18 October 2010: Speech

Posted on October 18, 2010 by droseland

“Actions speak louder than words.”  “Talk is cheap.”  “A little less talkin’ and a lot more action.”  For some it is easy to say the right thing in a moment of emotional fervor, yet follow-through so often lags or lacks. You burn far fewer calories making promises or saying what someone wants to hear than actually carrying out the content of the words. We have all been burned enough times by “cheap talk” and no follow-through that we are often ready to discount verbal communications altogether.  “Talk is cheap.”

The problem is not that people are talking, though.  The problem is that they are not doing what they say.  This is not how Christians have been instructed to conduct themselves, and outsiders rightly revolt at what they see as hypocrisy. If we observe the Bible on this very issue, we will find the right way to prioritize speech and action so that we present a congruent message when we express God’s love in the Gospel.

The Command

“Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. ” (Colossians 4:6, NAS)

This command is translated in the imperative because the statement carries the force of the preceding command, “walk” in verse 5.  This is the third instruction from Paul to the Colossians about partaking with him in the Gospel ministry.  The first, Col 4:2-4, was to pray persistently with thanksgiving and for his ministry.  The second command was to “walk in wisdom toward those outside.”  Now we have speech.

There is actually no verb in v6, which is interesting since Paul is commanding speech. This literary device, called ellipsis, is  a way of being terse and emphatic.  Literally the Greek reads, “Your word: always in grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should answer each one.”  Paul often issues commands like this, where you can get his meaning clearly without him supplying the verb. Romans 12:9-13 is a list of commands to that have no main verbs. To convey the thought in English most translators supply the verb to be for clarity.  There is no question that Paul is commanding speech here.

But what is his instruction about our logos?  First, he assumes that we will speak to outsiders and therefore does not issue a command to speak. It is more like “when you speak.”  There is a latent expectation that you will have verbal interaction with “each one.” That means everyone with whom you have occasion to speak, not necessarily everyone you encounter!  We are not in the business of forcing doors open; verse 3 says God opens the doors. The specific thing being commanded is quality of speech.  Our speech is to be with grace.

Grace

Here is one of the greatest and, sadly, misunderstood terms in the Bible, especially Pauline literature.   Grace is a very simple concept.  The best one-word gloss for it is gift.  The reason why gift is the key idea in the word CHARIS (χαρις) or grace is it is impossible to earn or deserve a gift.  Rom 4:4 (NKJV) and 11:6 make this issue very explicit. You can earn a wage. You can make a purchase with that wage.  But to receive a true gift, you cannot pay for it.  Many are confused about this in their interactions with others.  We all have received “gifts with strings.”  Rather than being a gift, someone gives you something to pay you in advance for future behavior.  This is manipulation, not grace.  Ever see someone try manipulation in the Gospel ministry?  Not Paul.

In this command, gracious speech has a purpose.  When God opens the door to speak (v3), you need to enter it appropriately, with the right kind of word.  This is essential to knowing how to proceed in the conversation.  Always lead with grace.  This means giving the other person kindness, compassion, and respect, for example.  But let’s not restrict our applications more specifically than the passage requires.  Whatever you say, your speech is to be that of a giver.  The used car salesman approach is not a giver but a seller.  The world really has no analogy to the attitude with which we proceed in sharing the message of eternal life.  This is the striking difference between the Gospel and the spirit of the world.  There is no free lunch; but the Bread of Life is offered free-of-charge to any who will eat.

This instruction for entering the work of Paul, extended through the Colossians to every believer, gives you everything you need in the right sequence to be effective as a witness for Jesus Christ.

Three Thoughts

1.  The Gospel is a message, not a lifestyle.

2.  The Gospel message requires a consistent lifestyle for those who would communicate it.

3.  When it is time to speak, lead with Grace.  A message about God’s grace which is not delivered in grace is just as incongruent as a message about eternal life from someone who is not enjoying it.

Passage to Pray

Col 4:3

Memory Verse

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. ” (Colossians 4:2–6, NAS)

Posted in Bible Study Helps, New Testament Commands, Paul, Word Meanings (Lexicography) | Leave a comment

15 October 2010: Walk

Posted on October 15, 2010 by droseland

Why are we here?  Specifically, why after receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior are you here?  An outside observer might shock you with what he thinks your priorities are.  From looking at how you spend your time, he might say, “You’re here for entertainment” or “you’re here for work.”  In many cases, especially in new romantic relationships he would say, “You’re here for the relationship you are in” because it drives all priorities and motivates all decisions.

How are you spending your life?

Of recent notoriety is a young American hero who died for our freedom in Afghanistan named Robert J. Miller.  His life ended on this earth in January of 2008.  Yesterday would have been his 27th birthday.  A young man of only twenty-five, Staff Sergeant Miller spent his life quickly and valiantly by killing dozens of enemy combatants in a successful bid to save his team members.  You can see his profile http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/miller/profile.html.  He won our nation’s highest military honor by giving all of himself for his friends.

Sergeant Miller was in the Army for less than five years, yet he died defending his team members in a brief, hell-on-earth engagement that lasted only a few minutes.  The men he saved will live on.  The story rarely goes this way.  A few men ambushed by a vastly superior force (the report says the attack was somewhere near 140 insurgents) rarely survive the encounter, and in this case the whole team lived because one man drew the withering fire of the enemy mass.

Rare men like Robert Miller, who selflessly sacrifice in an instant all the time they have left for all the time left to their companions, remind us that life is made up of our minutes, hours, and days.  We should “redeem the time.”

The Command

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. ” (Colossians 4:5, KJV)

This is the second installment in a complex of three commands from Paul concerning the Colossians’ fellowship in his Gospel ministry. The Mission of the Church for 2000 years has been the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, His death on the Cross as a substitute for sinners, and His resurrection on the third day.

Not only should we “pray without ceasing” regarding this ongoing mission (Col 4:2-4), we should “walk in wisdom.”

