Alt•City

listening until you hear

The Goo Goo Dolls were playing in the coffee shop. I was reading, writing, listening and singing along in my head. "I'll stay with you....huh huh huh huuh huh huh huuuuuh." I can't understand the second line of the chorus. It sounds like they are saying something about (this makes no sense at all) mazel tov. Are the Goo Goo Dolls Jewish? What??? It is making me crazy because the more I hear the song the more I think I hear mazel tov, which is great. If the Dolls want to wish us all good luck I'm happy with that. But I'm pretty sure this isn't working in the context of the song. I googled the band and lyrics to see if I could find out the real words and I did. What sounded like a Jewish greeting turned out to be a line about walls falling down before we do. This is an illustration of how the general revelation of God - the created world, and the special revelation of God - the scriptures work together. The universe is playing God's tune. It pulses with the rhythm of eternity. It has a beat you can dance to; it has words everyone knows and sings. But there are parts of creation we can't understand without knowing the exact words God is saying. The scriptures can get our ears to hear with precision. The song was still playing while I googled the lyrics. It was amazing how clearly I heard the words in the chorus. How they fit. How they made sense. Now I can sing along.

heavy lightweight

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holines" (Psalm 29)

What is the irreduceable fact of reality? What is the thing which carries the greatest weight? If God has the greatest mass in your world He is the immoveable fact upon which all other facts depend. But this weight is not merely your concept of God. It isn't your set of beliefs about God. Concepts, beliefs and systems of thought are not weighty enough to anchor your life because you are their creator and sustainer - you are heavier than your beliefs. Glory is about weight and either you have it or God does. The psalmist suggests crediting God with the weight due His name and then adds the reason why: because of the splendor of His holiness. God's weight comes from His whole wholeness, His complete completeness. When God is measured He is found to be lacking nothing. If you weigh yourself and find nothing missing maybe you deserve the glory, but if you are in search of completion you must look to something weightier than yourself.

How to Talk to God, part 2

"Our Father..."

Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray.  He tells them to begin by saying our Father.  Later in His life Jesus is going to run into big trouble with the authorities for calling Himself the son of God.  What may slip past our notice is He also calls us sons of God.  How else can you read this?  When I talk to my sisters about our father, I am speaking of the man who is both my father and their father.  Jesus tells us God is not only our Father, but Jesus is our brother.  You don't have to go to your Father alone.  Did you ever get in trouble with your father or whoever the authority figure in your life was?  Did you have to go and face them alone?  How about going to ask your father for the keys to the car?  Did you go it alone?  Having a brother in Jesus means coming to God with a faithful brother beside you, pulling for you, interested in seeing you get what you've come for.  God invites us into his presence on equal footing with Jesus.  How would Jesus speak with his Father?
- without fear
- knowing He is heard
- on behalf of others
- with clear vision of what can be done for those who ask
- without an expectation of having to earn anything

How to Speak to God, part 1

"Our Father..."

God says to call him "father."  The association of God with the name father is used only 6 times in the Old Testament, but it is used 30 times in the gospel of Matthew alone and over 200 times in the New Testament.  Jesus presents a new relationship for the people of God.  He is our father.  This only works if it is a bidirectional relationship.  If God is ours then we must be His.  Implications:

Speaking as a child means to speak
- with desires
- with needs
- to a resourceful father
- without pretense
- up
- whenever we want to
- insistently
- expectantly

Full Service God

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."  Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." (The Gospel of John, chapter 21, verses 8-12)

So get this; after coming from infinity and eternity and compressing himself into a human body (imagine yourself taking on the form of a slug), after spending thirty plus years living with us, after three years on the road teaching, preaching and healing, after a scourging at the hands of the Romans, after being nailed to a tree and left there to die, after suffering the abandonment of his Father, after going into hell itself, after rising again from the dead to procure salvation and the forgiveness of sins for all who would ask, after enduring the doubts and questions of his best friends....after all this Jesus comes to his loved ones and makes them breakfast on the beach.

fancy feet

"King David said...I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it." (1 Chronicles 28:2)

