Jesus Prays, Part 1

Prayer is our communication with God and a fundamental element of our faith. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 instructs: "Pray without ceasing". Philippians 4:6 instructs: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...". Prayer is simple and it is personal therefore it does not need design. But there is wisdom in the way that Jesus prayed. In our emulation of Him, we can enhance the way that we pray to our Father.

Let's look at Jesus' prayers in scripture. The first one we will look at is from Matthew 6:5-14. In these verses, Jesus taught us how to pray. Just before, Jesus explained that prayer should not be full of empty praises. So pure memorization and recitation of this prayer would not quite be enough. Let's see how Jesus modeled this prayer to extract the full meaning of what He meant with this example.

Acknowledgement of God's Presence & Holiness 

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.

A reverent and effective prayer begins with acknowledgement of God. Prayer, the line of open communication connects to our Holy Father. We can think, think, think an abundance of thoughts and worries towards Him but He deserves to be acknowledged first. His presence and His holiness. Having the faith to put God first gives our prayer direction and our soul remembrance of reception. 

Psalm 56:8 and Revelation 5:8 tell us that God collects our prayers and tears. He keeps a record of the things that happen to us, the things that we talk to Him about. Opening prayer with acknowledgement of God on the receiving end converts our thoughts to prayers. It also soothes our soul. It is a reminder of His presence. It is a reminder that our God is hallowed, holy. There is no safer place for the words and feelings we are about to express. By God they are compassionately collected, comprehensively understood, and objectively analyzed. 

When God is specifically designated as the receiving end of our thoughts, we are on the receiving end of God's grace and mercy. His love. His guidance and instruction. His peace. Mere thoughts and internal worries are converted to prayers to our caring Father who will actually do something about them. For without Him, we know from experience and Matthew 5:25-27, nothing changes.

 

Faith in God's Sovereignty + Plan

Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

It benefits every prayer to be full of faith in God's plan and obedience to His will. Trusting God's will and plan to supercede our own helps us to reconcile the differences between what we want and what we have. It helps us to accept that our current situation may not look the way we wanted it to but is looked on by God nevertheless. 

After all, it is His will and plan that we do want. Romans 8:26 explains that God intercedes in our prayers because we do not even know what to pray for. It benefits us to acknowledge this within our prayer. Whether we open a prayer to tell God something joyful or sorrowful, we want to put it in His hands to manage. If it is something good, we pray for it to be fostered by His will and plan. If it is something bad, we pray for it to be managed by His will and plan. We do not need to tell God how to fix something. He knows better than we do.

By this portion of Jesus' prayer, we are also reminded that there is an overarching plan. God is attuned to the minor details of each of His children's life but also He has a plan for the whole of heaven and humanity. The universe. All of it is under His subjection, has been planned for and is headed in the direction He chose. Sometimes it helps to feel small. Very important to God but also small. He has so much planned. He can handle our big things because they are simple for Him who has designs for all of creation.

 

 Reliance on God as Steadfast Provider

Give us this day our daily bread,

We require many provisions but we can rely on God for them all. In John 6:35 Jesus states: "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall not thirst." And Matthew 4:4 explains: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." So in prayer, when we ask for our daily bread, we are asking also for spiritual provision. The bread that truly sustains us in whatever the situation.

It is that that our soul cannot lack. Blessedly, it does not need to. In our prayers, we can steadfastly request and receive it from God. He is quite aware of our weak frame. Our need to be continuously sustained. Psalm 103:14, God remembers that we are "dust" and compensates for it with His abundant compassion and provision.

Adding this request for spiritual sustenance (and general provision) truly combats our lack right out of the gate. John 4:14, God provides a spring that wells up to eternal life. God will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing to those who fully produce for His kingdom (Malachi 3:10).

Know that God has the resources and the willingness to bless, ask for those blessings in prayer. Let this knowledge remind us of our participating in the kingdom. Our tithes to the Lord. What resources or gifts we received from God, pour back into His eternal purpose. He has enough to continue pouring it back into us and our lives.

 

Accountability and Repentance

and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Romans 3:23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Asking for forgiveness is imperative. The gift of forgiveness from God should not be overlooked or underused. We don't dredge up our mistakes to be shamed for them, we bring them to God to have a conversation that will heal and grow and instruct us through them.

Matthew 6:14-15 reminds us to forgive others so that we will be forgiven. The measure you use will be measured to you, Matthew 7. If God can forgive your repentant heart, endeavor to forgive the repentant hearts that come to you. Reconcile differences with your brothers before approaching the altar of God, Matthew 5:23-24. If possible, live peaceably with all, Romans 12:18.

God does not want us to open prayer as a hypocrite, Matthew 5:6. Lack self awareness, accountability, and self discipline, by nature blocks any instruction or guidance we could receive from God. We will not always open prayer as innocents but we can close it as innocents. And that is a gift and an opportunity no prayer should neglect.

 

Plea for Protection and Leadership

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

We come to God with thoughts and feelings and ideas and so much more. As we journey through life, as our souls sojourn here, we need God to lead us through it all. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, Psalm 37:23. There is truly no need to take a single step that has not been directed by God. And why would we want to? Our prayer should include a request for His leadership.

By nature, we bumble around. Without God, we are like a bull in a china shop. Even when we make a point to act or speak with good intentions, we sometimes make a mess of things. We endeavor to be like Jesus, to be mature and excel in emulation of Him but we make mistakes. He is omniscient, He will always see and catch things that will miss. Therefore we need to walk by faith, not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7. To do that, we need to pray to God to indeed order our steps. We need to steadfastly endeavor to be the good man whose steps are ordered by the Lord. We pray for God to lead us away from our own internal weaknesses that lead to evil. We pray for God to lead us away from others' actions that could land us in evil.

If, in prayer, we can remember to tack these main principles to the corkboard of everything else we have to say to God, we will see how powerful prayer truly is. Prayer at work within us, the Lord a surgeon complete will all necessary tools and dexterity to fulfill the John 10:10 promise of Jesus: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Prayer Posture

Our relationship with God is built on faith; faith is kept healthy by the quality and consistency of our communication with God. We communicate with Him through prayer. It's straightforward. And yet, different seasons in life change our prayer posture. From examples in scripture, we see the reality of what raw, natural prayer looks like in different stages of life and faith. Let it help us to grow in our own prayer life and to feel absolutely comfortable pouring it all out to God.

Hannah's Prayer to the Lord, 1 Samuel 2

[9] After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. [10] She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. [11] And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

[12] As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. [13] Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. [14] And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” [15] But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. [16] Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”

Sometimes prayer is ugly, messy, unrefined. Imagine Hannah's distress that even as she prayed in her innermost closet (Matthew 6:6), it was apparent to an onlooker that she was wild with emotion. From Hannah we learn that God does not expect us to be beautiful, organized and polished in prayer. Our internal conflict, emotional condition and life situations are complicated. We are not making a presentation to God to inform Him of our life. He knows what is happening around us... prayer is our ever-present opportunity to express our reaction to it in the most honest way. With our Father we are safe lose our composure.

But from Hannah we learn something even more beneficial to our prayer posture: pre-dedication of the thing prayed for. Hannah wanted to be a mother more than she wanted anything else in the world. And yet, she promised that if she became a mother, she would dedicate her child to the Lord. She became a mother and nursed her baby and then she indeed dedicated Samuel to the Lord (he became one of the greatest prophets in the Bible).

The healthiest relationship we can have with God is one that is two-sided in love. When God fulfills a promise or a prayer, plan to dedicate that blessing back to His purposes. If we ever want something that is not mutually beneficial, it is not something we need. It is probably not even good for us. Before you ask, or even while you ask, consider how the request advances God's plans, not just your own. No matter how good of a case you are able to make, God will do what is best for you. But your appreciation for each other will grow so deep; your prayer posture, this position, will open wide the channel for blessing in your life. Because the harvest is plenty and the laborers are few. There are many positions open for those willing to labor for God's harvest with their blessings. 

The Widow's Prayer, Luke 18

In Luke 18, Jesus told a parable about a persistent woman and an apathetic judge. Not only was the judge an unbeliever (which meant that he felt no responsibility to be just) but also he had no respect for humanity (thus he felt no motivation to be just). Yet this widow kept coming to him, asking for justice. He refused her several times but finally, in frustration and just to make her go away, he gave her case justice. Jesus then explained that if even a man such as that is convinced to act justly... how much more our righteous Father, the ultimate judge!

We learn persistent prayer posture from the widow. Faith is exercised by consistency. Jesus revealed to us that persistent prayers are swiftly answered by God. God answers the prayers of His chosen; He has heard them crying, praying, pleading out to Him day and night. In the process of persistent prayer, with God and within ourselves, we grow in character. We grow in preparedness for the journey and result of the answered prayer. Persistent prayer communicates to God that we are dedicated to this request and willing to endure until His arrangement of it.

Moreover, our commitment to a prayer for a just thing communicates to God that we know He is a just king. When our heart holds that amount of knowledge and trust in who He is, God can see that we have read verses such as (Matthew 7:10) where Jesus taught us to believe that we will never receive from God a serpent when we have prayed for a fish. Then not only is it apparent that we have been consistent in prayer but also in the word of God. We have built our lives around it and it has affected our prayer posture in every way.

The Pharisee's Prayer, Luke 18

Jesus then told a parable about a man that God chose not to justify. This unique bit of scripture teaches us about bad prayer posture. So how did this man pray? He approached God as a righteous man; arrogantly unaware of the plank in his own eye (Matthew 7:3). And finally, he was religiously regimented in fasting and tithing.

To adequately highlight what is wrong about this man's prayer posture, Jesus continued with an example of the prayer posture of a man who was justified by God.

The Tax Collector's Prayer, Luke 18

This man stood far off, too humble to deign to approach God. With wild emotion reminiscent of Hannah, he beat his chest and genuflected to God so much that he did not even feel worthy to lift his eyes to heaven. His request was for God to be merciful to him, a sinner. It is this man, Jesus stated, that went home justified.

So what is the difference and what do we learn? It is God's grace upon us that exalts the humble. It is crucial that we understand ourselves as we are: imperfect and infinitesimal compared to all that God is. We are small and we all fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). It is only our knowledge of that, our humility, that makes God deem us worthy to host His spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). 

Sacrifices made to God out of ritual or tradition make void the word of God (Matthew 7:13). We can fast, we can tithe, but if we are not in close, communicative, humble relationship with God it does not count. It does not matter. It does not move God with compassion for us.

Genuflection before God is a gift not a right. That God deigns to welcome us into His presence, to give us His ear, is our blessed opportunity to praise and to repent... not to attempt to establish us as anything other than woefully imperfect and in grateful need of every promise He has generously made.

David's Prayer, (73/150 in the Book of Psalms; notably: Psalms 18;139)

Part of what is so beautiful about David's prayer posture is that they often tell of the journey of faith. They begin with David a place of sorrow or distress and then praise the process of God's rescue and restoration. They begin with David encircled by the enemy but end with David encamped by the Lord.

David's prayers are expressions stark vulnerability yet great love for God. From the womb to birth, from every step of life to God's glory in heaven, David covers it. David's prayer posture often held and taught or reminded us of the eternal perspective. That God has not only charted our individual journey, but gone before us and prepared the space.

David's prayers are filled with love and surrender, sorrow and joy, praise and repentance. David sees himself as a worm before God...but also, as wonderfully made by God. David sees God and His power and mercy as inestimable. Yet accessible, and even proffered. Abundantly. David explains God to be a fortress, a shield, a firm foundation, the ultimate protection against the enemy. God as armor and salvation.

There is no element within God's arsenal of goodness and capability that David neglects to explore. Nor does David neglect to remember or to highlight how all of God's specific goodness changed and saved and protected his life in specific moments. He connects God's arrival and steadfastness in the past as God's reliability in present and future concerns.

David is included here not only because of the quality and quantity and comprehensiveness of his prayers but because of how is described by God in 1 Samuel 13:14. A man after God's own heart. Imagine the glory that would respond to a person whose posture in prayer was a sprinter running with all it had toward one thing only: God's own heart. Arriving in prayer to praise and to ask only for what is in God's heart.

Solomon's Prayer, 1 Kings 3

Solomon's prayer is another unique bit of scripture because it tells us that it pleased God. Naturally, we want to know about the prayer that made our Father happy (because we love Him and we seek to please Him for all that He is to us).

The Lord appeared to Solomon, a brand new king, in a dream and said: Ask what I shall give you. Imagine that! Imagine God appearing in a dream to ask us what we want. It is doubtful many would not be ready with answers pertaining to their needs and desires. But Solomon answered the Lord with his mind on the needs of God's people.

Solomon was known as king, but he presented himself to the Lord as he truly was: God's servant. He was a servant of God in a position of power on the earth. Solomon's request was to meld those two truths together. First and foremost, we are servants of God. Hopefully, willing and joyful servants within His kingdom. But we also have responsibilities on earth. We hold positions as leaders and parents, teachers and friends, spouses and coworkers and so much more that require understanding and discernment if we are to carry those roles out as children of God.

Like Solomon then, we must learn to pray for the tools and resources we need to shepherd well what sheep we have. Our place in the kingdom corresponds with the work we do right here today in the earth (Luke 12:48). And it is God's pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32), to equip and encourage us within our part of it. Prayer posture with the intent to serve the kingdom of God, here on earth, is powerfully answered by God.

Jesus' Prayer, Luke 22

Jesus prayed to the Lord before His crucifixion. He withdrew and knelt and prayed. He began His request with "Father, if you are willing..." and ended his prayer with "Nevertheless, not My, will but Yours, be done." In agony, He prayed earnestly. And more earnestly, and even sweated.

Jesus' prayer posture can be described this way: He put everything into it and expected only what God wanted out of it. The prayer of His spirit was so serious, intentional, purposeful, and effortful that even His physical body was affected.

Prayer posture positioned in trust is something we strive evermore for in faith. To preface our deepest desire with the word if is a bold move in faith. To end it with relinquishment of our own will and subjection to God's is beautiful courage in faith. Such faith is a life built on the proper, solid foundation (Matthew 7:24-27). Such faith is striven for. It is evidence of endurance, of blood, sweat and tears poured out in relationship and communication with God. 

It is a peak we arrive at when we have crawled through valleys and climbed the crags of the hardest and deepest and steepest of life's battles and journeys with God. Such prayer posture rests in security because it trusts in God's willingness and ability answer the prayer in the time and manner that is best... while in the midst of great desperation.

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus promises that if we keep our eyes and our efforts on the Kingdom of God, our Father will provide all that we need. But even when we know that truth deep in our bones, we must keep our communication with God open and active and healthy and consistent. Romans 8:27 tells us that we do not even know what to pray for (but God knows what we need (Matthew 6:8)) and His spirit intercedes for us. In that process of communication with Him, His spirit intercedes. We welcome His intercession from the posture of prayer. Thus prayer is an essential element. We cannot neglect to talk to Him because it is during prayer that we are blessed with His intercession. We are blessed that He corrects as we speak; overrides our choices with His own; exerts His will above our own and ultimately arranges life and more abundantly (John 10:10).

Faith Made You Well

Jesus tells three recently healed people that their faith has made them well. What kind of faith makes one well?

The Fringe of His Garment Luke 8:43-48; Matthew 9:18-22

Faith in the ability of God. In the midst of a massive crowd, a woman with a years-long ailment thought that she would never be able to capture the attention of Jesus. She doubted that she would have a one-on-one healing interaction with Him, but she did not doubt His ability to heal. She believed so wholly in Him that she knew just to touch Him would be enough. In her steadfast belief and desperation, she pressed her hand to his garment. She captured the attention of the healer, our Jesus. He heard her faith. If I only touch his garment, I will be made well. Jesus spoke the words to her: Your faith has made you well. And instantly, she was. 

When we ask of the Father, our request should ring in His ears with faith. No matter how we frame the prayer, we have to ask ourselves which question our heart is really asking: Father can you do this versus Father will you do this. We cannot ask without expectation. Not the greedy kind. Not a demand. But a belief that He will heal a situation (as He sees fit) when we ask. When it is time to prayer, we must approach the request not by thinking: It wouldn't hurt to ask... but it will heal to ask.

To surrender a situation into God's hands it to render it completely to His control. It is not a softball thrown into the heavens. It is placement; it is subjection to His authority and ability. If we have the faith to know that (Matthew 9:29).

We might find ourselves in the midst of chaos and within it, it might be hard to believe that we can have a one-on-one healing interaction with God. But if we place that burden in His hand, if we touch our Father's garment for His healing...then just like that we have our one-on-one interaction. He feels the touch of His child. As He did with this woman, He feels us draw the power we need from Him to empower ourselves. He feels us access the promises He made us. He feels us reach for the provision because we believed Him when He told us it was there.

Where Are the Nine? Luke 17:11-19

Ten men with leprosy pleaded with Jesus for mercy, to be healed of their affliction. Jesus healed the ten, but only one man turned back. He turned back to praise God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus' feet and gave Him thanks. Nobody else returned to praise God. Jesus told only the one who praised that His faith made Him well. All were healed, but only one was made well.

The kind of healing Jesus provides is deeper than a restoration of our physical body. It is entirely possible to have superficial faith. To have blessings in life and to carry on with them but never express gratitude for them. It is faith with gratitude toward God that makes one well. Well in the deeper sense. Well situated for the eternal kingdom. This is the wellness of the spirit. Of rightness with God.

