Trusting in God (Job and 1 Kings 18)

Last week, we discussed the idea of how to hear from God.  This week, the subject we are covering is a very similar subject.  Because much like hearing from God, trusting God can be difficult because we can’t quite hear him or see him.  Even though they both involve action on our part, trust is quite a bit different.  There are also a few ways that we can trust in God.  One is trusting him through crisis and the other is trusting him for what’s best in our lives.  I will try to give an example of each as we go, because it is very important that we address both questions.

            The unfortunate truth about being human is that people have failed us.  Whether it is family, friends, or mentors, people will do things that hurt us, betray us or alienate us.  Because of this, we automatically feel that God can or will fail us.  So to start off, I would like to suggest to you that God does not fail us, he allows things to happen to us.  As we talked about last week, it is alright to ask God questions, but the moment we start telling God that he failed us, what does that say?  Is he in control?  Does he care?  It opens a can of worms that I personally do not want to open with God… not the person to make accusations against! 

            To start, I will go ahead and tell a story from my life that stood out as an example.  One day I had stopped at school after work in the fall of 2007.  I picked up dinner, which was chicken noodle soup and a sourdough bread roll.  I was looking forward to having this bowl of soup since I had it previously and really liked it.  So I was walking from the parking lot with hands full with books, clothes and my dinner.  I shifted the clothes between my hand, and I watched helplessly as my soup fell to the ground!  I picked it up, and found that it had not spilled.  So I went inside and changed out of my uniform.

            As I sat down to eat my dinner after changing out of my uniform, I was telling the person I was with all about my soup since I was so excited for it.  It was definitely the high light of my day thus far.  As I pulled it out of the bag, I found that the bottom of the cup was punctured and that my soup was now in the bag instead of the bowl!  I was so distraught.  After looking at my cup with a look of complete horror, the person I was with reminded me that there was soup in the cafeteria, and that it might just be chicken noodle soup.  I commented that I really wanted THAT soup and even considered eating it straight from the bag.  But I decided it was not healthy, so went into the kitchen to see what types of soup they had.

            I looked at the choices, and chicken noodle was not one of them.  I saw asparagus soup, which is something I thought was interesting since asparagus was something I liked but rarely if ever had growing up.  So I decided to buy a bowl of it, and started eating it immediately.  To my surprise, the soup was amazing!  I thought, “How did I not know about this?”  I ended up buying two bowls I liked it so much.  That’s when I realized that if the chicken soup was never taken from me, I might have never known what cream of asparagus soup was like. 

            So what can we learn from this?  I learned about what the cups of soup were doing to me.  I have many more serious situations in which I feel that people, jobs, possessions and other “things” have been taken from me and that I felt as if I was really missing out since I did not have those.  I felt indignant with God, wondering why he took those away from me.  Often times, it hurt a lot.  But strangely enough, in the end I begin to learn that those “cups of soup” that I was holding onto was stopping me from being part of a better ministry or church, creating healthier friendships, a more rewarding job or having a better quality life.  The fact was, I was not trusting God and thinking that even though he had something, I really did not want to see it because I was afraid that it might not be what I wanted.

            If we look at the Bible, we will see that this example is prevalent.  The most common story is that of Job, the man who had everything, lost it all, and then gained more.  People will nitpick and say what they want about Job, but that man had to have had it hard.  I could not begin to understand what he went through.  But in all of this, he tried to understand where God was coming from and realized that the Lord has the power to do as he pleases. 

            So lets take a look at Job’s story.  He is the most righteous man on earth and is blessed with abundant living.  So instead of living peacefully protected by God, it all came to an end as God allowed Satan to take from him.  First it was his livestock, then his children, and then he is covered in boils.  His friends accused him of sinning and eventually turned against him, and even his wife asks him to curse God so that he would be put out of his misery!  What was his response? “…shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”  That is definitely poignant to me.  Verse 38 is when everything comes to a head with God and Job.  God finally answers him through a barrage of questions that would be improbable for Job to answer.  But in the end, Job is rewarded for his faithfulness with twice as much as before.  The latter part of his life was much better than the first and he lived a long and prosperous life.