Paul on Walking

This is one of Paul’s favorite words for the believer’s spiritual life after first believing in Christ.  The word in Greek is PERIPATEO (περιπατέω), and it means to walk, as translated.  I opted for the KJV this time over the NAS because the latter translated it “conduct yourselves.” That translation misses the continuity with the other places Paul commands the believer’s worthy walk.  The verb occurs 96 times in the NT; Paul uses it exactly a third of those, 32 times.  Some favorite examples of Paul’s description of your life as a “walk” are 1 Thes 2:12, 4:1, and Gal 5:16.  “How’s your walk?” gets to the whole panorama of a believer’s spiritual life.  The word is a vivid description of life because it accounts for the fact of progression.  We really never stop walking; the question is what kind of walk is it?  Why are you walking?  Where are you walking?  For whom are you walking?  In what power are you walking?  In what way are you walking towards outsiders?  All of these different dimensions of your walk or spiritual life add up to the summary portrait of you, the believer in Jesus Christ.  In your walk are all your decisions, desires, and actions as you live out your days in eternal relationship to God.

The specific facet of your walk being enjoined here is the way it addresses outsiders.  You walk or live somehow in relationship to “those outside.”  You can do it in folly or with wisdom, but your life is expressing some orientation to the outsider.  Many in our busy society think they have nothing to do with “outsiders.”  That itself is an orientation.  Paul does not say “reject those outside,” he says, “walk in wisdom toward them.”

Wisdom

In the Bible, wisdom could be summarized as skill for living in God’s presence.  The idea is applied know-how to accomplish a task, and the ultimate “task” is relating to your Creator.  God has a Mission, and it targets “them that are without” or “outsiders.”  “Without” never meant “have-nots;” it means “those outside” the circle.  The circle, in context, is the household of Faith, the Church.  The wisdom is in dealing with unbelievers.   How do you get wisdom?  Ask God for it.  God is the only source of wisdom, according to Solomon and James, among others. See Proverbs 1:7 and James 1:5.

Walking with wisdom towards unbelievers is the second essential in the ministry of the Gospel as Paul develops it in Colossians 4.  It means that we have to provide the proper context in our walk for the Message of Jesus Christ.  The walk is not sufficient unless it is accompanied by speech, according to v6, but we probably should not be so quick to give the message if our conduct is at odds with it!  Wisdom involves humility and love, selflessness and truth.  Wisdom is so often the holding of the tongue until its use will actually be useful.  Wisdom is most evident when you see intentional thinking before impulsive action.

Redeeming the Time

This favorite phrase in the KJV suggests many applications, yet the meaning in the context is unique:  wisdom in your walk towards outsiders is how you spend your life well.  Most heroism is not conducted in the singular, spectacular event, yet a pattern of consistency and good priorities in selfless service to others bears a tight correspondence with the all-at-once heroism we rightly and tearfully celebrate.  God knows how fast your fuse will burn (Eccl 3).  He requires you to choose whether your light is going to accomplish anything He values.

Three Thoughts

1.  Personal Evangelism:  The conduct of our lives is the context of our message.  Consistency is paramount as we live-out the One we seek to communicate, namely Jesus Christ.

2.  God’s Plan:  If you get your walk with God right, which will be according to His Word, then the context will be in place for sharing His message.   The two facets of your walk are different, but the cause-effect relationship between the two requirements cannot be denied.  God is first.

3.  Priorities:  Getting to the fullness of God’s blessings for your life involves a whole-life orientation.  This walk is not for part-timers.

Passage to Pray

Psalm 19

Memory Verse

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ” (Colossians 4:2–5, NKJV)

Posted in New Testament Commands, Paul | 1 Comment

13 October 2010: Devote Yourselves to Prayer

Posted on October 13, 2010 by droseland

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we’ve noted in the past, is the most sacred trust ever given to mankind.  It is often corrupted by a wrong or unclear presentation, and as with the Galatians, we should regard a false Gospel presentation as from the worst possible source (Gal 1:8-9).  The Gospel is not “Be good” but “Be-LIEVE.”  We must understand and communicate that God has done it all, that we receive His faithful works on our behalf by simple faith.  So many Christians try to preach a Gospel of man’s faithfulness, missing the point entirely that we are responsible to acknowledge God’s faithfulness in our response of believing His Word.

In a recent national conference for the Free Grace Alliance one of my favorite evangelists and seminary professors, Dr. R. Larry Moyer, gave a message on witnessing to the lost from Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians.  It was a great encouragement to me and everyone present, for Larry is a gifted man with a wonderful balance in his communication.  We learned, we were encouraged, we laughed, some cried.  You can visit his para-church evangelistic ministry at evantell.org.  I would like to examine Paul’s commands in Colossians 4:2-6 for the next three entries of “Attention to Orders.”

The Command

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; ” (Colossians 4:2, NAS)

This may well be a life-changing command, especially when you grasp what Paul is communicating by the word translated devote.  This verse begins a new topic (v1 is part of chapter 3’s discussion), which is the ministry of the Gospel that he shares with the believers in Colossae.  In v2, there is the right way to pray. Verses 3 and 4 supply appropriate content for this devoted prayer regarding Paul’s missionary endeavors.  The idea here is that they are partnering with him through prayer, though they cannot be present with him.  We cannot all be Paul, but we can all pray.  In v5 Paul moves to their conduct in general with regard to all who are candidates for the Gospel message, and v6 specifically addresses the instrument of communicating the Gospel, their speech.

“Devote yourselves” is translating the present imperative from PROSKARTEREO (προσκαρτερέω), which is a neat compound verb that means “persist in.”  The present tense is describing a general condition that should always be true of believers.  Historically, the idea behind this verb is KRATOS (κρατος), strength.  So you get this picture in your mind of a pitbull locking his jaws down on a rope toy.  This is not just perseverance but strong perseverance. The KJV translates it “continue in,” which is more like a Labrador retriever with the chew toy.  It is close, but it lacks the verve of Paul’s word.  The NKJV gets closest with “continue earnestly.”  The notion of “devoting” from the NAS does not exactly mean the same thing as “persist,” though  I will admit it comes close. Now for a devotion like this, it really is too bad that we have to say the command devote is not the best translation for this word!

