Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

In 1 Chronicles 13:1-3 we find David addressing all the leaders of his people and proposing that they bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and to a central position of worship in the nation rather than leaving it in one man’s house. He says they need to do this since “we sought not unto it in the days of Saul.” For the backstory to this, read 1 Samuel 4:1-7:2. A quick recap: The Israelites badly lost a battle to the Philistines and essentially tried to force God into action by carrying the Ark of the Covenant into battle. They soon discovered that it is impossible to force God to do anything and the priests carrying the ark (Eli’s sons) were killed and the ark was captured. Eli died upon receiving the news. God did strike the Philistines with plagues for keeping His ark, though, and they sent it back to Israel on a driverless cart. It wound up in Kiriath-jearim in the house of Abinadab. There it stayed for nearly forty years, the first twenty of which Israel apparently didn’t even worry about where it was. Such was the sad state of the nation’s morality. David, however, was as much a moral and spiritual leader as he was a military and political one, and the time had come to bring the ark back to the people.

1 Chronicles 13:4-8 tells us of the festivities planned for this momentous occasion. David gathered all the people together from the southernmost border unto the northernmost. The ark was placed in a new cart. There was singing and the playing of various musical instruments.  Note especially their fervor: vs. 8 “And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.” They were worshiping with all their might. But, of course, something went wrong.

1 Chronicles 13:9-14 tells of the death of Uzzah and David’s reaction. Probably Uzzah meant to show respect to the ark. The oxen stumbled and the cart was bouncing, and he didn’t want the ark to fall out and break into little pieces. So he steadied it with his hand. God killed him. David is described as displeased/angry and afraid. Think about how confused he must have been. He was trying to bring God’s ark back to the people so the worship of God could be restored. He was celebrating this momentous occasion with the whole nation, all of them worshiping with all they had, praising God, and in the middle of all this, God kills Uzza. His reaction in vs. 12 is understandable “And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” He was afraid and unsure how (or if) to proceed. He drops the ark into the nearest available house like a hot potato. It stayed there in Obed-edom’s house for three months while David figured out how to bring the ark, during which time, Obed-edom was blessed.

In that three month interlude, David twice had to battle the Philistines (chapter 14) but he also discovered how to move the ark safely. 1 Chron. 15:2 “Then David said, ‘None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him forever.’” So, the Levites were to carry the ark. How did David learn this? Did a prophet tell him? Did God give him a dream? No, it is plainly written in Numbers. 4:15. All David had to do was read the Law already given by God.

1 Chronicles 15:3-13 tells of David bringing together the nation once more and then addressing the Levites. What he says to them in verse 13 is profound “For because ye bare it not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance.” So, they were seeking God, but God “made a breach upon” them because they did not seek according to the ordinance or the rule. Well, was their heart right? Yes, remember when they were singing and playing before the Lord, they were doing it “with all their might”, and David, their leader, was the “man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14 cf Acts 13:22). Their hearts were in the right place. Well, did they give their best to God? Yes, David did not just take a few of his buddies to pick up the ark, he gathered the nation. As king, he brought everyone, all he had as followers, to celebrate this event. And the cart wasn’t some old jalopy of a cart that had previously been used to haul manure from the stables to the back forty. It was a new cart, never used before, the best to be had for the purpose. Well, was this a grand festival designed to praise the Lord? Yes, that’s exactly what it was. But the Lord was angry and made a breach upon them because, despite all their sincerity and heartfelt intent, they did not seek Him according to the ordinance.

There are other examples of this. Nadab and Abihu were trying to light the altar’s fire so that sacrifices could be made to God but they did not do it as He commanded and were burnt up for their failure. (Leviticus 10:1-2) Jereboam changed the worship practices in fear that his new kingdom would abandon him if they continued to go to Jerusalem to worship (1 Kings 12:25ff). He was NOT changing Who was worshiped. “thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” “Gods” is merely Elohim, the typical word for God, and in every single place in the OT where the God who brought them from Egypt is mentioned, it is always referring to YHWH God. From Exodus to Ezekiel. So, Jereboam wasn’t trying to change who they worshiped, just where they worshiped him, and the priesthood that served Him, and the festivals by which they worshiped Him. 1 Kings 16:19 is one of many passages that records the result. “Israel sinned”. Many were no doubt worshiping their God sincerely, but they weren’t worshiping “according to the ordinance” and so they sinned.

Jesus Himself discusses this. Matt. 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Holding your hands high, with your eyes closed, and calling Him “Lord” in all sincerity isn’t good enough if we aren’t also doing His Father’s will. Also, in John 4:23 “. . . true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” We have to worship in spirit AND truth. We can’t leave either out.

This is important, because there are so many people today who sincerely worship God. Who regularly “play before Him with all their might” and who call out “Lord, Lord”, but they worship in ways not taught by the New Testament. The churches they attend go beyond what the New Testament teaches and/or do things directly against New Testament teaching. They aren’t worshiping “according to the ordinance.” In trying to discuss this with friends and neighbors, how many times have you heard someone say something like “Well, God knows my heart. He will look and see that this worship comes from the heart and He will accept me”. Really? He made a breach against David because he hadn’t followed the ordinance! Are they better than David, the man after God’s own heart? If God didn’t look into David’s sincere heart and accept his erroneous worship, I sincerely doubt He’ll do that for anyone else. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW SINCERE WE ARE IF WE AREN’T WORSHIPING ACCORDING TO THE ORDINANCE. After all, He is God, not us. He gets to choose how we approach Him, not us. REPEAT: He is God, not us. He gets to choose how we approach Him, not us.

While we absolutely cannot reduce our worship to some checklist we can mark off, and our hearts must be in our worship (Isaiah 1:11-15, Hos. 6:6, Micah 6:6-8), we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without doing the will of the Father. Calling out “Lord, Lord” won’t be enough. And that’s why I’m writing all of this. Not to be mean-spirited or hateful, but because I want as many people as possible to make it into the kingdom and that can only happen by doing the will of the Father, “according to the ordinance
 
Lucas Ward

Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them; else you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven, Matt 6:1.

            We all know that doing the right thing for the wrong reason will get you nowhere with God.  Every action, especially right ones, must be motivated by an unselfish desire to serve either God or His children. 

            We in the church are bad about equating “faithfulness” to assembling with the saints.  When was the last time you heard discipline being practiced for anything other than “forsaking the assembling?”  Unfortunately, a good many who do assemble are doing so for the wrong reasons.  In fact, their reasons for assembling might very well be more a sign of unfaithfulness than staying at home would have been.

            Complaints about the service are a good indicator.  The songs are too slow or too old or too boring.  The prayers are too long or too cliché-ridden.  The sermons are interminable or step on too many toes or they are given “in the wrong tone of voice.”  This brother didn’t speak to me, that sister hurt my feelings, and the elders ignored me.  The building is too cold or too hot, and then there is the always popular, “I didn’t get anything out of the services today.”

            Let’s take a look at that passage about assembling.  Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day drawing nigh, Heb 10:24,25.  Why is it that we assemble?  “To provoke one another to love and good works.”  And how do we do that?  By “considering one another.” 

            That same Greek word is used in Luke 6:41, And why do you behold the mote that is in your brother’s eye, and also in Luke 20:23, But he perceived their craftiness… “Considering” one another obviously takes some effort and more than a little thought.

            So what are we supposed to be doing while we sit on those pews?  We should not be rating performances like a judge at a talent show.  We should not be waiting to be entertained.  Instead we should be “considering” one another, “beholding,” or looking to one another, “perceiving” the individual needs of each one.  Does this sister need special encouragement this week?  Does that brother need a reminder?  Is the family next to me in the midst of a crisis?  What can I do this week to help them?  The family that usually sits across the aisle is missing.  I need to find out why.

            Assembling for the wrong reason is just as bad as praying for the wrong reason, giving for the wrong reason, or even being baptized for the wrong reason.  Assembling is a gift, yet another opportunity to build one another up, not just for two or three hours, but all week long.  If I don’t do my part, seeking to find ways to help others instead of concentrating on my own likes and dislikes, I will have no reward with my Father who is in Heaven.  In fact, I might as well stay home.
 
But speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure of each several part, makes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love, Eph 4:15,16.
 
Dene Ward

You probably discovered last week how bad we are about trying to explain God.  Just think how many times we had to use that STOP sign.  And if you didn’t use it, shame on you.  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God... Deut 29:29

            The Godhead itself is an incomprehensible relationship.  As much as we try to liken it to other things, it is not.  It is unique and, in the scriptures, unexplained.  That alone makes it unexplainable.

            If we could truly understand God, then we wouldn’t worship Him.  By “explaining” Him, we bring Him down to our level, and our level certainly is not worth worshipping.  It is “reverence” masked by irreverence. 

            And we also have something not only unexplainable, but unthinkable:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Phil 2:5-8   God became human.
           
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; Heb 2:14  He partook of flesh and blood.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14.  God became flesh.
           
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb 4:15.  He was in all points tempted.

            For God to become human should not just be amazing, it should be a staggering thought.  If it has never taken your breath away and knocked you off your feet, figuratively anyway, you just don’t get it.  In spite of yourself, you have absorbed too much denominational theology.  You’ve spent too much time with Augustine of Hippo and his Reformation disciples.    And that’s where we will finish next week.
 
Dene Ward

If I asked any one of you if Bible study was essential to a godly life, I would be surprised to hear anyone say no.  We all understand that God expects us to learn His Word.  We devote a lot of time, energy, and funds to our class systems to make sure our children are well-taught, even expecting the church to do our duty as parents, but that is another post for another day.  Still, we do understand that Bible study is essential.  We put “edification” in those ubiquitous “acts of worship” lists and if questioned about it will happily list Bible classes along with sermons as the means for that particular “act.”

            But is knowing God’s Word the purpose of Bible study?  I would hope we all know better than that.  There may well be theological knowledge we must all have to appreciate our salvation and keep our faith strong, but the practical purpose for Bible study is to learn how God wants us to live our lives. If your Bible study does not affect your life, why do you bother?

            So how are you doing in the practical application of your study?  Here is a test for you.  When you hear a sermon, does something about you change?  When you learn something in a Bible class, do you think about it and perhaps alter your schedule, toss a few things out of your wardrobe, raise your contribution, pray more often, or put a few TV shows on your family’s verboten list?  Do you forgive a wrong, pray for an enemy, or stand up for the truth in a room full of atheists?  Does what you learn affect you in any way at all?  And does it go past a onetime thing to a life-changing habit?

            All right, so maybe you have been a Christian for a few decades instead of just a few weeks, and you have already made many changes.  Good for you.  But do you think there is nothing you can make better, that you already have all your ducks in a row, perfectly aligned so they waddle in step and quack in unison?  I’m not there yet.  Surely even you can make a few adjustments, tweaking your life just a bit.

            Sometimes the changes you make can be a little more philosophical and effect the genuineness of worship.  I passed my Psalms lesson book on to a Bible class teacher in another church many miles from here.  He told me that it has made a definite difference in his prayer life—the Psalms may be poems set to music for both individual and group worship, but they are also prayers.  And, since he also leads singing, he told me it has changed how he does that as well.

            The class had just finished Psalm 89, a long psalm that praises God by discussing His attributes—love, faithfulness, righteousness, justice, power, holiness.  So the next Sunday he chose his songs according to that pattern, God’s attributes.  They sang “Wonderful Grace,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and “Because He Loved Me So.”  He told the good people there what he was doing and why.  They paid more attention to the words they were singing and their song service was, in spite of singing “boring old songs” as some these days might call them, more moving and admonishing, and sung with much more “understanding” than usual.

            Just a little Bible study caused a whole church to worship more sincerely than they had in a long, long time.  What has your Bible study done for you lately?  It’s up to you how much you get out of it and what you do with what you learn.
 
​Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. ​Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. ​Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! ​Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. ​Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Ps 119:34-38
 
Dene Ward

Medicine is a wonderful thing, but sometimes the cure is as bad as the disease.

            I have been on several heavy-duty medications for several years now.  Normal people who have the surgeries I have had do not need the medications after the surgery.  The new lens, or the shunt, or the tube fixes the problem.  By now you know that nothing is normal with me.  For me the surgery just makes the medicine work again after it has stopped—for awhile anyway.  Not even the new devices can keep up with the problem on their own.

            Eyeballs are fragile organs.  The sclera, or skin of the eyeball, protects the inner workings, but when the sclera is compromised due to chemicals, even those especially designed for a human eyeball, things become difficult.  My sclera is drying up.  I use saline drops copiously to fight this, but it is not enough.  At night especially, when I am asleep and cannot pour in those drops on a regular schedule, the dry factor is multiplied.  Eventually the eyelid sticks to my eyeball.  

            The first time this happened and I tried to move my eye in my sleep (all that REM sleep, you know) the pain woke me.  Then I could not get my eye open.  Not realizing the problem, I just yanked it open.  If you can imagine what it would feel like to have Velcro eyelids, that’s what it was like.  It just “ripped” open.  I thought I even heard the rip, but it might have been me screaming, “Yeow!” 

          What happened?  The doctor said I ripped off the surface cells of the eyeball.  I have learned to wake up completely, put saline in the corner and turn my head so the drops seep under the eyelid and loosen it before trying to open my eyes in the middle of the night.   This happens every couple of hours.  As you can imagine, a good night’s sleep is no longer possible.

            And they say that this little method of mine is not enough.  That just the eyelid rubbing on the surface of this chemically dried out eyeball is causing ocular erosion—or erosion of the eyeball, you might say.  What to do?  Nothing.  I need the medication and I my eyeball needs its eyelid.  If either were missing, worse things would happen.

            God designed his church that way.  We are supposed to need one another.  We are supposed to have such a close relationship that if we were ripped apart the pain would be unbearable.  You know why discipline doesn’t work?  Because we wait till the sinner has moved so far from us he doesn’t even notice the separation we make, much less hurt enough to yell, “Ow!” 

            Paul told the Corinthians that the next time they were together they were supposed to withdraw from the adulterous sinner.  He didn’t say, “Wait till everyone has had a chance to go see him.”  You won’t find that command anywhere in the New Testament.  The reason we think it’s there is because we misapply that discipline.  It is supposed to be medicine for the sick.  We wait so long it becomes burial for the dead, and then of course we want everyone to go see the person—we wouldn’t want to bury him alive by mistake.  If you were sick and about to die, would you want everyone to have a chance to come see you and tell you to take the medicine before anyone actually brought it to you?! 

          Then there is the problem of “privacy.”  No one wants to be as close to his brethren as those first century Christians were because, “It’s none of your business.  It’s my life, not yours.”  We need to get over that.  If we were as close as we should be, as close as an eyelid to an eyeball, we would know when people need help before it’s too late.  We would be taking care of one another’s needs.  With extended family living arrangements a thing of the past in our mobile society, it is especially important.  More marriages would be saved if we all knew when the problems started, not when they reached the point they could no longer be hidden.  Every sin works that way.

          Even physical needs are to be met by our brethren when there is no family around to do it.  I don’t know what we would have done without our church family carting me back and forth to doctor appointments, as many as five a week, picking up medications, bringing us meals and cleaning our house after all these procedures.  Keith couldn’t take that much time off work, and we had no one else nearby.  I learned to stifle my pride and accept help, to be willing to tell people what I needed when they asked, and I learned that God’s plan works when we let it. 

          We are supposed to be close to one another.  We are supposed to help one another.  We are supposed to know each other’s needs, even those private ones we don’t want others to know about.  It is supposed to hurt when we are ripped apart, not only from God, but from each other.  That’s why we stay close, why we don’t leave, why we ask for help when we need it and take help, and advice, when it is offered.
           
          Let God’s wisdom work for you today.
 
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers…And all that believed were together and had all things common, and they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all, according as any man had need.  And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, Acts 2:42,44-46.
 
Dene Ward

             I’ve done it and I bet you have too.  You turn to Acts 2:38 and read, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sin.”  It’s a simple math equation.  Repent + be baptized = remission of sin.  I’ve shown it to my classmates in high school, to my neighbors, and even to my bosses.  It amazes me that they can say, “I don’t see it that way,” just as it amazes you.  I shake my head and say, “I’m not seeing it any way.  I’m just reading scripture,” and still they ignore it and go on their way.
           
              Guess what?  We do the same thing.

            Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Jas 1:27

            Here’s the math in that one:  visit the fatherless and widows + keep yourself unstained from the world = pure religion.  Let’s simplify it even more:

            Take care of the needy + live a moral life = pure religion.

            Do you know what we do?  We go to church on Sunday.  If we are especially spiritual, we don’t do the big bad sins—we don’t lie, cheat, steal, or commit adultery.  But when was the last time you just spent an evening visiting, for example, a lonely widow?  Yes, “visit” in that passage stands for more than just dropping by.  It means seeing to their needs too, but let me tell you something.  They need a visit a whole lot more than we seem to think they do.  Not a call, not a card—a visit.  They need companionship, something you take for granted and even try to get away from occasionally. 

            Older people love to have someone to talk with.  They love to have someone actually sit and listen to them as if they were more than something taking up space.  They love for young people to ask them questions, to ask for advice, to ask about the “olden days.”  Young people make them feel young again too.  They will talk about that visit for weeks, that’s how much it means to them.

            They used to be young.  They lived every bit as exciting and busy a life as you do.  They’ve been through things you never experienced and have come through with their souls and sense intact.  You would do well to take what they say with more than a grain of salt, and use it.

            So remember your math.  No matter how many sins you successfully overcome, no matter how “unstained” you are, if that’s all you have, you still do not have pure religion.  No more than your unbaptized friends and neighbors have remissions of sins!
 
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1John 3:17-18
 
Dene Ward

The first recorded gladiator fight occurred in 264 BC when three pairs of slaves were chosen to fight at the funeral of a prominent Roman citizen.  What a strange way to mourn, I thought, only to discover later that Julius Caesar arranged for 320 gladiator fights at the death of his daughter Julia. 

            Gladiator fights became common entertainment.  50,000-80,000 spectators usually attended.  Admission was free.  The actual money was made in gambling on the fighters.  Slaves and prisoners of war were trained as gladiators, and the Roman courts could sentence criminals to “death fighting.”  Eventually free men enrolled as gladiators, some for the glory and some for the money to pay their debts.  Even some of the emperors were said to have been former gladiators, so that position could lead to political advancement as well. 

            The life of a gladiator was full of risk.  Not only could they be killed by another gladiator, but all prospective gladiators had to swear an oath and enter a legal agreement to submit to beating, burning, and death by sword if they did not perform as required.  Life must have been desperate for those who entered it willingly.

            The last gladiator fought on January 1, 404 AD, over a millennium and a half ago.  What startled me, though, was one of the reasons given for the rise of this type of entertainment.  Gladiator fights were seen as a way to appease the gods and avert disaster in the Roman Empire.
 
            To appease the gods?  Here you have yet again a big difference
between Jehovah God and manmade gods.  Our God hates fighting among his children.  Here are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers, Prov 6:16-19.

            Seven times in the New Testament He is called the “God of peace,” and Jesus said in his most famous sermon, Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God, Matt 5:9.  How did he tell us the world would recognize us?  [I pray] that they may be one…so that the world will believe that you have sent me, John 17:21.  Getting along with one another can actually create faith in unbelievers.

            Over and over in the New Testament the disciples are told to “be at peace,” to “avoid things that gender strife,” and to be longsuffering with one another.  Peace would be the defining mark of this brotherhood, not the constant wrangling that often mars manmade organizations. 

            The only fighting we participate in is a spiritual warfare against the Adversary.  Otherwise we are to be a peaceful people who call attention to ourselves only by the good we do to others, not the evil, and by our goodwill to one another despite our differences.  All the way back to the apostles, Jesus expected people with huge ideological differences of opinion to get along.  Matthew the publican and Simon the Zealot would never have eaten a Passover meal together until they both professed allegiance in something and Someone far bigger than their opinions.

          James makes it very clear in his epistle exactly where fighting comes from.  When we turn ourselves into gladiators against one another, when others of us watch from the sidelines, egging each one on and enjoying the battle, it is clear that our loyalty is to a master other than the Prince of Peace.
 
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace, James 3:13-18.
 
Dene Ward
 

Part 7 of a continuing Monday series.  If you have not been with us, you really need to backtrack and read the first 6.  Even if you have been, with a week off, it might help to reread at least the last couple.

            Remember those stop signs you made last week?  Run and get it before we start.  You are really going to need it this week.  And more than that you will need to be willing to examine what you truly believe and the words and phrases you commonly use. 

            First let me ask you this:  why do you pray?  Believe it or not, there is a theology out there that does not believe God will change His mind if you ask.  Now don’t be so quick to judge.  The word they use is “immutability,” which we often use ourselves, and which is NOT a Bible word. 

            First, let’s look at a few passages.  Will our prayers indeed influence God?

            In his discussion of the coming destruction of Jerusalem Jesus said, “Pray that your flight not be in winter or on a Sabbath,” Matt 24:20.

            He also says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7:7-11.

            And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1.

            Jesus seemed to believe our prayers would make a difference in God’s actions.  The word “immutability,” though, means “beyond the ability to change.”  Add that to the word “omniscience,” also a word not found in the Bible, which means “knowledge of everything past, present, and future, and therefore never surprised,” and you get a doctrine that says since God knows everything, then He knows the best course of action and the right thing to do and any change would mean He had made a mistake.  That is mainstream theology.

            STOP!  You are sitting there getting ready to say, “Yes, but---“  Don’t.  Just listen, and more important, read what God has to say about Himself.

            In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” 2Kgs 20:1-6.

            And I[God] thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Jer 3:7.

            “‘I [God] said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me. ​Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.’” Jer 3:19-20/

            And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. Jer 7:31.

          And have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind-- Jer 19:5.

          They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jer 32:35.

          STOP!  You’re about to do it again, I know you are.  You are trying to explain away the plain statements of God about Himself.  What you are doing is trying to make an incomprehensible Being comprehensible to a human mind and that is the ultimate irreverence.  Guess what?  We are not finished yet.  This one will knock your socks off:

          He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Gen 22:12.

          STOP!  Someone out there is thinking, “Are you trying to say…” I (and the teacher I sat under last summer) are not saying anything.  God is.  Do not tell God what He means to be saying and then call it respect.

          There are many, many times in the Bible that God says, “If.”  This one may be the most famous:

          Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Jer 18:5-10.

          Here is the conclusion of all this; God always bases His action on men’s behavior.  And that means not everything is set in stone.  Even God says so.  When you try to push these un-Biblical words on people and define them so strictly, then you wind up with doctrines never taught in the Bible.  And when you do, you wind up with things that are totally inexplicable, like the following passage.

          David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” Then David said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.” Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 1Sam 23:9-13.

          Oops!  God said something was going to happen and it didn’t.  Why?  Because men’s behavior changed what happened.  When we force things on our understanding of God, we always get into trouble.  Better to let God tell us how He acts and thinks, and keep from putting both our feet into our mouths hip-deep. 

          Keep your stop sign handy.  There is more to come.
 
Dene Ward

I will be taking this week off and will resume posting on January 2, 2017.  Please feel free to browse the archives on the right sidebar. 

If you are a new reader, click on one of the months before you found us.  If you are a new parent, try clicking on "Children" and "Family."  If you enjoy camping, try clicking on that category for devotionals that came to me while enjoying the beautiful world God gave us.  If you feel a need for study on grace or faith or humility, click on those subjects.

Whatever your needs I hope you find something that will help.  Feel free to leave me a note at the bottom of the old articles you visit.  My administrator page will let me know I have new comments even on old entries and it will help me to know the types and subjects you prefer.

Meanwhile, enjoy your time with family and friends and be safe out there.  I look forward to being with you again next week and starting a brand new year together.

Dene Ward

Almost forty years ago, I came home from a night class at the University of South Florida to find the police at my family’s home.  While my mother ran a quick errand, a burglar had broken in and stolen several items—this, despite the fact that the lights were on and the living room curtains standing wide open for all the neighbors to see through.  One thing he didn’t take, though, was the television.

            We were a frugal family—we had to be.  That TV still worked, but it had to be just so in order to work.  In those days televisions had dials, one for the channel, and one for the volume, which also worked the on/off function.  Our channel knob had gotten old and would not always stay in the slot for each channel when you turned it.  So my daddy whittled a piece of wood about three inches long that you had to wedge between the protruding flat plastic of the channel knob that helped you push it around the dial and the overhang from the television cabinet above it.  Otherwise, the knob slipped back out of the channel groove and all you got was snow.  We assume the thief either couldn’t figure out our homemade remedy or he thought it was too much trouble.  Whatever, we still had a TV to watch that night after the police left.

            I have had to deal with things like that all my life.  If you can get it to work somehow, why buy a new one?  It is a little embarrassing though to have to tell your overnight guests to count to three when they flush the toilet before letting the lever go.

            Maybe that is why I get a little peeved when I hear people make prayer such a process.  Before they are finished you need a manual to tell you how to start it, how to close, what words you can and cannot say, who to aim it to, what you can and cannot ask for, and when you can and cannot do it.  We get just like the rabbis who, after reading in the Psalms that David meditated “in the night watches” (Psa 63:6), instead of understanding the meaning--that David meditated all the time, even in the middle of the night--spent four or five pages of the Mishna arguing about how many night watches there were so they could be sure to meditate exactly that many times.

            Prayer should never be something that must be done “just so” to make certain it will work.  The Hebrew writer said Christ sacrificed himself so we could approach God “with boldness,” not scared to death we would do it the wrong way.  When?  “In time of need,” Heb 4:16.  Usually when I need something badly the last thing I want to do is look in the owner’s manual and read the directions.  I want something that works even when my mind is in turmoil and I can’t think straight.  And the Lord understands that because he, the Hebrew writer also tells us, suffered exactly the way we do, “in all points.” 

            Take advantage of the great gift that God has given us, the right to talk with him any time, to ask for anything, to pour out our hearts when the need arises.  Certainly we approach God with reverence, but checking off a list of rules is hardly reverence.  It is making the Divine gift a burden.  Surely that is about as sacrilegious as you can get.
 
For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD: that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, Psalm 102:16-21.

Dene Ward