God Our Strength

"Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings."

Proverbs 31:3

In the book of Proverbs, Solomon and others hold forth timeless wisdom from God people do well to heed.  Kings are glorified for their wealth and power, yet as Solomon could attest excess leads even the mighty to destruction.  Promiscuity and drunkenness are ways that destroy kings--as the writer of Proverbs 31 went on to describe.  Drinking to excess leads to forgetfulness of God's Law and perversion of justice, and God will hold those who are given leadership roles in government, society, family and the church to account.

As I considered the mother's command to her son to refrain from giving his strength to women, I am reminded of the principle Jesus held forth during the Sermon on the Mount in the first part of Matthew 7:6:  "Give not which is holy to the dogs."  To the Jews in Jesus' day, dogs were considered an unclean animal.  For this reason they were often scavengers that were indiscriminate opportunists to steal and eat whatever they could.  I have known many pet dogs who were very food driven, and they would eat themselves sick if allowed.  I have witnessed dogs that greedily wolf down food without satisfaction and remain eager for more.

When I was a youth, "purity" conferences were not uncommon in Christian circles that emphasised the importance of remaining celibate until marriage and explained the pitfalls of promiscuity.  While valuing your virginity is virtuous, what is even more important is to exercise our hearts to be chaste in the fear of God.  Realising chastity and sex in marriage is holy before the LORD is much more constructive and useful than trying to avoid engaging in sexual activity.  The promiscuous do not value or treasure God's gift of sex to be enjoyed within marriage God has ordained and will greedily move on to the next offer without satisfaction.

I love how God's word does not lay down any prohibitions without also telling us what we ought to be doing.  God said in Deuteronomy 6:4-5:  "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one! ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."  It is the love of God that guides us to obey the LORD and do what pleases Him more than warnings of future problems prevent us from disobeying Him.  Fear of contracting an STI or having an unplanned pregnancy has failed to discourage countless people from promiscuity, and physical celibacy does not ensure a heart is upright in God's sight.  Having been made holy by faith in Christ, we ought to see a monogamous sex life in marriage as holiness we ought to maintain.

Rather than wasting our strength on promiscuous or adulterous pursuits, we can know God is our strength as it is written in Psalm 46:1:  "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."  Psalm 118:14 also says, "The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation."  Praise the LORD He saves us from ourselves, that we need not be enslaved to our fleshly appetites because God is our strength.  God is a very present help who guides and strengthens us to do His will, and by finding satisfaction in Him we lack no good thing.

Working In Step

Through my participation in many three-legged races as group activities, I learned the importance of communicating with your race partner (before the race!) how to best coordinate movement.  If each person tries to run as fast as they can they will not be able to run at all.  The only way to move quickly when your leg is strapped to someone else's leg is to agree how to to work together to walk and jog in step.

While the analogy of walking in step in a three-legged race could be employed to mutual coordination for fruitful ministry in the church, it is very simplistic to the point it fails to account for the personal responsibility of each person to prepare their hearts before the LORD--not only when working together in ministry--but on their own time.  For this reason a marching band is a more accurate analogy of our need as Christians to freely embrace our personal role in the Body of Christ the church to work in step with others.  The human body has many organs, systems and moving parts all working together for the good of the entire body.  The role of the eye is different than the lungs, but they both function to support one another and promote the health of the whole person.

I have never been a member of a marching band that performs during a halftime show, yet I can begin to appreciate the level of practice, personal preparation, ability to take direction and accept correction required by all quality bands.  Each musician has their own instrument and music they must practice and master, and additionally everyone must work together as a team to learn how to march and where to go.  The choreographed performances require many hours of practice and training--perhaps as much or more than the football players who drill and practice every day.  A marked difference between a marching band and church ministry is Christianity is not a performance:  it is a life of faith and obedience to Jesus Christ lived in combination and mutual submission with other believers in the Body of Christ under the headship of Jesus Himself.

While each believer is to be guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do God's will, we are called to be in one accord with one another as we do the LORD's work.  God works in and through His people, and it is wonderful when people are content to exercise the gifts God has given them as they embrace the calling He has upon their lives to love God and one another with their whole being.  God guides us in the Bible how we are to embrace our sanctification, both personally and as a team as it says in verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15:  "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵ See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all."

A marching band of quality brings honour to their school, and we as Christians are to bring honour to Jesus Christ by our lives whether in private or public.  We do not labour to glorify ourselves, a denomination or ministry but the LORD Jesus who is all in all.  This requires personal obedience and sacrifice; it also means as part of the corporate Body of Christ we willingly contribute as led by the Holy Spirit to fulfil our calling as Christians and our God-given roles by His grace.  Jesus Christ is our Saviour and King, and thus we live to please Him by walking in step with Him and one another as His blameless servants.  May it be when people observe our lives and ministry they realise we are part of the body of Christ that is far greater than we are as individuals, for the plans and purposes of God have been accomplished by His power and wisdom as we walk together in unity.