Why Precision Is Important

You see if you devote yourself to pray but don’t persevere strongly in a continuous lifestyle of prayer, you are not really obeying this command.  It has been rightly said that prayer is not given to us to solve all our problems.  Why?  Think about it.  You may ask for something contrary to God’s wonderful purpose for your life.  He graciously does not answer such prayers the way we want him to.  Sometimes the problems persist–just ask Paul, the human author of this command who also wrote 2 Cor 12:8-9.  The thorn in Paul’s flesh was not a matter of lacking faith in Paul; God just wanted him to suffer through it for his blessing.

There is a tendency in some Christian circles today to suggest that all prayer “works” if only the person praying has the right amount of faith.  Try that philosophy out on praying for a Ferrari. Or a bigger house, or a sixth toe on your right foot.  I’ve tried it, well about the Ferarri, anyway.  It does not “work,”  and I have plenty of faith.  I know–not just think, know– God could give me one if He wanted to.  He owns it all; He could give me a little of it in the form of a red, handmade Italian sports car.  He just does not want to.  We should pray for what we want, and as we grow more into the likeness of our Savior through His Word, what we want will accord more perfectly with what God wants.  To see how to pray in accordance with God’s revealed will, look up Matthew 6:7-13.  There Jesus taught the disciples and the crowd how to pray, not necessarily the only content or what to pray.

Anyone who deals with real loss has to come to grips with God’s ways regarding prayer.  Sometimes the loved one dies anyway, the illness continues, the person makes the next self-destructive choice.  No, prayer is not a “problem solving device,” but it is the context in which we live our spiritual lives.  You could say it is the heartbeat of your spiritual life.

A Lifestyle

Paul is the Apostle of constant prayer.  He commands it in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”  What a wonderful invitation to personal engagement with your Creator!  Actually, First Thessalonians is the Epistle of constant prayer, where Paul says he prays unceasingly in 1:3 and 2:13.  Though he does not use the same language as 1 Thes 5:17 here, Paul is commanding the same thing in Colossians 4:2.  Now how does this work?

I like to say that the lifestyle of constant prayer is partly a recognition that God is omnipresent.  God does not go away when you say “Amen.”  He is always everywhere present within His creation (but He is not part of His creation).  Therefore your constant, personal communication with Him becomes the context for all other interactions  and decisions.  A conversation with another human being would then be contextualized by the background interaction that’s always going on between you and your Heavenly Father.

In the context that Paul delivers this imperative, it is easy to see the benefit of a Christian’s constant prayer: the ministry of the Gospel requires a depth of personal interaction with God that is not possible otherwise.  Obviously your conduct and speech would be fitting regarding outsiders if your focus is already established on God, with Whom you are in fellowship.  Speaking of fellowship, this idea of the constant conversation, the life of prayer, is a corollary to that status of fellowship described in 1 John  1:5-2:2.  If you are in constant fellowship with God, Who is in you, should you not be constantly recognizing that fact? What better way than interaction with Him?  We should reckon it so and act accordingly.

Three Thoughts

1.  Sanctification:    The life to which believers have been called involves a proper context for every choice and every interaction: constant prayer.  This approach equips you for the monumental challenges through which God will lead you.

2.  Prayer:    There is a right way to pray, stated in Col 4:2: “alert” and “with thanksgiving.”  This is a good place to start on the matter of God’s protocol for our prayers: always with thanksgiving.  After dealing with personal sin (1 Jn 1:9) I always start with thanksgiving.  Eph 5:20.

3.  Personal Evangelism:  There is no more important conversation you can have with another human than the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection on their behalf.  That weighty responsibility should keep us close to our Father in prayer.  Prayer for opportunities, for wisdom in speaking, for success–as God measures success–in faithfully witnessing for Jesus Christ.

Passage to Pray

Psalm 23

Memory Verse: Col 4:2-4

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. ” (Colossians 4:2–4, NAS)

Posted in Bible Study Helps, New Testament Commands, Paul, Word Meanings (Lexicography) | Leave a comment

12 October 2010: Rejoice

Posted on October 12, 2010 by droseland

If God prohibits one thing, He often affirmatively commands the opposite.  This is the case with coveting, for example.  This is one of my all-time favorite commands in the Bible, Exodus 20:17 says “Thou shalt not covet….”  We are not to look at other people’s possessions or personal relationships and desire them for ourselves.  The ramifications of this principle within a civilization are breathtaking.  This ethic founded our nation, along with the other nine of the “Ten Commandments.”  But this negative command or prohibition has a corollary in the affirmative, which we’ve examined before, “…be content with such things as ye have,” Hebrews 13:5 (KJV).  To obey the prohibition is to obey the positive command.  So it is with 1 Peter 4:12’s prohibition and 4:13’s command.

The Command

“but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. ” (1 Peter 4:13, NAS)

In our Greek course at church we went through the 1 Pet 4:12-13 complex and saw a beautiful structure in Peter’s argumentation.  This two-verse section has some wonderful features for first-year students to sink their teeth into.  Well, maybe everyone will find these features encouraging as we reflect on God’s revealed Plan.

Verses 12-13 can be framed this way:

“Beloved:

do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you,

which comes upon you for your testing,

as though some strange thing were happening to you;

but

to the degree that you are sharing the sufferings of Christ,

keep on rejoicing,

so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with

exultation. ”

Two Main Points in vv12-13

The two main thoughts here are: “Do not be astonished, but rather be rejoicing.”  These are the main verbs in the main clauses of vv12-13.  Everything is else is modifying these key ideas.  Above all this is about stability despite harrowing circumstances.  Our walk is to be sturdy and consistent, not as though we were “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…” (Eph 4:14). The biblical teaching (doctrine) of sharing in Christ’s sufferings in light of future exultation is intensely helpful in firming-up our resolve and our sense of gratitude and contentment in difficult times.

Instead of being shocked or even dismayed when we hit the rough parts of the journey–even if He leads us into the “death-shadowed valley,” we are to be “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith.”  He suffered for Righteousness. I can partake (κοινωνεω) in those sufferings.

