The Beast-King (Daniel 4)

In the Aramaic section of the book of Daniel, we have seen the sovereignty revealed by an event showing his magnificent power and then King Nebuchadnezzar making a proclamation about how the God of Israel is the Most High God, who is the only one worthy of praise.

Chapter 4 is a little bit different. In this instance, the order of the illustrating event and Nebuchadnezzar's proclamation are reversed. Indeed, very early on in verses 1-3, Nebuchadnezzar writes a decree to the entire nation, saying,

"Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."

With that declaration in mind, we turn to the events of the story. Nebuchadnezzar goes on in his decree to discuss then reason why he feels that God is the most High in the first place. It starts just as it did in Chapter 2, with a dream.

This dream Nebuchadnezzar remembers, but he doesn't understand it. And neither do any of his wise men. Nebuchadnezzar is afraid because of the contents of the dream.

So since you're probably curious, the dream went something like this. There was a great tree which was beautiful and was providing food and shelter for many. And then an angel comes down and asks that it be hewed down, but the stump can remain. In the most relevant portion, the angel declares,

"Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him."

Nebuchadnezzar in his terror, remembers that there was this guy, in whom was the spirit of the holy god(s). (Whether you have gods or God will depend upon your translation. In the Aramaic, the plural form was often used for emphasis, making this statement a little bit arbitrary.)

Nebuchadnezzar calls in Daniel, and Daniel is said to be troubled for an hour, and was in one of my favorite KJV words, "astonied." And Nebuchadnezzar has apparently softened at some point because he tells Daniel not to worry about the dream or the interpretation.

At which point, Daniel explains the dream. In verses 24-27,

"This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity."

The dream stands as a warning against Nebuchadnezzar's pride. It is asking him to consistently acknowledge that it is God who creates his own kingdoms. This is what the Most High decrees. And obviously what the most High decrees, will inevitably come to pass.

In verses 28-33, it does,

"All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."

And so we see that the Lord's prophecies come true because He's God and is sovereign at all times. And Nebuchadnezzar actually states this fact again, and praised the Lord God of Heaven, the chapter ends in verses 34-37,

"And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase."

Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3)

So, Fall Break is a thing. And, as per my usual irresponsibility I forgot today was Friday because it feels like a Saturday. I apologize to all of you faithful few, and would like to take the time to look at some things here today in reading this.

So today, we are obviously going to look at background because you know, it went from background to exposition to background to exposition. So obviously, the next in the pattern is obviously background.

But as you can tell from the title, that pattern thankfully is broken. We get to continue to look at the Aramaic portion of the book of Daniel and what the Lord chose to reveal to all people at the time of the captivity to show that He let the Israelites get captured as a punishment and is not weaker than the gods of the Babylonians.

So Daniel 3 enters in. We all know the story, and we all know of the admirable faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago. And indeed, we should all emulate it. But what can we learn about God through this chapter?

The chapter starts out rather simply in the first 2 verses, 

"Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up."

Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar's changed heart at the end of the last chapter has changed, and he has moved onward to challenge the worship of God. Setting up an idol and commanding essentially that all political officials come and worship this idol.

So what happens? Well, you all know the story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago refuse to bow down to the idol and there is a tattle-tale, so the king brings them in for questioning.

And we immediately have the set-up of the scene of God's greatness to be seen. In verse 15, we read,

"Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"

Who indeed? Certainly there isn't a god who is actually stronger than Nebuchadnezzar and his gods and the fiery furnace. Oh yeah, there is a God in heaven. He actually isn't he? Well, I guess we'll find out.

As an even further set-up, Shadrach Meshach, and Abednago express the truth statement and theme of the chapter. Verses 17-18 explains,

"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

Oh, yeah, Hebrew God can do things. And of course, Nebuchadnezzar is like, eh no, and he commands the furnace to be set to 7 times the heat it is normally supposed to be set. Just so that there is no chance that they could possibly survive.

To further show that there is no chance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago surviving without the assistance of some supernatural force, the men commanded to throw them into the furnace explode into flame and perish. They are so much goners.

Except...they aren't. They manage to live, without a hint of burning damage within them. And Nebuchadnezzar tends to notice that. You know, it seems that there are people alive. And for some reason four of them. He says simply,

"Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

So the fourth looks a little majestic. And of course, there is speculation about whether this is an example of the pre-incarnate Christ  appearing to people. There is no proof of this, but it is certainly possible, but probably more relevant is this: there was clearly a supernatural being and force that delivered the faithful Israelites from the fiery furnace that was certain to kill them. And it doth seem based on the prelude into this big test that that supernatural force is a personal being that the Israelites worship as God.

