The People Expert

02.27.13

Numbers 23.8 8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? (ESV)

Years ago, a man by the name of Balak summoned a people-expert by the name of Balaam to come assess and curse a nation of people whom God had led to his front door. Balak needed a miracle because he’d witnessed what these people had done to a couple of bullies down the road, and he knew if they whipped them, he’d need more firepower to defeat them himself – so he called in reinforcements: he called Balaam, the people expert.

The problem with Balak and Balaam was they failed to factor in God in their pursuit. People usually don’t factor in God – they just don’t believe in what they don’t see. Sadly, they usually don’t believe in what they do see either. So, Balak calls on Balaam to come and curse God’s people but Balaam tells Balak: hey man, I can’t just curse any old nation – especially this one. I have to say what God tells me to say. Sounds reasonable enough – that is, unless you are Balak and you see the potential for utter destruction: like the two dead thugs down the road.

As I read this today, I realized over the years I have developed an annoying habit of being an amateur people expert. No one has asked me to be an expert; I’ve just sort of developed this skill all on my own. Give me a few minutes with just about anyone and I can assess them for you. I can observe much about their life from a mere casual encounter.

This morning, Balaam’s words were not just for Balak, they were for me as well: How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? Who am I to assess anyone!? Who am I to cast aspersions on any person when I don’t know their life, their circumstances, or what they may be going through? And who am I to join in the discussion when others come under expert assessment? How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? Unless, of course, I decide the Lord has indeed cursed and denounced them or they wouldn’t be so annoying to me…

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you…” (Matthew 7.1-2 ESV) Then He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits..." (Matthew 7.15-16a ESV) I think He was saying, don’t unfairly judge just look at what people do if you want to know who they really are.

Balaam, for sure, was a hack, that fact becomes very obvious in the context of the story and from the rest of Scripture. But for me to engage in judgment just because I don’t care for the way others present themselves, I stand on very dangerous ground of attempting to place myself in the place of God. I guess I need to lose the people-expert thing. 

Probably what I need to do is live by what Jesus says and not by what Balaam said. Jesus said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Sounds good to me Lord; I’m sorry for all of the time I’ve wasted being a people expert – help me to use my time as You did: loving others and telling them about God…

Not A Day For A Fight

02.26.13

Numbers 20.21 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him. (ESV)

Not every encounter turned into a battle – this time Israel just turned and walked away. In patriarchal history, Edom was Esau, the brother of Jacob; and Edom was the nation that had descended from Esau: Isaac’s favorite son.

The relationship between Esau and Jacob had been severely strained when Jacob deceived Esau over the birthright and obtained Isaac’s blessing that should have been Esau’s (Genesis 25, 27 & 28). (Esau banked on being daddy’s favorite.) And the strained relationship between these two brothers carried over into their descendants and endured. Edom was no fan of Israel.

To me, it is both interesting and baffling how familial dispute can last and last. You’d think family would get their act together at some point and just let the thing go, but that is often not the case. More often because of the dysfunction in families, the smallest things can be the fly that spoils the ointment for decades.

Family is supposed to be the part of life where one’s basic abilities for social interaction are shaped and formed. Family is where we’re supposed to learn how to get along, to share, and to have compassion and empathy. But so often family is a cesspool of some of the most wicked behavior imaginable. (If this is how families are in the Biblical model, I can’t imagine what things are like apart from that.) Not every family is this way but many are: there is favoritism,  jealousy, envy, spite, revenge and the whole package. God’s intention for the family has been hopelessly marred by sin.

And so on this day, instead of picking a fight, Israel turned and walked away. Nothing changed and down the road their enmity with Edom only intensified; but on this day, Israel just turned and walked away.

Lessons for me are simply: it is wise to choose carefully the hill I want to die on – not every time am I going to get my way, no matter how intensely I think I should. It is better for me not to cave to instigation – not every time a family member pushes my buttons do I have to react as I am accustomed (or as they expect me to). I must learn to make my way in God’s family and not let the content and custom of my past dictate how I’m going to respond in the present (sometimes it’s easier to love those who didn’t know me when…).

I will pray for my relatives but I will do my best to model godliness and goodness in my own family; the Scripture doesn’t say, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” lightly.

And Israel acted nobly that day – they simply swallowed their pride and walked away. It could’ve been a lot worse but it didn’t have to be and in this instance it wasn’t. God isn’t mentioned in this little encounter but I think His presence was felt: that day wasn’t a day for a fight…

What Kind of Heart I Have

02.25.13

Mark 4.13 13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? (ESV)

Jesus usually began His teaching by saying, Behold! We’d say, lookit! To behold or to lookit means to stop seeing past the forest for all the trees and see the trees. In other words, there is much to life that is beyond the details and there is much of life that is explained or found in the details – but we have to look – and we have to be prepared for what we find.

When Jesus used parables He simply made His point by using illustrations from everyday life – things that His hearers could relate to because they knew them and understood them…mostly. In the parable of the sower, there was much to the story they knew from experience or observation, because they’d seen it so much in the agrarian society in which they lived.

The parable of the sower talks about four possible outcomes for the seed sown by the sower. Jesus explained that learning from God or experiencing Him is like the sower sowing seed. Sometimes the seed sown is seed that is over-cast away from the soft soil it is intended to be sown into and the birds just get a free lunch. Simple enough except He explained that this same principle applies to the one whose life is hard against the truth and the enemy of man, Satan has easy pickings get the truth away from such a person. Are there hard people you know?

The next scenario is the seed is cast onto rocky ground where it quickly roots and springs up but has no lasting life because the roots can’t grow deep enough to sustain it. The rocks prevent the roots from growing deep. The rocks here are like hindrances. There are things in a person’s life that hinders the seed of truth from having too deep an effect because they overcome the purpose of truth and prevent it from achieving its purpose. Are there issues in life that prevent or hinder truth from having its effect?

The next scenario is seed that is cast where weeds grow around it. Similar to rocks and yet more deadly is the presence of weeds which compete with the seed for water and nutrients. There’s only so much water to go around and weeds are masters that take first and leave the seed holding the bag so to speak. That’s why weeds need to be weeded and seeds need to be needed. Weeds feed on what seeds bleed… but seeds freed provide just what we need…

And last is the seed that is cast onto fertile soil…where its intended to be cast – where the soil is the right condition for it to grow in a healthy environment and be nourished and strengthened in order to bear much fruit – you can count the seeds in a watermelon but you can’t count the watermelons in a seed.

Environment, preparation, and conditions make a huge difference when it comes to the truth. Jesus was making the point that everyone approaches the truth differently and only those whose hearts are ready are the ones who will grow and thrive in truth. A hard heart won’t receive. A shallow heart won’t last. A weedy heart is going in too many directions. But a fertile heart will flourish. Part of my understanding this parable is simply admitting truthfully what kind of heart I have, and allowing the Lord of the Harvest to do what is necessary in my life to condition my heart to receive what I need to provide success for His seed…

Fixing Sin

02.24.13

Numbers 14.41 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed?” (ESV)

Moses’ leadership and ministry were marked with some very difficult days of praying and interceding for the people he brought out of Egypt. Very often Moses was a middle-man trying to appease God and trying to save the people who had offended God. The people at times were like unruly children. Moses spent a significant part of his ministry on his face before the Lord pleading for mercy on their behalf.

At this point in the story, the people have rebelled against Moses, believing they have only been duped into taking possession of the Promised Land; Moses has somehow tricked them into following him all the way out there just so they would die at the hands of the inhabitants of the land they were to possess. So the Lord banishes that generation to forty years of wandering in the desert so that when they all die their children would come in and possess the land.

