God cares about the details!

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” 
And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” 
And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. 
And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away. And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” 
And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer. (2 Samuel 5:17–25)

Two major lessons here for me. One is to ask the Lord about the challenges that lie before me. Do I fight them? Or do I not? Some of them involve others and that battle might be a training period for them and I need to stay out of it. Some may need supporting prayers. I cannot assume that all sickness needs healing or or every sin I see needs rebuking. I need to ask God if I’m to go to war and change things, or not.

The other lesson is more subtle, a battle plan that involves strategy and timing based on God's instructions and includes waiting. The first battle is about courage; the second is about deep trust and listening.

Yesterday’s sermon included instruction like these two. First a general encouragement to speak about Jesus to others; then more details about who to put in that category, then and suggestions for ways to do it and when. This message was out of a NT passage about winning the battle for souls, to me an obvious parallel to David’s OT battle against the enemies of God's people in a physical sense.

Jesus, I’m aware of the war for souls, and of the many ways those spiritual enemies try to thwart me from even asking You what to do, never mind doing it. Keep me alert to Your voice and how to fight so that You are glorified. Grant the details and keep my ears open and my whole being busy doing what You tell me to do.

Because He says “I will…"

The Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:1–7)

Sometimes it’s the small things. We drove to the registry office to renew my driver’s license, a place usually full of people. My husband prayed for ‘no line up’ and as we pulled up, there was an empty parking space at the door. He thanked God, we went in, and not a customer in the place. Again, we thanked God.

Sometimes it is bigger things. Sometimes we don’t get to see the answers. Yet look again at the words of the God who hears: “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.”

Then He told Moses what to say: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

Unlike all communication with God, He told them what He was going to do before He did it, and He did this because of who He is and what He promised to do. Therefore, He did it. This is the same God that I cry out to and can rely on, not because my prayers have any power but because He is who He is and will do what He says He will do. He is totally faithful to who He is and that does not depend on who I am.

Do You promise parking places? Not that I can find, but You do promise to be good to me, to take care of my needs, to grant answers that will bring You glory and build my faith. You told the Israelites that You would delivery from slavery. It didn’t look possible, but You did it. Therefore, I trust You, and if the parking lot had been full or the lineups long, maybe in Your great love and wisdom, You decided I needed a walk or a rest!


God does not require my permission

Today’s reading is another ‘finger shaking’ admonishment to let the Lord take care of me, as if He does not do this without my permission. Three examples from this week alone are related to problems regarding our new home that needed fixing. The first was with a furnace and the ‘expert’ said we needed to get a new one or spend several hundred dollars to fix it. The next person came to do something else, looked at the furnace and fixed it, adding it was a superior model and should last for another decade.

The second was a tap that ran only cold water, nothing on the hot side. The plumber wanted over $300 to fix it. The same worker who fixed the furnace fixed that problem too — without charge and in less than five minutes. I said, “You don’t have wings but you are an angel.”

The third issue was a crooked appliance we could not fix. My love of geometry felt annoyance every time I looked at it. A bathroom renovator came to make an estimate on another project and I asked him to add “straighten this fixture” to the list. He laughed, and immediately did it, no charge.

Since I believe God is involved in all things, I called him an angel too and thanked the Lord for being in the details and looking out for us — without a prayer for help or even thinking “I must turn to God with this issue.” So when someone tells me “we are very slow to learn this. When temptations come, instead of handing the battle over to the Lord we summon all our forces to fight them ourselves. We believe, perhaps, that the Lord is somewhere near, and if the worst comes to worst, He will step in to help us. But for the most part we feel that we ourselves and we only must do all the fighting” I feel a bit insulted, yet mostly that God is being insulted. He promises to take care of us, knows all things, knows our needs, and is not standing over me with baited breath waiting for my “Go for it” as if I am in charge of His life and He needs my permission for anything.

The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:14)

I began life with Him by the power of His Spirit, yet like the church in Galatia, this is not to say that I’ve never tried to fight my own battles without thought that God would help me or that I must now rely on the flesh, as if I’m saved by grace but now must live by works. This is the posture of many Christians. We have a proud streak and like children we think, “I can do this myself.” Or we don’t know much about God and His care so assume we need to take care of all problems ourselves.

However, when someone else is trying to change that fleshy thinking, a finger-shaking accusation is seldom appropriate or helpful. Some need a gentle reminder of God’s love and trustworthiness. Most need encouragement rather than a strong rebuke. Not every Christian is so full of themselves and their own ability that they will turn down God’s help.

