In my last post, Words Matter, I shared some thoughts on what it says/reveals depending on where we place the word "but" in our sentences. I used the following hypothetical sentences, both about the same thing, as an example:
1. "God is good and powerful and loving, but I am dealing with x, and y, and z."
2. "I am dealing with x, and y, and z, but God is good and powerful and loving."
The two are dramatically different in where we are putting our final emphasis, hope, and view. In the first, our big picture is our problems and we've kind of inserted God like a slice into it. In the second sentence, our problems are a slice, but the big picture and backdrop is God.
Over the last many months I've been trying to read (admittedly, not too successfully) one section of Psalm 119 a day. When I finish, I go back to the start. It is a powerful Psalm, easily broken down into short daily readings. There is a tremendous theme of hope in it based on God and His words to us. We can't have that hope in His words/promises to us unless we ultimately have hope in Him (a promise given from a liar or someone with no means to fulfill it means little, but one given from a person with the ability and history and character to fulfill it means a lot). Faith always, ultimately, has an object. We never simply "don't have enough faith"—we must always finish it with, "I don't have enough faith in ______."
The other day, reading through Psalm 119, I was suddenly struck with the use of "but" in exactly the way I'd shared in my last post. I thought I would share a few of the many examples in that Psalm alone with you. Notice the power in the passages as they share about problems and then say, "but . . ." Notice what comes after the "but" and how that leaves you feeling (in some cases it is an reminder statement about God, putting it all into perspective—in other cases it is an affirming of a choice they will make in spite of the problems they face). I especially like verses 150–151. In the ones that are affirming statements about God (perspective) try reversing them in your mind and see the amazing difference.
Psalms 119:51 The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.
Psalms 119:87 They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.
Psalms 119:110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.
Psalms 119:143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.
Psalms 119:150–151 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law. But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.
Psalms 119:161 Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.
There are many other examples in the Psalms, and another interesting reversal of this as well. Doing a search for the word "but" in the Psalms I found many, many that talk about the love and grace and protection of God and then say, "but . . ." and talk about the fate of those separated from God. It is a powerful reminder that while God is love and as Christians we treasure the grace He shows us, He is still holy and He still hates sin and there is still judgment coming for those outside of Christ. It is a powerful reminder and prompting to urgency for us.
And here's a couple wonderful and affirming examples of the use of "but" from other Psalms to leave you with.
Psalms 3:1–3 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. — Selah. But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
Psalms 4:2–3 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? — Selah. But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
God bless you, and may He and His promises and eternity always be the big picture in which you view everything else.
Showing posts with label promises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promises. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Context Matters!
This last Sunday I felt God strongly impress on me to teach on the context of Jeremiah 29:11. Most Christians know the verse and have probably used it, or had it used with them, to bring comfort and assurance. The verse goes: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
I am not sure why God wanted me to spend a Sunday morning on it, but I believe that the use of that verse (so often out of context) as a blanket promise or assurance from God underscores a dangerous "fast food" mentality among us that wants quick verses, quick broadband, quick meals, and quick spiritual maturity. I believe we are heading into harder and harder times to be a true follower of Jesus, and I believe it is important going into them to know the full context and precepts of the promises from God we are so quick to lay hold of for ourselves or offer others as comfort. It is kind of like when I was in the military—we tested our vehicles and weapons systems thoroughly in peace time so that in war we knew exactly what they could and couldn't do. War is not the time to find out you had a false confidence or assurance in something!
In Jeremiah and other books God repeatedly warns against false prophets, and listening to false prophets, who declare "Peace, peace" when there will be, instead, very serious consequences if the people don't turn from their direction (see Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11, and 23:16-20 for a few examples). We as Christians must, I believe, be careful not to deliver (or accept for ourselves!) false assurance in the guise of God's Words to people that may, instead, need to be corrected and encouraged to turn and repent.
