Riding Ourselves of Idols

Judges 7:2

² The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me,’…”

Observation

            In chapter 6 of Judges, we find that Israel has turned away from God yet again (a common occurrence). They have begun worshipping and offering sacrifices to foreign gods. Now they find themselves being tormented by the Midianites. Every time the Israelites plant a crop, the Midianites destroy it, carrying off their livestock as well. The oppression is great, the suffering unbearable, and their hearts are melting with fear.

            In the midst of their plight, they begin calling out to God for deliverance. This is a typical scene for most of the Old Testament. The Israelites rebel and then they become mindful of Yahweh. It is then that God answers their cry. He weeds the army of Gideon down from 20,000 to 300. The primary concern that God offers, is that the Israelites will try to take credit for the victory and praise and worship their own abilities.

Application

            A passage of scripture that deals with people that have turned to worshiping idols does not seem to resonate very well today. I only know a few people who have idol in their homes, none of which claim to be Christian. In most cases, these folks probably would not consider them gods. So, how do we understand such a passage? Perhaps we need to gain understanding about what an idol really is.

            Tim Keller said, “An idol is anything you require in addition to God to be happy.”¹ This is a great definition. The Israelites did not simply get rid of God (since they really couldn’t), they merely added other gods into the mix of their worship. They were the practicing the worst type of ecumenicalism. They were trying to allow all religions into their own. In our case, we may not see ourselves sacrificing to other gods, but we might see that we are putting our trust in other things to make us happy, achieve our goals, and have success.

            Sadly, both in the congregation and amongst clergy we are guilty of jumping from promise to promise in hopes of achieving success. For most pastors there is great pressure to measure success in numbers. We have bought into the concept that, true pastoral success is ever increasing numbers. More people, bigger budgets, and larger facilities, is the goal. However, success can become a god that we serve. Success is an ugly monster that creates slaves that run from sacrifice to sacrifice. It becomes oppressive and creates horrible anxiety. What if God were calling us to something better than results driven ministry?

            Is it possible that God simply wants our undivided love, and trust? What if the leader God is looking for is one who will fall on her or his knees and seek his face. What if success was never the goal, but faithfulness was the desire of God? When we achieve our success through our strengths and our abilities, we risk becoming boastful. Oh, we might look humble on the outside, but that inner pride often raises up. We hide it from others, but like the teenager lifting weights, we flex our muscles in the privacy of our own bathroom mirror. Perhaps, it is time that we consider trusting more of God than our own abilities. Perhaps it is time to destroy our idols and worship the True and Living God, Yahweh.

Prayer

            Father, You alone are God. There is none other above you. The gods that we have trusted have made us horrible slaves to ambition, success, and achievement. We have slept with these idols and the kingdom has suffered greatly. We have tried to be clever and relevant. We have withheld truth, and to correct we have created false truths. Forgive me O God for loving another. There is One God! Jesus, thank you for coming and showing us that life is not about visible successes, but it is about being faithful to the will of the Father. May, the Holy Spirit dwell so strong within me that I might live as you are living, speak as you are speaking, and do as you are doing.  – Amen

¹ David A. Busic, Perfectly Imperfect: Character Sketches from the OLD TESTAMENT.

            Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2013.

Defender God

Psalm 41:9-12

⁹Even my close friend,

            someone I trusted,

one who shared my bread,

            has turned against me.

¹⁰But may you have mercy on me , LORD;

            raise me up, that I may repay them.

¹¹I know you are pleased with me,

            for my enemy does not triumph over me.

¹²Becuase of my integrity you uphold me

            and set me in your presence forever.

Observation:

            This Psalm of David starts with a note of praise for those who uphold the weak. The praise really is that God will deliver those who do so, in their time of trouble. The Psalmist here is in a time of trouble. He begins his search for help through confession. He may or may not have had a specific sin in mind; nevertheless, the Psalmist has a clear understanding that his own personal sin may be involved.

            He then reminds God of their relationship. He suggests that ultimately what his enemies say about him, they are saying about his God as well. This is the covenant relationship. When an enemy comes against the covenant partner does battle with or on behalf of the other. David is clear on this fact. He knows that God will sustain, defend, and heal him.

