“Why is light [of life] given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul. Who long and wait for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures. Who rejoice exceedingly and are elated when they find the grave?” (Job3:20-22)
Job had a series of incredibly big losses happen in his life. First he lost his oxen and donkeys to Sabeans who swooped down and took them away. Without them, Job had lost his ability to plow and produce. (Job 1:13-14)
Right on the heals of this, Job lost his sheep and all his servants as lightening came down from heaven and burned up and consumed them all. (Job 1:16) Before he was even done hearing about this, he found out that his camels were taken in a raid by the Chaldeans (Job 1:17).
And still reeling from all the losses, another servant came to tell him that his sons and daughters were killed by a whirlwind and he had no children left (Job 1:19). Deeply grief stricken from all the losses, amazingly, Job did not charge God (or contemplate suicide). Instead, he worshiped and magnified the Lord (Job 1:21-22).
It wasn't too long after this that Job was also stricken with physical ailments. He was covered with loathsome and painful sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet (Job 2:7). It was so bad that it says that when his friends saw him from far off, he was disfigured beyond recognition and so his friends lifted up their voices and wept (Job 2:12).
When Job first experienced a series of losses, it did not drive him to contemplate suicide. Losses or stressors in ones life do not necessarily always mean someone is contemplating suicide. When Job first experienced many losses, he used his internal coping mechanisms and worshiped God.
LivingWorks note that most people are resilient and and cope and manage stresses in life without turning to the option of suicide. They do this by using a variety of internal resources and by drawing upon external resources such as family and friends. [1]
Esther was someone who demonstrated resilience to difficulty and stress. Esther had experienced some significant losses in her life. She had lost both her parents. However, her uncle Mordecai took her in and raised her as her own (Esther 2:7). Esther was loved and taught to fear God and execute His commands as she was growing up with Mordecai (Esther 2:20).
Esther received a great deal of support from Mordecai who loved and believed in her. When Esther was taken into custody on the king's command into a harem as a potential wife for the king, Mordecai would daily walk before the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what would become of her (Esther 2:11).
Esther also experienced a sense of favor by God and the fruit of good choices. Her life was not riddled with only failure and loss. She had experienced some significant accomplishments.
Esther pleased Hegai, the custodian of the women of the harem and because of it, received the best location to stay within the harem (Esther 2:9). Then when Esther was called in to see the king, she took only what Hegai, the kings attendant had suggested. Esther had favor in the sight of all who saw her (Es. 2:15). As she was taken into King Ashasuerus, the king loved her. Es. 2:17 says, “And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the maidens, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.”
Married to the king, Esther was informed by her maids and attendants that the king had issued a decree that all the Jews in every providence, everywhere would be exterminated. There was great mourning among the Jews. Mordecai stood by the gate clothed with sackcloth. She was exceedingly grieved and distressed (Es. 4:5).
LivingWorks notes that anticipated or potential losses can be as significant as ones that have already happened. It is the stress around it that causes the pain. Often it is the loss or potential loss of something one treasures most that results in thoughts of suicide. [2]
While the stress of losing all her kin, including Mordecai her uncle, at the hands of the man she married could have been enough to push someone to an emotional reaction, withdrawal and inaction, escape to other distractions, or destructive behavior (to self or others), Esther kept her composure.
Her first reaction was to send Mordecai garments (Es. 4:4). More than likely she hoped that if he identified with the king in his garments rather than the Jews garments of mourning, both Mordecai and herself would be overlooked and spared.
Mordecai refused to accept the garments. Esther continued not make rash decisions or judgments. She called for one of the king's attendants out to talk to Mordecai to learn what and why this was (Es. 4:5). Mordecai sent the information about Haman promising to pay to the king's treasuries for all the Jews to be destroyed and sent a copy of the decree to Esther with his request that the queen plea with the king for the lives of her people (Es. 4:7-8).
Esther was afraid and initially responded by telling Mordecai that she could be put to death for approaching the king without being summoned by him (Es. 4:11). Mordecai, called her outside herself to see the possibilities and God's divine purposes in the midst of her affliction. He said to her, “And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?”
Esther then agreed, requesting that all the Jews fast and pray for her for three nights and days and that she would then go into the king. She noted, “and if I perish, I perish.” Esther was willing to take risks and step out beyond where she was comfortable, even in the midst of incredibly stressful and difficult circumstances. She was willing to risk her life for a greater cause of saving her people.
She had an uncle who loved her deeply. He saw God's greater divine purpose in all her difficulties and challenged her out into them. He not only loved her deeply, but pointed her towards God and His purposes. Support of family and/or friends has a tremendous impact on whether one is resilient to difficulties and stress.
Esther stood in the place of being loved by Mordecai. And as he challenged her, she was also learning that she could trust God's love and step out into this as well. She was coming into who she was as the beloved. As she was called out into his greater purposes in the midst of adversity, she was coming alive to who she was in God.
Going back to Job, when things first started going terribly wrong for him, even in losing his children, Job did not fall apart. Job did have some internal resilience to difficulty. However, after his health went, he could take no more. LivingWorks notes that the event (in this case the painful boils) may itself “appear as the precipitating factor that triggers suicidal behavior, but it most cases it is a 'last straw' building on many other background circumstances.” [3]
Job had experienced significant loss. In the midst of this, he had not fully gained an understanding of God's love for him. He had learned that he was loved because he got all the actions right. The favor of God was the direct result of his own righteousness before God. In being righteous in his own strength, he never learned that he could count on God in his weakness, loss and failure.
When difficulty came upon him, he felt that God was somehow punishing him unfairly and felt terrorized by God. Job said to God in Job 7:19-10, “How long will Your [plaguing] glance not look away from me, nor You let me alone till I swallow my spittle? If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done You, O You Watcher and Keeper of men?”
Job saw an angry and accusing God behind all his difficulties and troubles. Besides not understanding or receiving the love of God which is key to resilience, Job also failed to have a support network of people who could genuinely love him and support him in his pain.
His wife actually told him that he would be better off dead. Job 2:9 says, “Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your blameless uprightness? Renounce God and die!”
His friends, while they came to support him, also saw God the same way as Job. Originally when they came, they were a great comfort. They wept with him in his pain and sat with him for seven days not saying anything because “they saw that his grief and pain were very great.” (Job 2:13)
Getting in someone's 'bucket' of pain with them and being where they are at can be tremendously healing. People begin to feel cared for and loved. As someone else genuinely hears and understands our pain with a sense of empathy towards us, we begin to feel understood. Trust then begins to develop within our relationship and we can sometimes earn the right to speak into their life in the midst of their pain.
Beginning to feel comforted enough to speak, Job then began to open his mouth. He cursed the day he was born and began to pour out his misery and thoughts of suicide before them. Often when someone is in a great deal of pain, some of their words are an attempt to share where they are at. Words can be harsh, rash, and/or destructive towards self or others.
Job explains to his friends about his grief, “For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash and wild.” The bitterness and poison from the arrows that pierced him were being drank up by his spirit (Job 6:4).
Standing in the place of hearing's someone's pain in all their vulnerability and confusion is holy ground. Unfortunately, Job's friends were sorry comforters because they believed exactly what Job did, that God must be punishing Job for his sin. They could not see the love or grace of God for Job in his weakness and pain.
They could not call Job out to see any of God's divine purposes because they could not see it themselves. They were so much like Job, when everything broke, they wanted to prop him up, put a nice smile on his face and help him get it right this time.
But Job was just too exhausted and broken at this point to prop his actions up again. Job confronted them for this and told them they were not helping. In Job 6:21. He told them, “Now to me you are [like a dried-up brook]; you see my dismay and terror, and [believing me to be a victim of God's anger] you are afraid [to sympathize with me].”
They were uncomfortable with his pain so rather than empathize with him, they tried to fix him with a get your attitude and actions right band-aid. In Job 8:6 they told him, “Then, if you are pure and upright, surely He will bestir Himself for you and make your righteous dwelling prosperous again.”
Too often, people are blamed for their pain as it being their own fault. In some cases this may be true, however, in the midst of incredible pain, the last thing one needs to hear is an attitude of blame and judgment.
Job's friends also totally ignored the invitation that Job was giving to them to talk about his feelings of suicide. They were afraid to go there. Over and over, Job sent back out the invitation to talk about it.
In Job 6:8-9 he says, “Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!”
In Job 7:9 he says, “The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.”
In Job 7:16 he says, “I loathe my life.”
In Job 7:21 he says, “For now shall I lie down in the dust; and [even if] You will seek me diligently [it will be too late, for] I shall not be.”
In Job 10:1 he says, “I am weary of my life and loathe it! I will give free expression to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.”
And in Job 10:19 he says, “I should have been as though I had not existed; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.”
