The Best Bargain

Do you love to find a great bargain at the shops?  I know many people who will haggle or bargain even over fixed prices with great enthusiasm.  For me, however, I feel uncomfortable with haggling in shops even when it is the norm.  My bargaining has improved over the years after trips to Cambodia, Israel, and from buying appliances at local stores in Sydney, but I still don't enjoy it.  The time spent going back and forth debating over dollars never feels worth the effort in the end.  Even when I have obtained a better price, I wonder if I could have done better.  Anyone with me?

It occurred to me this morning bargaining may be more common than we recognise.  Even for those who hate haggling, it is in the self-centred nature of man to look for or be open to a better offer.  We make these kinds of bargains with ourselves all the time.  We weigh our options concerning eating, drinking, and exercise.  We reduce our calorie intake or increase exercise one day because we want to have dinner and desert at a restaurant that night.  People reduce consumption of alcohol or tobacco to have more money for other things or for health reasons.  We make sacrifices in one area and reward ourselves with other things.  Much of our lives are lived with constant tension between needs and desires, moderation and excess, indulgence and abstention.  Our motives and issues may be different, but this inner haggling happens.

As with decisions which effect the health of our bodies, we can bring this same approach to moral, biblical, and spiritual issues.  We make a mistake when we try to bargain with God concerning repentance and sin.  This happens so subtly it often escapes our notice.  We attempt to trade abstinence in one area for dabbling or indulgence in another - complete with arbitrary, self-imposed boundaries.  We will repent and put sin away from us if we see how it is negatively affecting our lives, but not just because God said so.  We can go so far as to refuse to obey unless our demands are met.  My patience runs thin quickly when it comes to making what I consider drastic changes to my diet.  In the past if I didn't see tangible, quantifiable results quickly from sacrifices, it wasn't long until I went back to my old ways.  In a spiritual sense we can do the same thing.  We can choose to love a person in obedience to Jesus but when it doesn't seem to work in our favour our unbelief rises up:  "See?  I loved that person and it didn't do anything!  What a waste."

The people of Israel provide a good example in the book of Judges when they found themselves oppressed by their enemies.  They cried out to God and He pointed out their chronic idolatry.  "I have saved you many times in the past but you chose to forsake Me.  Cry out to the gods you have chosen and see if they will save you," He said.  See the response of the people in Judges 10:15-16:  "And the children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray." ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel."  God's people confessed their sin, made their request, but did not make their repentance contingent upon God doing anything for their good.  They put away their idols and served the LORD.  And guess what?  They were still oppressed.  They remained in a miserable season and God's heart went out to them.  Eventually God would deliver His people according to His mercy, but He would lovingly refine them as long as it took.

How good it is when God's people unite with His will and the revelation of His righteousness.  To bargain with God is an affront to His holiness and exposes our selfish unbelief.  Let us be numbered among those who repent and serve the LORD without haggling, not making our obedience contingent on benefits we want God to guarantee us.  Like the good example provided in Judges, let us keep seeking God, keep repenting, and keep serving Him.  Satan and self provide offers which appeal to our flesh, but all they do is deliver us into bondage and death.  God's offer is a fixed price which He has already paid in full through the Gospel, and the cost for us is repentance, trust, and obedience.  God exchanges our sin for righteousness, distance for intimacy, bondage for freedom, and death for eternal life.  We are called to do our part, and He will deliver in due time.

God Our King

The absolute sovereignty of a king is a foreign concept to many today.  Having grown up and lived in democratic countries, being a citizen affords me particular rights.  One of those rights (and privileges) is to participate in elections through voting.  Every person who votes has the same power to elect representatives and pass legislation.  Though my contribution is one vote among many, our system of government allows the voice of the people to be heard.

