Without Vision

 As context is critical to understand what is meant in a conversation, it is of utmost importance in the study of the Bible.  Many times we have walked in at the “wrong time” of a conversation and the sentence we heard did not make sense.  This can ironically occur when we take a verse out of context:  phrases from scripture can become catchphrases that miss the original intended meaning.  It is one thing to assume we know what someone means when we haven’t heard half of what they were saying, but it is another when we do this with God Who speaks plainly in His word.

I recently saw a plaque that stated, “Without a vision the people perish” and Proverbs 29:18 was quoted.  I looked up the passage which reads in the KJV (thus I assume this is the translation used as the NKJV puts it differently):  “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”  When we speak about “vision,” often we refer to something which is not plainly seen by all but is visualised by someone who leads who effectively guides us to that end.  The implication of the first part of the verse (when it stands alone) suggests the dire consequences of people who lack visionary leadership or the faculties of sight themselves.  When we read this verse in its entirety, however, a clear directive of keeping God’s law comes into view.

I strongly suspect those who quote the first part of this verse as a cliché might not even know what else that same verse says.  The idea presented dovetails beautifully with what Jesus said about those who hear his voice and do not obey it.  He compared such a one with a man who built a house on sand and it was swept away in the storm—and great was its fall.  News stations all over the world are broadcasting pictures of the widespread destruction caused by hurricane Ivan.  The shocking and tragic pictures of devastation are an object lesson that demonstrates the spiritual reality Jesus spoke of.

The vision Solomon referred to was not one afar off in the future, a personal goal or unknown reality seen by only a few, but the Law of Moses written on tablets of stone hundreds of years before.  This vision was one of God’s righteousness, and those who kept the law would be richly blessed by their God.  Happy are the people whose God is the LORD, and when we keep Jesus in our sight we are always led to walk in righteousness.

Open, Eat and Speak

As long as the Friday night Bible studies at church have been going, I typically bake a dessert to share and enjoy.  One of the most memorable (and funny!) moments involved a picky eater years back.  It was obvious she was not impressed with the appearance of the dish, looking at it like a person who noticed they stepped in vomit in a carpark.  Undeterred by her misgivings, I urged her to give it a try.  Hesitantly she placed the smallest morsel in her mouth and froze.  With pursed lips without chewing once, her body instinctively recoiled within from the foreign specimen.  Our eyes locked as she slowly reached for a serviette (napkin in OZ) and right in front of me spat the food (she didn't want in the first place) into it.  It was the funniest, weirdest moment ever in my history of baking.

This amusing situation was brought to mind by a passage I read today of God speaking to the prophet in Ezekiel 2:7-8:  "You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. ⁸ But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you."  The order of God's command to Ezekiel entreated him to exercise faith:  to open his mouth and eat whatever God gave him.  As God created our bodies and knows the nutrients we need to survive and thrive, He knows what we need to receive His word by hearing and to live accordingly.  It was not up to Ezekiel to inspect what God offered before he would submit to "trying it."  It was not enough for him to take a bite.  Ezekiel was called to open his mouth by faith in God, receive all God said--chew it up and swallow it down--and then boldly speak forth God's word to a rebellious house.

It is no sin to be a picky eater concerning desserts, but it is sinful to rebel against God in unbelief.  The book presented to Ezekiel was filled with lamentation, mourning and woe.  Ezekiel would have been rebellious to pick and choose what he would say, ignoring God's pronouncement of judgment and camping on promises of peace and rest.  God chose Ezekiel as His prophet to say words God knew His people would not hear, but that wasn't to deter Ezekiel at all.  It was possible Ezekiel could have been rebellious like them, so God warned him from walking according to their folly.  Medicine may not taste good to our tongues, but it has properties designed to promote healing, alleviate pain or other negative symptoms and works to restore our bodies to full heath.  God urged Ezekiel to open his mouth in faith to receive all God spoke to him, and we ought to do the same.

No one can take someone else's medicine for them, yet part of God's ordained process was for Ezekiel to receive God's word by faith and for him to walk according to it.  He was doing more than simply delivering a message, for God's message was intended to correct, instruct and guide Ezekiel as much as the rest of the children of Israel.  The scriptures are not provided as ammunition to fire at others who err but are practical spiritual nutrition for us and to those with whom we speak.  We are not to urge other people to "try" what we refuse to taste ourselves.  Having tasted and seen God is good, we are thus equipped and prepared by God's grace to open our mouths and exhort others to walk by faith in God too.

