The Most Important Thing: A Powerful Example in Luke/Acts

“Identify the most important thing and start with this.”  I remember the presenter saying something like this in a time management seminar.  It is easy to get caught up in things that feel urgent but are not really that important.  Whether it is living healthily, studying regularly, or prayer, it is not unusual for the most important things to feel the least urgent.  In Luke and Acts, prayer is a major theme.  Prayer is not just tacked on as an obligatory act but is central to Christian living and service.  It is the most important thing.

Jesus begins his ministry not with just baptism, but with baptism and prayer.  The text says that while Jesus was praying, the Spirit came down on him and a voice came from Heaven declaring Jesus as God’s beloved son (Lk 5:16).  It is interesting that the one other time God declared Jesus as his son was while Jesus was praying on the Mount of Transfiguration (Lk 8:28).

Even though great crowds of people were coming to hear him and be healed, Jesus would go to a lonely place to pray (Lk 5:16).  Conventional wisdom dictates that staying busy doing the work should take priority.  However the wisdom of our Lord demonstrates that prayer takes priority.  A ministry that is weak in prayer will likely be a ministry that is weak in power.  It will be prone to aimlessness, discouragement, and fear.  But Jesus prioritizes prayer so that he spent the entire night in prayer before choosing twelve apostles (Lk 6:12f).  I sometimes wonder what being in prayer all night would be like.  What happens when you run out of things to say?  Should you try to spend all your time talking, or should you spend some of the time in meditative silence, listening for the leading of the Spirit?  Jesus didn’t always pray alone.  When his arrest and crucifixion loomed ahead of him, he took three of his closest disciples to the Mount of Olives to pray.  He prayed so hard that sweat began to drip off his body like big drops of blood! (Lk 22:39f).  Jesus’s habit of prayer prompted his disciples to ask him to teach them to pray as well (Lk 11:1ff).

In the book of Acts, we see that the early church, following the example of Jesus the Lord, also made prayer a priority.  Several times the text says they were “devoted” to prayer (Acts 1:14; 2:42; 6:4).  Sometimes they weaved the words of scripture into their prayers (Acts 3:24-26).  With discernment, they didn’t pray for comfort or ease, but for boldness to carry on the mission of Christ in the face of persecution (Acts 3:27-31).  As Jesus prayed before appointing people to ministry, the church in Acts did the same (Acts 6:6; 13:2; 14:23).  These and many other examples of prayer in the book of Acts demonstrates that the early church in the first century was a praying church who followed the example of Jesus who was a praying Lord and savior.  If their Lord Jesus needed to have a practice of prayer, then why would his followers not need to have a practice of prayer as well?

I am convinced that discernment, wisdom, spiritual strength, and godly ministry could hardly be possible without the discipline of prayer.  We usually attribute the qualities of the church in Acts to their faith.  However, this faith could not have been sustained without the regular practice of prayer.  At times, they seemed to have set aside a time to meet for no other purpose than for prayer.  It appears that they at times spent hours in prayer (Acts 12:5,12).  

The church today has meeting times set apart for Bible study, eating, worship, fellowship, planning meetings and other such things.  What would it look like for the church today to set aside a meeting time just for the purpose of prayer?  Perhaps, before any energy goes into planning or activity, energy ought to be put into praying together.  This is a collective demonstration of humility, dependence and openness to where the Spirit of God may be leading us.  Here is a question I am meditating on and invite you to also meditate on:  What would it take to be a more prayerful church?

Reflections about Studying, Reading, and Meditating on God's Word

Sometimes I really dive into the text in my study.  I am reminded, though, of something I heard from a very wise and spiritual tuned person.  He said that one of the challenges for someone that has training in the biblical languages, exegesis, and theology, is engaging in what could be called "simply reading" the text.  

When I am trained to be able to study, analyze, and dissect the text, it is not unusual for me to be the one "in control" of the process.  The scriptures can easily become an object of study.  I believe it was Søren Kierkegaard that observed how scholars used the tools of scholarship to keep the scriptures at bay.  In other words, scholars used scholarship to avoid doing what the scriptures instructed.  The scriptures became an academic exercise, an artifact to be studied.  On the other hand, what can be called "simply reading," takes all of this and turns it on its head.  Rather than me approaching the text with my scalpel in order to dissect it, I get out of the driver's seat and let the scriptures take its scalpel to me.  Rather than me analyzing and dissecting the scriptures, the scriptures analyze and dissect me.  After all, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword.  It dissects the thoughts and intentions of my heart.  This can be a challenge to someone with theological and scholarly training.  My first inclination is to grab my Greek or Hebrew text, my lexicons, word studies, historical studies, etc. 

