Bootstraps

Obadiah 3-4

The Pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” Though you sour aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.

As Jerusalem fell the people fled. In their flight, the people of Edom captured them and turned them over to the Babylonians. Once they were gone they then took advantage of the absence started living in the abandoned areas. God chose to speak out against their conduct on behalf of his people, that is what the book of Obadiah records. Yet, in it the Christian finds a warning as well.

A day doesn’t seem to pass when another pillar of Christianity does not fall or falter. It is only a fool who would say that such a thing “would never happen to me.” The longer the view of history the more a person will see that moral failure is always at the door. Sometimes it is at the door of a close friend and sometimes the door has your own name on it. As God warned Cain, “sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire if for you.” (Genesis 4:7) The people of Edom were finally able to see the Israelites brought low and rejoice over them in their humiliation.

The Christian is never to rejoice over the hardship and trials of others even when those trials and tribulations are well deserved. It is with humility that Christians understand that, but for the grace of God’s mighty hand, falling into sin (or diving as the case may be) is but a late night click away. This is why Christians cannot look on their own apparent righteousness as anything but what it is a gift of God’s divine grace. Christians are those recognize they cannot pay the price their sin deserves and they have no hope even if the bill was paid of being righteous going forward. Christians are those that are clothed in Christ Jesus’s righteousness. As such to glory in the failure of others is to forget were our righteousness comes from.

As Christians look more and more at the author and perfecter of their faith they will realize more and more that they are not the author of their faith neither are they perfecting it. This is why Christians can only glorify in God and his Christ. They have nothing to be proud of that was not given to them! God had to make the bootstraps and give the food for the energy to pull with! There are no self-made Christians.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Standing in the Breach

Psalm 106:23 ESV

Therefore he said he would destroy them—

                had not Moses, his chosen one,

Stood in the breach before him,

                To turn away his wrath from destroying them.

The wayward hearts of the people of Israel are notorious to all who have read or even started reading through Exodus. It does not take long upon their introduction in the book for their wayward nature to show its form. It is seen in Exodus 4:31 when they worship God for seeing their affliction and then in the next chapter (5:21) as they berate Moses and Aaron for the wounds they suffered. Not wanting their freedom enough to endure struggle or trial of any kind. This back and forth between praise and ridicule, faithfulness and treachery is seen over and over. The cycle becoming monotonous to the reader.

Coming to this point in the Exodus the reader probably sides with God. The righteous judgment on immediate condemnation for this wayward nation. Moses, however, felt very differently.  He constantly endured the ridicule of the people, the rebellion against his authority, the attacks on ability, and even on his choice for a wife. Yet, it is he who stands “in the breach” before God and convinces God to spare this generation!

To wrestle with God for the salvation of a people completely undeserving and one that even hates their champion is the thing of Greek tragedy and yet it is to be found in the pages of scripture. With this in mind Christians are assured that God has more in mind for this and them than a simple diversion. It is no longer farcical to see a world where those holding to biblical standards are regarded as bigots who harbor hatred in their hearts by the society at large.

Moses chose not only to love the nation that hated him and his authority, but also to “stand in the breach” that God would actually bless them. He then would continue to lead them in the midst of their rebellion over and over and over. This is to be our example in our age. As voting cycles will come and go, the nation we love will seem to totter between to diametric views and yet we are called to stand “in the breach before him” that this people would not be given over to the righteous condemnation they deserve. Moses was not loved by his generation, but his faithfulness to them and to God, over forty years, would when the next generation. Are we going to be faithful over the long haul? Will we stand in the breach for this people? Will we do so for the decades that will be necessary? That God knows and time will tell, but I pray you will stand in the breach for those you love that do not love you.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

For Us

1 Corinthians 9:9-10, 10:6

For it is written in the Law of Moses “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

This statement by the Apostle Paul is awe inspiring in its breadth and depth. Paul does not say that from a particular point in the law a lesson can be learned rather he says that the law concerning the care of domesticated animals was not written with animals in view as the one benefiting from the law at all but rather people. He makes the statement that God was speaking “entirely for our sake”. True the ox does reap benefit and animals are blessed when man cares for them as he was commanded in the Garden. Yet, the law was given that man would be blessed, that man would learn something in how to conduct himself around others, about how to treat others.

This style of learning works very effectively as God uses the story of a Lamb being taken from his loving master to prick the cold heart of David. God’s intent was that men would see how they are to treat animals and then understand how they are to treat others. Why is this needed? Is it not needed for the same reason as with David? Just as David was so engrossed in his sin that he would not have heard the forthright rebuke of God through the prophet, so too, are our hearts not also so clouded by sin that we do not see or wish to help when other men are in need? Is it easier for me to care for my pet and love them, than it is for one who bares the image of God?

The next chapter holds another amazing verse. As Christians read through the Exodus, the thought that often permeates the conversation is how can they be so stupid? Yet, Paul tells us that this frustrating part of Scripture occurred for us. Often reading through this section I side with God instead of Moses. Whip them out and start over with Moses. Yet, Paul tells us that God endured that generation so that this generation would learn. How often has God blessed me with good things only for me to turn around the next day and demand more? Is not this the lesson of the Exodus? To depend on God’s goodness and provision “day by day and with each passing moment”?

