Packages With No Return Address

Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me. So they listened to the word of the LORD and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.  -- 2 Chronicles 11:4

This thing is from Me.  It is critical to know when something has come from God.  We can take the attitude – and it’s possibly the best default approach, that everything is from Him, that there are no “second causes”, that God is in control of everything and nothing can happen without His permission.  In an overall sense, this is true.  He’s God; He does as He pleases.  That’s pretty close to what the Bible often seems to tell us. 

Even when something is instigated or incited by the Lord, our response is not necessarily supposed to be the same in every case.  In the passage quoted, the Lord, because of Solomon’s foolishness toward the end of his life, had decreed that the kingdom be divided.  He raised up a rival in Jeroboam and left only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to the line of David.  Through a prophet the word comes that the king of Judah and those who follow him must accept this turn of events. 

Conversely, we sometimes see God sending enemies against His people that those enemies might be defeated and punished.   The Lord did not, in those cases, desire passive acceptance but rather aggressive and active resistance.  “Que Sera Sera” is not a Christian song.  Life really is an adventure for us.  Routine and formulaic responses are of minimal use to us.  Sometimes we fight; sometimes we surrender.  Sometimes we have to fight a while before we surrender, or surrender a while before we fight.  I wish I had a rule of thumb or a guide or something to tell me which scenario I’m in this time. 

We do have a guide, but it’s not a thing, it’s a Him.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  He is here, with us and in us, giving us peace about what is happening and how we are responding.  When it runs contrary to our old natures – whether that’s because we’re naturally passive or naturally aggressive – we have to deny ourselves.  That’s what it means to die to self, to crucify the flesh. 

From a practical point of view, when we are in the place of decision, the Lord will meet us where we are.  I think more “advanced” saints need less outside confirmation than some of the rest of us.  Early on, I had a lot of people around me who would give me “good words” that resonated and helped me get going the right way.  It’s like having training wheels on your bicycle.  I really wouldn’t want training wheels on my motorcycle because I couldn’t corner at speed.  Over time and through experience, we are expected to grow and develop our relationship in the Spirit to the point where we can confidently seek Him and know His will in any situation. 

There will always, though, be places where we run out of understanding, where the light seems to fail at the most crucial passage.  Abraham with the knife raised over Isaac, David fleeing from Absalom, Paul wasting his last days in a Roman prison, even perhaps the Lord Himself crying out, Why have You forsaken Me?  In those dark corridors we put it all in the hands of God and walk by faith, not by sight.

Time and Chance

[T]his is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. – Daniel 4:24-25

It has been a challenging week so far.  I finally got some sleep last night, and we have been getting some rain, which makes things better. 

Daniel was a trusted adviser to King Nebuchadnezzar at this point, and he was the man the king called when something disturbed him.  Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a beautiful tree which was cut down.  A true prophet, Daniel, who had affection and respect for the king, though troubled himself when he received the interpretation, nevertheless delivered the verdict.  Due to his achievements, his victories, and the magnificence of his kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar had been filled with pride.  He was impressed with himself, forgetting that he had been raised up by the one true God, whom Daniel worshipped and served.

In our day of popular democracies and (allegedly) constitutional republics, of democrats and demagogues, it may be hard to relate to the ancient concepts of warlords and autocratic kings.  There is a time and a place for everything.  When communication is primitive and travel is difficult if possible at all, the idea of some kind of representative central government was perhaps less of a concern to people trying to scratch out a few years of subsistence before succumbing to famine, the latest plague, accident, or attack. 

It might have made more sense to people five or six hundred years ago that God would raise up, favor, and empower a gifted person to bring a period of peace and prosperity out of chaos and constant struggle.  I even wonder if God did not have an easier time of it back in those days.  It seems to me that it would be a lot harder to bring a few million people in line to vote for the “right” candidate than to find one seven-foot head-banger to bring it all together.  It would be for me.  I am confident, though, that God can work things out regardless of the political structure of any given era.

As He did in Nebuchadnezzar’s case, God has a way to bring us in line with His purpose and His will.  This great king lost his mind.  One day, a year after the delivery of Daniel’s prophetic warning, he was walking amid the wonders and marvels of his wealth and power, thought, “Ain’t I somethin’”.  The next moment he became as a beast of the field:  Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws (Daniel 4:33). 

Madness engulfed Nebuchadnezzar.  It’s hard not to think of Howard Hughes with his great wealth, living in crazed and fearful isolation.  We wonder sometimes why powerful, wealthy people find so many ways to humiliate themselves, why they seem to descend into such utter foolishness and self-destruction.  It’s not all their doing.  They refuse to acknowledge God and endeavor to exalt themselves to the throne that is His alone.  At some point, the Lord simply lets them have their way, allows their will to be done, and steps back.  The consequences are varied but inevitable. 

Were it not for the presence of the Remnant, there would not be a human left on the face of the earth by now.  The rest would have destroyed themselves, wiping one another out until the last fell and became naught but bones for the coyotes to gnaw triumphantly.  But that is not God’s plan.  He will adjust and rebalance the equations.  In this sense, I think miracles happen all the time – if by miracles we mean interventions normally attributed to chance -- chance being a comfortable, reassuring, though meaningless term to fence off the inexplicable Cause.

In another place, in his initial encounter with the King of Babylon, Daniel had been given both the forgotten dream and the interpretation.  In response, he praised God, saying:  He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding (Daniel 2:21).  God is present in all things, working through and with natural agencies and causes in a vast multi-dimensional game of unlikely blocks, startling captures, strategic retreats and unexpected advances.  Sometimes I think research in subatomic particles is akin to taking apart a radio looking for the voices.  In the end, as Chesterton would say, they will find a Man.

Busy Business

I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. -- Ecclesiastes 3:10

Solomon and I have one thing in common, we have seen the business wherein we are busy.  In my case, it looks to continue right on through, unabated by the weekend, though I do anticipate a little respite after that. 

Excessive idleness can be as wearying as excessive busyness.  We truly rest when we can rest in our labors.  Some people conclude that God has given us the business and are bitter and resentful.  I've done that myself, but if I can see, instead, that all this is God's business and that what He has given me to do -- as overwhelming as it may seem at times -- is from His hand, I can be at peace.

My body gets tired a lot more quickly than it did even ten years ago.  I just logged yet another birthday.  Still, it's relatively easy to rest from physical weariness.  You may wake stiff and sore the first day or two, but you sleep well -- dead to the world, as we say.

Soul-weariness is the killer.  Mental and psychic exhaustion cannot be cured with sleep -- if the sufferer can sleep.  To receive relief from soul-weariness we need a different kind of rest.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).

Under His Wings

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!  Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” – Luke 13:34-35

I repeat myself a lot, and sometimes I contradict myself.  Truth is not always clear to me.  It’s a struggle, one that has been going on for six decades and yet continues.  If I seem particularly confused the last few days years, it’s nothing new.

On the one hand, I don’t want to accept whatever the devil throws at me.  The Psalms are replete with pleas not to let enemies have the upper hand and be able to gloat over the fallen condition of the righteous.  There’s a large cohort in Christianity that focuses on health, wealth and externally victorious living.  This approach is derived largely from God’s relationship with Israel as depicted in the Old Testament.  If we trust and obey, God will bless, protect, and prosper us in a way that is obvious to everyone.   There’s also New Testament support for divine healing and provision, and I don’t deny that.

What, though, are we to think when something attacks us?  This happens.  We’re minding our own business and disaster strikes.  Christians lose their houses.  They get sick.  Their marriages fall apart.  They are struck by natural disasters.  Their children are killed or disabled in accidents or have health problems. 

Well, Kenneth Copeland will tell you, you just need more faith.  You weren’t “faithing” hard enough.  I like Brother Copeland.  I even plan to go see him when he’s in Branson in a couple of weeks.  But sometimes the way the Word of Faith boys talk, faith sounds a lot like a lot of work.   I get aggravated because I don’t have the time, the energy, the inclination, or the intelligence to “faith” against everything that might come my way, and I really don’t think it is my job to control the weather and the stock market and the real estate market and the national economy and what goes on in Washington or what the Iranians are doing and all that other stuff.  In other words, I’m not God.  There are times when I get to thinking I would like to try God’s job but only for about five minutes.  I doubt I could handle it that long, certainly not any longer. 