David spent a great deal of time and effort providing the best building materials and craftsmen to construct the temple.  It seems to have been the consuming passion of the later years of his life.  God gave him the blueprints.  There can be no mistaking the grandeur of this project.  Yet David calls it God's footstool.  Other nations are building temples in which to house their gods.  The biggest most impressive building David can imagine only has room for his God's feet.

to see or not to see

"The LORD said to Gad, David's seer..." (1 Chronicles 21:9)

David, the man after God's own heart according to God Himself, has a seer.  David has someone to help him see God - and you say you don't need anyone?  Just you and God are enough?

a Good Reason

"Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it."  1 Chronicles 15:22

Why are you doing what you are doing?  Is it because you are skillful at it and passionate about it, or is it because you were told you had to make a living?  Our education philosophy seems to be focused on manufacturing well rounded people.  The problem with well rounded people is that they have no point(s).  Sharp edges and sharp points penetrate the mundane and create the pathway into the future. There isn't anything wrong with broad learning - there is everything wrong with trying to be a broad performer.  Explore enough to find out what you are skilled to do, then take the responsibility to do it on behalf of God and His purposes in your time.

just a hint

"The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, and David gave orders to burn them in the fire."
(1 Chronicles 14:12)

Just a hint - if you have gods that can be left behind and burned in a fire, you probably need to throw them in the fire yourself and leave them behind. A god is the thing you turn to under stress or pressure (which is the time you need something more fireproof than the fire you're in and bigger than the thing that's making you want to run away).

how to grow an army

"Day by day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army like the army of God."
(1 Chronicles 12:22)

David didn't have a recruiting campaign.  He didn't go from town to town complaining about his treatment at the hands of the egomaniacal king.  He was running around in the desert just trying to stay alive and free.  And an army found him.  Not the army of Saul which was continually looking for him to capture or kill him, but an army of incredible leaders the least of which could have commanded an army himself.  Do you ever worry that you will miss the purposes of God for your life?  Or worse that you've somehow gotten so far away from what you thought God wanted to do with your life that you can never find your way back or gather the resources to accomplish anything for God?  I'm sure David must have had days when he remembered Samuel's annointing oil (1 Sam 16:13) running down his face, the oil sealing his calling as the next king of Israel, and thought how is this ever going to happen?  Just take note of how his help came.  Day by day it came, day by day.  And it came to him where he was.  The measure of a man's faith is not what he has received, but how long he can go and receive nothing.  Wait upon the Lord my soul, wait upon Him and be refreshed.

reversity

"The mighty men were..."  1 Chronicles 11:26

Trying to read the list of David's elite fighting men is not easy.  The names of the men and the names of their tribes run together.  There are so many different histories here; names that will become famous in the modern world like Bethlehem.  Names that will live in infamy like Uriah.  Names which share odd similarities like Hurai from the ravines of Gaash.  And names no one can pronounce like Eliahba the Shaalbonite (and that's an easy one).  I'm no expert on the history of the tribes living in the ancient lands recorded in the bible, frankly the 'ites' give me a headache when they start popping up like this in scripture, but I do sense something unusual about this list.  Some people in the list are recorded as parts of well known tribes of Israel, but most of them aren't.  In fact at least two of the men are definitely not of Israel; Zelek the Ammonite and Uriah the Hittite.  Both the Ammonites and the Hittites are enemies of Israel, yet here are two mighty men from those tribes.  Evidently God's purposes can trump bloodlines of both enemies and friends to make a cohesive group capable of accomplishing His goals.  If our God following doesn't leave room for enemies to become not just friends, but also integral to accomplishing our mission we are not seeing the full scope of God's plans.

a horse with no name

"He was doubly honored above the Three and became their commander, even though he was not included among them."  (1 Chronicles 11:21)

How many of us are waiting for the title before we feel we can do anything effectively?  One day about seven years ago I went home from work in my navy officer's uniform and the next day I put on a suit and went to work in a church (yeah I used to wear suits every day back then - now it's only if I'm marrying or burying someone). After about a week I realized I didn't know what to call myself.  Was I a pastor?  A staff member?  In the navy it was pretty easy to describe myself; I had a rank and a position and they both had names.  I don't remember how it got resolved but about a year later I just decided I must be a pastor because I was doing what a pastor did.  People who find and follow Jesus will always be working in areas without well defined ranks and titles and will usually only discover what they are by reflecting back rather than projecting forward.  Of course this makes perfect sense when you consider Jesus holds the only position and the only rank that matters.  If we wait to be included in anything or wait upon someone to bestow a title upon us to serve Christ we will never serve Him.  Honor, inclusion and titles are things which come to people who serve Christ with nothing but a recognition of who He is and what He has done - and they mean so little compared to knowing Him.