Over and over Job made reference to the grave and his death. Skipping ahead to Job 17:1, he continued to speak, "My spirit is broken, my days are spent (snuffed out); the grave is ready for me."
With all these statements that related to his death, not once did Job's friends pick up his invitation and turn to Job and ask him directly with respect and concern, “Are you thinking about committing suicide Job?”
Often people on both sides are afraid to bring up the topic directly. As if by speaking about it one will cause another to commit suicide. Even worse is when one's friends do not take them seriously in their hints and assume their just looking for attention.
This is how Job's friends took his invitation to talk about suicide – they failed to take him seriously and thought he was saying it to seek attention. They totally ignored the invitation to explore suicide and instead responded in judgment of his intentions.
His friend responded to the invitation Job gave in 7:21 by asking him, “How long will you say these things [Job]? And how long shall the words of your mouth be as a mighty wind?”
And in Job 11:2, in response to Job's invite to explore suicide in Job 10:19, Job's friend said, “Should your boastings and babble make men keep silent? And when you mock and scoff, shall no man make you ashamed?”
They not only ignored his invitation to explore suicide with him but scoffed him for it. Most often people are not dropping hints and invites to explore suicide because they just want attention. Most often they are in a great deal of pain.
LivingWorks notes, “Persons at risk often want to talk about their reasons for dying. After all, thoughts of suicide are the single, most important thing happening in their lives at the moment. Talking is almost always helpful. Talking involves thinking and thinking may lead to new ways of looking at things. When reasons for dying are put into words, emotions are released and their influence on how a person views events may lesson.” [4]
At the same time, people rarely ever say directly without being asked that they plan to commit suicide. There feels like almost an aching in one's pain, 'do you really care enough to ask?' Typically, people drop hints, giving invitations to explore with them what their thoughts may be on this.
However, when the 'hints' are dropped as they clearly were with Job, it is important to explore it and ask them directly. If someone feels you are afraid to ask, they will be afraid to talk about it directly with you. It stays a taboo topic.
While one cue in itself, such as a difficult loss, does not necessarily mean there is a need to explore suicide with the other person, often (as it was the case with Job) there will be multiple cues. When assessing the possibility that someone may be contemplating suicide and how serious they may be about it, one can consider the following cues:
1. Stressful and difficult circumstances and situations [5] (often involving loss). Having difficult circumstances can be a trigger for someone to seek escape through suicide. Job spoke to his friends in Job 3:25-26, “For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me. I was not or am not at ease, nor had I or have I rest, nor was I or am I quiet, yet trouble came and still comes upon me.”
2. Physical Health [6](especially where there is pain associated with it). One suffering in physical pain from a chronic disease or difficulty is more likely to contemplate suicide as a means of escape from their pain. In the case of Job, he struggled with very painful boils that had covered his whole body. He could not escape this pain. While maybe making him feel a little better in the short run, as he scraped his skin with a broken piece of pottery, I can imagine that it only made the problem worse.
3. Hope for the future is lost. Even when someone is enduring a great deal of pain, seeing a 'light at the end of the tunnel' where things will get better can make a tremendous difference. Job had lost his hope for the future being bright. He notes in Job 6:11, “What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient?” In Job 7:7 he says, “Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more.”
4. Physical Changes [7]. Loss of appetite, lack of pleasure /interest in things, difficulty sleeping, and physical fatigue are all signs that one might be suffering from severe depression and potentially contemplating suicide [8]. Job told his friends in Job 6:5-7 that he had lost his appetite for and interest in food. And in Job 7:3-4, he mentioned that he was not able to sleep. He said to his friends, “So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me. When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.”
5. Drastic changes in behaviors. It is common that one actually gains energy and begins to appear like things are going better for them when they have decided to commit suicide. What happens is that they are no longer wrestling with the confusion and pain of the problem but only focusing on the escape before them. In this, there is a release from the deep burdens and despair. Sometimes people may show unusual behaviors like wanting to say final words to people they care about, give away things that are of significant value to them, tie up final ends of finances or insurance, write letters, etc. They may even plan their own funeral during this time.
Besides looking at these significant cues LivingWorks outlines some additional items to consider in ones assessment of the situation:
(When I was young, for years I struggled with despair and thoughts of suicide. Often I would think about suicide at least 30 or more times in any given day. I interjected some of my own experiences with my despair at that time as examples where it seemed it may be helpful. I attempted suicide on a few occasions and had what I thought was a 'fail-safe' plan for my 18th birthday to end my life.
Fortunately, I had my son 40 days before my 18th birthday and it changed my whole life and perspective on living. Then when I became saved, God totally healed me from my struggles with despair. My life has been totally different since I found Christ and I couldn't imagine even thinking of suicide even once in a day.)
“Observe Behaviors” [9].
Crying and emotional outbursts [10] can hint that someone is going through a difficult situation that we need to inquire more about. As an example mentioned earlier, Job spoke out in his pain and his words were “rash and wild” due to his grief (Job 6:3).
And fighting [11] can provide a release for anger one doesn't know what to do with. While I picked fights with my father when I was young to protect my mother and sister because I could sense my father's anger was rising. In getting into a confrontation with my father, even though it could be painful, was also a release of some of the pain if that makes any sense.
Also, in difficulty and stressful circumstances, one may look for a way of escape. Sometimes that escape comes in the form of drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc, [12] as a distraction from the pain. However, when one does not see another way out, or perhaps has experienced additional losses as the result of trying to escape through other mechanisms, one sees suicide as a viable option.
When I was young, I would look to alcohol and drugs as a means of escape. It would help ease the pain and help me forget what was going on in my life for a period of time. Job had not turned to any of these mechanisms for escape. He kept pressing into his pain and inviting his friends into where he was at.
Recklessness or lawlessness [13] sometimes can demonstrate someone doesn't have a concern for the future and could potentially be contemplating suicide. For me, since I had determined I would commit suicide on my 18th birthday, getting good grades and accomplishments seemed irrelevant. I would frequently skip school to drink and play poker at my friends house. I had a complete lack of concern for my grades or attendance. And getting into trouble wasn't a big concern for me. I cared little for some black mark on 'my record.'
The rebellious, angry person who is in trouble with the law and excessively drinking is often viewed by society as someone who needs a strong hand of discipline and consequences for their behavior. However, what may really be underneath their acting out is a desire to die. In this case, strong future consequences rather than investigating and dealing with the underlying desire, may only quicken and solidify the person's process towards the end of suicide.[a]
Besides making poor choices and acting out in self or other directed destructive behaviors, high stress can cause some people to become immobilized with fear. They are afraid to act at all in the midst of their pain. Withdrawal or dropping out [14] can be a sign that there may be difficulty and give us a cue to inquire. For example, if someone quits their job and doesn't have a plan for how they are going to meet their financial needs, it may be a sign that they are planning their suicide.
Sometimes one can also just be sick frequently because they are struggling with staying engaged and don't want to get out of bed. When one is exhausted from difficulties, they may, in their feelings of defeat, just lay in bed not wanting to get up at all. Lack of self care and hygiene can also be a sign of difficulty and no longer caring.
Self harming behavior can also give an indication of what someone is thinking and potential suicide risk. Non-fatal suicidal behavior, according to the statistics is 40 to 100 times greater than the number of suicides [15]. While cutting, etc. does not necessarily mean that someone is feeling suicidal, it can be an indication of their self destructive thought patterns and ultimately lead to further and further self destructive behaviors.
For myself, one of the ways that I would act out in this way would be to drink myself to what would be considered lethal limits of intoxication. I would sometimes drink continually beyond my capacity with a destructive hope that I would not wake up again.
Statistics show that there are 5 to 25% more suicides that are not reported as suicides [17]. Often overdoses on drugs and alcohol and not reported suicides even though the person may very well have been thinking of suicide in their self-destructive behavior. Also, car crashes, etc. can appear like an ordinary 'accident' and have suicide intent.
Finally, prior attempts of suicide can be an indicator that they may be contemplating suicide again during difficulty. LivingWorks notes that the rate of suicide is 40% greater among those who have previously attempted suicide in the past. This is the greatest risk for a person within the first few months of a previous attempt. [16]
Often prior behavior and thought patterns can be a reflection of current behavior. If one has not learned new tools to deal with their pain and gain resilience, they are more likely to go back to the old patterns of behavior that they knew in the past when difficulty arises again.
Understand Thought [17] Processes.
Most of these were covered previously so I won't go into detail. Desiring to escape, hopelessness about the future, and feeling helpless are all cues of a lack of resilience [18]. A person who is suicidal may not see any way out. They do not know where to even start in helping themselves. They may feel totally stuck in their pain looking to others to somehow rescue them.
