Meditations

Genesis 36:1-39:23

Staying Pure On A Sexually Polluted Planet

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife
took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused!
Genesis 39:6-8

Go Deep: A while back a Newsweek article began with this attention-grabber:  “In the [near future] you’re going to have better sex than you’ve ever had before…[not] a single sexual fantasy…will go unfulfilled.”  Now that really grabbed my attention—not so much for my sake, but I knew you’d be interested!

All kidding aside, you and I would both agree that we live in a sex-obsessed culture.  We are constantly bombarded with messages, images, and opportunities that urge us to gratify every sexual desire.  On prime time TV in a given year, you’ll watch 20,000 sexually suggestive scenes—20,000!

As a result of this relentless sexual bombardment and a cultural philosophy of boundary-less sexual gratification, we now have more abortions (around fifty million since Roe v. Wade in 1973), illegitimate births, cohabitation of couples without marriage, adulterous affairs, addiction to pornography, sexually transmitted disease, sexual predators and sexual exploitation than ever before.  Nine million Americans carry a venereal disease—that’s even more than those who battle alcoholism.  It’s predicted that 100 million will die from HIV/AIDS in Africa alone in the next 20 years—100 million!  At best, the world’s sexual philosophy doesn’t work—obviously!  At worst, our so-called enlightened age, rather than giving us that sexual freedom it promised, has instead unleashed a tsunami of sexual degradation and destruction.

God has a better way—a higher sexual ethic to which he calls his children.  I Thessalonians 4:3-4 says, “God wants you to be pure and to keep clear of all sexual sin.  For God hasn’t called us to be dirty-minded and full of lust but to be holy and clean.”

Now God’s people haven’t always got this right, but there was one man who did—Joseph. Under the most intense pressure and rationale to compromise sexually, he didn’t.  He remained pure in a polluted environment.  Notice the rich theology in Joseph’s response:

“With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:8-9)

When you look at Joseph’s response to Potiphar’s wife, it is obvious that he had thought this through ahead of the temptation and had resolved long before the seduction to stay sexually pure.  Here’s the thing: If you wait until the moment of intense passion to decide what your values and boundaries are going to be, you’ve waited too long.  Authors Young and Adams write:

“Nothing interferes with logic and common sense more than the sex drive.  For years we referred to this as the ‘brain relocation phenomenon,’ which occurs when you are passionate about someone and you start to get intimate.  Here’s how it works. Once the hormones kick in, the brain dislodges from the skull and slowly moves down the body through the neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, and finally, below the waist. This process takes 10 to 20 minutes for women and about 3 seconds for men.”

And once that happens, you are thinking with your hormones, not your head!  The truth is, you are a moral agent, created by God with a will.  And you must resolve ahead of time to honor God with your sexuality, including not only sexual intercourse, but all the behaviors that contribute and lead to the point of no return.  How can you do that?

First, resolve to make God’s standards your standards!  Psalm 119:9 says, “How can one keep his way pure?  By living according to your Word.”

Second, resolve to manage your mind, especially your media intake!  Proverbs 15:14 says, “The fool feeds on trash.” What you feed your mind is just as important as what you feed your body.  Every temptation starts in the mind.  Proverbs 4:23 says “Be careful how you think, your life is shaped by your thoughts.” The battle for purity is won or lost in your brain.

Third, resolve to magnify the consequences of sin!  Do a cost-benefit analysis of sexual sin! Proverbs 6:26 says, “Immorality may cost your life.”  Proverbs 6:32 says, “Anyone who commits adultery doesn’t have any sense.  He’s destroying himself.”  Even if you don’t want to take God’s word for it, just look at the steady stream of recent studies on the results of the so-called sexual revolution. For instance, one study noted that when couples live together before marriage, there is an 80% higher likelihood of divorce than couples who don’t. Women in these relationships are twice as likely to be physically abused and four times more likely to experience depression than married women.  And that is just one of many studies similarly confirming the unintended consequence of boundary-less sex.  When you put the world’s sexual philosophy under the magnifying glass, who in their right mind would want that?

