and surety of God, confident that he would care for us. Of course, the ultimate measure of our trust in God is our core belief that he can be depended upon to protect and keep us. Ah, but this can be hard in hard times.

Picture a child on the edge the community swimming pool, uncertainty and a healthy dose of apprehension painted on his little face. His father, three feet away and in the pool chest deep, encourages the boy to jump, telling him that he will catch him and not let him go under. To a great extent, the level of established trust between the boy and his father will determine the child's actions.

Has his father ever told him he would catch him in a pool, then failed?

Has his father ever told him he would do something for certain, then failed to do so?

The final decision will be based in large part on the father's trustworthiness in the opinion of his son. If the son feels that Dad has let him down before, even if it was to teach him a valuable skill or lesson, the child will very likely remain where he is.

Our perceptions of times that God has let us down colors our own willingness to trust him in times of need. While we know he loves us, and has saved us from calamity and trials previously, there is this nagging thought that if he really loved us, we wouldn't be in our current situation. So often, we tend to view God's trustworthiness against the backdrop of our perception of a pleasant, happy, and abundant life....even though the Bible clearly tells us that it is through many tribulations that we will enter his Kingdom.

As such, our trust must be based upon something deeper. We must trust that God's direction for our lives, both in feast and in famine, in good times and in trials, is the best course of action not only for ourselves personally, but for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for the lost and dying around us, and as the means God uses to bring about his purposes in the world. How we choose to face these challenges can not only help us grow as children of God, but can be a powerful witness to others. The testimony of our trusting reaction to hardship can even be the very purpose God has led us into that place.

Trusting that each situation in which we find ourselves is a part of God's over-arching purpose, we can both rest in the knowledge that God is most definitely in control, and be energized even in the most difficult of times. God has placed us wherever we are today for a purpose. If that purpose is not clear to us, it is not that our current situation is meaningless...it is a wake-up call to us to look for the reason and serve God in this place, whether it be a green pasture, or a dark valley.

Those who know, truly know, God's name...that is who he really is, place their trust in him.

Through the study of his word, prayer, and fellowship with like-minded believers, we can begin to know God's name. We can live and walk in his light...and we can be assured that even though we may walk in the valley of shadows, he is leading us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

In whom do you trust?

Just a roll of the dice

There are some who believe that God is just waiting up in Heaven to see what we'll do next. If we, through our free will decisions, take history too far off course, then God does a "course correction" and sets everything right again. Personally, I'm not one of them. I believe that the testimony of scripture portrays a God who is not simply in authority over his creation, but actually is in control of everything, from the flight of the sparrow to every roll of the dice.

Proverbs 16:33 tells us "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.". As we are reading along in our Bibles, that simple verse often flies right by us. However, what it is saying is profound. In Biblical times, (especially the Old Testament but also the New Testament), the casting of lots (the roll of dice essentially) was used to determine decisions by many peoples.

The Urim and Thummim mentioned in Leviticus 8:8 and Exodus 28:30 were used to determine the Lord's judgments by the children of Israel (also referenced in 1 Samuel 14:41, Ezra 2:6, and Nehemiah 7:65 to name a few). Other people throughout the Bible used this method as well, such as the sailors on the boat with Jonah (Jonah 1:7), as well as a rather nefarious gentlemen I was just reading about in Esther, named Haman.

Haman had been elevated to a position of authority, yet Mordecai would not bow down to him. Infuriated at Mordecai's insolence, and plotting revenge on him, Haman sought to not only kill Mordecai (who he plans to publicly hang), but also to scheme to wipe out all the Jews from King Ahasuerus kingdom as well (all 127 provinces).

In the first month of the Jewish year (Nisan), he attempts to determine the ideal month and day (according to "the gods") for the kingdom-wide genocide by casting lots. The month chosen by this method is Adar, which is the twelfth month, and the day was the thirteenth day.

Through God's providential control of every roll of the dice, the Jewish people were given 11 months to prepare. During this time, God not only caused Mordecai to be honored by Haman himself against his wishes, but finally to have Mordecai be raised to prominence in the kingdom, Haman hanged on the very gallows meant for Mordecai (on the very day Haman had planned to have it carried out), and an edict written that the Jews were allowed to put up an armed defense against anyone coming against them. On that fateful day, over 75,000 enemies of the Jews were slain.