The other issue is being blamed that God is not helping because I won’t let Him. Really? How long does it take to learn that I don’t rule God? Not long. My will be done not Your will? Do any Christians pray that way? Maybe telling God what to do rather than accepting what He is doing borders on such thinking, yet only when He allows strong calamities to teach me that I cannot run my own life. I want to be comfortable, but He knows what I need.

Refusals to yield to His care suggest that such resistance is coming from someone who does not know Him at all. How can we think that the One who died for all our sin before we even knew He cared, is now unable to care about any other problem we have so we must take care of them ourselves?

PRAY: Jesus, human pride has to be at the root of such ideas, and thinking everyone struggles in resistance to Your help seems to be rooted in some idea that we control what You do for us, as if You have buttons we can push. This spells an ignorance of who we are, but even more, an oblivion to who You are. You are God and I am not. I don’t keep all my promises and I don’t control much of anything. I get involved in the world, sometimes find an appeal in Satan’s lies, and my old human nature is wrong all the time. None of that is true of You. You, like a parent, help me when I am dragging my childish heels in resistance. You died for me while I was still a sinner and You live for me every moment, every day doing things to help me know You and live for You. Whether I am being ornery or being obedient — You are God.

Talking, Listening and Loving Others

Always having difficulty with ‘small talk’ seemed to me like a smattering of autism. Is that my problem or could there be other reasons? I had a childhood illness and was alone in recovery for months at a time rather than at school with others learning how to relate to peers. Or is this the result of moving 32 times and not having time to build relationships? Or is it because I’d rather work alone and in silence? Or that I’m simply not interested in the ordinary stuff of life? All I know for certain is listening is easier than talking when it comes to ‘useless’ conversation. Then I read this about love and about saying useless things, either in small talk or in deeper conversation:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1)

MacArthur begins today’s devotion by saying that love distinguishes true communication from useless chatter and meaningless noises. This hits me. I’m to not reject useless conversation or insist on deeper conversation but consider my motivations. Rather than being polite when bored, He wants me to show love to those whose interests are not usually interesting to me. Rather than wanting deeper conversations, He wants me to focus on others rather than on my wants. In other words, love is interested in conveying itself through words, no matter the topic. Instead of autism, I’m often just selfish and want to talk only about things that interest me.

In Bible times, the church at Corinth loved showy gifts like speaking in tongues (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-31). This was a Spirit-given ability to speak God’s truth in a language unknown to the speaker but known to others who heard. It was a sign to provoke unbelieving people to consider the gospel and first happened on the Day of Pentecost when Christians were able to tell the crowds about Jesus in their native languages (see Acts 2:4–11).

In today’s verse, this “tongues” was not about this gift but an exaggeration: “If I had the ability to communicate with angels, it would be useless without love.” Besides, in that culture many people worshiped pagan gods by speaking in ecstatic languages accompanied by blaring trumpets, smashing gongs, and clanging cymbals. In other words, whenever Christians attempt to minister in words apart from God’s love, it is like a pagan rites and useless, even deceptive.

God makes it clear that His love involves humility, obedience, and sacrifice. It is not about showing off my gifts or doing anything apart from what His Word says, or about motivation for any personal gain. I’ve heard others boast about speaking in tongues. I’ve also heard pastors described as “good speakers” when they should have been noted as being filled with and enabled by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth in love not just make nice-sounding noise.

Then and now, small talk can be the doorway to meaningful conversation. I must let the words of others be opportunities to show care for even the trivial details of life. Isn’t God like that? He numbers the hairs on our heads and an unsaved man said to my husband yesterday, “I think God is trying to show me something. So many little things are happening that are out of my control yet for my good. It must be God.”

PRAY: Jesus, being like You includes being interested in the lives of others. It does not matter if they tell me about their dreams and nightmares, or merely relate the unexciting events of their day. Whether someone speaks of deeper issues or their favorite brand of cereal, it can be an opportunity to show them Your love by listening with interest, asking questions to show I/You care, and expressing they are important. This also needs to be real (I know when others are merely being polite or faking it) so enable my interest to be as real as You are! This is about using the gifts You give, so may that be real to others too.

PONDER: Think about other ways that speech and listening are connected to the love of God. Consider verses like James 1:19, Ephesians 4:29 and Colossians 4:6.