Cologne and Praise

I was reading through a news article concerning a Los Angeles Charger player Austin Ekeler who had a standout week.  The advice given Ekeler after a quality performance echoed the wisdom found in Proverbs and other places of scripture.  Here's an excerpt from the article:

Running back Austin Ekeler has understandably garnered national media attention after recording 95 receiving yards, 58 rushing yards, and three touchdowns last Sunday against the Colts. However, Ekeler isn’t concerned with the increase in attention -- he wants to remain focused on his game. “I was talking with ‘Fredo (running backs coach Alfredo Roberts) and he was telling me, ‘You have that cologne on for a little bit, but it's going to fade. Don’t drink it. You can wear it, that’s fine, but it’s poison. It might kill you.’ I’m just keeping my [blinders] on and focusing on my game with the Chargers."

It is good to know the proper use of cologne:  it may smell nice when applied to the body in moderation, but it is poisonous to drink.  When we are praised and recognised for something positive we have said or done it can be encouraging.  At the same time we should not allow it to go to our heads because it will lift us up with pride.  Fame and notoriety have pitfalls we do good to avoid, and we do this when praise is offered us by men and we immediately pass it on as an offering of praise with thanksgiving to God.  If we say or do anything good it is His doing, for in our flesh dwells no good thing.  We are born again by His grace and our fruitfulness comes from Him alone.

 The smell of cologne fades, and it is easy to become addicted to the attention and praise of other people.  We naturally want to impress, do well, to make our mark and be remembered.  But this desire to be acknowledged and recognised by men comes from our selfish flesh which insatiably seeks attention and approval.  Knowing we are accepted and approved of God by grace keeps us from falling into the trap of preoccupation with self:  "What do others think of me?  Have they forgotten about me?  Shouldn't I be receiving attention?  Don't I matter?  What about me?"  Comparing ourselves with others is not wise.

After being born again through the Holy Spirit we can shake free the fetters of self and lust for recognition and begin to praise God with our whole hearts.  The praise of men should not be like cologne we wear in moderation to top up our self-esteem, but should be treated like the bottle of precious perfume Mary broke on Jesus and poured all upon Him--saving nothing for herself.  Let all praise, honour, and glory be given God who is good, loves us, has saved us, and rejoices over us.  Receiving praise of men for self poisons us with pride, but God is worthy of all praise.  Pride kills, but praise exalts God and refreshes our souls.

Prevailing With God

I find Jacob's wrestling bout with the Angel of the LORD compelling.  The background of the life-changing encounter was Jacob was terrified upon hearing his brother Esau approached to meet him with 400 men.  Jacob separated his family into two groups and sent droves of animals by the hands of his servants before him, hoping to placate a potentially violent and aggressive enemy.  After night fell Jacob was alone, and the next we read he was grappling with an unknown Man who possessed divine authority and identity.

Genesis 32:24-28 says, "Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. ²⁵ Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. ²⁶ And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" ²⁷ So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." ²⁸ And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Let us not for a moment think this match was even or that Jacob forced the Man with whom he wrestled to submit.  Jacob's opponent merely touched the socket of Jacob's hip and put it out of joint, and this was painful and crippling.  All Jacob could do was hold on and beg for a blessing--and it was not possible for Jacob to even hold his grip against the Angel of the LORD (a rare of appearance of God in human form before Jesus Christ) unless He wanted to be held.  And this is a beautiful thing:  God wants to be known and held close by us.  This wrestling match was a culmination of Jacob's life which always was a struggle to be first, to acquire and win at any cost.  But he could not scheme his way out of the Angel's grasp, nor could he overpower him.  The only way Jacob could prevail over the Angel of the LORD was ultimately by complete surrender.

Hosea 12:3-5 provides insight about Jacob Moses did not mention in the Genesis account:  "He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he struggled with God. ⁴ Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke to us-- ⁵  that is, the LORD God of hosts. The LORD is His memorable name."  The God of Abraham and Isaac revealed Himself to Jacob in Bethel, and He was the one who grappled with Jacob in the darkness.  The weight of his circumstances, the fear of facing his brother, the physical pain he experienced, and his inability to win brought Jacob to tears.  Jacob struggled with God all his life until the moment when, like a horse calmed by a gentle expert equestrian, God touched him.  Jacob's realisation of his need for God came as day broke.  By the help of God Jacob surrendered and in doing so prevailed with God:  instead of relying upon himself to fight his battles, Jacob's name was changed to Israel:  "God contends."