This short book is simply filled with God's sovereign hand active not in miraculous ways, but in the most minute details of life.

He causes Queen Vashti to refuse to answer the King's summons on one of his feast days. Which leads to Esther being rounded up into custody to be paraded in front of the king because of her beauty.

He causes the two eunuchs who were plotting against the king to speak of this in front of Mordecai while he was at the king's gate hoping to speak briefly with Esther, at which time he told her of the plot, and she told the king in Mordecai's name.

He later causes the king to have a sleepless night, so that he reads the book of memorable deeds and notices that Mordecai was not rewarded for revealing a plot against him previously.

He causes Haman to agree with his wife and friends to construct a gallows 75 feet high, upon which he himself will later be hanged.

And he causes Haman to choose the timing of his planned, evil deed by the roll of dice.....the outcome of which he controls.

I am so very thankful that we have a God who works ALL things according to the counsel of his will. It should be a great comfort to every child of God that he is in complete control, and that nothing happens without his enabling or restraining hand being firmly on the wheel.

Circumcision overlooked?

Once again, my Bible reading caused something to jump out at me again. As I was reading in Joshua 5 the other day, I noticed in verse 7 that the children who were born during the wilderness wandering were not circumcised, so this was required before they proceeded with their promised land conquest. This struck me as odd during this reading, where I've probably just glazed over this before.

Back in Genesis 17, circumcision was established as the covenant sign of God's people with Abraham, and God even goes so far as to say that if anyone fails to have the sign (circumcision) they are to be cut off (or banished) from his people (verse 14). This is to occur on the eight day for newborn males.

Later, in Leviticus 12, God tells Moses the same thing, namely that all male children are to be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives, and this teaching occurred between the receipt of the 10 commandments and the end of Moses life which was prior to the ascension of Joshua into a position of leadership.

In Exodus 12 we learn that in order for someone to partake of the Passover, they must be circumcised as well. Later in Leviticus 23 we see the institution of the Passover, which is to be a yearly event. In fact, they started this yearly celebration of the Passover as early as the first month of their second year after the exodus from Egypt (Numbers 9). Later in that same chapter it states that if someone fails to observe the Passover they are to be cut off (or banished) from God's people (verse 13).

This tends to shed a different light on the wandering years in the wilderness than I had imagined previously. During this time, apparently a rather significant number of the male children born were not circumcised according to the law, yet were not banished from their people. In addition, these young men either did not participate in the Passover, or participated in violation of the law. In either case, they were not banished for this either.

I already knew that God wasn't pleased with the children of Israel since they were wandering for 40 years, but this sheds some new light (at least for me) on another facet of their disobedience during their wilderness walk.

For some reason, I had always entertained a somewhat sanitized view that for the most part they followed the law during their wilderness wanderings, but such is apparently not the case.

Yet our loving God looks at the failings of His chosen people now as He did then, failings both unintentional and otherwise, and is willing to renew relationships again if his people will humble themselves, repent, and turn to their rock, their shield, their mighty fortress....their God.

The walls of Jericho

My Bible reading today took me into Joshua 6 where the walls of Jericho fell down. You know, for some reason I had either always been taught (or just thought) that the entire wall all around the city just came down that day...but I found that most likely wasn't the case.

Rahab's place of residence was actually a part of the city walls (Joshua 2:15), and she was told to stay in her house with all her relatives on the day the children of Israel attacked (Joshua 2:18). If all the walls fell down, everyone that was in her household would have died that day if all the walls fell, yet we know that not only did that not happen (Joshua 6:23), but that she went on to become the Great, Great Grandmother of King David !

Joshua 6 tells us that each of the children of Israel outside of the city of Jericho (when the walls fell), went into the city straight before him. The bible doesn't really tell us if they attacked from all sides at once or not, but if they did, a very different picture than what I had thought was probably true. They would have formed a circle on all sides of the city....except for a gap in this circle just big enough to allow the portion of the wall where Rahab's house stood to remain standing.

As amazing as the walls just falling down is, the fact that a portion stayed up to protect one of the members of the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 is more amazing still.

It seems that God shows me new things every time I read his word.