An Immediate Response

"She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped." (Luke 8:44)
Immediately.  Jesus did not choose to heal this woman.  He did not even know who she was, yet power went out from him.  There must be a way to touch God which elicits an outpouring of His power not because of the one who touches but because of the nature of God.  (e.g. if you touch me with the sharp edge of a razor blood flows because of my nature)  If you touch God in the way of this woman, power flows because of His nature. How did this woman touch God?
-Anonymously
-from behind
-barely
-in a crowd
-in the course of what Jesus was doing
-at the end of trying many other solutions to her problem
-she sought him out after she heard about what he had done for others
-she only desired to touch his clothes, and thought that would be enough

Why did the woman tremble when she couldn't remain anonymous?  Picture the whole scene: A raucous crowd is pressing and moving along with the Prophet.  It is noisy.  There is laughter and much loud speculation about what this man is going to do next.  He himself is silent.  He walks in his way; eyes neither aloof nor downcast.  Some in the crowd feel touched by those eyes others wonder what he sees.  All is motion and sound and anticipation.  Then he stops.  A quiet descends.  What is going on?  He speaks, "Who touched my clothes?"  A deeper silence.  Many who have been near him are thinking 'is it me?  I was so close...did I touch him?'  No one wants to admit it.  They shrug their shoulders and murmur one to another.  There quiet is pregnant in the quiet.  It is growing awkward.  Peter senses it.  He steps forward to say what others are thinking, "There is quite a crowd around you...How can you say one touched you?"  You can almost see Peter whispering this to Jesus.  He's saying - you are embarrassing yourself here. Let's keep moving.  Jesus doesn't seem to hear Peter at all.  He raises his voice, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me."  And he stands in the quiet crowd looking at their faces.  Now the woman is stuck.  No one is moving.  She can't retreat without drawing attention to herself.  He will see her.  No way to go now but forward. She tried to steal Jesus' power.  She wanted healing, not a face to face meeting with the Prophet.  And she knows the truth.  She knows there really was and is power in this man.  Touching him has done something unaccountable in her.  It took all she had just to get close enough to touch him - all her courage.  He has called her out.  What will he do?  Will he take back his power?  Will he humiliate her?  In a voice barely above a whisper she tells her story.  She speaks to the ground.  Tears of fear and joy streak together down her face and into the dirt.  She cannot look up.  Her story ends.  No one can move.  All is breath sucked in.  An unclean person, a woman, has touched a Rabbi.  Jesus sees her.  He sees the tears.  He sees everything.  He sees her.  No one has seen her like he sees.  "Take heart daughter," he says, and she does.  She breaths for everyone.  He continues, "your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."  The Prophet moves away to his appointment with the elder's daughter.  The woman sits while the crowd regains it's momentum.  She has touched God.  She has stolen power from God like Prometheus stole fire from the gods - and instead of punishment she has been rewarded with healing and a benediction of peace.  She trembles again.  What kind of God is this?

worthless is as worthless does

"They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless."  (2 Kings 17:15)

We will become like the thing we worship.

worship = focus

focus - ('fowkus)
1. [n]  the concentration of attention or energy on something
2. [n]  special emphasis attached to something 
3. [v]  bring into alignment; to converge or cause to converge
4. [v]  cause to converge on or toward a central point

the ring of Truth

"Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury." But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!' " So Elijah went. When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, "Why have you come back?" "A man came to meet us," they replied. "And he said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you..." (2 Kings 1:2-6)

Think about the men sent out from the king to inquire about his health.  They meet a complete stranger on the road who tells them to go back to their king and tell him he is going to die.  Without even getting the name of the stranger they obey his words.  Either these messengers are stupid or they know truth when they hear it.  Since you have to believe their very lives are at stake it must be a case of good hearing.  There is a tuning fork within each person which resonates when struck by Truth.

anything at all

"The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil. Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."       But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. " (2 Kings 4: 1-6)

The best way to help someone is to find out what they have inside.  Oil is the metaphor for God's Spirit.  He is the most overlooked of the Trinity and least understood - in fact most Christians would give the widow's answer when we are in trouble:  "I don't have anything inside...well, uh, I know I have the Spirit of God in here somewhere, but it feels like my house is empty."  If you will simply acknowledge Him and give Him a place to pour, the Spirit of God will multiply into so much fullness it will take every vessel you can find to catch His provision. 

give a little bit

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."  (Philemon 6)

The message of Christ has not been received if the mission of Christ has not been adopted.

whose on first?

"One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus." (Luke 5:17-18)

Notice who is getting in the way of people with an urgent need to see Jesus...

the equation of righteousness

"If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ... But I have not used any of these rights." (1 Cor 9:12 &15)

the assertion of personal rights decreases as an exponential function of their availability.

HimTolerant

"All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff." (Luke 4:28-29)

Wherever religion rules tolerance will be at it's lowest.  Wherever Christ rules freedom reigns beside Him.

Not Yours to Have and to Hold

"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." (1 Cor 7:29-31)

Paul isn't afraid to lump marriage in with things that will pass away and therefore things we shouldn't hold on to as if they were ours to keep.  The healthiest marriages (or any other kind of relationship) will be the ones in which neither person makes undue claims to ownership.  A good reminder would be to call your wife or daughter 'sister' once in a while or to call your husband or son 'brother.'

Remaining Doesn't Sound Like a World Changing Concept

"Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to."
(1 Cor 7:24)

Remaining doesn't sound like an action-packed, earth changing concept - just stay put; don't go anywhere.  Sounds pretty dull actually.   But it isn't the idea here.  The idea here is to remain in the situation God called you to.  This is a different story altogether.  It means you are either on mission with God (in the place of His calling) or you are not.  If you are in His place you will be on His mission and if you are on His mission you will be in His place.  This is an active life.  It is a life that turns a slave into an emancipator and a master into a servant.  This leaves each person responsible to either serve God where they are or to move.  It means evaluating your life situation only in light of God's calling and acting upon that calling to bring about His redeeming work wherever you are - the classroom, the boardroom, the marriage, the neighborhood are not random accidents but points to which the Kingdom of God attaches itself to leverage change on earth.   Archimedes said "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." How much shall the world be moved by a lever reaching to the hand of God fulcrummed on the back of Jesus Christ?  Remain in His calling and you will see.

Luke 3: K-4 lessons for the kingdom

"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."  Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." (Luke 3:10-15)

So the kingdom of God has come near?  We should repent and have lives that show a real (not a religious) relationship with God?  So what do we do?  It isn't so difficult; just kindergarten lessons: share your stuff, don't take things that don't belong to you, be happy and play nice with others.  God followers do ordinary things through extraordinary means with eternal motives.

Luke 2 what kind of eyes

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God... " (Luke 2:25-28)

what kind of eyes can see as far as Simeon can see?  who could have seen a child in the temple courts and understood the significance?  eyes that wait upon God, eyes upon which the Holy Spirit rests, eyes that believe, eyes that move.

1 Kings: Substanding

"In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom." (1 Kings 14:25-28)

This is what it looks like when we create substitutes for the original/real things of God.  Second rate material (bronze instead of gold), glorifying men (kings instead of God), and we'll have to keep it locked up so no one can steal it from us.  If you find yourself trying to protect your shields (image, opinions, positions) they're probably made of the wrong stuff.  The glory of God can't be stolen, the glory of men can - but it isn't worth the trouble.

Luke 2

"...everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem"  (Luke 2:3-4)

This required a journey of at least 70 miles over rough terrain, walking or riding a mule.  It must have taken 3+ days to make the trip and it was done with a very pregnant woman.  So a working man has to take off from his job and make a long very public journey with his pregnant-out-of-wedlock fiance' (a big deal in that culture).  How many times did he have to hear the question 'so when's your wife due?' or 'how long have you two been married?' Do you think Joseph viewed all of this as the majestic workings of the hand of the God of his fathers - or simply the hassle of an oppressive, bullying government who could make you do stuff like this for no good reason?  Did he turn the corner from being acted upon by evil to being the enactor of God's plan?  The circumstances we are in haven't slipped through God's hands accidentally

1 Kings

"He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray." (1 Kings 11:3)

The wisdom of God without the presence of God only sets you up to be a most spectacular failure.

1 Kings 10

"When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. ." (1 Kings 10:1-7)

When people come into the presence of God through His true people do they feel this way?  The presence of God in a life is more majestic than Solomon's temple and more overwhelmingly wise than Solomon's wisdom.  The world comes looking for answers; they have things on their mind.  Heavy things.  Hard things.  They even come bearing gifts.  The world wants to see if what they have heard about God is true or just another sham.  Our lives can be places where the awesome mystery of God abides.  God's presence cannot be faked or forced, but neither can it be hidden (Mark 7:24).

1 Kings 3

"Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.  One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me.  The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby."  (1 Kings 3:16-18)

The first matter in which Solomon has a chance to display his God-given discernment is a dispute between two whores and their two bastard children.  What is the king of Israel doing settling this argument?  How could the wisest man on earth waste his time on people like this?  The most amazing revelation when God wakes us up and gives us a taste of His discernment is how much He cares about those who are lost and broken and outside the mainstream of cultural compassion.   God given discernment always reveals the value God places on each person created in His image.  If you only see problems and not people even your most ingenious solutions are nothing more than dust.

1 Kings 3

Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."  (1 Kings 3:3-5)

God appeared to Solomon in the place of his exception.  Solomon went looking for the right God in the wrong place - and God appeared.  The question God asks Solomon (like all the questions God asks) is not interrogative.  God isn't short on information.  When He calls out to Adam in the garden it isn't as if God has lost track of the man.  God never misplaces His things.  His questions are always aimed at our hearts.  They are intended to cut apart the layers of deceptive thinking we heap upon ourselves.  Where  is your heart?  Why do you go to the highest place and make your sacrifices to your God? If you actually found God and He asked you this question, what would you say?  Your answer will tell you why you seek God at all.   

2 Sam 15

A messenger came and told David, "The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom."  Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, "Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword."  (2 Sam 15:13-14)

Once David fled from the king, now David flees as the king...how can you possibly know what a particular situation demands of you?  David was a man who knew and followed the Living God and so he could find the way as events unfolded instead of standing upon position or precedent.  We need a life and we need a living God.

1 Cor 1

"....you have been enriched in every way - in all your speaking and in all your knowledge - because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift..."
(1 Cor 1:5-7)

Considering everything Paul is getting ready to unload on this church, does this seem odd?  They are entirely enriched and don't lack any gifts, yet they have divisions, sexual immorality, they sue each other in court, they're hung up on what foods they can eat, some are getting drunk during communion, their worship times are confused and disorderly, and some of them have a problem with the importance of the resurrection of Christ.  There is a difference between being rich and living richly.

2 Sam 11-12

some thoughts on the Bathsheeba - David - Uriah - Nathan episode

11:3 and David sent someone...  contrary to many sermons I've heard about the king being out of his place because it was spring and he should have been out with the army, David wasn't out of place at all.  He had sent Joab off before this and he did again later.  David wasn't wrong to be up in the middle of the night and David wasn't wrong to be on his own roof, probably prayed up there sometimes and David wasn't wrong to see a woman bathing and David wasn't even wrong to notice she was very beautiful. But the next 'and' cost David dearly.  The essence of life in Christ is having a life inside of you which immediately informs you when you are crossing from one harmless 'and' to a disastrous 'and.'

11:11  Uriah said to David...  could it be that Uriah's sense of right and wrong in this situation was heightened by his position as a foreigner?   He appreciated who he was and where he was more than the very king of Israel.

12:5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die."  it is probably a good idea to take whatever a prophet has to say and look first to your own self for it's application.  More current imagery: a preacher lays out a picture for you in his sermon and all you can think of is the person who should've been there to hear it because they need it so much.  Generally God sends the prophets to the people He intends to hear and apply the message.

12:13 "I have sinned against the Lord."  this seems to be the entire confession of David...
"The Lord has taken away your sin." what?  Did God do this before David even asked Him to?  Would God actually forgive you when you haven't even asked Him, would He put away your sin, take care of it?  Jesus.

12:16 David pleaded with God for the child.  This is why David is the man after God's own heart.  Here he is completely cut off from God by his sin right?  Shouldn't he be rolling around in the dust crying over his sin and begging to feel the full forgiveness of God?  David the adulterous murdering God shaming failure goes right into the presence of God and begs for the very thing God has already said he couldn't have, the life of this child.  Arrogance?  Stupidity?  Faith in the character of the God he knew and loved.  Faith that God had already forgiven him.  Faith that he was not cut off simply because God said he wasn't cut off.  This is the simple heart of a child who believes whatever his Dad says and acts upon it.

Romans 16

"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet."  Rom 16:20

Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of God who forcibly displaces evil.

Romans 15

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." (Rom 15:7)

Accepting Christ brings us to praise God, accepting one another brings others to praise God.

2 Sam 3

"They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept aloud at Abner's tomb. All the people wept also."
2 Sam 3:32

David showed a life long ability to weep for fallen foes (Saul, Abner, Ishbosheth, Absalom).  He seems to have been able to distinguish between an opponent and an enemy.

Rom 10

"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."  Rom 10:2-4

Israel did not know God's righteousness.  They were the only people on earth who could have had a first hand knowledge of God's righteousness because He gave His law only to them.  They had all of the revelation of God's righteousness and none of it as a possession.  The purpose of the law must be to create in man a hopelessness about attaining right-ness without God's intervention.

1 Sam 25

"Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him." 1 sam 25:17

The most wicked hear the least.

Romans 8

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Rom 8:37

There is no significance at all in winning if there is no reigning.  Victory over sin is nothing.  Abiding in Christ is everything.

1 Sam 20

After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most. (1 Sam 20:41)

What are the things David could be weeping for?
-exile from his home/wife
-unfair treatment at the hands of the king
-losing his job
-unfulfilled promises from God
-fear of the future

I think all of these fell on David and caused him to weep, but it was the loss of Jonathan that made him weep the most.  How many friends do you have?  Forest Gump said about his dead friend: "Bubba was my best good friend, an' even I know that's not sumthin' you find just around the corner."  David was isolated by fame and success and power, but in Jonathan he found someone who loved him because he was just David.  He loved David for no good reason.  To lose a friend like Jonathan was the most bitter thing to David.

Think About

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
(Phil 4:8)

True - Jesus is the Truth
Noble - Jesus is the King
Right - Jesus is Righteousness
Pure - Jesus is Holy
Lovely - Jesus is the Rose of Sharon
Admirable - Jesus is the Way
Excellent - Jesus is Perfect
Praiseworthy - Jesus is the Name above all names

What should I think about?  Who should I think about. Jesus.

1 Sam 16

"Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these."  So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"  1 Sam 16:10-11

Imagine what Jesse must have been thinking as one after another of his sons is rejected...Samuel was patient.  Could you wade through seven other moments and be absolutely sure God had not spoken?  Notice his question isn't aimed at God - if so he would have gone back through the seven sons.  Instead he questions Jesse - are these all the sons you have? (7 is a lot of sons!)

1 Sam 12

"But they forgot the LORD their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. They cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned; we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.'
1 Sam 12:9-10

The people of God keep losing track of God and wandering off to worship the gods of their neighbors and also embrace the social structure of their neighbors.  What can account for this? When God delivers in such miraculous ways as He did in the time of Moses it is so over-the-top that no one can fix their eyes on Moses.  It must be God.  God must be working.  But once they settle in their own land the deliverances come in lesser ways through lesser men.  It isn't so evident that God is at work.  Men begin to look more instrumental.  Another factor is the simple ebb and flow of plenty and want.  When you have the "real" God and your neighbors have a fake or lesser god and you have a drought while they have a harvest of plenty, maybe you got something wrong.  Maybe you should hedge your bets.  This sounds like the syncritist way of the gospel according to Oprah; whatever is working for you is fine, Jesus is fine, Allah is fine, Scientology is fine...we all can use whatever we need to get by.  And when you start to do that (add the real God to the lesser gods) it would also make sense to embrace a new social structure.  Once you've reduced The God to one among many gods to be called upon depending upon the weather or current trends in foreign policy it makes no sense to live in a theocracy.  It is too confusing; which priests are in charge and which god is calling the shots?  Much easier to switch to a king (human based) social structure/government.