 
It occurs to me that this is not a temptation just for those with scholarly training, but for anyone who engages in Bible "Study."  I look back on my own history and remember that even before I had theological training, I often did the same thing.  It can happen in Bible Classes, study groups, or in individual study.  This is a pitfall for everyone who approaches the Bible.  It seems that the only way to avoid this pitfall is to recognize the word of God as living and active.  It is not like other words because it is the word of God.  It is breathed out by the breath of God, which gives life.  When I read the words of scripture, I am reading something in a completely unique category.  This means that whether I am just "reading" or "studying," I need to begin with prayer.  I need to ask questions such as, "What is God communicating to me?"  or  "What does this teach me about God?"  I need to conclude with prayer and respond to the scriptures, which includes thanksgiving, praise, or repentance.  I need to recognize that God's word is the major tool that God uses on me, whether I think of it as the pure milk of the word that makes me grow, or the sword of the Spirit that helps me to overcome the schemes of the evil one, or something sharper than a two-edged sword, like a spiritual scalpel for my heart, mind, and soul.  

Thank you Lord for the incalculable blessing of your word!  My I meditate on it day and night and be as a tree that has been transplanted by living water, bearing fruit for your glory!

Those Who Challenged God

Our God is an all-powerful, holy, holy, holy God. It is not unusual for someone who encounters God in his holy splendor to prostrate himself flat on his or her face in fearful reverence. The call of Isaiah in Isaiah 6 is a classic example of this. The covenant people of God at the base of mount Sinai had a similar reaction. The holy presence of God covered the top of Mount Sinai with smoke, thunder and lightning along with his great voice. They were so fearful that they wanted to hear the voice of the Lord no more, and asked Moses to be their mediator so they would not have to hear God's voice directly.

Knowing this about our God, many believers would not want to question or challenge God. Few would even dream of implying God might do something too extreme or unwarranted. Yet that is just what Job does in the book of Job. However, Job is not the only one in scripture who is so bold and daring. Maybe it's understandable in Job's case. After all, from a human standpoint he doesn't have much to lose. If God were to smite him, he would die and that would be the end of his suffering. But that is not what Job wants. He wants vindication, but that's another study.

Is it ever okay to challenge God's decisions and actions? Leaving aside the whether there could ever be an appropriate time to do this, there are some illuminating examples of prominent servants of God who boldly challenged the Almighty. 

The first example comes from Genesis 18:22-33. God revealed to Abraham that he would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness. The Hebrew of the passage emphasizes the greatness of their sin in verse 20. Their sin is great "to the extreme" or to put it in contemporary terms, "to the max."  He refers to the great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, which suggest a pattern of grave injustice and cruel wickedness.  The story that follows about the treatment of Lot’s guests shows the sheer depth of the depravity of the people there.   Even after being blinded, the text says that they were still groping to find Lot’s door in order to rape his guests.

God had every right to destroy these cities, and it is likely that anyone who knew anything about these cities would agree. Then Abraham did the unthinkable. It wasn’t that Abraham tried to change God’s mind.  It wasn’t even that he tried to bargain with God to spare the city for a handful of righteous people if they are found in the city.  Rather, it was his bold question which could implicate God - "Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from you! Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Gen 18:25).   What was Abraham saying?  Why would he ask such a thing?  Did he really believe God might do a grave injustice by slaying the innocent along with the wicked? Abraham knew he was going out on a limb, so he pled with God not to get angry as he tried to save the city for the sake of the righteous in it.  In the end, Abraham could not save the city, but as someone once put it, "Abraham has saved God." In other words, if there was any doubt about the justice of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the encounter between Abraham and God and subsequent salvation of Lot and his family has removed all doubt as to God's justice in destroying every man and woman in the city.

Another case in Moses.  When God made a covenant with the newly formed nation of Israel at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. Israel responded with, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do" (Ex 19:8).  But just over a month later, they built an idol and had a feast to the Lord. In response, "⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. ¹⁰ Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” (Ex 32:9-10). There is no doubt that the people are guilty. God redeemed them out of Egyptian bondage to be his own people, and they have already rebelled. There is no doubt that God would be justified when he carries out his intent to destroy these people.

What is curious is God’s words to Moses, “Let me alone so that…”  What is that supposed to mean?  Can Moses really stop God from unleashing his wrath?  In saying this, God practically invited Moses to intervene. Just as God revealed to Abraham what he was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, thereby allowing Abraham to respond, God appears to do the same with Moses.  Moses responded to try and save Israel.  However, unlike Abraham, Moses cannot appeal to God’s justice to try and save them.  There was no doubt that they had sinned and dishonored God even though they could look up and see the presence of God that had enveloped the top of Mount Sinai.  God would have been justified in destroying Israel and starting over again with Moses and make of him a great nation.  This would also been in keeping with the promise God made to Abraham, since Moses was of the seed of Abraham.  Instead, Moses responded with, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.” (Ex 32:11-13)

God had called them "this" people when he wanted to destroy them, but Moses continues to call them "your" people.  Moses appeals to what the Egyptians might say if God destroyed them in the wilderness, and the promise God made to Abraham to multiply his descendants and reminded God that this is “your” people.  Moses simply asks God to relent and change his mind, and the text goes on to say, “So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people” (Ex 32:14).