There are many pieces on which we could focus in these two little verses, but I want to mention two in the limited space we allot for a devotion.  First, the word “degree” in the NASB is “extent” in the NKJV and “inasmuch” in the KJV.  All these are connecting the verb “keep on rejoicing” to the reason for your rejoicing.  The idea is that we rejoice in proportion to our partaking in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. It does not say or mean inversely proportional!  That would be the less you suffer, the greater should be your rejoicing.  The Christian life is often counter-intuitive, and here is a prime example. The more you suffer for Christ (cf. vv15-16) , the greater should be your rejoicing.  This is the benefit of slowing down and really observing how the writer makes his statement.

The second key observation to which I would draw your attention is a subtle switch in the tenses for the two times you read “rejoice.”  In the command, “keep on rejoicing,” this is a present imperative which portrays continuous action and refers to your present responsibilities moment-by-moment, day-to-day.  The result clause, “so that” says the goal of the command is that you “rejoice with exultation.”  This time rejoice is an aorist subjunctive, expressing the intended result of the command to rejoice.  The tense shift from present to aorist indicates a shift of portrayal of the action–from our day-to-day experience in a continuous frame to the entirety (consummative aorist) of our ecstasy at the revelation of Jesus’ glory, which will continue forever.  This is a beautiful way to describe our experience in the “eternal state,” which begins with our resurrection.  The whole destiny of the believer is summed up with the phrase “rejoice with exultation.”

Three Thoughts

1.  Sanctification: It takes some information plus faith to obey the command to rejoice we have here. Hebrews 11:6 is a parallel idea to our rejoicing through adversity in light of God’s promises about our future.  God is a rewarder.  Believe it.

2.  Ambassadorship (A believer’s commission to represent the King):  Anyone can grouse about suffering.  Your joy in hard times shows the world something about God as He works in your life, especially through His Word: “…greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 Jn 4:4)  We ought not tell the world otherwise with our attitude.

3.  God’s Plan:  God knows what He is doing, and here He shows you how to trust Him on it.  Suffering is bounded in history, but your rejoicing here and now looks forward to the revelation of His glory, and it will increase eternally.

Passage to Pray

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Memory Verse

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. ” (1 Peter 4:12–13, NAS)

Posted in New Testament Commands, Peter, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

11 October 2010: Don’t Think It Strange

Posted on October 11, 2010 by droseland

It is just as important to obey God’s prohibitions as his positive commands.  His requirements for us directly relate to His character and our representation of it.  I ran across today’s command in a search for a NT command to be hospitable.  The Bible’s teaching on this responsibility of all believers is a fascinating study for me, and it needs to be revisited in light of our increasingly self-centered, individualistic, therapeutic culture.  The Greek word for an outsider, the target of hospitality in the Bible is ξένος (XENOS).  The verb form of this word is ξενιζω (XENIZO), but it does not mean alienate. It means to treat an outsider appropriately, or with hospitality, and I searched for an imperative use of this word.  What I found exposed a meaning of ξενιζω that is wholly distinct from what I was after.  But this command is a great study in and for the renewing of our minds.

The Command

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; ” (1 Peter 4:12, NAS)

Here the one-word prohibition is against being caught off-guard.  For many this will be another surprising command, given human nature, at least on the surface.  How can you prohibit someone from being surprised?  If you think about it, though, surprise is a result of ignorance.  You have to discover something you didn’t know before to be surprised.  This is an informative passage that gives you the necessary information to have stability in life despite the inevitable difficulties of being light in a dark world.

The Motivation

Peter calls his audience “beloved.”  The imperative “do not be surprised” or “do not think it strange (KJV)” is not a typical “command” in that Peter is not issuing a general prohibition against sin, like “do not covet.”  He is using the mood of command, the imperative, to encourage them, much as a father would say to a young child, “don’t cry, it’s going to be ok.”  This is a directive from the parent expressing his wish, but it does not seem so much like a command.  If the distraught child keeps crying in despair or some other suffering, would you consider it a problem of disobedience or would you keep trying to console him?  Don’t over-think that one!  Pain is not easily commanded away.

So before you get in the situation that requires consolation, that is, before you find yourself destabilized by circumstances, Peter gives a little pre-emptive guidance.

Hurt is coming for Peter’s Christian audience, hurt that he describes as fiery.  This is inevitable, and it is part of the Christian’s advance.  Look at v16:  suffering as a “Christian” means in the pattern of Jesus Christ.  It is coming, but they don’t have to be in the dark about it.  It doesn’t need to be a shock that testing is coming!  This is a very encouraging passage in which the Apostle Peter gives them a correct view of the mountainous terrain a believer has been called to traverse.  Mountain climbing is an ordeal, but it’s also an invigorating pursuit that compels climbers to suffer through.  And unlike mountain climbing, the suffering of the Christian life is not its own and only reward.  There is an evaluation coming at the end, according to v13, which helps us to contextualize the suffering now.  By “contextualize,” I mean rejoice now in light of exultation then.

The Play on Words

Two related words are used here by Peter that do not seem related in the NAS translation. Something has been lost in the art of the original for the sake of clarity of meaning in English.  What a shame!  In the KJV and NKJV, though, the word strange happens twice, translating a noun (XENOS) and its related verb (XENIZO).  The one verb (XENIZO) has two major and different meanings.  The meanings are disparate in that they are not signifying the same thing, even though their meanings derive from the same idea of being a stranger.  In the go-to Greek lexicon (dictionary) we call BDAG, the editors list these two different meanings:  1) to be hospitable and 2) to be astonished.  Yes, you can be astonished at someone’s hospitality, but these two valid meanings of XENIZO are not really related.  How did they get here?  Hospitality: this is the universally-accepted appropriate way to treat a stranger, at least in a Biblical worldview.  Astonishment:  this is the reaction you have to something strange or unknown.  It is that uncomfortable feeling you have when what you expect differs with what you experience.  The strangeness is the common origin (etymology) of two very different meanings possible from this one word.

This is a good example of how language works.  Words convey meanings commonly accepted within the language community in which they are used, but a particular instance of a word does not communicate meaning until a speaker uses it.  A word that is imparted by its speaker with a specific meaning in his specific context would be a term.

All this is so you can see the play on words intended by Peter.  The verb means “be astonished” but the noun means “a stranger.”  It’s sort of like me saying, “I’m going to the bank by the river bank.”  Little puns like this dot the landscape of our clever interactions with each other, and we find them often in the Bible.

