Priority Evaluation from the Book of Jonah

I talk a lot about priorities it seems. Usually I focus on how we spend our time, specifically at times when I am rushing to write this blog post because I haven't prioritized it. Today, I am kinda rushing, but we are not going to write about how we use our time in relationship to priorities.

In the book of Jonah, God goes through quite a lot to show an object lesson of someone who does not have proper priorities. And then he ends with a question in Jonah 4:12-13,

"Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

There isn't any rest of the book, Jonah never gives an answer. We see instead that we ourselves are supposed to provide an answer. So how would we as people evaluate our priorities to see if they line up with God? Well, perhaps, a good way of doing that is to see the things that Jonah did that highlight that his priorities were in the wrong place. There are three of them.

1. Disobedience.

When Jonah first hears that he is to go to Nineveh because saving Nineveh is the Lord's priority, he runs precisely the other way. He showed that his interests were more important than God's and that he cannot move on.

2. Prejudice placed above compassion

He decides that he is not going to have any chance that the people of Nineveh might not actually get destroyed.  He goes so far as to in chapter 4 complain that the Lord is showing mercy to the people of Nineveh and explains that this is why he didn't come in the first place! He knew the grace of God (never mind that he knows it because he has received it) and he didn't want his enemies to receive that grace.

3. Convenience placed above the spiritual need of others.

And then of course, he was more thankful for the gourd than anything. He twice in chapter 4 explains that he is ready to die. One when the people of Nineveh live, and the second when the gourd (his personal heat shield) dies. I feel like you see the issue here, don't you?

So maybe at the heart of all three of these issues is a heart for the conditions of others, whether we like them or not, and seeing people as souls that the Lord wants to save.

Why the Mighty Have Fallen: A Sequel

Last September, I was reading through the book of Job and wrote a couple of blog posts based off the lessons that my reading of the book brought me through. One of them expressed a little on how the mighty man named Job, who was "a perfect and upright man, one who feareth God and escheweth evil," fell from grace to the point of accusing God of prying into his life.

While I decently well articulated some of the ways in which Job fell from grace as it were, I spent no time explaining specifically why Job struggled with this suffering. Job was a pure man, why when suffering came, did he suddenly fall into disarray? 

The opening dialogue between Satan and God probably provides us our answer. In this dialogue, we hear God proclaim the purity of Job. To respond, Satan doesn't deny Job's character - that apparently is undeniable. Instead, he asks God a simple question, 

"Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."

Apparently, Satan is convinced that Job serves the Lord for the material gain and blessings that the Lord places upon him, rather than for the relationship itself. In other words, Satan is convinced that Job is more interested in serving Gd as a matter of a sort of economic contract - Job serves God, God serves Job - than out of a pure and true relationship or love for God.

Satan is convinced that Job loves God because Job loves Job, because Job receives a benefit.

So how would you test Satan's theory? That would be the entire book of Job, where Satan is given the opportunity to take away the "hedge" that the Lord had made around him. That indeed is what we see Satan suggesting in the passage quoted above.

So why did Job fall? It would appear obvious from the very first chapter that the book is testing Job's motivations. If Job fails that test (and he eventually does), that's probably an indication that his motivations were not where they should have been.

Which then leads to the all-important question - why do you love God? Because of your own gain, or because of God? Do you have a relationship or do you have an economic contract? Why do you serve the Lord today?

Desires, Blessings, and Punishments

As I listened to my Pastor preach last night over Numbers 11 (yes, our mid-week service is on Thursday), I was reminded of a consistent theme in the Bible.

In this chapter, the Israelites complain a great deal about many things. Eventually, the Israelites begin to feel dissatisfied with the manna that God has provided for the last two years in the wilderness. It has always supplied their needs, but now they simply want the taste of meat.

It is here that I remembered the consistent theme of the Bible, as the Lord responds to the complaints of the Israelites by bowing to their wishes. Indeed, the Israelites are punished by getting exactly what they wanted. But as Numbers 11:18-20 indicates, when they get it, they no longer want it.

"And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?"

The theme I keep teasing without actually mentioning is this - the Lord has this tendency to punish the people of the world (especially the Israelites) by giving them exactly what they desired.

We see that at play here, but we also see it when the Israelites reject the Lord's kingship over them. They desire to have a king as all the other nations, so the Lord gives them a king as corrupt as the kings of all the other nations.

Perhaps most strikingly, in Romans 1, we see this same principle as it applies to those who have rejected the evidence of the Lord's existence entirely. As verse 28 clearly indicates,

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."

The Lord punishes them by simply allowing them to continue along the paths they set for themselves, along the pathway of sin.

But if this is such a consistent thing to see within the Bible, there is one shocking statement that must be true. If man's desires can be a punishment, then man's desires are ultimately harmful to himself.

How is it that man cannot know what is actually good for him? How is it that we consistently have our hearts in the wrong place so that we desire the wrong things? How is it that our desires don't line up with what the Lord wishes in our life?

