Choosing the right god…

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. (Judges 3:7–11)

The world news troubles me. So do local events. The Bible speaks of God's power through His people, but sometimes His people are crippled by fear, anger, personal loss, and a host of life’s responsibilities and distractions that we neglect to plug in to God for His instruction and guidance.

When talking with other Christians, I often hear about their problems. That is okay for I consider listening and caring is important, but I also consider their words as prayer requests, even if they are not given with that designation.

That lack bothers me because it seems as if the people with the problems have forgotten the power and love of our great God. In the above passage, this was happening and God was not happy about their lack of faith in Him. I could pray that He grant them greater ability to trust Him, but that is not what He does about their need. Instead, He sends them into captivity. Interesting is that the meaning of Cushan-rishathaim is “double-trouble.” After years of more stress under this enemy, He raised up one person to get them out of their mess.

Othniel’s name comes from a root word meaning “force of God” which honors the One who sent him. This one man went to war and overcame double-trouble. Like much of what God does, we are not told how this happened, but it did, and the people had rest for forty years.

The NT passage that comes to mind is this one:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:1–10)

The problem in both passages is God's people serving other gods. In the OT it was the Baals and Asheroth. In the NT it is the world and its fleshy and selfish desires. We may get along nicely for a little while but if motivated by the old nature a long time and as a group, it will eventually wind up as a form of slavery — fighting with one another — unless God raises up someone who honors Him.

Jesus is the force of God to save us from ourselves. And if we neglect Him. We will wind up in slavery to our troubles. Yet in grace, He still fights to set us free. My option is: Have my way and run my life accordingly, or fight alongside Him in prayer for God's will to be done — in my life  and in those who are serving the god of self. That could include a few years of slavery to make it happen, but after that — peace.

Jesus, I see You neglected by many Christians who have not yet humbled themselves to Your Lordship or live according to Your direction and voice. Their goals and aspirations are worldly and I know how easy it is to fall into wanting the wrong things. I tremble at the responsibility of stepping out of this sin and as an Othniel, going to war as Ephesians 6 describes our war against false gods, so that Your people can have peace, yet if this is what You want, grant me all that I need to be faithful.

When prayers are not answered…

The promise of God is that His people are “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:3) and that as “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

This is evidence of the Spirit-filled life. In that place where Jesus reigns, sin cannot, but if I have unconfessed sin that I know about and have not taken it to the Cross, God can bestow no other blessings, no matter how much I desire them and fervently pray for them. Today, I’m thinking about the need for purity in my life takes priority over God answering all my prayers. As one writer says, the temple must first be made pure before the King will come in to reign there!

For example, when severe famine hit and God’s people suffered, He sent Joseph into Egypt — sold as a slave, suffering all the way and “the word of God tested his faith” until the ruler who had food “set him free and made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.” (Psalm 105:17–22)

It was not the prison life with its hard beds or poor food that tried him, but it was the word God had spoken into his heart in the early years concerning his future that was always on his mind. It must have seemed totally impossible at times but after this man grew through the testing, then he was fit for the the task of dealing with his wayward brethren, with the love and patience of the Lord.

I will not experience what Joseph did, but as I pray for what God promises to do, for myself and for those that I pray for, and yet the days go on and He does not do it, that is truly hard. Yet I see that this is a discipline of faith for me also. It brings me into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible.

What does this look like? Oswald Chambers describes it with spiritual disciplines, calling them habits. He warns that as I become more virtuous, patient, even godly, these are only stages and if I stop there, I can easily strut as if I’ve arrived. What God wants is that those disciplines be practiced so they are not conscious habits at all, because they are lost in the life of Christ.

In other words, God wants spiritual discipline to be such a part of me that I do the right things without even thinking about it. Yet I could make a god out of my little Christian habits, and if that happens, the Lord will upset the habit to show me what I’ve done.

Yesterday, before sitting to devotions, an interruption came and it upset me — I wanted to be reading the Bible and praying when God wanted me to be eager to help. Had I made a god of my spiritual disciplines? Likely.

Chambers says love means invisible habits. That is, unconsciously doing whatever God puts before me in grace and being ‘at home’ with it, not upset because an interruption messed with the practice of ‘my’ habit. Jesus is my example. No matter what came along, He was at home with God and not disrupted by anything.

This partly answers why God focuses more on my shortfall than on answering all my prayers. I am not yet ready to live with the answers because I realize how many demands they could make on the current habits of my life. 

PRAY: Jesus, this is huge. I knew that any interruption to my plans needs to be met with grace and godliness, but not only did my frustration miss that, it also missed the point Chambers makes, that I can put even my spiritual disciplines ahead of what You are calling me to do, making them my god rather than You. Thank You for this conviction and I do confess the root of how I reacted. Forgive me for thinking a virtuous habit is more important than hearing You in the midst of even that. Help me be a better listener, doing it because that is who I am.

Set free from the grip of a false god

When I was a child, our mother did not teach us how to settle arguments. Instead, she distracted us to a more acceptable activity. While that sounds good, it had ramifications. For a long time, I tend to avoid unpleasant situations rather than taking appropriate measures to deal with them.

Mom meant well, but she also didn’t know herself what to do. Instead, she used her imagination. If something bad happened, she imagined it differently until her version of the event became something she could manage. She stopped doing this in her later years after I lovingly told her this made her susceptible to Satan’s lies. However, this became a subtle practice for me, a way of avoiding some difficulties in life. Instead of trusting Jesus with those things, I trusted my imagination and made it my god.

This reliance on myself as the answer to the struggles of life is idolatry. While not a wooden idol or one made of clay, it is nonetheless an idol. To this, God says:

“For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty . . . ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other . . . I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together . . . (you) have no knowledge who carry about (your) idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.’” (Isaiah 45:18–25)

The Bible declares and demonstrates that God is God. There is no other. To worship or rely on anyone or anything else is not only foolish but idolatry and a grievous sin. Part of what I’m writing now is due to this New Testament statement by Jesus Christ:

“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:20–23)

All sin begins with evil thoughts, whether those thoughts are carried out or not. For me, the imagination of my mind in solving problems has ranged from shadowy to downright darkness, but regardless of how ‘normal’ it may seem to me or others, it became obvious that I am not trusting the Lord when I do that. He says “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

The Lord also says to me that no matter how small or large the issues of life, they are to be met in faith, trusting Jesus for guidance, not leaning on my own understanding.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5–7)

The bottom line is to have no other gods before me, not just the obvious idols, but also not the idol of my own thoughts and abilities, trusting me instead of the One who is God; there is no other.

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, there is no limit to Your realm. You are Lord of all things, all events, all people, everything. You have given me Your mind and I am to surrender to it, not trusting my own understanding or imagination. Some would protest that this is restrictive, but the deeper my knowledge of You and the more I yield all to You, the more I realize it is for freedom that You have set me free!