            The worse part is not when enemies treat him bad. Rather, it is when his friend treats him unjustly. One cannot help but remember Job’s friends and their not so encouraging words. Here, David realizes that God is still with him. His rational is that he would have been overcome already if God were not pleased with him. Perhaps at this point David has realized that it is not his own sin that is keeping him in this poor estate. There may be no greater ‘I Told You So’ than getting better when everyone counted you out.

Application:

            The people that hurt us most often are those who we are closest to. A possible reason for this is that we tend to put expectations on those who are our friends. After all the best kind of friend is one who always responds the way I think they should. When it comes to very close friends, maybe a spouse, we expect that they will always defend us, always drop what they are doing to run to us, and at the least defend our character before our enemies.

            Unfortunately, this is an unrealistic expectation. We can bemoan the fact and say this shouldn’t be so; however, it is so at times. If we place to much value in our friends opinions of us we become grossly unbalanced and we will find our value and emotional state fluctuating with their behaviors toward us.

            David teaches us a very valuable lesson. Our value, the defense of our character, and how we respond should rest solely in how God feels about us. Now I am a pleaser personality so I struggle with this. Nevertheless, I must commit myself to the Lord hand what he has to say. He has reminded me, that I am created in His Image. That he sees me as a good creation. He judges me not on the outside appearance that the world sees, but the true nature of my spirit. Therefore, I must draw close to him and allow him to transform the broken image within me back to the holy image he desires.

            Many years ago, I attended a retreat where Dr. Jerry Porter explained that, “If God will not defend your character, you can’t.” Those words have freed me time and again. In those simple words, I learned that I could not wrestle with every bad statement made about me. The innuendos that fly around, and the good friends that feel I need to know what has been said about me, no longer capture my focus. Like David I will focus on the one who loves me, the one who saves me, the one who speaks the truth about me, Jesus!

Prayer:

            Lord, you are my help in times of trouble. You are my defender, and my source of self-awareness. Forgive me for the times I stress about what others think. Help me to be a pleaser of God first, and then a lover of people through his direction. Thank you for creating me to be me. Help me to love myself properly, so that I might love other properly as well. Most of all help me to love you above all, and to honor you with my words, my thoughts, and my deeds. For you are great O God, and deserving of my all. - Amen

Remembering God

Judges 2:10-11 (NRSV)

¹⁰ Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them, who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshiped the Baals;

Observation:

            When Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, God told them to pick up stones out of the dried river bed and place them on the shore as a reminder of God’s holding back the waters for them to cross. He instructed them to tell the generations how God held back the waters of the Jordan and gave them the land (Joshua 4:1-7).

            Now Joshua has died and somehow the story was not told. Is it possible that the people began to think of the tale as a nice bedtime story for children? We are not told specifically how they forgot God, but they did. It seems incomprehensible that folks would not know the stories of God’s deliverance. Nevertheless, we see that when the people forget they turn to false teachings and gods of the other nations.

Application:

            In a previous journal entry, I mentioned the fact that the church I grew up in prayed for the rain to hold off until the roof could be finished on the new building. The rain came to the centerline of the two-lane highway and stayed until the roof was finished. It was a story I heard at least a 100 times. God had answered the prayers of a fledgling church trying to complete their new building. Growing up there, I had many spiritual heroes, not the least of which was my father.

            I witnessed many a miracles, and many struggles in that church. I watched as they dreamed, planned, and learned how to pray through adversity. One day many years later, a person from the church, today, told me how the previous people never had a vision and never had a dream. I did not get upset with them; I did not even try to correct them. I knew that the previous church generation was all gone now, and the stories were never told, or at the least, they were not listened to.

            In the story of the church, no one turned away from God. However, what if the church is so focused on the future and what is happening now that we forget to tell this generation of the great miracles of God through out our history. What if we simply make God about today’s issues and fail to declare his holiness, and his expectation, that we are to be obedient to him and not the other way around.

            Could it be that we best understand the relevance of God in our present, by remembering his commands, his expectation, and his activity on behalf of humanity in the past; rather than our wishes and demands of him in the now. Perhaps it is time for the Body of Christ to begin declaring the mighty works of God in our homes, Sunday school classes, bible studies, discipleship gatherings, and even our worship services.

Prayer:

            Father, you have done mighty works that deserve our gratitude of praise and thanksgiving. Forgive me if I have taken these stories of the past for granted. You have done many things in my life, in the churches life, and in the world. May I remember to declare them to the next generation so that they would know the goodness of you, O God. –Amen.

All the Glory Belongs to God

Psalm 44:4-8

⁴     You are my King and my God;

you command victories for Jacob.

⁵     Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down our assailants.

⁶     For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

⁷     But you have saved us from our foes,

and have put to confusion those who hate us.

⁸     In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name forever.  Selah

Observation:

            In Joshua 23:3, we hear a similar theme proclaimed as Joshua speaks to the Israelites in his old age. It is important for the Israelites not to boast in their victories. They are to recognize that all good things come from God, and to remember that they are dependent on him alone.

Application:

            It is wonderful to accomplish wonderful things. It is nice to know that we have successfully completed a task. Often we like to celebrate the victory. There is nothing wrong with celebrating a job well done. In fact, we probably should celebrate good things more often. The key is that we need to remember that it is through the power of God that we have our victories.

            When we have a great success, we may be tempted to celebrate our great talent, our ingenuity, or our great strength. However, it is important for us to resist this temptation and to give God the glory for what he has done. The Israelites fought the fights but it was God who gave them protection, and victory. God includes humanity in his redemptive plan, but the results are attributed to him. We can celebrate that God did a great thing through us, but the ultimate praise goes to God not ourselves.

Prayer:

            Father, you are holy and beyond all compare. All that I have is from you, and all good things I have done have come from you. Forgive me for the times that I have not given you all the praise for the successes in my life. Help me Lord, to honor you with the work of my hands, the desires of my heart, and words of my mouth. - Amen

Refuge In the Body of Christ

Joshua 20:1-3 (NRSV)

20 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “Say to the Israelites, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ so that anyone who kills a person without intent or by mistake may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.

Observation:

            God is concerned with justice. The Law of Moses requires that an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. If someone commits murder, his or her life is to be taken. Nevertheless, there are times when accidents happen. The key to this passage is that the death is the result of error not intent. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to determine if something is an accident or intentional.

            Therefore, God has made plans for the Israelites to protect them from taking innocent blood. The Cities of Refuge are set up to protect the innocent, and to keep the avenger of blood from becoming guilty. There is a place of salvation for the people. One cannot help but imagine that this is David idea in the Psalms. He understands that God is his refuge, his salvation from his enemies.

Application:

            We all have been guilty of sins that we did not intentionally commit. I find that in marriage I can say things that I think mean one thing, and find to my dismay that I have conveyed something very different. This is especially true since I am an audible thinker. That is I share my thoughts so I can decide whether I agree with them or not. This is good for my processing, but can create a great deal of stress for my wife. I do not intend to create stress; nevertheless, I do. Of course, this is not a crime of murder (though she might think it).

            For most of us we will never accidentally kill anyone. On the other hand, will we? Jesus told us to hate is same root emotion that leads to murder. So, if we hate someone we have already committed murder in our heart. There is a good chance that we have harmed someone emotionally even if we have not harmed him or her physically. We may not have intended to, but that might be the result of our words, or actions. In such cases, it would be nice to have a place of refuge to run to so that we could avoid the judgment soon to come.

            I seems that those of us who observe individuals, who harm with actions or words, that we tend to believe they intended the harm done. It is the old, “If you were sorry you wouldn’t have done it in the first place”, argument. Sometimes, we don’t think before we response or act. There are individuals who are careless with their mouths, and thoughtless of the consequences of their actions. As irritating as this might be, we cannot deem their behavior as premeditated, or even willfully produced.

            As believers, we ought to be cities of refuge. We should be places where people can come until proper judgment can be made. Paul tells the Corinthians in 6:1-5, that they ought to make proper judgments between believers where there is a dispute. The church ought to determine if there was intent when someone is wronged. Moreover, as the body of Christ it seems that we should be more willing to assume the best rather than the worst about someone. We are to be a people of compassion, peace, reconciliation, and love. Just as Jesus would not condemn the woman caught in adultery, we should not be quick to condemn those who cause us harm. Perhaps, when we carry our cross these are some of the pains we must bear, as we forgive those who trespass against us.