Reacting Spiritually to the Virus and not just Physically.

Luk 13:1  There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 

Luk 13:2  And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 

Luk 13:3  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 

Luk 13:4  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 

Luk 13:5  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

As those who attend our church can attest, I have spent a lot of time over the last two years plus dealing with suffering and how a Christian handles adversity and calamity.  We are all now living in such a time of trial and we want to be sure to redeem the time and act, think and communicate as Christians who have been commissioned to go into the world and preach the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

We have used the above passage to show what Jesus emphasized during times of calamity and what these people needed to focus on.  I notice that he doesn’t tell them that they should quit going into towers and he doesn’t tell them that God loves them and that they are safe in his arms, etc.  These things might be true and at times good to think about but I find it telling what Jesus does say.

I hear a lot about “social distancing”; in fact it seems that is almost all people are talking about.  I hope that it is helping; I imagine no one will know until all this is over what was worthwhile and what was not.  But by all means do whatever you think is helpful to keep well.  I would point out that the only reason any of us can stay at home and perhaps not be exposed to the virus is because millions voluntarily go out and risk exposure so that we can have food and electricity and water, etc.  If they didn’t do this, none of us could sit in our houses with some measure of safety; so I am thankful that they are not staying at home.  You cannot quarantine 330,000,000 people.  So staying at home is a chance for some to be able to limit their exposure but it comes at the expense of others.  Just something to keep in mind because I hear even Christians telling everyone to stay home and even saying that they are killing people if they don’t.  Maybe there are other things we need to focus on which brings me back to the passage above.

We have talked recently about the trumpet, warning judgments of Revelation.  They are given as a warning to those living to repent because judgment is coming and it will be too late to repent then.  The fact is that a lot of people are going to die from this and already have.  No doubt a lot of those who have died knew all about social distancing because that is the politically correct thing to talk about.  Everyone is happy for you to tell them how to stay alive.  But I wonder how many of those who have died or who are going to die had anyone tell them that they need to repent of their sins and get right with God through Jesus Christ?  In other words how many were prepared for death?  I am not saying there is anything wrong with talking about social distancing but Jesus knew that everyone is going to die eventually and so in times like this we need to tell people how to be prepared for death first. 

How many parents have gone over and over with lost children or other family and friends, about how to stay safe but have never even considered that their most pressing concern is to be confronted with their sinfulness and its remedy?  I suspect a lot of Christians have said and written a lot about how to stay safe but have lost family members that they have not said a word to about being prepared for death.  The proper response from the Church to calamity is to repent, even while we are discussing social distancing.  I was able to talk about these things with a man yesterday and the need to be ready to meet the Lord.  It would be easy to just talk about socially acceptable things but that is not people’s most pressing need.

All this was reinforced to me yesterday as I read about the reception the “My Pillow Guy” got when he would dare encourage people to read their Bibles and pray; which was hardly confrontational.  It reminds us that this world does not want to hear that there is a God that they will answer to; let alone their sin and judgment.  But that is precisely what we need to be speaking about. 

So as we communicate to others, let us redeem the time and perhaps see people brought into the Kingdom of God. 

Watching the Face of God

Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 

Joh 4:47  When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 

Joh 4:48  So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 

Joh 4:49  The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 

Joh 4:50  Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 

One of the ways we can test our faith is how we have been affected by coming into contact with Jesus.  True faith believes what the Bible reveals about God and that has profound effects on the way we live.  We see it in the above passages.  The way the Apostles spoke in Acts 4 left no doubt that they had been taught by the Lord.

In the John 4 passage we have the account of the nobleman who thought Jesus had to go to his house to heal his son.  But when Jesus told him to go home because his son would be healed, he immediately headed home assured that what Jesus had said was true.  Even greater faith was seen in Matt. 8 when the centurion told Jesus that he didn’t have to come to his house to heal his servant but just speak the word and it would be done no matter the distance.  Jesus said he had never seen such faith.

Unfortunately not everyone who meets or hears of Jesus is changed.  In chapter 6 of John the crowd that is fed by the boy’s small lunch follows him around for a couple of days and yet they eventually walk away from him still lost in their sins, Joh 6:66  After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  I believe we are being told that when someone really comes to see Jesus in his glory and is saved, others can tell there is something different about you.  If there is no change then you haven’t really seen Christ’s glory and so are still lost.

One of the most important things we can see and benefit from when we look at the face of God in his Son is his absolute sovereignty in all things.  It reminds me of how my wife would handle situations when our children would hurt themselves.  If the situation allowed her to, she would do things like “comfort” the ground when the child fell as if they had hurt the ground.  She was attempting to relay to the child that they really weren’t hurt that bad and there was nothing to be worried about and sometimes they could just laugh it off.  Even during more serious times she was always careful not to panic but do what she could to keep the child calm.

We would do something similar during storms.  Instead of acting scared and worried, we would be sure to remain calm and have fun and perhaps speak of the fact that the Lord is in control of the storm.  I knew one woman with children who would run and get under her bed during thunderstorms.  I doubt that did her kids much good.  I praise the Lord that some years later she came up to me during a storm and pointed out how calm she was.

So my application in this is that since God is in complete control of all things and he has a good purpose in all he sends our way; then he is the most calm and happy entity in all of the universe.  Nothing catches him by surprise and he never panics but is always perfectly content.  We would be in a good habit of looking at his face, by knowing and trusting his Word to us, during times of distress and remember that he is happy and so we can take our cue from him.

We see this throughout the Bible; Psa 17:15  As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.  Psa 102:2  Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!   Of course with the Lord he isn’t pretending to be having fun, he actually is because everything he does brings him joy and glory.  It is a mark of maturity when we can see things the way God does and react in the same way.  Faith sees the joy and contentment in the face of God during times of trial and takes its cue from the reality that God is merely working out his perfect plan in us.

I can’t imagine a greater compliment you could pay me than to watch my life and assume I have been with Jesus as they said about the disciples in Acts 4.  If we have the same scowl, anger, sadness, discontented disposition that the lost have then what are we saying about not only our faith but about the God we say we trust in? 

The Identification of Baptism

Col 2:11  In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, Col 2:12  having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. Col 2:13  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.

Rom 6:3  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Rom 6:4  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Rom 6:5  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 

We notice in the above passages that we are baptized into Christ.  Whether we are speaking of our spiritual baptism when the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ or water baptism where we publically identify with Christ it is all about union and identity with Jesus as Lord and Savior.  I have spoken with Covenant Theologians who baptize by sprinkling and pouring and who baptize babies.  One argument used to support sprinkling and pouring is the above passage in Col. 2:11-13.  This person said that when the Spirit baptizes us he comes down upon us so sprinkling is an appropriate symbol of this. 

That might be true but it is fundamentally flawed since we are not baptized into the Holy Spirit but by the Holy Spirit.  Also we are never said to identify with the Holy Spirit but with Jesus Christ.  Again, notice the absence of the mention of the Holy Spirit in the above verses.  He is there but behind the scenes.  The Gospel is about what Christ has done for us in his death, burial and resurrection.  Paul preached Christ and him crucified.  When we are baptized we are proclaiming that we have been saved by Christ’s work and we are now followers of Christ because we have been given new life; the life of Christ.  Our baptism is not a picture of how the Spirit came down upon us.  Baptism is a picture of us being joined to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus; we are followers of him, not the Spirit.  Christ said take up your cross and follow me, not the Spirit.  I am not trying to play down the Spirit’s role but he is given to lead us into the knowledge of Christ and to glorify Jesus, not himself.

One passage that I think drives the point home is found in Acts 19. 

Act 19:1  And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. Act 19:2  And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Act 19:3  And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” Act 19:4  And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” Act 19:5  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

We see that when you were baptized by John you did so in repentance professing to believe his message about the coming Messiah.  You identified with his message.  The reason Paul tells these believers (they were already converted) that they needed to be rebaptized was they were to identify with Christ, not John and not the Holy Spirit.  This shows that baptism doesn’t save since they already were believers and it shows why only immersion is proper baptism because it alone illustrates Christ’s work.  We are not baptized to point to the Holy Spirit. 

Our Real Enemies

Num 13:30  But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 

Num 13:31  Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 

Num 13:32  So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 

Num 14:1  Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 

Num 14:2  And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 

Num 14:3  Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 

We are all familiar with the account of the 12 spies that spied out Canaan and only two came back and encouraged Israel to take the land while the other 10 said it would be impossible to take the land.  The verses above reveal part of the problem these 10 spies had.  All these men could see was the size of their physical enemies.  They never once mention the power of God or the fact that the Lord had already told them that he was going to give them the land.  In Num. 14:8-9 we see Joshua looking at this from spiritual eyes, “If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.  Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”   Clearly he and Caleb feared the Lord more than a few giants.

The 10 spies like the majority of Israel throughout their history did not have regenerated hearts and so could not see the glory of God; they could only see the glory of physical things.  Their problem throughout their history was that they never could identify their real enemy.  Their enemy and ours is never that which can destroy the body but that which can destroy the soul.  It is interesting that they were afraid of the size of the Canaanites but not afraid of the gods of the Canaanites. 

We see why in this account.  To them the giants of the land appeared more fearsome and stronger than Yahweh.  Their enemy wasn’t the Canaanites but the idolatry of their own hearts that refused to honor the Lord but instead only cared about the ease and pleasure of the flesh.  As in vs. 2 above, every time food or water got a little scarce and they were forced to rely on the providence of God they balked and started yearning for the food they had back in Egypt.  Never mind that they were slaves and the king was killing their children and working them to death.

What a picture of this world that will sell its soul for a few moments or years of pleasure rather than worship the Lord and give him his due.  One can’t help but remember Esau who for one meal gave up his inheritance.  To him his enemy was an empty belly but that only showed that his belly was his real enemy; in other words his enemy was his flesh that would be satisfied at all cost.

As Christians it is imperative that we recognize our true enemies.   Pain, sickness, poverty, injustice, loneliness, obscurity and such things are not what we need to fear.  Such things are sent by a loving God to demonstrate his power and that we need him more than these things.  These things can only cause discomfort for a short time.  But we must recognize that our enemy is the remaining sin in our heart that would cause us to flee from them rather than use them to serve the Lord.  When we do, then we will do battle with the way we think and the things we love more than the Lord.  When we live by sight and not by faith, we end up doing battle with God by complaining about his providence. 

As Jesus said in Mat 10:28, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.   Our true enemy is anything that would become an idol to us; anything that would cause us to fear it more than the Lord or anything that would cause us to love it more than the Lord.

Israel should have been more concerned with the idolatry of the Canaanites rather than the size of their army because one could only kill their bodies, the other destroy their souls.  Of course, most of the Jews never had a regenerated heart but if we are Christ’s, we do and that makes all the difference.  Our problem often is that we don’t live spiritually minded, judging all things by the Scriptures, but we tend to live according to what we can see and feel.  But this is to walk as we did before we were saved and it is of the utmost importance that we walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh. 

The fourth chapter of Ephesians deals with this concept but I will quote just part of it here.  Read it and see if it doesn’t support what I have just conveyed. 

Eph 4:17  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 

Eph 4:18  They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 

Eph 4:19  They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 

Eph 4:20  But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 

Eph 4:21  assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 

Eph 4:22  to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 

Eph 4:23  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

The Favored Son

Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 

Gen 37:4  But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 

I suppose most children are taught in Sunday School that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son so Jacob gave him a really pretty coat to wear and his brothers were jealous and so eventually sold him into slavery.  I remember being left with the idea that Jacob just played favorites and no wonder Joseph’s brothers were jealous.  To be sure Jacob had a history of favoritism, especially with his wives and it did cause problems.  But I think there is more to this account than simple favoritism.  This is easier to understand once we see that Joseph is a type of Christ.

As it turns out, Rueben had slept with one of his father’s wives and so lost the inheritance and the blessing of the Messiah coming through his line.  We will learn later that Joseph was given the position of the firstborn (the greater material inheritance) and Judah received the Messianic inheritance (Christ is born through his line). 

This being understood Joseph’s coat is better translated a long tunic as it is in 2Sa 13:18  Now she was wearing a long robe with sleeves, for thus were the virgin daughters of the king dressed. So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her.  In other words it was a coat a person of authority would wear not the common laborer.  Joseph took the leadership of his father’s herds and so was the overseer of his brothers, not so much because of favoritism, although that was involved, but also because of his outstanding character as opposed to the deplorable moral state of his brothers.  This is probably one reason why the account of the brothers at Succoth, ch. 34 and the account of Judah and Tamar in ch. 38 are recorded for us.  Jacob’s favor is justified.

Once we put all this together the similarities between Joseph and Jesus are amazing to see.  Here we have a son who has a special relationship with his father.  He is given dreams that he relates to his brothers that someday they will bow the knee to him.  His brothers hate him for the special relationship with his father and for his exalted position seen in his dreams that he unashamedly tells them about.  

In Rueben we have the firstborn brother who forfeited the right to rule his father’s inheritance because he took for himself what belonged to his father alone.  Another son comes along who honors his father as Rueben was supposed to and is given charge over his brothers.  They reject his position and sell him into slavery for a few pieces of silver.  But in their rejection Joseph is exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh and eventually he becomes the means of their salvation from starving to death.

From there it is easy to see Adam as the firstborn man who took for himself the glory he was supposed to give to his Heavenly Father.  Another “Son” down the line is born whose character is unquestioned and in keeping the Law perfectly is given authority over all things.  He comes unto his own and his own do not receive him but instead betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver and he is crucified.  But it is in that very act of rejection that he is exalted to a position in which he is the very Savior we need. 

Not only is this a marvelous picture of the gospel but it is also an undeniable proof of the inspiration of Scripture and in this case of the book of Genesis.  This book has always been under attack by those that hate God because it establishes us as his creatures and thus accountable to him.  They can make fun of the six day creation and the universal flood of Noah but this account of Joseph teaches us that we had better take this book seriously as inspired by God; not just some of it but all of it.  If we can’t trust all of the Bible why would we trust any of it?  How could Jacob and his sons live this out in such a way that points clearly to the person and work of Christ unless God was in control of all things and could communicated it clearly to Moses to write it down for us?  If the Bible can’t accurately tell us what happened at the beginning by God who was the only One there, how can God relate any truth to us?

The Bible is a marvelous book and it is self-authenticating as the inspired Word from God.  Woe be to those who ignore it and so miss Christ.

Is There a Limit to Our Service

Mar 1:7  And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 

It is interesting that each of the Gospels record these words of John the Baptist.  As it turns out, this phrase had special meaning in his day.  Jesus, of course, was a rabbi to end all rabbis.  In these days rabbis couldn’t hold regular work and have time to study and teach and so their students were expected to do all sorts of things for them to free up their time.  One regulation found in the ancient times read like this, “Every service which a slave performs for his master shall a disciple do for his teacher, except the loosing of his sandal-thong”. 

So evidently John was known for saying that the one thing that was beneath a student to do for his teacher; something reserved for slaves alone, he was not even worthy to do for Jesus.  John said this in the context of pointing out that Jesus existed before him and was of a higher rank than John.  John knew that Jesus was more than just the latest Rabbi to come along.  Jesus was no mere man but the Word made flesh, the God-Man.

But these words also help us put into perspective not just how we relate to Jesus Christ but to our fellow man.  John knew that he wasn’t even worthy to loosen the sandal of God because he was Jesus’s sinful creature.  The Gap between him and Jesus was the distance of a worm crawling around in a wheel’s rut and Jesus is the moon.  When we have the proper perspective of ourselves before God then we can understand our relationship to the rest of humanity.  We are all worms, crawling around on this earth who deserve nothing but God’s wrath. 

If this is so then it is a particularly obnoxious sin for anyone to think there are acts of service and kindness that is beneath them when it comes to serving one another and even more so in the local church family.  The fact is that the Son of God, our creator, stooped to our level and served us in the most humiliating ways possible.  He was hung naked on a cross and as if that wasn’t enough, the innocent suffered the wrath of God in the place of us rebels.  If he did that for us then who are we to put limits on what we will do to serve each other? 

Of course this is precisely Paul’s point in Philippians 2, Php 2:4  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Php 2:5  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Php 2:6  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, Php 2:7  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Php 2:8  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

His point is that if Jesus being God condescended to serve man then how can we put limits on our service to each other.  The fact is, there is only one person who can actually condescend to a lower level and that is Christ.  No matter our station in life, we are all just sinners deserving of Hell and cannot condescend because we are already as low as we can get. 

By the way, this point loses its punch if Jesus isn’t God.  If he is just another creature who served us then any example could be used.  But because of his original position, his stooping to become a man and die for us removes any excuse we have for not serving one another. 

Lastly, Paul reminds us that those who serve like Jesus did will be exalted as Jesus was.  The Lord is gracious to reward sinners for doing what is their duty!  This goes with Jesus’s teaching that it is the servant who is great in the kingdom, not the one being served, Mar 10:43  But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, Mar 10:44  and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Mar 10:45  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  Notice that Jesus uses the cross as the same motivation for our service as well. 

We are not worthy to serve the Lord in the most menial task, yet by grace he gives us the privilege to “untie his sandal”.  But we must remember that there is no task that is beneath us when it comes to serving one another.  If this mind is in us, then how can the church not be a place of love, peace and fellowship?

Walking With a Limp

Gen 32:25  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Gen 32:31  The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 

We know that Jacob in the first part of his life was a deceiver and a conniver.  He got along in life by trying to take advantage of people, con them, get along by his wits and so on.  What he did not do was to seek the will of God and depend on him.  It is something that we all struggle with - listening to our hearts or this world and living in light of natural wisdom that puts me at the center of everything or listening to the revealed will of God found only in his Word. 

I think the main lesson in Jacob’s encounter with God at Penuel was that God is teaching Jacob that he cannot find God’s blessings if he is going to live by his own strength primarily seen in his constant scheming.  Jacob, and we, must learn that we are weak and unwise and need the power of God and his wisdom to live life properly.  So in the account we read of God coming and wrestling with Jacob, the result is that Jacob’s hip is purposefully displaced so that he must walk in a weakened state. 

I believe this is a picture of how God works in every saint’s life.  He moves us from dependence on our own strength and wisdom to relying on him for all that we need.  God has ways of pulling the rug out from under us so that we have no other option than to trust him to take care of us. 

Jacob was about to meet Esau who was coming with 400 men and Jacob assumes Esau is still angry with him and has come to do him harm.  Even though the Lord has shown him that an army of angels are with him, Jacob still schemes by dividing up his family with the hopes that Esau will attack some but spare others.  He has little confidence in the Lord’s promises and protection.  So what does the Lord do?  Instead of allowing Jacob to run the show by his cunning, he gives Jacob a limp so that when he meets Esau he will look weak and vulnerable.

There is a parallel passage to Jacob’s account that helps explain what is going on with Jacob.  It is found in 2 Cor. 12 where Paul goes through the same lesson that Jacob did but in a context that we can more easily relate to. 

2Co 12:7  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  2Co 12:8  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. Here we see the same wrestling match or struggle with the Lord.  The Lord has sent something to Paul that makes him appear weak and Paul assumes that this will hinder his ministry.  And so three times he prays that the Lord will remove it but the Lord does not.  Like us, Paul is wrestling with God’s providence that often makes no sense to us; we assume we can do a better job if we had more money or better health or if our church was bigger or if we had talents that someone else has, etc.  And although we ask God to give these things to us, quite often he does not.

Next we see the Lord “dislocating” Paul’s hip; in other words he is explaining why he wants Paul to walk with a limp; to appear weak in front of the world.  2Co 12:9  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…“   Paul had to learn that it is the Lord’s power that is going to make Paul successful, not how well he speaks or what he looks like, etc.

Finally, in vs. 31 above we see the sun coming up and Jacob walking off with a limp.  The same thing must happen with Paul and us, …Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2Co 12:10  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   God gives Paul light by explaining that when we are weak and God’s work is done through us, then God gets the glory.  If by our talents, looks and money we build a ministry then we will name it after ourselves and God’s glory isn’t seen.  When God makes us weak then we depend on him and whatever we do can only be attributed to the Lord.  So 2 Cor. 12:9-10 is Paul living or “limping” in the light of God’s revelation and the rest is history as we consider what Paul and all God’s people have accomplished throughout church history as they followed the Word of God and lived for the Lord’s glory and not for ourselves.

It is tremendously freeing to know that I don’t have to appear like I have it all together in front of the world or in front of the church.  I just need to do my best to honor the Lord in whatever condition he has put me in and he will be served and pleased with me.  This brings contentment and joy and eliminates envy because I don’t need what someone else has to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant”! 

The Reason for the Lord's Delay

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Welcome to the one of the most misused verses in the entire Bible.  It is often used to teach that the Lord hasn’t returned yet so that more people can be saved; that he has provided salvation and is waiting to see how many will take advantage of it.  Along with that, it is also used to suggest that it isn’t God’s will for any to be lost but wants everyone to be saved equally.

Of course, for any of that to work the assumption is that man has a freewill that is independent of the Lord’s will and capable of obeying him and so the Lord has done everything he can do to save us and the deciding factor is whether we will accept his “offer” or not.  One problem is that the Bible never mentions that we have wills that are free  of sin’s effects and can decide to obey the Lord.  It does teach, though, that our wills are in bondage to our sinful nature and so can only rebel at God, Rom 8:7  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Rom 8:8  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  Rom 3:10  as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; Rom 3:11  no one understands; no one seeks for God.  Rom 3:12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."  Joh 6:44  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.  Eph 2:4  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, Eph 2:5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.  Well, you get the idea.

There are some other reasons why 2 Peter 3:9 can’t mean what some want to make it mean; that is, man can make a decision that he is by nature incapable of making.  For instance, the longer he waits to return the more people are going to Hell so it kind of works against the point.  Hell is growing bigger by leaps and bounds the more time he gives this world to rebel.  If he wanted fewer people in Hell he should have come back immediately.  In fact, if all God is concerned about is for people not going to Hell, why create us to begin with or allow Adam to fall? 

Thirdly, if he is being patient and giving everyone a chance then every time a baby is born he can’t come until this child grows up.  Even if we assume that a baby will go to heaven, there is always children reaching the age of reason who are clearly not saved so doesn’t God have to give them a chance if this is what the verse is saying?  So unless God stops us from populating the earth he can never come back because he wants everyone to have a chance to be saved because there are always children being born who need some time to “get saved”!  This is where we end up when we err in the doctrines of God’s sovereigny, election, the bondage of the will, etc.  When we are more concerned that man has the ability to determine his own future than we are God’s freedom to glorify himself as he wants, then there is no way we can understand the Bible or not fall into error.

Fourthly, I might add that if God wanted as many people to be saved as possible then why did he only give any light to the obscure, tiny nation of Israel back in Old Testament times and not all nations?  Actually, the biblical record proves differently.  Why would the Lord command Israel to destroy every man, woman and child in Canaan if he is hoping they will come to him?  Why does he send storms to kill the lost, etc.  If God is giving everyone the opportunity to believe then why is he constantly shortening and ending the opportunities?  Those swept away in the tsunami weren’t given a patient chance.  This verse simply can’t be taken that way in light of what has been happening in human history.

But exegetically Peter is speaking to “you”, the church, not the lost, vs. 1 says,  This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.  What promise is he referring to?  That they reach repentance; his promise to save the elect.  When God chose to save the elect from eternity he decreed or we might say he promised to save them; we are elected “unto salvation”, Eph. 1.  He isn’t coming back until all that he has decreed to save are saved.  Obviously he isn’t going to end human history if all the elected haven’t been born and brought to salvation.  If he did come back before that it would make election nonsensical.  Vs. 15 of 2 Peter 3 says,  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him.  The elect don’t all live at the same time so until they all are born and grow up and hear the gospel he isn’t coming back. 

Gen. 6:18 says that before the ark was even built, God told Noah that it was only going to hold eight.  Noah was a preacher of righteousness as he built the ark proclaiming the coming judgment of God.  He wasn’t calling the people to buy a ticket or “get saved”; the Lord was only always going to saved just eight souls.  1 Pet. 3:20 says pretty much the same thing, Because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  Notice how the Lord’s patience was so Noah’s family could be saved, not to see if any more would enter the ark. 

Perhaps the clearest passage that teaches this is in Rev. 6:10-11.  Here the martyrs in heaven are asking the Lord why he hasn’t avenged their blood yet and here is what God tells them, Rev 6:10  They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Rev 6:11  Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

It should be obvious; God has already determined who was going to be given grace and saved by the sacrifice of his Son on the cross.  So it would make no sense for him to be waiting to come back so more people could be saved than he has elected.  He is building a kingdom of priests; he is building a temple of living stones.  And when the last sinner chosen before the world began is saved then he will come back and destroy this fallen universe and reform it into the new heavens and earth.

An Inconsistency of Arminianism

Joh 10:28  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Joh 10:29  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

Php 1:6  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Growing up in Fundamental Arminianism we didn’t hear very much about the sovereignty of God and especially so when it came to our salvation.  When speaking about that subject we didn’t hear about God’s sovereignty at all.  We were taught much about how each of us has a free will and it is up to choose whether we will believe in Jesus.  In Arminian thought all men have a sovereign, autonomous free will that even God can’t control if we won’t let him.  So our eternal destiny is determined, not by the will of God but by our will. 

Of course, we know that the Bible teaches that all men have a will only it is depraved, at odds with God, and so unable to do any good thing before God.  What many fail to realize is that there is a difference between a sovereign, autonomous free will (which only God can have) and a creaturely freewill that must be subservient to the eternal decrees of the only true Sovereign, God Almighty; notice it is not some mighty but all mighty! 

But let me just focus on one teaching of Arminianism that shows the inconsistency of this theology.  As a rule they make it clear that God cannot overcome our will or our will wouldn’t be free, so everyone must have a choice as to whether they want to believe or not.  But oddly enough, when it comes to losing one’s salvation they are perfectly fine with God forcing our will.

Often I would hear the idea of “Once saved, always saved” and “Eternal Security”.  They would use verses like those quoted above to teach that one cannot lose their salvation.  Some even go so far as to say that all Baptist are “Calvinists” because we believe you cannot lose your salvation.  By this they mean they believe the last point of the TULIP, Perseverance of the saints.  But, of course, this is a corruption of this doctrine.  They are saying that all this means is that God won’t let us lose our salvation but deny that he does this in part by transforming us so that we won’t walk away from the faith.  So the idea is that no matter how we live God won’t let us be lost even if we could care less about being saved anymore.

I have heard “Eternal Security” illustrated as a lobster in a pot of boiling water.  Once we are saved God closes the lid down and we can’t get out whether we want to or not.  One immediate problem with this is that no real saint wants to walk away from the Lord but when your theology doesn’t need a transformation of the will in order to be saved then your will isn’t changed to begin with.  So if you choose to be saved, the next day you might choose to walk away.  Fortunately, they are saying, that God won’t let you.

But the most striking inconsistency with this illustration as well as the whole concept of “Once saved, always saved” is that they are saying that it is perfectly okay for God to keep us from ever walking away from him but it is absolutely unacceptable for him to change our will so we will believe in him to begin with.  So it is okay for God to sovereignly keep us from rejecting Christ but he cannot sovereignly bring us to the point of receiving Christ.  It seems that they are picking and choosing when it is okay for God to be sovereign or be God.  And this is the whole problem with Arminianism; it puts man’s “free will” above God’s sovereign will and only one kind of will can be truly free and that is a sovereign will.

The Bible teaches our salvation is a result of the eternal plan and decree of God, not man’s will.  God can’t decree to keep a people saved unless he first chooses to save a people; otherwise how does he even know if anyone will choose to get saved to begin with?  So I ask, why is it okay for God to override our will (And I realize this is a totally unbiblical way to express it, but I am using the Arminian’s way of describing this) and keep us saved but he can only wait and see if we will choose him? 

Part of the problem with this unbiblical theology is that Calvinists know and the Bible clearly teaches that God doesn’t merely force our will but he makes us willing and there is a huge difference between the two. 

But at the end of the day even the lost can only do what the sovereign God ordains and yet they are at the same time doing exactly what they want to do and so are held accountable.  I leave you will these texts to confirm this:

Psa 33:10  The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. Psa 33:11  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Dan 4:35  all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"

Pro 21:1  The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

Pro 16:9  The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Psa 105:25  He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.

Finally, the passage that should end all debate, Act 4:26  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'—Act 4:27  for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, Act 4:28  to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Will any doubt that Herod, Pilate, and the Jews all willingly crucified Jesus and that they were judged because of it?  This is the greatest sin ever committed and yet they were doing and could only do what God had ordained they do from all eternity.  It is not our job to understand how this can be true but it is certainly our duty to submit to this truth and live our lives in light of it.

Spiritual Nearsightedness and Dementia

2Pe 1:5  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 2Pe 1:6  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 2Pe 1:7  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 2Pe 1:8  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Pe 1:9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

In this section of 2 Peter, the Apostle is giving us some good spiritual meat as to how to be fruitful and effective in the Christian life.  If the qualities of vss. 5-7 are working in us, we will bear fruit in the Kingdom of God, vs. 8.  In vs. 9 he comes at it from a negative viewpoint.  If these qualities aren’t in us we are demonstrating spiritual weakness.  He illustrates this by using two physical weaknesses, nearsightedness and forgetfulness or we might say spiritual dementia. 

Spiritual nearsightedness happens when we focus on this life with no thought to eternity.  We live for the here and now but fail to lay up gold, silver and precious stones in Heaven.  It is myopia in which we can only see what is in front of our face and forget that the Lord is coming soon for us and this world will be left behind.  It could also be applied to idolatry in which we are focused on some object and fail to see the big picture which is that this life is to be all about serving the Lord.  So it is to be too busy living life or too busy loving this world that we are not focused on the Lord.

Spiritual forgetfulness fails to remember something that is vital for effective Christian living.  In the first case we don’t see what is coming; in the second case we are not keeping something in our minds that is needed to serve the Lord.  Vs. 9 explains that what we have forgotten is the Gospel; that we are sinners saved by the cross of Christ. 

The reason this is important is that when we walk through life without the gospel in our “RAM”, in our working and usable memory, we forget who we are; we are unable to properly identify ourselves.  This happens all the time with both the lost and Christians.  We identify ourselves primarily as men or women, Americans or some ethnic group.  We can also do it by seeing ourselves by what we do for a living, a doctor, union worker, teacher, etc.  We are seeing a particularly destructive form of it when people identify themselves by their sexual choices or their gender preferences, etc. 

The problem with each one of these is that very often we allow our life, thoughts and actions, to be guided by these identifications rather than the fact that we are children of God first and foremost and that is to guide us in every aspect of our lives.  To some extent there are other lesser identities that we must deal with.  As an American I have certain laws to obey and taxes to pay.  I cannot function properly if I live as if I am a citizen of another country.  When I get up in the morning I must keep in mind that I am a pastor and I have to get ready to preach the Word this coming Sunday.  If I forget who I am in that sense then I will fail to fulfill my responsibilities as a pastor. 

But before all these other things I must get up in the morning and remember that I have been saved from the darkness of sin and live in light of who I am.  And who I am is a redeemed sinner whose primary job in life is to bring honor to the Lord in all I do.  Forget this and I will fail as a human being in every area of life.

Those that attempt to identify themselves by who they have sex with or by being any gender that they would like doubly fail in this matter.  They are choosing to identify in a way that God has specifically told them they are not to.  He has given us plain parameters as to how to function sexually and it is rebellion to go outside those commands.  He has made us either male or female and pretending to be one that you are not, not only causes confusion and the inability to live a God-honoring life, but it is also rebellion to the natural order that he has established and it will bring his judgment sooner or later.

Fortunately God has given his saints two things to help us in our natural conditions of spiritual nearsightedness and dementia.  He gives us new sight and new glasses.  He regenerates us by the Holy Spirit and gives us light so we can understand the truth.  And he gives us some eyeglasses if you will.  We have the Word of God through which we can evaluate life.  When we look at life through the truth of his Word, we are able to understand who we are and live our lives as they were meant to be lived.  David seems to sum it up well in Ps. 119:97-105:

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.

 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.

I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.

I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Loving as We are Loved

Rom 5:6  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Rom 5:7  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—Rom 5:8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The passage above lays out God’s love as few others do.  It states the two-fold aspect of his love and in so doing helps define what our love for each other should look like.

First of all in verse 6 we see that God loves in a way that gives and helps those who have nothing to offer him.  When he saved us we had nothing to offer him and that includes any work or response that would aid in our salvation.  “While we were still weak he died for us”.  Our salvation is not a cooperation between God and sinners but such that glorifies his strong arm alone, 1Co 1:28  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 1Co 1:29  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  These verses aren’t saying that there are some people who are strong enough to take care of themselves for there are none righteous, no not one; but God generally chooses the ones who are comparatively weak to grow his kingdom just to demonstrate to Satan and this world that there is absolutely nothing they can do to stop the Lord from establishing his kingdom.  So God loves those who have nothing to offer him.

Then secondly he goes even further by loving those that are in rebellion to him.  So they aren’t just helpless but engaged in warfare against him and he saves them anyway!  In verse 6 they are described as ungodly, so they are living lives that dishonor the Lord and they do not live in gratitude for what he has done for them but instead live as if life is just about them and their pleasure.  So verse 8 says that when God died for us we were sinners; we had transgressed his law and stood as condemned criminals and he paid for our sins in his body on the tree.  So God loves his enemies as well.  To those who are both unable and unwilling to come to him, he goes to them.  In both cases God alone is able to meet our need; he is both able and willing to save.  

What an example to us of how to love one another.  If we only love those who are attractive to us, that have something to offer us or if we only love those that like us and are nice to us, then we have not loved as we have been loved.  Once we get hold of this our marriages will be better and our churches will be more enjoyable; when we start loving others, not for what they can do for you but what you can do for them all to the glory of God and in thanksgiving to him.

Are We Justified By Faith?

Rom 4:2  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Rom 4:3  For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Rom 4:4  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

Rom 4:5  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

When it comes to understanding the above passage one’s theology makes all the difference.  On the surface it seems pretty clear that we are not saved by any work we can do through faith.  Since this is the main point then it cannot be teaching us that faith is a work that we can do in order to be saved.  Yet there are a vast number or Christians who believe this very thing. 

This is mostly seen in the concept that God has provided a means of salvation and all that is needed to finish the job is for us to agree with it by faith.  But if all men are born with the ability to believe then how is this not a work?  Does not the very term ability necessitate something we have to aid in our salvation? 

The idea is that since none are righteous and can obey God’s Law then he has lowered the bar just low enough so that everyone has the ability to get in.  Faith becomes the one thing that we all can “do”.  But this is still a work and the above passage is saying that this is not an option.

Our theology helps here as we know that the Bible teaches that salvation is a work of God in which he enables us to believe thus faith is not a work but a means by which the Lord justifies us in such a way that we cannot boast that we did anything, even believe, in order to be saved.  Yes, we trusted in the work of Christ but only because God regenerated us and gave us the power to do so.

Another reason we know that faith is not the one thing that God will accept in order to save us is because faith does not equal our transgressions.  The Muslim god for instance will forgive sin if certain prayers are made.  But in essence this is to forgive sin without it ever being paid for.  Prayers don’t make up for transgressing a Holy God nor does believing.  Sin must be paid for which is why Jesus had to die.

Now you might be thinking, “Well there you have it.  Faith doesn’t equal our sin; Jesus also had to die for them.  But Paul tells us in Galatians that if we add anything to Christ we miss the gospel entirely.  In Galatians they were adding circumcision; in the case of the Church of Christ they add baptism; in the case of most Arminianism they add “faith”.  The idea is that God has done everything needed for salvation except one thing is left for us to “add to Christ’s work”.  That is we must add our faith to it.  In the end it boils down to a work that we can do that the lost will not do. 

Because of this it is good and necessary to understand that we are justified not on the basis of faith but through faith.  We are saved by grace, through faith.  Our salvation is all a gift of God but he enables us to believe when he gives us the new birth as the mechanism in which he justifies us.  We can take no credit.  I will leave you with these verses which I believe say the same thing, Php 1:29  For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.  Act 13:48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.  2Ti 2:25  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.

Steadfast in the Everyday Things

Rom 5:3  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, Rom 5:4  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, Rom 5:5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

I recently preached on being steadfast.  Biblically the idea is to remain under a trial in a faithful, Christ-honoring way.  Often when we think of enduring trials we think of the big ones like persecution or when the doctor tells us we have terminal cancer, etc.  And while these are certainly times in which we are to be steadfast and endure to the end; it is perhaps just as important, if not more so, that we are careful to be Christlike and faithful in the everyday trials and disappointments of life since these are by far what we will encounter most often.

I think it is a good sign that we are maturing in Christ when we are able to handle the everyday disappointments and dull routines of life in a way that we are able to maintain our joy, peace and love while underneath them.  One instance that crossed my mind was what we term as mid-life crisis.  As a rule we have these because life isn’t turning out the way we expected or wanted.  Often this is seen because our spouse isn’t fulfilling our needs the way we want them to be fulfilled.  So we look for something or someone to take their place.  Of course, this is not being steadfast by being content with Christ but it is to live life primarily in a selfish mindset. 

I wonder how many men have had a “midlife crisis” because they came to the realization that they are not fulfilling their wives needs?  Probably the answer is no one ever!  We are way too selfish to think in such a way it seems. It just shows why we find it difficult to hold up when things don’t go our way; because we only are concerned for our way and not Christ and certainly not our neighbor’s and family’s good.  We reduce life to our little world and with nothing greater to live for how on earth can we endure with joy and contentment?

Another reason why it is so important to be steadfast in the everyday routines of life is that this gives us unlimited opportunities to honor the Lord and gain reward.  The times of persecution and life-changing trials are limited for all of us but faithfulness when people are short with you and unfair, when you are stuck in traffic or have to deal with a boss who shows favoritism, etc. happens so often that these are by far the most abundant ways to show this world how much you love Christ. 

If we miss this- that we must be steadfast in the little things- then we will excuse our bad temper and ill-treatment of our loved ones; if we think trials are only the big things and don’t realize that most of our trials are the everyday pain, disappointments, dealing with the ungodly pride in your life when those around you don’t bow to your every whim, then we will be defeated before we even get started.  We can please our Lord every day hundreds of times by placing our hope in him and being full of joy when the elderly lady won’t move out of the way on the road and we praise God that we can drive a car instead of blessing her out because she is going to make us 30 seconds later than we would have been.  Don’t downplay the little things or we will be unprepared for the bigger things and probably explains why we don’t do well at either many times.

I want to get better at being satisfied and joyful while those without Christ grow more and more bitter and sour.  It is sad when we see the same rage and bitterness in our society infiltrating the church influencing how we interact with each other.  I want to have the same attitude that those early Christians did who suffered much more than I ever will; Heb 10:32  But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, Heb 10:33  sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. Heb 10:34  For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Heb 10:35  Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. Heb 10:36  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  Heb 10:37  For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.

Notice that they didn’t just miserably endure pain and disappointment; they did so joyfully and compassionately.  They didn’t use their problems to stop them ministering to others and so they had great reward waiting for them because Christ is just about to come back for all of us either at death or his Second Coming and so compared to eternity, our reward is just around the corner.  Let’s take heart and serve while it is day!

The Uselessness of Scheming

Gen 12:11  When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, Gen 12:12  and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Gen 12:13  Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."

The account of Abram going to Egypt during the famine and lying about Sarah being his sister and not his wife teaches us of what happens when we start to rely on our wisdom to live life rather than obeying what God says in his Word.  This is seen in several ways in this passage such as Abram leaving Bethel which is called the House of God.  It was the place where Abram made an altar and worshipped God and while there he called upon the Lord which basically means he was seeking to know God’s will; he was listening to and following the Lord.

But he leaves the place of fellowship with God and starts scheming on his own.  He is not recorded as making another altar or speaking to the Lord until 13:4 where he returns to Bethel and starts to call upon the name of the Lord again.  So I think we can assume that  in between these two periods we are seeing Abram as he is living according to his own wisdom. 

As I was studying this account a thought occurred to me as to why such a course of action will fail every time.  By course of action I mean trying to take care of problems by human reason without first being guided by God’s revelation to us.  We might say that Abram was scheming.  He developed a rather elaborate ruse that he thought would feed his family, save his life and technically he was not lying since Sarah was his half-sister.  Scheming is certainly something I can identify with.  I often make careful, if not elaborate, plans when faced with problems.  On the surface there is not necessarily anything wrong with this as God has given us capacities of reason along with experience to figure out how to overcome problems in life.  Surely this is the mother of invention for instance.

The problem comes when we don’t allow ourselves to be first guided by what God has said in his Word and we aren’t seeking his help in prayer.  And so we scheme using our own wisdom but without a very important ingredient which makes all the difference.  Abram’s scheme might have worked except that Pharaoh didn’t play along.  And this is where all of our plans are doomed for failure if we act apart from the will of God.  Abram couldn’t control Pharaoh’s mind, will and actions but the Sovereign God of all can! 

And this is why using his wisdom will always work and why trying to live on our own wisdom can never work.  We cannot control anything other than ourselves and we can’t do that very well.  The success of every plan we make ultimately depends on whether people, events, weather, machines, animals, etc. will cooperate and we have no real control over any of those things.  But God controls all things after the counsel of his eternal decrees so every plan he has determined must come to pass.

Apparently it was God’s will for Abram to weather the famine in Canaan, not Egypt.  He could feed Abram and his flocks as easily during a famine as he could any in the most fertile valley on Earth.  Simply put he is sovereign and we are not.  Abram’s first sin was to assume God couldn’t take care of him and needed his help.  His next sin was to try on his own.

Often we can’t even control our own thoughts and bodies for our own good let alone anyone or anything else.   Let’s leave the “scheming” to the Lord and let us trust his wisdom because we have been promised that it will all work good for us in the end, Rom 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.