I’m seeing a lot my brothers and sisters running around beating their breasts and wailing like the Little Red Hen, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” The world is about to end, they are sure.  All is lost for the people of God.  Nonsense.

And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here: for God did send me before you to preserve life, (Gen 45:4-5.

Would you have thought twenty years before that statement that God was doing anything?  Here is the one He has sent to preserve the chosen people of God, the forbears of the Messiah, and he is sold as a slave and then falsely accused and thrown into prison and forgotten by the man he helped.  And now those chosen people are in danger of death from a famine.  But yes, God was accomplishing exactly what He set out to do, using the imperfect and illogical actions of men.

Years later the people of God are under constant attack from marauding Midianites who regularly swoop in and take the produce of their farming and herding, leaving them barely able to survive and afraid to perform even menial day to day tasks.

Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor,” Judges 6:11-12.

O mighty man of valor?  A man so scared he is trying to thresh wheat deep in a hole?  A man whose first task he would only try in the middle of the night?  A man who needed sign after sign to reassure him?  And then he has only an army of 300 against a host of 135,000 (Judges 8:10)?  Yes, that was the man and the method God chose and that man ultimately came through, delivering the people and acting as judge for forty years after.

They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant— Ps 83:3-5.  Imagine how it looked to the few faithful throughout Israel’s history—the 7000 who did not bow their knee to Baal, the righteous remnant that watched as the city of God fell to invaders who performed sacrilege after sacrilege to prove that their god was more powerful than Jehovah.  And that is exactly how it looked.

And then think of those disciples as Jesus was carried away, tortured, and killed.  Here was the Messiah, they believed, and how could this be happening?  They had placed all their hopes in him and now that hope was lost.

But that too turned into the most unlikely victory—11 men standing on a mountain wondering how in the world they could fulfill the mission they had just been given.  Once again God managed, not to just eke out a victory, but to overwhelmingly conquer as Christianity swept the world. 

Did they give up when persecution hit them almost immediately?  Did they give up thirty years later when Nero tried it again? Or the next time, or the next?

Just who do we think God is?  He is not a loser.  He is in control.  His ways are not ours—surely you’ve quoted that verse yourself.  It may look like things are going south, but what has happened throughout history, over and over and over?  GOD WINS.  The victory is not always easy for His people.  Sometimes they are hurt.  Sometimes they die.  Sometimes they die horrible deaths.  When you committed your life to Him, what did you think you signed up for?  Comfort and ease?  Riches and popularity? 

Stop wailing and whining because things are bad.  The first century church came into a world every bit as bad—or worse!  It was a hard victory, but it was a victory.  Some of them celebrated it in another plane, and that may yet be our future too.  But do not ever doubt Who is in control and Who will win. 

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all generations…Psalm 145:13.

Dene Ward

Retirement is a wonderful thing.  No more rushing around every morning, swallowing a quick breakfast whole, throwing on an outfit, and rushing out the door after a quick peck on your wife’s cheek.  At least that’s the way it was for Keith for several decades. 

Now it’s a leisurely breakfast in your pajamas with a second cup of coffee, and then a third out on the carport, watching the birds swoop down in front of us to the bird feeder, hummingbirds battling over their feeder like tiny pilots in fighter planes, and Chloe sitting next to us, her tail swishing sparkly grains of sand over the concrete.

We have a little ritual with her—three or four doggie treats that Keith sails out toward the flower bed one at a time with her tearing after them, sniffing around in the grass until she finds the morsel, then rolling in the dew wet grass in doggy euphoria before returning to her post at our feet, or even under our chairs—the better to garner a belly rub.

He always throws the treats in the same direction, slightly south of east, and makes the same whistle like a missile falling to the earth, and she has become habituated to the whole routine.  We did not realize how much until one morning he threw it north of east instead of south.  Even though she watched him do it, she still ran southeast and sniffed the ground in ever widening circles, becoming more and more frustrated when she could not find the treat.  Finally he had to get up and walk in the direction he threw it and call her over.  Eventually her nose found it, but you would have thought we had punished her as she dragged herself back without her customary cheerfulness, her tail sagging almost between her legs.  She was not happy again until he had thrown the next treat in the right direction—translation:  the one she expected.

Have you ever shown a friend a scripture that teaches something obvious, only to have him say, “I can’t see that?”  Have you ever had her read something out loud only to answer your unspoken comment with, “But I don’t believe it that way?”  Almost unbelievable, isn’t it?  Don’t think for a minute that you are immune to the same failing.  What you can see, what you do believe, depends a whole lot on what you are looking for. 

The worst thing you can do in your Bible study is go searching for something to back up what you already think.  In fact, I often tell brand new classes, “The biggest hindrance to learning is what you think you already know.”  I have had students who were intelligent and sincere look at something everyone else could see but not see it, and nearly every time it is because of some preconceived notion they grew up with or heard somewhere a long time ago and have not been able to let go.  Even something as plain as the nose on their faces.

What you already know will also raise a stop sign in your learning path.  As soon as you find what you thought was there, you will stop looking, when just a little more study and uninhibited consideration would have shown you something brand new.  The same thing happens when you rely on old notes.  You will never see anything new until you rid yourself of old ideas.  You will never find a deeper understanding if you think you have already dredged as far as you can go.

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind,” John 9:39.  He was not talking to unbelievers.  He was not talking to pagans.  He was talking to people who thought they knew God’s word inside out, who could quote whole books, who kept the law in the minutest detail, proud of how exact they were—even beyond exact—and the fact that they were children of Abraham.  Guess who that translates to today? 

When was the last time you learned anything new?  Thought any new thoughts?  Discovered any new connections in the scriptures?  When was the last time you changed your mind about something? Can you see it if it’s thrown in a direction you never thought of before, or are you as blind as those people who were sure they knew what their Messiah would look like and how he would act?  When he came out of left field, they were lost.  How about you?

…and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself…? Rom 2:19-21.

Dene Ward

 There is no question that Mrs. Pape has done her research.  Her bibliography lists 78 references. She also includes quotations from roughly 2/3 of the books in the Bible.  All of this in order to find a description of God's ideal woman.  Along the way she quotes various philosophers, commentators, and leaders from all the major world religions as to their opinions, many of which are shocking.

 "Women are evil, jealous, and stupid."  "Avoid the sight of them."  "Do not speak to them."  Sayings all attributed to Buddha.

 For Hindus, to be born as a woman was regarded as a sign of failure in a previous life, but it was at least marginally better than being born as an insect or non-sacred animal.

 She reports hearing of a sign on a Moslem mosque that says, "Women, Dogs, and Other Impure Animals not Permitted."

 Most of us have heard things like this before, usually when we see them contrasted with Jesus' relationships with the women in the Gospels. Luke especially highlights his acceptance of women as his disciples and even supporters, and his tender care and concern for them.  But what shocked me more were the quotations from Christian commentaries that belittled these women, making them seem almost like necessary evils.  Mrs. Pape quotes several and shows with Scripture and common sense how wrong their thinking is.

 I find these types of things enlightening and helpful in this book.  However, at other times I find myself shaking my head in bemusement.  In one place she tells us that women are to submit to their husbands.  "The reason Paul gives for this act is that it is befitting or convenient rather than that it is divinely commanded."  I thought that was what Scripture was—the Word of God.  This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance;  that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles 2Pet3:1,2.  Did you catch that?  What the apostles wrote are Jesus' very own words.  If you want a red letter edition, the whole New Testament should be red!

 Another point she made seemed almost deliberately obtuse.  Quoting 1 Cor 14:34 she got it right when she said the chapter is about the use of spiritual gifts.  But then she says that it couldn't mean that women could only use theirs in private because what would be the point if no one were there?  This after mentioning Priscilla's part in teaching Apollos, taking him aside rather than doing it publicly.  It's as if one time she knows what "private" means and the next she doesn't, or is she just using it however she wants to make a point in her favor?

 There is so much hit or miss in this book that I would be afraid to hand it to a new convert.  I think I understand her point at the end to be that there is no such thing as God's Ideal Woman.  All of us can be one as long as we are serving God in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in—wife, mother, widow, single--and I would add, in the way He prefers, not the way we prefer.  That's one thing I can go along with.

 In Search of God's Ideal Woman is published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois.

Dene Ward