Knowing God's Will

When some Christians speak of "God's will," it is often resigned to a status that is mysterious, unknown and unknowable.  The tone of people desirous of knowing God's will is often similar to, "I hope so."  This gives little sense of the sure expectation Christians can have based upon God's word, the Bible.  We can know God's will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven even when things do not go according to our plan, for God is sovereign, almighty and rules over all.  We can be steadfast and immovable in this knowledge since God and the Scripture remain the same forever.

Even as God has not remained hidden but has revealed Himself to all mankind through creation, His word and by coming to earth Himself as Jesus Christ, God has also revealed His will for all people.  For instance 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."  God's will is that all should come to repentance, and though some reject Jesus His will to save them remains unchanged.  Though almighty, God will not trample the will of mankind He created in His own image.  We need not wonder if it is God's will for someone be saved, for He desires all to come to repentance and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

We considered a well-known passage in the Bible where God's will for Christians is plainly stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:  "Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  What is awesome about this revelation--and countless others examples of God's revealed will--is God's will is not dependant on our feelings or circumstances.  I have observed people can be much more interested in knowing what "God's will is" in a particular situation rather than God's overarching will for every Christian.  I am convinced the will of God revealed for all Christians guides us in every circumstance we experience in life, and doing God's will is paramount.

Knowing the will of God and submitting to His will is practical, relevant and most fruitful in all seasons of life--to rejoice always, pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks--rather than knowing how a conflict will be resolved or when something may change.  We should not imagine God's will for us hinges on our situations, a fickle sort of wish that shifts with the tide.  Rather than seeking God's future plans we do not know and possibly may never be revealed to us by our sovereign God, we ought to put God's will we are assured of into more regular practice.  We can focus on knowing God's methods or His desired outcome when He employs circumstances to test and strengthen our faith and resolve to rest in His will by simply continuing to do it.

The Christian's Kryptonite

"So the LORD was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron."

Judges 1:19

At face value, this is a most curious verse.  After affirming God was with the tribe of Judah and gave them success to drive out the inhabitants of the mountains, they were unable to drive out those in the valley who had chariots of iron.  Are chariots God's kryptonite?  Far from it.  This teaches us that even when God is with His people who trust Him, it is possible our neglect to seek Him and wait on His guidance can result in us falling short of His will for our lives.  God commanded His people to drive out the inhabitants of the land, yet we observe the Hebrews at times were reluctant, unwilling and unable to do so in the end.  The kryptonite of God's people has always been unbelief and neglect of seeking, trusting and obeying God.

David sang in Psalm 20:7, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God."  Armies and chariots posed no problem to God at all, for the battle is the LORD's.  The children of Israel had personally witnessed God's power over their enemies in Exodus 14:24-25:  "Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. ²⁵ And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians."  The Egyptians realised something was wrong as they pursued the Hebrews, and they rightly assessed God caused their wheels to fall off their chariots.

A few chapters later in the book of Judges, we read of God's great victory over Sisera and his 900 chariots of iron through Deborah the prophetess and Barak.  Judges 4:3 tells us, "And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel."  In response to the cries of His people and obedience of those who trusted Him, God defeated king Jabin's army--and notice the specific mention of chariots in Judges 4:15:  "And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot."  Strongholds, giants in the mountains and chariots in the Red Sea proved no problem whatsoever for God.  But those chariots of iron proved too difficult for the tribe of Judah--even though God was with them.

God's mighty power over all is demonstrated throughout the Scripture, and there is another common thread:  the neglect of God's people to humble themselves to trust, seek and obey Him.  Joshua was given the victory over the great stronghold Jericho when the children of Israel walked around the city for 7 days according to God's command, yet the Hebrews were subsequently routed when they attempted to take Ai without seeking God who revealed sin in their camp.  2 Chronicles 16:12 reads, "And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians."  Had Asa sought the LORD as Naaman the Syrian who was miraculously cured of leprosy by dipping in the Jordan 7 times according to the word of the LORD, the inference is Asa could have been healed of his severe malady by God too.  Seeking the help of physicians does not constitute a lack of faith in God, but Asa's issue was he did not seek the LORD.

The Bible is filled with testimonies of people who trusted God, sought Him in time of trouble, and God was faithful to fight for His people and gave them victory.  Judges of Israel, kings, common people--even a shepherd boy--were strengthened to defeat their enemies by faith in God and reliance upon Him.  What were a few chariots of iron before God whose heavenly hosts ride upon chariots of fire?  In response to King Hezekiah crying out to God, the angel of the LORD smote 185,000 men of Assyria (2 Kings 19:35)!  The tribe of Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley who had chariots of iron, and let this be a cautionary tale for Christians who assume because God is with us we will prevail without our need to trust, seek or obey Him to do His will.