Jesus noted the ones who did not return. Healed of leprosy, their position in the world increased. But because of their ingratitude, their position in gaze of God decreased. Scripture reminds us that the former is irrelevant but the latter is everything. Your position with God is the only thing that matters. A healthy relationship with God makes one well. We take and take and take from Him, from His endless storehouses of generosity, and the only thing we could ever give back is our gratitude, our love, our praise. Yet He accepts our meager offering. To not offer even it? That soul, that faith is unwell in the direst sense.

Mercy on Me Luke 18:35-43

A blind man by the roadside called out: Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. This caught Jesus' attention. He asked: What do you want me to do for you? Then man responded: Lord, let me recover my sight. And then Jesus gave Him the words: your faith has made you well. Immediately the man recovered his sight and glorified God.

When you are on the roadside of despair and need, know the Lord you call out to. The blind man knew Jesus' lineage. Through David, from Abraham to Noah and Adam. The one promised, arrived. But he also knew the character of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.

God described the character His children could expect from Him as merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving and willing to convict the guilty (Exodus 34:6-7). If we know who He is then we know what we can reasonably ask of Him. Ensure never to plead as if to a stranger. Communicate like a child with their Father. Pray for His mercy and grace, patience and steadfast love, faithfulness and forgiveness and ability to convict the unjust. These are fruits grown on the tree of life and we have been given access to partake.

We want to pay close attention to what Jesus says in scripture. We want to pay even closer attention to what He repeats. To have the faith that makes one well, look at Jesus' interactions with these three individuals. Focus on the kind and quality of their faith. Build it in yourself through your relationship with God. When it is time to return to the Father, we want Him to declare that we have been made well by our faith.

At Your Word

In Luke 5:1-11, Simon Peter becomes a disciple of Jesus. In a few verses, we learn a whole lot about faith.

At Your Word, I Will I will accept Your invitation to obey

Jesus preached all night. Peter fished. Jesus preached the word of God and it garnered many. Peter dropped his net for fish but caught none. Peter washed his net as his sleepless night of labor ended. Then, Jesus approached. Jesus told Peter to take the boat back out and let his net down for a catch. Peter explained that he had done exactly that all night with no result... but that at Jesus's word, he would go back out.

It's difficult not to apply this to our own lives today. In our own way, we all have an empty net. We could spend our whole lives casting nets and pulling them back up empty. Even if we are consistent and dedicated and tireless in our labor. Even if stay up all night and wash our net in the early morning. We can do it until we grow weary and we will do it until we grow weary... there Jesus will meet us and invite us to go back out. 

At Jesus' Knees My net is full but my prize is Christ

Jesus filled Peter's nets. He overfilled them. Peter's crew signaled for others to help with the bursting nets. Immediately: Action. Chaos, excitement, abundance. Noise. The tear of ripped nets. Fish tails slapping in the heap. Shouts to the other boats for assistance. Boats sinking under the weight of the catch. Men calling to one another, heaving the nets on board...but Peter...

Peter was not among them. Peter fell at Jesus's knees. Peter, whose main objective that night, whose livelihood was to catch fish, turned his eyes from the miracle to the one who performed it. The others were astonished by the miracle and their first response was to take hold of it. To grab it all, even if it sunk the boat. But Peter was astonished by Jesus. Not for all the fish in the sea would Peter take his eyes off of Him. For the other men in the boat, the reward was in the net. For Peter, Jesus was the reward.

Fishers of Men I cast my net for Holy purpose not personal prosperity

Jesus's purpose was not to make Peter a successful fisherman. Jesus's purpose is not to make us successful in our respective careers or areas of skill or passion. Jesus's purpose is to draw God's children back into His Kingdom. Any career, skill or passion is simply the means to accomplish the garnering of souls to Jesus. To fill the net with believers. To fish the lost and broken from the sea. To preach them back to life in whatever manner takes shape in each life.

Jesus explained this to Peter; Peter left everything and followed Him. The question is: who else will leave their own plan behind in order to pursue what God has planned? Who will choose to save their life by losing it for Jesus (Matthew 16:25)? Who will decrease so that He can increase (John 3:30)? 

Broken Spirit

We all have moments of sorrow and shallow patience and lost tempers. Our love and attempted emulation of Jesus adeptly guides us through and out of those moments. In Him our trials produce growth. But what happens when our spirit is broken...when patience dries up, hope runs out, strength meets its limit and we lose the will to carry on? If we are faithful to our Father, we cry out to Him. But what happens next? God hears. Does He respond? Scripture promises He does. Through Moses, Job and Elijah scripture provides the detailed response we can expect from God in the lowest moments of our sojourn here.

Clenched Fists, Moses Numbers 11:11-23

In Numbers 11, Moses is done. Moses is remembered most often for the incredible miracles God performed through Him. Known for messages of freedom and parted seas. For leading the tribes of Israel from enslavement to the promised land. Told in highlights, it is all glory and wonder. But if we look at the specifics of the journey, it was, like our lives, a journey indeed. An emotional and spiritual trek through peaks and valleys. The highest highs and the lowest lows.

Today we look at a low point. We study it because it is realistic and because we need to know that God is present and responsive when we need Him most. Read Moses' cry to God:

[11] Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? [12] Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?... [15] If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness."

This is not a flowery, respectful prayer. But it is honest. And most importantly, it is communication with God. It is not the most reverent communication but within it is full-blown belief in God. You cannot yell at someone you don't believe is there. Moses is not having a crisis of faith, that is not what this sermon is about. Moses is having a crisis as he carries out a mission within his life in faith. Jesus promised that would have trouble and then gifted us with all of the tools we would need to persevere through it. The most important one: communication with God.

Why is Moses was upset with the people?

On God's command, and by God's Hand, Moses led the tribes of Israel out of Egypt. Yet since even before the day of freedom, the people tormented Moses with their ingratitude, general misery and even outright insult toward God.

The tribes wanted to be free. God freed them. Moses led them through God's parted sea into freedom, a wilderness... a barren land, yes but empty of what? Empty of enslavers. Empty of the nations that would have intimidated them so badly they would have run right back into slavery. Yet the people complained. They accused Moses of leading them merely to die. The people had no faith and their unbelief was a weight on Moses.

Every step of the way, Moses had to believe for the whole group. Work for the whole group. Make arrangements for the whole group. When they did not believe they would be freed, he had to know and ensure God's promises to them. When the Egyptians chased after them, Moses had to believe that God could do the possible, could make a way for a people he was urging to walk it. When they did not believe they would find water in the desert, Moses had to believe that God would produce from nothing a source for an essential need. When the people had nothing to eat, Moses had to trust that God could provide.

And when all of the provision from God miraculously came through and was still unsatisfactory to the people... after Moses had fought in faith for them, interceded for them, dedicated his life to God's plan for them... it broke his spirit. Suddenly Moses did not feel chosen to lead; he felt chosen to suffer. And for what? Have you ever experienced times when your communication with God mirrors the verses above? Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this? These people aren't even my responsibility. If this is how it's going to be, do me a favor and take me out right now. This is the moment when life is so hard it seems the only mercy God could have on you is death.

But Moses, like all of us who take up the cross to do our specific duty for the kingdom within our specific circumstances, was not chosen for an easy mission. God does not meet us and say: I have an unimportant, not-difficult-in-any-way objective for you. You're a random, suitable-enough person for this meaningless task. No, no, no. God says: I have written all the days of your life in My book (Psalm 139:16-17); I have a plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11). It will be difficult and heavy (John 16:33), therefore "take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29–30). 

So how did God respond to Moses? First: God heard. Second: God had compassion. But more than that: He acted. As we learn from Jesus, God is moved by compassion to act (Mark 1:41). Immediately, God developed a plan and implemented it. God instructed Moses to gather together and appoint elders from the community share the duties that were swallowing Moses whole. Did God believe that Moses could do it alone? Probably yes. Even from the very start God only begrudgingly allowed Moses' brother Aaron to share in the plan He had for Moses. But God cared about what Moses thought, how Moses felt. He took it into consideration and make adjustments that would help him accomplish his purpose.

Moreover, God did not forget the final problem that sent Moses over the edge: the people were unruly in their desire for meat. For something different to eat. Moses remained indignant with God, because he was human. God had immediately helped him and still Moses... we can almost imagine, was breathing heavily, not yet ready to release his anger. God promised that if the people wanted meat, he would make it happen. Moses basically responded: Oh, really? And how are you going to do that? We're in the middle of a desert.

God is not fragile; He deserves to be loved and spoken to reverently, but He can withstand the torrent that comes out of our broken spirit. God responded with patience, a promise of who He is, and with provision. When our tantrum is soul-deep weariness, we can trust God to be as long-suffering as He promises He is. God said He would help. Reminded Moses that He was not incapable and had not become so, and that Moses would see the provision with his own eyes. And he did see; (God provided so much meat the tribes of Israel then complained about that)!