I have no idea how different life would be if I lived in a nation ruled by a king.  I am not talking about celebrity royals or figureheads, but I imagine life would be very different if I was the legal subject of a monarch whose word was law, whose retribution upon his enemies was swift and severe, and who wielded the power of life and death over his people.  Kings will not suffer any to oppose them.  Forget rubber bullets, tear gas, or being kept overnight in jail:  to protest or even question a king would mean certain death.  King Solomon knew what he was saying by experience when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 8:2-4:  "I say, "Keep the king's commandment for the sake of your oath to God. ³ Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. ⁴ Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say to him, "What are you doing?"  People were urged to be careful in the presence of the king, lest they offend him.  A king is obligated to do whatever pleases him, and who can speak against or even question him?  Life and death is in the power of a king's tongue.  As a king, absolute power is his right.

If we should fear and obey kings whom God has placed in authority, how much more should we fear and reverence the King of kings?  Paul said something similar to Solomon in Romans 9:20-24:  "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" ²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour? ²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"  Though it is foolish to charge God with wrong and question his righteous judgments, people still do.  God is answerable to no man, for He is our Creator and King.  No one has a legal right to oppose Him.  Even as a potter can make whatever he wants with clay, God has the divine right to do exactly as He pleases with His things.  And since we born-again Christians are bought with the blood of Jesus Christ, we are doubly His.  He has glorious plans we cannot conceive of, and instead of questioning Him in doubt we are to trust and obey.

The grace of God is more compelling than any "rights" we claim for ourselves.  Earthly kings are not longsuffering, but God is.  He suffers long with fools and offers them forgiveness and everlasting life if they will repent of their sin and trust in Jesus.  Not one of us has the right to be heard by God, but God has freely given us the right to become His beloved children through the Gospel.  We are given privileged access to God by the blood of Christ, and we are urged to act on this in Hebrews 4:16:  "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  God's throne is founded on righteousness, grace, justice and love.  He is not soft, caving into the demands of anyone.  Yet unlike many in authority, God actually listens to each of his loyal subjects.  We have a voice heard in heaven which can accomplish more than a million votes in an election.  We don't deserve this privilege, but God delights to grant this to all who delight in Him.  Let us thank God and show our appreciation by boldly approaching Him in prayer, for He is our worthy King.

The Pencil Message

It is wonderful to realise God knows what we need and is able and willing to meet our needs.  He has promised to provide for us, and sometimes we don't recognise what our needs are.  We might think God's provision of our needs depends upon us remembering to ask Him.  While it is true we do not have because we have not asked, God has freely provided our needs before we were born without us acknowledging Him at all!  He does more for us than we could ever ask or think.

I have been reading lately through the life of Gideon in the book of Judges.  Gideon was a bit incredulous God would choose him to be a deliverer of God's people from Midianite oppressors.  When the Angel of the LORD ascended to heaven, it confirmed God's call upon Gideon and strengthened his faith to take additional steps of obedience.  On two occasions Gideon asked God to confirm he was indeed the one to lead Israel into battle with a fleece, and God did.  Trusting in God, Gideon immediately took action to muster the men of Israel for battle.  After God instructed him to cull the fighting force to a meagre 300 men, God told Gideon to sneak down into the Midianite camp.  As he and his servant crept near to a tent, they heard men discussing a dream about a loaf of barley bread which tumbled down a hill and knocked a tent over.

Judges 7:14-15 says, "Then his companion answered and said, "This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp." ¹⁵ And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."  Gideon had not asked God for a sign, but God gave obedient Gideon a sign which prompted him to worship God.  Hearing the dream and interpretation from the tent of an enemy quickened Gideon to further trust God to arise and fight.  That very night God wrought a great deliverance in Israel, and helped Gideon every step of the way.  When God's people trust and obey Him, God will do marvellous things.

It is good to be reminded of God's calling upon our lives, especially when things are difficult.  God has used many people and situations to bring encouragement my way when I didn't realise I was discouraged.  Once God even used a simple pencil to encourage me!  Growing up in San Diego, I was introduced to golf in my later teen years by friends.  I became a junior member of Singing Hills Country Club and played super cheap golf almost weekly on the executive Pine Glen course.  It seemed to fall to me to organise tee times, and I called the Pro Shop all the time.  It has been about 20 years since I played on Pine Glen and moved to Australia about 7 years ago.  A while back I began to play golf more regularly.  I typically play early in the mornings and walk alone.  This is a great time for me to enjoy exercise, think about things, and pray.  I suppose I was feeling a bit low, and it was more than just my poor golfing!  As I walked up the 9th fairway and conversing with God, I saw a pencil laying on the turf.  Would you believe it was a pencil from my old home golf course (now called "Sycuan Golf Resort") in San Diego?