            I generally do not like using Job as an example, mainly because so many people claim that they feel like him and it usually does not measure up anywhere near.  I think it is safe to see that I am showing this as God’s faithfulness.

            The problem with life is that nothing is spelled out clearly, and often times when we look at two things that could look like the will of God and yet one is not and one is.  So my encouragement to you is that as you let go of these “things” or as they are removed from your life, that you find peace understanding that you will be taken care of.

            The second type of situation that I would like to discuss is something that happens when we are in crisis or conflict.  I do not mean physical conflict or fighting, but what I mean is when things go awry and require reconciliation.  I have seen this quite a bit in the past few years since I left Cleveland.  The best example is from my first year in the Navy.  The following example is when I trusted God for finances to do something that I felt that he wanted me to do but I could not afford.

            In August 2006 I considered going back to school to start taking prerequisites for the masters of counseling program.  So I applied at Regent, and I never followed through because of a financial situation and a work situation that drained me emotionally.  So I was not feeling up to going back to school.  That’s when Regent gave me a call and asked if I was still interested.  I told them that I would get back to them in a day, and I decided to go back.  So I trusted God to go back, and I signed up for classes and then I applied for tuition assistance from the Navy.  This is where everything got interesting.

            I showed up at the education office with application in hand, it just so happened to be that the due date was the day before.  So technically I should not have received tuition assistance.  The man behind the counter was understanding, and let it slide.  He understood that I registered late and it was okay.  Until my drive home, I checked my cell phone and found two missed calls.  The first was to tell me that I did not get the tuition assistance approved because I never attended a mandatory meeting that was two weeks before.  My heart sank, I did not have the money to go back to school because of the said financial situation.  So I went to the next voice mail, and it was the same gentleman who told me that I could just go to the tuition assistance meeting the following week.  He made an exception for me.  So after everything was approved, I found that my tuition for that semester was completely covered and that I would not have to pay one cent for class!

            An example that I really like from the Bible is Elijah on Mt. Carmel.  When I think of it, most of the Prophets had to trust God so much because if they slipped up one bit, they would be moments away from getting killed.  So anyway, when we look at Elijah in 1 Kings 18:16, he is being confronted by Ahab.  Needless to say, Ahab does not like Elijah and calls him the troubler of Israel.  So what does Elijah do, he rebukes him and challenges him to bring 450 prophets of Baal to demonstrate who the real God is.  This is a great example of someone being confident in God.  Elijah, who was the only prophet of Yahweh, was going against 450 prophets of Baal and knew that if for some reason God did not show, he would be a dead man.

            Instead of being concerned about what could happen, Elijah starts taunting the Baal prophets!  The danced, yelled, and cut themselves, and nothing happened.  So Elijah inquired if their God deep in thought, busy or possibly traveling.  Then he casually calls people to him, and starts stacking the odds against himself.  He soaks the wood on the altar with water so that it is practically unburnable.  He then asks the Lord to come so that all can see his Glory, and the sacrifice was burned up in a fire and the people were convinced.

            So what can we learn from this?  If we just sit back and not do anything, that we can never see what God wants for us.  I can definitely think of times in which I told God that I was not comfortable doing something or that I was not confident he would pull through, and I felt horrible about it later.

            The second idea that really tugged at my soul was the idea that if we do not put ourselves in the situation to trust God, we might never learn to trust God.  Personally, I would be a little gun shy about taunting someone because if by chance God does not want me to be doing that action, it could get really embarrassing very quickly.  But I found that when I went into a situation with the feeling that God wanted me there, I received the words that I needed.

            In closing, I want to encourage you of two things.  With God, all things are possible (Mt 19:26).  So live fearlessly and trust in God, do not fear failure, because there is always something to learn, even in failure.  As for those cups of soup in our lives, we have a God who is a redeemer and a restorer.  He took care of Job and gave him everything back and then some, so do not be afraid to trust in him for he can do the same for us.    

Hearing from God (Judges 6-7)

            Hearing from God is one of those interesting situations that is hard to describe.  It is especially difficult since so many people claim that God told them something when in reality, they thought of it themselves and got stuck on their own idea.  A few examples that I have heard…

3.  God told me that you need to (insert random rebuke)

2.  I am doing God’s will (insert heinous crime or completely awkward situation)

 

and my personal favorite…

 

1.  God told me that we are going to get married.

 

            Has anyone heard of any of these?  Sometimes they are very extreme, while others are simply funny.  But the truth is that it can be very difficult for people to know whether they are hearing God or not.

            With that being said, there are quite a few stories in the Bible that talk about hearing from God.  Unfortunately, most of us do not receive burning bushes or the heavens opening and God announcing something to us, so we have to try and piece information together.  I have often times felt like that, and I know others have too.  It is not a matter of being a lesser Christian for having to do it, it is just not an easy task.

            One of best examples in the Bible of someone who listened to God and managed to figure out what he was told is Gideon.  This is shown in Judges 6:14-7:25.  To give you some background, Israel yet again fell away from the Lord and did evil, so the Lord gave them to the Midianites who were a ruthless bunch.  Whether it was destroying crops or livestock, the people of that region did not want the Israelites to prosper. 

            So one day, Gideon is out in the field tending the crops.  He is met by an angel of the Lord and is told that the Lord is with him.  Gideon, who is initially taken aback by this, wonders how since his people are oppressed by the Midianites.  But the angel insists that he was sent to send Gideon, and Gideon remains doubtful since he is from a weak clan and that he does not have the power to lead.  Never mind the fact that he is the least in his family, which never bodes well when it comes to leadership in Ancient Israelite culture.  The angel of the lord responds by saying that he will be with him, and asks him “am I not sending you?”

            If you were in this position, how would you feel?  Would you think that you are nuts, the angel is nuts, or would you be confident in what the Angel said?  Honestly, I would think one of the first two!  Knowing that there are deceiving spirits out there, I would not be quick to rally the troops and attack a much more advanced army.  I don’t see that as having a good time.  I would also think about the fact that so many people who do crazy things throughout history do things in the name of God and say that God or an angel told them to do that.  So I do not blame Gideon for being the least bit confused. 

            So what does he do?  He asks for a sign.  If he really does have favor with God and that God will really strike down the Midianites, he wanted some sort of confirmation,  So he prepares a sacrifice and the Angel burns it up, which leads to Gideon tearing down Baal’s alter and building a new one to the God of Israel.  All seems to be looking bad for Gideon since the people decided that he should be killed for his actions and the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern people geared up for war against Israel.  So with his back against the wall and with nothing to do but hope, he asks for a sign.  He asks that God put dew on a fleece that he laid out.  The next day he asks for confirmation, he asks for dew around the fleece and that the fleece would be dry.  This confirmation made him ready, and he gathered the troops and left.

            Needless to say, Gideon (or Jerub-baal, as they named him) was probably riding high at this point.  Guess what the Lord does?  He decides that there are too many men.  I should probably remind you of Judges 6:5 in which the men of Midian were beyond counting and they were vicious.  Gideon knew that he could not have TOO MANY men.  But the Lord told him that he should not claim victory in his own power.  Gideon told any man that feared may turn back, and the number was shaved down from 32,000 to 10,000.  God told him that there were still too many.

            At this point, I am sure Gideon’s mind must have been racing.  He followed the Lord’s advice if he was fearful, and he snuck down the valley into camp of the Midianites.  And again, the word of the Lord was confirmed.  He arrived just in time to hear two men talking about a dream that they had in which their side would fall due to Gideon.  Yet again, God encouraged him.

            So Gideon went back, and rounded up his three hundred men and encircled the camp with nothing but trumpets, torches and clay jars.  Not exactly intimidating, are they?  At Gideon’s call, they blew their trumpets, yelled and broke their pots.  This sent them into confusion, some killing one another, and the rest went into a chaotic retreat.

            My question is, what can we learn from all of this?

How do we go about this?

Ways God Speaks to us…

1.  His word-  Is what we are reading in scripture close to what we are feeling?  Also, what about those coincidental moments in which we are reading the exact words we need to hear?

2.  Other People-  Are others telling us something that we are feeling but not saying?  What if the person saying this normally does not agree with anything you say?  Or what if you do not even know the person giving you this message?

3.  Our circumstances-  Do you find yourself in a certain situation all the time no matter how much you are trying to resist it?

4.  Inner Peace (Or lack of)-  Is what you feel inside abnormally calm given the circumstances?  What about those times in which you are restless or antsy over something?

            I mention these because I have experienced situations such as the ones about in which I was spoken to.  Often times I held back on executing what I felt I was called to do, and I asked for more signs.  Sure enough, they came.  I try to remember Gideon, in that he was not brash or demanding, he asked respectfully for more indicators.  The Lord provided them.  Whether it was the Angel, the invading army, the fleece or the dream, the Lord set the stage so that Gideon knew he had to do what he was called to do. 

            That is why I usually spend a decent amount of time trying to mull over what is being said and allow for more evidence before I jump to the conclusion that God told me something.  Even then, I remain quiet because I definitely want to remain cautious about what I think I am hearing.  This same approach is how I decided to renounce celibacy and when I decided to pursue the ministry. I remained quiet about what I felt could be what I was hearing, and I waited for evidence to appear.  When it appeared, that is when I felt comfortable making a decision.

            So in closing, I will say that this is probably one of the most difficult parts of our Christian walk.  But what I have found is the more frequently you place yourself in the situation for God to speak with you, the more attune to the sound of his voice you become.  Just as the sheep know the smell and sound of their shepherd, we become more familiar to our Lord.  So as you go through this week, be like Gideon and seek out the Lord, you might be surprised by some of the cool things going on around you that you never noticed.

            

Being Perfect in our Imperfections (2 Cor 4)

            One of the biggest issues that I have found in our society is that we are constantly being commanded to be perfect.  Whether it is an ad in the newspaper, a parent, a spouse,  a pastor or sometimes just yourself, the noise that perfectionism creates is overwhelming.   I find that it creeps into our lives slowly, and we are expected to perform beyond our capabilities.  Even worse, anything that has blemishes or dents are considered worthless.

            I say this to you because it shows that we are not called to be perfect.  Society will tell us that we have to be perfect, and that we have to have it all together.  As Christians, it will be demanded of us, and others will be waiting for us to slip so they can yell “I told you so!”  Whether it is in our homes, with our jobs, our friends, our significant others, perfectionism is a very prevalent problem today.  Most perfectionists live very unsatisfying lives, I know because I was forced to be one for a time.  The fact was, I fought it every inch of the way and wondered why those people could not accept me for being me.  The truth was that they did not love themselves, and that they did not understand what it truly means to be human.

            When we read this passage, Pauls starts by encouraging us to not lose heart.  He talks about giving in to secret or shameful ways, and unfortunately that is what happens when we feel like we have to be perfect.  I know that’s what I did.  I would screw up and be very hard on myself.  But not only that, when I found weakness, I would hide it.  I was afraid of being rebuked at church (which happened), or someone finding out and then lambasting me for it.  But instead, Paul says to renounce these ways and to live in Christ’s mercy.  It is not exactly the best idea, especially because the world wants us to have it all together.  Sounds crazy?  I will explain later.

            Some might say that it was insulting for Paul to describe us as Jars of Clay in 2 Corinthians 4:7.  Does anyone know what Paul used that as an illustration?  The reason is because clay jars were very unattractive and cheap.  So what people would do is they would place their treasures in the jars and hide them because they figured that no one would come looking for a treasure in such a homely container.

            When you begin to understand that the historical aspect of this as well, you begin to realize that this is very important.  The Corinthians were very superficial on a whole.  They wanted what they felt was the best gift (seen in 1 Corinthians), were rather showy in worship and was obsessed with appearance, much like the Roman Empire on a whole.  So the idea of being cheap and fragile vessels would have been a complete shock to them.

            But don’t worry, Paul is not calling us worthless and unattractive!  Well, sort of, more like frail and breakable.  When you consider who the letter is being written to, you can understand why he wrote this.  He is writing to a Corinthian church that was full of issues and they needed to understand their place. 

            There was a story that really hit home for me that was received as an email.  I am paraphrasing, so I hope I do not get in trouble for telling it wrong.  It was a story about a woman who had two clay pots.  She would take the two pots down to the river to get water for her home.  One pot was perfect, and it held the water.  The second pot, was unfortunately cracked.  When the woman would bring the water back from the river, she would bring back the water to find that the one pot had lost most of the water.  The perfect pot would mock the cracked pot (please suspend reality!), and said that it should just be destroyed.  So the broken pot asked the woman why he is still kept around since he is not reliable.

            “Do you ever look at the ground on your side of the road?  There are flowers and grass that rely on your water every day!  Look at the other side, and you will see it is desolate.”  So the next day, the pot looked at the side of the road that it was on, and found that it was in fact much more colorful and lush than the other side.

            This story hits home for me because I am a cracked pot.  Having dealt with learning disorders and medical conditions, I am broken.  But what I have learned is that because of my weaknesses, God is active.  There is no reason that I should be pursuing the degrees that I am, there is no reason that I should even be teaching right now, but I am.  So you can imagine how much of an encouragement that can be to someone in a similar situation.  If I never bothered to mention this detail, then someone might never know that it is possible to get this far and give up or disregard it as a dream. 

            I can recall times in which I was faced angry people who were insulting me, and insulting God.  Even though I should have shut down and not said anything back, that is when I opened my mouth and the Holy Spirit spoke.  The men were never convinced, but those that watched gained a better understanding of what I believed and who Christ was.  This is a place of weakness for me understanding my situation, and I should not be able to form arguments that smoothly or quickly.  However, it was in my weakness that the Lord came through.

            Another major point of verses eight and nine are that Paul describes us as a multitude of situations; hard pressed, not crushed, perplexed yet not in despair, so on and so forth.  So what does this say to us?  That one, we can never be perfect.  We will get our share of hits by being who we are, however, he will not let us shatter.    

            I would like to leave you with this image.  Have you ever put a candle in a broken pot?  It is only through the cracks in the pot that you can see the light.  Much is it the same for us.  If we are the perfect pot, we will not give much light.  But when the light shines through our cracks, we are able to guide people in ways that others cannot.  So please do not be hard on yourself over the little things in life, and learn to embrace the fact that the Lord is in control and that he will love us no matter how many cracks we have.

1 Timothy 4 as a Starting Point

I would like to preface that this verse was written for an intent that is not directly aimed towards us, however, it can easily be applied to us.  To be more direct, Paul wrote this letter to Timothy who was the church leader in Ephesus.  Paul clearly had a purpose for writing Timothy, and he spent time encouraging him and guiding him along his path as a young man who had the daunting task of maintaining and advancing the Church of Ephesus.  Without any further ado, please read chapter 4.

Read 1 Timothy 4

Now that we have finished that, could you please pick out a few major themes that are apparent in the verse?  Hopefully a few stood out to you.  The themes that stood out to me are…

Being careful of false teaching (1-5)

Self Discipline and accountability (6-8)

Confidence in Yourself and stewardship towards your gifting (11-14)

Living out your faith rather than it being talk (15-16)

 

Does anyone know the history of Ephesus?  Ephesus was one of Paul’s early missionary projects which was a major port city for the Roman Empire.  It was the Capital of Asia, which is modern Turkey.  Aside from being a major commercial port, it was also known for it’s heavy involvement in the religious realm.  There was a temple to Artemis, occult practices and imperial cults dominating the religious landscape.  Meanwhile, our more common religions such as Christianity and Judiasm were present, but not as powerful.  In fact, many of the religions started to bleed together and we run into the issues found in verses 1-5.

In verses 1-5, Paul is addressing the cults that are drawing Christians away from sound doctrine.  This specific group was called the Gnostics, they were teaching that the body is inherently evil and that we must do what we can to divorce the body from the spirit.  Anything that is of the body, is evil and must be avoided.  There were other ideas that they had, but I do not want to be caught on this idea.  I want to draw attention to the fact that we are being reminded that through the end times (which is what we have lived in for two thousand years), we as Christians will be faced with false teachers.  The religious climate was such that there was a lot of homogenization of religion, and that was considered acceptable.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

Then Paul goes on to exhort Timothy to remain disciplined.  He tells Timothy to remain vigilant and to avoid gossip, and to stay rooted in the truth.  I can speak personally on the idea of trying to stay rooted in the word and with healthy Christians.  I find that when I am around people who are straying from the truth, they start to question some of our actions. I am going to avoid a conversation on legalism, and remind you to be careful!  Just like an athlete who is training for their sport, we must continue to be disciplined about learning the truth from the source.  We will never become proficient if we just sit on the sidelines.

 

After this, Paul talks with Timothy about a few subjects.  One of which I will get to next, but what stands out to me is verse 12.  Timothy was a young man and was one of Paul’s protégé’s.  Timothy had the daunting task of being the head of the church, and you can tell that his confidence was fading and so was the confidence of his congregation.  Personally, this was an important verse for me because it was prophesied over me before I left for the Navy.  It was the first prophetic message I received.  As a 23 year old who recently figured out his calling to the Ministry, many people did not respect my interest.  I had been denied ministry positions, and the knowledge and enthusiasm I carried were ignored.  Instead, I was treated like a new Christian who knew nothing about the word of God. I felt I had so much to offer, and it hurt.  However, I looked to the next phase of life as a new start and I wanted to make an impact.  When I moved to Norfolk, I eventually gained enough ground to be in ministry.  One of the reasons was my appearance, and I could tell by the way my peers spoke to me like I was some young sheltered kid who did not know a thing about the Bible.  But through perseverance and demonstrating my gifts, I eventually was given an opportunity to serve.

 

So back to Timothy.  What does Paul do to the young Timothy?  He reminds Timothy of his call to ministry and that Timothy was appointed because Paul and the Ephesians had faith in him to carry out the task.  So by encouraging Timothy, he reminded him to be confident because others were confident in him.  Personally, I did not have much of that when I decided to follow my call to ministry.  Along the way, people came along side me, but it took a while.  But again, this is something in the culture that I hope to change.  I believe that if we can instill confidence in one another instead of tearing one another down, that we can accomplish great things. 

 

The final section directly correlates with what I have experienced because I try to watch my life and doctrine closely like Paul commands Timothy.  I have seen that in life, many people are watching us whether they want to see us succeed or fail.  My family will tell me stories about how they bump into people that I knew years ago, and they tell them things that they remembered about me.  At the time, I never thought of what I was doing as important, but they obviously took it to heart.  I say that to you because I want you to know what you do is important, always remember that!

To go back to verse 12 quickly, Paul says to set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love in faith and in purity.  I might not always live up to that standard, but I try my hardest to do that and I think anyone that knows me well knows that I do.  What I found is that as we persevere, others will be drawn to us because we bear fruit that is beneficial for everyone.  

So now I have to ask, how does this all tie together?  The first theme is the reason I feel motivated to lead a group such as this.  Even though Paul wrote this roughly 2,000 years ago, we are still faced with the same problems.  We have people that are going around spreading a Christianity that Christ would not approve of.  Whether it is through actions or false teaching, it misleads people into a false understanding.  Unfortunately, many of our peers are falling into that.  I have fallen prey to that, but I survived and want to make sure that the truth is shown.

As young leaders, we are forced with the challenge to help change that image. Christianity has a negative connotation, one that I hope to change.  So instead of sitting around and letting that reputation solidify in people’s minds, I hope that you will join me as I try to show people the side of Christianity that should have been there since day one.  So you are probably asking me “how do we do that?”  Paul claims that through self-discipline, confidence and living out your faith, we can make an impact in society, which is demonstrated through 1 Timothy 4.