Well that was too much and so the grumblers decided that they would now obey the Lord, and go up and begin to take the land. Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed?” In other words, Look guys, what God has said, He has said and there ain’t no fixing it. Don’t try to fix one sin by committing another – make the most of the situation and leave the results to God.

It’s the heart that the Lord is interested in: theirs, yours, and mine. He doesn’t care about our performance: the heart devoted can make up a lot for an ego that’s bloated. It’s our relationship with Him and our obedience to Him that He looks for and rewards. So often when we are found out we attempt to over-correct and complicate matters in our over-correction. It is painful to accept the consequences and so to minimize them, we try to make up for in correction what we messed up in election. It doesn’t work – God looks at our heart.

Working harder for the Lord doesn’t impress Him. Adding to my spiritual resume’ doesn’t get me a better position in the Kingdom – if nothing else it only compounds the problem by inflating my ego and causing me to sin further by casting judgment on others who don’t appear to be trying as hard as I am to make God happy. Yikes! The lengths to which we’ll go!

Today, I am looking at their mistake and thinking, I hope I’m not doing the same thing. Even in that God just shakes His head: Paul, have you not learned a thing? If I see anything at all today it’s this: God doesn’t give E’s for effort – He’s looking for friends. He’s looking for the faithful who will walk with Him no matter what happens or when; and will trust Him that even in the most dire appearing or difficult circumstances: He will provide, He will protect, and His purposes will prevail.

Lord, Help me to simply trust You and walk with You as Your friend accepting all of the circumstances of life as training for me as I make my way toward Home: my true Promised Land; Your presence forever. Help me not to try and buy Your favor. May I walk with You today in faith, and simply love You more and stop trying to impress You with how I can fix what I’ve broken and/or have no control over. Help me I pray – amen.

The Otherness of Life

02.23.13

Numbers 13.1-2 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” (ESV)

The directions to Moses were very specific: Send men to spy out the land of Canaan which I am giving to the people of Israel. There wasn’t equivocation, there wasn’t misunderstanding, there wasn’t hesitation: send men to spy out the land. The Lord had made it clear that when He spoke to Moses, it was not as if it was a vision or a dream for He said: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12.6b-8 ESV) No, God was pretty specific with them when He said send spies.

So, twelve men went into the land and spied it out from one end to the other. Two of them went in belief and the other ten went because they were told to…  Two of the men, Caleb and Joshua saw vast resources and potential. The other ten saw the fruitfulness of the land but also the occupants of the land – they thought more about the struggle to overcome than the vastness and richness of the land.

Today as I read I thought of encounters with God: God told them to go spy out the land. In Mark 2, Jesus healed a man and found Himself at odds with the religious leaders who accused Him of blasphemy for the healing and (and He and His men) for not fasting, and for not washing their hands before they ate, and for eating plucked grain on the Sabbath. Here is my initial conclusion: God is neither safe, nor is He predictable.

I’m not sure what or how the Israelites thought they were going to do when they entered the land of Canaan. I’m not sure if they expected God to bring fire from heaven or use some force of nature to drive out the occupants; but when they saw what they were up against, they doubted God’s ability to help them. I’m not sure what the scribes and Pharisees thought when they encountered Jesus, but they doubted His credibility when He didn’t operate within their bounds of tradition or convention. God is neither safe, nor predictable.

But that is Who we encounter when we encounter God: a God who always operates in truth and love and yet calls the small to rout the big, who calls the unconventional to upend the conventional. God is not fooled or foiled by man’s ways and systems. The difficulty always seems to arise when He calls His people to operate outside of those ways and systems. But that is just what God does.

Today, I think about my own faith and my own calling and I realize: I am called to encounter God outside of my conventions and comforts(?) and meet Him in the otherness of life that exists opposed to the way mankind thinks: where I am sent in to meet the impossible and be blown away at how impossible falls apart in the face of improbable.

Father, strengthen me to meet You right where You are, not where I want You to be…