Perhaps by now you are saying, “Enough already, I’m convinced.  God’s got a better way.  But what do you do when you’ve already blown it sexually?”  Well, here is what you need to know: There is grace and forgiveness and mercy and love to cover any sexual sin you have experienced.  Have you ever noticed that some of the people most attracted to Jesus were those who had failed miserably in the sexual department: The woman who’d been married to five different husbands, and was currently living with a guy…a woman caught in adultery…prostitutes who’d sold their bodies for money.

And how would Jesus respond to them?  He would look them right in the eye and just love them.  And he will gladly forgive you where you have messed up and heal you where you have been damaged and give you strength where you want to resolve to live a new kind of life.  That is just what Jesus does!

Just Saying… Francis Schaeffer said, “The Bible does not minimize sexual sin, but neither does it make it different from any other sin.”  If you have messed up sexually, God has a great gift for you: Forgiveness.

Genesis 32:1-35:29

Who Was That Masked Man?

Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have
struggled with God and with men and have overcome.
Genesis 32:28

Go Deep: There was a day when entertainment didn’t come through the television set; it came through the radio.  Believe it or not, I can remember those days—at least the tail end of them.  But in the good old days of radio, before my time, the folks were entertained with shows like “The Adventures of Sam Spade”, “Fibber McGee and Molly”, “The Shadow” (“the Shadow knows—bwahaha), and of course, “The Lone Ranger.”  The Lone Ranger, who was known as “The Masked Man”, was the greatest! He would ride into town, save the day, then ride off into the sunset with a “Hi-ho, Silver, away!” to the tune of the William Tell Overture.  And invariably an awestruck bystander would ask the question, “Who was that Masked Man anyway?”

“Who was that masked man anyway?” may be your response to the mysterious wrestling match that took place between Jacob and the unknown assailant here in Genesis 32:22-32.  Of course, if you’ve grown up around the Bible, you’ve been instructed that Jacob’s opponent was God.  But when you read the text, that’s not so clear.  From Jacob’s perspective, his opponent was nothing more than a man (Genesis 32:24)—perhaps a shadowy assassin from Laban’s clan or a hitman from Esau’s tribe—both men whom Jacob had cheated and had sufficient reason to “rub out” the cheater!

But as the death match (“wrestling” would be far too tame a term if you were in Jacob shoes) continued through the night, and Jacob held his own against this stranger, it began to dawn on him that this was no mere human he was fighting.  As you get to the end of the story and the two opponents finally speak, the stranger is identified—as least vaguely—when Jacob exclaims, “I have seen God face to face.” (Genesis 32:30)

We get a little more insight into the stranger’s identity all the way over in Hosea 12:4, when the prophet writes that it was none other than the Angel of the Lord who was duking it out with Jacob.  The Angel of the Lord is identified as God himself throughout Scripture (for instance, Acts 7:30), and has even come to be known in Christian theology as a pre-incarnate revelation of Jesus Christ.  So who was that masked man anyway?  I think it is safe to say that Jacob was wrestling with none other than Jesus.

Now all that information may be nothing more than relatively useless Bible trivia to you, but there is something in this story with which you and I can identify: Wrestling with God.  Jacob wrestled with God, and the essence of the wrestling match was over who was going to run Jacob’s life, and how.  It had been clear to Jacob throughout his life that God wanted to bless him, but Jacob, whose name meant “deceiver”, had tried to manipulate and coerce those blessings into reality.  Jacob wanted it done his way.

I’ll bet you can relate to that; I sure can. You know that God has promised to bless you, but perhaps you are trying to force his favor according to your timing and to your liking.  But it won’t work that way—it never does.  God can’t be God of your life if you’re trying to be God of your life, too.  There is room for only one throne in your personal world, and guess what, God gets it.  When you resist, the wrestling begins.

Learn from Jacob, my friend.  The only way to go with God is by way of surrender.  Jacob learned that the hard way—and he was left with a lifelong limp—but at the end of the day, Jacob’s fundamental approach to life changed from deceptive striving to faithful obedience.  It is the surrender to a life of faithful obedience and ruthless trust that, as Andrew Murray wrote, must become “the essential characteristic of our lives.”

Are you wrestling with God?  The sooner you cry “uncle” the better off you’ll be!

Just Saying… What C.S. Lewis said is true: “The full acting out of the self’s surrender to God therefore demands pain: this action, to be perfect, must be done from the pure will to obey, in the absence, or in the teeth, of inclination.”

Genesis 28:1-31:55

Living The Dream

Jacob had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth,
with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God
were ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 28:12

Go Deep: Leo Burnett was an advertising executive named by Time magazine as one of the twenty most influential people of the twentieth century.  He created such memorable icons as the Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and my personal favorite, Charlie the Tuna.  Leo once said, “When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”  I like that!

One of the delightful gifts God has given mankind is the ability to dream—to see into that which is not yet, to envision a brighter tomorrow, to reach for the stars.  And though our dreaming and our reaching may be perverted by human pride, selfishness and greed, even still, the very capacity to dream has been implanted in our DNA by the Creator to remind us of the kind of inexpressibly delightful world he once created for us, and will recreate for his redeemed children in the age to come.

And once in a while, God gives us a dream.  We have other dreams, of course, not from God but rather birthed out of our own life experience, recent (or even archived) sensory intake, or perhaps from too much pizza the night before.  But on occasion, God will allow our mind to slip into that unseen, spiritual dimension through a vision, or more likely, a dream, where we get a sneak peak into God’s reality.  Usually that experience will be a bit blurry, since human beings typically have a wee bit of trouble wrapping their minds around such infinite things, but our spirits are left uplifted by it nonetheless.

God gave Jacob quite a dream—one of heaven intersecting earth in which the angels of God traveled back and forth, presumably to ensure that God’s will would be carried out in Jacob’s life. (Genesis 28:12) The dream also included God himself promising to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant through Jacob as well as a reminder of God’s presence and protection for Jacob as he journeyed through life. (Genesis 28:13-15)

For Jacob, this dream became a truly defining moment.  He named the place of the dream Bethel—the house of God—and he built an altar of remembrance there. Later, after God had fulfilled many of the dream’s promises, Jacob returned to Bethel (Genesis 35), which now was a sort of spiritual touchstone, an ongoing reminder of God’s sovereign right to rule over Jacob’s life and his promise to graciously and generous provide Jacob with all he needed and desired. Bethel kept Jacob reaching for the stars even while he was trudging through the mud.

The whole point of this dream was to reveal to Jacob what God was already doing—guiding, providing and protecting Jacob on his journey, even when Jacob was unaware or unable to see the Invisible Hand.  So what does that mean for you and me?  Simply that God-inspired dreams might be nice, but our faith doesn’t need to rest on them.  What God might graciously reveal in a dream is simply what God is doing 24/7 in your life anyway.

Award-wining journalist Belva Davis said, “Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality.”  Even better, through Jacob, God’s word says to you, “Don’t fear the space between your reality and God’s promises.” You see, when you are walking with God, you are living the dream!

Just Saying… Don’t fear the space between your dreams and your reality—God is there.  Faith is not dependent on dreams, neither is it dissuaded by reality.  Faith trusts in the God who says, “Do not be afraid, I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)

Genesis 24:1-26:35

The Unintended Consequences of Divine Blessing

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold,
because the LORD blessed him…[but] the Philistines envied him.
Genesis 26:12, 14

Go Deep: We all want to live in the zone of God’s blessings, but are we willing to pay the price for those blessings?  You see, sometimes—not always, but sometimes—those blessings bring unexpected and undesired consequences into our lives. Sometimes our blessings will arouse the envy of those who are not so blessed. Sometimes their envy will morph into open conflict with us. And sometimes, our success creates so much pain and discomfort for the non-blessed that it fundamentally changes the relationship.

That is not always the case, but sometimes it is, and we need to be ready for those unintended consequences if we desire to live under Divine blessing. It just might be that God’s favor upon your faithfulness will painfully expose a tender area in another’s life, and there will be a hurtful reaction toward you.  Some people won’t be able to handle your success, and will do everything they can to pull you down to their level of dissatisfaction. For those reasons, it could be that God’s favor will force you to leave your comfort zone. But fear not, for if that’s the case, that forced move will always be to a larger zone where greater blessing can be received.

That’s what happened to Isaac here in Genesis 26:12-32.  God’s hand of blessing was upon Isaac, and he began to prosper in ways that made others envious—and not in a complimentary way.  Isaac’s harvest that year was a hundredfold, and he “became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.” (Genesis 26:13) That didn’t sit well with the locals, whose lack of success was exacerbated by Isaac’s uncommon success.  As a result, Isaac was despised, and ultimately forced to leave the very land that had produced his blessing. But God was with Isaac, and continued to favor him exponentially until Isaac had far outgrown the small minds and petite faith of those who were envious of him.  God had a better place of greater blessing for Isaac, but it took those unintended consequences of blessing to get him there.

I suppose that is the kind of problem you want to have if you’re going to have a problem. Now I am in no way promoting arrogance toward those who are not as blessed as you.  If at all possible, you are called to leverage your blessings to bless others.  But sometimes—not always, but once in a while—your blessings may produce some unintended consequences.

If that’s the case, keep your eye on God—that’s what Isaac did. (Genesis 26:25) What you suspect are unintended consequences might just be intentional maneuvers on God’s part to make you even more blessable.

Just Saying… Eric Hoffer said, “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” Is something forcing you out of your comfort zone? Take a second look at it—it may be a blessing in disguise, forcing you from the comfort zone to the blessing zone.

Genesis 20:1-23:20

When God Tests

Some time later God tested Abraham … “Take your son, your only son, Isaac,
whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a
burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Genesis 22:1

Go Deep: I’m guessing this story in Genesis 22 raises a few questions for you.  I mean doesn’t this “Divine ask” violate everything we know and trust about the character of God?  How could a loving God ask such a cruel thing of Abraham?  And if God did that to Abraham, what kind of tests will he put me through?

If you’re feeling a little upset with “the God who tests” about now, here is my advice:  Relax, take a deep breath, and step back for a broader view of God.  Once you go a little deeper into this story, and look at it through the lens of the entire Bible, here is what you will come to understand about Divine tests:

First of all, God’s tests are never without preparation.

Notice the very first line of this story: “Some time later…”  With God, time comes before testing. Typically, the word “test” conjures up negative images. Tests are the enemy; they are set-ups for failure; the harder the test, the more unfair the teacher.  But those kinds of tests and that kind of teacher have no place in an accurate theology of God. This test came only after the events of Abraham’s life that we have been reading about since Genesis 12.

God didn’t suddenly spring this test on Abraham—and he’ll never spring one on you.  This is no pop quiz; it is not without context.  Abraham has now walked with God for about 30 or 40 years, and God has been preparing him through lesser tests all along the way.  God didn’t test him like this until he knew Abraham was equipped for it.  And God will never give you a test that you cannot pass.

Divine tests only come when you are prepared!

Second, God’s tests are never without purpose.

In Genesis 22:12, the Lord stops Abraham from slaying Isaac, and says, “Now I know that you fear God.” This word “test” is used eight times in the Old Testament when God does the testing and each time it is used in the Old English sense of the word: “to prove.”  God’s testing is not to expose, but to prove.  When God says, “now I know”, that wasn’t for God’s benefit, it was to give Abraham confidence that his faith in God was no foolish faith. You see, Abraham’s faith was tested, God’s faithfulness was tested, and both were proven trustworthy in Abraham’s mind.

Divine tests will always prove that your faith in God is never misplaced.

And third, God’s tests are never without provision.

Genesis 22:14 says, “So Abraham called the place ‘The LORD will provide.” The emphasis here is not on the provision, but “the Lord who provides.” The most important provision here for Abraham is a prophetic revelation of the person and his plan of God. The physical provision, whatever that might be, is always secondary to a deeper revelation of the One who provided it!  Through this test, Abraham learned what God wants you to learn: He is the Lord who provides!

Divine tests always result in a deeper revelation of God to you.

Now that you know about divine test, dare you say, “bring it on!”?

Just Saying… Oswald Chambers wrote, “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the One who is leading.”

Genesis 16:21-19:38

God Of The Impossible

Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Genesis 18:14

Go Deep: It’s a rhetorical question, of course.  Obviously, by definition, the words “God” and “impossible” are completely incongruent.  That’s a no-brainer theologically.  If we accept the fact that God exists, and believe that he is the Sovereign Creator of everything, then our belief demands the same conclusion the prophet Jeremiah came to:

“O Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power.
Nothing is too difficult for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

But the question is, have we learned to lean into that God-reality when we come up against impossibilities in the gritty reality of our everyday lives?

Here in Genesis 18, God was making a point with Sarah, Abraham’s 90-year-old barren wife.  He had just revealed to these senior citizens that they would finally have the child he had promised to give them many years before, and understandably, this old woman chuckled at the thought. I suspect that in general, Sarah was completely on board theologically that nothing was too hard for the Lord.  But when it came down to her personal circumstance, suddenly Sarah’s faith grew weak in the knees.

My guess is you are no different than Sarah.  Me either!  I have no trouble believing in a God who created the universe out of nothing, who parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, who raised Jesus from death, and who will eventually turn all things for my good and his glory. (Romans 8:28)  It’s just in the everyday stuff of life that I often shrink back from ruthless trust, unwavering courage and unshakable faith.  I wish that weren’t the case, but too often, that’s the truth about me.

I’m out to change that about me—with God’s help.  Today I’m going to practice taking God at his word, trusting in his immutable character, and leaning his promises.  One day at a time that’s what I’m going to do, starting today, until I string enough days of industrial strength belief in the God of the impossible together that it has become the pattern of my life.

I love the story of a private in the army of the Greek general, Alexander the Great, who ran after and retrieved the general’s runaway horse.  When this lowly soldier brought the animal back, Alexander offered his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Captain!”

With one word the private had been promoted.  When the general said it, the private believed it.  He immediately went to the quartermaster, selected a new captain’s uniform and put it on.  He went to the officer’s quarters and selected a bunk. Then he went to the officer’s mess and had a meal. Because the general had said it, the private took him at his word and changed his life accordingly. He put his trust in the character and command of the general.

That’s what I want—to take God at his word, trust the goodness of his character, lean into his promises and live every day in the supply line of his power.  And whatever comes my way today, I will declare, “nothing is too hard for the Lord!”

Just Saying… Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”

Genesis 12:1-15:21

Time To Dust Off Your Dream

The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household
and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will
bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing …
all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1-3

Go Deep: God gave Abraham quite an expansive dream for an old guy, didn’t he!  He was well into his senior years when God showed up and said, “Abe, I’ve got some unbelievable plans for you!”

Do you realize that among created beings, man is unique in that he alone has the ability to dream? Angels can’t dream; animals can’t dream.  The devil can’t dream, dogs don’t dream, although I think mine does.  I notice him twitching and snarling sometimes when’s he’s sleeping. I suspect he’s chasing rabbits—or better yet, cats.

But I’m not talking about those kinds of dreams. Nor am I talking about those run-of-the mill dreams that you get almost every night—some of them goofy and random, some bizarre and nightmarish, some that recycle periodically in your subconscious, revealing much about your fears and insecurities, like running but never getting anywhere, or falling but never hitting bottom, or being in front of a crowd and suddenly realizing you’re stark naked—with nowhere to hide.

The kind of dreaming I’m talking about is envisioning a better tomorrow, a successful future, or a great life. God has given mankind, alone, the ability to dream—and that includes you! And I suspect that somewhere, perhaps buried deep inside you, is the dream for a fantastic future.

But your dream doesn’t even come close to the fulfillment God has in mind for you. Abraham had dreams, but what God had in mind was far more expansive than this old man could have ever imagined.  Abraham wanted a home; God had in mind a whole land—the land of promise.  Abraham wanted a child; God had in mind a nation—and not just any old nation, it would be the people of God.  Abraham wanted to make a name for himself; God had in mind to bless the entire earth through Abraham’s life.

God’s vision was far bigger and better than Abraham could have ever dreamed.  I suspect that’s true for you too!  So why don’t you dust off those dreams and bring them back before the Father who gave them to you? Now just may be the time he wants to fulfill them. And just remember, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20,

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever
imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”

Just Saying… Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” If God has given you a dream, this may be the best time to start on that foundation!

Genesis 8:1-11:32

What’s So Bad About Babel?

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches
to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not
be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
~Genesis 11:4 (NLT)

Go Deep: You might read this story about the Tower of Babel and wonder, like I did, what’s so bad about Babel?  I mean, was God just having a bad day or something?  After all, it’s not often you see unity of purpose and effort achieved among human beings like this.  The Untied Nations could learn a lesson here!

So why did God look upon what these folks were doing and say, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them? Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11:6-7) And at that, he put an end to their efforts, confused their language, and scattered them across the face of the earth. (Genesis 11:8-9)

The problem was not the tower they were trying to build, nor their effort to achieve unity among the nations.  Public work projects and united efforts are a good thing.  But in this case, good was the enemy of best.  You see, after the great flood of Genesis 7-8, God had told these nations to scatter across the earth, repopulate it and establish human civilization wherever they went. (Genesis 9:1,7) In fact, this was a critical piece of the covenant God made with Noah and his descendants (Genesis 9:8-9), and was likely the reestablishment of the original covenant God had made with but had been forfeited by Adam. (Genesis 1:26-30)

What was wrong with Babel?  Simply this: Disobedience, pride and independence from God.  Instead of fully devoting themselves to God’s command, they thought they could do better.  They chose to go it alone.  And God put a stop to it!

That’s always the problem with human beings, including you and me, isn’t it?  Every single day, we wrestle with who is going to be God in our lives.  Rather than seeking and doing what God says, we seek and do what we want to do. Of course, we acknowledge God to a degree, but then we pursue what we want. With regularity, we twist Jesus’ well known prayer of submission into, “God, not your will but mine be done!”

Stop and think about that today.  Is there a Tower of Babel in your life—something that seems so good; something that makes sense to those around you; something that would advance your comfort, security and name?  Remember, what looks good to you may in fact be the enemy of God’s best for you!  Maybe it’s a purchase you are considering, a plan you are making, a relationship you are considering, or…you fill in the blank.

Let me encourage you to simply ask, “God, what do you want?” Then my friend, just do it!

Just Saying… Peter Marshall, the venerable Chaplain of the U.S. Senate in the mid-twentieth century, once prayed, “Save Thy servants from the tyranny of the nonessential. Give them the courage to say ‘No’ to everything that makes it more difficult to say ‘Yes’ to Thee.”  That’s a great prayer: saying no to the good and yes to the Best!  Why don’t you join me in praying that prayer all this week?

Genesis 4:1-7:24

Anger Mismanagement—The Classic Case Study

The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what
is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching
at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
Genesis 4:6-7

Go Deep: Proverbs 29:11 says, only “a fool gives full vent to his anger.”  How many times have you proved that platitude to be true?  If you’re like me, at least once, probably more!

The truth is, it is next to impossible to be angry and intelligent at the same time.  To be sure, some anger is good. Channeled anger has been the motivation for much of the justice and societal change that has benefited the human family over time.  Even the Bible indicates the appropriateness of righteous anger.  But—and this is a big one—only if the anger is wrapped in intelligent thought!

So the question is, how do we win out over anger, rid ourselves of it before it either corrodes or destroys our most significant relationships, and turn it into an emotion that propels us toward positive personal growth?

The story of Cain here in Genesis 4:1-14 is a great case study. Unfortunately for Cain (and for Abel!), anger was not brought under control.  But from Cain’s failure comes several anger management principles we would be wise to embrace.

To begin with, from Cain we learn that our very first response to the emotion of anger ought to be self-analysis.  In other words, whenever I find myself getting upset, I ought to stop and say, “What does this say about me?”  Notice how God attempts to get Cain to look within himself at the source of his anger:  “Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry?  Why is your face downcast?” In essence, God is telling Cain that before he reacts, he ought to reflect.

Our first and best response to anger is simply to think about it.  That simple action would keep us from so much of the hardship that results from our uncontrolled anger.  William Penn wrote, “It is he who is in the wrong who first gets angry.” In reality, anger reveals what kind of person I am—what is really in my heart, my true character.  C. S. Lewis said,

“Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is.  If there are rats in a cellar, you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly.  But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding.  In the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me ill-tempered; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.”

So if you find yourself reacting in anger, ask yourself what the presence of anger is saying about your spirit or your character.  Practice “slowing” …what James 1:19-20 says is being, “Quick to listen…slow to speak…slow to anger!”  Develop the discipline of stopping to think it through!

Another crucial lesson this story teaches is that our response is more important than the circumstances that cause the anger. The truth is, what happens to me is never as important as what happens in me. That what God is saying to Cain: “If you do what is right, you’ll be accepted…”  God doesn’t address the fairness or unfairness of what’s happened; he just says, “Cain, do the right thing!”  When situations arise that disappoint me, I either can unleash an emotional reaction or I can offer an intelligent response that honors my walk with God and releases his blessings in my life.

Finally, Cain’s story teaches us that we are accountable to God for our anger. When Cain fails to do the right thing and instead, murders his brother, God calls to him to account: “Where is your brother?” (Genesis 4:9-12)

What we must remember is that one day we will stand before God and give account for our lives, including the inappropriate display of our anger.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:36 that on judgment day, we’ll be answerable even for every idle word we speak. We won’t be able to say on that day, “My wife made me do it…my husband pushed me too far…my kids drove me nuts…the devil made me do it…I was genetically predisposed to anger…” If we try that excuse, God will look at us and say, “I expected you to master it, and you didn’t.”  We’re accountable for anger!

Angry feelings are inevitable.  We can’t escape them, but our anger doesn’t have to destroy the people we love—and in the process, cause our own spirits to shrivel.  If we do the right thing with our anger, God says to us just as he said to Cain, “you will be blessed!”

Just Saying… There are occasions, of course, when anger is appropriate.  But let’s be honest, that’s not very often.  Benjamin Franklin once said, “Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.”

Read Genesis 1:1-4:26

God Did It!

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1

Go Deep: How did we get here?  That really is the big question, isn’t it?

Secularist and non-theistic scientists would hypothesize positions such as the big bang and evolutionary theories to explain our origins—that through randomness and over billions of years, we somehow got to where we are today.

On the other end of the spectrum, fundamentalist Christians and some theologians would argue creation by divine fiat and a young earth theory—that God spoke, and it all happened in seven literal days!

As a result, what exists is a huge, seemingly impassable gulf between these two camps.  Somewhere in the middle, in limbo, is a fair amount of believers who are both confused and conflicted as they attempt to harmonize their commitment to the Bible and their confidence in science.

The problem is, neither science nor theology deals comprehensively with all aspects of reality, and therefore cannot claim the high ground in explaining all truth. The fact is, neither science nor theology can offer complete explanations even within their own realm of expertise. Take for instance, the intra-disciplinary warfare going on in science over global warming, or the ongoing theological debate between the Calvinist and Arminian camps.

The rub occurs most acutely when science seeks to explain things that are only explainable by theology, and theology offers to explain scientific things by relying only upon their theology.  Each discipline has an area of expertise and each has limited, ever-changing, and hopefully increasing knowledge as to how things “really are”.  Science is equipped to investigate, theorize and explain things that are finite; theology’s task is to understand and explain the unexplainable—the infinite, uncontainable, indescribable God.

So the real question for Christians, then, is not how we got here, but who put us here.  That is not to say the “how” question is irrelevant, it’s just not the first question that needs to get resolved.  The “who” question is the most important one, and the Bible clears that up right off the bat in Genesis 1:1.

Who did it? God did!

God is responsible for getting us here, and that we can know without a shadow of doubt!  Once you get that settled, then you can move on to the “how” question. How he did it is open for discussion and debate—and that can be a really worthwhile adventure.

So get really clear about Who did it, then go after the how with an open mind—and have some fun!

Just Saying… The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.”

Three resources I’d recommend for further investigation in this areas:

1) A website for Creation Science Organizations and Ministries— http://www.nwcreation.net/groupcreation.html

2) A science-faith think tank called Reasons to Believe—http://www.reasons.org/four-views-biblical-creation-account

3) A helpful book entitled, “The Genesis Debate: Three Views on the Days of Creation—http://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Debate-Three-Views-Creation/dp/0970224508