When you have fought and have wrestled and you don't have anything left to give, remember...God will hear and have compassion. God will remain patience and reassure His promise. God will provide a plan and implement it (with consideration for us in the forefront of His mind).

Broken Spirit, Job Job 38

There are different types of broken spirits and different routes to get there. Yet God remains stoic, our firm foundation. In the book of Job, we meet a man who lost everything to the whims of Satan: his family, his home, his community and reputation, comfort in his own skin; every single thing he ever had...except for his life and his faith. He had reason to be broken of spirit. For Job, to live meant to suffer... because he was broken hearted, and because he was woefully unaware that God had something greater at work than he knew.

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Job 3:3-4

Moses wished he could die; Job cursed the day he was born. Like each of them, we might lose sight of our purpose here or maybe we never understood it at all. Job contended with God on this line of thought and God put him in his place. Just because Job did not understand, just because Job could not parse out the reason or purpose behind the trial did not, by any means, mean that God did not have one. 

God responded with solemnity. Dignified and serious, God called Job to be the same.

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Job 38:1–4

In a sense, God says: pull yourself together. Put your gospel armor back on. I have given you power over your enemies (Luke 10:19) and have allowed you to host the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are not some weak thing to be tossed in the winds of secular influence and ungodly counsel. Your Father laid the foundations of the earth; you are a child of the king and not some pitiable nobody. God's greater purpose is always at work for the this world, within this life and despite your awareness (or not) of it.

And that message humbled Job. Talked him down from the ledge, so to speak. Job said: I am small. I will put my hand over my mouth. Sometimes we need to do that; sometimes we need to hear the Lord remind us of who He is. We need to get rid of the pride that rises within us and demands to know the reason or thinks it has the authority to declare that there isn't one. Maybe we do not know it, maybe we do not see it, but we have to know God if we say we believe in Him. Is He unfocused? Has He no plan or strength or foresight?

Our Father is so tender and comprehensive (and stern when He needs to be). He puts compassion into action when we feel overburdened. But He also calls us to stand back at attention, so to speak. To remember who He is, to remember who breathed life into our lungs. God knows that we will falter in strength and has prepared for that (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). But we must never falter in remembrance of His strength.

After dressing Job down for completely neglecting to remember the majesty of God, God restored Job. His gains were double what he lost. And God blessed him and allowed Job to live a whole, full life, prosperous in blessing. But more than that, God used Job to serve an essential message to Satan behind the scenes. (Job's story also became an essential message delivered to millions over thousands of years).

Do we serve a wet noodle? Are the storehouses of heaven empty? Has the Lord's arm been shortened (Numbers 11:23)? When our soul is destitute and we forget our own strength we must not forget our Father's! God has a plan and He has made a promise. He is capable and dependable. We do not curse the day of our birth because a beautiful Father arranged it and each day of that life was written, on that day, in His book. So when we are standing in wreckage, as Job stood, we do not wallow in lamentations, we allow God to lift us up, and dust us off in order to resume standing firm in faith. 

God responds by resituating you in His plan and redirecting you to His power.

Weary Soul, Elijah the Prophet 1 Kings 1:19

Elijah the Prophet ran for his life into the wilderness. Worse than his fear of the evil one who promised to hunt and kill him was his feeling of failure. Dejection.

"It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 1 Kings 19:4-7

Moses felt justifiably overburdened. Job felt justifiably bereft. Elijah felt unjustifiably like a failure. Elijah experienced, before any of us experienced it, that moment when you gave everything, everything you had and it did not amount to enough. That moment when you are ready to be done not because you do not have the will to go on but because you do not have anything left to give.

It is then that God rushes in, in His ever present brilliance, with spiritual sustenance. Not meat or manna in the desert. Not with a reminder of the purpose and the plan. But with rest and love and a nudge for the soul that comes from the Holy Spirit. And with ministry directly from His angels. It is then that we are awoken each day by His touch and moved by His hand to arise, to partake of what our spirit needs to continue on.

In this place, God sustains us and listens to the very voice of our soul. Like Elijah, we might say: Lord, I have loved you all my days. I have fought in this faith. In return, the world slaughtered every good work at every turn. I am the only thing left standing, there is only a wisp of resistance left in me. I have been marked for death. Elijah felt stark loneliness; the other prophets of the Lord had been murdered, yet there was work still to be done.

God shook the earth. God lit a blazing fire. He signaled to Elijah that if all were indeed lost, God could end it. He could end him and every thing around him. He could just scrap it. If Elijah had nothing left to give and there was nothing left to save anyway, God could shut it down. If the situation called for a great conflagration, an earthquake of all earthquakes, God was capable to bring it. To bring it all down, to burn it all up.

But then... a still, quiet voice. A gentle breeze. A reminder of God's delicate, intricate plan. Mercy, grace and patience. When everything is chaos, all ways are blocked and any plan seems hopeless, God is calm and able. And He will minister to the one within it.

Curled up in the fetal position of despair or wrapped up in a cloak of weariness in a cave (like Elijah) God will meet us; He will minister to us, and He will allow us to speak. Elijah, what are you doing here? And we will pour out our heart of hopelessness at His feet. And gently, again, God will ask us: what are you doing here? And we will cry out. And God will give us a reason to stand up, the motivation to take a step. To stand on the mount with Him, to see from His perspective, and thus to carry on. The first step to take, even if it is tiny.

We are never alone or forsaken. As a child of God, there is no opportunity for hope to fail. There is no place we could run that He would not meet us, that one of His angels could not reach. There is no place that does not have a vantage point from which to see through His eyes... if we allow Him to lead us there. God will respond with ministry, spiritual sustenance and leadership.

Whether we are as angry as Moses, as sorrowful as Job or as weary as Elijah, God will respond. Our broken spirits are mended by the Lord in that place to which we run, cower or out flat out lay down and cry.

God is Love

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 

1 John 4:8

A tiny but mighty bit of scripture: 1 Kings 3:16-28.

King Solomon presided over a controversial matter (of which there were no witnesses). Two women stood before him: they were prostitutes and as such, they lived in the same house. Both had recently given birth to a baby boy. 

The first woman gave birth. Three days later, the second woman gave birth. But one of the babies died in the night. At midnight, one of the women noticed that her baby had died; she swapped the deceased baby for the living baby while his mother slept. One of the women woke up in the morning to feed her child but realized he was dead. But she studied the baby in the morning light and realized it was not her baby. At this point, the second woman interjected... she exclaimed that she was the mother of the living baby.

It was King Solomon's duty, his first since becoming king, to discern the truth and judge the matter fairly. To return the living baby to his biological mother. But how? There were no witnesses. There were no fathers to claim their child. There were no DNA tests.

Immediately preceding this case, God visited Solomon in a dream. God granted Solomon the opportunity to ask for anything he wanted. Humbly, Solomon asked for wisdom, which he lacked due to his youth. He asked for the ability to discern good and bad; he asked for the ability to aptly judge the people. God granted this request.

And here was Solomon's first case; his first chance to use the wisdom God gave him. But this was a case that, seemingly, could not be solved with wisdom. That must have been what an onlooker thought, anyway, as they heard Solomon ask for his sword. Solomon commanded that the living child be divided in two; was his thought process that the only justice to be had would be that both mothers' babies died?

Much more clever, and compassionate, and just than that, Solomon's actions keenly exposed the deceitful mother! For his words drew the true mother of the living baby to immediately beg the king to spare the life of the baby; to give the child to the other woman, who was not his biological mother, if only to preserve his life. She preferred to live with the grief of losing her claim to her son rather than with the grief of him losing his life.

The corrupt, deceitful mother exposed herself, too... for she thought the judgment was a fair resolution. The self-sacrifice of the other mother, the one that would save the baby's life, never occurred to her. She was unrighteous because she did not love. She was not of God, for God is love. 

Since Solomon could not possibly determine the biological mother, he used a bold and shocking tactic to expose the deceitful mother. The woman who should under no circumstances receive the living child. For certainly he knew that he dealt with one deceitful woman, and one truthful woman. One of them was a liar and he needed to discern between them.

This is a story about love. Love in its truest, rawest form, its self-sacrificing nature. And mingled with that, it is a story about faith; because not only does it foreshadow self-sacrificing nature that was the birth and sacrifice of Jesus, it echoes the near-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham in faith. 

As horrible as it is that we live in a world where atrocities such as this, and worse, could occur... it is also a world in which love can stop it from happening. Solomon's wisdom was unparalleled; it was famously impressive and restorative, but not half as much as that true mother's love. 

She embodied the compassion that cannot be taught. She possessed the character that cannot be bought. She expressed a love that cannot be faked. Shunned by society or not (for her trade), this was a woman of integrity and thereby an example to us all.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

She is the very definition of love. Between this woman and Solomon is a wealth of knowledge about how to discern between good and evil, truth and deceit. We learn to discern whether our own love is pure or tainted... subsequently, we learn how to love better, in the righteous way. We learn to let compassion reign, even at the expense of all else.