It reminds me of Ecclesiastes 6:10-12,

"That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he. Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?"

And with that simple thought I leave you with another simple question - how are your desires? If the Lord granted them, would that be a blessing or a punishment?

Actions Speak Louder than Words? Maybe Not as Much as You Think

Actions speak louder than words. This cliched statement is one that has almost universal appeal. This is great because it is generally correct. How you act does say more about you as a person (and your subsequent beliefs) than what you profess to believe.

But an important part of our actions are the words that we use in communicating to other people. Yes, I know that this semantical argument is a bit weird and maybe a tad confuzzling (love how spell check accepts that as a word). But there is a hint distinction between the words we speak to explain our viewpoints and the words that we use in every moment of our life that ultimately reflect our heart and attitude.

I won't belabor the point further since that is not the focus of this post at all. Nonetheless, I will point out that what I am writing now are words that express my opinions and fall into the "words" part of our magnificent cliche. If I complain about the quality of food here at Cedarville (totally guilty), those are words that more accurately fit into the "actions" part.

Without further ado, I will make the case that as far as our actions are concerned, the relevant words we use are a slightly better indicator of where our heart is. I will start by letting Jesus make my case for me from the context of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Listen to what he says in Matthew 12:33-37, 

"Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

 Here's the thought I received as I read these words. The "actions" we make are far more deliberate and planned. It's "easy" to plan to spend time with the Lord, it's "easy" to plan time to serve others, it's "easy" to plan time to do actions that persuade you that you are ultimately pleasing the Lord.

Yet "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." The words you use to describe what you are doing usually are not quite as planned as what you are doing are. In the end, your words are more spontaneous, and thus more closely align with your heart.

And that is part of the discipline of a Christian life - to see how our heart is in relationship to the Lord, so that we can pray and work on bringing ourselves closer to the Lord.

To this end, actions speak louder than words that profess belief. But within the realm of our actions, the words we choose to describe speak volumes more than what we actually do.

Inward Oppression: Compassion over Usury

Nehemiah. Yes, I know what you're (hopefully not but) likely thinking. How many times is he going to draw devotional posts from the book of Nehemiah? I thought that maybe since we hadn't heard from it in a while, we would be safe from hearing about it again.

In answer to your (potential) question, as long as the Lord continues to speak to my heart through it, I will continue to share some thoughts about it.

By now, you are all familiar with the chain of events in the book of Nehemiah. The wall of Jerusalem is torn down, and the people are in great affliction. Nehemiah mourns. Nehemiah takes his emotional burden to the Lord in hopes that the Lord will provide him an opportunity to rebuild the wall. 4-5 months later, Nehemiah still visibly saddened by the trial is given permission by the king to go to Jerusalem and work to rebuild the wall.

Nehemiah heads to Jerusalem; Sanballat and his team of evil villains mock the wall, knowing that it will not come to anything. Sanballat and his team start to become fearful as the wall's rebuilding is progressing remarkably better than they had presumed. Sanballat and his team unsuccessfully try to cease the work on the wall.

Encouraged perhaps by Nehemiah's success in defending from the outward threats, the people come to Nehemiah regarding the persecution they are receiving from within.

And the story progresses, but I will be ending my detailed, yet brief summary of the book here, as this internal oppression is what I would like to talk about today.

So, prior to the events of Nehemiah, the people have undergone some trials and tribulations. During a time of famine and want, the people have been forced to take desperate measures to be able to so much as eat. Nehemiah 5:1-5 explains,

"And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards."

This of course is a distressing situation. Yes it would likely have continued had the wall never been torn down because there seemed to be no compassion on the parts of the nobles and rulers of the land.

On the contrary, the nobles and rulers were a large part of the reason the people found themselves in this particular situation. They had begun to work to charge interest upon the people to the point where they had to sell their children in order to pay their debts, taxes, or just to eat.

It's the typical greedy "Capitalist" who forgets that the people with which he is doing business are actually, you know, people. Instead, the nobles and rulers have begun to see them as means to a particular end. Their needs aren't important; what I need to do is to make sure that I use them to serve my agenda.

Thus, when the problem is brought before Nehemiah, he is touched, he is angry, he shakes his lap because apparently that's a thing (literally refers to the shaking of his garments), and he rebukes the nobles and rulers in his typical bold way. We see simply in Nehemiah 5:8-11,

"And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them."

Nehemiah has rightly critiqued these men according to the works that they have done. But do we ever do the same thing. Sure, we're probably not going to force anyone to sell their children into slavery due to our business practices. But let's just take this to be a bit more relatable.

You're running for some sort of elected position in your school. Suddenly, you start to talk to people more openly than you were before, because each person who likes you is a vote for you in the election. There are obviously other examples, but time does not permit me to discuss them right now (read: I didn't care to think of any additional ones).

So we shouldn't follow in the footsteps of the nobles and rulers. People should be people, and we should care about their needs and work to supply them. What does that look like?