And Nebuchadnezzar, a source that the Babylonians themselves would accept, acknowledges this to be true. In the climax of the event (just as in chapter 2), Nebuchadnezzar declares,

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort." 

There is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Indeed. Feel like I heard this at some other point in the book of Daniel that God was the only one who could do things. Hmm....

Interpretation of Dreams (Daniel 2)

Announcement: Because it would fit better into my life and has just basically been a thing anyway, I will be changing the time of these blog posts from morning to noon. So you can expect this blog to update in the future at noon on Mondays and Fridays. Thank you!

With our wonderful background knowledge, we are ready to get into a nice run-down of the different sections of the book. (I promise we won't have another background post next week.) Remember that the focus of this book (and the Aramaic chapters in particular) is to show God's sovereignty at a time when it looks like the Babylonian gods are stronger than He is.

But how does our familiar story about Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue made of all sorts of material actually show God's sovereignty? It does in more ways than you might think. Let's dig in. 

(I have been much cheaper with my writing style, since I started this exposition on Daniel; I'm sorry, but it takes a lot of time to write exposition, so something had to go.)

We're going to start after Nebuchadnezzar has his dream, and the language of the book shifts to Aramaic. It is here that we see Nebuchadnezzar's magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans (hereafter just Chaldeans because that's what the book does) come and ask for the dream, so they can interpret it.

This group of people is important. This group of people is essentially a collection of religious people who would reign the power of the Babylonian gods to answer a given question. Nebuchadnezzar hopes that they will be able to interpret his dream.

But apparently, he has forgotten his dream entirely. This shouldn't be a problem clearly as the gods of Babylon will be sure to reveal to the Chaldeans what he dreamed too. And if they shan't, then the Chaldeans will be exposed as frauds and be cut into pieces and their houses will be made into... yeah. That's totally Nebuchadnezzar. Totally.

But shocker! The gods of Babylonian do not reveal to the Chaldeans the dream! It's almost as if the Babylonian gods don't exist or something. Sarcasm aside, the beginning parts of this chapter clearly show that the Chaldeans do not have the power that they claim to have, and it does place suspicion on the power of their gods.

Indeed, the words of the Chaldeans in verse 10-11 are rather telling,

"The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh."

Oh, only the gods can reveal it. That seems problematic, since they don't dwell among us. How are we supposed to respond to this?

Well, Nebuchadnezzar is rash, so he decrees that all the wise men get killed. And so they obviously go after Daniel and his fellows because they fall into this category. You may think it bad storytelling that I introduce that Daniel and his fellows are wise men here, but take it up with the Bible. It seems that God was trying to stress that the story is not actually about Daniel, but rather His own power.

Daniel asks the king for time to know the dream and the interpretation thereof. The king grants it for some reason, probably the hand of God. And so Daniel went back and told his companions, and they prayed to the God of Heaven. Indeed, these verses are ones that specifically highlight the process by which God and not man revealed the truth of the dream. In verses 17-23, we read,

"Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter."

The secret was revealed to Daniel, and he recognizes that it was God who revealed this to him and spends the time to praise Him, revealing to the world, that God is able to resolve issues of dreams that according to the Chaldeans, no man can reveal.

It is interesting to note that the Chaldeans would have been religious people that the selected audience of this text would have respected and listened to, meaning that this whole interpretation of the dream thing has great significance to them because the Chaldeans essentially said it was impossible.

And so Daniel reveals the dream and its interpretation to the king. But when he does so, he tends to want to highlight the fact that you know, the Chaldeans couldn't do it, but God can. The emphasis in these verses (as in the rest of the chapter) is on the superiority of God over the Chaldeans. Look in verses 27-30,

"Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart."

So the dream itself is also kinda important in showing God's sovereignty over the nations. We will examine this in more detail with the future visions of the book of Daniel, starting in chapter 7.

But for now, let's examine that Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue, where the head was of gold, breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs of iron, and his feet of iron and clay.

And they all fell to pieces because a stone "made without hands." That expression indicates a divine intervention, where God comes in and destroys this statue.

Daniel interprets this dream as portraying the nations of the world that would come after Babylon, which was the strongest of them and the golden head. In hindsight, we can see how this proved true as the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Medo-Persians, who were conquered by the Greeks, who were conquered by the Romans, and so on. This is a very relevant showing of God's sovereignty over the nations and His ability to fulfill His prophecies.

