Take Another Lap

When I assisted the coach on my eldest son's soccer team, we had a fun-loving bunch of kids with heaps of energy.  Often they were so hyped up during training they were incapable of focusing on simple drills.  During coach orientation we were told it was potentially "abusive" to single out a single player for discipline, so if one player was made to run a lap around the ground for messing around the entire team was also required to run.  The team did a lot of extra running that year, but I'm not sure they learned the discipline running was intended to teach.  Because their energy was often misdirected they didn't play up to their potential.

I have heard Christians (jokingly and seriously) say they have been told to "take another lap" by God because they have not yet learned a necessary lesson.  Personally I have never used the analogy, and I find the implications of this perspective concerning.  It runs the risk of placing the emphasis on our measuring up to God's standard by our own efforts rather than extolling the grace of God.  I have seen many people facing difficult circumstances racking their brains to discover some unknown "lesson" they need to learn so God will change their situation.  Again, this sounds a lot like man making himself central rather than God.  This view places the focus on me learning the lesson rather than the grace of God to provide a lesson at all.

During our earthly pilgrimage God will ensure we learn many lessons, yet we do not learn them all well.  When we do learn a lesson, however, we only could do so because God instructed and helped us every step of the way.  Consider for a moment why God fed the children of Israel manna for 40 years in the wilderness as it is written in Deuteronomy 8:3:  "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD."  I ask you:  did all the children of Israel who grew up in the wilderness learn the lesson man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?  Hardly.  These are the same people Joshua upbraided before his death for carrying the idols worshipped by their fathers into the Promised Land.  People who have learned lessons can still repeat their mistakes, but glory to God He is faithful and will still fulfil His Word by His grace.

From beginning to end, it isn't about you or me:  we exist only by the grace of God who loves us, teaches, guides, and helps us.  Life is all about the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, Jesus Christ the Son of God who gives eternal life to all who repent and trust in Him.  As we follow Him we will thankfully learn many lessons along the way because He is a good teacher - not because we are model students.  We ought to put forth effort to seek after Jesus and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly.  During our walk with Jesus our disobedience demands discipline from a loving Father.  People may even be disqualified from service for a season due to rebellion or pride.  But it is not about our stellar performance should we be restored - it never was.  God uses unworthy sinners to do excellent wonders in His strength, and this should not embolden us to sin.  Recognising the grace of God towards us keeps us from even the appearance of sin because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

It is not about you "learning the lesson."  God has far greater than lessons for us as we follow Christ in obedience, for we are graced with His presence.  Will there be things God teaches us along the way?  Certainly!  But they are all given and received by His grace - not because you ran an extra lap.

Overcoming Faith

Jesus Christ was a man who routinely did the impossible.  He healed people lame and blind from birth, cleansed lepers, and raised the dead.  Once he cursed a leafy fig tree and caused it to wither up from the roots completely in a night.  The disciples were amazed and Peter pointed out the sight to Jesus the next day.  Mark 11:22-23 reads, "So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. ²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."

Causing a healthy tree to wither completely from the roots overnight or casting a mountain into the sea by merely speaking are both in the realm of the miraculous.  In one sense no miracle is greater than another, for every miracle transcends human ability and knowledge.  Jesus taught His disciples faith in God is of primary importance in God doing the impossible.  Everything Jesus did was significant and accomplished His purposes.  Whilst man would be content to harness the miraculous power of God for a party trick to impress others, Christ's purpose in causing the tree to whither was an object lesson to illustrate the importance of faith.  It is not our goal in following Jesus to whither trees or throw mountains around, but to recognise our need for faith in our praying.  It is God who does the impossible!

See how Jesus continued in Mark 11:24-26, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. ²⁵ "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."  Unbelief that grows in our hearts can be withered by God and unforgiveness which resembled an immovable mountain in our minds God can remove when we trust and ask Him.  We are called to believe God and forgive others, regardless what they have done.  Jesus said if we have "anything against anyone" we are to forgive them. Have you found this impossible?  Forgiving the sins of others is just as impossible as forgiving ourselves of sin.  Through the shed blood of Jesus and faith in Him God forgives us.  Praise God nothing is hard for Him!

