Oblivious Blessings

“Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.” (De 23:5 AV)

What is astounding about this account is Israel never knew of this until much later.  Balaam, a gentile prophet, was hired by Balak, the king of Moab to curse Israel.  Balak heard of all God did for Israel from Egypt to Jericho and was terrified of what they would do to Moab.  Balak asked Balaam to offer offerings unto God so that God might change His mind regarding Israel.  Rather than merely declining, Balaam did just the opposite.  When Balaam ascended to the altar, instead of cursing Israel, he prophetically blessed them.  The motive is stated above.  God turned a curse into a blessing because of love.  That we understand as much as it is done.  We may not understand the depth of love or love itself.  How a holy God could love creatures such as we are we cannot understand.  But we do understand it is so.  That which occurred to me this morning is God turned the curses of Balaam into a blessing when they were not even aware of it.  One has to wonder how many times the enemy intended to cause us harm and God turned it into a blessing without us even realizing it.  It has to be more than we could ever fathom.

It is hard to see what one does not know.  It is hard to realize an actuality that never came to be.  It is even harder to notice when one is further removed from this actuality that perceiving it would be near to impossible.  Have you ever played in the water?  I am thinking of playing in the yard with a hose and some army men.  No?  You don’t know what you are missing.  We had these fold-out forts that came with little plastic cowboys and Indians.  The young lad playing with them would set up the fort, and place the watch towers, ramparts, and all sorts of little things that went with the fort.  The idea was to build a battle scene where the Indians lay siege to the fort and the cowboys behind the fort would defend it.  Over time, we replace the cowboys and Indians with little plastic army men.  We would play with it outside.  Our backyard was mostly dirt.  So, we used gardening tools and dug little trenches for water to run by.  Then, as little boys are, we tried to wipe out the town with a large flood.  So, we would fill our little wading pool with water and bend down the side of it towards the fort to see if we could wipe it out.  It was a bit hard to do.  The trenches we dug and the arid nature of our backyard diverted or soaked up the water.  It was rare we could wash away this little plastic town of faithful soldiers, cowboys, and Indians.  Playing often like this turned our backyard into a grassy patch.  What we meant for evil, nature turned in for good.  And the little plastic village was none the wiser.

I am certain there is more of this than meets the eye.  Well has the prophet said,  “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isa 64:4 AV)  This is one of many truths we must accept without any obvious evidence.  The children of Israel never knew Balaam went to curse them.  They never knew there were altars built against them.  They never knew a covetous prophet was close to honoring a gentile king set on ridding the planet of the Jewish race.  They never knew how close they were to extinction.  All they knew was God provided for them despite Moab’s adversity.  All they knew was life went on as it always had.  All they knew and enjoyed was the day-to-day blessings of God with no view of what God just did for them.  This is our life whether we can see it or not.  God has turned so much cursing into a blessing it is beyond our ability to account for it all.  Praise God that He is so good.

Eyes On The Future

“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” (Pr 13:12 AV)

There is a problem.  Then there is a solution.  There is that which we hope for which is delayed to the point we are discouraged.  Yet, the promise of its arrival and the consequent blessings from it is the answer to a sickened heart.  John Gill makes an application of this verse to the coming of Christ.  The longer we wait for it and the worse our world gets, the more discouraged we can become.  Our writer is refocusing the heart on the end goal rather than the absence of it.  He reminds the reader that when the object of our hope is a reality, it will be as the source of all life; the tree of life.  This is certainly the greatest of all applications.  However, this truth can be applied to all objects of hope.  Faith requires we see that object and live as though it is guaranteed.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  We understand the objects of our hope to be guaranteed and the only thing that keeps them from being a reality is time.  The objects are deferred.  They are delayed.  But, when the objects come, life as we know it will be far richer than we could ever imagine.

The older I get, the sweeter heaven becomes.  I am getting to the age where those whom I love are leaving for glory more frequently than not.  I cannot say I have more loved ones in glory than I do on earth.  At least not yet.  But the scale is beginning to noticeably tilt that way.  I can tell you one thing:  without the promise of heaven, I could not survive this life.  With all the sad goodbyes, I would not be able to process the deep loss that has come my way and the greater volume of loss I know is right around the corner.  Life goes by really fast.  Faster than I ever imagined.  Even though we know that eternity is an eventuality, when the prospect of it becomes far more real, we still approach it unprepared.  We visit the doctor’s office with the mindset that we can live forever.  Our age doesn’t occur to us.  The fact we have already lived the majority of it and one day in the future, we will permanently change residency.  My mind goes to the promises of scripture.  The presence of God is the greatest of all promises.  There is the end of our cursed human existence.  What a glory that will be.  But of late, I have been thinking of 1Thess 4:17.  When we are caught up with Christ, we shall ever be with Him and one another.  No more parting.  No more absences.  No more sad goodbyes.  The thought of eternal fellowship is what I think of a lot.

Hope deferred does indeed make the heart sick.  But it doesn’t need to stay that way.  Solomon’s statement there is a statement of fact.  Not of a certain eventuality.  Even though the object of our hope is deferred, our heart doesn’t have to be sick.  Faith is the answer.  Not faith insomuch as we agree the object will eventually come.  Rather, faith as though the object is already here when as yet it has not come.  This is the wisdom Solomon is trying to share.  That which we hope for is certain.  It is more certain than tomorrow’s sunrise.  It is more certain than the next breath we take.  The object of our hope is only a matter of time.  So, look through the looking glass of faith unto the true and perfect word of God.  Rest on the certainty of the presence of your Savior.  Rest in the truth that eternal joy is only a heartbeat away and sooner than you can notice, the portals of heaven will be above and the golden streets beneath.  The future will be here.  Don’t lose heart!

What Does God See?

“Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.” (De 16:22 AV)

I know the context is idol worship, but there is a broader principle at play here.  Truly, the people of God should not set up images made of stone or wood to bow down to them as though they were representations of gods that do not exist.  This is a no-brainer.  But I have to wonder if the same principle can apply no matter the use of the image, or even the medium on which it appears.  In other words, one has to wonder if artwork or entertainment cannot also apply here.  They are images.  They are facsimiles of something true or imagined.  My mind went to classic artwork one would find in any museum.  The saint would have to wonder if the LORD would approve of any artwork that exhibited immodesty.  Certainly not.  What of our entertainment choices?  The obvious, no one would argue.  That which passes as normal would be immodest at best.  But what of other things?  How much of what we see, hear, or watch would be considered inappropriate imagery and that which God hates?  Do we even bother to ask that question before we consume unhindered that which most would consume?

I grew up in a generation where the TV was invented.  First, there was black and white television.  Then came along the color TV.  Now, we have super high-definition TV that looks lifelike.  I remember when there were only three stations.  Then four.  Then cable television came along and now there are more choices than ever.  I remember when commercials were about household products and cars.  Now, everything imaginable is sold.  Even those things one would never discuss in public.  I remember when one could turn on the TV and not have to fear what might unexpectedly come across the airwaves.  Now, the casual viewer had to sit with the remote in hand, ready to kill the station of an advertisement that comes across as inappropriate for everyone.  So, the question remains.  How much does our imagery offend a holy God?  I would have to say the lion’s share of it.

Fundamentalists are accused of being overly strict.  We are seen as too rigid in our standards.  Fundamentalists are seen as abnormal, mentally unfit, and even dangerous.  We try to avoid any activity that might lead to more egregious sin.  We try to avoid all depictions of inappropriate imagery.  We are seen as out of touch and reactionary to something the world sees as normal and innocent.  It really doesn’t matter.  What God thinks of it is far more important than what man thinks of it.  When we sit down to watch tv, play an app on our phone, read the news, or do any activity where imagery or thoughts can enter the mind, do we ask ourselves how God feels?  God does have an opinion.  He does have feelings.  Does He matter?

Curiosity Can Kill The Cat

“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.” (De 12:30 AV)

There is a saying, “curiosity killed the cat.”  The origin of the phrase appears to be in the mid-1550s by two poets, one of which was William Shakespeare.  In the original proverb, the writers penned, “care killed the cat.”  The proverb suggests cats are naturally curious to the point of self-destruction. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know.  What we do know is God’s warning which applies to a curiosity regarding sin.  Moses is giving instructions to the people of Israel.  Some victories will be won and the result would be temples, altars, etc left behind by their enemies.  Curiosity would suggest learning about them and how they worked might be to the advantage.  The thought might be the people of God could improve their system of worship by learning how others did theirs.  We can justify all sorts of inquiries.  We can offer the excuse we need to look into it so that if someone comes to us with a problem, we have the knowledge to help them.  We can make the argument that learning about it might dissuade us from falling for it.  Whatever the excuse, we are warning not to enquire into what the world does if it is not a spiritually beneficial or biblical thing to do.

Marketing firms know this proverb.  Just use an app on your phone.  I use an app called Weatherbug.  It has all these ads to click on.  Once the user gets beyond the weather screens, there are many links with teaser photos at the bottom.  One of my favorites shows a picture of countless bubble-wrapped items of the same kind with the caption, “Government cannot sell so they are giving them away.”  Still, another might promise a miracle weight loss solution.  They are teasers designed to get the user to click on the ad and divulge information the designer is seeking.  Based on the app and ad, it might be a ruse for something as nefarious as stealing an identity.  Regardless, they are designed to pique curiosity and entice the user to go down a path that will lead to some type of wrong decision.  More to the point, sometimes we might be innocently researching something which we do need to know.  Perhaps something health-related.  And there are site suggestions that are anything but helpful.  Curiosity entices us to click on a link that causes great harm.  Sticking our noses into an area it does not belong can lead to very harmful choices.

Curiosity regarding sin will often lead straight to it.  This is exactly what happened to Israel time and again.  From their intermarriages to the Moabites and Peor to the Damascene altar that replaced Moses’ altar, the children of Israel curiously went after other gods because they wanted to learn more about their neighbors.  They wanted to know how they lived and what they believed.  They ended by being just like them.  Ignorance is bliss.  Being naïve regarding the things of the world is a good thing.  Staying away from it rather than trying to figure it out keeps our minds and hearts from going to a place they should not go.  This was Moses’ advice.  And it is good advice.

He's Not Out To Get You

“(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” (De 4:31 AV)

This statement is not an uncommon one.  Repeatedly, the LORD reassures Israel He did not bring them out of Egypt to destroy them.  He did not bring them out of the land of bondage to see them waste away into nothing. He made a covenant with their forefathers which He intends to keep.  No matter their experience, they cannot forget the LORD is not out to get them or out to see them completely eradicated from the earth.  God brought them out of Egypt to redeem them and make them a great nation.  Even greater than the very nation that once enslaved them.  There were times when they doubted such a statement.  In fact, more times than one would think.  This is exactly why the LORD had to reassure them.  From three days after the Red Sea crossing until the first generation died off, this was a constant struggle with them.  They continuously had the idea God brought them into the wilderness to dispose of them.  Of the rebellious generation, this would be true.  The generation that had to do much evidence yet could not trust the LORD, God waited for that generation to naturally pass away.  He did not destroy them.  He simply allowed them to live out their natural lives but they did not receive the promises.  Of the nation as a whole, the LORD did not destroy them.  He had no intention of doing so.

We can feel the same way.  When it seems as though nothing is going right, we can think that we have crossed a line with God and He is setting His face against us so that we might be removed from the face of the earth.  I have helped several people who simply think they are unlovable.  They have claimed Jesus as their Savior, but somehow, cannot see God’s love extend beyond forgiveness of sin.  They live in a prison of their own making thinking God created them for the express purpose of destroying them.  This self-loathing leads to very self-destructive behavior.  In one case, it led to several suicide attempts.  There is usually a root cause behind this feeling.  And we see it with Israel.  Abuse has a way of making someone feel as though they are and always will be unlovable.  In the case just mentioned, the individual was abused as a child and as an adult.  This person was abused physically.  There was no affirmation from parents, employers, or friends.  This person saw their existence as a mistake and not even God could love this person.  Israel had come out of an abusive situation.  They were enslaved for 400 years.  Their captors abused them even to the point of death.  For ten generations they were pounded into the ground as worthless and expendable property.  This took a toll on their self-image.  No wonder they thought God was out to destroy them.

The problem is, they had to overcome this.  Faith is the key.  The reason God got upset with them is they would not give God the benefit of the doubt and defined the present from the past.  They allowed their abuse to transfer unto God and no matter what God did for them, they would not trust Him to love them and care for them.  This is the sin of which God was so upset.  I would be, too.  I experienced this in the past.  Pastoring a church that had suffered abuse by former pastors, there was no way I was ever going to gain their trust no matter how hard I tried.  You love them.  But you cannot lead them.  God was put in this same circumstance.  The abuse was simply too severe for them to overcome and trust God.  God is not our abuser.  He is not that person or persons who mistreated us and made us feel like less than nothing.  He loved us enough to send His son to die for us and continues to love us unconditionally.  Accept it.  As hard as that is, one must trust a loving God.

The Battle Doesn't Get Smaller. Our God Gets Bigger.

“The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;” (De 1:30 AV)

I know this verse or ones similar to it have been used in my devotions in the past.  But a different thought occurred to me reading the above passage.  Moses is referring to the failure of Israel to take the promised land the first time around.  He is recalling the twelve spies and the evil report of ten of those spies.  He rehearsed how they felt and their perception of the likelihood of overcoming what seemed to be insurmountable odds.  The verse above is not meant for encouragement to face a battle.  Rather, a reminder of why their lack of faith was such a big deal.  They refused to trust God to do the impossible through them.  They put success squarely on their own shoulders and correctly assessed if they were to take the land, they would be defeated.  They did not calculate God’s power in their assessment.  This was why God was so displeased with them.  But that is not the thought that occurred to me this morning.  Nowhere does God promise to make the battle smaller.  He does not promise to shrink the enemy.  The nature of the battle is still the same.  With or without God, the enemy is what he or it, is.  They are still giants.  They are still innumerable.  They are still impenetrable.  Having God fight our battles does not shrink the enemy.

Recently, I finished a sermon entitled, The Undesirable Will of God.  It comes from the prayer of Jesus in the garden.  There is much argument over this prayer and for no good reason.  Too much metaphysics and philosophy and not enough Bible.  It is plain that in His weakened human flesh, the Savior asked the Father for any other way by which mankind could be redeemed from their sin.  He saw the cruel death before him and the temporary estrangement of the Son from the Father and cried out that the cup that lay before him might be replaced by a lighter one.  Jesus raised the hypothetical of a small mountain.  A light load.  An easier trial to endure.  It wasn’t that He was seeking to avoid the goal of the trial altogether.  He was not.  It was the joy that was set before Him.  What He raised as a possibility was God might lessen the battle that He might endure what lay before Him.  Yet, the LORD did not.  The Father required of the Son all that we predetermined before the foundation of the world.  The plan of God was set.  It was written from eternity.  Nothing was going to make the cross lighter to bear.  Yet, the Spirit and the Father strengthened Him in His hour of need so that the payment for our sin could and would be paid in full.  The load did not decrease, but it did get lighter.

Having God involved doesn’t shrink the enemy.  We will still have to face what we have to face.  The mountain before us will still be just as high.  Wishing for something less is only stating if it were, we could face it without God.  The trial doesn’t diminish.  The challenge does not ease.  What does happen is God gets involved and strengthens us to overcome what we cannot face ourselves.  Wishing for an easier life is unrealistic and unbiblical.  Wishing it to all go away is immature.  Hoping to lessen the trial so that we can handle it on our own is not how God designed our steps of faith.  Rather, the battle is as large as it is because He wants to get us over the mountain.  He wants to prove Himself strong on behalf of His children.  He wants to be the God we need Him to be.  Praying that God would take away the trial is not what God intends.  That is not what He promises.  He promises to make a way through it so that we can endure the entirety of it.  The enemy is still tall and of great stature.  But our God is greater.  This is the point!

Eternal Wisdom For Temporary Problems

“I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” (Pr 8:23 AV)

The eighth chapter of Proverbs is a personification of wisdom.  We know wisdom is not a person.  But in this chapter, we learn wisdom has divine qualities such as eternality.  Wisdom is simply the knowledge of God.  It is what God thinks and how God does things.  Wisdom is that attribute that designed and spoke into existence all that we see.  Wisdom existed before God created anything.  Wisdom existed from eternity, and will continue to do so into eternity.  Understanding the eternal nature of wisdom, we can understand it to be absolute.  We can understand the wisdom of God to be that upon which all else rests.  Every creature, purpose, and situation was caused directly or indirectly by wisdom.  This also means wisdom is not relative.  Wisdom does not change with situations.  There are absolute principles that play a part in every situation and the answer to that situation will also be absolute.  Wisdom does not bend to meet a situation differently than an identical situation.  Wisdom should change the situation and not the situation, wisdom.

Sometimes we are too quick to find what we think is a pragmatic and wise solution, but in the long run, it is not wise.  Yesterday, I read of Rueben and Gad who were two tribes of Israel heavy into ranching.  They noticed the land on the east side of Jordan was very conducive to raising cattle.  They bartered with Moses and God to allow them to settle to the east of Jordan rather than cross the river and settle with the rest of the nation to the west of Jordan.  Wisdom would say this was a prudent request.  However, there were several problems with this.  First, if an enemy were to attack, they would be on their own.  There was no natural defense to the east and Jordan lay to the west.  They would be trapped.  This is exactly what happened.  They were constantly harassed by Assyria and eventually fell to them.  Second, they had not completely spied out Canaan and were not aware of the pasture that could have been provided had they gone over Jordan.  The valley of Megiddo was a plush valley ripe for raising cattle.  There was also direct access to the sea and trade would have been much easier.  Third, and most importantly, with Jordan running between them and the temple, they would be tempted to create their own centre of worship, which they did, because Jordan was too much of an obstacle to cross.  All in all, what seemed like a wise choice turned out not to be so.

There may be a workable solution, but that does not make it the right solution.  There may be a temporary fix that works, but it is not the wise thing to do.  Wisdom existed before our trial and it will continue to exist long after it is over.  Praying and seeking God’s face is the wisest thing to do.  Going to His word which has all the answers we will ever need is the next step.  To go through life without seeking the wisdom of God is absolute foolishness.  It is the very definition of failure.  God has given us His eternal wisdom in the form of His word.  He has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that will teach us His word and enable us to apply it.  Wisdom has always been there.  It is not a mystery.  The first verse of this same chapter says that wisdom cries out from the highest vantage point.  Wisdom is obvious if we will simply listen.  It is there.  It always has been.  It is absolute and unchanging.  Wisdom desires to be shared.  It desires to be applied.  It will not force itself upon us.  We must welcome it.