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Beware of Scriptural Manipulators

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

People can use the Bible to justify pretty much anything they want to do, but that doesn’t mean what they want to do is biblical. Be wary of those people; they are scriptural manipulators. Know the whole counsel of God’s Word, continually invite the Holy Spirit to guide you into divine truth, stay accountable to a faith community for your biblical interpretations, and never try to squeeze what God ultimately wants to do in your life into your methodology and timing.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 26:8-11

Abishai said to David “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin King Saul to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won’t need to strike him twice.” David responded to Abishai “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.”

You can justify pretty much anything you want to do from the Bible, but that doesn’t mean what you want to do is scripturally justifiable. People do it all the time, and they are dead wrong. Time always proves it.

And the scary thing is, all kinds of well-intentioned people will line up to give you the green light in such matters. They’ll quote scripture, point out how circumstances have aligned in just the right way, and convince you of just how reasonable and right a certain course of action might be. But the problem is, God is not in the thing you want to do. And to go ahead with your plan will move you out from under the blessing of God, at best, and at worst, lead to disaster down the road.

God’s people do this all the time. They convince themselves that what they want to do is God’s will when it is not, and get any number of well-wishers to justify their plans when those plans are not God’s plans. That is why we see so many believers divorcing their spouse, going into business with an unbeliever, investing Kingdom resources in uncertain adventures, and moving forward with any number of good and godly sounding actions when, in fact, those plans are nothing more than their own will being done.

David was discerning enough to spot this kind of spiritual justification when it came up. What his confidant, Abishai, suggested seemed as right as rain on its face, but David knew that no matter how many spiritually sounding justifications could make it seem like the obvious thing to do, it would never have passed the scriptural smell test, it would have violated the inner voice of the Spirit, and it would have rushed God’s sovereign timing for resolving this issue and bringing his perfect plan for David’s life to pass.

Be wary of spiritual justifiers, and likewise, be on alert for scriptural manipulators. Know the whole counsel of God’s Word, continually invite the Holy Spirit to guide you into divine truth, stay accountable to a faith community for your biblical interpretations, and never try to squeeze what God ultimately wants to do in your life into your methodology and timing.That, my friends, never turns out well.

Here is the much better approach; it’s the one found in the sage advice of Proverbs 3:5-8,

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!

Going Deeper With God: Memorize Proverbs 3:5-8 today. Then quote early and often everyday this week.

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Let Cooler Heads Prevail

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

God created us with a high capacity for passion, and that’s a wonderful thing. Much of the good that has been accomplished in the world began in passion. But while passion is a powerful spring, it’s a horrible regulator, and when it’s untempered, can do much harm. So how do you temper your passion? Internal and external controls—develop the fruit of self-control, but also give cool-headed friends access to the kill switch of your passion for those moments when your self-control get wobbly.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 25:10-13

“Who is this fellow David?” Nabal sneered to the young men. “Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters. Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a band of outlaws who come from who knows where?” So David’s young men returned and told him what Nabal had said. “Get your swords!” was David’s reply as he strapped on his own. Then 400 men started off with David to kill Nabal.

David heart was on fire with passion for God—he was characteristically a man after God’s own heart. But at times, David’s heart was on fire with passion for other things, too. That got David into trouble on more than one occasion. 1 Samuel 25 is one of those occasions.

Nabal, a man whose name meant “fool,” foolishly refused to share provision with David and his men. David had politely requested it, and it would have been customary for Nabal to graciously grant such a request since David’s small army had afforded Nabal and his ranching operation protection from thieves and marauders that harassed the locals. Not only did Nabal refuse, he insulted David to the men who had made the request. When they reported back to David what this fool had said, David’s knee-jerk response was, “strap ‘em on boys, we going to make Nabal pay up—with his life.”

Now it just so happened that this brutish man, Nabal, had a lovely and wise wife, Abigail. Sensing the looming disaster, she skillfully intervenes—intercedes really—with David and averts the death of her husband and destruction of all that he owned. However, when Nabal found out what his wife had done, rather than react with gratitude, he went into such a rage that he had a stroke or a heart attack, or something really bad, and died!

Among the many streams of life application from which we might drink in this story, the one I want to call to you attention is David’s unregulated passion. Let it stand as a warning to us that when we let anger rule our emotions, we are in danger of allowing it to ruin our lives. Anger almost ruined David’s life on this occasion—had he followed through on it, he would have been guilty of murder.

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said that passion is a powerful spring, but a bad regulator. It will get you motivated, but don’t depend on it to manage you. David’s passion got away from him—he let it regulate his emotions—and it led him to the brink of doing something really dumb.

Which, by the way, I think, is why we love David so much—he was so thoroughly human. In David, we don’t get the polished ideal to which we aspire but never attain, we get a rough-edged reality in a meandering journey of spiritual transformation. And we can relate to a guy like that. You’ve got to love a guy who’s capable of unmitigated dumbness. But you certainly don’t want to follow his dumb ways. In this moment, David was full of passion but empty of God—in an instant, he’s become a fool. He was on the verge of becoming Saul.

And that is where Abigail comes in. She steps in and puts David in touch again with the beauty of God as David had done for Saul in the cave (1 Samuel 24:16-21). Through Abigail, David realized who he was, he recognized what he was about to do, and he remembered what his life was destined for. Thankfully, on that day, cooler heads prevailed.

God created us with a high capacity for passion, and that is a wonderful thing. Much of the good that has been accomplished in the world began in passion. But, as Emerson noted, while passion is a powerful spring, it is a horrible regulator, and when it is untempered, can do much harm. How do we temper our passion? Internal and external controls—we must develop the fruit of self-control internally then empower cool-headed friends externally and give them access to the kill switch of passion.

Make sure to cultivate a cool head. But on the occasion when emotions get the best of you and you shift into hothead, make sure you check in with your Abigail.
Without exception and at all times, let cooler heads prevail.

Going Deeper With God: Who is your “Abigail?” Believe, you need one, and so do I!

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Bitter or Better, You Choose

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

When you are in the cave of difficulty and discouragement, you must decide whether your experience will make you bitter or better. David could have looked at Saul as the cause for his cave. Instead, he chose to see God. That’s why Saul neither defined nor dominated his experience, because for David, the cave was full of God, not Saul. If you allow Saul to dominate your cave—whatever your Saul is: disease, divorce, disappointment, or death—you will be disillusioned; you will grow bitter. If you choose to see your cave as the place where God is, you will be deepened; you will get better!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 24:1-3

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.”

Once again, David finds himself in the cave. Once again, he is just a step ahead of death. Once gain, King Saul is hunting David down like a dog, determined to do away with what he insanely perceives as a threat to his monarchy. And once again, God delivers David from Saul, and from death.

This isn’t the first cave for David. Nor is it the first time he barely escapes death. As we saw in 1 Samuel 22:1, God had been preparing David for a later date with destiny when he would indeed serve as Israel’s king in Saul’s place—and the cave was the classroom for David. In many ways, this is where David learned to be king: he learned to hear from God and he learned to totally depend on him, even for his very life. Hiding in this cave of extreme adversity, David found that in God, there was no greater helper. Hearing from God and trusting in God—two qualities for a great and godly king that David would become, and two qualities for a great and godly life that God has destined you to live.

But that makes it sound too easy for David. It was not. Learning to hear and trust is hard work, it is a grind, it is a moment-by-moment battle with the flesh. And one of the things that David surely had to battle was a sense of abandonment and bitterness. God had thrust him into the limelight as a national hero and anointed him as future king by none other the great prophet-judge Samuel, so why had the Lord now abandoned him and failed on his promises? Certainly, David battled those thoughts, but at the end of the day, he gained victory over them. At the end of the day, he had determined to throw in with God rather than either his feelings or his circumstances. He decided to trust the promises of God.

When you are in the cave, you have got to decide whether your experience will make you bitter or better. You will either grow brittle, insecure, and disillusioned with God, or you’ll grow stronger, more confident and go deeper with God. We all know people who have either grown disillusioned or deeper in hard times; the cave is the place where they become bitter or better. What’s the difference? It boils down to the perspective they choose by which they interpret their cave of difficulty.

From a human perspective, David could have looked at Saul as the cause for his cave. Instead, he chose to see God. That’s why Saul neither defined nor dominated David’s experience. He didn’t kill Saul when he had the chance (1 Samuel 24:5-7) because for David, the cave was full of God, not Saul.

If you choose to see your cave as the place where God is—that is, you focus not on what is happening to you, but on what God is doing in you—you will be deepened; you will get better! If you allow Saul to dominate your cave—whatever your Saul is: disease, divorce, disappointment, or death—you will be disillusioned; you will grow bitter.

Who is filling your cave—God or Saul? Just remember, what dominates your cave will define your experience! You have got to decide what that will be. You are the only one who can make the choice. So choose God—it is the only good choice you have.

Going Deeper With God: Are you in a cave of discouragement and disillusionment? As hard as this might be to hear, choose to see God. Let him define your cave experience, not your Saul of circumstances.

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A Preview of the Beauty of Holiness

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

In human history, only a privileged few have seen a representation of the glory of God, yet even then, they only saw it as through a glass darkly—and it was beautiful beyond description. But one day it will not be beautiful beyond description, for when we are in the eternal presence of Almighty God, we will have the capacity that no human being during their time on earth ever possessed, for we will see the Lord in the pure beauty of his unequaled holiness.

Going Deep // Focus: Exodus 24:9-11

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

What a stunning passage: Moses and his management team climbed Mt. Sinai and have a full session, including a covenantal meal with God himself. And the description of the presence of God is beautiful beyond description: “They went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.” (Exodus 24:10)

What in the world is lapis lazuli? The Expositor’s Commentary offers this description:

Under God’s feet was a “pavement made of sapphire,” a deep blue or, more accurately, lapis lazuli of Mesopotamia, an opaque blue precious stone speckled with a golden yellow-colored pyrite. True sapphire, the transparent crystalline of corundum…symbolizes the heavens.

That’s right: what we have here is a preview of heaven and a time, when we too, will have access to the glory of God. But unlike this group, which saw just a similitude of the Presence, we will have unfiltered, unimpeded, uninterrupted access to the full glory, beauty and holiness of almighty God.

In human history, only a chosen few have seen the glory of the Lord—Adam and Eve, Moses, Isaiah, Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, John on the Isle of Patmos—and even then, it was not the fullness of his glory, for no man can see God’s holiness and live to tell about it:

Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:18-23)

These privileged few saw a representation of the glory of God, but even then, they saw it as through a glass darkly. (1 Corinthians 13:12) And it was beautiful beyond description. But one day it will not be beautiful beyond description, for when we are in the eternal presence of Almighty God, we will have the capacity that no human being during their time on earth ever possessed, for we will see the Lord in the pure beauty his unequaled holiness:

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. … Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 Corinthians 2:8-12, 1 John 3:2)

As you read this description in Exodus—the glory of the Lord’s presence, the pure beauty of his holiness, the invitation to a covenantal meal—that is just a preview of what is yours, that is, if you have surrendered your life to him by grace through faith in the saving work of his Son, Jesus Christ. For when you do that, accept his free gift of salvation, his Word declares that you have been given the right to become the child of God. (John 1:12) And as a child of God, all of God is yours—now by faith, but one day by sight.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

Congratulations, child of God, Great things are in store for you!

Going Deeper With God: Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. So says Jesus in Matthew 5:12.

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Waiting Time Is Not Wasted Time

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

While you may be languishing away in your prison of undesirable circumstances, God is above it all and he clearly sees the road ahead of you. Embrace that time between the frustrating and the fruitful, your period of waiting, not as a waste of time, not as prison time, but as God time.

Going Deep // Focus: Genesis 40:23

Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

Twenty years in prison. Two decades. 7,300 days of mistreatment (see Psalm 105:18) for doing nothing wrong whatsoever. One-third of the years typically allotted to a man, the prime years of his life, wasted in a dank, fetid Egyptian prison. But were those years really wasted? Bible commentator, Warren Wiersbe, notes,

More than one servant of God has regretted rushing ahead of God’s schedule and trying to get to the throne too soon. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say, “It’s tragic when a person succeeds before he is ready for it.” It’s through faith and patience that we inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12; see 10:36), and the best way to learn patience is through tribulation (Rom. 5:3-4). “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4 nkjv). God often removes our crutches so we’ll learn to walk by faith and trust Him alone. (Wiersbe, BE Bible Study Series)

God took away Joseph’s crutches and replaced them with the characteristic he would later need to run the greatest empire in the world of that day, Egypt, through what he learned during those twenty-years in jail: he endured injustice—what truly great rulers must know to fairly govern their subjects; he developed discernment—he learned how to properly interpret dreams; he grew in trust—what the Lord’s servants must have to be greatly used in carrying out his eternal plans. The two decades of waiting on God were not wasted.

As you read the prison portion of Joseph’s story, you can’t help but be impressed with this young man’s deep and abiding trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God. Joseph believed in the core of his being that God was in control, and that God was fundamentally good, and those beliefs became settled law for Joseph. Neither his current circumstances nor his emotions at the moment would trump the fact that his life was in God’s hands. So when Joseph’s ticket out of prison, the cupbearer, forgot about him and when Joseph languished for another two years in a squalid jail, Joseph trusted.

I would like to think that’s how I would react to the disappointing and hurtful things that will get thrown at me in life. I’m guessing you would like to think that about yourself, too. The “Joseph way” is certainly the heroic way to do life—and one that must be so pleasing to the Father who takes such delight in our trust.

But to live life like Joseph, you have to understand that there are two views of the road ahead. The first view is the human perspective. That is where you simply and only see what is right in front of you—which means that sometimes all you see are bumps, barriers and beat downs. Obviously, it is quite normal to look at the world from such a point of view; you are human, after all. But if that is the only view you have, you will be prone to discouragement, enslaved to the emotional ups and downs that come from being slapped around by life, and view the unwanted circumstances that envelop you as a waste of time.

What you really need to have in order to live the “Joseph way” is an eternal perspective. That is the other view, and it is a grand one! The “Joseph way” of viewing life comes only by way of fundamental trust in the care and competence of your Heavenly Father. It understands that while you may be languishing away in your prison of unexpected and undesirable circumstances, God is above it all and he clearly sees the road ahead of you. Furthermore, this view embraces the time between the frustrating and the fruitful, the period of waiting, not as a waste of time, not as prison time, but as God time.

If you can’t learn to enfold your human perspective into that kind divine perspective of ruthless trust in the God who is in control of all things and works all things to his glory and your good, get ready for a frustrating stay in Pharaoh’s prison. If you can order your life by the “Joseph way”, everything that comes your way—especially the bad stuff—becomes fodder for the God who takes what was meant as harm and turns it to good. (Genesis 50:20)

If you are a God-follower, never forget this: Waiting on God is never time wasted.

Going Deeper With God: From the bottom of your heart, as sincerely as you know how, keep saying, “thank you, God” in the midst of your waiting. Practice gratitude until it becomes the natural response to life—giving thanks in everything, for this is the will of God.

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Bible Reading Plan 2017

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

I am dedicating myself in 2017 to 365 days of ThanksLiving. And one of the tools I’m adopting to get me there is a Bible Reading program along with a devotional blog in which I will post daily expressions of gratitude for what I have read that day in God’s Word. Yep, with God’s help, 365 of them!  I hope you’ll join me.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

When I was growing up in a small Southern Oregon town, the kids on my block would regularly gather in the street in front of my house. There we would play some of the best football games on the planet—better than even the Super Bowl! Street football—skinned knees, bruised elbows, bragging rights (at least for that day) and tons of fun! Man, there was nothing like it!

The favorite play called in the huddle, was, of course, “go deep!” Forget about short yardage running plays or screen passes, we wanted the glory, paydirt, “tud!” — our name for a touchdown So just about every play was “go deep!” I’m telling you, that’s the way football at every level ought to be played.

I want to go deep this year in God, don’t you? I don’t want to splash around in the shallows or wade around in the wimpy water near the shore, I want to get into the depths of God like never before. Do you want to join me?

If you do, then I know of no greater practice for going deep with God than through the daily practice of Bible study—reading, meditating, journaling, and praying the Scriptures. That spiritual practice will contribute to your growth as a believer and your entrance into the deep things of God like nothing else. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to mature in your faith, morph into greater Christlikeness, deepen your knowledge of God, insulate your life from sin, enlarge your Kingdom effectiveness, increase your spiritual power, develop life skills for the daily challenges you face, and live in the blessing zone of God’s favor, you’ve got to be in God’s Holy Word on a regular, if not daily, basis.

I hope that you will join me in 2017 as we “go deep” in God through the daily reading of his Word. To help us along the way, I have provided a reading plan that was developed by the 18th century Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne that will take us through the Old Testament once and twice through the New Testament and Psalms this year.

And just a note about the content of my raynoah.com blog over the next 12 months: The brief devotional postings will on the theme of ThanksLiving. From every reading in the first 365 entries of the Old Testament part of M’Cheyne’s plan, I will declare something for which I am thankful. I hope you will join me in this year of ThanksLiving—either coming up with your own reasons for gratitude or simply entering into mine, since they are universal blessings for all who follow Christ.

Finally, let me just assure you that there is no greater act of faith, obedience and yes, even worship, than to devote yourself to “rightly dividing the Word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

Go Deep With God: Get ready to enjoy the blessings of divinely ordered success and prosperity as you read, absorb and obey God’s Word this year. Joshua 1:8 promises, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

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PTL—Right Now & For All Time

If You’re Breathing, You Know What To Do

No matter what things may look like, no matter what man may say, no matter what the devil may throw at you, no matter what you may feel, God is still God, he is always victorious, his will shall be done on earth, his purposes for you shall be fulfilled, and he is therefore worthy of your praise—right now and for all time!

Read: Psalm 150 // Focus: Psalm 150:6

“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”

Our God is worthy of praise! At all times, in each place, and through every means, the highest and best use of the breath of life is that it would offer praise to the great and glorious One, the Creator and Sustainer of all. Praise the Lord!

That is not only the message of this final psalm, but it is really the underlying call to all 150 of them. From the beginning to the end of this amazing songbook for the human race, the psalmists have taken us by the hand and walked us through the whole gamut of life’s circumstances. They have masterfully drawn us into the cornucopia of emotions that attend those human experiences, and they have reminded us that through all of our ups and downs, victories and defeats, good times and bad times, joys and sorrows, the one thing that remains constant is God’s worthiness to be worshipped.

No matter what, God is ceaseless in his power and surpassingly great: “Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!” (Psalm 150:2)

No matter what, God is loving and faithful: “The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.” (Psalm 25:10)

No matter what, God is good and kind: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”

No matter what, God is just and fair: “The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.” (Psalm 103:6)

No matter what, God is with you and for you: “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” (Psalm 23:1)

No matter what, if you are God’s and God is yours, you are going to be just fine: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” (Psalm 37:4)

John Newton, author is Amazing Grace, wrote, “The Lord himself is our Keeper. Nothing befalls us but what is adjusted by His wisdom and love. He will, in one way or another, sweeten every bitter cup, and ere long He will wipe away all tears from our eyes.” (Psalm 30:11) That is why under every circumstance and with every breath, we can praise the Lord.

No matter what things may look like, no matter what man may say, no mater what the devil may throw at you, no matter what you may feel, God is still God, he is always victorious, his will shall be done on earth, his purposes for you shall be fulfilled, and he is therefore always worthy of your praise. So why don’t you just go ahead and give God now what he will ultimately receive from all creation—praise!

Let everything that has breath—that means you—let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Yes, praise the Lord!

Making Life Work: Read Psalm 150, and praise the Lord in the ways the psalmist suggests. Now you probably won’t have all the musical instruments available that he mentions, but improvise. You’ll have fun, and God will be pleased.