But it actually wouldn't have meant all that much to the Babylonians or the Jews at the time, as they couldn't look back to hindsight to see that this was true. Instead, they would look to authorities that they trusted to make sense of the strange turn of events, which is probably why this account ends with Nebuchadnezzar's proclamation in verse 47,

"Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret." 

Indeed He is.

Introduction to the Arimaic Section (Daniel 2-7)

I do thus verily apologize for the complete lack of post on Monday. I have an excuse, but I assume that you won't want to hear it, so if that assumption is true, you can skip to the next paragraph. So, I had a debate tournament this weekend, and got behind in schoolwork for the first time in my college career. So I didn't post on my blog. Probably justifiable. But I have caught up by now and can reenter my responsibilities.

So today, we enter into Daniel 2, Let's begin with reading the first three verses,

"And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream."

Then in verse 4, we read the Scripture state that, "Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack."

Syriack is the King James way of saying Aramaic. And at this point until the end of chapter 7, the book of Daniel is written in Aramaic. At first, it is easy to write this off as simply useless trivia, but wait one moment. We believe that the Bible is written more purposefully than this.

If you are writing, you don't usually change the language in which you are writing. Even if you happen to know multiple languages, you are not likely to suddenly change from one language into another. Indeed, you are not likely to change even from one piece of jargon to another at any given time within the same writing.

So why does this particular book switch into Aramaic when that is generally considered bad literary form? It is not enough to write this off as unimportant because the author of the book clearly made this decision for a reason. We need to understand what that reason is.

So let's remember from two weeks ago, the background of the time. Those throughout the world are convinced because of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem that the Babylonians god at their weakest are strongest than God is at His strongest.

We then remember that this book is all about proving that the God of Israel really is stronger than all other gods, and indeed that there are no other gods. In Hebrew, this book communicates to the Israelites, but basically that only communicates to the Israelites.

Historical background (once more from Dr. Miller's Old Testament class): at this time, the primary language of almost all the world is Aramaic. So communicating in Aramaic is to communicate to the rest of the world. Chapters 2-7 are a section of the book of Daniel, which are written so as to communicate to the whole world.

So what does the Lord want to say to the entire wor? Well, let's look a moment at the structure of this Aramaic section.

Chapter 2: Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, interpreted by Daniel and Daniel alone sharing God's power over the nations.
Chapter 3: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago travel into a fiery furnace, but God shows his power in delivering them.
Chapters 4-5:  God shows His power over individual rulers by tearing Nebuchadnezzar down to the level of a beast, and then putting the writing on the wall to end Belshazzar's reigns
Chapter 6: God shows His power in delivering His servant Daniel.
Chapter 7: God shows his power over that nations by Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue.

You might notice a few similarities here. Indeed, this structure is very chiastic.

And in a chiasm, the most important part if put in the middle of the structure. So the Lord seems to be stressing that He is more powerful than the most powerful of rulers in the world. All else doesn't stand; the Lord is God and He is sovereign over all.

The Aramaic section is a powerful section of the book and honestly the reason why I decided to do this expositional analysis on the book of Daniel. I look forward to looking at you next week.

Exhaustion!

Sometimes, you're just kinda exhausted. You just can't seem to keep yourself awake as you go about your regular business within your regular day. And when you're done, you just want to stay home and in bed all day.

And I had one of those days and will likely have one tomorrow. Now, don't tell me my mentor at my internship, but I dozed off in the back seat of his car twice today. After three days of getting up at 5:30 AM and then returning at 10 or 10:30 PM, while listening to people pretend they have power to make the decisions that don't actually mean anything to begin with (Southern Baptist Convention) is just a little tiring.

So I am physically and in some ways spiritually exhausted right now. Which leads me to question, how does one best handle this type of exhaustion in a way that serves God well.

First, it seems obvious to say that one must stay focused and in communion and presence of the Lord. One cannot expect to get recharged away from their power source. And in case, you had forgotten -  the Christian's power source is God.

Second, you should feel free to sleep. You are a human who does have certain needs and weaknesses. One of those is that you must have sleep in order to survive and be able to do anything productive.

Third, caffeine is a great thing because sometimes you don't have the opportunity to sleep before going to work on things. Like me, I went straight from the convention to hospital visits and other pastoral things from my internship, and caffeine probably would have greatly helped.

Fourth, did I mention sleep?