Unlike Abraham, Moses was able to get God to relent, which was because of the covenant that God had made with theses people.

Another example comes from Amos 7:1-7.

7 Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. ² And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said,  “Lord God, please pardon!
How can Jacob stand, For he is small?” ³ The Lord changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the Lord. ⁴ Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!
How can Jacob stand, for he is small?” ⁶ The Lord changed His mind about this. “This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.”

Twice, God announces judgement on Israel in two visions. Twice, Amos pleads with God, and twice God changed his mind.

The picture Amos paints of the nation and her sins in the previous six chapters of Amos makes it clear that God is justified in unleashing his wrath against Israel. God had caused the nation to become prosperous. However, many were getting rich at the expense of the poor, so God decides to withdraw his blessing and unleash his judgement.  These include judges taking bribes and perverting justice, exploitation of the poor and needy, idolatry, incest, violence against the helpless, etc.  There was do doubt that Israel deserved the justice God planned to bring.  However, when God showed Amos what he would going to do, Amos managed to swerve the nature of God’s judgment.     

There are other examples of men challenging God and/or changing God’s mind However, there is something unique about the examples above. What is amazing is that God intentionally involves men in his decisions.  Moses could have consented and said, "I'm just your slave, I can't stop you. Besides, you're the boss, do what you see is best". Instead, Moses boldly tells God it would be better if God were to spare Israel so that Egypt would not think that God brought Israel out to the wilderness with the evil intention of destroying them. So Moses boldly gives God what he perceives to be a better option, and God takes it! The same could be said of Abraham and Amos.

This demonstrates something about God’s character.  God’s righteous anger is aroused by wickedness and rebellion.  However, his compassions are also kindled by the pleads for mercy.  Here is what God said about himself to Moses when he revealed himself to him in the cleft of the rock:

“⁶ Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; ⁷ who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (Ex 34:6-7)

This passage from the New American Standard translates the Hebrew word, “hesed” as lovingkindness.  The word, which has no English equivalent, is sometimes rendered, steadfast love, unfailing love, loyalty, or even kindness/mercy.  An acceptable translation would be, “covenant love.”  This word refers to love by covenant.  In other words, love that is a choice.   I can’t help but notice the contrast of God visiting the iniquities of the fathers to the third and fourth generations, but covenant love to thousands. 

This self revelation of God and his character became the basis of Moses pleading to God for Israel once again.  After rebelling and making a short-lived plan to elect a new leader and return to Egypt,  “¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? ¹² I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they” (Num 14:11-12).

Once again, God wanted to stary over again with Moses,  Israel had a pattern of grumbling and rebellion against God.

^“13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now” (Numb 14:13-19).

Moses once again pled with God to forgive Israel.  This time, he repeats God’s own words about the kind of God he is: “slow to anger and abundant in covenant love.”  Based on this, he prayed that God pardon them “according to the greatness of your covenant love.”

“So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word” (Num 14:20).

It occurs to me that all of this demonstrates that God is eager to forgive.  Indeed, the Psalmist wrote,

⁵ For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You” (Ps 86:5).

God is ready to forgive.  He is eager to forgive.  He is so eager that he has at times invited the righteous to pray for and plead of behalf of his people.  Based on the greatness of his unfailing love and the pleading of someone to advocate for his people, God changes his mind and relents. 

I know there may be those who might claim this is heresy because it attacks the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and the immutability of God.  However, instead of starting with doctrinal statements and looking for scripture to support them, one should simply read the scriptures and allow them to speak for themselves as to the kind of God we serve. God does not reveal himself in theological propositions, logical deductions, and doctrinal formulas. To reduce God to a proposition does him injustice. God reveals himself through his actions, which are preserved for us in scripture. The Biblical authors do not make the attempt to minimize God to the lowest common denominator. The closest thing you have to this are the statements made about God in various Psalms in the Psalter and Psalms sprinkled throughout the rest of the Old Testament. However, these are not mere abstractions, but are often connected with a story. Even the law given at Sinai is inseparable from the history connected to it. To separate law from the story leads to legalism. God is our Father who has come to live among us, not an abstract theological deduction.

God is holy, but he is not so sensitive that his people cannot question him. God is much bigger than we are. He can take it.  As uncomfortable as this may be at times, it can be considered a great act of faith and is often the time of the greatest spiritual growth. 

