Year 3, Day 131: Ezekiel 5

Ezekiel, Shave Your Head

This chapter contains only a single vision from God.  However, this one is a big one.  It begins with God telling Ezekiel to shave his head and his beard.  This is a deeply symbolic act.  All throughout the Old Testament we can see that one shaves their head and their beard when one is either in mourning or in humility – and most often in both.  The people would not miss this sign, either.  A prophet-priest with no facial hair was going to stand out as a symbolic gesture of the people who are in mourning for what has happened to their homeland.

Also note the tool that Ezekiel was to use to shave his head.  It is a sword.  It is not a razor or even a knife.  Ezekiel is told to use a sword.  This is definitely a symbolic act as the prior symbolic act of humiliation and mourning comes from the use of the sword.  The people would not miss this symbol, either.  It was the sword – a weapon of warfare – that would cause all of the bitterness in Jerusalem.  The mourning of the Hebrew people comes because the Assyrians and the Babylonians came against the Hebrew people in militaristic conquest.

Ezekiel, Divide Your Hair

After Ezekiel shaves his head, he is told to weigh the hair and divide it into three equal parts.  We are told in this chapter that this is a sign that the Hebrew people would be punished in three different ways.  There would be fire.  There would be the sword.  There would be a scattering into the far reaches of the world.

The weighing of the hair is also significant.  Yes, it is the only way to make sure it is divided equally.  However, weighing is also a symbol of judgment.  God has weighed the Hebrew people and found them worthy of judgment.  God has looked into their hearts and into their lives and they have come up wanting.

Ezekiel, Leave Your House

Then, Ezekiel is told to leave his house and do some things with his hair.  But before we get to what Ezekiel does with the hair, let’s pause for a second and reflect that God tells Ezekiel to leave his house.  Remember that it wasn’t too long ago that God told Ezekiel to go into his house and stay there.  Has God changed His mind?

No.  What we have going on here is the difference between Ezekiel’s daily call and Ezekiel being specifically sent on a mission.  Ezekiel’s normal ministry would be within his house as a sign against the stubbornness of the Hebrew people.  However, occasionally throughout this book Ezekiel is sent on a specific mission from God that takes him out of his normal pattern of ministry.  This isn’t conflict.  Actually, this is a sign to us that ministry is contextual at the call of God.

Let me give you an example.  I have been called to a particular congregation to do ministry among them.  However, a month or so back I traveled to Honduras with a few of my fellow church members to participate in the ministry of Hospital Loma de Luz.  Was I breaking my call to this congregation when I left for a week to do ministry elsewhere?  Certainly not!  Rather, my call was specifically altered for a precise period of time.  When that mission was completed, I returned with my fellow church members to come back to normal ministry.

What is neat about this passage is that we can see a need for flexibility in ministry.  We all have a specific calling from God.  But that doesn’t mean that this is all that God is going to ask us to do.  Occasionally He’ll point us in a new direction and He’ll say, “Do that for a little while, then come back to your base ministry.”  This is acceptable – even desirable!  What is important is that we are in the habit and practice of determining what God would have us do each day – and then do that!

The Three Judgments

What is Ezekiel to do with the hair?  He is to burn one third.  He is to then take another third and strike it with a sword all throughout the city.  Finally, he is to take the last third and scatter it to the wind.  Out of these three groups Ezekiel is to take some of the hair and bind it into his robe so that he could take some of these spared hairs and burn them in the fire.

What does all of this mean?  The hair that is thrown into the fire is symbolic of the people in Jerusalem who will die from pestilence and famine (or pestilence that comes from practicing cannibalism in the midst of a famine).  The hair that is cut by the sword all throughout the city is symbolic of the people who will survive the pestilence and the famine but who will die at the hand of the Babylonian siege.  The third that are scattered to the wind are those that will go into captivity chased by the threat of the sword of their oppressors.

What of the hairs that were bound into the robe?  These are the symbol of the remnant that would remain faithful to God.  However, notice that not even all of these people escape judgment.  Some of these hairs are thrown into the fire and burned.  God’s judgment fell upon the whole of the Hebrew people – the righteous few and the unrighteous many alike.

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Year 3, Day 130: Ezekiel 4

Jerusalem on a Brick

God tells Ezekiel to go and get a brick.  This would have likely been a large adobe style brick.  Upon the brick he was to draw a sketch of Jerusalem.  Then he was to set up all kinds of siege works and mounds of earth that an enemy army would have used to ascend over the walls.  Finally, Ezekiel was to set his face against it.

Clearly this is a sign to the Hebrew people about the destruction of Jerusalem.  This prophetic message is pretty easy to understand.  What would have taken some thought is the iron pan set between Ezekiel and the brick.  The iron pan represents the insurmountable barrier between the Hebrew people and God.  Of course, the barrier is insurmountable as long as the people remain in their sin.  Their unwillingness to repent is an insurmountable barrier that caused God to not hear their pleas and cries for salvation.

God is mighty to save.  God is powerful enough to do anything.  But when we allow our sinfulness to rule us and we stop humbling ourselves before God, God is under no obligation to hear us when we cry out to Him.  It’s a harsh reality, but it is true.  God need not hear us ever and He would be righteous.  But He has voluntarily done the unthinkable and covenanted with us to hear us so long as we are humble and He is genuinely our God.

Years of Punishment

This second vision is difficult at best.  Well, let me rephrase that.  Part of this second vision is difficult.   The basics are easy.  Ezekiel is told by God that he will lie upon His side for 390 days and then on his other side for 40 days.  These days represent the number of years that the Hebrew people (Israel and Judah respectively) were in rebellion and punishment by God.  That much is clear.

What’s unclear is what the numbers mean.  390 for Israel and 40 for Judah? 

That certainly isn’t the number of years of exile.  The exiles begin to return to the Promised Land in 538 BC.  Jerusalem fell in 586BC.  That’s 48 years, which is not far from the 40 years mentioned for Judah in this chapter.  However, Israel was exiled into Assyrian domination in 722 BC.  That’s only 184 years from when the exiles returned.  That’s not even remotely close to 390 years.

Perhaps it is the years of sinfulness prior to the fall of Jerusalem?  If we subtract 40 years from 586 BC we end up at 626 BC.   626 BC is right in the middle of Josiah’s reign.  We know that Josiah was the last of the faithful kings of Israel!  So this doesn’t make sense.  For the record, if we subtract 390 years from 586 BC we end up at 976 BC.  This date is near the end of David’s reign and Israel and Judah had not even split into two kingdoms yet.  Clearly these years do not represent the years of rebellion leading up to the exile.

Some have speculated that the sum of the years matches the length of Gentile control over the Promised Land.  If you start in 586 BC and add 430 years you end up at 156 BC.  The Maccabean Revolt did occur in 164 BC and Jerusalem was under Jewish rule in 160 BC by Jonathon Maccabeus after his brother dies in 161 having begun the fight to free the Promised Land from the grip of the Seleucid Empire.  This also comes close, however at this point I am left feeling like this is just playing more of a number game than actual prophetic understanding.

The reality is that we need to be honest and confess that we just don’t know.  We can try various ways to understand this passage but nothing seems to work out just right.  Yet it doesn’t affect our understanding of this passage.  The Hebrew people were in rebellion.  They were punished and put under Gentile domination for a time.  The people would understand the vision as God speaking into their circumstance. 

I’m willing to bet that they understood the meaning of the years.  Unfortunately that understanding has been lost in time.

Cakes Baked on Dung

This third vision in the chapter is pretty straight forward.  Ezekiel is to eat simple cakes baked in a simple manner.  They are a small ration.  Actually, they are a very small ration.  The amount of food was roughly equal to 8 ounces.  The amount of water was about 2/3 of a quart.  That’s certainly not what most of us would call sustenance.

This represents two things.  First, the siege of Jerusalem was rough.  It took its toll on people.  Again, the people would understand this vision.  Second, it demonstrates that survival is based on God more than our physical sustenance.  Who can survive for a total of 430 days with only 8 ounces of baked bread and 2/3 of a quart of water to drink per day?  Only someone totally supported by God.

And then there is the matter of the dung.  First, notice that God changes the vision at Ezekiel’s complaint.  Ezekiel is worried about the purity laws.  So God allows him to use cow dung instead of human dung.  For the record, I think I would have been in favor of that change regardless of whether or not I was following the purity laws of the Jews. 

In case you are curious, there is nothing in God’s Law that forbids the use of human dung as a fuel for a fire.  However, there are rules about whether a priest can or cannot come in contact with human dung.  Thus, it is not the cooking fuel that is the issue as much as it is the priestly nature of Ezekiel.

This leads me to my last point this evening.  I’m going to read the New Testament into this passage.  Ezekiel is concerned with his purity according to the Law.  God does not seem overly concerned when He originally gives the vision to Ezekiel.  God knows that it is not what is outside of us that defiles us but rather what is in our hearts.  In a way, that is exactly what the fall of Jerusalem is all about.

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Year 3, Day 129: Ezekiel 3

Eating the Scroll

God tells Ezekiel to eat the scroll that was set before him.  Although the scroll was made up of words that were lament, woe, and judgment the scroll still tasted sweet in his mouth.  See Revelation 10:9-11 for a similar incident.

The scroll was sweet for a very simple reason.  Even though the subject of the scroll was difficult and unpleasant, it was still from God.  God’s Word – even the portions of judgment – is to help us become better people.  God’s Word – even the challenges and the conviction – is for making us better people.

When we submit to God’s Word, it is a sweet experience.  Yes, it may make our life hard.  It may challenge us and cause us to have to do some work and some thinking.  But it is ultimately a good experience.  We will be made sweeter whenever we come into contact with God’s Word and allow it to work within us.

Irony

God looks to Ezekiel and He tells him something rather interesting.  He tells Ezekiel that he is to speak boldly and without fear.  After all, God is sending him to a people with whom he already shares a language.  Ezekiel isn’t going to a foreign people whose language he’ll have to learn.  Ezekiel is going to his own people.

The ironic part of this whole passage is that God tells him that although Ezekiel already speaks their language, the people will not listen.  In fact, God tells Ezekiel that if he were going elsewhere to a people whose language Ezekiel would need to learn that those people actually would listen.  But the Hebrew people will not listen.  Although the language barrier is minimal, the mental and spiritual barriers are huge.

I think this is really true of much of what tries to happen with respect to ministry today.  Many of us try to do ministry in the context in which we live.  We know the language.  We know the people.  But their hearts are hard and set in other directions than the one pointing to God.  This is often just reality.

So I have to wonder if God had sent Ezekiel to other places and they would have listened, why didn’t He?  From a purely evangelistic focus, it certainly would have made sense, wouldn’t it?

However, we also have to remember that God has a greater plan of salvation.  God has a plan to bring Jesus Christ into the world.  In order to set that table, God needs His prophets to prepare the Hebrew people for the coming Messiah.  So although other people might have listened, they weren’t yet a part of God’s greater plan of salvation.  This plan of salvation is God’s crowning act.  It has to take precedence.  Ezekiel is going before the Hebrew people to prepare them so that when they return from exile they will be ready for the Messiah to come onto the scene.

Of course, when I say ready I don’t want you to think that I mean “accepting.”  After all, Jesus Christ wasn’t accepted very well when He came.  By ready, I mean that the scene is set and the context is ripe for what needs to happen to Jesus.  That is the path that Ezekiel is called to begin.

Sent

Remember the passage from Revelation I quoted earlier?  It said that the scroll was sweet upon the lips but bitter in the stomach.  So it is with Ezekiel.  God’s Word, God’s conviction over the people, was sweet upon the lips of Ezekiel.  However, actually going out and doing the work was bitter.  Ezekiel was going among captives.  He was going among people whose lives had been destroyed.  It was a bitter day for Ezekiel.  Yet, the hand of the Lord was still upon him.

Watchman

God now gives to Ezekiel an incredible charge.  I think this is a charge that every parent, teacher, pastor, and spiritual leader needs to read more often than we do.  God tells Ezekiel that if Ezekiel does his job and warns the people that he will have spared his soul.  Whether they turn and repent is between them and God.  However, if Ezekiel doesn’t warn the people and doesn’t call them into repentance, then he will be held accountable for their lack of repentance.

Think about this for a moment.  None of us can make another person respond to God.  But we can tell a person they need to respond.  Every parent can teach their kids to love God, honor Him, and repent of their sins.  Whether the child listens or not is between the child and God.  But it is the job of the parent.   The same is true for Sunday School teachers, church leaders, pastors, etc.  Every single one of us can teach others about the need for repentance and turning to God.  When we don’t teach that, we will be held accountable by God.

Spiritually Bound

Once more God draws Ezekiel into His presence.  Once more Ezekiel falls flat on his face.  Once more the Holy Spirit comes into Ezekiel and physically picks him up.  We see the cycle of humbleness continue.

Then God tells Ezekiel to go and shut himself up into a house.  This doesn’t mean that Ezekiel can’t leave the house.  Rather this is a symbolic speech to the people of Israel.  They would have to come to him for advice and guidance – and at several points of the book they do.  Ezekiel’s being shut up in his house is a sign to the Hebrew people to the fact that they are closed-minded with respect to what God is trying to do among them.

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Year 3, Day 128: Ezekiel 2

Get Up, Ezekiel

Naturally, the first verse of chapter 2 immediately sounds backwards compared to where I left the blog yesterday.  Here is God telling Ezekiel to get up!  So much for humbleness before God, right?

Actually, this verse is completely in line with humbleness.  First of all, notice that Ezekiel rises because of God’s command.  God picks and chooses who can stand in His presence.  It is about humbleness and allowing God to dictate.

Second, notice how Ezekiel is able to stand up.  Ezekiel can stand up only because the Spirit of God is within him.  In fact, the words Ezekiel uses are really cool.  Ezekiel tells us that the Spirit entered him and set him on his feet.  Ezekiel didn’t get up; the Holy Spirit got Ezekiel up.

Obedience

Ezekiel is obedient to God in His presence.  God continues to ask him for obedience.  God tells Ezekiel that he is going to go before the Hebrew people.  God reminds them that they are rebellious.  God tells them with no uncertain terms that they may listen or they may not.  Either way, it is not Ezekiel’s job to make them listen.  Rather, it is Ezekiel’s job to make sure that they know there has a prophet among them.

Again we see that God calls us to obedience and not “success.”  Success is determined by God, not us.  Success is determined in our obedience to Him, not in our own vision of the grand fruit of our efforts.  God can do marvelous things without us; He invites us to obediently participate in what He is doing.

Did You Say they were Rebellious, God?

I love the way that God describes the Hebrew people of the beginning part of the Babylonian captivity.  Remember, these are predominantly the people who have been dragged away from Jerusalem.  How does God speak about them?  God tells Ezekiel that he is among briars and thorns and it will be as though he is sitting on scorpions.

LOL.  There’s a job description that just about everyone would sign up for, right?  God has a knack for being honest.  At times like this as I hear God speak about humanity I can’t help but do anything but smile and shake my head.  Yes, we really are that rebellious.  Praise be to God that He continues to walk with us and invite us in.

Confirmation

Again, God tells Ezekiel to be not afraid.  Ezekiel isn’t to be afraid of their looks.  He isn’t to be afraid of their words.  He isn’t to be afraid of their rejection.  He is to do the work that God has called him to do.

I know how Ezekiel must feel.  Imagine for yourselves how you would feel if someone tells you to do a job and then warns you twice about what is going to happen.  Ezekiel has to feel as though his time is marked.  He has to wonder how painful his life is to become.  But give credit to Ezekiel.  Ezekiel takes his place in a long line of faithful people who came before him and who will come after him.  He steps up in obedience to God and does as he is asked.  That’s faith.

The Scroll

God gives Ezekiel one last parting word before moving beyond the call and back into the vision.  God tells Ezekiel to not be rebellious like the Hebrew people were.  God tells them to not learn their ways.  God doesn’t want a relationship with Ezekiel like He has with the Hebrew people.

After the warning, God shows Ezekiel a scroll.  We’ll get into this scroll more tomorrow, but for today it is enough to reflect on the fact that the words on the scroll were lamentation.  They are words of woe.  They are words of mourning.  These are the emotions of the Hebrew people in Ezekiel’s present.  Both the faithful and the unfaithful to God are lamenting about what is happening to them.

God wanted Ezekiel to understand the relationship between God and His people.  They were lamenting because of their circumstances.  God was lamenting because of the lost relationship.  For God, the circumstances of life don’t matter nearly as much as the relationship of life that we have with Him and with each other.

In receiving the scroll, Ezekiel is quite literally bridging the gap between God and man.  Ezekiel is stepping into his priesthood and seeing through both the eyes of his fellow human beings but also through the eyes of God.  He will have one ear on the people and one ear on God from this point forth.

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Year 3, Day 127: Ezekiel 1

A Note of Explanation

As we begin this book, we need to understand that this is an incredibly complex and difficult book to read.  At many points within this book it is common for the reader to sit back and have to reread paragraphs.  It is a common feeling for the reader to feel lost in the book of Ezekiel.  Most beginner readers of Ezekiel need a companion commentary or a spiritual community to help make sense of this book.  So if you find yourself in that position, do not worry.  You are completely normal.  Keep reading.

Prophet-Priest

In the corpus of scripture, there are only three prophet-priests: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah.  A priest was a person who served God in the temple trying to manage the purity – or more realistically, the sinfulness – of the people.  The prophet was on the front lines living among the people trying to teach them how to live so that they weren’t sinful in the first place.  Think of the prophet as the chaplain among the soldiers on the front lines who are taking the war to the enemy while the priests are the medics in the back fixing up the wounded.  What is neat about Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah is that they served the people in both capacities.

Ezekiel’s prophetic career spans the early years of the Hebrew exile.  When Jeremiah steps off of the scene because he is kidnapped and brought to Egypt, Ezekiel’s prophetic career is just getting started.  But rest assured, the fall of Jerusalem is behind us as we read this book.  We are now dealing with a people who are beginning to live under God’s judgment looking ahead to a time when such judgment will relent.

I Saw Visions of God

This phrase in the opening verse of Ezekiel tells us why the book will be so difficult for use to grasp.  Whereas other prophets heard to voice of the Lord speaking to them, Ezekiel sees many visions.  Each of these visions seems strange and unusual.  They are largely symbolic visions that represent God’s truth in the best way possible.  Since God is not only complex but so much more than our human brains can comprehend, God’s visions take an extra dose of effort to understand.

However, there is a deep foundation of truth laid by that phrase.  Ezekiel saw visions of God.  {Note:  visions OF God, not just visions FROM God.  Ponder that for a second.}  His message is deeply affected by what he saw – and what he saw was often about God brought directly to him by God.  This is not some human being who is writing of their own experience.  This is a man who is trying to make sense of the things that God is showing to him about God.  Perhaps more difficult is the task to have these visions make sense to us!  But the foundation of these visions is that they are about God.

The Hand of the Lord

We are also told in the opening verses that the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel.  Not only was Ezekiel seeing visions of God; Ezekiel’s actions were directed by God as well.  The hand of the Lord was upon him.  Ezekiel was motivated by God’s presence upon him.

God comes to Ezekiel

This first vision is really a doozy.  Let’s make some sense of it.  First, Ezekiel sees a great storm coming from the north.  But unlike other storms – which bring darkness to the land as they pass over – this storm brings light as it is literally the presence of God.  When God comes to mankind, it can be a threatening experience like a storm.  However, it is fundamentally a revelatory experience as well.

Coming out of the presence of God were His cherubim.  These are special heavenly beings with special access to the throne of God.  In some respects, they appeared like a human.  But they had four faces (man lion, ox, eagle) and four wings.  While they had human hands, they had feet like a calf.  So they would not be mistaken for human beings, either.

Half of the wings of the cherubim touched each other so that they could move in any direction without turning.  But the other pair of the wings was used almost as clothing.  The second pair of wings covered over the body of cherubim.  This is a profound statement.  Even the cherubim who continually serve in the presence of God cover themselves.  Even the cherubim who are perpetually with God are humble before Him.

Wheel within a Wheel

The wheels associated with the cherubim are confusing at best.  They shine like a precious stone.  The spirit of the cherubim also seems to be a part of the wheels.  The rims were tall and awesome and full of eyes in every direction.  And there was a wheel within a wheel.  Personally, when I think of the wheel within a wheel I think not of concentric circles but of intersecting circles.  If you will, think of a hamster ball.  Because it is three dimensional instead of two dimensional, a hamster inside can roll in any direction and go anywhere without worrying about falling over.

What is the point of these wheels?  They certainly point us to an understanding of God’s omniscience.  There are eyes everywhere on the wheel.  It seems like they can go anywhere they desire.  There is no limit to where God can god and what God sees. 

The Presence of God

Then Ezekiel gets to describe the expanse.  This shouldn’t be thought of as empty space.  Rather, this is filled space – quite literally filled with the presence of God.  This place above the cherubim was where Ezekiel saw a theophany – an appearance of the presence of God.

As Ezekiel gazes upon the expanse, we really get a sense of how the human language began to fail him.  As he gazes upon this theophany, he can see something that generally looks like a man.  But from the waist up it looks metal.  From the waist down it looked like it was made of fire.  Ezekiel begins to really struggle with how to put this vision into words.  Truthfully, I can’t say that I blame him.  I can only imagine how difficult it would be to try and describe the God who created the world with words.

What we can be certain of is that Ezekiel has a genuine response.  Ezekiel falls flat on his face.  When in the presence of God, humbleness is the order for the day.  Ezekiel realizes that with respect to this vision, it was now his time to stop looking, to hit the ground, and to listen to what the Almighty would impart upon his life.

I like how Ezekiel and the cherubim teach us the same message.  When God arrives, humbleness is in order.  I like that because hubris – excessive human arrogance and pride – is often our innermost quality.  God truly is “other” and requires us to act upon His nature in His presence, not ours.

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Year 3, Day 126: James 4-5

This Means War

I must be in a Petra mood the last week, because opening up to James 4 has caused me to once more think of a Petra song: This Means War from the album of the same name.  In these opening verses to James 4 we hear a theme that he began in the last chapter when he was talking about the tongue.  There is a war being waged within us.

We want what we don’t have, so we steal and murder.  We covet and cannot obtain, so we fight.  We don’t have because we ask God for the wrong things.  Yet what I find the most striking is the word that James uses as an umbrella over all of these opening verses: adultery.  When we want what God doesn’t want for us, it is spiritual adultery.  When we are so focused on other stuff that we don’t ask God for the right things, we are being adulterous against God.  That’ll make you think today.  I know it has made me think.  For what it is worth, it is precisely this word that the Old Testament prophets use against the Hebrew people time and time again.

The Path out of Spiritual Adultery

So how do we avoid being spiritual adulterers?  Submit yourself before God.  Humble yourself in the presence of God.  Draw near to God and He will certainly draw near to you.  Do not take God’s place as judge, jury, and executioner.  Rather, accept that it is His role to fill and then begin to desire the things of His nature.  In doing so, we will prevent ourselves from becoming the victim of spiritual adultery.

Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.  Do not speak ill of one another.  Who are we to sit as judge over one another anyway?  Is that not God’s place?

In all ways, the path to avoiding spiritual adultery begins first with humbling ourselves to God and accepting His role over creation.  Then we can accept our role and live up to it rather than aspiring to something that God does not want for us.  I think this is a deep vein of fruitful thought today.  How much of what we do in our life that falls into the category of “generally not good for us” also falls into the category of “we wanted it but God didn’t?”

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

At the end of chapter 4, James speaks about how we plan our lives.  We tell each other what we’ll do for tomorrow, the next week, the next month, or even the next year.  And then James points out just how pointless this approach is.  After all, can any of us actually really guarantee that we’ll wake up tomorrow?

Now that I’ve given you something to keep you lying awake in bed tonight, let me step back and talk a little more about what I think James means.  James isn’t saying that it is bad for to plan for the future.  I think James is absolutely a planner.  But what I think James is really saying is that our mistake is in saying, “Here’s what I am going to do.”  Rather, we need to stop and ask ourselves, “What is it that God desires me to do?”  When we pause to ask that question instead of jumping right to the question about what I want to do, then we won’t waste our time pursuing our own fruitless efforts.  I believe this is the true point of James’ words here in these last two chapters.

This naturally leads us into the middle section of James 5.  {I am skipping the opening section of James 5 because honestly I think it is very straightforward.}  James tells us to be patient.  He tells us that we are to be like farmers waiting for the harvest that God is going to provide.  After all, is it not better to achieve what God desires we achieve than to work and work for our own toil only to end up in some place that isn’t good for us?

That being said, I know why James gives this advice.  How many of us genuinely excel at being patient?  How many of us are great at sitting back and waiting for God to reveal His plan?  Yes, I know we would all agree that God’s plan is best.  But honestly, how good are we at waiting for it to happen?

Prayer

James concludes this letter with an exhortation to pray.  Pray in times of trouble.  Pray in times of celebration.  Pray when you are tempted.  In fact, when you are tempted confess to one another so that others may also hold you up in prayer.  Pray for the sick.

Reading this, you really do get the idea that prayer is an incredibly powerful tool.  At this point, I have to confess that prayer is personally the tool that I underuse the most.  I’m guessing this is true for many of us.  Every time I come across an admonishment to pray more often and to pray for each other I am convicted that I’m not doing the job that I should be doing.

Of course, I logically know all of this.  To make matters worse, I know that prayer is the foundation of relationship with God.  To be in relationship with God, one must pray.  That alone should be reason for a person to desire to pray more.  Who wouldn’t want their relationship with the living God and the creator of the universe to increase?

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Year 3, Day 125: James 3

The Tongue is THE Most Essential Tool for the Teacher

I love James’ opening piece of advice here: “Not many of you should become teachers, because we who are teachers will be judged more strictly than the others.”  Way to scare everyone off, James!  See how many of us get more volunteers to be teachers after that little piece of advice!

Of course, he’s right.  When we teach, we are more responsible.  Nothing speaks hypocrisy more than a person who does not practice what they teach.  Nothing breaks trust more than a person who says one thing yet does something else.

I agree with James that those of us who are teachers must be especially aware of our tongues.  We must bridle our tongues.  We must make sure that when our tongues are active they are speaking truth.  There can be little leeway on this point.  The tongue of a teacher is always our greatest asset and our most dangerous tool.

The Danger of the Tongue

James uses some great analogies here.  Can a spring give both fresh and salt water?  Can a fig tree bear both figs and olives?  {No fair any of you science geeks who know how to graft trees together.}  Things cannot produce something that is not in its nature.

Yet, our tongues do double duty.  With one breath we give praise and glory to God.  With another breath we curse the people around us.  With a simple flick of our tongue we lift someone up.  With another flick of the tongue we make an enemy.  Our tongue is a true double edged sword.

So how is it that our tongue can produce two results when things in nature can only produce what is within their nature?  The tongue is proof of the war within us. 

Our nature is sin.  Our flesh is corrupt.  When our tongue speaks out words of destruction and violence to the people around us, our tongue is acting as a tool of the human nature from which it is composed.

However, the nature of the Holy Spirit is God.  God is righteousness.  When our tongue speaks words of truth and wisdom, our tongue is acting as a tool of the spiritual nature that God has placed within us.

Since a war is being waged within us between our sinful nature and God’s righteousness, it makes sense that our tongue is an instrument of this war.  The resulting question is actually fairly simple.  What side shall be victorious?  Which side has greater control of the tongue?  Are the words of my mouth and the meditations of my soul pleasing to the Lord our God?

Wisdom from Above

James then moves on to the topic of wisdom.  Again notice the connection to works for James.  The identification of wisdom in others is directly related to their behavior.  It is by our conduct that we demonstrate our wisdom.

Of course, it is by our works that we demonstrate our immaturity, too.  Where there is no wisdom there is selfish ambition.  {After all, is it wise to pursue that which glorifies ourselves and not God?}  Where there is no wisdom there jealousy.  Where there is no wisdom there is boasting.  Where there is no wisdom there is falsehood.  These things do not come from God.  These things come from the fallen nature of creation – or perhaps worse.

Fruit of True Wisdom

So what is the product of true wisdom?  This question is actually fairly easy to answer.  Is there peace among people who genuinely submit to a suggestion?  Then there was wisdom involved.  Does a suggestion bring out the purity in others?  Then it was wise.  Is a suggestion open to genuine scrutiny?  Then it was probably wise.  Is it producing good fruit, impartial, and sincere?  Then it probably was wise.  Wisdom doesn’t need to hide in the shadows or be the fruit of closed conversation.  Wisdom is discernible and capable of withstanding the scrutiny of this world.

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Year 3, Day 124: James 2

Partiality

James makes an incredible argument for inclusivity in the congregation of God’s followers.  Is there anyone who cannot be a follower of God?  Must someone have a certain level of status?  Must someone meet the “not a drain on the system” condition that so many social clubs enforce?  Must they wear certain attire or not be allowed in?  Do they need to speak the club’s language before being granted admission?

James is talking to a specific dynamic in the congregation to whom he is writing.  There are the “haves” and the “have nots.”  The haves are considering themselves better because they dress more appropriately.  Everyone in the congregation wants to be around the haves.  Everyone wants the attention of the haves.  The have nots are being pushed to the side because from the perspective of the world, they have little if anything to bring to the table.

James tells us bluntly this is not how it should be.  What a wonderfully New Testament idea.  Jesus taught that the poor shall inherit the kingdom of God.  Jesus taught that we should not be concerned about earthly treasures but instead be concerned about laying up our treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy.  When we look at people, we should not see them with eyes that are evaluating their worldly wealth.  Rather, we should see people through eyes that are evaluating their spiritual nature.

The Law

If there is one thing James does really well, it is to bring the Law into his conversation.  With respect to the topic of partiality, James does an incredible job here.  James reminds us that Jesus taught us that He could summarize the whole of the Law in two expressions: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and then love your neighbor as yourself.  When we show partiality, do we not love our neighbor less?  Partiality necessarily implies a breaking of the Law.

Therefore, we should be quick to treat all of God’s followers with hospitality.  All those who call upon God for salvation should be welcome in our midst.  We must learn to see through glasses that do not see favoritism.

Circles of Influence

That being said, I do feel the need to speak to the other side of this issue.  While all followers of God should be welcomed, that does not mean that we have to spend an equal amount of time with each other.  When Jesus lived on this earth, Jesus spent an incredible amount of time with the Twelve and even among the Twelve He spent the most time with Peter, James, and John.  Jesus wasn’t playing favorites; Jesus identified gifts.  Peter, James, and John were leaders and they were the ones who opened themselves to Jesus the most.  The same could be said about all of the disciples when compared to the crowds at large.

Therefore, while we need to be welcoming to all of God’s followers, we also need to see where God is directing us to work.  If God is calling you to speak into the life of someone, do it.  Don’t neglect others, but don’t worry about giving a person additional attention.  Don’t do it because they are wealthy or dress nicely; do it because God is pointing you there.  Don’t show partiality; but do go where God is calling you.

Applied Faith

To be honest, I really struggle with James 2:14-17.  I don’t struggle with them because I don’t believe them to be true.  I struggle with them because I honestly don’t feel that I live up to the standard all that well.  How often do I say to people that God loves them and they should go and be filled yet at the same time I’m not really asking if their needs are met?  How many people do I smile at and say, “Good day!” but in reality I don’t even know if the heat is on or their pantry has food in it?  These verses always reflect the hypocrite back onto myself.

I don’t think there is any way around it.  I could do a better job asking if I can help anyone out.  Yes, I volunteer at the Mobile Food pantry.  I sort food at the local food bank.  My wife and I even support a child and his family in Kenya.  But on the whole, am I really helping people meet their physical needs?  Sure, I may be helping people meet their spiritual needs.  But am I not failing miserably at a more basic calling in life?

Faith Without Works

Then we turn to probably the most hotly debated section of all scripture.  “Faith without works is dead.”  As I said yesterday, James is not arguing for works based salvation.  James is arguing that if our faith and the salvation that comes through it do not inspire us to works then we really may not even have faith.  I find this a much harder question in truth.  It’s not a matter of “Am I saved because of my works?”  It’s really a question of “Am I responding to God’s gift of salvation?”  James is arguing that we see our faith and the faith of other people through what we do.  What we do speaks about who we are.  If I do nothing out of my faith, how can I claim to be a person of faith?

Faith is active in our works.  Faith is completed by our works.  Salvation comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Our works are evidence of our salvation.  In some respects it is our fruit.  Does not Jesus tell us to judge one another by the fruit that we bear?

And then there is the haunting question at the end.  What good is faith without works?  What good is belief in a God and the experience of His mercy if we never act upon it?  Have we really been changed by God’s love and mercy if we ourselves show no evidence of His love and mercy?  Do I want a dead faith?  If not, then I need to be alive in my works!  {Again, though.  Works are not to be saved.  Works are the response to salvation.}

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Year 3, Day 123: James 1

Authorship

The authorship of James is one of my favorite stories in the New Testament.  Church tradition, which I find no reason to dispute, argues that James is written not by James the apostle (the brother of John, who was the first of the apostles to be martyred) but by Jesus’ own brother.  It is taught that after Jesus rose from the dead that Jesus appeared to many people.  One of those people was His brother James.  {See 1 Corinthians 15:17} 

What is so cool about this is when we remember that as Jesus was doing public ministry His mother and brothers more than once came to Jesus to try to bring Him back home to shake some sense into Him.  While Jesus is doing ministry, they think He is out of His mind.  But after His death and resurrection they become believers.  I love the fact that Jesus’ own family are prime examples of the change that God’s Messiah can make in our life.  I love the fact that one of Jesus’ own brothers is an author of a book of the Bible because he’s a changed man. 

Furthermore, what’s important there is that James doesn’t feel the need to talk about Jesus’ childhood and fill in a whole bunch of the stories we want to hear.  He had access to all of those stories but instead chose to write the book upon which we are embarking.  I think one of the subtle points to the book of James is that a life of faithful obedience to God and teaching it to others is far more significant than all of the other stuff we wonder about Jesus’ life but around told.

Joy

Consider it joy, brothers and sisters, when your life turns to trials, persecutions, stress, judgments, and all sorts of other fun things that we normally love to hate.

What a way to start a letter!  How many of us would lead off with that kind of advice?  In fact, how many of us actually receive that advice well today?  Do we really agree with James in reality?  Sure, in truth we agree because we know the end result of trials.  We know that God does cause us to grow through them.  But when we are in the very real midst of the trial, how quick are we to rejoice?

It is human nature is to complain about our trials, James knows that he needs to remind his readers to rejoice.  None of us like to be under trial.  But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t with us. In fact, some people like to think that God is with us even more when we are undergoing a trial!  Have you ever read the poem Footprints in the Sand? Consider it pure joy, readers, when you face trials of any kind.  For God is at work in you through those trials.

Wisdom in Faith

If any of you lacks wisdom, they should ask in faith.  Again, I think James knows his audience.  As a human culture, I think one of the attributes we typically lack more than any other is wisdom.  I know that is certainly true for me.  So often I find myself doing things that I really wish I hadn’t done.  If only I’d had wisdom before making the mistake!  We can all use a little more wisdom in our life.

So we are to ask.  But we aren’t to ask with a question in our mind.  We are to ask knowing that God will fulfill that request.  How many of us can say that as we have lived we have become less wise?  No, through God’s hand in our life we gain wisdom.  That doesn’t mean we stop making mistakes.  It just means that we don’t make the same mistakes again and again.  We will gain wisdom as we live.  God will use the circumstances of our life to teach us and bring us wisdom.

The Heart of Sin

In many respects, James’ teaching about sin in James 1:14-15 reminds me of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 7:20-23.  Sin is something that we cannot blame externally.  Sure, we might learn how to sin from an external source.  But ultimately every sin for which we will be held accountable is rooted in our heart.  When we sin we are guilty for harboring the thought, emotion, rationale, etc for the sin.  When we sin we have allowed the root of that sin to have a place in our life.

Of course, this means that such behavior is not from God.  God doesn’t tempt us.  God doesn’t lead us into sin.  God doesn’t dangle the carrot in front of us just to see if we’ll bite on it.  No, God brings the good things in our life.  God brings the righteous things in our life.  God brings the things of truth into our life.  Our sin comes from within us; our righteousness comes from God.

Doers of the Word

As we close the end of this chapter, we make a significant transition to one of the great themes of this book: action.  James makes the case that we need to be doers, not just hearers.  And in this one expression a huge debate engulfs Christianity.

You see, most people who object to the message of James object to it because they hear these words in terms of works-based-salvation.  They hear James saying, “In order to be saved, you must do something.”  They believe James is opening the door for people to add a requirement for salvation other than Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

But the reality is that this isn’t what James is saying at all.  James isn’t talking about doing works in order to be saved.  Rather, James is telling us that one does good things because we are saved.  After all, look at the analogy that is used here.  One looks at himself and then goes out and acts.  We look at ourselves and understand just how condemned we should be under the Law.  Then we look at ourselves and recognize what Jesus Christ has done for us.  Our response is to go out into the world and be the change that Christ has brought about in us.

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Year 3, Day 122: Lamentations 5

The Final Lament

Here we have the close of the book.  Being a book of lamentations, we should not expect that the book is going to end all that happily.  And it does not.  The present reality for the author is that the Hebrew people are being dragged away into Babylonian captivity.  As the author says, the women are being abused.  The men of Jerusalem are being strung up and hanged.  It is a dark day.

I honestly cannot imagine what Jeremiah is going through at this point.  Jeremiah knew that this day was coming.  God had told him as much.  Jeremiah knew that the people would not repent.  He knew that this was happening because of their refusal to submit to God.  Jeremiah had to consciously understand all of this.

Yet at the same time, this was Jerusalem.  Jeremiah had been raised to see Jerusalem as God’s chosen city.  This was the place where God’s temple was located.  This was the city of the throne of David.  There were promises that God had made.

For the record, God kept those promises, just in a way that nobody could have ever guessed: through Jesus Christ.

Regardless of whether or not Jeremiah truly understood all that was happening, this had to be hard to watch.  Regardless of the fact that God promised that He would be with Jeremiah, this had to be hard to watch.  Regardless of the fact that God had told Jeremiah that there would be a remnant, this had to be hard to watch.

Remnant

However, this chapter is not without hope.  In fact, there are two places of hope.  The first is actually in the opening verse.  “Remember, O Lord … look and see our disgrace.”  Here we have another example of the communal faith that Jeremiah has with the people.  Even though Jeremiah has been faithfully following God as much as any person can faithfully follow, Jeremiah lumps himself into camp with the sinners.  Jerusalem fell because of “our disgrace.”

I think as I read through Lamentations that this is a dynamic for which I am truly hungry.  So often in religious circles it is “us” when things are going well but it is “you” when things begin to go poorly.  “We do a great job.”  “We are God’s people.”  “We are growing.”  However, how quickly do things change when “you led us wrong” or “you didn’t follow” or “you didn’t pull your weight.”

I find it refreshing that Jeremiah has tossed his fate in with the fate of the people of Jerusalem.  If anyone had the right to say, “God, they truly deserve what You gave them” it is Jeremiah.  Yet this is not what Jeremiah says.  What Jeremiah says is, “God, see our disgrace.”  Jeremiah may not have approved of how the people of Jerusalem lived, thought, and acted.  But He loved them enough to embrace their failings and love them in spite of their failings.  For Jeremiah there is no “me” and “them.”  For Jeremiah there is only “us.”  I find him truly inspiring having read his story more thoroughly in Jeremiah and now here in Lamentations.

The Lord

The second place in which I find hope in this passage is the closing verses.  “You, Oh Lord, reign forever.  Your throne endures to all generations.”  I am inspired by the fact that through everything that Jeremiah had to have seen he still finds hope in God.  In spite of all the hardship brought on by living in Jerusalem while it was under siege, Jeremiah still finds hope in God.  In spite of the torture, abuse, imprisonment, Jeremiah still finds hope in God.  Jeremiah sees cannibalism happening and he still finds hope in God.  Humanity is at its worst, yet it is not enough to knock Jeremiah from the fact that God is in charge and our hope rests in Him.

So Jeremiah is not consumed by the darkness.  The darkness tries to swallow him up, but he is not consumed by it.  Instead, Jeremiah looks for the day of restoration.  But notice the restoration for which Jeremiah yearns.  Jeremiah does not desire the restoration of their fortunes.  No, Jeremiah desires the restoration of the relationship between God and His people.

That’s a really sweet note of reflection to end such a dark book.  Restore Yourself to us, Oh Lord.  Amen.  May it be so.

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Year 3, Day 121: Lamentations 4

Parallelism

The first 11 verses of chapter 4 are really neat.  Jeremiah splits these verses up into two sections.  The first section, verses 1-6, deals with Jerusalem before the fall to Babylon.  The next 5 verses, verses 7-11, deal with Jerusalem after the fall to Babylon.  What is even cooler is that the subjects of the sections are identical.

For example, the point of Lamentations 4:1-2 is that the “sons of Zion” (the righteous ones in Jerusalem) were once regarded as precious but before the fall they became regarded as earthen pots.  Earthen pots were so common and so easy to make that when one broke one threw it away and just made another one.  If we look at verses 7-8 we can see that the “princes” (read sons of Zion) were once pure but now after the fall they are covered in ash and rejected.  The holy ones of Jerusalem are rejected in the opening verses in both of these sections of verses.

Lamentations 4:3-5 talks about how before the fall Jerusalem was so much affected by the siege that mothers did not even have enough nourishment to provide milk for their infants.  They once feasted, but because of their sin the people of Jerusalem now embrace ash heaps.  If we look at verses 9-10 we can see a similar message.  After the siege is over people are left with the memories of the things they chose to do in order to survive the siege – even cannibalism.  The theme of these middle verses in these sections is that Jerusalem had fallen so far that even the children were not protected.

Lamentations 4:6 talks about how the life of the people before the fall had brought about the judgment of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians.  Lamentations 4:11 speaks to the fact that after the fall the people are currently abiding in the wrath of God.  Each of the opening sections of this chapter speaks about how our sinfulness compels us to the brink of God’s wrath.

The parallelism of the first half of this chapter of lament speaks to the patterns of judgment.  When we turn from God, we are subject to judgment and we reject the spiritual ones in our life.  When we are subject to judgment we fall from grace.  We fall from the favor of God.  When we fall from the favor of God, the people around us suffer – especially the “innocents” like children.  We fall into the consequences of our turning away.  We then suffer the wrath of God until we repent.  The pattern presented twice in these verses is clear.

Another Reminder about Spiritual Leadership

As we progress into the second half of this chapter, we get a second look in this book at the importance of spiritual leadership.  Here we have a revisit of one of the major reasons the people fell into sin.  The people who were tasked with asserting true spirituality completely failed on their job.

The priests and the prophets among Jerusalem shed innocent blood.  They lifted up the worship of the wrong things.  They proclaimed messages that were not true.

So the Lord drove them away.  The Lord scattered them among the nations.  They became fugitives and wanderers.  They rejected God and God’s ways, so they wandered the earth.  This description sounds pretty similar to a generation of Hebrew people who rejected God’s ways so much that He made them wander in the desert for 40 years.  The only difference is that in the case of the Exodus those people had good spiritual leadership in Moses!

The point of it is really simple.  Reject God and wander the world looking for something you can’t ever find.  Being a spiritual leader doesn’t exempt you from this reality.  God doesn’t show partiality based on a role in a community or a certain lineage or nobility.  Those who reject God are scattered regardless of who they are.

A Nation We Could Not Save

The close of verse 17 is particularly haunting to me.  “We watched a nation that we could not save.”  I am touched by this verse on two levels.

First, there is a reality in this verse that you cannot do faith or spirituality for someone else.  You cannot will anyone else into a right relationship with God.  The person of faith desires for those around them to be in a relationship with God.  But the truth is that the person of faith can only come along beside those who genuinely want such a relationship for themselves.  There is nothing that a faithful person can do to force a person into a genuine relationship with God.

The second dynamic that this verse speaks to is the heart of the faithful.  In spite of wicked behavior and persecution, the faithful person still looks on with love.  The faithful person might realize they are watching a train wreck about to happen between God and the people around them, but they still look on with love.  They still desire repentance and a right relationship between God and those about to be judged.  They do not abandon the calling based on the futility of the work.

That’s really a statement of faith.  The person of faith does the task based on the fact that God has asked it to be done rather than the possibility of success.  God called Jeremiah to speak truth to Jerusalem regardless of whether the people would listen or not.  God called Jesus to preach to the whole people of Jerusalem and Judea whether they would listen to Him or crucify Him for it.  In the end, God asks for genuine obedience and asks that we allow Him to define success.

I think that is far easier said than done.  But maybe that’s just me.

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