It can be helpful to understand a little of the person's history, environment growing up, etc. Sometimes, people who have struggled with despair for a long period of time may have had a series of failures and making wrong decisions. Or they may have a past history of someone rescuing them from their poor decisions so that they have never learned from it (someone's parents paying off the child's gambling debts for example). Or someone in their life making all their decisions for them rather than empowering them to make their own.
They may not have any past successes to look to and feel they are incapable to make a decision. Or they may have been criticized for their decisions resulting in them developing a fear around making their own decisions. In this state, they feel helpless and look to everyone else to make their decisions for them. Then they feel all the more dis-empowered to help themselves and blame the other person when it does not work.
Also, feeling alone [19], like no one cares can be a cue. When people lack a good support network, they are more likely to struggle with a lack of resilience in difficulty. Sometimes people feel like a burden to those around them. They think that in committing suicide that they are doing family and friends a favor. They don't see it as a selfish act because they feel that they are burdening those around them.
Job hinted that he felt like a burden in Job 7:20. He said to God, “Why have You set me as a mark for You, so that I am a burden to myself [and You]?”
Family and friends can sometimes become exhausted and feel drained over time in dealing with the person in their despair. They may even avoid the person struggling in pain at times feeling like it is the same story over and over again and that the person in pain does not seem to get free from. In taking themselves out, the person in despair may feel they are freeing up their family and friends to have a better quality life.
On the other hand, sometimes people can have fleeting thoughts of suicide and may not really be seriously thinking about it. When asked directly, they may say something like, 'I have thought about it on occasion but I would never do it.' 'I don't have the guts and my religious beliefs don't allow me to go there.' It doesn't mean that they are playing games or are not in a great deal of pain, but that there is an opportunity to strengthen their barriers that would keep them safe and give them tools for greater resilience.
Sometimes it helps to assess if a person has a plan to see how serious their thoughts have been about suicide. People who have taken the time and energy to create a plan for how they would go about killing themselves and possibly have even secured the means (obtained the pills, purchased the bullets for the gun, etc.) are much more likely to be in immediate risk of suicide moreso than someone who has not thought that far along.
Acknowledge and Validate Feelings
Feelings that may come up with someone who is contemplating suicide are: desperate, angry, sad, ashamed, worthless, lonely, disconnected, and/or hopeless [20]. I would also add despairing, afraid, numb, helpless, grieving, shame, sorry for self, victimized, condemnation, and/or guilt plus many others can be added to this list.
Job had spoke of many of these emotions. He said, “you see my dismay and terror...” (Job 6:21). And he said he was “bitterly disappointed.” (Job 6:20). He also noted that in this place he could not see or hear God, causing him more grief, confusion and loss.
People can be afraid to validate negative emotions because they think that somehow they are then agreeing with the person in their resolution that their situation is painful and their only option is suicide. They may try to convince the person the situation they are experiencing is really not that bad and they shouldn't feel that way. This only leaves the person in pain feeling guilty and ashamed for their emotions besides still feeling the pain.
As Job and his friends demonstrated, it only makes the situation worse to fail to validate the person in their emotions. It is not the problem from our perspective that matters but from their perspective. Their feelings of loss are based on what they see as important and treasure and not what we see as important and treasure. People's feelings in their pain are not 'wrong' and need to be dealt with.
By validating someone's emotions, you give them permission to feel. Once emotions are felt rather than stuffed, they can have freedom to release them. Acknowledging to Job that it must have been incredibly painful to lose his children and everything he owned while struggling with physical pain in the midst of it would have demonstrated understanding. Saying it must feel overwhelming and you could see why he would feel dismayed, bitterly disappointed, and completely confused could provide comfort to Job. It would have probably helped him to process where he was at. Once he began to process it, he may be able to begin to see more possibilities.
Sometimes it becomes difficult for the person to separate the problem from who they are (and also for others to separate the person from the problem). The person takes on the identity of the problem. They feel ashamed and guilty about it. They may feel a sense of condemnation and turn to self destructive behaviors as the solution. Thoughts of “I am worthless” may lead to thoughts of “I would be better off dead” and “the world would be a better place without me.”
Blame can also be an issue for some people. Blame can keep people stuck for longer periods of time in their difficulty because they are not taking responsibility for themselves or the things that they can change. Their total focus is on someone else who they cannot change and do not have control over. This just adds to their anger, frustration, justification for destructive thoughts, co-dependence, etc.
Job blamed God and could not hear his voice any longer or believe in his mercy. He says in Job 9:16, “If I called and He answered me, yet would I not believe that He listened to my voice. For He overwhelms and breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.”
While we cannot often control the stressors, being able to take personal responsibility for ones own actions and ownership for one's responses can help mobilize a person and give them resilience. Also, somehow seeing God's hand in one's difficulty, not as the cause of one's pain, but seeing his mercy and goodness towards us in the midst of our problem can lead to hope for the future.
Job was unable to see God with him in his difficulties. Job says in Job 9:11, “Behold, He goes by me, and I see Him not; He passes on also, but I perceive him not.”
Hope for the Future
When someone is a Christian, it does not mean that they will not experience difficult emotions such as despair, helplessness, or hopelessness, but it does mean that they have an ultimate hope for the future that they could possibly connect with to give them strength to get through their difficulty.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. “
I was reading a story of joy that was sent out by my church. One person had shared a story that six months after their son's death, they were sitting in a place of numbness and thick darkness. Then suddenly, for a moment they could hear birds chirping again and could see the sunset in the west. They had an experience of a “pure piercing of God's JOY in my innermost being.” While it only lasted a short moment, it gave them hope enough to know that some day they could feel joy again. They wrote, “This momentary gift give me hope for the future.” [22]
Helping someone find their hope for the future can be significant. LivingWorks notes that a person has reasons for living or else they likely would not be telling you of their thoughts of suicide. They may need help discovering the reasons. Once they have, even a small and insignificant reason can give a person a reason for living and save their life. They note, “Part of your job in this task is to help the person at risk express, identify, and confirm their reason(s) for living.”[23] [b]
Job was searching for a reason to live and just needed help finding it. He said to God, “Remember [earnestly], I beseech You, that You have fashioned me as clay [out of the same earth material, exquisitely and elaborately]. And will You bring me to dust gain?” (Job 10:9)
He couldn't seem to find or grab hold of the hope for the future. He seemed to be tumbling further and further down the river of hopelessness and despair with the current pulling him under as no one reached out a hand to help him out of the deep waters.
Job told his friends, “My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated; even the thoughts (desires and possessions) of my heart are broken off. These [thoughts] extend from the night into the day, [so that] the light is short because of darkness... Where then is my hope? And if I have no hope, who will see [its fulfillment]? [My hope] shall go down to the bars of Sheol (the unseen state) when once there is rest in the dust.” (Job 17:11-16)
When Elihu finally spoke up, he did not explore reasons for living with Job and get him to commit to a plan for his safety. However, he had heard Job out and stayed in the bucket of Job's pain with him until he could demonstrate that he understood Job. Elihu did not judge Job but genuinely listened to his pain and was in it with him. As a result, Elihu could get to the heart of the matter with Job. Elihu spoke directly to Job's heart in humility about his believing in his own self righteousness.
In doing this, Elihu opened up Job's heart to hear from God again. And it was in hearing from God again that Job found his purpose and reason for living. Job came to a place of knowing that he was loved by God and seeing him with a new light.
He said in Job 42:5, “I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eye sees You.”
Once a person has found some reason for living, they become willing to help in the process of coming up with a plan to keep them safe. This may include removing the means from their reach (such as throwing away pills) and obtaining further medical and emotional support. This may also include making an agreement to not harm themselves and coming up with a plan for what to do when they are in a painful situation again and learning new coping tools.
Coming back to what I noted earlier, when someone knows God loves them, they can endure tremendous difficulty and remain resilient. David had went through incredible difficulties leading him to despair but he knew who he was as the beloved of God. David came out of tremendous difficulties praising the Lord.
In 2 Samuel 22:2-8 David wrote, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior -from violent men you save me. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.”
2 Samuel 22:8, 17-18 David proclaims, “Then the earth reeled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens trembled and shook because He was angry... He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of great waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too might for me... He brought me forth into a large place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.”
Knowing that you are loved by God both can give someone the resilience they need to prevent them from ever coming to the place of despairing and contemplating suicide and it can also give someone hope for their future and they come to understand God's grace and mercy. And having hope for the future and a reason to live makes a significant difference in one's motivation and can change the course of their life.