I think it is less about rebuking the devil than about resisting the devil.  There’s a big difference.  There’s a place for rebuking the devil.  Suppose you as a Christian have a friend or acquaintance who is pursuing a destructive lifestyle – whether it’s a workaholic or an alcoholic, too ambitious, too lazy, gluttonous, envious, greedy, whatever it may be.  This person may well be under attack by demonic influences.  It may be appropriate to rebuke “the spirit of fear” or something as if one were addressing an entity with a personality.  I leave that up to the leading of the Holy Spirit in a particular situation. 

Resisting the devil is always appropriate because that applies directly to me.  By what I allow myself to think about, to contemplate, to accept, to reject, to say, and to act upon, I either resist the devil or surrender to the devil.  This is a fight.  It’s warfare. 

First, let us consider what Jesus says above as He looks over His beloved city of Jerusalem and mourns for the fate she has chosen.  The Lord wants to protect us.  He wants our permission to protect us.  He needs our permission because He has given a free will. 

Next, hear James 4:6-7, “… God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” 

Third, I think this is where faith mostly applies.  We go deliberately and intentionally to God and surrender ourselves to Him and to His will.  Those of us who are Christians have already accepted the finished work of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, acknowledging our need for and trust in the atonement.  If we are not in Christ and have not turned ourselves in and asked for the Lord’s forgiveness and protection, there are a lot of second causes.  We are vulnerable to all of the enemy’s attacks.  We are under his law, his regime, and his authority.  If we are in Christ there need not be any second causes. 

Once we surrender our wills to the Lord and accept His offer “to gather us under His wings”, everything that comes to us, comes through Him.  If He does not want it to affect us, it does not.  If we can believe that, if we can trust God to do what He explicitly says He will do, we enter the rest and peace of God. 

So, anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing lately before I go to bed and when I first get up in the morning, just giving myself up to the Lord.  He knows I can’t do it without a lot of help, and I’m asking for that, too.  We’ll see how well I maintain the first time something breaks.  But, if He doesn’t want it to break, it won’t break.  Faith!  Amen?

And Why Am I in This Handbasket?

So consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ – Romans 6:4

Therefore, put to death whatever in you is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. -- Colossians 3:5

I’ve talked about this before, but I still haven’t gotten it right myself, so I’m back. I am aware of the fact that I cannot “put to death” all of this stuff on my own. I, like most Christians, have prayed for the grace of God to operate in my life. I have prayed often that the Spirit would enable me to die to self. However, when there is an opportunity to “put to death whatever ... is worldly”, I fight it. Usually, my problem is that I do not like the form this death takes. I want to say a few magic words – oops, I mean I want to pray and be delivered – or maybe pray, take a nap, and wake up holy, talking like Billy Graham or speaking Latin like the Pope.

What I absolutely don’t want to do is get into a conflict with another person – some control freak or someone I don’t like, and have to give in, to let them think they have “won”. Whatever the Lord wants to do is fine with me, but I’m not surrendering to other people.

Back in First Chronicles 21, we read that David sinned by taking a census of his people. I think this was wrong because it would lead to David trusting his poll numbers instead of the Lord. Anyway, when God’s word came to David by the prophet, the Lord offered the king three choice – three years of famine, three months of losing battles to his enemies, or three days of plague (what is with three?). David threw himself on God’s mercy. “Please let me fall into the LORD’s hands because His mercies are very great, but don’t let me fall into human hands” (v.13).

While that is what I prefer, a friend of mine used to say that if you need money, God will provide, but, He has to use other people. God, my friend explained, is not a counterfeiter, and He is not going to rain twenty-dollar bills from heaven. I suggested He could rain gold coins instead, though I’ll admit that could get dangerous: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. We might as well get used to it and understand that, normally, God does not work so directly. He is in complete control, especially if we give Him permission to be in control of our lives; nevertheless, He deals with us through other people, by their words and their actions -- both good and bad. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). We are being shaped by -- and at the same time shaping -- those around us. The intent is not to make us comfortable or happy (joyous, not necessarily happy) but to form us into the image of the Son.

For example, I kept noticing that I ran into and had trouble with a certain type of person. These were usually overbearing, manipulative women. I thought, Dayum, there sure are a lot of female control freaks out there in the world. Now, I’m pretty good at solving technical problems, but I never claimed to catch on quickly otherwise. I ran, but I couldn’t hide. As Jesus says, our enemies will be those of our own household. When I didn’t learn to deal with these characters in church, I found them at work. When I didn’t learn to deal with them at work, I found myself living next door to them. When I moved to get away from them, I found one living in the same house -- like in the mother-in-law suite.

In my case, there’s a certain amount of arrogance I need to get rid of, but I also have a lack of confidence and healthy self-worth. I need humility and gentleness with strength – also known as meekness. Your need may not be meekness, but if you find yourself running into the same types over and over, or if you get caught in a repetitive pattern of any sort, the issue may not be all those jerks out there, it may be that God is answering your prayers for sanctification. It is amazing that God is able to do such beautiful work with such dull implements, but it is the Master’s hand that guides all that scary chipping and scraping and grinding. He is carefully cutting away until He sees you.

Whine Flu

Did I purify my heart and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?
For I am afflicted all day long, and punished every morning.
If I had decided to say these things aloud,
I would have betrayed Your people.

When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless until I entered God’s sanctuary.
Then I understood their destiny.
Indeed You put them in slippery places;
You make them fall into ruin.
How suddenly they become a desolation!
They come to an end, swept away by terrors. – Psalm 75:13-19

This is one of those days when I want to say things out loud about the futility of doing good. Some months back, I think it was the lovely QP who put up one of those tests that you can take, in that case it was something like “which card in the tarot deck are you”? I was the Tower, not too surprising after I thought about it, given my avatar. I am rather susceptible to getting indignant over injustice. I don’t worry much about injustice in the American legal system where a lot that is right is illegal, and a lot that is legal is not right. If Congress wants to reform a system, let health care alone and do some work on “justice”.

My indignation is much more likely to be stirred by bullies, liars, and those who are willfully obtuse toward the true and the righteous. Sometimes I feel like the kid in The Sixth Sense, except, “I see stupid people”. In fact, I think I said that yesterday, but no one got the reference. I’m not talking about that small percentage of the population who are, to use the poetic term, simple. The genuinely simple are righteous more often than not. My quarrel is with those who are stupid by choice.

Why would anyone choose to be stupid? Stupidity relieves a person of a degree of moral responsibility. Their immoral behavior is no longer immoral, just stupid. They can distance themselves from the consequences of their actions with the claim that they “had no idea” such a thing would happen. They can become politicians and work for the government. They can drop non sequiturs, change the subject, and make baseless personal attacks.

Stupid people can compartmentalize their lives, enabling them to disregard contradictions and irony. They can claim the moral high ground on a moot point then make the sweeping statement that their opponent “isn’t perfect either”, or claim that he has no standing to judge them. They can think that they have won a debate when, in the view of any non-stupid, objective observer, they had not even shown up.

But a tirade against the Stupid By Choice was not my intent. It is easy for indignation, however righteous, to turn into bitterness and cynicism. See the paragraphs above. Stupidity is contagious and raging cynicism is a form of it. I haven’t yet figured out how to completely immunize myself against cynicism, but I do know the cure.

I have needed to be humbled, and the Lord knows how to do that. The difference between me and the Stupid By Choice is (I hope always) that I am willing to see my getting taken down a notch as the grace of God. The SBC see only the secondary agent, the tool in the hand of God, and no tool is perfect. When I have been SBC myself, I have even questioned God’s power and/or goodness. I assume others do the same. If I say it is God’s fault or if I say it is the fault of another, I am being stupid. If I say the wicked prosper, I am being stupid.

Oh, yeah, the cure – God is on call all day, every day. He neither sleeps nor slumbers. He makes house calls. It's a kneel-in clinic.