Alan Redpath wrote a fitting conclusion concerning the impossible:  "My friend, I do not know your problems, but I know my Lord, with whom nothing is impossible.  Therefore, if some of you face mountains of impossibility, and you say to yourself wistfully that life can never be any different for you, I believe that the Lord has something to say to you through His Word that can mark the end of your defeat by the impossible, and the beginning of a life of victory which overcomes the world, even our faith in God." (Redpath, Alan. “Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua.” Redpath Family, 2013, pp. 49.)

Our Manner of Serivce

Today I had a new thought as I read 1 Chronicles 18 which provides insight into man's relationship with God.  Having a "relationship" with someone in no way ensures it is a healthy one.  There are strained relationships, dysfunctional ones, business relationships or relationships for convenience, and distant or failed relationships.  Based upon all the kinds of interpersonal relationships humans are capable of having a healthy, close relationship is exceptionally rare.  All people have a relationship with God as those created by Him, but it does not ensure our hearts are inclined or right before Him.

After God established David as king, He gave him victory over his enemies.  1 Chronicles 18:13 says, "He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the LORD preserved David wherever he went."  The Edomites were defeated by David's army and were subjugated to Israel.  The people of Edom became David's servants, and their manner of servitude was of a different sort from the Jews who dwelt in Jerusalem.  Through battle David had become ruler of Edom, but there was no love or loyalty towards David, a foreign king.  David conquered them but they remained Edomites.  They would happily shrug off an obligation to serve David if a better deal came along, and therefore David strategically placed garrisons in Edom - military installations which neutralised the threat of rebellion.

I wonder:  how many relationships of God's "servants" resemble the one between David and the Edomites?  Perhaps they were obliged to bring tribute or gifts to their new king as the defeated Syrians did in 1 Chronicles 18:6, "Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David's servants, and brought tribute. So the LORD preserved David wherever he went."  Having been conquered by the love of Jesus Christ, do we serve Him out of love or obligation?  Do we bring offerings to our LORD because we are required to demonstrate our allegiance or because we desire His presence?  The Syrians and Edomites may have been glad to have David as their king should they be attacked, but the garrisons were likely intrusive and a source of bitterness.  The garrisons were reminders they were an occupied people, and I believe professing believers can have this sort of animosity brewing against God.

Those who have tasted and seen God is good do well to embrace their new identity in Christ, choosing to reject their old loyalties and give their allegiance, love, and respect to their new King!  May our sacrifice and service be out of love and thankfulness for who God is and how He has delivered us from sin and death.  The flesh is unwilling and unable to convert, but the Gospel makes new creations through faith in Jesus.  The flesh can be subjugated for a season, yet only those who are born again can be genuinely subject to God.  Once we are born again by faith in Christ can we have a right relationship with God, a closeness well represented by a father and his beloved child.

Revelations Belong to Us

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Deuteronomy 29:29

This verse follows a long and extensive list of commands in the Law of God given through Moses.  There were many promises of blessings for the obedient and even more curses for the disobedient.  Though Christians are not under the condemnation of the Law's covenant because a new covenant has been established through Jesus and the Gospel, this truth and principle of this verse is incredibly relevant today.

The first thing this verse asserts is there are secret things only God knows, and they all belong to Him.  They are His to conceal or reveal as He sees fit.  No amount of searching on our part can unlock them.  God has freely chosen to reveal many mysteries to us not previously known, but other things He has not revealed nor will He.  The secrets we do not know, however, should not hinder us from heeding and observing the truth God has revealed.  Things God has plainly written in His Word are for us and our children forever that we may do all God has commanded us.

God delights to reveal Himself to us, and may we each have open eyes and ears to behold wondrous things from the Bible concerning God and His ways.  But never let what has not been revealed weaken your grasp or resolve concerning what God has already revealed.  From the beginning man has shown great interest in new things, but when it comes to scripture the new is confirmed and supported by what God has already said.  God revealed the Law for a clearly stated purpose:  so His people might do all the words of the Law.  In a similar way Jesus has demonstrated His love for us while we were yet sinners so we might respond accordingly.  Based upon Christ's divine revelation of sacrificial love during His life culminating on Calvary, we too are to love others.

We might have a thirst for hidden knowledge, but God's will is for us to live according to the knowledge we already possess, to walk according to His will as already revealed in His Word.  If you want to know God, the best way to do so is through the testimony of scripture.  God wants much more than to fill our heads with knowledge but so we would walk in the fear of the LORD and obedience to Him.