Love and Restoration

The other day I contemplated refinishing a painted bookshelf.  As I took a closer look and saw the brush marks from previous applications of paint, I realised I was looking at a big job.  It would take a lot of time to strip the paint, sand all those little corners, prime and repaint.  It came down to a simple question:  did I love the furniture enough to restore it when I could easily replace it with something better?  The honest answer was no.

When it comes to restoration of people, did you know God has already answered in the affirmative?  He has done all the work required to restore lost souls to fellowship with Himself, redeeming lives from death by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  By the power of the Gospel we are not doomed to destruction (like many pieces of old furniture I have dismantled over the years) as God has extended His gracious offer of reconciliation to all sinners.  Restoration ought not be reserved only from unregenerate to saved but from falling into sin and being lifted up.

After David sinned he sang in Psalm 51:12, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit."  It is of the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, and He delights to deliver and save.  God restored David to the throne over all Israel after being usurped by Absalom.  Following a long season of captivity in Babylon God restored His people to the land of their inheritance.  Jesus restored the sight of the blind, and He restored a man's withered hand when stretched out in obedience.  Jesus restored full health to a woman with a flow of blood, restored good posture to the woman bent double by a spirit of infirmity, and even restored the dead to life again.

Galatians 6:1 shows we too as followers of Christ are to walk in His steps:  "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted."  As the LORD demonstrated love by restoring us to Himself through the Gospel, so we ought to restore others who have been overtaken in any trespass.  Do we love people by gently restoring them, knowing we have been and are being restored by God's grace?  God restores because He loves, and seeing that old bookshelf drove this home.

Mercy For All

"When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple."

Jonah 2:7

These are words of the prophet Jonah after he was swallowed by the great fish God prepared for him.  We do not read of him seeking the LORD in prayer when he fled from the presence of God or even on the tempest-tossed ship.  It was as his life ebbed away in pitch-black darkness he remembered the LORD and prayed.  When his soul fainted Jonah finally relented and begged God to save him.  God was ready and waiting to do so, for the LORD spoke to the fish that expelled him on dry land.

God brought Jonah to a place of crying out for mercy, a place Jonah was unwilling and unable to find on his own.  What God did for His prophet He also did for the children of Israel through war.  Lamentations 5:20-22 expresses well the feelings of hopelessness Jeremiah felt after the atrocities he witness and experienced during the siege of Jerusalem:  "Why do You forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a time? ²¹ Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored; renew our days as of old, ²² unless You have utterly rejected us, and are very angry with us!"  Jeremiah wept over the suffering of his people, and his expectations shattered with the knowledge God could deliver them but did not.

Jeremiah felt forgotten and forsaken, but this was not the case.  God was actually answering Jeremiah's prayer for Him to "Turn us back to You, O LORD" by the fiery trial He allowed by sending His servant king Nebuchadnezzar to take people captive and destroy the city--including the temple.  For a long time God's people had drawn near to Him with their mouths but their hearts were far from Him.  Like a loving father disciplines the son he loves, God chose the Babylonians as His instrument to chasten His people to remember Him, to return to Him so they could be restored, for renewal and revival.  God allowed Job to suffer, not to destroy him for his guilt due to sin, but to demonstrate His mercy and compassion to all.

Jeremiah desired restoration by deliverance from the trial, but that is often the means of God's refinement.  A principle under the Law of Moses was all spoils of war that could endure fire must be purified by fire before they could be possessed, and whatever could not survive the fire was to be washed in water (Numbers 31:21-24).  By faith in God His people are of Him and thus enabled to endure fiery trials that work for our refinement and restoration.  In the midst of trials we might feel forgotten or forsaken by God, and this ought to prompt us to seek the LORD.  In departing from God and trusting in lies we forsake our own mercy, for God is faithful to hear and save all who cry out to Him.

We faint; we forget God.  God does not faint, nor does He forget.  Psalm 30:4-5 reads, "Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. ⁵ For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."  The trials and troubles we desperately want to avoid or see ended immediately God brings us through according to His mercies, faithfulness and love.  We are only sojourners in the valley of the shadow of death and need fear no evil for God is with us to protect and provide for us.  Praise the LORD all the time, the living God who has accepted us into the beloved according to the riches of His grace.