Jacob is not the only one who has wrestled with God all their lives, but he is one of the few who finally prevailed through surrender.  The Genesis passage says a Man wrestled with Jacob, and the order is significant.  The Man who suddenly appeared in the text was the initiator of this physical wrestling match which was the culmination of a lifelong spiritual conflict of Jacob fighting for himself.  No matter what Jacob tried, he couldn't escape and he couldn't force his Opponent to submit.  It was he who needed to submit, and having done so he held on to the One who made a promise to him all those years ago Jacob struggled to believe.  If we desire the transformation, blessing, and to prevail with God, with God's help we are called to surrender to Him.  We cannot escape His grip, and He is glad to be held close by us, to bless us, and to keep His Word.

The Coming King

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Zechariah 9:9

How great it is to know the King is coming to us!  Kings who rule nations have messengers, ambassadors, servants, and armies to do their bidding and I cannot imagine one having such humility to attend personally to the needs of their subjects.  God bids the daughter of Zion to rejoice greatly because the king comes who is just, having salvation, lowly, and in peace.  He does not come to His own to wage war but in humility, meekness, and ultimately triumph.

This about how the news of the king's coming would affect his starving subjects who were at war and under siege in a city surrounded enemies, the city about to fall.  Consider how great the relief this message would bring a man wrongly imprisoned, knowing his king was coming in justice!  What would it mean for the woman who was being abused by a spouse, a family who had lost everything in a fire, or a child being bullied to hear from the lips of the prophet, "Behold, your King is coming to you?"  To the person feeling alone, lost, or forgotten, to hear "Your King is coming to you!" would bring great rejoicing.  It would immediately shift the focus of the afflicted to the Saviour who was coming with salvation.

It is amazing the King would come to His people, and the manner of His coming is important.  If the King was coming with a great army it would be an intimidating show of force, but to come riding on an ambling donkey shows great humility.  When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the people shouted with rejoicing, "Hosanna!"  The King of the Jews had come, but Jesus Christ was more than that being the Son of God.  To think God would humble Himself to become lowly man to save sinners and become the servant of all is beyond comprehension.  Though He has ascended alive into heaven, He comes to those who trust in Him today and provides the Holy Spirit, Living Water for our souls which causes us to be refreshed and born again.

To those who need salvation, the coming of Jesus to us is most welcome news.  Let's be those who live in light of the Light of the World, His love and care for us.  If Jesus is not your King, however, it would be great causes for alarm.  The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ says His second coming will be to take vengeance on His enemies.  A sharp two-edged sword will come out from His mouth to strike the nations, and He will rule the nations with a rod of iron.  Praise God that what strikes fear into His enemies is a source of comfort for those He protects and avenges.  God's people can rejoice always, and again I say rejoice because our King is coming to us having salvation!

The Sin Fast

Samuel famously told king Saul to obey God is better than sacrifice, but history tells us God's people struggled with the concept.  People tend towards embracing penance than repentance.  Better to repent before God and put the sin away than beating up yourself over it--as if personal punishment could provide atonement and cleansing.  Once sin is repented of instead of wallowing in guilt we ought to be intentional to be obey what God has already said.  A vast majority of the time we were conscious of sin before we chose to commit it.

When the temple in Jerusalem was halfway through the rebuilding process Zechariah 7:1-4 says, "Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, ² when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the LORD, ³ and to ask the priests who were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?"  During the period of captivity in Babylon--for 70 years--the children of Israel mourned and fasted during the fifth month (AND the seventh, as we will see).  It seems during their exile away from the land of Israel they punished themselves with a self-imposed fast.

See God's response in Zechariah 7:5-7:  "Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me--for Me? ⁶ When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Should you not have obeyed the words which the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?'"  God rejected this self-imposed sacrifice made by the people because when they ate and drank they did so unto themselves.  Therefore these months of self-imposed fasting and mourning were self-serving, for the people did not obey word of the LORD by prophets He previously sent them!  Fasting in obedience to the LORD is good, and sacrifice according to His leading is righteous.  But instead of fasting God preferred repentance for sin and simple obedience.

It was fitting they do good every day in Zechariah 7:9-10:  "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. ¹⁰ Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.'"  Refusing to eat what God graciously provided did nothing to right the wrongs which persisted for 70 years of captivity.  The problem was not when or what the people ate but the sin in their hearts.  There is nothing wrong with spiritual discipline and fasting, but it is of no benefit if when we eat and drink we do so with only ourselves in mind.  Paul sums up well the approach believers should take in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33:  "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ³² Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, ³³ just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved."

People came to inquire at the temple if the fasts they had traditionally done for so long were necessary likely because some didn't want to keep fasting and some would be offended if they stopped.  They spoke of giving up the fifth month fast but didn't mention the seventh--they would keep that fast going.  God turned their question around:  instead of wondering if you should keep fasting, how about you start obeying Me?  Rather than thinking you are doing me a favour by denying yourself food, why not do yourselves and everyone a favour and deny yourself sin and do right?  Paul said in Romans 14:23 that whatsoever is not of faith in God is sin.  So whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, let us do it all to the glory of God.  We are to fast from sin and to do good instead.