The first two verses help us understand that God wrote the law out of concern for us, the last verse shows that he endured generations of evil for us. This helps us understand that scripture although not written to us it was written and events did occur FOR US. As you read scripture and the thought comes into your head, “Why did God let that happen” or “Why does God care so much about ___” remember that he has written this for us. Lean in and dig deeper that you might learn the lesson he has for you in that text. As you endure again and again hearing how they fell away and God was faithful to raise up another judge think, “How great is the fathers love for us?”

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Opportunity

Luke 21:13 ESV

“This will be your opportunity to bear witness”

One of the greatest challenge for the Christian is to see as God sees. Even as Isaiah says “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8) Christians are told by Paul that “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and this is to give the Christian an advantage in understanding spiritually discernable truth. As the bible makes audacious and perplexing statements as well as demands upon them that are hard to grasp they are encouraged to continue to grasp at them knowing that he has given them the ability to grasp even as life sometimes has the feeling of the Lover in the Song of Solomon, as she seeks about the city in the middle of the night looking and longing for her lover. So too are Christians called to seek after their lover, the man Christ Jesus.

This single verse declares that Christians are going to be given opportunities to witness to what Christ has done, paid the price for sin and rose from the dead, what he will do, come again to judge the living and the dead, reigning over all, and what that requires of the hearer, complete submission to him as the one and only Lord of their life. Yet, how are we to prepare for this opportunity? What steps should be taken to make sure this opportunity is not squandered? The verse following this answers that question clearly, “Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer”. For those like myself this is a great challenge! Playing out how conversations will go is NOT how Christians prepare for witnessing! This is a great challenge! How many times do we visualize, “first I will say this…then they will say this…Then I will say….”  Yet, this is not to be the case with Christians, why?  Every person is different, every situation is different, and therefore every opportunity will be different!

Notice, also that in this text the opportunity looks different! Jesus starts this section by explaining what is going to happen to his disciples, “they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.” This, Jesus explains, is our “opportunity”! According to Jesus, the majority of Christians have it all wrong! The worst possible situation, or trial as we might prefer, is actually GOD opening up and OPPORTUNITY for us! More than that, in the midst of it, when so much is on the line, no thought is to be given to what to say! What then are we to meditate on? This is to be your focus CHRIST! We are to follow the Hymnists counsel, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace”.

This is why Christians love to read the bible so much. We see our risen savior, we find our love, looking longingly at his face in the words of scripture. We hear his voice calling to the depth of our souls out of its pages. Prepare to witness to his greatness by seeing his face in lines of scripture. Rejoice in the OPPORTUNITIES as his providence makes it possible.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Faith and Hardwork

2 Kings 5:1-3

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

As God works through scripture to reveal more and more of himself. Christians are faced with the decision, do they like God? God is a person with sharp edges that we might not care for. In the history of Naaman Christian find a small portion of this question if they desire to see it. Too often Christians choose to focus on the large details of the story and miss details that deepen and grow the narrative. Revealing more of God’s nature and character.

Many have heard the history of Naaman and choose to keep the lens fixed on the prophet Elisha and how God uses simple obedience to bless Naaman. This time let us widen the lens even more and see what can be found. Let us focus our lens on a family bereaved of their child. Questioning and trying to “get on with life” not knowing what evil has befallen their “little girl” (verse 2) since she was taken from them? Or perhaps the focus should be on the little girl herself potentially having seen her family murdered before her eyes. Now living as a servant to a rich family.

Why did God allow this evil? Why did he allow this little girl to be taken from her family and culture thrust into the great unknown of life? Into these question God gives us a glimpse of how all things “work together for good” (Romans 8:28). The question becomes what can we learn from this little girl and from the household she has been thrust into? This servant Jew has worked her way to the point of being friendly enough with her mistress that she talks openly about her former home and the great prophet that lives in it. Her word is also trusted enough to bring the request before the King of Syria! From this we can determine that she was an industrious and hard worker. Full of empathy and truth. Such that Naaman, on her word, was willing to take on the cumbersome and expensive trip to a rival power and ask for healing of another king!

God brought healing to Naaman, he established a household of believers in Syria, and he gave us a story of faithfulness. All this through the faithful witness of a small child. Trusting God could heal her master. The faith of this little child saw the need of her master and she had the answer, she spoke truth into the darkness of his life. In addressing the problem of evil Christians cannot hide, because we serve a sovereign, all powerful, all knowing God. Those are not his only attributes however! God is Just, God is love, GOD IS GOOD! God denied this little girl her parents and country, that good might come. She trusted this God! Will you trust God in the midst of your trials? When your soul longs for answers and cries out why? At this point will you trust that God is good? That he is able to pay for all the sins you have committed and prepare a place for you with him in paradise? That all you must do is trust him when there seems to be no hope? “I believe in Jesus” is easy to say but will we, when we are buffeted on all sides?

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO