Tag Archives: God

Bringing The Ark: Consuming Focus

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There’s one more section I want to bring out in this story. After Michal’s criticism of David, David made a very profound response: “David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’S people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”” (2 Samuel 6:21-22)

David knew who his worship was directed to. He was celebrating before the Lord. He wasn’t trying to impress Michal nor anyone else. He wasn’t seeking their applause nor their approval. What he did, he did before the Lord.

Does that mean we shouldn’t be concerned about those around us when we worship? No, I don’t think we can make that argument. The discussion about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 is all about being aware of those around us and including them in our worship. Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 is based on thinking about those who might observe our worship. And the passages on “the weaker brother” could even come into play.

However, I know that I’ve spent way too much time listening to the Michals of this world, trying to keep them happy. It can’t be done. As the moral of Aesop’s fable of the man, the boy and the donkey says, please all and you will please none. You can’t please everyone.

In the end, I need to focus on the God I’m worshiping and doing what pleases Him. Sometimes that will mean doing certain things for the good of those around me. But other times, it will mean worshiping Him with reckless abandon, unconcerned about the praise of men.

For some time, I subscribed to a discussion list with a number of preachers who would probably consider themselves to be more conservative than I. I felt that hearing their voices and their concerns would help me to keep a bit of balance. (I also subscribed to some lists with some I thought more liberal than I) A few weeks ago, however, I realized that the negativity I was subjecting myself to was doing me more harm than good. It was pulling me away from my focus.

I don’t want to go back. Not just to that group, but to the whole game of trying to dance to the tune others would play. I will seek to edify. I will seek to evangelize. I will not seek to offend, trying to be all things to all men.

But above all, I will serve my God.

In ___ We Trust

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A friend of mine wrote a rant on his blog which seemed to be directed at my recent posts on politics. I’m not really sure, because if he was referring to what I wrote, he obviously didn’t understand most of it.

The last statement in his post really caught my eye:

And please vote so that those simple brethren can continue to have the right to their ignorant opinions.

At first I was really irritated by the “ignorant opinions” comment, but then I realized that that’s just the way my friend talks. He’s a black/white, all/nothing kind of guy, so if you don’t see things the way he does, you’re ignorant. Since we rarely see eye to eye, I’m considered ignorant most of the time. I can live with that.

What worried me, however, was this idea that by voting, someone can continue to give me the right to have my opinion. I’ve heard such said about military service, but that’s the first time I’ve heard it said about voting.

And I realized why such talk is so dangerous. Maybe not directly to those in the church, but definitely to those outside. When we start saying that America gives us our freedom, America gives us our rights, America gives us our prosperity and our way of life, America gives us just about everything the average person holds dear, is it any wonder that they see no need for God? Is it any wonder that the average U.S. citizen would just as soon worship America as worship God?

In this way of looking at things, our military gives us our freedom. Our government grants us our liberties. Voting allows others to have ignorant opinions. God gives a few spiritual things that aren’t of much consequence, but the things that really count are granted by the gods Democracy and the U.S. of A.

I’m not saying that this is what Christians believe, though many talk as if this were their outlook. I’m saying that when Christians talk in this way, non-Christians see that the presence of God in our world is not nearly as important as the continued existence of this country.

People had freedom in Christ long before the United States came into being. People had the ability to express opinions and ideas about Christianity for over 1700 years before this country was established. The freedoms that matter do not depend on your voting, your military service or any other human activity.

Some trust in ballot boxes, some trust in soldiers, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God!

Let God be God

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Adam and Eve driven out of gardenAs was pointed out in the comment section of the first post in this series, other theological issues affect our views of the possibility of believers falling from grace. As we start into that territory, I need to offer one more word of caution.

Whenever we draw limits around God, we’re wrong. Yes, it’s true that God can’t do things that go against his nature: he can’t lie, he can’t die, etc. But anytime that we claim to have perfectly defined God, we’re sure to be wrong in some way. The finite can’t explain the infinite.

God can’t…
God has to…
God will always…

We have to be careful with such statements. God will be God (as I discussed in the post “My God Can Beat Up Your God“).

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:33-36)

Let’s keep that in mind as we move forward.

Ecclesiastes: Fearing God

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electricityThere are lots more passages in Ecclesiastes that are worthy of comment. And there are lots of people more qualified than I to discuss them. The only other point I want to bring out is a point common to much of wisdom literature, the concept of fearing God. In Proverbs we read: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7) This is an idea that Ecclesiastes works through as well:

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
Ecclesiastes 7:18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
Ecclesiastes 8:12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.
Ecclesiastes 12:13   The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

I’ve used the example of electricity to show how I understand fearing God. I’m not afraid of electricity. I’m sitting in a room that has electricity in the walls around me. I’m not afraid. But I’m not going to stick a fork in a socket either. I fear electricity in that I respect its power. That’s how I understand fearing God.

There is a section in Ecclesiastes 5 about not taking reckless vows. (I often go over this passage with couples that are looking to marry). In that section we read:

Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

That’s what it comes down to. God is God. When we come to recognize that and grasp the fact that God is SO much greater than we are, then we are on the road to wisdom.

Ecclesiastes: Time and chance

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diceDo you believe in chance? Accidents? Coincidence? Luck? I’ve heard Christians dismiss each of those concepts at one time or another, trying to sound spiritual as they correct someone else’s speech.

“Luckily, I found it.”

“Christians don’t believe in luck!”

The writer of Ecclesiastes believed in chance/fortune/destiny/… however you choose to translate it. Fact is, a lot of our versions avoid translating these terms, although most translate Ecclesiastes 9:11 something as follows:

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

Reading through Ecclesiastes, we can see that the writer believes that some things just happen. They happen to the wise and the foolish, the good and the bad, the strong and the weak.

God hasn’t chosen to move us around like pawns, plotting out every movement along the way. There is room for time and chance to play a part in our lives. Does that mean God isn’t in control? No, it doesn’t. It means that he has chosen to give men free will, to allow his universe to act within certain guidelines.

Sometimes after an accident, people say, “God was with them and they weren’t hurt.” Does that mean that if they had been hurt that God wasn’t with them? We know that’s not true, yet our way of speaking can lead to heartache for many. In this world, time and chance play a part in our lives. That’s one of the messages of Ecclesiastes.