Fifth, enjoy good fellowship with others and try not to complain too heavily in their face about how tired you are. It is just a bit awkward.

Sixth, run a children's program. The energy required will not allow you to fall asleep on the job. Of course, you'll probably have difficulty still when it's over.

Finally, you should probably sleep. Because your body demands it.

Why You Shouldn't want to Wield the Power of the Spirit

Yes, I have indeed done this very thing again. I keep telling myself that I should stop, but it is just too appealing. I have titled my blog post in such a way that the casual reader just automatically thinks I'm a heretic. This means the responses of those who are reading this fall into one of three camps.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

1. Oh, what has that dastardly college been teaching that boy? He used to have so much potential and now he's getting destroyed. I need to find out just how messed up he is.
2. Wait, what type of church did he come from before hitting college that he thinks this is ok? I need to read this post to find out just how I can help him see the light. 
3. Goodness, why does he think he's so clever with his titles? I really don't want to read this, but I can't move on without knowing what "clever" word play he's used in his title today. 

Well, to those who fit into the third category (and for intellectual honesty), the alleged wit is not something I can claim as my own, which might mean it's actually worth listening to. 

If asked by anyone whether they want to wield the power of the Holy Spirit in their life automatically affirm that such a desire would be quite noble. Who shouldn't want to wield the power of the Spirit? 

The notion does make a good deal of sense. After all, we all know that the flesh is weak, We all know that the flesh is incapable of serving and pleasing God. We all know that the Spirit is necessary for living the victorious Christian life. I can say nothing against any of these things because they're kinda in the Bible. I feel like I shouldn't try to take on the author of all truth on any position. 

I am more convinced than most that the flesh is unable to do anything but sin, so you once more can know that I am not taking apart any big doctrine here. But here's the thing. Do you notice what words we keep using for this? 

We need to wield the Spirit so we can live our own life in a way pleasing to the Lord. I don't know about you, but I see a couple of problems with this. 

1. First, the emphasis of what we are doing here is very much based on what we are doing, rather than the Spirit. It basically makes it about just supplying a little help to our efforts rather than allowing the Spirit to truly shine. 
2. Second, the Spirit is seen as something that can be manipulated easily for our ends. No goal or direction of the Spirit is provided for whatsoever. 

Mainly the problem with these phrases and the issues with the way Christians view this subject of the Spirit is that they want to wield the power of the Holy Spirit. They see that power of the Spirit as a tool to put in their arsenal against the attacks of the wicked. How disrespectful to the Creator of the universe. 

Hey, I want to please you, but I want to retain control of my own life, so you know can you just give me your power every now and then. I mean, I know you saved me and everything and have done much to ensure that I am convicted of sin in my life, but I still need to try my hardest to supplement the weakness of my own flesh with your indescribable and unlimited power. 

It also inevitably gives too much credence to the power of our flesh itself to think that we simply need a "supplement." We are completely lacking in our ability to please the Lord. The flesh is powerless, not an insufficient power. Furthermore, the flesh battles against itself. 

We are not called to wield the Spirit. We are called to be led by the Spirit. We are called to live in the Spirit. That is our defense against the attacks of the flesh. That is what we see from Galatians 5:16, 

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

Oddest Rebuke in the History of Mankind

I have made it to the end of the book of Job. As most of you know, the book ends with the Lord rebuking Job for four chapters.

As I was reading Job truly to figure out what Job was being rebuked for, I was paying rather close attention to what the Lord said, so that I could determine whether my prior guesses were correct.

But the rebuke doesn't like a typical rebuke. Outside of maybe Job 40:2, the Lord says absolutely nothing of what Job's sins are, and what Job has done that has engendered this rebuke. Instead God spent His time explaining His transcendent power and majesty.

Naturally, this rebukes produces very much of the desired effect (how could God fail in His efforts?). In Job 42:5-6, Job responds,

"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

And there you have it - repentance comes as the result of the Lord's rebuke. Repentance comes because of a further knowledge of who God is. I don't believe it is too much of a stretch to say that ultimately all true repentance will come from a greater knowledge of who God is.

Perhaps if we want to live a life of godliness, we ought to start by gaining a greater knowledge of who God is. And we also ought to continue by gaining a greater knowledge of who God is, and you know what? We ought to end by gaining a greater knowledge of who God is.

Answers to Prayer

I figured we'd take a break away from Job for a little while (or at least one week; cannot confirm what next week's post will be). Perhaps it is far too obvious for my readers to know what book I'm reading in my daily devotions. By now, you've probably realized that I am slowly working my way through the whole Bible, currently midway through the book of Job.