Lord, We long to be more like Mordecai and Elihu. We long to love people into resilience, to see and call people out to a greater divine purpose, and to encourage and believe in people. We also long to genuinely hear and listen to those in pain with dignity and respect, understanding their stories, validating their emotions and calling them out into more. Teach us to truly “bear the sins and sorrows of others” [24] and love our brothers well. We long to be people who point others to God, in humility, helping them to hear from God for themselves. And helping them see and hold onto their hope for the future. Would you empower us and make us more like you.
a. For myself, the reason I was getting into trouble was to attract my father's attention away from my sister and mother. Anything my sister did wrong, I did ten times worse so that he didn't turn on her but me instead. I was drawing the negative attention away from her as a way to protect her.
For example, my sister would sometimes stay out too late with her friends and come home smelling like alcohol and cigarettes. As she started to get into more and more trouble for this, I went out and got drunk with my friends, was arrested for intoxication and thrown in jail (a holding cell) overnight. I then had to be picked up in the morning by my father. Her little bit of drinking, smoking and staying out late seemed like a minor infraction in comparison to my episodes of intoxication.
Because I was flunking school, skipping classes, and getting in trouble with the law for intoxication and other minor infractions, it accomplished what I wanted in that I drew my father's negative attention away from my sister's low grades and irresponsible behaviors. However, it also drew a great deal of discipline in my life. I was not going to be able to graduate or have a future career. I had more detention that I had years of classes to complete. Having no hope for a future solidified for me my thought process that suicide was my only option and way out.
b. Having become pregnant with my son, I suddenly looked at life differently. I had someone else I needed to protect and look out for. Giving my son up for adoption was not an option for me. Since I saw life from the perspective of my own experiences, I could only see adoption as giving my son into difficult situations with no one to protect him. When I became pregnant, I gave up drinking and smoking for the period of my pregnancy. And I started to see purpose, a reason for living. I suddenly had a future that became important and worth working towards.
I suddenly saw reasons to live and to finish school. I talked to the school and found out that if I went day and night to school and also over the summer, that I could catch some of it up. My school was incredibly gracious with me in my sudden turn around. This gave me incredible hope.
They let me count the night school for the detention I had accumulated. After doing well and working hard to make up as much of my classes as I could, they also released me early to graduate. I graduated only ½ year late from high school. Then when I went to college, I picked up what I lacked from my education.
1-21, 23. LivingWorks. Suicide Intervention Handbook. Living Works Education Inc, Calgary, Alberta. 2004. For more information on suicide intervention and promoting suicide-safer communities, see: www.livingworks.net
22. Church of The Open Door. Stories of Advent Joy. December 25th, 2011.
24. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of discipleship. The Image of Christ. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work..
“Now when [the Samaritans] the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles from the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. They came to Zerubbabel [now governor] and to the of the fathers' houses and said, Let us build with you, for we seek and worship your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses of Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.
Then [the Samaritans] the people of the land [continually] weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled and terrified them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose and plans all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius [II] king of Persia.
And in the reign of Ahasuerus [or Xerxes], in the beginning of his reign, [the Samaritans] wrote to him an accusation against the [returned] inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. Later, in the days of King Artaxes, Bishlam, Mirthredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia...
Then the king [Artaxerxes] sent an answer:... Therefore give a decree to make these men stop, that this city not be rebuilt, until a command is given by me... Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. It stopped until the second year of Darius [I] king of Persia.” (Ezra 4:1-7,17-24)
During Nehemiah building the wall, there was also significant frustration by the enemy in trying to get them to stop building. However, all attempts were unsuccessful to weaken their hands, discourage them, or slow them down.
Nehemiah 2:19-20 says, “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king? I answered them, The god of heaven will proper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you will have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”
Sanballet, Tobiah, and his friends mocked Nehemiah and the Jews for building. However, rather than becoming weakened and slowing down, Nehemiah 4:6 says, “So we built the wall, and all [of it] was joined together to half its height, for the people had a heart and mind to work.”
When they could not get the Israelites to slow down or weaken their efforts, Sanballet and others plotted to come and fight against Jerusalem, causing the Israelites harm and killing them. So Nehemiah set armed men behind the wall in the unprotected places as they built. (Nehemiah 4:8, 13)
The enemies plot was completely unsuccessful in slowing or stopping their efforts. Nehemiah 4:15 says, “And when our enemies heard that their plot was known to us and that God had frustrated their purpose, we all returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
Finally, Sanballat sent an open letter threatening to report them as rebels to the Persian King and requested that Nehemiah come and take counsel with them. Nehemiah refused to listen or be threatened. He replied that it was not true and then prayed to God, “now strengthen my hands!” (Nehemiah 6:8-9)
As a result, the wall was finished without being slowed down or the work stopped. Nehemiah 6:15 says, “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us feared and fell far in their own esteem, for they saw that this work was done by our God.”
In the case of Nehemiah, the efforts were unstoppable. God strengthened their hands and gave them the victory despite overwhelming obstacles. But in the case of building the temple with Zerubbabel, the efforts were slowed and the Israelites hands were weakened until work stopped.
God is sovereign and more than capable of bringing forth his plans. Psalm 33:11 says, But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
And God makes it clear that man can not stand in the way or delay His purposes from coming forth. Psalm 2 says,”Why do the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) and empty scheme? The kings of the earth take their places; the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ).
They say, Let us break Their bands [of restraint] asunder and cast Their cords [of control] from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision [and in supreme contempt He mocks them]. He speaks to them in His deep anger and troubles (terrifies and confounds) them in His displeasure and fury, saying,
Yet have I anointed (installed and placed) My King [firmly] on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree of the Lord; He said to Me, You are My Son; this day [I declare] I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like potters' ware. Now therefore, O you kings, act wisely; be instructed and warned, O you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverent awe and worshipful fear; rejoice and be in high spirits with trembling [lest you displease Him].
Kiss the Son [pay homage to Him in purity], lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for soon shall His wrath be kindled. O blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are all those who seek refjuge and put their trust ion Him!”
As these psalms make clear, God is more than capable of bringing his purposes forth. And it was in God's heart to both have the temple built and for the walls to be built. God divinely sent both Zerubbabel and Nehemiah to lead the Israelites in the work of building. While both the temple and the wall were eventually built, the temple was delayed and the walls were not.
So why were the plans frustrated and delayed with building the temple as a result of adversaries, but hands were strengthened and purposes fully accomplished in building the wall in the midst of adversity?
Commentary notes about building the temple that work had ceased because of discouragement for seventeen or eighteen years as a direct result of the Samaritans frustrating the efforts of the Israelites in building the temple. [1] The Samaritans were the people that the King of Assyria had brought to populate Samaria (2 Kings 17:24).
When they settled in the land, the settlers did not fear or revere the Lord. Therefore the Lord had sent lions among them that killed some of them. As a result, news went to the king that it was the result of the people not knowing about the God of the land.
So the king of Assyria sent one of the priests of Israel to teach the people about the laws of God and the manner of worship he required. (2 Kings 17:25-27) The people in the learned from the priest how to fear and revere the Lord. However, still they also held to and served their own gods from the land which they had been carried away (2 Kings 17:33).
While the Israelites were not to adopt the customs, intermarry with, or worship the gods of foreigners in the land, they were also not to reject foreigners who wanted to dwell with them and worship their God. Deuteronomy 10:19 says, “So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.”
And Leviticus 19:34 says, “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
In the case of building the temple, the Israelites rejected allowing the Samaritans to join them and refused to treat them as one of their own. The Samaritans had offered to help and told the Israelites that they did / would seek and worship the God of Israel (Ezra 4:2). However, the Israelites refused.
Rather than letting the Samaritans join in and teaching them to truly fear the Lord, the Israelites made it clear to them that they saw them as adversaries. The Samaritans only once rejected began to frustrate their efforts and become adversarial in return.
In the case of Nehemiah the building of the wall, however, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobaih the servant, the Ammonite were enemies from the start and had no intention of becoming God-fearing and learning the ways of the Israelites. Sanballat and his friends became exceedingly distressed when someone had came to inquire for the good of the Israelites. They immediately became angry and mocked Nehemiah's efforts.
In the book of Joshua, God used both success and defeat against ones enemies to affirm or, in His mercy, discipline the Israelites and get them to stop and check their heart motives. In Joshua 7, God had promised the Israelites that they would take the Promised land, but then when they went up against Ai, they were defeated and fled before them. As a result, the people's hearts melted and became as water (Joshua 7:1-5)
Joshua cried out to the Lord and the Lord responded in Joshua 7:11-12a, “Get up! Why do you lie upon your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. They have taken some of the things devoted [for destruction]; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own baggage. That is why the Israelites could not stand before their enemies, but fled before them.”
Perhaps the hands of the Israelites were weakened (rather than strengthened) when their enemies opposed them and they failed to build the temple in the face of opposition because God in His mercy wanted them to see that they had sinned. Their hearts were not right with the way they treated the Samaritans. God did not need people to build a physical temple for Him. He wanted children who would share in the works of His kingdom.
Patrick Wood writes, “In designing mankind, the Creator wasn't interested in crafting mindless droids or mechanical slaves, as if a labor force would suit His needs. What He desired were children who would freely share in the 'family business' of shaping the world we inhabit. In this sense, we are craftsmen at His side, 'created in Christ Jesus for good works' (Eph. 2:10).” [2]
It is not necessarily the 'works' themselves that God considers as being significant. So often we can get caught up in a task and, like the Israelites building the temple, we can entirely miss God's kingdom purposes right in front of us.
Patrick Wood writes that the key to doing a task isn't so much what you know but “Whom you know.” He goes on to note that what matters is our friendship “with the One who says, 'Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know' (Jer. 33:3).” [3]
He writes, “The word 'friendship' implies a bond of sharing in God's priorities that renders us trustworthy with His pearls. Friendship also implies conversation, or a desire for His guidance, which assumes our intention is to hear and obey. When this relationship becomes our lifestyle, we are positioned to embrace its relevance for all kinds of practical applications.” [4]
Too often, we (okay me here) look to God to help us to complete the task well rather than ask Him what His purpose is and enter into it. Like the Israelites building the temple, we think we know what He wants to accomplish, especially when it is ministry related.
As an example, once when I was at a prayer meeting where people were gathered together and praying in community, things did not flow together well. There was a person who seemed to come out of left field with their prayers and take everyone by surprise. Prayer became jumbled spurts with many silent moments. Because it was all over the place, you couldn't get any read on any themes God may be speaking or working.
It was easy to think that our purpose was to flow together well and feel like we had a 'productive' prayer session or heard something profound from God in all of it. In that, it would have been easy to become frustrated with the person who did not 'flow' with the rest of us, seeing them as counterproductive and desiring to exclude them. However, as a very wise woman once noted, what God is looking for is that we love each other well.
Throughout the Bible God makes it evident that what He is looking for is for a people who will love Him with their whole heart and love their neighbor as themselves. Galatians 5:14 says, “The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
Not once does God put something tangible as the measure of our kingdom investment. We are the ones who look to what we produce. Because what is produced is something tangible and measurable, it is where we put our focus rather than on the heart behind it.
Thomas a Kempis writes, “People are wont to ask how much a man has done, but they think little of the virtue with which he acts. They ask: Is he strong? Rich? Handsome? A good writer? A good singer? Or a good worker? They say little, however, about how poor he is in spirit, how patient and meek, how devout and spiritual. Nature looks to his outward appearance; grace turns to his inward being. The one often errs, the other trusts in God and is not deceived.” [5]
Thomas a Kempis writes, “Out of a pure heart come the fruits of a good life.” it is the love in our heart as we enter into the kingdom purposes of God rather than the actual tasks we do that really matter to God. [6]
Mother Theresa once noted, “We cannot do great things on this earth, only small things with great love.”
Solomon is an example of someone who, by the world's standards, did 'great things' on earth. He made silver as common as stones (1 Ki. 10:27). He built a huge empire and his fame went throughout the world. However, he did it by oppressing the people (2 Chron. 10:10-11).
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, “The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.
If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], through he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.”
Brother Lawrence is an example of someone who did not accomplish any great things with his life. He did not have a big ministry or even run an orphanage. If I remember right, he worked in a kitchen and later repaired shoes. Yet, in all that he put his hands to, he made it a priority to do it with great love.
It was written about him, “Brother Lawrence's only means of going to God was to do everything for the love of Him. He was therefore indifferent about what he did. All that mattered was that he did it for God. It was He, and not the activity that he considered.” [7]
It was noted about him, “He thought it was a shame that some people pursued certain activities (which, he noted, they did rather imperfectly due to human shortcomings), mistaking the means for the end. He said that our sanctification does not depend as much on changing our activities as it does on doing them for God rather than for ourselves.” [8]
While everyone else scurried around dissatisfied while trying to accomplish great things for God, Brother Lawrence lived a simple life that was full of God and full of contentment. Brother Lawrence chose the best part of life. He delighted in the Lord. He would experience a torrent of God's love, constant inner joy, and was even taken up to heaven on occasion.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:6 (NLT), “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.”
When we set our hearts on accomplishing something (results) rather than on God, we are not fully present to the moment. Setting our hearts on God and being fully present to Him, allows us to see the moment from his perspective. We can connect to His Kingdom purposes rather than our own goals of accomplishment.
Many years ago when I was a new Christian, I wrote a poem that still resonates with me as what God is speaking to me today about being present to Him in the moment. Below is a small excerpt from it:
Our (speaking of me here) goals of accomplishment are based upon our desires for success rather than God's desires. We want to look good to others and be considered successful in our own eyes as well as other people's eyes.
Francis Chan notes that on an average day, we live caught up in ourselves rather than God. We forget that our lives are a vapor. We let worry and stress fill our days rather than delighting in God. He mentions that some people waste their lives and miss what this life is about. He later mentions that when we face God, our reputation and compliments will not matter. [9]
He writes, “The church in Sardis had a great reputation, but it didn't matter. Jesus said to them, 'I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead' (Rev. 3:1). All that matters is the reality of who we are before God.” [10]
This does not mean that we should never do anything. James asks (2:14), “What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?”
Our works matter. Ephesians 2:10 says, “for we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made read for us to live].”
However, our works need to flow from our relationship with Christ. Francis Chan writes, “My existence was not random, nor was it an accident. God knew who He was creating, and He designed me for a specific work. He goes on to note that because we were created for this work and God has been with us from the start, He knew us before we ever existed, we need not fear failure. We do not need to worry about not meeting of living up to His expectations. He writes, “God will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine.” [11]
Coming back to what I originally noted, it is not the 'works' that are significant on their own but our heart towards God and relationship with Him in doing them that matter. When we come before God on that day, he will not rank us in order of the significance of the work that we did on the earth. This is the world's perspective not a kingdom perspective.
Jesus says in Matthew 19:28-30, “Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, in the new age (the Messianic rebirth of the world), when the Son of Man shall sit down on the throne of His glory, you who have [become My disciples, sided with My party and] followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And anyone and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My name's sake will receive many [even a hundred] times more and will inherit eternal life. But many who [now] are first will be last [then], and many who [now] are last will be first [then].”
The fruit of our labors will be evident in that day. When we look back on our lives and the value of it in that day, we will fully realize that where we had invested in loving God and loving others, it really mattered. Whatever we did for the least, we did onto Him (Matthew 25:40). And where we invested in building accomplishments or success like Solomon in his later days, it really didn't matter.
Lord, forgive me where I have had the wrong priorities. Forgive me where I thought I was doing something worthwhile when I was accomplishing results rather than looking to Your greater kingdom purposes in the moment. We long to spend our time on the things that matter. Help us to live fully present to You in the moment. And where we get focused on the task in front of us, remind us to look up. Let our moments be filled with Your presence and joy.
1. Commentary. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
2-4. Wood, Patrick. Co-laboring with God. In Touch Monthly Magazine. pg. 15-17. January 2012.
5-6. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York. 2003.
7-8. Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God. Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA. 1982.
9-11. Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. David C. Cook Distributions, Colorado Springs, CO. 2008.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses of Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.
Then [the Samaritans] the people of the land [continually] weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled and terrified them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose and plans all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius [II] king of Persia.
And in the reign of Ahasuerus [or Xerxes], in the beginning of his reign, [the Samaritans] wrote to him an accusation against the [returned] inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. Later, in the days of King Artaxes, Bishlam, Mirthredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia...
Then the king [Artaxerxes] sent an answer:... Therefore give a decree to make these men stop, that this city not be rebuilt, until a command is given by me... Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. It stopped until the second year of Darius [I] king of Persia.” (Ezra 4:1-7,17-24)
During Nehemiah building the wall, there was also significant frustration by the enemy in trying to get them to stop building. However, all attempts were unsuccessful to weaken their hands, discourage them, or slow them down.
Nehemiah 2:19-20 says, “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king? I answered them, The god of heaven will proper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you will have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”
Sanballet, Tobiah, and his friends mocked Nehemiah and the Jews for building. However, rather than becoming weakened and slowing down, Nehemiah 4:6 says, “So we built the wall, and all [of it] was joined together to half its height, for the people had a heart and mind to work.”
When they could not get the Israelites to slow down or weaken their efforts, Sanballet and others plotted to come and fight against Jerusalem, causing the Israelites harm and killing them. So Nehemiah set armed men behind the wall in the unprotected places as they built. (Nehemiah 4:8, 13)
The enemies plot was completely unsuccessful in slowing or stopping their efforts. Nehemiah 4:15 says, “And when our enemies heard that their plot was known to us and that God had frustrated their purpose, we all returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
Finally, Sanballat sent an open letter threatening to report them as rebels to the Persian King and requested that Nehemiah come and take counsel with them. Nehemiah refused to listen or be threatened. He replied that it was not true and then prayed to God, “now strengthen my hands!” (Nehemiah 6:8-9)
As a result, the wall was finished without being slowed down or the work stopped. Nehemiah 6:15 says, “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us feared and fell far in their own esteem, for they saw that this work was done by our God.”
In the case of Nehemiah, the efforts were unstoppable. God strengthened their hands and gave them the victory despite overwhelming obstacles. But in the case of building the temple with Zerubbabel, the efforts were slowed and the Israelites hands were weakened until work stopped.
God is sovereign and more than capable of bringing forth his plans. Psalm 33:11 says, But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
And God makes it clear that man can not stand in the way or delay His purposes from coming forth. Psalm 2 says,”Why do the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) and empty scheme? The kings of the earth take their places; the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ).
They say, Let us break Their bands [of restraint] asunder and cast Their cords [of control] from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision [and in supreme contempt He mocks them]. He speaks to them in His deep anger and troubles (terrifies and confounds) them in His displeasure and fury, saying,
Yet have I anointed (installed and placed) My King [firmly] on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree of the Lord; He said to Me, You are My Son; this day [I declare] I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like potters' ware. Now therefore, O you kings, act wisely; be instructed and warned, O you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverent awe and worshipful fear; rejoice and be in high spirits with trembling [lest you displease Him].
Kiss the Son [pay homage to Him in purity], lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for soon shall His wrath be kindled. O blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are all those who seek refjuge and put their trust ion Him!”
As these psalms make clear, God is more than capable of bringing his purposes forth. And it was in God's heart to both have the temple built and for the walls to be built. God divinely sent both Zerubbabel and Nehemiah to lead the Israelites in the work of building. While both the temple and the wall were eventually built, the temple was delayed and the walls were not.
So why were the plans frustrated and delayed with building the temple as a result of adversaries, but hands were strengthened and purposes fully accomplished in building the wall in the midst of adversity?
Commentary notes about building the temple that work had ceased because of discouragement for seventeen or eighteen years as a direct result of the Samaritans frustrating the efforts of the Israelites in building the temple. [1] The Samaritans were the people that the King of Assyria had brought to populate Samaria (2 Kings 17:24).
When they settled in the land, the settlers did not fear or revere the Lord. Therefore the Lord had sent lions among them that killed some of them. As a result, news went to the king that it was the result of the people not knowing about the God of the land.
So the king of Assyria sent one of the priests of Israel to teach the people about the laws of God and the manner of worship he required. (2 Kings 17:25-27) The people in the learned from the priest how to fear and revere the Lord. However, still they also held to and served their own gods from the land which they had been carried away (2 Kings 17:33).
While the Israelites were not to adopt the customs, intermarry with, or worship the gods of foreigners in the land, they were also not to reject foreigners who wanted to dwell with them and worship their God. Deuteronomy 10:19 says, “So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.”
And Leviticus 19:34 says, “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
In the case of building the temple, the Israelites rejected allowing the Samaritans to join them and refused to treat them as one of their own. The Samaritans had offered to help and told the Israelites that they did / would seek and worship the God of Israel (Ezra 4:2). However, the Israelites refused.
Rather than letting the Samaritans join in and teaching them to truly fear the Lord, the Israelites made it clear to them that they saw them as adversaries. The Samaritans only once rejected began to frustrate their efforts and become adversarial in return.
In the case of Nehemiah the building of the wall, however, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobaih the servant, the Ammonite were enemies from the start and had no intention of becoming God-fearing and learning the ways of the Israelites. Sanballat and his friends became exceedingly distressed when someone had came to inquire for the good of the Israelites. They immediately became angry and mocked Nehemiah's efforts.
In the book of Joshua, God used both success and defeat against ones enemies to affirm or, in His mercy, discipline the Israelites and get them to stop and check their heart motives. In Joshua 7, God had promised the Israelites that they would take the Promised land, but then when they went up against Ai, they were defeated and fled before them. As a result, the people's hearts melted and became as water (Joshua 7:1-5)
Joshua cried out to the Lord and the Lord responded in Joshua 7:11-12a, “Get up! Why do you lie upon your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. They have taken some of the things devoted [for destruction]; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own baggage. That is why the Israelites could not stand before their enemies, but fled before them.”
Perhaps the hands of the Israelites were weakened (rather than strengthened) when their enemies opposed them and they failed to build the temple in the face of opposition because God in His mercy wanted them to see that they had sinned. Their hearts were not right with the way they treated the Samaritans. God did not need people to build a physical temple for Him. He wanted children who would share in the works of His kingdom.
Patrick Wood writes, “In designing mankind, the Creator wasn't interested in crafting mindless droids or mechanical slaves, as if a labor force would suit His needs. What He desired were children who would freely share in the 'family business' of shaping the world we inhabit. In this sense, we are craftsmen at His side, 'created in Christ Jesus for good works' (Eph. 2:10).” [2]
It is not necessarily the 'works' themselves that God considers as being significant. So often we can get caught up in a task and, like the Israelites building the temple, we can entirely miss God's kingdom purposes right in front of us.
Patrick Wood writes that the key to doing a task isn't so much what you know but “Whom you know.” He goes on to note that what matters is our friendship “with the One who says, 'Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know' (Jer. 33:3).” [3]
He writes, “The word 'friendship' implies a bond of sharing in God's priorities that renders us trustworthy with His pearls. Friendship also implies conversation, or a desire for His guidance, which assumes our intention is to hear and obey. When this relationship becomes our lifestyle, we are positioned to embrace its relevance for all kinds of practical applications.” [4]
Too often, we (okay me here) look to God to help us to complete the task well rather than ask Him what His purpose is and enter into it. Like the Israelites building the temple, we think we know what He wants to accomplish, especially when it is ministry related.
As an example, once when I was at a prayer meeting where people were gathered together and praying in community, things did not flow together well. There was a person who seemed to come out of left field with their prayers and take everyone by surprise. Prayer became jumbled spurts with many silent moments. Because it was all over the place, you couldn't get any read on any themes God may be speaking or working.
It was easy to think that our purpose was to flow together well and feel like we had a 'productive' prayer session or heard something profound from God in all of it. In that, it would have been easy to become frustrated with the person who did not 'flow' with the rest of us, seeing them as counterproductive and desiring to exclude them. However, as a very wise woman once noted, what God is looking for is that we love each other well.
Throughout the Bible God makes it evident that what He is looking for is for a people who will love Him with their whole heart and love their neighbor as themselves. Galatians 5:14 says, “The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
Not once does God put something tangible as the measure of our kingdom investment. We are the ones who look to what we produce. Because what is produced is something tangible and measurable, it is where we put our focus rather than on the heart behind it.
Thomas a Kempis writes, “People are wont to ask how much a man has done, but they think little of the virtue with which he acts. They ask: Is he strong? Rich? Handsome? A good writer? A good singer? Or a good worker? They say little, however, about how poor he is in spirit, how patient and meek, how devout and spiritual. Nature looks to his outward appearance; grace turns to his inward being. The one often errs, the other trusts in God and is not deceived.” [5]
Thomas a Kempis writes, “Out of a pure heart come the fruits of a good life.” it is the love in our heart as we enter into the kingdom purposes of God rather than the actual tasks we do that really matter to God. [6]
Mother Theresa once noted, “We cannot do great things on this earth, only small things with great love.”
Solomon is an example of someone who, by the world's standards, did 'great things' on earth. He made silver as common as stones (1 Ki. 10:27). He built a huge empire and his fame went throughout the world. However, he did it by oppressing the people (2 Chron. 10:10-11).
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, “The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.
If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], through he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.”
Brother Lawrence is an example of someone who did not accomplish any great things with his life. He did not have a big ministry or even run an orphanage. If I remember right, he worked in a kitchen and later repaired shoes. Yet, in all that he put his hands to, he made it a priority to do it with great love.
It was written about him, “Brother Lawrence's only means of going to God was to do everything for the love of Him. He was therefore indifferent about what he did. All that mattered was that he did it for God. It was He, and not the activity that he considered.” [7]
It was noted about him, “He thought it was a shame that some people pursued certain activities (which, he noted, they did rather imperfectly due to human shortcomings), mistaking the means for the end. He said that our sanctification does not depend as much on changing our activities as it does on doing them for God rather than for ourselves.” [8]
While everyone else scurried around dissatisfied while trying to accomplish great things for God, Brother Lawrence lived a simple life that was full of God and full of contentment. Brother Lawrence chose the best part of life. He delighted in the Lord. He would experience a torrent of God's love, constant inner joy, and was even taken up to heaven on occasion.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:6 (NLT), “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.”