   

1 Sam 12

"Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the LORD as to all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you and your fathers." 1 Sam 12:7

Here is a good test for the confrontations we get into:  is it about the righteousness of God?  Is it presented as evidence for His sake?  I've been in plenty of confrontations where I came zinging in with the Lord's cause wielded like a sword only to find out I was really concerned with my own name, my own position, my own 'right-ness.'  A valid confrontation begins with Jesus, is carried out with and through Jesus and ends with Jesus.

Romans 7

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:14-24

If this (vs 14-23) pile of gibberish isn't a rhetorical Hell I don't know what is - it makes no sense, it twists the tongue and darkens the mind and leaves me wishing I'd never picked up my bible today. Thanks for nothing.  I came here looking for life and got more confusion.  I'm already confused enough.  But then...I agree with Paul - how wretched is this state I am in?  This manhood?  This existence?  And who can rescue me?  Jesus Christ is there, the Rescuer.  I don't have to sort through all my do's and don'ts and laws I've kept or failed to keep.  I don't have to decide what is sin and where it lives, or what is good and what is not.  This war is the war of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  It has raged in man since the Garden.  We don't need to get a better strategy to fight this war.  We need to quit fighting altogether and ask for someone to save us - someone to give us a way to the Tree of Life.  There He is thank God for Jesus Christ.  He is the Way.

1 Sam 10

9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day... 22 So they inquired further of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage." 1 Sam 10: 9 & 22

How do you reconcile verses 9 and 22?  How does someone who God has touched and changed end up hiding from God's purposes laid up in the baggage?  If you hang around many churched people the answer you would probably hear would go something like this:  you know he never did really show any change once he met the Lord...I guess he never really did meet Him.  From there on out the poor soul who hid in the baggage is going to get put under a microscope.  More and more evidence is going to be gathered to prove he never really did 'get it.'  How do you think you would come off if people began to examine your life with an assumption you didn't know Jesus?  Would they come up with plenty of evidence to prove their point?  They would in my case. But Saul had been touched by God, he had been changed, and in spite of the fact he got a lot of things wrong and didn't end too well, God had this man to reign over His people for 40 plus years. 

1 Sam 10

"The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you." 1 Sam 10:6-7

Saul receives instruction from the man of God about several events in his near future.  Donkeys and goats and loaves of bread; a procession of prophets he will join in with and then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon him in power.  Notice the signs came before the Spirit did, and the instruction to the man upon whom the Spirit of God had come was simple and comprehensive:  do whatever....This is opposite of Christians who have received all the instruction, seen all the signs, received the Holy Spirit AND THEN sit around paralyzed about what to do, where to go, and how to proceed.  The signs do not come after the Holy Spirit!  Once the Spirit of the Lord has come upon us and we have been changed into different people we can do whatever our hands find to do.  In Saul's case it was becoming a king but it could've just as easily have been to buy a few more goats and donkeys.  Act as if you had a God, think about that - how would I live today if I had the full confidence that God Himself lives in me and walks where I walk? 

1 Sam 5

"When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." 1 Sam 5:7

A God versus god thing:  if your god can be pushed around by another god (or God) why not switch and get the more powerful God for yourself?  Instead the Philistines try to do what most people do - move the bigger god out of sight so they can keep their little god and keep telling him what to do for them.

1 Sam 5

"Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon."  1 Sam 5:2

This is what happens when the strength of God is mistaken for God Himself - the heathens place it right next to their idols on equal footing.

1 Sam 4

"When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies." (1 Sam 4:3)

Would you rather have God's ark or God when you got into a fight?  Maybe this mistaking of the things of God for God Himself is the reason for the defeat.  Look at Eli's reaction (vv. 17-18) and his daughter-in-law's reaction (v.22) as they are told of the death of their loved ones versus the loss of the ark.  It is always the things close to God and like God which make the greatest idols.  (see also the bronze serpent in 2 Kings 18:4)