But we are going to talk about and from other ways that the Lord impacts and shares in my life. Do you ever have those moments where everything you hear about seems linked to one similar theme?

About a month ago, I had a similar experience to just that. But let's start this story a bit earlier than there. Let's start it several months ago (I'm sorry, I don't have the date written in any of my journals), when I started praying seriously for boldness and instruction on how to witness.

I started praying for that on a daily basis, yet nothing seemed really to happen for the longest time. Until about a month ago. (But then you had already figured that out because of how this narrative was flowing.)

This of course, could just stop right here, and be considered a lesson in patience in the Lord in relationship to the burdens He lays on our hearts, but we're going somewhere different today if I know what my typing fingers are going to say next.

About a month ago, every lesson I heard in a gazillion different places (daily chapel, Spiritual Formations class, the church that I will attend here at college, and special seminars) were geared specifically at the thought process of evangelism and how to tell those around you about Christ.

And so, just like that, the Lord was answering my prayers about the instruction of witnessing in the first place. This instruction should find practical application more specifically this very night, as I head with a group to Central State University to cultivate relationships and share the Gospel. It is the opportunity that I have been waiting and praying with for a long time.

But that's not the only thing the Lord has been able to do in this here walk of my life. At a time in which I feared my prayer life was getting stagnant, the Lord supplied me with an opportunity to hear from Pastor Rohm through the Honors Program here at Cedarville. I almost didn't decide to go because I didn't want to or think I could get a sub for my job here on campus.

But I tried and was able to get said sub. And wouldn't you know it? Pastor Rohm spoke a little bit about prayer and presented some necessary insight into how my prayer life should continue. Additionally, the event gave me the opportunity to meet with him in a group of 8 to get a prayer journal and to hear him describe his own prayer life, and how his prayer journal has improved it.

It was a valuable experience indeed. But why should you care about my life?

What I am simply trying to convey in this post is that God cares about our relationships with Him. If you want to see yourself serving Him greater, the best thing for you to do is to pray about it.

After all, we don't have for nothing the admonition in Matthew 7:7-12,

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Adulterers!

I have committed the cardinal sin of blog writing by titling my post for today as a shout of accusation to my readers. That's not how to win friends and influence people, apparently, but hey, it grabbed your attention to read what I said so you could like, scoff at me or something.

Our text for today is James 4. My message is simple. We must be of one mind and one focus upon God and not look outside of God for our satisfaction. Let's look at James 4:1-8,

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

According to what we see in these particular verses, any division or argument within the church come from us seeking our own lusts and seeking satisfaction from places absent from God. Instead of that response, we need to show our humility by submitting fully to God and allowing Him to bring us closer to Himself.

(Now of course we hear a lot of these verses taken out of context to prove various parts of agendas that people are trying to scripturalize, but I am not going to be discussing that until this Monday.)

That summary is great, but it seems a bit pie in the sky. Perhaps, we should bring this down to more practical understanding. As such, I reserve the right to (without divorcing any of the verses from their context) focus in on a portion of them for communication purposes.

You are not feeling content with yourself and the way you live your life. You read your Bible and you serve in your church from time to time, yet you don't feel as if the Lord is satisfied with the way you are living your life. Your prayers aren't being answered if you are even praying at all.

Feeling as if your best efforts mean absolutely nothing, you lose all hope and think that maybe you should just give up on God, and just live the typical apathetic Christian life. If what you're doing isn't pleasing to God, you mise well stop wasting your time on it and find happiness somewhere else.

Naturally, you're not going to find anything to make you happy. Whether you remain in your casual service to the Lord, or you become apathetic, you will find the same thing - your life doesn't seem to have much value.

Now the all important question - why? Because your friendship with the world, your friendship with that which the Lord has saved you from, namely your own natural sin nature, is causing you enmity with God. That explains then the root of all your problems.

The Bible in this passage would use the term adulterers to describe this particular allegation. The concept of adultery is a simple one. Without being crass, adultery is when a marriage is tainted by divided loyalty manifested in a physical form.

When we became in Christ, we became the Bride of Christ. We had a loyalty to Him for what He had done for us, what He is doing for us, and what He will do for us in the future. Yet when we hold onto our own will and volitions, when we hold onto our own fleshly sin nature, when we hold onto to our friendship with the world, we are dividing our loyalty away from God, and our actions in the physical world begin to taint the marriage of the church and Christ. (Just for the record, it would be impossible for the marriage to be cancelled, so don't worry there.)

