Walk in the Spirit… not the flesh

 
A book called “Blame it on the Brain” explains the difference between the old self and the new creation and how doing anything in my own strength, no matter how good it looks, is sin. He explains the need to watch out for ‘self’ being my source and motivation. This OT prophet uses a vivid word picture to say the same thing:

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment. (Isaiah 50:11)

This is a solemn warning to those who walk in darkness and yet who try to help themselves out into the light. It is also a warning to those who believe in Christ yet when in trouble, we try to find a way without relying on the Lord. If I try to find answers through other means or the advice of my friends, or any other sources that is a ‘fire of my own kindling’ then God might let me walk in the light of those sparks, but the end will be sorrow and torment.

Not only that, God uses trials to teach me lessons I need, so premature deliverance will block His work of grace in my life. I need to cease meddling with His plans lest I mar His work and know that it is better to walk in the dark with Him than walk alone in the tiny light I create.

Another way to describe my meddling with His plans: I can move the hands of a clock but the time does not change. I can try to mess with God’s will but cannot change it. I can open the bud of a flower, but my impatience only ruins the flower. I need to take my concerns to God and leave all to Him.

For example, I’ve struggled with prayer. The OT describes times of evil when God looked for prayer, but no one was praying:

Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. (Isaiah 59:15–16)

I’ve also felt great need as the news of the world and the situations closer to home pressed on my heart, but I had trouble going to prayer about them. For a long time, I tried to ‘kindle my own fire’ with prayer lists. They made me pray out of a sense of duty and my heart felt dry, thus prayer became spotty and often absent.

Then God showed me that worship and intercession go together. The one is impossible without the other. I was trying to pray rightly for the messes around me without first worshipping the One to whom I wanted to work out solutions. Praise reminded me that I am talking to Almighty God. He knows what to do, when to do it, and how to give peace and even joyful expectation to my heart and mind. It also helped me get to the mind of the Lord. Instead of telling him what I wanted or what I thought He should do, I began to pray things that surprised me as the words seemed to come from His heart instead of my head.
 
A reading this morning describes this progression of what happens when the focus is on Christ and my heart is living or abiding there. It goes like this: 1. “He that abides in Him sins not” 2. He that abides in Him, “the same brings forth much fruit.” 3. He that abides in Him “shall ask what he will and it shall be done unto him.”

PRAY: Oh Jesus, how true. When I quit trying to do anything apart from You, even praying, then life takes a drastic change. The fruit of the Spirit begins to appear, yet in abiding that is not my focus; it is always You, not what I am doing. And the answers to prayer are astonishing and surprisingly unpredictable. Life becomes an adventure. Instead of trying to make myself worthy, or do things ‘properly’ I am seeing You at work and filled with wonder at You.

Trusting God in the dark…

In the study of theology, one soon finds a history of disagreement about the very basics of God. Who is He? What is His purpose? How does He interact with man? Or does He? More pointed are the discussions about Jesus Christ, His person, nature and work. Some declare He is fully God and fully man in one person with two natures. While this is the only description that fits with all that Scripture reveals about Him, disagreement is sharp. It swings from one extreme to another, even to say Jesus did not exist, only the idea of Jesus, and we are saved by the idea of Him and not by any actual, historical person or event.

The seminary courses I am taking inform me of these views, but indirectly through the writings of those who discuss them and point out how they do not fit with the revelation recorded in the Bible, or the historical and archeological records. These written accounts are gracious and extremely illuminating, yet it is easy to see the battles that prompted them have been fierce.

Obviously, such struggles are important. What we believe has eternal consequences. Certainly how we understand God also affects the way we live now. The Christian church needs to identify and reject false teaching. We need to answer questions for ourselves as well as for others who are seeking God. What frustrates me are those battles over that which cannot be proved, discovered or verified. Instead, some theologians speculate with personal opinion or flawed reasoning, leading to silly spats that dishonor God and turn the study of theology into a gray area spattered with ego.

Without being too harsh on those who fall into this, I must say that trusting God without a full revelation of what He is doing is a difficult challenge. For instance, He is all-powerful so why does He allow senseless human actions? Case in point: the recent bombings in Boston. Why are children maimed and killed? We can ask the questions, but heaven in silent and many wonder how God can be trusted in the face of this event or others like it.

Today’s devotional verse is in the middle of a chapter that rebukes Israel for disobedience, then compares them to God’s servant who does obey, pointing to Jesus Christ, the only One who fully obeyed God. It says…

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. (Isaiah 50:10)

I am reminded of my dear mother. When anything happened that she could not understand, she would speculated different scenarios until she found something, anything, that made sense to her and that became the “reason” for the event. This verse does not suggest that. Instead, it says when we are in the dark without anything to help us understand, we are to trust God and rely on Him. This means relying on Him, not for answers, but trusting Him even if He never tells us anything. Faith is knowing what we cannot see, but knowing what? Hebrews offers two verses to explain.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:1, 6)

What can I trust that I cannot see but that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him? This is not seeking answers, but seeking Him. He may never make sense of the darkness, but when I draw near to Him, the answers are not nearly as important as being close to Him. Intimacy is a child cuddled on his father’s lap, not a child hearing the reasons why everything happens.

This is what is missing in the ‘theologians’ who must have answers and, if they cannot find them, speculate and rely on human reasoning (which has been flawed by sin also). Instead of simply trusting God in the dark, they do what the very next verse in Isaiah says…

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment. (Isaiah 50:11)

Faith is trusting in God, not because I know everything about what He is doing, but because He has revealed enough about Himself to me that I can trust Him in the dark or in the light. This revelation comes through the Word of God and through the person of Jesus Christ.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1–2)

Faith is not about knowing everything there is to know, a desire that involves my ego, but faith is knowing and trusting the One who knows everything, and letting Him decide what needs to be revealed. I can curl up close to Him and honor Him even in the mysterious — rather than speculate in an attempt to satisfy any insistence on answers from my sinful nature that refuses to trust Him unless I have them.