The Insight of Personal Application

During a conversation yesterday I received a good reminder I needed.  We need reminders because no matter how well we know something or are familiar with it, it can slip our mind--like the pin number to use a credit card.  When the contactless payment was permitted to reduce people touching the keypad, for months I did not have to enter my pin.  After this season finished, however, I entered a pin incorrectly because I had forgotten the correct order of the numbers.  I was able to use the card in the end but it caused a delay for myself, the cashier, and other customers to have to input the code again.  The implications of forgetting spiritual truth is far more costly than an extra 30 seconds to enter a code because the consequences can be far reaching, even for all eternity.

I was reminded of the importance to apply the things we read in the Bible (especially passages some call "stories") personally to our own lives.  We can be so caught up in the practical aspects of the historical events we can miss the spiritual and personal application.  Even simple, seemingly insignificant actions and statements can be most insightful.  Today I had such a moment after I finished washing my car.  For whatever reason, after I parked the car and went to close the garage door, I took a quick look back upon the now clean car.  I was reminded of Lot's wife who looked back to Sodom.  Whilst I know God commanded Lot and his family to leave Sodom and not look back, she did so and became a pillar of salt.

I asked myself:  why did I just look back?  I did not have a ready answer and needed to think it over.  I looked back because I like seeing a job done and there was satisfaction in seeing a dirty, dusty car become clean and shiny.  Lot's wife disobeyed God when she looked back on Sodom, and we are not expressly told from scripture why she did so.  The reality was she was looking back upon her city which was under God's judgment, and she was swiftly judged as well.  Lot's wife was never provided the opportunity to examine her heart and repent of sin, but praise the LORD we are.  There is nothing inherently sinful in looking back, but we should take the opportunity to examine our motives for looking back.  Was it pride in a job well done?  Was it a feeling of accomplishment, of superiority over others?  Was the sinful motivation to disobey God found in me in that fleeting look?

Moving beyond looking back to a city or a car, what about looking back to our past?  It is obvious there are aspects of our past which longing to return to or taking pride in would be sinful.  We have all looked back to past experiences in our lives for good or ill, and God has been gracious not to strike us down until now.  But it doesn't mean we should mistake His patient, gracious and longsuffering nature and assume looking back for us does not lead us to sin.  When we turn our eyes to Jesus, following Him in faith, we have a future which is far more glorious than the memories which fade.  To remember Lot's wife is to take heed of our own hearts, lest we disobey God by looking to the wrong things.  I do not know the heart of Lot's wife, but through personal application of scripture God provides insight and action for me to take today.

The Warning of Laish

An odd thing happened to me this morning.  After waking up I recalled to mind an incident which took place a long time ago at work.  I was a foreman in the dockyards and was doing my rounds toward the end of the day to check on the progress of the crew on board.  One of the spaces where work was supposed to be happening was dark, so I investigated further.  I caught my crew doing one of the cardinal sins of workers:  lying down for a nap on the job.  The one in charge was a bit sheepish and laughed it off when I confronted them.  The next day when my fellow foreman and I wrote them up with a formal warning, it was a different story.  The subordinate worker signed the form without hesitation, but the lead man would not:  he attempted to deflect, blame, made excuses and eventually broke down in tears.  It was a stunning scene of someone being called to account for bad behaviour, and he refused to accept it.

While memories of this scene swirled in my head, I sat down to read through Judges 18.  In the passage, five men from Dan traveled around the country looking for a place to settle down.  Having received the blessing of God from their Levite friend, Judges 18:7 says, "So the five men departed and went to Laish. They saw the people who were there, how they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the Sidonians, and they had no ties with anyone."  Laish was just the soft target the spies from Dan were looking for.  They observed the people of Laish dwelt safely because of their isolation from others.  The men of Dan noticed there was no ruler or magistrate in the land "who might put them to shame for anything."  The people were careless, self-absorbed and clueless about the real danger they faced.  The consequences of isolation from leadership in Laish remind me of David's negligence to challenge his son Adonijah for folly in his youth in the first bit of 1 Kings 1:6:  "And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?"  A loving rebuke and searching question while he was young might have saved him from trouble when he was grown.

The tragic overthrow of the people of Laish and the folly of Adonijah are examples why godly leadership is important.  A good leader must at times say hard things people will not appreciate or agree with and take actions to arrest the attention of others for constructive purposes and necessary reformation.  One good ruler in Laish might have put off the spies from Dan from their plans to attack and take the city, even as a shepherd or sheepdog deters a pack of hungry wolves.  It is important to point out that a magistrate (from the KJV) was not a king but answered to a governor or king and served as rule on behalf of their sovereign.  The magistrate did not exist to be served any more than the sheepdog is served by the sheep.  The sheepdog serves the shepherd and at times makes the sheep uncomfortable by darting around, stimulating the prey instinct to flee when the dominant sheep would rather settle down to graze.  People can live in their own little world (magistrates, shepherds and dogs included!) and begin to live carelessly:  sleeping more, working less, drinking more, caring about God or others less, forgetting we serve a God who called and ordained us to do good.  Because He loves us He corrects us, we ought to take His correction to heart.  To drift to a place we cannot hear the voice of our Good Shepherd ultimately results in the demise of our fruitfulness and lives.

A church, a family and a person can become a Laish:  isolated, secure and careless, a place where uncomfortable truths are avoided, where recognised God-fearing leadership is scarce, where no one is willing to do anything that could potentially provoke a sense of shame--even when it is the loving thing to do.  This hits me in so many areas of my life as a child of God, dad, church leader and friend.  It speaks to my duty to be led by the Holy Spirit in taking the lead in love and gladly receiving rebuke and correction from others whether I think I need it or not.  It is a warning against me becoming a Laish in any area of my life, for the destruction of the city is a stark example of what awaits those who answer to no one.  We in the Body of Christ the church all must answer to Jesus and give account of our stewardship, and how good it is to respond in obedience to His guidance rather than being secure in complacency without help.