I think Nehemiah shows us quite well. Nehemiah was governor of the Jews at this point in time. Lawfully, he had the authority and liberty to tax the people to take from them some food, so as to furnish his own table. Yet throughout the entirety of his time as governor, he exercised grace on the people, forgoing this particular opportunity.

Even still, Nehemiah went out of his way to consistently host a 150 people at his dinner table daily. He saw the needs of the people and went out of his way to both passively and actively seek those needs.

That's what we should do too. Let's not view people we interact with as objects to further our own agenda. Let us instead look to heed the words of Philippians 2:3,

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."

Sacrifice vs "Sacrifice"

In the book of Malachi, the spiritual condition of post-exilic Israel is once more being discussed. By this time, the Temple has been rebuilt and sacrifices are continuing. However, all is not well with the worship and sacrifices that the Lord is receiving by the hands of the Israelites.

The Israelites are trying to find ways to get away with going through the motions of sacrificing without actually "sacrificing" anything. Providing lambs that are of no use to them whatsoever, they are using the Lord's Temple as a garbage bin.

If they were to pass this off to any man, he would not accept it. If they were to give it to their governor, he would not accept it. So instead they pass it off to God. 

But the Lord is not pleased with this type of "sacrifice." As he says in Malachi 1:6-8, as the great King of Israel and the Lord of all the earth, he deserves more than the governors of the land, not less. 

"A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts."

If you were to take the devotion that you present to the Lord, and present it instead to say, your father (it is Father's Day this Sunday after all), would he be pleased with your actions? Would he acknowledge that you had done well, or would he know you were just using him as a dumping post?

Better yet, whom do your actions show you respect more: your earthy authorities or your God?  Whom do you spend more time pleasing: your earthly authorities or God? For whom do you sacrifice your interests: your earthly authorities or God?

If your answer is your earthly authorities, remember this, the solution is not to respect your earthly authorities less, it is to respect God more. He is a Father, where is His honour?

Reexamining the Water Hose: Why Obedience May Not Please the Lord

In Christian churches today, we often hear an emphasis that our actions need to be pleasing to the Lord. We are told that we need to obey the Lord in all that He says, no matter the consequences, and the Lord will be satisfied with our works.

Only that's not entirely accurate. You see, obeying the Lord is only one half of pleasing the Lord. As you can see in a study of the book of Haggai, obedience at great risk means nothing if we don't also have the proper heart.

Remember the analogy I mentioned in Doctrines of the Christian Faith 3: Nature of Man,

"Imagine a water hose. When you turn on the water, water flows through that water hose. If you put clean water through a dirty water hose, the water is not going to come out clean. Rather all the impurities and filth of the hose are going to pass into the water.

Similarly, in our everyday life, the good works we do are contaminated because they have to pass through us, our dirty water hose."

Our hearts are the water hoses through which all our actions must pass through. The nature of our heart is adequate to change our actions from good to bad and from pleasing the Lord to displeasing the Lord.

Thus, we must make sure our hearts are focused upon the Lord. As aforementioned, in Haggai, the children of Israel err in this particular way.

Here's the background: the children of Israel have been in captivity for seventy years, but the Lord has recently granted them the grace to go repair His temple.

But the king of Persia has been misled regarding their intentions in this rask. Due to this, he forbids them from completing their work.

At this time, instead of continuing to obey the commandment of the Lord, the Israelites obey the earthly king.

Now let's not jump to judge them here. After all, this was their easiest option. Being in the king's good graces can always come in handy, and they don't have to wonder when the axe will fall on their heads. At least not from that king anyway.

The Israelites turn their attention from the Lord and from his house, and direct it to their own homes, neglecting the house of God.

That's where the book of Haggai begins. Because of the neglect of the temple, the Lord has withheld his blessings from the Israelites. Indeed, Haggai 1 explains,

"In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,... Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house."

The Lord has been gracious again to send Haggai to rebuke the people and bring them back to obedience. Make no mistake -  obeying THE King meant directly disobeying the Persian king. This could have brought any number of punishments onto the Jewish people. The Lord was requiring of them quite a big risk.

Yet when the Israelites resume their work on the temple, the Lord was not pleased with their actions and with their sacrifice.

Yes, they are obeying the Lord, but throughout this time of outward obedience, the Israelites never turned back their hearts to the Lord.  As Haggai 2:11-14 indicates,

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean."

The Lord uses this analogy of Levitical law to indicate that the heart's unclean nature makes the work unclean. Because they turned not to the Lord, the Lord's blessings are still being withheld, and their works are not pleasing to the Lord.

In our Christian walks then, we must be careful not to just attack the visible effects of a sinful heart. Showing outward obedience may make us look good to other Christians, but it ultimately may not please the Lord.

At any rate, it alone is insufficient. The Lord doesn't want begrudging servants to His calling, He wants willing servants, with a desire to serve Him with their efforts. It's not enough that their efforts may align for that particular time. The water hose affects the water, my friend.