The obvious solution then is to become completely loyal to God, which is incredibly easy to put into practice, right?

Yeah, not really, which is why James 4 explains to us this following step-by-step process in verses 6-8,

"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

The solution that I want to tell to you today is simply this - exercise true humility. By seeking God's will and God's strength in our lives, rather than trying to do OUR best to serve the Lord, we'll be able to come to truly have the proper loyalty to God.

We must get to the point where my shout of accusation in the title does not describe our attitude toward the Lord. We can do this by resting within His strength, by submitting to Him alone, and by seeking Him completely.

I'm Ashamed of my Quality Education

God can use anything and anyone for his purposes! We all know this to be true. Indeed, I wrote in my last "Ethics" post proclaiming that true humility is being comfortable with your own weakness because it is not your ability, but the Lord's that does all the work.

I have grown up my entire life hearing about how God uses the people who are weak specifically to show His strength all the more. The implication created by this was that the Lord can get more glory out of Joe Schmoe, a high school drop out, than with Dr. G.I. Feelbetter with three Ph.Ds and an IQ off the charts.

This implication is just flat out wrong! Yes, it is totally true that since all that is needed to serve the Lord is submission, the Lord will get glory out of a submissive Joe Schmoe. But it is nonsensical to say that a submissive Dr. G.I. Feelbetter would not meet the same end.

You see, the way I understand it, submission is all that is needed to serve the Lord, and a weak education has nothing to do with it.

Now I know some people here are thinking that I'm crazy for making this a blog post. After all, isn't it obvious that education is not a hindrance to service? One would think so, but I see in some of my Christian circles a startling rejection of education.

Though certainly not universal, when I was starting to work deeper to further my education through means such as debate, or even heading here to Cedarville University (it's pretty swell here by the way), there was limited support not for me as an individual, nor for my particular ways to further my education, but for the whole process of education in the first place.

I'm seeing a society emerge in the church where true education is simply unnecessary and dangerous. But I never see the Lord tell us that we need to be ignorant in order to be used by God. I cannot find one verse in the Bible that can even be misinterpreted to mean that the Lord wants us to be stupid. Such a verse does not exist.

Indeed, if we look to one of the greatest men in the early church, we see clear evidence that God can and will use the educated - the great apostle Paul. Paul had, of course, what we would consider today a secular education. Trained as a Pharisee, he understood the ins and outs of all the reasons why some Jews would not accept Christ.

Rather, than being an impediment to his ministry, his education was able to greatly increase it. Along his journeys, he had to deal with several belligerent Jews and answer their arguments accordingly. Thankfully, the Lord had equipped him to do so with his formal training.

Paul was even able to communicate formally to several government officials and actually have them listen to him. Now if government officials were anything like they are today, that is quite an impressive feat! If Paul hadn't been educated, God certainly could have used him still, but not in the same way. Perhaps Paul would have had just as much of an impact, but it wouldn't have been the same impact.

It is important to note that Paul's education was God's equipping tool, but Paul understood that he still needed God to wield it correctly. Paul wrote several of the verses we quote to remind us that God's is whose strength we need. Take a look at some examples:

"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." ~II Corinthians 12:8-10

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." ~Galatians 5:16 

"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." ~Philippians 3:3-8 

As if Paul wasn't enough, we can take a brief glimpse at the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel follows the lives of "Daniel and his fellows" (specifically, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nago) from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to that of King Darius of the Medo-Persians. Through this, there are many stories that show God's strength and protection.

But let's remember one thing - not one of them was likely to happen had Daniel and his fellows been poorly educated. Look at Daniel 1:3-7,

"And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego."

Note from these verses that Daniel and his fellows were placed in their position because of natural beauty, yes. But also because they were "skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science... and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans."

The Lord orchestrated that these four would have these particular positions, so that we can have the message about "purposing in your heart" from Daniel 1, the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3, even the story of the writing of the wall in Daniel 5, and of course, the story of Daniel and the lion's den in chapter 6. Had these men not been educated, the book of Daniel would have looked completely different.

So yes, God has used the uneducated. But no, God does not only use the uneducated. Submission is all that is needed for one to serve the Lord, and if that takes you to getting three Ph.D.s, fantastic. I will be scared to speak with you, but it's still pretty fantastic. If submitting to the Lord causes you to drop out of high school, hey, that's pretty fantastic, too!