Perhaps a tiny first case, but not a trivial one. Right out of the gate, this was his first action as king, this matter. For a purpose, undoubtedly: to cleave unrighteousness from righteousness, darkness from light, truth from deceit, good from evil, a loving heart from a hateful heart, a pure spirit from a corrupt spirit... the discernment on which the whole kingdom of God endeavors and rests.

Heart to Serve

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you;

…For every one that askes receives; 

Luke 11:9-10

The Lord is generous. 

He has expressed that it is His great joy to give us access to, and the fruits of, His kingdom (Luke 12:32). In Malachi 3:10-12, He states His inclination to open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing... So much that there isn't enough room to receive it. God gives with a selfless heart and we should ask with one.

In order to receive what we ask for, we must know what to ask for. Nobody would expect a sportscar from a vending machine; neither should we expect one from God. When we arrive at a source, with a request for a provision, we should be aware of the contents of its warehouse. If someone has a selfish request, born from a selfish motivation, to be used for a selfish intention, God is not the source to be asked.

To understand how God's system of ask-and-receive works, we must first ask, in earnest, for ears to hear, eyes to see, a heart to serve, and a mind to lead.

Ears to Hear

"He that has ears to hear, let him hear." Matthew 11:15

It all begins with ears to hear. The first thing we must ask for is access to the word of God. People without ears to hear think Jesus' parables are, at best: fairytales, and at worse: nonsensical. Those with ears to hear, understand them as deep truths told in parables. Revelations about the world and truths about humanity, masked as simple advice.

We must delve beneath the superficiality of the world before we can understand what truly is a worthwhile request. But we cannot do that without ears to hear. If our ears are blocked to conversation with God and lectures from Jesus, our worldview is too self-centered and thereby, too limited, to ever ask for anything that would matter. We cannot transform ourselves, our family, our community, region or world with such a narrow scope. And is that not why we ask for things in the first place? To transform something or someone or some feeling into a different or better version?

This is the first and most intimate conversation anyone ever has with God: the first ask. The desire to understand, to know more, to want to believe. To be at the beginning, to crest the hill and see an ocean, to have the courage to step into it. It is the beginning of a lifelong relationship, a ceaseless conversation in heart and prayer, and journey to the heart of God. Ears to hear is figurative. The ear is the spirit awakening, realizing its distinction from the body, and pursuing its natural habitat: the kingdom of God.

With ears to hear, our instruction begins. Scripture transforms into a personal life-guide. A daily provision. A lifelong foundation. It adapts as we grow in wisdom; our dialog and counsel with God becomes wider and deeper, our ability to hear becomes more attuned to what we missed before. And then, we flourish.

Eyes to See  

"Blessed are your eyes, for they see." Matthew 13:16  

 

Next we ask for eyes to see. We need eyes to see the character of God; We understand who God is by what He loves and what He does. (This is how we should determine anyone's character). The first is quite simple: God loves His children. God's whole purpose, described in scripture from Adam to Jesus, Genesis to Revelation, is to gather, love and lead His children: humanity. And that is the answer to the second; what God does is heal, instruct, give, forgive, and save. Plus, He does so much more: God is the mastermind creator. He is the proliferator of life. He gives life and love in bold, broad, specific and precise ways.

If the biosphere itself were not miraculous enough, He has created a whole universe around it to host us. Are we worthy? God's generous heart decided that we are worthy. In that truth we see God even more, in this way as an entity full of mercy. From scripture we know that He is the established, incorruptible, unerring justice system.

When we see who God is, our faith proliferates. More clearly than ever are we able to view life from His vantage point.

Heart to Serve

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Matthew 9:36 

 

God's vantage point is the peak of abject compassion. Not unmovable but moved, moved by compassion. It is the natural and necessary progression of faith to desire a heart to serve. No longer does life cease to exist beyond ourselves. Steadily, it becomes apparent that we cease to exist, in any meaningful way, if we do not live beyond ourselves.

We grow in faith so much that we cannot fit into our old mold. We are not ignorant to the plight of the people and in good conscience, we cannot neglect them. From our journey and relationship with God we are given a new heart, just as He promised:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

With our new heart, we cannot imagine asking for anything other than the ability and resource to assist the orphans and impoverished, the ensnared and endangered, the sorrowful and fearful persons of the world. It ceases to matter whether or not we will ever become great, and yet we become it: great in the service of God (Matthew 23:11). We cease worrying about what we need, and yet our needs are taken care of better than ever before, better under God's management (Matthew 6:33). When we are otherwise engaged, in the service of the kingdom, God takes care of us.

We ask then for a heart to serve, in order to: emulate Jesus, who healed the literal and figuratively sick, forgave the ignorant and repentant, and fed those hungry for bread and the word of God; to embody the good Samaritan, who bandaged the wounds of the unjustly attacked and tragically abandoned; to be even like the dog that tended to Lazarus rather than the like one who walked right by;...(Matthew 4:23; Matthew 14:19; Matthew 4:4, Luke 10:25-37, Luke16:19-21)

…And finally, to be like Solomon.

Mind to Discern 

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 1 Kings 4:29  

 

The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night: Ask, what shall I give you? Solomon was poised to become king. He would succeed his father, king David, who, through faith and obedience to God, fought and led the people into a nation. Solomon was the beloved prince, precious to David (who was precious to God) and thus, likely, easily poised to become a spoiled king.

But the reverse was true: Solomon was humbled by his father's legacy, the responsibility of his role, and by the goodness and mercy of God. He understood himself as a servant of God, first and foremost, in the midst of a multitude. A multitude that needed a leader capable of compassion, judgment, and discernment. He could have asked for anything at all, anything for himself... instead, he asked for something he could give to others. He asked for those capabilities. The ones that would benefit God's people.

In doing so, he pleased the Lord. God specifically noted His pleasure in the fact that Solomon had not made a self-centered request. Solomon's ask was selfless but not without magnitude. He asked for many-lifetimes worth of wisdom. Justice. Objectivity. Discernment. The ability to lead a nation. God was able to grant it nonetheless. Ask and you will receive... if you ask for the right reasons. Solomon's selfless request was granted with abundance, and with the added bonus of everything he could have asked for but humbly chose not to.

Solomon went to sleep a man rich in faith and woke as a man rich in wisdom and much more. He rose from his bed, thanked the Lord then began to scaffold a nation with the resources he was given. Everything given to him by God he gave to the people. Subsequently, his example continues to teach us that whatsoever we ask for should be asked for with the intention of giving it all away. When asked in that manner, God surely opens the windows of heaven and from them overflow blessings inexhaustible. 

To whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48). God will freely give. There is no shortage; the system of ask and receive, without limits (Matthew 11:24), is intended to reach the people, without limits. Blessing is plentiful because the need is great. And since the laborers are few (Luke 10:2), more and more and more will come from God to the individual who asks, to the one committed to the work, the service of the kingdom via service to those in need.

Solomon's request managed to get to the crux of the purpose of the whole system of ask-and-receive. We are instruments of God; vessels through which His blessings flow into others. For we are God's fellow-workers (1 Corinthians 3:9). We are His ears, eyes, hearts, minds, hands here on the ground... if we ask to be.

If we ask, we will receive, and our joy will be complete (John 16:24).

Grow in Grace

"... the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;" 

2 Peter 3:10

Partakers of the Divine Nature, 2 Peter 1

The nature of the world is entirely separate from the nature of the spirit. Throughout the Bible God requests that we be holy. Interestingly, the word holy means separate. If we are called to be separate, we must need to be different... but from what? The world. The kingdom of Heaven operates in a different manner, and for a different purpose, than the world does. As a consequence of that, the world does provide what we need to diligently develop in the nature of the spirit. The world tempts our bodies. The Lord tests our spirit.

In his second letter, Paul adjures us to be diligent. Focused. Attentive. Productive. Intentional. Involved. Conscientious. So that we may be partakers of the divine nature. So that we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. To do this, he suggests that we steadily develop our character, consistently growing upon and adding to the righteous character, behavior, and lifestyle that we learn from the Lord.

Ultimately, Jesus taught us to retrain mindset and behavior. Because of what he taught, and how he exemplified it, we learn that we are not merely biological bodies. We have a spirit that a biological body hosts and maneuvers. The body and the spirit are nourished differently; 

The body is tempted by the world in that it craves and strives doggedly for what will advance itself. The scientific theory "survival of the fittest" is also the mindset of the world. Our bodies are naturally self-centered creatures. And if our spirit has not been retrained to take the reins, so are we (self-centered). Much of what we say and do and think is to satisfy our body.

The spirit is tested (rather than tempted James 1:3) by the Lord as part of the retraining process. The Lord catalyzes our spirit to be better, to develop, to establish itself, to strengthen itself, through a series of life circumstances. The "test" element of it comes from the fact that the nature of the world, in which we are smack-dab in the middle of, is separate from the divine nature. Some examples from this from Jesus' own teaching:

The meek inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

Incredibly, this is the exact opposite of the nature of the world, of survival of the fittest. Jesus encourages us to be gentle rather than ferocious. Yet the world has trained us that ferocity obtains what it wants.

Give and you will receive. Luke 6:38

Without faith, that sentence does not even make sense. That's how separate Jesus' approach to life is from the world. The body may not gain from giving, but the spirit does. By giving, the spirit reveals itself as a capable, functional, reliable, willing vessel through which blessing comes from the Lord into the person and thereby the world.

The least will be greatest. Luke 9:48

The diligent servant of the Lord is elevated in the kingdom. The diligent servant in the world is overlooked. Uncelebrated, or even unseen and unappreciated.

Our body is a well and our spirit is the water. Through diligent faith, the living water of God fills us up. Our biological bodies become quite inconsequential when we focus on the nourishment of our spirit. Focused on spiritual nourishment, our bodies receive what they need to be healthy and functional as they maneuver our spirits to do the work of the kingdom rather than vain wants, and unproductive things, for itself (and those things are sometimes even worse than unproductive and vain, they can be harmful and corrupt).

Perished in Corruption, 2 Peter 2

The world tempts our bodies. The world proffers what our bodies desire. History and personal experience have shown how unchecked desire has deeply ensnared and damaged countless people. Yet there is good news in two parts from the Lord. Part 1: God knows how to help the godly, the holy, those earnestly endeavoring to be separate, out of temptation. God recognizes when His child is drowning and wants to be saved, wants to retrain themselves into a different outcome. He is able to save that person... from themselves, from oppressors, from vices, fears, sorrows and addictions. Part 2: God reveres the unjust to a day of judgment. So while an earnest, though imperfect, child of God (person) may not perish in corruption, the actually unjust do.

For while the kingdom of heaven is gentle, it is divinely ordered, balanced, and mightily maintained. Jesus did not teach us to be powerless; He taught us that a meek, generous, sedulous, spirit is power... for it mines its strength directly from the all powerful God (1 John 4:4). From God flows directly into us power over not just evil but all the things the secular world cannot seem to shake: grief, fear, anxiety, pain, addiction, depression, lethargy, apathy, existential-crises.

So many of the world are, as Peter states, wells without water; clouds carried by a tempest; in the mist and midst of darkness. But in the kingdom, we are light. The living water nourishes, fills and overflows us with blessing. For us, by God's command, the tempest ceases, unable to carry us off. God is our firm foundation, our provision, the source of the light and power that makes us wholly separate from those entrenched in the way of the world.

And that is as much blessing as it is responsibility. Peter aptly glorifies God for these gifts we are given but he also warns us to be diligent with our gifts. We know better, we must do better. We have much, we must give much. The expectation for us to be separate, holy, in our character and behavior increases. Regression worldly, selfish habits is a darker, deeper blemish once we are ignorant no longer of sin.

Grow in Grace, 2 Peter 3

So, grow in grace. Make it a daily mission, a lifelong endeavor, to grow in grace... in evermore precise emulation of Jesus. It is a commitment that requires action... to be holy is to actively separate, or even extricate one's mindset from where it started. If we do not grow vigilantly in grace, we neglect to develop. Worse, we regress. We need consistent conversation with God and review and reflection of Jesus' life to remember, to maintain, to grow to be spirits God will call His own and call to action. 

For we do want to be active, in earth and heaven. Even the word "angel" means messenger. That implies action and duty. We want to be participants of the operation of the kingdom of heaven, part of its many-membered-whole. We learn that diligence here, now. This life in the world is a chance for development that could progress us into service within the kingdom of God. We can be proponents of the spirit now by doing God's work here. 

And because, as of right now, we cannot completely separate from our body we need to learn to rely on God. To source our needs from Him. To let Him fill the tanks within us that actually bring happiness (generosity, service, kindness). Our spirit needs power from Him to overtake the temptations of the body that bring us no peace, no joy, no fulfillment.

Hold Your Tongue

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, 
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 
Matthew 12:36

True faith will control the tongue. The Book of James is our most prominent resource for learning the importance of productive faith. It is imperative for any Christian to consider their works, not because works earn us a place in heaven (the grace of God does that) but because faith without works is ineligible for grace. Because faith without works is dead (James 2:14).

There is an important component to faith that is not often talked about or reflected upon: the ability to control the tongue. The work, in faith, the faithful act of restraint. The ability to bridle oneself, as James teaches in James 3:2-8:

"For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, withersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles! And the tongue is fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that is defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." 

Matthew 7:18 explains that what is within will come out; in its specific words: a good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit. People and circumstances will provoke us to anger and impatience, and if we have not done the faithful work of cultivating peace inside, we will spew such ugliness right back at them. 

How do we do work on the inside? We adopt the perspective of Jesus; we rely on the promises of God. From Jesus' vantage point, every person deserves our love; and God's promises are of restitution and justice. We do work on the inside by humbling ourselves and reminding ourselves that faith without works is dead. Ego fuels our temper and supplies the nasty words and tone that corrupt our speech. If we proudly understand and accept ourselves as servants of God, we will serve Him. And in the manner He has requested. We are asked to love others, we are asked not to render evil for evil. We consistently remind ourselves that faith without works is dead because God knows people by their works (Matthew 25:35-40). Anything we do on behalf of another is service to Him. (And, horrible but necessary reminder, to harm someone is to harm him). We remind ourselves that we want to be known by God for our righteous actions, not by unrighteous ones, or by altogether inactive faith. We must build our character! Since we all fall short (Romans 3:23) there is always something within us to improve upon.

In the process of learning to restrain our tongues, it can be helpful to review the day before bed. Think about what could have been done better, as well as what was done well. Endeavor to do better, to alter what needs to be fixed, to build upon what was done well. Likewise, it can be helpful to begin the day by setting the mind to conscious effort in faith. Like a priming, a preparation for the day makes one more apt to respond intentionally (aligned with God's manner, rather than subject to the body's rampant emotions) and thus productively.

And ultimately, review always, the heart. Peace and light will produce peace and light. A noxious inside will spew noxious fumes to the outside. If there is hurt or anger or fear, it will control the tongue. Only through a tight-knit, closely-clung to, consistently communicative relationship with God can those internal hurts be healed.

And plainly, learn to communicate. It is not always natural, the best ways to express oneself do not always come easily to hand. Scripture and other resources exist to help learn how best to state what is true, necessary and kind. Sometimes what others say is not what is meant. An angry word might have been derived from sadness; fear from distrust, impatience from exhaustion or circumstances wholly unrelated to the target who receives it. It is important to remember that as both the speaker and the one being spoken to.

And that inside-work becomes homework, of a sort, that takes place outside of us, in the real world. In real conversations. The work that takes place within ourselves takes place within our every day, thought and interaction. We learn from God then put into practice the concepts of patience, kindness, mercy and the like. We develop the habit, the spiritual muscle/ability, to behave according to God rather than circumstance. 

The statement "faith without works is dead" reminds us to be generous Christians within our family, friend-circles, community and world. But it is deeper than that. As children of God, we rely on Him and scripture to do a work within ourselves (mentioned in Philippians 1:6). Before we can produce fruit, good or evil, we develop. What we develop into, a producer of good or evil, depends on the characteristics, habits, values and actions we embody and hold and do and express. In other words, how well or poorly we emulate Jesus determines the type of fruit we produce. The work of sincere emulation is a work in faith we cannot neglect!

Speech is an expression of what is inside of us. What we say, and how we say it, is evidence of whether our spirit holds the reins and is in alignment with God's will and personality, or not. If we have not bridled our base emotions (our mouth, especially), we are not in control of ourselves. If we are not in control of ourselves, our spirit is subdued by our body. If our spirit is subdued, how can it work in faith?

Perhaps the person on the other side of the conversation is a bad-fruit-producing-tree and is guilty of provocation... our response is still a reflection of us, not them. If we respond caustically, we too are a bad-fruit-producing-tree. Neither they nor we, have done the work of restraining our tongue. Caustic speech is evidence of an un-mastered, unrefined, undisciplined self. 

To be provoked into a temper is a sign of spiritual immaturity or even spiritual neglect. To restrain our tongue is to learn to communicate in a righteous way; the ability to do so is derived from a righteous spirit. As we learn from James' examples, mastery over our tongue actually drives our entire body to act, react and speak in a godly manner.

The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, Matthew 15:8 tells us. If we can only muster patience, kindness, peacefulness and even-temperament when it is easy, when it is given to us first, what is our accomplishment? God teaches us to be patient, kind, peaceful, and even tempered so that we will use it when it matters, when it is difficult to do. 

In the same vein as James 2:19 and Luke 6:32-36, which tell us that even devils believe in God (though they do not follow Him) and even evil people are kind to their friends, so do they also have an even-temperament when everything is going their way. Indeed as stated in Luke 6:35, God is kind even to the unthankful. We must learn to apply that ability to our own interactions with people.

1 Peter 3:9-17 Provides the mindset with which we accomplish the task of restraining our mouths. What we actually seek when we respond angrily to another person is restitution. We argue when things are improperly balanced; we argue because we seek the balance and restoration that will make us feel happy. Well, if we suffer for righteousness sake, happy are we (3:14). Ultimate, foundational happiness comes from a spirit in alignment with God's will and purpose. For true, faithful children of God, happiness does not come from arguing our own cause but from aligning with God's and knowing that in due time, He will support ours.

In order to love life, to have good days, we must restrain our tongue. We must not kindle fires. Rendering evil for evil will not accomplish happiness. Righteousness will do that, for God's eyes and ears are open to prayers of the righteous. Compassion, mercy and courteousness to even the undeserved renders compassion, mercy and courteousness back to us. 

James 3:9-13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom...The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Only a well disciplined person has any claim on wisdom. Speech is an action, therefore it is a work, and God watches our works for they reveal the productivity and character of our faith. Thus must we be disciplined in the act of speech. We are responsible for what we say (Matthew 12:36), we are influenced by what we hear (1 Corinthians 5:11) and we are noxious for what we busy-bodily repeat (2 Thessalonians 3:11). All aspects of conversation are components of our faith. 

Hill of Hachilah

1 Samuel 26

Saul would not amicably release his post as king; David would not forcefully take it. The position had been given to, then taken from Saul by God. The root reason why Saul would not cease his homicidal hunt for David is the same reason God revoked the kingship from him: Saul refused to heed God's counsel; a godly nation cannot be led by a godless king.

It was not because Saul was an imperfect person. All fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. David was not an exception. David was imperfect. But David obeyed God. If Israel had a leader that obeyed God, they would be led into blessed places. The judgement with which their king would shape and define their nation would be informed by a perfect God.

Saul did not obey God, but losing the kingship was not a personal punishment so much as it was a divine tweak to ensure that the righteously led nation, born of Adam, Abraham, and Jacob would continue through generations. Generations that would carry scripture and this holy, wholly separate (from the way of the world), lifestyle straight to Jesus' birth and beyond. Changing the heart and life and world of countless multitudes.

Saul and three thousand men pursued David through the wilderness once again. Once again, God positioned David, the prey, to have the upper-hand. It would have been so easily, and presumably tempting, for David to end the seemingly ceaseless threat on his life. He could have committed the act and reasonably labeled it self-defense. Breathed his first breaths without constant vigilance for the enemy behind his shoulder. Instead, David chose to respect God's timeline. He chose to live longer as a hunted, innocent man because above all of that, he was a blessed man. A protected man. A man, by God, chosen to be king.

David's restraint should remind us of 1 Peter 5:10, in which we learn that our tribulations construct our character thus and prepare us for God's plan. Though terminal, Saul's position as king was sanctioned by God. David was humble enough to appreciate that it was not his authority to determine that end date, even if it meant further misery.

Is it not, in misery, that we either learn or abandon that which will determine the outcome of our situation? Is it not reasonable to see that David, while chased like a vole by a cat, had the opportunity to learn how to be king? He learned to seek counsel from God. He learned to take direction from God. He saw the state of the character of a person who had never learned those things. He witnessed how imperative it is to a nation that a king not cling to personal pursuits. He learned patience and perseverance. He learned how to lead; he learned how even a rag-tag army led, ultimately, by God very much renders the mightier army the underdog.

As there was no shortage of opportunity for growth for David, there is none for us. God is our provision and shelter as we are starved and rain upon by tribulation. We are students before his hearth even in cold and vulnerable physical, emotional states. If we allow ourselves to be. 

Saul did not. He was ashamed of himself. His desperation ate away at him, inside and out. He was a void; a bag of tumultuous wind. He lived as slave to his desire for status, power, wealth, ego. He lived in such a way that caused everything that mattered to him to die. Ashamed of himself, time and again, Saul refused to learn. He refused to abandon his plan, his methods, his timing and trade them for God's. 

Having gained entrance easily, and standing outside of a sleeping Saul's tent, David reprimanded Saul's men for their poor protection of their king. David refused to forcefully take the crown, he refused to inherit it by a lapse in an army's duty. It would be handed to him by God or he would not have it at all. Not out of ego, but humility. He would not take what God had not unequivocally determined to be his at the precise time the determined it.

And even Saul blessed David for this, and knew David would prevail over him. David's ability to place God over self was a testament even to Saul of strength not weakness. Trusting God is not inaction... it is the most active one can be. It is an internal restructuring of character, a battening of the hatches, as the world lashes and coaxes you to yield.

Are we not all David, hunted, prey to an adversary? Hunted by our own base instincts? Anger hopes to claim us. Desire, pride, greed. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, in no uncertain terms, that our adversary prowls around, seeking to devour. Will be be devoured or we will be shaped by God? Can we withstand the growing pains, of resisting the adversaries of life, of exercising trust in God? For if we resist our adversary, it will flee, James 4:7.

Our adversary... the devil and everything that the word figuratively encompasses: Depression, disillusionment, anger, greed, arrogance, injustice, corruption, deception, danger...

How do we resist? We choose, in every moment and thought, interaction and act, what is sanctioned by God. Justice. Patience. Mercy. Discernment. Humility. Kindness. Wisdom. Harmlessness. Not to be doormat but a door, through which those who receive your righteous behavior might pass. In strength we resist when we yield not to the adversary but God, who is our strength most especially when we have none, 2 Corinthians 12:10.

We do not allow a hunter, an adversary,  (in any of its manifestations) to determine us prey. We are not prey, forced into hasty, scrappy, corrupt, hopeless or retaliatory behavior. We are children of God capable to repel whatever negative force in our life tries to lash and coax us away from righteous behavior and trust in God's choices and timing. We are not pieces moved haphazardly, we are not mere victims or byproducts of the bad things or people that happen to us, we are beloved and strategically placed by God when we allow ourselves to be, when we allow ourselves to see. To listen. To follow God to our precise place in His plan.

Hold Your Fire

1 Samuel 25

There was a prosperous sheep rancher named Nabal during the time of a sheep harvest. Nabal was married to a good, understanding and beautiful woman named Abigail but he was a churlish (rude, in a mean-spirited way) and evil man.

The sheep harvest was a time of abundance, feast and good-will traditions. For this reason, David felt that it would be a fair time to approach Nabal about a business matter. David sent ten men to greet Nabal and to deliver this message: (paraphrased) peace to you, your house and everything that you have. We have protected your sheep and your flock, (none went missing or were harmed) and now that it is the season for you to shear (thus make money from that flock) we request compensation for our protection.

Immediately Nabal mocked David, "Who is David?". It is unlikely that Nabal did not recognize David's name: David had several famous victories over the enemy Philistines. There were songs sung about David in the streets (1 Samuel 18:5-7). Nabal accused David of being a rebellious servant of the king. This was untrue, but even if Nabal had been misled to believe that David was rebellious, (more likely his greed attempted to avoid bills due), he owed David for a service performed. Instead, Nabal refused to give any food or water to David's camp, whom he declared strangers unworthy.

When David's ten men returned to him with Nabal's response, David's response was hot anger. He told his men to equip their swords. The first attempt to deal with Nabal, David sent an non-threatening, ten men with a message. This time, four hundred men would go with swords.

Pause here to consider David's response. It was a violent overreaction most probably due to ego. Innocents would die due an ill-received personal insult? We have so much to learn from the best of David, but we have just as much to learn from the worst of him. Bloodthirsty retaliation should not be in our toolkit. We will all be personally insulted. We will all receive unfair treatment. But how will we respond? Will we immediately sell ourselves as slaves to our temper? For our temper then will act hotly, hastily in a way that is no better than the initial affront!

The ancient context might make these concepts seem abstract, but though the world has changed much, humans not at all. It requires spiritual wisdom and strength to consistently respond to circumstances in life with grace and patience and even-temperament. We pray for God to avenge us on matters small and great... not out of malice or desire for harm on another person, but out of desire restoration on our behalf and correction for the one responsible for the affront.

Resuming the story: Nabal was an impossible man; he could not be reasoned with and his own servants knew it. They therefore explained the situation to Nabal's wife, Abigail. Abigail was reasonable. She listened. She gathered facts and witness statements. She determined the appropriate response and compensation. Nabal, the greedy, arrogant, hot-head, did none of this. He insulted David and the result, as Abigail was informed, would be disastrous. David and his men were on their way to settle the score.

Abigail hurried and collected hundreds of loaves of bread, bottles of wine, sheep, corn, raisons, and cakes of figs. She loaded these onto donkeys and sent her servants ahead of her (without her husband's knowledge or consent). As Abigail came down the hill on her donkey, she successfully intercepted David.

David was still angry; he said: (paraphrased) it seems that everything I have done for Nabal was in vain; he returned me evil for good. Therefore, God should return evil to Nabal and everything that belongs to him. Abigail jumped down from her donkey and ran to meet David. She bowed down to the ground in front of David and began an earnest apology. She explained that Nabal was a fool (in fact, that is the etymology of his name) and that she was not there to receive his ten men and arrange appropriate compensation. She took responsibility, and implored David to consider her interception as God withholding him from bloodshed, from avenging himself with his own hand.

She asked for forgiveness and revealed that she had brought compensation for David. But more than that, Abigail, seems to have been sent by God to cool David down and prevent him from an action he would surely regret. She lauded David for his success and blessing (all due to his righteous character). She knew, and reminded David, that God would establish him as king. And as king, would David want, on his conscience, this bloodthirsty response to Nabal's insult?

Do not be so egotistical as to require instant retaliation, none among us are exempt from injustice. Why tarnish or prevent good work done in yourself? We pray to God for blessing. Blessing comes with responsibility. It requires character. How tragic, to receive a blessing long prayed for only to realize it is undeserved! What torment, to live with a guilty conscience. Allow God to be your Abigail, your wise counsel. The one who intercepts you from doing something you will regret. Instead of instant emotional and physical reaction, pause and consult God. Allow Him to reveal an objective picture, the greater picture. Exercise restraint. You will respond wisely, appropriately when you do so.

Finally, David cooled. He blessed God for sending Abigail to him; he blessed the advice and Abigail, for preventing him from bloodshed and selfish vengeance. He admitted that without the intervention, he would have killed Nabal and his men. He accepted all that she brought him and encouraged her to return home safely. So she did; she returned to find Nabal feasting and drunk. In the morning, when he was sober, Abigail told him everything. Nabal's heart turned into stone, his heart died and so did Nabal. The Lord avenged David and caused Nabal to die.

When David heard about Nabal's death, he expressed gratitude to God for avenging him. This may seem somewhat drastic. Did Nabal deserve to die for insult and refusal to pay for a service rendered? It seems like the answer is: no. In previous chapters, God gave David permission to kill men. David was a soldier and many enemies died at his hand, his orders. Yet God held David back from killing Nabal and his men. Is the difference the personal nature of the insult? Perhaps yes, Jesus taught us to not retaliate against personal affronts (Matthew 5:43-48). As children of God, we are encouraged to allow God to balance the scales of justice in our personal lives.

And maybe the reason why God enabled Nabal to swiftly die of natural causes was because of previous, greater offenses. At the start of the chapter, it was explained that Nabal was churlish and evil in his doings. Nabal was guilty of lifelong, repeated offenses devoid of repentance. He also served as a literal and symbolic barrier to God's plan. Despite his imperfection, David was a faithful man of God and during his lifetime, he would progress the kingdom. Evil cannot thwart this greater purpose. But also, on an individual scale, God's children can count on Him to defend them and mete out justice, judgment on their behalf.




As an aside (because it is included in the chapter, albeit briefly), David then took the widowed Abigail as his wife. This seems prudent, as Abigail was a good and faithful woman. She could provide David wise counsel and he had established a precedent for actually taking it. But, David then took another wife. And technically, David already had a wife: Saul's daughter, Michal (though Saul had taken her away and remarried her to someone else). David's infatuation with women, certainly with one woman, would result in the worst mistake of his life... but that is a sermon for another time.

Least in the Kingdom

1 Samuel 24

Hunted by the king, David fled from home to wilderness after wilderness, to cave after cave. God chose David to replace Saul, but Saul would not acquiesce. He did not want to relinquish the throne. His infatuation with the power and status of the role overtook his character and his responsibilities as a king and man. Entirely out of alignment with (the freedom of) God's will, Saul was enslaved by his own. God's will is freedom because it releases us from a task that is too big for us. Without God, we are not equipped to manage the demands of life. 

Our bodies consistently want things that do not fulfill our spirit. Unchecked desire is torment. The only peace, the only true form of freedom is found in alignment with the will of God. When we relinquish control to Him two major changes occur, we: (1) release anxiety and discontentment and despair (2) adopt trust, hope and joy. This happens because a relationship with God is built on an understanding of His character and faithful nature over time. He is wisdom! He is justice! He is meticulously generous.

Saul nearly foamed at the mouth with the desire to kill David. But Saul had once loved David and David was innocent of crime, so happened? Saul stopped, or perhaps never started, to seek fulfilment of the spirit. He chose to serve his body rather than God. And his body, like our bodies, want selfish, void things like power and prominence. It is not our body's natural inclination to readily agree with or even understand Jesus' statement in Luke 9:48, "... he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." Only through joyful subservience to God can we accept and even thrive in the concept that as the least we are the greatest version of ourselves.

Understand that by "least" Jesus did not mean unseen, unheard, unloved. We are seen, heard and deeply loved by God, even in our imperfection. God distributes spiritual gifts to each person (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) in divine assurance of individuality. Nobody is least important; each member is a crucial appendage of the whole body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

By "least" Jesus meant that we should endeavor to develop inherent selflessness. With complete faith that God will provide what we need, we can focus on what others need. We can follow Matthew 6:33 in faith that life lived in accordance with God's will will provide all that we need. And if we live with that faith, we do not have to live selfishly. We do not have to constantly try to procure things or elevate ourselves to feel relevant or worthy of some obscure status society has set. Instead, we can roll up our selves and do the work of God. Every day, with every interaction. 

The alternative is to devolve into some version of Saul. So obsessed with worldly status that every role and relationship held is destroyed. Unconcerned with the life's greater purpose: a vapid, tormented life. The shiniest stone in a pathway God plans to melt and pave over. Relevance in the Kingdom of Righteous, born of humble productivity on Earth, is the only worthwhile status. Anything else is a varying degree of superficiality.

Regardless of Saul's resistance, God would remove him from the throne. God enabled David escape Saul several times; but this time, David had the opportunity to capture (and kill) Saul. David had arguable reason to seek revenge on Saul, and even to kill him: Saul had attempted to murder him on several occasions (self-defense), murdered innocents who associated with David (justice), and forced him to leave his home, wife and hard-won reputation behind (restitution).

David crouched in the cave, unseen by Saul, in complete control of the situation and with Saul wholly vulnerable. Goaded by his men to finally take revenge! David stood and slashed at Saul's... robe, then felt instant regret. Instant regret not because of his restraint but because of his lack of it. David regretted raising his weapon at all. In those moments, Saul exited the cave.

David did not believe that it was his right to harm Saul, as he had been anointed by God as king. That role had since been given to someone else, David himself, but that did not make it David's duty to dispose of him. David held his men back from attacking Saul. David allowed Saul to leave, then he followed. This was David's opportunity to speak to Saul, (paraphrased): 

Where did you hear that I wanted to harm you? The Lord put you right in front of me, my men urged me to kill you, but I spared you. See, I have a piece of your clothing in my hand. I cut it off but did not kill you. Now you can see and know that I plot no evil toward you and have not sinned against you... yet you hunt my soul to take it. The Lord can judge between us, and he can avenge me, but I will not harm you. For as the ancient proverb states, wickedness proceeds from the wicked. But my hand will not harm you. After whom does the king of Israel come? After a dead dog, after a flea. The Lord therefore be judge, and plead my cause, and save me from you.

David's words stunned Saul to a moment of clarity and shame, (paraphrased): 

Is this you, my son David? Saul wept. You are more righteous than I am, you have rewarded me good when I have rewarded you evil. Today is proof you have be kind to me, the Lord brought me to you, but you did not kill me. For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? The Lord will reward you good for your choices today. Now I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. Promise me that you will not kill my family after my death, or destroy my family name.

David promised and Saul went home.

We learn from David to let the Lord avenge us. We do not need to resort to evil behavior to restore justice to our lives. We need only to, like David, relinquish control, to allow God's will to supersede our own. Saul resisted and fought God's will... and lost the kingdom. David subjected himself to it... and won the kingdom. 

How was David least in this situation? If he even felt it at all, he suppressed the bodily desire: to avenge himself, to remove a serious and dangerous threat to his life; to oust the person who stood in the way of his promotion. If it was God's will that he remain in the wilderness and Saul to (for now) remain on the throne, David would not protest. He had enough ease of mind in God's ultimate plan, enough presence of mind, to resist a wicked, hasty, selfish action. Least in that he did what was right rather than what seemed most immediately beneficial to him.