So, as I share briefly about Jeremiah 29:11, realize this need to look closely at verses we are so familiar with might apply to many other verses besides it. And, a closer examination may not necessarily mean we lose confidence in a promise—we may actually gain confidence if we come out assured we are, indeed, the intended audience and we have met the precepts laid out around it in the verses not quoted so much.
In a nutshell, after King Josiah died God's people fell very quickly away from God. God repeatedly warned them against their direction, but they continued until He drew the line and basically told them it was too late, He was going to raise up Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, and they would be taken under Babylon for 70 years (see Jeremiah 25:1-11). Then, in Jeremiah 27, God then warns other nations of the severe penalties if they don't serve Nebuchadnezzar and put themselves under Babylon's yoke ("I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand."—vs. 8) He then warns His people that they will share the same fate if they, too, don't submit to His declaration or correction and punishment, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you" (vs. 12–14).
So, when we arrive at Jeremiah 29 there are two very different groups among God's people! There are those who have submitted to His correction (like Daniel and his friends) and are in exile—exactly in a place God told them to be!—and those who are resisting His yoke and correction and remaining in the place they are. To the ones resisting and not submitting God sends very strong words. Starting with verse 16 it says, "thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten . . ." and it goes on from there.
However, to the ones, who are submitted and where He wants them to be, God has Jeremiah write to them the following: . . . to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile (verses 4–14).
What an amazing promise and hope Jeremiah 29:4–14 would have been to those in exile, where God wants them and submitted to Him! It would be a promise they could hold to and teach their children and look to and stand on. It had precepts about how they were to live, how they were to handle teaching they were given, and how they were to seek Him, but, being right where He wanted them and obeying His precepts, His promise to bring them back after seventy years and His promise of, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." would have been an amazing comfort to them! One they could stand on, from a God who does not lie!
But, it must be said again, that promise wasn't for everyone of His people! As we saw, in the very same chapter He sends very harsh and dire words to the one who were not submitted to His yoke and correction and not in the place He wanted them! For them to stand on the Jeremiah 29:11 promise, or for someone to even offer it to them, would be a devastating lie leading to further entrenching in sin, not the repentance required. It is, I believe, a warning for us all. Given a promise from God we can stand on it with all confidence—but we MUST be assured it is for us and we have met the conditions of it, or we will be lured (or lure others) into a false comfort instead of a required adjustment, and that can be very, very dangerous!
I am not sure why God wanted me to spend a Sunday morning on it, but I believe that the use of that verse (so often out of context) as a blanket promise or assurance from God underscores a dangerous "fast food" mentality among us that wants quick verses, quick broadband, quick meals, and quick spiritual maturity. I believe we are heading into harder and harder times to be a true follower of Jesus, and I believe it is important going into them to know the full context and precepts of the promises from God we are so quick to lay hold of for ourselves or offer others as comfort. It is kind of like when I was in the military—we tested our vehicles and weapons systems thoroughly in peace time so that in war we knew exactly what they could and couldn't do. War is not the time to find out you had a false confidence or assurance in something!
In Jeremiah and other books God repeatedly warns against false prophets, and listening to false prophets, who declare "Peace, peace" when there will be, instead, very serious consequences if the people don't turn from their direction (see Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11, and 23:16-20 for a few examples). We as Christians must, I believe, be careful not to deliver (or accept for ourselves!) false assurance in the guise of God's Words to people that may, instead, need to be corrected and encouraged to turn and repent.
So, as I share briefly about Jeremiah 29:11, realize this need to look closely at verses we are so familiar with might apply to many other verses besides it. And, a closer examination may not necessarily mean we lose confidence in a promise—we may actually gain confidence if we come out assured we are, indeed, the intended audience and we have met the precepts laid out around it in the verses not quoted so much.
In a nutshell, after King Josiah died God's people fell very quickly away from God. God repeatedly warned them against their direction, but they continued until He drew the line and basically told them it was too late, He was going to raise up Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, and they would be taken under Babylon for 70 years (see Jeremiah 25:1-11). Then, in Jeremiah 27, God then warns other nations of the severe penalties if they don't serve Nebuchadnezzar and put themselves under Babylon's yoke ("I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand."—vs. 8) He then warns His people that they will share the same fate if they, too, don't submit to His declaration or correction and punishment, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you" (vs. 12–14).
So, when we arrive at Jeremiah 29 there are two very different groups among God's people! There are those who have submitted to His correction (like Daniel and his friends) and are in exile—exactly in a place God told them to be!—and those who are resisting His yoke and correction and remaining in the place they are. To the ones resisting and not submitting God sends very strong words. Starting with verse 16 it says, "thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten . . ." and it goes on from there.
However, to the ones, who are submitted and where He wants them to be, God has Jeremiah write to them the following: . . . to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile (verses 4–14).
What an amazing promise and hope Jeremiah 29:4–14 would have been to those in exile, where God wants them and submitted to Him! It would be a promise they could hold to and teach their children and look to and stand on. It had precepts about how they were to live, how they were to handle teaching they were given, and how they were to seek Him, but, being right where He wanted them and obeying His precepts, His promise to bring them back after seventy years and His promise of, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." would have been an amazing comfort to them! One they could stand on, from a God who does not lie!
But, it must be said again, that promise wasn't for everyone of His people! As we saw, in the very same chapter He sends very harsh and dire words to the one who were not submitted to His yoke and correction and not in the place He wanted them! For them to stand on the Jeremiah 29:11 promise, or for someone to even offer it to them, would be a devastating lie leading to further entrenching in sin, not the repentance required. It is, I believe, a warning for us all. Given a promise from God we can stand on it with all confidence—but we MUST be assured it is for us and we have met the conditions of it, or we will be lured (or lure others) into a false comfort instead of a required adjustment, and that can be very, very dangerous!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Total Dependence . . .
While reflecting on thanksgiving I was struck by the fact that in the first three Gospel accounts of the Last Supper (and in Paul's 1 Corinthians sharing on it as well) Jesus gave thanks before partaking of the bread and wine. I have passed over that so many times in my reading of those accounts without ever really giving it a pause, but this time it made me sit back and go, "Woah. There is something powerful there!"
We read, of Jesus, in John 1:,3 "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made," and in Colossians 1:16-17 it says of Him, "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." These are statements so powerful about Jesus that they rock our minds when we realize what they are saying, and yet . . . He gave thanks to the Father for the most simple of things while on earth.
What does it say to us that the One through whom, and for whom, all things are made lived on earth, as one of us, choosing to live so surrendered of His rights and so dependent on His Father that He even gave thanks for bread? I have a sense that the thread of thought and example we could follow in this would take us to a place so deep that our entire Christian life could change if we were to internalize it. Jesus made all things, and Jesus had all rights, and Jesus could have done whatever He wanted . . . but He did not grasp those rights, or that place, bur rather laid it at the Father's feet and lived a life so dependent on the Father, and so surrendered to the Father, that He would say that He could do nothing apart from the Father, that He cast out demons by the Spirit, that He only did or said what He saw and heard the Father doing or saying, etc.
If Jesus could so lay His life down and let the Father live out His will through Him, to the point of even thanking the Father for bread, what example does it give us about surrendering our rights and life to the Father who gave His very Son's life for us? We are dependent on God for every good thing in our life—and James assures us that every good thing indeed comes from the Father. I also know that, as God's children, we have tremendous rights and authority in this dark world—rights and authority that come from the Father Himself and our identity in Christ. But, something I have wondered about for some time and have not ever really voiced outside of Mary Ann, is if the reconciliation between these two things comes in our choice to surrender. Here is what I mean, and I'd love your thoughts:
We have tremendous rights and promises from God. The Bible is clear on that. Some teachers teach on that almost exclusively, about standing in faith on our rights, and promises, etc. But, then, comes Jesus' example. Philippians tells us that He didn't grasp His right as God, but surrendered it and humbled Himself and gave up His rights to allow His Father's will to be done through Him. I wonder if it is not true that, while we have those rights and can stand, on faith, receiving them . . . if there isn't a place beyond that we could go where we give back to God the very rights He gave us, where we surrender them back and say to Him, "Here, Father. I know my rights on this earth as Your child, but I give them back to You. Let my life be Yours to do with as You will. I choose not to stand on my rights, or even to Your promises, but to surrender it all so that you might have free access to my life no mater the cost. I choose to live so that it is You alone who live through me, and I choose to live so dependent that I recognize even your love and gift in a simple slice of bread."
We read, of Jesus, in John 1:,3 "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made," and in Colossians 1:16-17 it says of Him, "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." These are statements so powerful about Jesus that they rock our minds when we realize what they are saying, and yet . . . He gave thanks to the Father for the most simple of things while on earth.
What does it say to us that the One through whom, and for whom, all things are made lived on earth, as one of us, choosing to live so surrendered of His rights and so dependent on His Father that He even gave thanks for bread? I have a sense that the thread of thought and example we could follow in this would take us to a place so deep that our entire Christian life could change if we were to internalize it. Jesus made all things, and Jesus had all rights, and Jesus could have done whatever He wanted . . . but He did not grasp those rights, or that place, bur rather laid it at the Father's feet and lived a life so dependent on the Father, and so surrendered to the Father, that He would say that He could do nothing apart from the Father, that He cast out demons by the Spirit, that He only did or said what He saw and heard the Father doing or saying, etc.
If Jesus could so lay His life down and let the Father live out His will through Him, to the point of even thanking the Father for bread, what example does it give us about surrendering our rights and life to the Father who gave His very Son's life for us? We are dependent on God for every good thing in our life—and James assures us that every good thing indeed comes from the Father. I also know that, as God's children, we have tremendous rights and authority in this dark world—rights and authority that come from the Father Himself and our identity in Christ. But, something I have wondered about for some time and have not ever really voiced outside of Mary Ann, is if the reconciliation between these two things comes in our choice to surrender. Here is what I mean, and I'd love your thoughts:
We have tremendous rights and promises from God. The Bible is clear on that. Some teachers teach on that almost exclusively, about standing in faith on our rights, and promises, etc. But, then, comes Jesus' example. Philippians tells us that He didn't grasp His right as God, but surrendered it and humbled Himself and gave up His rights to allow His Father's will to be done through Him. I wonder if it is not true that, while we have those rights and can stand, on faith, receiving them . . . if there isn't a place beyond that we could go where we give back to God the very rights He gave us, where we surrender them back and say to Him, "Here, Father. I know my rights on this earth as Your child, but I give them back to You. Let my life be Yours to do with as You will. I choose not to stand on my rights, or even to Your promises, but to surrender it all so that you might have free access to my life no mater the cost. I choose to live so that it is You alone who live through me, and I choose to live so dependent that I recognize even your love and gift in a simple slice of bread."
Friday, November 20, 2009
Fear Knocks and Faith Answers . . .
My great grandfather on my dad's mom's side, Harvey Randall, was a Methodist minister. (I have posted a picture of him and my great grandmother, Lauretta Randall, on their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1942.)
Stuck inside my great grandfather's Bible, in the Hebrews 11 faith section, was a printed flyer (or sheet) by Ralph Beebe. At the top of the sheet it says:
FEAR KNOCKED AT THE DOOR. FAITH ANSWERED. NO ONE WAS THERE.
Mr. Beebe then wrote, "I read these words over the fireplace of the Hind's Head Hotel in Bray-on-Thames, not far from London, a year ago. They were ascribed to no author, and I had never met them before, but they have been with me since."
These words really spoke to me. If you have followed this blog any length of time you know that faith is a strong theme of it. The Bible says that we walk by faith and not by sight, that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that faith released many people's desperately needed miracles and unbelief quenched the work of God as well. I believe faith is, ultimately, at its core, the commitment we make in to the conviction we have of God's goodness, love, trustworthiness, power, and Word, and I believe that there is tremendous power in faith—it is like the water that brings out the life in the seed of God's Word and promises.
When fear knocks, we answer with faith. We bring God's Word and promises and character to bear on the situation, and rest our emotions and thoughts and expectations and hopes on what He says and brings, and not on what we see before us. We dare to believe and rest our trust in the One who calls things that are not as if they were, and who, with a word, speaks in to existence that which was not. He's the One who will never leave me. He's the One who died that I might have an intimate relationship with me. He's the One in me who is greater than the one pacing the world. He's the One who is faithful to complete the good work He has begun in me.
To borrow the cry of the Zimbabwe believers, "That's my God!" (see the November 19, 2009 post That's My God!).
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thanks, and a Reminder, and a Comment on a Comment
Thanks, all of you, for your checking out my blog and for your comments and encouragements. I am really excited about this.
I wanted to remind any of you who decided to sign up by email to receive this blog that after you put in your email and submit it you will get a confirmation email sent to the address you used with a link that you must click on to activate it. This is to protect you from having someone else sign you up. I think the email sign up is a great thing if you want to be a regular part of the blog because you don't have to keep checking back to see if I have added anything to it (you do need to keep checking back to see/read comments).
I also wanted to comment on a comment made by AMY on my posting, "God Rocked My World This Morning..." (you can read it by clicking on the comment link below that post). I think her reminder is a very valid and powerful one. Too often, I think, we emphasize faith in God to perform His Word simply in the context of His good and encouraging promises to us---and that is good and essential and Biblical and honoring to God. But, we must have equal faith in God to perform the parts of His Word that aren't so fun to hear about. Those parts, like justice for those who don't receive the work of Jesus on the cross, should bring in to our lives a deep urgency as we realize that God WILL perform His Covenant Word, and many, many don't trust Him.
Another thought, along these lines: When we stand on God's Word and promises to/for us we must make sure we have seen the context of that Word and the precepts (or conditions) He attaches to that Word. Single line verses make great bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets, but often they have conditions and context above and below them that are a part of the promise. If we stand on those single verses, apart from the rest, and they don't come through, then it is our fault for not understanding the full offer and condition God has made, not His fault for not performing His Word.
I wanted to remind any of you who decided to sign up by email to receive this blog that after you put in your email and submit it you will get a confirmation email sent to the address you used with a link that you must click on to activate it. This is to protect you from having someone else sign you up. I think the email sign up is a great thing if you want to be a regular part of the blog because you don't have to keep checking back to see if I have added anything to it (you do need to keep checking back to see/read comments).
I also wanted to comment on a comment made by AMY on my posting, "God Rocked My World This Morning..." (you can read it by clicking on the comment link below that post). I think her reminder is a very valid and powerful one. Too often, I think, we emphasize faith in God to perform His Word simply in the context of His good and encouraging promises to us---and that is good and essential and Biblical and honoring to God. But, we must have equal faith in God to perform the parts of His Word that aren't so fun to hear about. Those parts, like justice for those who don't receive the work of Jesus on the cross, should bring in to our lives a deep urgency as we realize that God WILL perform His Covenant Word, and many, many don't trust Him.
Another thought, along these lines: When we stand on God's Word and promises to/for us we must make sure we have seen the context of that Word and the precepts (or conditions) He attaches to that Word. Single line verses make great bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets, but often they have conditions and context above and below them that are a part of the promise. If we stand on those single verses, apart from the rest, and they don't come through, then it is our fault for not understanding the full offer and condition God has made, not His fault for not performing His Word.
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