When I picked up the pencil on an Australian golf course in Windsor with wide eyes - engraved with the "619" area code and the familiar number - I had the overwhelming sense  God knew where I was, He had not forgotten me, I was not alone, and He would supply my needs.  To date it is the only pencil I have ever seen on a golf course in Australia.  The odds of me finding a pencil in Australia from a particular golf course in the United States are staggeringly long.  With God, odds are nothing.  Now the pencil serves as a little reminder on my office bookshelf, a wooden "Ebeneezer" of sorts, a testimony of our faithful God who calls, sends, provides for, and guides His people.  When I saw the writing on the pencil I worshipped God because He used it to speak comfort and peace to my heart.  Let us worship the LORD for His goodness, and for the love and grace He freely offers to all.

Lackey or Leader?

Yesterday I read a familiar text from the book of Judges 5, the narrative of when Jael dispatched general Sisera by hammering a tent peg through his head.  The children of Israel had been oppressed by the Canaanites for 20 years, but God raised up the prophetess Deborah and Barak to defeat their powerful enemies.  Sisera led 900 chariots of iron into battle against Israel, but God aided His people to an improbable victory and routed the Canaanites.  Sisera managed to escape the field of battle and Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite invited him into her tent.  The fleeing general thought he found a safe haven, for the relations between his king Jabin and the house of Heber the Kenite were good.

After she provided milk and a warm blanket Judges 4:20 says, "And he said to her, "Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, 'Is there any man here?' you shall say, 'No.'"  There is no explanation provided for what Jael did next.  She did not appear to be intimidated or afraid of Sisera, seeing she freely invited him into the tent.  Perhaps she had remained loyal to the children of Israel because Heber was a descendant of Jethro, the father-in-law to Moses.  Maybe she feared the God of Israel and decided all who waged war against His people were her enemies as well.  Though she had been tasked by Sisera to guard the door and lie about his whereabouts to throw his pursuers off the trail, Judges 4:21 simply says:  "Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died."  Jael then went out to Barak, told him she knew where Sisera was, and showed him the dead corpse.

In seeking to apply this passage to myself, I don't think an appropriate application is "Walk softly and carry a hammer and sharp tent peg."  What I do find compelling is how decisive Jael's actions were.  She was not overwhelmed or intimidated by the enemy general and was determined to bring his deceit upon his own head - quite literally.  She did not feel obligated to obey his request, and always knew in her heart where her loyalties lay.  There is no evidence of any internal conflict, no wavering at all in her plan of action.  She did not seem to worry of retribution from King Jabin or his army, though she lived in a tent without walls, gates, bars, or an army.  This woman was bold, courageous, and without fear.  She took the right course of action without hesitation.  In the Song of Deborah her bravery was lauded, recalling the depth of her commitment.  Judges 5:26 reads, "She stretched her hand to the tent peg, her right hand to the workmen's hammer; she pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, she split and struck through his temple."

The enemy Sisera wanted Jael to be his lackey, but she refused this role.  God delivered his enemy into the hands of a woman as prophesied in the previous chapter by Deborah.  Many who oppose God today are glad to have lackeys in the church, Christians who agree with their worldly perspective and try to influence others to go astray.  The point of application brought home to me from this narrative is I must be willing to take the lead as Jael did, to decisively take action based upon my loyalty to God and His Word.  Many are swayed by the fear of man, and may God's faithful followers not be numbered among them.  We are not called to violent action to achieve any aim, but to follow the example set by Christ to love and serve one another sacrificially.  Jesus was willing to be pierced so I and others could be saved and live forever.  We must take the lead in following Christ's example.  It is not Jael's deception I admire but her decisiveness, and may we be bold in our witness for God even if we are the ones who end up being skewered.