When we set our hearts on accomplishing something (results) rather than on God, we are not fully present to the moment. Setting our hearts on God and being fully present to Him, allows us to see the moment from his perspective. We can connect to His Kingdom purposes rather than our own goals of accomplishment.
Many years ago when I was a new Christian, I wrote a poem that still resonates with me as what God is speaking to me today about being present to Him in the moment. Below is a small excerpt from it:
On great accomplishments, your heart do not set,
And over past failures, no longer fret.
Make each choice as it comes your way,
To show your love, listen and obey.
There is a place for you at the center of my heart,
Of my love, you never part.
To my will, fully give your all,
And into my hands, let your heart fall.
Our (speaking of me here) goals of accomplishment are based upon our desires for success rather than God's desires. We want to look good to others and be considered successful in our own eyes as well as other people's eyes.
Francis Chan notes that on an average day, we live caught up in ourselves rather than God. We forget that our lives are a vapor. We let worry and stress fill our days rather than delighting in God. He mentions that some people waste their lives and miss what this life is about. He later mentions that when we face God, our reputation and compliments will not matter. [9]
He writes, “The church in Sardis had a great reputation, but it didn't matter. Jesus said to them, 'I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead' (Rev. 3:1). All that matters is the reality of who we are before God.” [10]
This does not mean that we should never do anything. James asks (2:14), “What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?”
Our works matter. Ephesians 2:10 says, “for we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made read for us to live].”
However, our works need to flow from our relationship with Christ. Francis Chan writes, “My existence was not random, nor was it an accident. God knew who He was creating, and He designed me for a specific work. He goes on to note that because we were created for this work and God has been with us from the start, He knew us before we ever existed, we need not fear failure. We do not need to worry about not meeting of living up to His expectations. He writes, “God will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine.” [11]
Coming back to what I originally noted, it is not the 'works' that are significant on their own but our heart towards God and relationship with Him in doing them that matter. When we come before God on that day, he will not rank us in order of the significance of the work that we did on the earth. This is the world's perspective not a kingdom perspective.
Jesus says in Matthew 19:28-30, “Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, in the new age (the Messianic rebirth of the world), when the Son of Man shall sit down on the throne of His glory, you who have [become My disciples, sided with My party and] followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And anyone and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My name's sake will receive many [even a hundred] times more and will inherit eternal life. But many who [now] are first will be last [then], and many who [now] are last will be first [then].”
The fruit of our labors will be evident in that day. When we look back on our lives and the value of it in that day, we will fully realize that where we had invested in loving God and loving others, it really mattered. Whatever we did for the least, we did onto Him (Matthew 25:40). And where we invested in building accomplishments or success like Solomon in his later days, it really didn't matter.
Lord, forgive me where I have had the wrong priorities. Forgive me where I thought I was doing something worthwhile when I was accomplishing results rather than looking to Your greater kingdom purposes in the moment. We long to spend our time on the things that matter. Help us to live fully present to You in the moment. And where we get focused on the task in front of us, remind us to look up. Let our moments be filled with Your presence and joy.
1. Commentary. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
2-4. Wood, Patrick. Co-laboring with God. In Touch Monthly Magazine. pg. 15-17. January 2012.
5-6. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York. 2003.
7-8. Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God. Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA. 1982.
9-11. Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. David C. Cook Distributions, Colorado Springs, CO. 2008.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
"Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long."
“Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. He said, Hearken, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehospaphat. The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
Tomorrow go down to them. Behold, they will come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in this battle; taek your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping Him. And some Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Here me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper.
When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self-] slaughtered;
For [suspecting betrayal] the men of Ammon and Moab rose against those of Mount Seir, utterly destroying them. And when they had made an end of the men of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. And when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked at the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped!” (2 Chronicles 20:14-24)
“In my life be lifted high, in my world be lifted high, in my love be lifted high”
In another battle [Judah at war with Israel] 2 Chronicles 13:15 says, “Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.”
“Your glory goes beyond all fame” sings in the background.
And a story that everyone is familiar with, in Joshua 6:1-21, “the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the Lord and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.” On the seventh day they marched around the city seven times , and on the seventh time, Joshua proclaimed, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.”
“Well above all my purpose remains the art of losing myself in giving you praise”
In Psalm 47, the sons of Korah proclaim, “O clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy! For the Lord Most High excites terror, awe, and dread; He is a great King over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the glory and pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah
God has ascended amid shouting, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding.
God reigns over the nations; God sits upon His holy throne. The princes and nobles of the peoples are gathered together, a [united] people for the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.”
“Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, For our God Reigns!” sings
Commentary notes about the victory in 2 Chronicles 20, “Praise the Lord. The battle was won by the singers, standing in the most dangerous place of all—between two armies. But they sang the Lord’s praises and routed the enemy. The choir praised God after God gave the word (v. 19), before the battle (v. 21), and after the victory (vv. 26–28), a good pattern for us to follow in our praise.
In Hebrew, Berachah means “blessing” (v. 26). Even a valley can become a place of blessing if we learn how to praise the Lord. 'Prayer changes things' is a familiar saying that is certainly true. But it is also true that 'praise changes things.' Why? Because true praise changes people, and God can work in and through people who praise Him. True praise involves faith, hope, and love, the strongest weapons in the Christian armory.” [1]
David proclaims in 1 Chronicles 16:23, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; show forth from day to day His salvation. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He also is to be [reverently] feared above all so-called gods. For all the gods of the people are [lifeless] idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [round] in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and in holy array.
Tremble and reverently fear before Him, all the earth's peoples; the world also shall be established, so it cannot be moved. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigns! Let the sea roar, and all the things that fill it; let the fields rejoice, and all that is in them.
Then shall the trees of the wood sing out for joy before the Lord, for He comes to judge and govern the earth. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever!
“The time has come to stand for all we believe in, so I for one am gonna give my praise to You... in everything I do, Yeah, all the praise goes out to You.”
Paul says in Ephesians 5:19-20, “Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [and instruments] and making melody with all your heart to the Lord, at all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”
“Let justice and praise become my embrace, to love you from the inside out” sings.
The Psalms are filled with praise for God. Praising God and singing to Him out of joy and thanksgiving are to be a regular part of our lives. Psalm 33:1-3 says, “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud and joyful sound."
Once commentary notes, “Our praise toward God is the means by which we express our joy to the Lord. We are to praise God both for who He is and for what He does (Ps. 150:2). Praising God for who He is is called adoration; praising Him for what He does is known as thanksgiving... The godly person will echo David’s words, “My praise shall be continually of You . . . And [I] will praise You yet more and more” (Ps. 71:6, 14).” [2]
The Hayfield Bible Handbook notes about praise, “Man was created to live and breathe in an atmosphere of praise-filled worship to His Creator. The avenue of sustained inflow of divine power was to be kept by the sustained outflow of joyous and humble praise to his Maker.... Such a walk of praise-filled openness to Him will cultivate deep devotion, faithful obedience, and constant joy.” [3]
According to this source, there are several important considerations in praise:
There is power in the unity of praise (2 Chr. 5:13). [4] 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 says, “And when the trumpeters and singers were joined in unison, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments for song and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
Praise births the victory (2 Chr. 20:15-22) [5] and causes ones enemies to be dispelled. Psalm 18:3 says, I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” As noted previously, some of the greatest victories in the bible came as a result of praise. It prepares the way for the Lord to accomplish His divine purposes.
David proclaims in Psalm 68:1-4 says, “God is [already] beginning to arise, and His enemies to scatter; let them also who hate Him flee before Him! As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before the presence of God. But let the [uncompromisingly] righteous be glad; let them be in high spirits and glory before God, yes, let them [jubilantly] rejoice! Sing to God, sing praises to His name, cast up a highway for Him Who rides through the deserts -His name is the Lord -be in high spirits and glory before Him!”
And Psalm 66:1-5 proclaims, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth; sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious! Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You... All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah.
Praise pushes back the advancement of darkness (Ps. 7:14-17). As the Hayford Bible Handbook notes, praise is the answer when we are tempted by inequity or if someone sins against us. [7] In our praise, God will make a covering over us and defend us against our enemy.
Psalm 5:11 says, “But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy, because You make a covering over them and defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You and be in high spirits.”
Praise turns our hearts toward God and turns us away from our sins and idolatry. Psalm 67:3 says, "Let the peoples praise You [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God..." Praise will “bring the glorious presence of Jesus, driving out the desire to identify with the sinful act/or thought... Praise draws our attention to who He is rather than the circumstances we are in.” [8]
Praise ushers into God’s presence (Ps. 22:3-4). Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise!” The Hayfield Bible Handbook writes, “Unquestionably, one of the most remarkable and exciting things about honest and sincere praise is taught here: Praise will bring the presence of God. Although God is everywhere present, there is a distinct manifestation of His rule, which enters the environment of praise.” [9]
Psalm 22:3 proclaims, “But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.”