Cosmic Level Prayer

Reading through the book of Ephesians has been a good reminder of how we always need to keep the big picture in our minds, especially in 2020.  The first three chapters focuses repeatedly on the cosmic picture of God's plan and how we fit in it.  At the center of his plan is the "Immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" (Eph 1:19-20).

Ephesians 2:6 says that God "raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."  We are also seated with him in the heavenly places!  We are involved in cosmic struggle alongside Christ with many things happening behind the scenes.  This is why the text goes on to say that God has entrusted his grace to us so that, "through the church that manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rules and authorities in the heavenly places" (Eph 3:10). 

Since we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, we participate in his work.  Reigning with Christ at God's right hand involves dominion.  God's plan for dominion is through personal redemption and reformation through the Gospel of Kingdom.  As we spread the Gospel, people respond by submission to the King of Kings.  

This is a spiritual battle.  Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."  The following analogy of the armor of God teaches that we need truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer.  The text tells us to take up the whole armor of God, which means that each of these are indispensable in our cosmic struggle.  The text says as we use the armor, we need to be "praying at all times in the Spirit."

There are two prayers in Ephesians which could be called "cosmic prayers."  The first in at 1:15-23, and the second is at 3:14-21.  It is good to reflect on these prayers as a model of what to pray for as we struggle against the cosmic powers in the heavenly places.  

In the second prayer, I am struck by the phrasing in verse 3:18, which prays that we "may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth."    The word, katalambano, which is translated "comprehend," means to overtake, seize, overcome, or apprehend.  It is used in places like Mark 9:18, where a demon would "seize" someone, or 1 John 1:5, where the darkness did not "overcome" the light.  When it is used of thinking, to "overcome/apprehend with the mind," it can be translated "comprehend," which is how many translations have rendered this.  The prayer is that we would have the strength to apprehend/overcome the breadth, length, height, and depth.  However big it is, the prayer is that we have the strength to overtake it.  

This prayer, in light of Ephesians 6:10-18, is a reminder of what "praying at all times in the Spirit" should focus on.  The prayer is not to diminish the battle, but to increase our strength through the power of God.  The prayer is not a prayer to change the circumstances, but to change me.  God did not shrink Goliath.  Instead, he strengthened David with power in the inner person.  He increased David inwardly and David overcame Goliath.

What a needed reminder during a time such as 2020!  Whatever Goliath comes our way, we need to pray.  There is a struggle happening behind the scenes, and it is not about a virus, politics, or even the economy.  The enemy is hard at work to both prevent and destroy faith in God.  However, God is able to do for more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. We know Christ is reigning at God's right hand, and we are seated with him.  May we never lose our focus.

Lord, please enlighten the eyes of our heart.  Fill us up with all the fullness of Christ.  Root and ground us in love.  Fill us with power, love, and discipline.  Make us greater than the task. 

Reflection on Genesis 44: Divination in God's Family?

In Genesis 30, Laban tells Jacob, "I have divined that the LORD has  blessed me on your account."  Through divination, Laban figures out that  the reason he has been so prosperous over the years is because Jacob  has God's favor and he has been indirectly blessed by this.   

In  Genesis 44, when Joseph meets his brothers after years of living in  Egypt, he has his cup secretly placed in Benjamin's bag.  But it is not  just any ordinary cup. It is the cup that Joseph uses for divination. 

Apparently,  even though these folks seemed to follow Yahweh, they still were  engaging in the pagan practice of divination.  I am reminded of when  Saul was told in 1 Samuel 15 that "rebellion is as the sin of  divination."  This indicates that divination is something that God finds  abhorrent.

I wonder, under what circumstances did they  practiced divination?  Why didn't they seek the Lord for guidance?  Was  divination a way they tried to find guidance from Yahweh?  Didn't they  understand that Yahweh is not bound by spells, incantations, or any  other attempts to try and manipulate him?   Did they not know that this is actually a pagan notion and not a true view of God? 

I wonder if we have pagan notions of God, or some other unbiblical notion of God that affects how we approach him?  I wonder if  we have our own ways of trying to manipulate him.  Maybe it is  bargaining with God, or thinking that using a verbal formula or posture for  praying will be the thing to make him do something.  What forms of “divination” do we have in our lives? 

How patient God is as we grow in  our understanding! How merciful he is even in our stubbornness!  In spite of our immaturity, God still blesses us due  to his graciousness, just as he blessed Laban, Jacob or Joseph through the rough times  in  life.  Truly, God is Good! 

Lord, please for give us for our foolish ways.  May we always seek you as you are, not not as we wish you to be.  Help us to humbly seek you through your word and to be faithful and devoted to your in spite of our weaknesses.  Thank you Lord for your long-suffering patience.