Let's not be caught in a delusion either way. Let's not focus so much on education being unnecessary for serving the Lord that we consider it a detriment. If used for the right reason, it can pay great dividends in our service to the Lord.

Sufficient Grace: True Humility in Action

Humility. Immediately the word brings about some image in our mind. We think of someone who thinks that his talents are inferior to those of his peers. We think of the opposite of a guy who is so arrogant that he won't even acknowledge that anyone else is good at all.

Rick Warren (quotation is usually misattributed to C.S. Lewis) has a somewhat different take on humility. He states,

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." 

When I first read this quotation a couple of years ago, I was less than impressed. You see, from where I was coming, that would make humility nothing less than selflessness and then we didn't need another name to describe the same virtue.

But as time past, my perspective changed, and now I find this definition of humility to be the accurate one. You see, while we use the expression, "thinking of yourself" to express someone with a selfish tendency to not care about others, Warren is referring to something different when he uses that expression in his clever quotation.

To learn what, we will ask examine what the opposite of pride really is. Pride we all know to be the evil to which humility fights. Pride and arrogance are the tenets of man's feelings that make them think they just don't need any help from anybody, and that everyone else is inferior and not worthy to be spoken to.

Or that's what it can mean in extreme circumstances. Arrogance can also just come off in a little urge to prove yourself right, never admit to being wrong, and not accepting any reproof that you are given.

At its core, pride is just an overconfidence in one's own self. A time where yes, we are focusing upon our own abilities, and not those of the Lord or anyone else. Whether we experience this overconfidence in a small way or an extreme way, we know for sure that pride has significant consequences. The Bible admonishes us in Proverbs 16:18,

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Pride clearly involves thinking too highly of oneself, and since humility is the virtue that is portrayed as exactly opposite this, we ought to assume that it involves thinking lowly of oneself and his abilities.

This is indeed fair. Humility does involve thinking lowly of one's own abilities, but that's hardly the end of the story. Simply thinking less of yourself will more than likely bring you into a state of insecurity than a state of humility.

Now you are not likely to think there's any real difference between humility and insecurity. To my understanding, humility is comfortable with the amount of talent one doesn't possess, whereas insecurity is not secure or peaceful about his lack of ability and is thus trying to build himself up.

The easiest way for an insecure person to feel built up is simply to bring others down. In my experience with debate, I found the teams that were elite would have good things to say to and about novices. They would see promise in these novices that perhaps the novices hadn't noticed in themselves.

The teams that wanted to be considered elite - that were close to that status, but just couldn't quite get there -  always seemed to be willing to brag about how much they crushed the same novices that the elite teams were just praising. These teams would be willing to hurl insults at how "novicey" these teams were without a hint of compassion in their voices.

You see, insecurity taught them the best way to build themselves up was to bring others down, to condemn them and to treat them in an arrogant way. Thus, insecurity is a precursor to prideful actions. Yet an insecure person definitely thinks less of himself than a typical arrogant person, how could he also be proud?

I guess it's easier to acknowledge the Nebuchadnezzar from Daniel 4, who puts his power above that of God, than to see the one who not being comfortable with his own power, starts to comfort himself by showing those who are weaker than himself, those who have even less power than he does. But they are still in essence looking to their power above God's.

My life since high school began has been one ginormous cycle. First I would be incredibly arrogant and trust in my abilities to work out particular situations. Then when my abilities completely failed me, I would be simply finding myself completely lacking in my abilities and became uncomfortable with how many abilities I lacked. Until I tore other people down enough in my mind to see that I truly wasn't that bad. And on and on it went.

Finally, I realized what my ultimate problem was. When I forced myself into thinking about my flaws and weaknesses, I never found comfort within them, and was still thinking about myself too much. In both situations, I was still proud and hadn't found true humility.

Because you see, Rick Warren is right. True humility isn't just about knowing you're not the best person who walked the earth. True humility isn't just about acknowledging your own weaknesses. True humility is not just about thinking less of yourself.

Indeed, true humility is about knowing who the best person who walked the earth is. True humility is acknowledging that your weaknesses mean nothing in comparison to His strength. True humility is thinking of yourself less and God more.

Living a humble life is about being comfortable with your own weakness because you truly believe the words of 2 Corinthians 12:9,

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Why Did Solomon Choose Wisdom?

There are few choices that stand out more in the Bible than when Solomon asked for wisdom in his life. As God himself mentions in 1 Kings 3:11, Solomon had many options available to him. He could have asked for long life, riches, vengeance on his enemies, or any other number of selfish things. But instead he asked for wisdom to be able to serve God's people more honorably.

