Category: devotional

No dispensation for Disobedience

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“I know this is wrong, but…” “I know the Bible says, but in my case…” “I know that Scripture says not to, but I’ve been praying about it, and…”

WE love to look for ways to get around clear commands of God. In general, we are pro-Scripture. But what do we do when those verses call us to sacrifice? What do we do when those verses show us that the thing we want to do, the thing we desire, is wrong? How often do we look for a loophole? How often do we try to find a way to excuse what we want, in our circumstances?

I can think of a woman, a believer, who was in a marriage that had become frustrating. She was not abused. Her husband had not committed adultery. She just was not getting all she wanted out of the marriage. The wife let others around her know that, she had prayed about the situation, and God had given her a peace about divorcing her husband to marry another man she thought would satisfy her more. She claimed that the Lord had told her, in prayer, that his commands about marriage, divorce, and remarriage simply did not apply, and he was giving her special permission to do something else.

In many cases, we want such a dispensation for disobedience. We want to be able to go our own way and have God tell us, “Oh, it’s OK for you.”

This all came to mind in my reading through 1 Kings 13. There is a really odd little passage here about an unnamed prophet who went from the southern to the northern kingdom to prophesy against Jeroboam. God gave that prophet a clear command not to eat or drink within the borders of the northern kingdom. But then along came another man who said he had heard something different.

1 Kings 13:15-18 –

15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’ ” 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he lied to him.

The unnamed man of God knew he was not allowed to eat while on this mission. The other prophet flat lied. The unnamed man of God knew what his marching orders were. But he decided that he would rather have his restrictions lifted. So he chose to believe a lie.

What happened next? The unnamed man of God was killed by a lion as a result of his disobedience. And we all feel it was not fair. But we have to learn that God is showing us all that his actual commands are binding. His word is our command. And we do not get a special dispensation from him to disobey him when we find it convenient.

Thankfully, we live in the era of a closed canon of Scripture. That means that God is never, no not ever, going to speak to a Christian a command that contradicts anything that he has already commanded in his word. During the days of the unnamed man of God, new revelations were still forthcoming. It would have been tremendously hard to know if someone might have a new word from God. But, thanks be to God, we are not getting new words from God today. His perfect, completed, inspired words have already been written. Our job is to know, love, and obey those written words of Scripture, and not let anybody throw us off by claiming that God has given them permission to disobey the word.

Do You Want What You Think You Want?

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Humans are amazing creatures. Consider the things that we say we want. Consider what we show that we really want. Consider how they are not the same thing.

People want happiness, fulfillment, or prosperity. I think that is true for nearly every human being. I have never met anyone who told me that the last thing they want is to be satisfied with life. (Of course, I have known some sour people who seem to find satisfaction in a frown, but I digress.)

Here is what I found interesting in the Psalms recently. In Psalm 81, God speaks to his people and makes the most prosperity-theology-looking sorts of promises [disclaimer: I fully reject prosperity theology]. He promises the people success, victory, physical comforts. It is a no-brainer that the people should jump at. But, what the Lord shows us in his word is that the people specifically do not do what God says.

Psalm 81:8-16

8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9 There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

10 I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel would not submit to me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I would soon subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,

and their fate would last forever.

16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

There is a lot in that section, but just think with me about the prosperity the people say they want. I think all of Israel would say that they wanted the success God mentioned here. They want the favor and the blessing. But there is something that keeps them from it. What is that? And do we have the same problem?

I would argue that the text above shows us something of great significance about the human heart. We want success, comfort, and satisfaction. But, our lives show us that we somehow get so disordered that we value something else above actual joy and satisfaction. That something shows us the very heart of our sin nature, and we need to get it.

In the Psalm, the people show that they want their autonomy even more than they want joy. They, by their actions, show that they will reject the joy that satisfies a soul and makes a life easy if they do not get to have that joy in their own way, under their own control, by their own standards.

This is human nature at its clearest. It was the problem in the garden. Adam and Eve had everything they could ever need. All comforts and joys were present. They had food, beauty, marriage, intimacy, comforts, long-life, fellowship with God. But the rebellion that they gave into said that all those things were worth rejecting if they could not be the masters of it all. If they could not have things their way, being at the top of the organizational chart, they would turn from all comforts and embrace death.

And this is our nature today. Humans naturally reject the rewards of God in order to magnify our own freedoms and autonomy. It is true in little things and in big things. It is true in my life and in yours. And a major part of living as a Christian is learning that soul-satisfaction is found in submission to the Lord, not in my own autonomy.

Look at your own life. Are you willing to walk away from God rather than submit to him? Do you want to be the one in charge of yourself, even if being in charge takes from you the joy you desire? Many are. Often, I am—that is what happens when I sin. When I sin, I say to God that I will give up the joy he can give because I refuse to bow to him. I say to God that I would rather hurt in life than yield to his authority. And the only way for me to find joy and peace in life is to learn—like a horse in a bridle—that there is a greater joy for me, the joy and even the freedom I desire, to be found only when I submit to Jesus as God created me to do.

You Do Not Know Your Heart

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Don’t you hate to think you know something, just be sure of it, and then turn to find yourself mistaken? Isn’t it frustrating to find out that you were dead wrong on what you assumed with conviction? Everybody hates this, at least I would assume we all do.

What is worse is when we think we know something about ourselves only to realize that we are not what we thought we were. Reality TV shows like American Idol have made a mint by laughing at people who think they can sing and who are utterly shocked and horrified when they are told that they cannot. The casino industry here in Vegas makes a fortune on people who think they are smart enough to beat the house, but they are not.

Even worse than all that, however, is the state of the person who believes that he or she has a solid understanding of his or her own heart. The truth is, we very often assume false things about ourselves. We assume that our intensions are good. WE assume that our motives are pure. We assume that our ways of doing things must please the Lord, because, after all, he must see things the way that we see them.

But consider a few words to us from the Lord.

1 Kings 8:39 – then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),

God is the only one who has a true grasp of what is in your heart. You do not know your own heart, only God knows the hearts of men.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

10 “I the Lord search the heart

and test the mind,

to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Our heart is more deceitful than anything else we encounter. We are particularly blind to our own failing, our own shortcomings. We assume we know, and we just flat do not grasp the truth of our own motives and internal messiness.

It is possible, by the way, if you are given to self-pity, that you think you know your heart because you so often feel bad about who you are. But, even then, the one who pities himself or herself is quite often feeling sorrow based on false beliefs and unmet desires that have nothing to do with the Lord. The truth is, whether you are overconfident or self-pitying, you do not see your heart and motives as the Lord sees them. You lack the wisdom and holiness of God to assess yourself with the accuracy of the Lord who is perfect, who sees all, and who knows all.

What then do we do? We must come to the Lord in humility and ask him to help us to know the hearts we cannot know on our own. We must open the word of God and let it, like a mirror, show us who we are and how deeply we need the grace of the Lord. We must allow others in the local church to speak truth into our lives so that we begin to grasp the little chinks in our armor that we cannot see. We must have the help of the Lord, his word, and his people to work on shaping hearts that would trick us if we view them on our own.

A Perfect Example of Context Really Mattering

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If you know me, you will know that I often preach to people how important context is in interpreting a biblical text. If we remove context from our study of a passage, we will miss, often badly, the meaning of the text. And if you think that this is not the case, I want you to read the following words with no context. They are Scripture. What would happen if all you heard was that these are the words of God?

“attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.”

Now, if those words are left to themselves, if they were seen as Scriptural commands, what would you become? It would be a real problem. And I did not do anything to those words. They appear above as they appear in Scripture. But, look at the context, and see how the meaning becomes clear.

2 Samuel 5:6-8 – 6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”

When David was planning to take the city of Jerusalem, the Jebusites said that David was so weak that the blind and the lame could ward him off. So, when David sent men to take the city, he sarcastically used the words of the arrogant Jebusites as part of his command. David does not hate blind and lame people. God does not command us to attack the disabled. Instead, we see here that David threw the boasts of the arrogant back into their teeth.

Friends, when you read the Bible, please, for the love of God (literally), handle the text in its context. Do not take a verse alone as a unit of thought. Ask what the verse is saying in the light of the paragraph, the unit of thought around it. Ask what book the verse is in and what that book is trying to communicate. Ask what timely and social constructs influence how that verse would have been understood by those who read it. Remember, context really matters.

Perseverance of the Saints: Better than Once Saved Always Saved

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I grew up knowing that a genuine Christian could not lose his or her salvation. Though I could not explain the doctrine, I had it taught to me time and time again. A real believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, a truly forgiven sinner, could not turn from the Lord so as to fall again under God’s condemnation. And I often heard that doctrine expressed as the security of the believer or in the colloquial, “Once saved always saved.”

In truth, I believe still that any person who is a genuine believer is once saved and always saved. But I think that expression is misleading. The idea that a person is saved through the simple response to an invitation after a sermon and the praying of a prayer leads to the abuse of the biblical doctrine that tells us that the genuinely saved remain in Christ. It is maligned by those who disagree with the doctrine as being licentious, permitting a person to pray a prayer and then live however they want.

The problem with an overly simplified doctrine of security is that we lose the language and thought of the Scripture as we speak of it. We get pithy in our claims, and we begin to say things that are true, or tru-ish, but which do not contain the full counsel of God on the issue.

Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 3. I believe wholeheartedly that Paul knew that he was saved. Paul knew that he could not be eternally lost. Christ had made him alive, forgiven his sins, and granted him a place with Christ for eternity. Paul had no doubt about his salvation. But Paul did not speak of his salvation with a casual line like once saved always saved.

Philippians 3:12-16 – 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

In this section of Scripture, Paul has been talking about his wonderful religious pedigree in Judaism. If anybody could have earned salvation through obedience to the law, by being born into the right family and performing the right rituals, Paul could have done so. But Paul knew this would not save him. He knew that all he thought had been gain for his life before Christ was really garbage when it came to earning salvation. So, as Paul says in this passage, he forgets what is behind him and looks forward.

Twice in this section, Paul describes his Christian life as pressing on. Paul strains toward the Lord. But we know that Paul has nothing to do with a self-earned, works righteousness. His letter to the Galatians is proof enough of that. Yet, the same apostle who says in Ephesians that we are saved by grace through faith here says that he strains toward the goal, pressing on to win the prize.

This language is a help to us to show that the better way to talk about our security in Christ as Christians is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. You see, the biblical wording is never such that you get saved, and then you let go of any thought of repentance or effort. No, your efforts will never contribute to your salvation. Neither will your efforts contribute to your being kept by God. But, a truly saved person will, through the course of his or her life, put forth effort to honor the Lord. True Christians persevere, striving toward Christ.

This doctrine makes sense when you consider what truly happens in our salvation. When we were lost, our hearts opposed the Lord and the things of God. We were saved when God transformed those dead hearts to living hearts, causing us to be born again and to respond to him in faith. Suddenly, hearts that were against God now desire God. And so, genuine Christians press toward God, because our new hearts now have a gracious, God-given desire to know and to please God. We persevere in the faith because of the supernatural transformation that takes place at salvation.

Of course, this is not always a steady process. True Christians can go through seasons of doubt or rebellion. But a person with a truly changed heart by God will eventually return to the Lord. True believers will persevere, being kept by God, kept in faith, for a salvation that is unbreakable.

Some who talk of this doctrine also use the term, the preservation of the saints. That too is biblical language, as God is the one who truly, sovereignly keeps us. He loses none of his own, but raises them up on the last day.

Thus, what we see about our salvation is a beautiful, two-sided truth. We press on, straining toward the Lord, and persevere in our faith. Paul says mature believers all think like this. We also rejoice in the promise that God guards our salvation (cf. 1 Peter 1:3-5). Thus, we know that “once saved always saved” is true, but it is a scant description of a bigger and better doctrine, the perseverance of the saints.

A misinterpreted Proverb We Need to Reclaim

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Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law.

I have often heard the first have of this verse ripped out of context in a dangerous way. It is usually quoted from the King James, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Then the one quoting it will use it as a tool to preach a sort of visionary leadership. Perhaps the person will be charismatic, and will be leading the people to listen to his own personal visions. Or perhaps the person is a pastor who wants to control his congregation by claiming that he is the visionary they must follow or perish.

The problem is that we are not letting the verse do what proverbs are supposed to do. This is a great example of an antithetical parallel. The verse has two halves that are intended to contrast. This is nothing new. A great many proverbs say to us, If A then something bad, but if B, then something good. A and B in that example are contrary positions that lead to very different outcomes.

Keep the antithetical parallelism in mind with this verse. When there is no prophetic vision, something bad is coming. What is the opposite? Is the biblically given opposite a call for charismatic giftings or visionary leadership? The verse says in the second half, “but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The good side of the parallel is that the blessing of God is on the one, not who has a vision, not who has a visionary leader, but on the one who keeps the law of God. Stop, think that through, and then move on.

The proverb is not telling us to seek out new prophets or find visionary leadership. The proverb is telling us that if we do not want to perish, we must be people who cling to and obey the word of God. The word of God rightly taught and applied is the prophetic vision that prevents the people from perishing. Wise people who want to spiritually live love the word of God and keep it. That is the point of this proverb.

So, please, dear friends, if you hear someone use this proverb out of context, be ready to help. It does not take a lot of exegetical heavy lifting to get it right. Just draw out the parallels and show that the issue here is that people perish when the pastor turns from Scripture, not when he lacks charismatic gifts or modern, visionary leadership skills.

How We Look Like Fools Today

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Are you a fool? Do not think that a funny question. When the Bible calls you a fool, it is a very big deal. Fools oppose God. Fools are destined for destruction. And, in the book of Proverbs, we see things that show that our current culture is producing fools at an alarming rate.

Proverbs 29:11 – A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Just consider the above verse in the light of modern discourse. A wise person keeps his or her emotions in check. A fool gives full vent to his or her emotions, thoughts, frustrations, etc. Think about that comparison, and ask yourself if you more often look like a wise person or a fool.

Our society seems built today on people lashing out screaming and shouting, and spilling every emotion that we feel. Universities have developed safe spaces for students to cry and snuggle teddy bears if they hear any thought with which they disagree. Those same universities allow those same students to scream at, curse at, physically threaten, and shout down speakers who present an opposing worldview.

And we could look at a hundred other arenas. Look at the Internet and social media. Who is not venting their spirit? Look at political debate and show me a man or woman behaving with decorum. Show me any form of modern entertainment that does not make its money on people spouting off whatever they feel at the time.

We have become, as a nation, a society of fools. We have lost decorum. WE have relinquished self-control. We have stopped calling for people to control their emotions and consider their words before they speak them or write them.

But, thanks be to God, there is still godly wisdom. Christians, may we learn to uphold it. May we be wise, obedient to the word of God, following the commands of Scripture and the example of Christ. May we be people who learn to speak with thought before emotion. May we be people who learn to behave with a decorum that pleases the Lord. May we be a people who refuse to sink to the level of the world around us.

And, Christian, test yourself. Have you given into the world’s thinking on your venting of your spirit? Have you bought into the lie that, if you feel something strongly, you have to let it out? The word of God never gives us the pressure-cooker-model of emotions. Instead, the word of God calls us to tame our feelings, to think before we speak, and to control our expression. If you are one who regularly blows up at your family, at your friends, or at strangers, you are acting a fool. Plead with the Lord to help you live out Christlike wisdom.

Saul and a Ghost

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On the eve of King Saul’s final battle, he found himself in a bad place. The Philistines had outmaneuvered him and his forces. The battle ground would not be to Israel’s advantage. And, worst of all, God was no longer on Saul’s side.

The king was in a pickle. The prophet, Samuel, was dead. The Lord was not speaking to Saul through other means. And so what would he do?

King Saul went and sought out a medium, a woman who claimed to be able to communicate with the dead. Saul figured that if God was not talking, he would try to get the woman to communicate with the spirit of Samuel so the dead prophet could tell him what to do.

Of course, God says that the practice of trying to communicate with the dead, tell fortunes, and all the rest is evil (cf. Leviticus 19:31). So it is a little odd that Saul, wanting to hear from God, would pick a particular plan that offends the Lord from the start.

What is even more interesting is that God does something rather odd here. God actually allows something to happen when the medium tries to call out the spirit of Samuel. We cannot say for sure whether this was really Samuel’s spirit, or perhaps a spirit allowed to simulate Samuel, but either way, something supernatural happened. This was clearly a surprise, as the woman, the medium, was totally stunned and afraid when the spirit showed up. She apparently was used to duping people with parlor tricks. When a real “ghost” came into the room, it shocked her.

But if the medium was afraid, think of how Saul must have felt after the response he got.

1 Samuel 28:15-19 – 15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” 16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”

This is all crazy, of course, but the one thing that just bounces around my brain here is the fact that Saul knew he was in trouble with God. Saul knew that God was not answering him. And, yet, when Saul knew all this, he did not repent. Nor did he seek mercy from God. Instead, he ran to a medium, an abomination in the land of Israel, to try to force Samuel’s ghost to tell him how he might succeed.

So, all of that just adds to the weight of human hubris we see in Saul, and the sad weight of hubris we see in ourselves. It is human nature, when we do not get what we want from God, to attempt to manipulate God. It is human nature to try to turn to false religion and superstition when we want to learn a tip from God for facing the future. It is part of our sinful core to ignore the commands of God and take matters into our own sinful hands. WE do that stuff instead of doing what God’s word says: repent, submit to God, obey his commands, fall on his mercy.

Before you and I judge Saul harshly, let’s remember that we have the same nature. When our churches are not as big as we want, what worldly things will we turn to rather than simply trusting the Lord and his word? When we are caught in a sin, how many of us would double-down and lie about it rather than confess and seek forgiveness? When you treat your spouse wrongly, how often do you offend the Lord more by looking for an excuse for your sinful behavior instead of seeking biblical reconciliation?

OK, maybe you do not try to conjure up a ghost for advice—I hope you don’t. But, if you and I turn to sinful comforts and sinful practices when we are not getting what we want from God, I wonder how different we are from the foolish king who sought out a medium for a powwow with a poltergeist rather than simply repenting and refusing to move anywhere other than where the word of God commands?

Offending God with Prayer

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There are lots of people who pray. In our world, when a tragedy strikes or when a person simply wants to say that they are a friend to another person, suggesting that, “I’ll pray for you.,” or something similar is common.

At the same time, there are many people who will tell you that they find prayer to be an important part of their lives. People who do not worship the Lord with the people of God in a church, people who do not know or love the word of God, people who value the things of the world around them are still people who will say that they pray. And I am sure they do.

But what does God think of it when a person who does not know him, who does not follow him, who will not obey him, decides to pray?

Proverbs 28:9

If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer is an abomination.

Those words from the Scripture are strong and significant. God has told us through a book about wisdom that a person who turns away from hearing the word of God, a person who will not follow the Scripture, might indeed pray. But that person’s prayers will be—get this and don’t miss it—an abomination.

God is not a fan of empty religion. God is not a fan of empty religious expression. God is even clear that he is not the least bit open-minded about this. God has a way that he will be approached. And God has every right to say that, if a person approaches him in a way that actually opposes him, he will not accept it.

Let us not assume that all religious expression is good. Nor let us think that all prayers please the Lord. If a person is against the word of God, their prayers offend God.

The solution here is not to be offended by the fact that God will not do things our way. Instead, the solution is to submit to the Lord by submitting to his word. The God who made us is the Lord. he is our Master, Creator, and Judge. He is a merciful Father to all who will come to him in faith and repentance through Jesus Christ. But he is clear that he is not at all required to accept us through any other path. His word tells us to come to Jesus in faith for salvation. Prayers of those who reject the Lord, reject his Son, and reject his word are not things that please him.

A Lesson from Shouting Good Morning

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Some proverbs are funny. They make sense, and you can just picture their truth in action. Here is one.

Proverbs 27:14 – Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.

The proverb makes total sense. If you tell your neighbor good morning, with a really loud voice, early in the morning, it will not be something he receives well. As the proverb tells us, it will be taken as a curse.

So is all we are to learn from this verse the fact that yelling at somebody when the sun is barely up is not a good idea? No, I do not think so. I think, behind this text, is a more important life principle. If you wish to show someone kindness, it is wise to learn what they can receive from you as kindness.

Husbands, what does your wife love? If your wife is into flowers and pretty things, and you give her a gift of a new power saw, it is likely that your gift will not be well-received. At the same time, it may be that your wife would far rather you mop the floor and load the dishwasher than buy her a plant. The point is to learn to show love and kindness in what she will appreciate. And it does not take much imagination to turn the tables and ask wives to think about what their husbands actually receive well.

The big principle here is one of love and others-centeredness. When you wish to love another person well, do them good. When you wish to bless them, do so in a way that they are actually likely to take as a blessing. To give to another person, but to only do so in ways that you like and they do not, is not often loving. Of course, love requires that we correct each other and confront each other, and none of us enjoys that. But, when you are trying for kindness and graciousness, think about the other person’s desires first.

Shouting at me at 4:00 in the morning is not something I will enjoy, even if you are saying something nice. Neither will I be overly grateful if you tell me that I’ve just won a nice basket of mushrooms—I don’t like them. Let us learn from such things to love one another well by learning to care for one another with what is best received.