God is Good!

"So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!"

Judges 17:12-13

The season of the judges in Israel is well-described as a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes.  Without a godly king to govern people in the ways of God, the children of Israel plunged into idolatry.  Micah was a Hebrew whose house was full of idols, and at one stage even consecrated one of his own sons to be his priest.  When a wandering Levite came looking for a place, Micah was pleased to offer him the position in his home.  He was convinced God would certainly be good to him since he installed a "real" Levite as priest.  Micah hoped to score points with God when his shrines and idolatrous devotion were completely abominable according to God's word.

The mentality of Micah is a surprisingly common perspective today.  People work to please God motivated by the hope of receiving blessing for themselves or to avoid divine retribution.  Years ago I found a man in front of my house picking through flowers to find three specimens of the preferred shape and colour to offer to his deity, Brahma.  Why?  So Brahma would do him good.  I recall the moment well when a person selling their house buried a statue of St. Joseph in the yard, believing it would help the sale be profitable and smooth.  Like Micah's idols which were blind, deaf, dumb and lifeless, that statue would have been better suited as a paperweight, doorstop or a decoration than to place any hope of blessing from it.

There are people who do not believe in God who are willing to receive good from Him should He exist, yet the disciple of Jesus has a different view of God from Micah altogether.  We do not try to please God so He will be good to us, but seek to please Him because He is good.  The motive to obey God of those born again by faith in Jesus Christ begins with who God is and our relationship to Him as His beloved children.  Our actions to do good are in light of and in response to what God has already done in demonstrating His love for us.  It is the love of Christ that compels us to reciprocate with thanksgiving and gratitude for choosing us, suffering for us and adopting us as His own.  It is never in doubt God will do us good because He is good.

The relationship of a child of God to our Father in heaven is far greater than seeking good from Him but viewing Him as the greatest good who was, is and will ever be.  John 1:16 says of Jesus, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace."  God graciously created us and gave us life, and through Jesus Christ we have been born again by faith and received eternal life.  God's love for us is not based upon our good performance:  it springs from His goodness and grace.  Those who do things in the hope God will do them good do not understand who God is as revealed in His word.  God is good and of His fullness we have received, and grace for grace.

The Skill of Rumination

As I grow older it is strange to think how much technology has changed the way people live in the western world.  For all of our advancements in science, medicine and education, however, there is one thing that has remained the same:  people.  The Bible is so relatable because it nails the essence of the human heart perfectly and resonates with our conscience.  It is ironic the many digital devices which allow us to work from home and technology which enable us to do more at once seem to drain our time and can make life more difficult and complex.  I am not interested in throwing away modern technological conveniences which are not sinful in themselves because they are not the problem.  We are the sinners.

Though the word of God remains the same, advances in technology and transportation have drastically changed the way Christian and church ministry is done.  We have gone from having one church in a large parish with one preacher to a global deluge of sermons and services we can tap into without leaving our bedroom.  When I was a kid at our church we had a "tape lending library" where the Sunday sermon was quickly recorded on cassette tapes to buy, borrow or share with others.  Because Christian radio programming was rare in our area, people would listen to the same cassette throughout the week and bring it back to church on Sunday where it was erased and updated with the most recent offering.

It used to be a family would have to go to a church building to hear a sermon, and during the week as they farmed or conducted business their minds would think back upon what they had heard.  I believe we are in an age when we must again refine the simple art of rumination.  Think of a cow in a paddock, chewing the cud with contentment.  Over and over the ox munches the same bite of grass, regurgitating and chewing again and again until most of the nutrients are absorbed.  We live in a day of binge-watching a whole season of shows over a weekend and look forward impatiently until the next installment.  For many, gone are the days of listening to the same sermon over and over, reading the same chapter or verse of the Bible again and again.  And some Christians have never known a day other than ours, a day of click-bait titles and an insatiable thirst to hear something new.  Some have never read through the entire Bible while others speed through several times a year.

So we move on from a sermon and on from a passage of scripture, seeking a new revelation from God when there is priceless wisdom from God we have glossed over in our haste.  Like a person orders from a menu at a restaurant, we can scroll through messages to a popular sermon by title.  Within minutes we can choose to close the message and look for something of interest.  For all our hearing there can be little growing, and our stunted growth causes us to doubt the usefulness and practicality of--imagine it--even a message from God because of the messenger or style of delivery.  Familiarity with a passage dupes us into thinking we know it already when the reality is a foreign concept to our lives.  Knowing and doing are two different things as the story of the wise and foolish builders Jesus told reveals.

David wrote of the blessed benefits of careful and patient consideration of God's law in Psalm 1:1-3:  "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; ² but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. ³ He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."  See the blessing of meditation on God's word?  God told Joshua in Joshua 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."  God commanded Joshua to speak God's word, meditate on it day and night, and do what it said.  If Joshua met God's conditions, his way would be prosperous and could be successful in all endeavors God called him to do.

Let us develop our skill of ruminating on a passage of God's word so our understanding and lives will be fruitful.  Read the scriptures again and again:  observing what the text says, interpreting scripture with scripture and putting God's divine wisdom into practice personally.  And it must be personal; it will require patience and perseverance, but no one can argue with the results because what God promised He will perform.  A cow ruminates because God created it to do so, and we have a choice what we will ruminate or meditate upon.  Humans have always had a terrible propensity to ruminate on what worries and troubles us rather than on God and the good word spoken to us.  As a farmer cleans the rust from the blades of the plough by directing it through hard earth, let us develop our skill of rumination by putting it into practice in heeding God's word as we break up the fallow ground of our hearts.