Many Christians today wonder whether in these same circumstances, they would be able to do the same. For whom would they make request: themselves or God? 

If we examine Solomon's life before the Lord asks him this question, we'll see a few signs that indicate why he was so ready to ask for wisdom in the first place. These will by no means provide an exhaustive list, but it would be a good start to make sure these principles are true in our own lives. 

First, Solomon was already serving the Lord. He was going to great lengths to worship the Lord in the high places. Although it wasn't the best option, Solomon took advantage of the option available to him in relation to serving the Lord. In I Kings 3:3-5, we read, 

"And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee."

You see, you shouldn't plan to serve God when the time comes. It's not as if a secret button can be pressed that brings you into God's presence and suddenly you want wisdom from the Lord in order to serve Him more effectively..

Rather, when the time comes, you will need to have already been serving the Lord, already have been developing your relationship with Him. Without that, you can't expect to have such a selfless desire as this.

Second, Solomon had humility. Here's a simple thought: if you don't know that you need help, you'll never ask for it. Before he asked for wisdom, Solomon understood that he couldn't handle the tasks before him on his own intellect. Thus, it comes as no surprise when he says in 1 Kings 3:9,

"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?"

Who is able to judge this thy so great a people? Fantastic question, Solomon. In our own lives, the questions would be different, but the point is, it doesn't matter who we are.

No human being on this planet is able to judge this so great a people, or strictly speaking serve the Lord in any capacity on their own power and wisdom. But have no fear, just as Solomon was able to serve the Lord as King because the Lord granted him wisdom, we too can have from God the wisdom necessary to serve Him fully.

What do you think allowed Solomon to make the right choice? Do you think I missed anything? Let the world know in the comments section.

Trials and Persecution 1: The Inevitability of Suffering

There seems to be a trend emerging in our churches. There is a lesson that is being taught that goes like this - all the pleasures of this world can never satisfy you, and that the only way to prosperity and contentment is through recognizing the wonderful plan of Jesus Christ in your lives.

This narrative is completely accurate, but a bit misleading. You share this lesson with anyone, they will immediately think that living for God will allow us to find prosperity and success here on this Earth, that we will never truly have another trouble in the world. 

But that image is completely wrong. Indeed a careful examination of the Scriptures reveals to us quite the opposite. We are promised in 2 Timothy 3:12, 

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

Jesus himself was persecuted, tortured, and then crucified. He definitely did not live a prosperous life by the world's standards. Some might argue that he did all of that, so that we could enjoy life more abundantly. Yes, that is true, but not without persecution. Jesus specifically tells his disciples (that includes us) in John 15:18-21,

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."

We know from history that Jesus' prophecy rings true. Every single one of the disciples endured much persecution. They were banished, stoned, beheaded, and crucified. Ray Comfort in his book, God has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life: The Myth of the Modern Message, wrote,

"Church tradition tells us the fate of several apostles and early evangelists:

Philip: Crucified, Phrygia, A.D. 54

Matthew: Beheaded, Ethiopia, A.D. 60

Barnabus: Burned to death, Cyprus, A.D. 64

Mark: Dragged to death, Alexandria, A.D. 64

James (the Less): Clubbed to death, Jerusalem, A.D. 66

Paul: Beheaded, Rome, A.D. 66

Peter: Crucified, Rome, A.D. 69

Andrew: Crucified, Rome, A.D. 70

Thomas: Speared to death, Calamina, A.D. 70

Luke: Hanged, Athens, A.D. 93"

Some might try to say that it's different these days. That the people of this age are not as evil as they were back then to persecute Christians. But that conflicts with the words of 2 Timothy 3:13,

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

It may invoke a wonderful emotional response to say that our lives here on Earth will be all full of happiness if we accept Christ, but I believe it is more important to make sure our words are accurate than touching.

Yes, we will have the benefit of having Someone powerful in our lives to strengthen us through our trials and persecution, but we will still have such trials and persecutions.

Perhaps we should first understand the inevitability of struggles in our life before we begin to learn of the wonderful plan Jesus has for us. He does have one, but it isn't necessarily one that we might at first consider wonderful. It might not be comfortable, but I think we can all admit that God's presence in our lives (and the true purpose of salvation, eternal life) is much more valuable than the luxuries and comfort in this world.

Continue to Trials and Persecution 2: Just Not Fair