“Show me your glory, send down Your glory, I want to see Your face” sings in the background.
Praise brings a deep sense of satisfaction [10] and contentment (Ps. 63:1-5). Psalm 63:3, 5 says, “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My whole being shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips...”
Praise is not dependent upon our circumstances. Habakkuk proclaims in 3:16-17, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Praise is also an act of the will.[11] “It is not merely an exuberance overflowing with words, but a self-induced declaration of thanksgiving—a sacrifice. The praiser chooses to praise.”
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.”
Praise and thanksgiving is an offering we give to God. Psalm 50:23 says, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."
Praise has power. It frees the people from bondage and opens the prison doors, setting all the captives free (Acts 16:25-26). The Hayfield Bible Handbook notes about this, “Study this example of the power of praise, even in difficult circumstances. Beaten and imprisoned, Paul and Silas respond by singing a hymn of praise—a song sung directly from the heart to God. The relationship between their song of praise and their supernatural deliverance through the earthquake cannot be overlooked. Praise directed toward God can shake open prison doors! A man was converted, his household saved, and satanic captivity overthrown in Philippi. Today, as well, praise will cause every chain of bondage to drop away. When you are serving God and things do not go the way you planned, learn from this text. Praise triumphs gloriously!” [12]
We are to teach our children to praise God. Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall laud Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts.” They Hayfield Bible Handbook notes, “We must not merely “suppose” that children will grow up and desire God. We must be careful. Whatever we possess of God’s blessing and revelation can be lost in one generation. We must consistently praise Him and we must also teach (by example, as well as by words), so our children and our children’s children will do the same.” [13]
Sean Feucht sings, “You are good, Your love it knows no end” in the background.[a]
Praise is similar to prophesy in that it proclaims the victory and points one to what God is doing rather than focusing on one's circumstances. The Psalms are filled with both praise and prophesy. They often proclaim the victory in light of difficult circumstances.
Psalm 22:19-22 says, “But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me! Deliver my life from the sword... Save me from the lion's mouth... I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You.”
The Hayfield Bible Handbook writes, “Praise Releases the Spirit of Prophecy.... As we joyfully sing praise to our God, Christ comes to flood our minds with the glory of the Father’s character (“name”). There is no doubt about it—the praises of the people in the church service release the spirit of prophetic revelation—the magnifying of God through Jesus Christ. Thus, praise introduces edification, exhortation, and comfort to bless the whole body.”[14]
As we listen to the news and voices of the world, it prophesies fear and disaster at every turn. If we are not teaching our children to praise God, the world will teach our children to fear and worry.
Sean Feucht in his book, “Fire & Fragrance” notes, “many of us have allowed the voice of the liberal media and secular society to infiltrate our minds, homes, families and churches for too long. These worldly voices have been used to prophesy discouragement, strife, recession, fear, and panic while the Church was meant to set the tone with a clarion sound of life!” [15]
Sean writes, “Anyone who can read has plenty of reasons to be discouraged with sliding morals, demonic laws, and increasingly humanistic ideals celebrated worldwide. However, it takes a totally different kind of person, operating in a different perspective, bringing a different reality, to see all of this and yet live with a constant, confident hope that the Kingdom of God will not be stopped, and despite the headlines of the media, He is winning!” [16]
He goes on to write later, “It is interesting to me that when we are living in times of struggle, lack and disappointment, the Bible points to one acceptable and appropriate response: SING!” [17]
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the world will become strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace” sings.
Corporate praise brings the victory as it releases God's provision and pushes back the darkness. At one event, as Sean was corporately releasing worship, praise and prophetic proclamation in the atmosphere, he encouraged those who were struggling with the heaviness of the world on them to sing and praise. Sean noted that the breath of God was releasing life back into these broken people and they were literally 'coming alive.' He wrote, “Hope, dreams, life, faith, and fresh energy were restored as this sound went forth....” [18]
He goes on to write, “When we release this sound of life, faith, and hope from our mouths, we can actually prophesy ourselves, our families, cities, and nations into a new season of fullness and restoration! Is that not incredible to comprehend? What a beautiful truth of this new prophetic sound God is restoring on our lips!” [19]
“I wanna sing a song for You, I wanna sing a song” sings in the background.
In corporately praising God, we can 'build an altar' to Him where He is glorified that releases a 'fragrance' that is pleasing to Him as it burns. Sean Feucht writes that the sound of worship is the fragrance that releases the sound of life, hope, restoration and salvation. [20]
He goes onto note, “Worship prepares the way!” As God is lifted up on the altar of our hearts and we release declarations of praise, it changes the very atmosphere. He talks about an experience where worship shifted the climate from fear to love, sorrow to joy, and anxiety to peace. He writes, “The atmosphere of worship and prayer cultivated space for the kiss of Heaven to reach broken humanity. People were radically and immediately healed from disease, pain, and sickness!” [21]
He notes that the largest global harvest in history will come on the heals of praise and the sounds of love and adoration coming from his blazing bride. He refers to Psalm 67:5-7,
Sean writes about this movement, “This movement of the power of His Presence arising across the nations of the earth is far more than just a cool new religious or flashy form of godliness lacking true power. But we are literally coming together as the 'living stones' referred to in First Peter 2:5 to build a dwelling for the presence of God. It is not a new ritual, fad, or some slick structure. Our lovesick worship and pursuit is creating a hotbed for the raw presence of God as He is 'enthroned in the praises' of His people according to Psalm 22:3. From the establishment of His throne in our midst, genuine transformational power is made available to a broken humanity.” [23]
He goes on to note, “A dying world does not need our fancy buildings and programs. It needs to experience a life-altering encounter where people are marked by the glory of His Presence resting among them! As the world's citizens continue their quest to fill the ache in their hearts, we have the incredible privilege to host Him -the One who heals the heartaches -in our midst.” [24]
Sean speaks of corporate praise and worship not only only ushering in God's presence powerfully, but bringing forth true revival to the land. Sean speaks of a time where as God was lifted up, the Kingdom came to a Red Light District. In the most barren of streets, justice came pouring forth.[25]
“May Your wonders never cease” sings.
Lord, you amaze me! I do want to sing a song for You of praise. Teach us how to praise You in the midst of our difficulties and struggles. You are worthy of all praise. Too often we praise you with our lips but not enough with our hearts. As the clock was reading 3:33 as soon as I started pressing into this, I feel like it is something you have for your body in this season. Would you lift us to that place of genuine praise. May it be a pleasing fragrance to you. Let altars of praise, prayer and worship be built to you everywhere. We long to see your justice come forth on earth as it is in heaven.
1. Wiersbe, Warren W.: With the Word Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1991, S. 2 Ch 20:1
2. Youngblood, Ronald F. ; Bruce, F. F. ; Harrison, R. K. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1995
3-14. Hayford, Jack W. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Hayford's Bible Handbook. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995
15-25. Feucht, Sean and Byrd, Andy. Fire & Fragrance: From The Great Commandment to The Great Commission. Destiny Image Publishers, Inc. Shippensburg, PA. 2010.
Tomorrow go down to them. Behold, they will come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in this battle; taek your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping Him. And some Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Here me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper.
When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self-] slaughtered;
For [suspecting betrayal] the men of Ammon and Moab rose against those of Mount Seir, utterly destroying them. And when they had made an end of the men of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. And when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked at the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped!” (2 Chronicles 20:14-24)
“In my life be lifted high, in my world be lifted high, in my love be lifted high”
In another battle [Judah at war with Israel] 2 Chronicles 13:15 says, “Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.”
“Your glory goes beyond all fame” sings in the background.
And a story that everyone is familiar with, in Joshua 6:1-21, “the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the Lord and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.” On the seventh day they marched around the city seven times , and on the seventh time, Joshua proclaimed, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.”
“Well above all my purpose remains the art of losing myself in giving you praise”
In Psalm 47, the sons of Korah proclaim, “O clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy! For the Lord Most High excites terror, awe, and dread; He is a great King over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the glory and pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah
God has ascended amid shouting, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding.
God reigns over the nations; God sits upon His holy throne. The princes and nobles of the peoples are gathered together, a [united] people for the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.”
“Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, For our God Reigns!” sings
Commentary notes about the victory in 2 Chronicles 20, “Praise the Lord. The battle was won by the singers, standing in the most dangerous place of all—between two armies. But they sang the Lord’s praises and routed the enemy. The choir praised God after God gave the word (v. 19), before the battle (v. 21), and after the victory (vv. 26–28), a good pattern for us to follow in our praise.
In Hebrew, