Good News/Bad News

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 2:1-8
     I don't think I would be very good in the medical profession.  The minute I had to reveal bad news to somebody, I would be sick to my stomach.  On the other hand, when I had good news to share, I would probably cry delivering that as well.  And yet, as a Christian, I should be doing that every day.  The bad news:  Hell awaits those who don't accept Christ as the only way of salvation.  The good news:  Accept Him today and you can have a home in Heaven.  A doctor is probably never thrilled when a patient wants a second opinion or refuses to follow his orders for treatment.  The doctor knows this is the patient's choice, but he knows that it will not change the outcome of the condition.  What if the doctor just decided that he couldn't emotionally handle how the patient would react, and decided not to give the bad news?  If the patient never hears the bad news, undergoes treatment for it, then the doctor will never have the opportunity to share the good news.  What if the good news is the person has been completely healed?  The doctor who will not be forthcoming with the truth to his patient is fearful the patient may decide to reject the bad news which could lead to worse news.  But what if she resigns herself that he is right?  What if she does everything he prescribes?  What if the treatment works?  How exciting for the doctor and patient both when she gets a clean bill of health!  Doctors might be fearful every day for the news they have to deliver to a patient, but it is their responsibility to deliver it despite the outcome.
    Before Paul became apostle and missionary for Jesus Christ, he was known as Saul of Tarsus, Christian killer.  Paul does not seem to be the type of person who was ever afraid of anything.  Everything he did, he did with gusto, including putting Christians to death.  After God saved him, he boldly went throughout Mesopotamia proclaiming Christ.  I guess this is why I'm surprised to learn that he said speaking to the church of Corinth filled him with fear and trembling.  Really?  I would not believe it unless he told me (which he obviously does in this chapter).  Reading the accounts in Paul's life and the epistles God wrote through him, he seems confident in the Lord, and confident in what God led him to do.  This just shows that anybody, if they allow the Holy Spirit to work through them, can be the right vessel God can use to get the job done.
      I wonder how often Paul had to overcome this fear.  Was it daily?  Was it everytime he preached?  Was it each time he led a person to Christ, stepped off a ship in a new town, visited a synagogue?  What about when he performed a miracle?  Did he have just a little doubt before God healed the person that He really would heal them, which if He didn't, would make Paul look foolish?  Did God allow him to overcome it?  Or did Paul fear and tremble for the rest of his life?  Can you imagine if Paul just quit?  Can you fathom what would have happened if Paul faced a crowd and said to himself, "I just can't get past these butterflies in my stomach.  They just won't settle down.  I am so tired of feeling this way.  Not doing it anymore."  How many people who needed Christ, may have never heard the message if Paul was too wrapped up in his own shortcomings to allow God to use him?  How many churches would have never been established if Paul decided to go back home to Tarsus and live a quiet, peaceful life.  Only it wouldn't have been peaceful, because God called him to preach, and the Holy Spirit would nag at him everyday about that.  What if somebody else had to write the epistles?  Trust me, if Paul refused to be used, God would have found someone else.  God's plan is never thwarted when I tell Him I don't want to or I'd rather not.  God is not turned upside down, scratching His head, wondering what on earth He will do now because I won't allow Him to use me.
     But can you imagine the joy Paul would have missed if he surrendered to his fears?  I have had the opportunity to lead people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and I can tell you, there is nothing like it.  It is the single most exciting thing to be able to share with someone what Christ did for them so they can have a home in Heaven.  When a person understands this, and you get to pray with them, and show them from the Scripture what He has done, I mean, it is right up there with walking down the aisle to marry my husband, and seeing each of my children born.  Why?  Because this person is suddenly like a spiritual child.  You were able to show them the way.  You were able to shine a little light in their dark lives.  And it is nothing you have done for them, you are showing them what Christ has done for them, but you get to give them the good news.  God lets us tell people about Him.  God lets us be involved in the process of somebody finding Christ, and I'm amazed that He does.  I haven't personally led anyone to the Lord for a while.  I think I know why.  Lately, I've been feeling like I'm afraid I will show somebody a wrong verse, I'm worried that if I try to explain salvation to them, I won't explain it right.  But I'm forgetting the key element to this process.  The Holy Spirit.  He works in me, to give me the right words at the right time, and He works in them, to reveal God's Word to them.  Like Paul, when I feel the butterflies, I need to lean on the Holy Spirit.  It is not my Word anyway.  It is not my job to see that the person understands, it is only my job to see that the person hears.  Is that how Paul was able to overcome his fear?  I can't mess up God's plan of salvation.  I can only refuse to be the tool He uses for somebody to hear it.  And when I succumb to my fears, I am missing out on the most joyous feeling I can have.  Not that salvation is based on emotion, but I get super emotional when somebody accepts Christ, whether I have led them or somebody else has. 
     Doctors can quit the profession, if they feel they can no longer handle it emotionally.  That would absolve them from ever having to share such terrible news.  But the flip side to that is that they will never witness the joy a person experiences when they have been healed from a disease, when the regimen prescribed is working, when they bring a child into the world for the first, second, or third time.  I am never absolved of my Christian duty to share God's Word.  I may refuse to do it, I may let fear stop me, but I am still responsible for the news I hold.  I just will never have the privilege of sharing in the joy the person experiences when they find Christ.
     Lord, I really want to lead somebody to Christ this week.  Will You allow me to do that?  I can't mess up Your plan no matter how I stumble over my words, no matter how many not-to-the-point verses I show them, no matter how little prepared I was to lead somebody.  Your Holy Spirit shines the light down the path, leading them, and maybe I can be the person at the end who opens Your Book and shows them the Light they need in their heart.  I sure miss that feeling I get from leading somebody to You.  That is just a bonus, I know.  That You allow me to be part of Your plan is something I will never understand.  I bet Paul never got over that either.

Kings and Criminals

Today's passage:  I Samuel 20
     One of the greatest fears of my life is to be the victim of a violent crime.  I have been afraid of many things over the years, but little fills me with as much trembling as that thought.  Of course, I have great fears for my children as well, but concerning my own person, the violent crime thing still tops my list.  That's not to say I am not afraid of other events, but I give myself credit that I could keep panic from setting in during other situations.  Perhaps it is my greatest fear because I'm fearful how I would react.  Perhaps it makes me fearful because I am not sure I could respond with grace.  I pray I never have to find out.
     I am trying to get into David's head.  I am wondering why the shepherd boy who had slain a lion, a bear, a giant,  and two hundred Philistines should be afraid of the king of Israel?  There is no question that David is afraid.  He tells Jonathan, "there is but a step between me and death".  And he is right.  Saul is determined to kill him.  But David had already been anointed by Samuel as the next king.  How could he think God had changed His plans?  Fearfulness causes us to do a lot of crazy things.  It just seems strange that David would be fearful of Saul. 
     I think the difference is, Saul was God's anointed at this time.  He sat on the throne, and as far as David is concerned, that means God's hand is upon him.  David had nothing to fear against the Philistines, because they were God's enemy, he would not be afraid to take their lives, because he knew he was in the right.  David had a holy respect and reverence toward the man God had placed on the throne of Israel.  This was who God intended to reign, and David felt defenseless because he would not harm the man God anointed as king. 
     David was not sure if he was right in this situation.  The uncertainty of whether he was in God's will, caused David to be fearful.  David makes a few missteps in this chapter because he was afraid.  Who of us wouldn't?  I have made some wrong decisions because I was fearful, and it takes a real calming of the Spirit to proceed cautiously but wisely.
     When we are fearful, we tend to take matters into our own hands.  David is certain that if he goes to dinner that night, it will be his last supper.  He devises a lie to find out Saul's intentions towards him.  Several times in the Bible, we see how people in the Bible tell a "little white lie".  I don't think I really need to go there.  I think we all know lying under any circumstances is wrong, but God is merciful to us.  We do have to be careful because it is not something we want to make as a continual pattern in our lives, especially when we are afraid.  I don't know how God would have handled the situation, but I know we will never find out since this is the way David chose to handle the matter.  What is more disconcerting, is that he persuades Jonathan to tell the lie for him.  This will put Jonathan in great jeopardy.  Fearfulness blinds us to the danger to which we expose other people.
     Being afraid will cause us to doubt whether we are in God's will.  We assume that if we are in dangerous circumstances, we must be doing something wrong.  David says, "if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself".  We should search ourselves often.  But if the Lord does not reveal to us that we are involved in sin, we should not automatically assume that God is punishing us, or trying to probe a confession like a detective in an interrogation room.  God doesn't always put us in a frightening situation because He wants to scare the sin out of us.
     Fear caused David to doubt the person he trusted most.  Jonathan had to convince David that he was not involved in a murder plot against him.  David knew this deep down, but nervous anxiety gnawed at him to need Jonathan's reassurance.  Jonathan does, and perhaps this is also why he is willing to lie for David, to prove his loyalty.  This put Jonathan in an awful predicament, and an unfair one too.  Jonathan should not have to prove his friendship, but he loved his friend, understood his fear, and was willing to go the extra mile for him.

Jonathan sends a message to David by shooting an arrow--Taken from Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Three
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1926

     Jonathan says something that I think is very telling.  He tells David, "and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father."  Saul must have put on a show as being very Godly.  The Lord has not been with Saul for a very long while, He has even promised to take Saul off the throne.  Yet, this is Jonathan's father, and he sees God's hand on him.  I'm thinking, if I were David I would tell Jonathan to take back that statement, because if God has been with Saul these last several years, I would rather take my chances on my own.  I'm not sure how the temper tantrums and mood swings still signaled godliness to these two men but I guess since Saul remains on the throne, they assume God is still with him.  God has still allowed him to reign, but I don't think God is still with him.  This is what can make us the most fearful, when we look at circumstances in life, and make assumptions.      
     David and Jonathan assume that because God had not removed Saul from the throne, he was in the right, and they were in the wrong.  God has His own timetable.  God has His own reasons for doing things, and it is not for us to find out why.  If He chooses to reveal His reasoning to us, He will.  In the meantime, we have to trust God.  What does that mean?  I'm going to make up a word.  Trusting God is what I will call a genericalization.  A what?  You know, one of those intangible statements we make to assure people, but really have no idea how to explain.  Trust God.  How do I do that? Maybe instead of saying that I should say: Remember God's promises.  That is something tangible.  Go to His Word, and list all of the places where He says how He will protect us, how He will take care of us.  David's psalms are a great resource for those kinds of verses.  Reading this chapter in I Samuel, I think he knew a little bit about being frightened and depending on the God he could not see to help him.  But what if trusting God means death? For David, he was not so sure it didn't.  God has promised me a home in Heaven if I have accepted His Son as my Savior.  What is so fearful about that?  That is a promise our Christian brothers and sisters in Indonesia, Syria, and Libya are trusting in today.  If that is not God's plan, if there is more than one step between me and death, than I just keep taking a step each day, doing what He has asked me to do, waiting for Him to reveal the rest.
     If I am ever faced with a hardened criminal who wants to take my purse at gunpoint, or threaten to do me bodily harm (thoughts which make my blood run cold) I would need to remember God's promises.  He doesn't promise me that I will never be harmed, He promises me that in some way I don't understand He will sustain me, He will get me through, He will be with me.  If I survive the situation, He has promised me I can endure it.  If I don't survive, He has promised me I will be with Him.  I am fearful because I don't think I can endure, which means I am fearful that God will not keep His Word.  But He always does.  So perhaps, that is the crux of David's fears.  He is afraid God did not mean what He said when He told David he would someday be king.  David is afraid that God will not keep His promise to him.  David is afraid that he has failed Him in some way that would constitute God going back on His Word.  I may have to remind myself what He has said, but I will never have to remind Him.  In David's life, a king was scarier than a giant.  He was sure what God had promised against the giant, but he was a little less sure what God had promised against the king.  But God's promise is the same.  He will go with me. No giant, king or criminal can dispute that.

Restless Nights

Today's passage:  Song of Solomon 3
       Early in my marriage, my husband worked nights and I worked days.  Many nights, I would stay up and wait for him to come home.  Eventually, I could not keep that schedule anymore because I needed to be rested for work.  Sometimes he would have a late arrest that would keep him an hour or two past his regular shift.  If he knew I was in bed already, he usually didn't call me.  If it came early enough in the night, he would try to let me know that he would be later than usual.  On occasion (the nights he didn't call) I would wake up and find that he was not home yet.  That always made me anxious, because I wanted to be sure he was okay.  What if it hadn't been a late arrest?  What if he had a car accident?  What if someone accosted him in the alley?  What if he had been hurt at work and nobody had sent word to me yet?  All kinds of fearful things crossed my mind until he arrived.  Once he walked through the door, I was at ease.  I was at peace again.
     In the beginning of this passage, the bride is having a fitful dream.  It is causing her great distress.  She can't find her groom and she is starting to panic.  She goes out into the streets asking the guards where he might be and when she finds him, she is relieved.  She can go back to sleep.  The groom orders that nobody is to disturb her.  He wants her to rest. 

The Reunion--Taken from Old Christmas
By Randolph Caldecott, 1892
Courtesy of www.reusableart.com

     My life can be like that.  I become fearful in situations, I let things scare me, disturb me, upset me.  I pace with worry and try to figure out how I will solve my dilemma.  Why?  When I take them to my Lord, He will deal with them.  He will comfort me and soothe me and put me back to sleep.  He will take the things that give me fear and headaches and stress and He will hold onto them for me.  He will listen to my concerns.  He will quiet my fears.  He will not allow them to bother me again.  I don't have to go looking for Him, He is always there.  I need never worry that something would happen to Him.  He is in control of it all and I can sleep soundly knowing He can handle it.

Blind in Nazareth

Today's passage:  Isaiah 61/Luke 4:18-21
     Jesus quotes the first two verses of Isaiah 61 when He teaches in the synagogue in Nazareth.  It was early in His ministry, shortly after His temptation in the wilderness.  The account of reading the actual verses is only recorded in Luke.  There are some slight differences in wording when Jesus reads from the book of Isaiah and the book of Isaiah in my Old Testament.  I am not questioning the validity, because they are all God's Words, I just find it curious that there is a whole phrase that I don't see in Isaiah 61:1 and what Jesus read in Luke 4:18.  The phrase is "....and recovering sight to the blind..."  The rest of the verse is almost word for word.  If Jesus added it, it is His right, because they are His words, and He can add what He wants to.  Did He add it in for this particular occasion, because he was talking to a hometown audience?  Was He trying to emphasize that the Nazarenes were blind?

Jesus read from the Book of Isaiah--Taken from The Children's Friend (Part 2)
By Mrs. Adelaide Bee Evans
Review and Herald Publishing Company, 1911, 1928

     After He reads these verses, He sits down and declares that today the Scripture has been filled.  He was the Anointed One who would cause all these things to happen.   If I had been sitting in the synagogue that day, I probably would have regarded Jesus with the same skepticism that the Nazarenes had.  This was a man I would have watched grow up.  I would have gone to the carpentry shop and asked Him to build me a table or to repair a chair.  I would have heard Mary boast about what a fine man her Jesus was.  I would have followed Him into the synagogue each Sabbath.  I would have seen Him board up His shop, kiss His mother goodbye, and walk out of town without a single belonging.  I would have scratched my head at the strange accounts I had been hearing in nearby towns.  Accounts of miraculous healing, water turning into wine, sermons preached in the wilderness.  I would have thought, "Why not here?  If He was going to become a preacher and a miracle worker, why not here?"  When He did return, I would have listened cautiously, not with my heart but with my head, trying to analyze why He would come back now.  I would wonder why He stopped reading in the middle of verse 2.  Why didn't He finish the verse about the day of vengeance and comforting those who mourn?  After all, the Messiah would overthrow the Roman tyrants to whom I paid taxes.  He would exact revenge on those who had persecuted us. Why didn't He read about that part, if He was the Anointed One? I would grind my teeth at His suggestion that He was a great prophet, putting Himself in a category with Elijah and Elisha.  I would have helped drive Him out of the synagogue, I would have been first in line to throw Him off the high cliff.  Then I would have been amazed when He was able to push past us without being harmed.  I would have been further amazed when I heard a few days later, a demon was cast out in Capernaum. I would have taken offense that He never returned to our town, that He only sent His followers to preach.  When would my eyes be opened?  When I heard that Mary and her other children would travel to Jerusalem to witness her son being crucified?  When I heard that the tomb for Joseph's son was empty?  When a group of His followers insisted that He went up into Heaven before their very eyes?  How long would my heart be hardened?  When would I believe?  When would I recover my sight?  Only when I recognized that the Messiah was not who I thought He should be and when I acknowledged He was who God meant Him to be.  Not a political pawn, but a suffering Savior.  Then I would realize why He stopped reading in the middle of the verse.  I would remember that He said He would return, and then He would exercise judgement, then He would soothe the grieving.  I would have been blind, but my sight would be restored.  I would finally see that He was the Anointed One.