Here’s my translation of v12, in context:

Beloved, do not be astonished (as with strangeness) by the fiery ordeal among you (all) which is coming to you (all) for testing, as though a strange happening is joining you.

This is a neat play on words.  The suffering to which believers have been called is not an unknown, not a stranger causing us to be shocked at the sudden arrival of something foreign and unexpected.  Rather we should be forewarned and forearmed!  Just like Jesus, Who suffered far more for us than we ever could for Him.

Three Thoughts

1.   Suffering (Sanctification):  We should not be surprised that if we’re following our Savior we will be put through some fiery testing.  This is part of God’s revealed will for your life.  A person can endure incredible adversity if he thinks it is for a purpose; yet the slightest pain for no purpose often seems unbearable.  Thanks to Charlie Clough for that last observation!

2.  Revelation (God’s Self-Communication):  We have the Word of God for a purpose.  Part of that purpose is our stability in the face of great adversity.

3.  Theology Proper (Doctrine of God):  Just a subtle note, but one that adds such flavor to our lives:  God is the original Artist, and we find in His Word all sorts of indications that He appreciates form as well as function.  There’s a reason why the Bible is infused with witty statements in narratives, amazing parallels in the poetic books, and even a symmetry in the outplay of history that focuses everything on the Cross. Q: “Why is the sky blue?”  A: “Because God likes blue.”  Of course “God loves the Infantry” too, though Jesus will arrive on the scene mounted (Rev 19:11ff).

Passage to Pray

Psalm 100

Memory Verse

1 Peter 4:12-13

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. ” (1 Peter 4:12–13, NAS)

Posted in Bible Study Helps, New Testament Commands, Peter, Word Meanings (Lexicography) | 4 Comments

8 October 2010: SHEMA

Posted on October 8, 2010 by droseland

I like to alternate OT and NT commands for several reasons.  One is the unity of the Text. The Bible is one solid message from God to mankind, composed of 66 books written by 40 different human authors who were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21) over the course of 1500 years. Another reason is our need for familiarity with the whole counsel of God’s Word, the unified Text.

The Command

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NASB95)

“Listen up!”  This is one of the most famous commands in the Scriptures.  In the Hebrew Masoretic text, the scribes put this word, Hear in larger script than the rest of the words.  They called this verse and its following verses the “Shema,” after this one word command, “Hear.”  Shema, (umv)) is a very common word in the Old Testament, occurring 1159 times(!), yet Deuteronomy 6:4 is the Shema. In other words, this one is pretty important.

The  NAS and KJV render  shema with “Hear,” but I think “Listen” is better here, as we find in the NET Bible. Shema works a lot like listen in English, especially when it is a command.  Commanding someone to “hear” something is a little different from telling them to “listen.”  The difference reminds me of the person whose neighbor on the floor below them played her music too loud when it was time to sleep.  There was no choice about hearing the untimely music; and the poor victim was certainly not listening.  Sometimes husbands “hear” but don’t listen, I’m told.  Other times, “I heard you” means “I heard you with comprehension.” Apparently I was listening when I heard that husbands have been known to hear without  listening.

In any case, shema has a broad range of meanings.  It seems to encompass the whole realm of intake of information through the ears.  You can hear, you can hear with comprehension, and you can hear with comprehension with an orientation to appropriate response, just to name three possible uses of shema. Out of 1159 occurences, shema is an imperative (command) 208 times.  Think on this:  many words in the prophetic books like Isaiah only occur one time in the whole Bible.  This word occurs more than 200 times as a command.  When the word for “hearing” is a command, the sense generally includes “listening with an orientation towards obedience.”  In many instances of this command, like this one, the word shema is correctly understood as “Listen and obey.”

Content

What is Moses commanding they perk up and listen to?  The content of the message is God’s identity and nature.  First, Yahweh, the Creator and Covenant-Keeper Who called Abraham and promised him an inheritance beyond his wildest dreams, Who called Moses and commissioned him for the Exodus, this Personal Being is their God.  “Adonai Elohenu” is “Yahweh is our God.”  The personal possessive pronoun is key—our God.  The Creator, the Living God, this is Our God.  The second piece of the content here is the unity of God’s nature.  “Adonai Echad” has long been considered by OT scholars to refer to God in His uniqueness, as opposed to the notion of singularity vs. plurality.  Only after the dawn of the Christian era was this statement used by anti-Christian interpreters to reject the doctrine of Trinity.  Actually, uniqueness and unity are both key aspects of Trinitarian theology, which is Biblical theology.  The true doctrine of Trinity is that God exists as One God in Three Persons, “Three-in-One.”  Tri-Unity, in other words.  “There is no God like our God” is the idea of the “Shema,” and Trinity as clarified in the NT revelation gives greater clarity to this claim.

Three Thoughts

1.  Theology Proper: The Creator is the God of Israel Who is totally unique and unified as One God in Three Persons.
2.  Sanctification:  Like with the Shema, our marching orders are always to pay attention to God as He reveals Himself in the Bible.  This is the implication of God’s Self-communication.  Accept no substitutes for the Living God of Israel.
3. Ecclesiology (Doctrine of the Church): The Church is not Israel.  Yet a believer’s relationship with God is very special nonetheless.  The Bible says that if you are in Christ, then God the Father is your Father, like He’s the Father of the Son, Jesus  Christ (Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6).  God is our God not in a national-covenant way; the relationship is family, the Royal Family of God.

Passage to Pray: John 17

Memory Verse: Dt 6:4-8

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your  might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-8, NASB95)

Post Script

Enjoy the weekend and go to church.  Two “imperatives” from me to you.  Romans 16:20

Posted in Old Testament Commands, TORAH | 4 Comments

7 October 2010: Love

Posted on October 7, 2010 by droseland

“…love one another….”

The command in Scripture that Christians love each other is to me one of the most damning to the prevailing worldview as it bears on most any matters of consequence.  Love that can be commanded is totally irreconcilable with the typical story of “love” that most secular expressions of love would suggest, whether in pop literature, cinema, or theater.  We can thank William Shakespeare in part for his contribution to this disconnect, for eros as portrayed in Romeo and Juliet is certainly not the same as agape in 1 Corinthians 13.

I will be accused of taking away all the romance by taking this view of true love.  Well, since I have a high view of classic romance as one of the greatest expressions of man in God’s image, I recommend submitting even that sacred area of life to the dictates of the Word.  God has an opinion about your “love life,” and He has communicated a great deal of that opinion in the Bible.

Consider the “dream wedding” of many a young bride in this culture.  Many who never give a thought to church or the Bible otherwise want a church wedding as part of their traditional preconception of what a wedding should be.  I would cite that portion of  the social structure we share as evidence that God invented marriage.  We sort of have a sense that marriage is an event on par with “God-stuff.”  This is true often despite a latent, pretended “agnosticism” that claims truly not to know if God is real.  Check out Romans 1:18-19 on that topic, by the way.   Dispense with the pageantry of a traditional, Westernized wedding if you like. You still have to deal with the inherent sense that all human civilizations have concerning commitment for life as essential to marriage.  Lifelong commitment is as close as mankind gets to God’s unconditional Covenants with Abraham, David, and Israel.

The Command

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34, NASB95)

As noted in the last entry, if a thing can be commanded legitimately, then it can be chosen legitimately. A good command can be obeyed.  I think it very helpful to remember that any time someone has legitimate authority (the right) to issue a command to a subordinate, that recipient has a choice to make.  Command and obedience between persons is not the same as remote-control.  It is pretty easy to lose the personal side of your walk before God, if you adopt a view that God’s Sovereignty implies mechanical relationship like that between a programmer and computer.  The mystery of God’s wondrous power and Sovereignty is precisely this ability to truly be in eternal control, and yet to interact with His creatures in a real, personal way.

Jesus commands us to love one another.  There is your evidential distinction between the Faith and all other faiths.  That is, God has designed the Church to demonstrate the reality of the claims of Christ by how we interact (John 17:21).  This command involves a lot more than being nice to each other in a superficial, shallow tolerance of other believers as we proceed day-to-day .  Our treatment of others within the Family is central to our witness to world of its Creator.

There are many things we could say about this, the New Commandment, but let us summarize this way: there is far more going on with God’s eternal purposes than we can know, but this command is a primary way we participate the wonderful, mysterious plan.

Imitation of Christ

We find this major theme, being like Jesus, throughout the NT.  This command will occupy a number of future entries for “Attention to Orders.”  Notice the sense in which the love of others is commanded:  “as I have loved you.”  Jesus demonstrates love to be both thought and action, desire and deliverance.  Love that does not think is not love; neither is love that fails to act.  The love for which we are responsible is the greatest love: that we lay down our lives for one another (John 15:13).  We should not miss the illustration of this kind of love in every enlistment, every commissioning, every oath taken by our military service members to defend our lives with theirs.

Three Thoughts

1.      Pneumatology (Doctrine of the Holy Spirit): Keep in mind that if God thinks your actions amount to anything, then the actions are accomplished by abiding in Jesus Christ, empowered by God the Spirit.  (John 15:5)

2.      Sanctification:  God expects and requires a believer’s self-sacrificial thought and action in the best interest of other believers.

3.      Ecclesiology (Doctrine of the Church): The Church, or Body of Christ, is an eschatological or “end times” people with an end-times purpose.  The Text tells us quite a bit about the end, but the more we discover from the Bible, the more we realize how much we do not know (Is 64:4, Is 65). What we do know here and now are our marching orders—that we love one another in the greatest possible way, as Jesus has shown us

Passage to Pray: John 17

Memory Verse:  John 13:34-35

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB95)

Posted in Jesus, New Testament Commands | Leave a comment

6 October 2010: Love

Posted on October 6, 2010 by droseland

Is love an unstoppable force or something that we can control?  Put another way, can you love “on demand” or is love at the mercy of your feelings at the moment?  The culture in which we live generally holds to the latter.  All the pop expressions of love, from the Top 40 charts to movies to greeting cards, seem to suggest that love between two people is an inevitable consequence of chemistry.  This no doubt stems in part from a view of humans as animals.  A dog, for example, does not really make a conscious choice about his loyalties; they are what they are.  The animal’s loyalties certainly arise through a complex of interactions and experiences, but they are not conscious decisions.

I believe the Bible exhibits the man-nature distinction most clearly on this score:  We can be commanded to love.

The Command

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NAS)

We often think of OT commands, especially in the Books of the Law, the Torah, as prohibitions, “Thou shalt not.”  Eight of the “Ten Commandments” in Exodus 20 are prohibitions.  “Keep the Sabbath” and “Honor thy father and mother” are the exceptions.  But the command of Deuteronomy 6:5, the greatest commandment, according to the Lord Jesus Christ (Mt 22:37), is a positive command.  Our love is commanded both positively and negatively in the Bible.  On the negative side is 1 Jn 2:15, for one.  God cares about what we love.  He has an opinion about where it should be directed and where it should not.  And when we speak of God’s “opinion” we are discussing the realm of objective truth, for His opinion is what construes the very reality into which He created and sustains His creation.

If It Can Be Commanded…

The implication of any legitimate command is that the recipient is responsible to obey.  This is the nature of superior-subordinate relationships, as common sense might suggest.  Perhaps an unfair superior may command the impossible or even the unreasonable.  We might suggest that such a commander thereby reveals his nature.  But when we consider our Creator and His nature–Righteousness, Love, and Omniscience–we will find His commands neither impossible nor unreasonable.  In fact, God Himself empowers our obedience (Phil 2:12-13, remember?).

So what?

Love is a choice.  As with all commands from superior to subordinate, believers have the responsibility and faculty of choice to obey or disobey.  God holds us responsible to obey His command, but He does not decide for us.  Check yourself.  Do you love God with all of you?  If not, why not?  Perhaps it is because you have not chosen to obey the command of Dt 6:5/Matt 22:37.  Yes, in order to obey Him in a way that satisfies Him, it must be through the Holy Spirit’s power. But the choice remains yours to make.

Maybe this is a new thought.  In such a case, your whole notion of love will require a fresh, Biblical definition.  What does the Bible define as love?  I would suggest that the love God commands of us towards Himself and others might most succinctly be defined as: the totally selfless desire and action of one in the best interest of another. Think on this.  When applied to God, our love is obedience to His commands, just like in John 14:14-15 and 1 Jn 5:3.  This correlation between loving God and obeying Him is the main reason why this collection of devotions is being written.

Two Thoughts

1.   Anthropology:  You can love on command.  Your love is not an animal loyalty or emotional necessity.   If it is true love, it is a conscious choice.  This capacity with which God has created you as His image on earth is designed for you to use on Him.

2.  Sanctification Priorities:  The greatest commandment God has given us is to love Him.  This places all other relationships in a secondary category to your relationship with God.

Passage to Pray: John 14:7-21

Memory Verse:  Dt 6:4-5

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, NAS)

Posted in Jesus, New Testament Commands, Old Testament Commands, TORAH | 2 Comments

5 October 2010: KNOW

Posted on October 5, 2010 by droseland

October is a gorgeous time of year in New England, as well as much of the rest of the world.  In Iraq, the soldiers are sighing with a little relief from the blistering privations of April-September as the rainy season sets in.  The kids tend to think of October as the month of candy and pumpkins, Halloween having already dotted the commercial landscape since early September.   I think of October in intensely Christian terms, though.  Especially October 31st!

It was on 31 October, 1517 that a fairly obscure pastor and theological scholar began what we call today the Protestant Reformation.  In an age when pastors were suggesting you could purchase forgiveness of sins, both past and future, by buying “indulgences” from the Pope, Dr. Martin Luther abruptly suggested that Jesus alone purchased our forgiveness with His Work on the Cross.  The so-called “Ninety-Five Theses” were a set of propositions from the Scriptures against the sale of indulgences, against the teaching by the Church of Rome that sinners can purchase their salvation.  Luther nailed these theses to the door of the beautiful Castle Church of Wittenberg, where he was a pastor and resident Biblical scholar in the University of Wittenberg.

Yesterday’s devotion was about a favorite command at the conclusion of a favorite Psalm.  Many American Christians know well that the old hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God was written by Martin Luther, the little Augustinian monk whom God used to begin that great doctrinal cleansing of the Church of Jesus Christ in the early 16th Century.  But few will know or recognize Psalm 46 as the Text from which Luther got his great hymn.  So the story goes, when Luther would call for A Mighty Fortress, he would say, “Let us sing the Forty-Sixth Psalm.”

Psalm 46:10 (NAS)

10         “Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Command

As we saw yesterday, today’s command is part of a complex of two imperatives:  1) “relax” or “cease” and 2) “know.”  Some might be surprised that “cease striving” is really “relax” or “loosen up.”  Buckle your seatbelt: the implied causal relationship between the command to “relax” and the command to “know” is even more foreign to the cultural climate in which we communicate today.  Knowledge is supposed to produce inner calm in the storms of life.  Two words apply here:  Rest assured.

It is strange to our ears that someone commands knowledge in the same way that we find strange the command to “relax” during times of adversity.  But if you think about it, every examination you ever took in school was someone holding you responsible to know something.  God commands you to know something about Him personally. God is God.  This is the ultimate manifesto on the Divine Self-identity.  Man is to recognize and assume the truth of God’s character. No less than thirty-five times in the OT we have this word, YADA’ (יָדַע) in the imperative (command) mood.  Knowledge is a fairly common thing to demand of someone else!  The three times knowledge is commanded of man in the Psalms, it is always concerning God: Know something about the Creator!

“Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. ” (Psalm 100:3, NAS)

“But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him. ” (Psalm 4:3, NAS)

These kinds of commands confirm my oft-stated observation that every human being is designed by God to be a theologian, which is one with knowledge of God.  Everyone—whether believer, unbeliever or “agnostic”—is a theologian of some sort, according to Romans 1:18-19.  Obviously not everyone is a good or even honest theologian, but everyone knows something about God as the Creator, according to the Scriptures.  These commands to know God as the Creator and the Author of a perfect, loving plan are reminders that help us contextualize our struggles in this life.

Knowledge Vs. Knowledge: A False Dichotomy

Sometimes I will hear of a teacher or preacher down-playing or denouncing the objective side of biblical knowledge in an effort to encourage personal engagement with God.  I think the goal is typically to keep believers from falling short of the fullness of a personal walk in reliance upon their Creator.  The preacher’s goal may be noble, but often the argument amounts to the non-Scriptural choice between the objective and the relational. The fact is, knowing God is impossible without knowing about God as He has revealed Himself.  God gives us the facts about Himself so that we can rely on Him.  So it is in Ps 46:10: “Relax [because you] know that I am God.”  The tendency to reject the facts of God’s biblical revelation of Himself in favor of a closer walk with Him is an absurd reflection of our innate laziness.  This kind of calculus is like trying to choose between putting gasoline in your car and driving it.  With proper planning and priorities, there is plenty of time and opportunity for both, and you have to do both to get where you want to go.  Don’t get hung-up at the filling station as if that is the goal.  “NO LOITERING!”  Also, don’t pass the filling station by as if you can keep on running indefinitely without filling up!  “NEXT GAS STOP: 200 MILES”

The Content of the Knowledge

It is very helpful to note that there is specific content which the believer is commanded to know.  “Know that I am God.” The point about God being God has to do with the response within creation to the Creator:  “I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”  Both the nations and the entire earth will glorify God.

Martin Luther, by standing firm on the Truth, opposed himself to the greatest powers of his day.  His life was in great peril from both Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V at one point, and many feared he would be burned at the stake as a heretic.  John Huss, a generation before Luther, had suffered exactly that fate in nearby Bohemia for teaching the truth of God’s saving grace through faith alone in Christ alone.  After being excommunicated by the Pope, Luther’s friends kidnapped him and hid him away in the Castle Wartburg for nearly a year, lest someone arrest him and drag him before an inquisitor of the Roman Church.  He remained faithful to God despite the greatest threats.  All the world seemed arrayed against this little friar, yet he held to the Scriptures with God as his only true protection.  Psalm 46:10 held special significance for him, as it will for all who consider God their fortress of protection.

A Rationale

Today instead of the “Three Thoughts” I suggest the following logical thought process to help your perspective in dealing with adversity, as demonstrated in Psalm 46:10.

1.       The entirety of God’s creation will glorify Him.  This is the purpose for which He created it and the destiny towards which all of history is advancing.

2.      Consider that all the people in your life that oppress and threaten your peace of mind are part of that creation and so fit into that purpose and destiny somehow, though we may not understand how for the moment.

3.      If you belong to God, focus on His Character and His Attributes rather than the suffering you encounter or especially the persons or circumstances that are causing it.  Specifically from Ps 46, remember that God is Sovereign and Omnipotent.  His strength to protect you is infinite.

4.      Trust the God Who is there.  Consider that even in the crisis, His plan is going on perfectly and His exaltation—your purpose—is being accomplished.

Passage to Pray: Psalm 46

Memory Verse:  Ps 46:10-11

““Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. ” (Psalm 46:10–11, NAS)

Posted in Old Testament Commands, Psalms | 2 Comments

4 October 2010: Cease Striving

Posted on October 4, 2010 by droseland

Are we supposed to “let go and let God”?  In a way, yes, to be sure—if the meaning of “letting go” is trusting Him.  But keep the Bible in mind when you answer this question.  The Text does not present a passive lifestyle among the heroes of the Faith. Paul walked all over the Mediterranean world at least three times. Abraham left his father’s country and went to the Land of Promise.  There is no example of couch-potato faith when it comes to Biblical heroism.

Today I want to examine God’s command to “Cease striving.”  My favorite illustration of this command, which we find in Psalm 46, is the least of Jesse’s sons, a nobody with a sling named David.  In 1 Samuel 17 the story plays out that a shepherd with aggressive faith is better in battle than a whole army of professional soldiers who are compromised by fear.  You probably know the story of David and Goliath, and there’s a lot going on in the story.  But I find it particularly helpful to keep in mind David’s state of mind.  He never misses a beat.  Samuel never narrates inner conflict or self-doubt for David.  David does the impossible, for which he has been trained (1 Sam 17:34-36).  David lives-out with purity the solid reliance on the Lord which is the logical consequence of God’s existence as it bears on our peace of mind.  His words and his actions are dead on.  I think that David is a picture of Psalm 46:10.

Psalm 46:10 (NAS)

10         “Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Command

This command is a terse, one-word sentence in the original Hebrew.   The verb for “cease striving” in the NAS or “be still” in the KJV/NKJV is RAPHAH (רָפַה), which primarily means “let loose.”  Raphah does a lot of things in Biblical Hebrew.  “Loosening the hands” is a Hebrew idiom for a loss of courage.  The LORD will never “fail you nor forsake you” in Deuteronomy 31:6; He will never loosen His protective care such that it fails.  Here is a good example of how words are used in a language.  The word raphah means a loosening in some sense, and the sense intended is clear only from the context in which an author uses it.  Loose hands imply fear in the face of danger, the Creator is not a slacker, and Israel in Isaiah 46:10 is to loosen up.

So how is Israel being encouraged to “loosen” in this one-word command?  They are to relax.  Life is not really designed to be such a nail-biter!  Your doctor will agree that our bodies are not good at handling constant stress.  Yes, some respond to stress better than others; it can help focus our concentration and help us be a little more careful.  But prolonged pressure takes a toll, especially when we don’t properly adjust to it.

Now notice that on the one hand, you can “loosen up” as a result of soul-paralyzing fear—where you drop your spear or shield in the face of the advancing enemy.  Conversely, you can relax inside with the confidence for which you were created and thus function well despite high stakes.  The successful veteran believer knows well the inner calm of reliance on God’s provision as outside pressures mount. And they will mount.

The command to relax in Ps 46:10 is not complete until we have the next word, which is another command.  God commands Israel to know, and we’ll zoom-in on that command tomorrow.

When God “Invalidates” Our Judgment

Invalidation is what you feel when someone plays down your suffering or some other significance which you impute to something.  When you are suffering and someone says “it’s not that bad,” that person has invalidated you.  “You shouldn’t really be that broken up about this” is the idea.  In a way, God is saying that Israel needs to put the stress in perspective.  Don’t take yourself so seriously because there is something far more important than the details of your current suffering.  This is always the case!  God’s greater workings and goals are far weightier than your immediate experience of them as the details play-out.  Now when someone else makes such a judgment about your judgment you have to make a judgment about that.  We always do this, if you think about it.  No one is truly suspending judgment, especially when someone judges us.  Accordingly, when someone invalidates you, it is often the basis for a falling-out with them.  Who are they to instruct your perspective?  However, when God delivers an opinion about your judgment, you can be sure He’s right.  The God of truth knows the right answer.

There are two possible responses to God’s command to “Loosen up.”  You can respond negatively and say, “that’s easy for You to say” or some other variant that amounts to less than trust in our Loving God.  The positive response begins with a recognition that God knows what He’s doing and tells us the truth about it.  All of His character is on display in His works on our behalf.  Remember that if you’re His, He has taken on your well-being as His responsibility.

If you’ll relax under pressure, knowing that God is God, you can slay the giants He places in your path.  And thus you can glorify God in word and deed, just like the shepherd-king, David.

Three Thoughts

1.   Anthropology:  We are designed to perform well in adverse circumstances yet with a relaxed mental attitude.  The solution is rarely the removal of the giant.

2.  Revelation:  The knowledge we have of our Creator is given to us, in part, to stabilize our mental attitude as we live-out His plan.

3.  Ambassadorship:    The Christian life is a life of strength and courage in the face of adversity.  Adverse circumstances are not supposed to shut you down; they’re supposed to expose your character as you calmly trust that God is God.  If you front defeat under pressure, the world sees defeat as the fruit of your relationship with God.  A Christian who isn’t relaxed based on his knowledgeable relationship with God is not communicating the truth about God’s character and strength to others.

Passage to Pray: Psalm 46

Memory Verse:  Ps 46:10-11

““Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.Selah. ” (Psalm 46:10–11, NAS)

Posted in Old Testament Commands, Psalms | 2 Comments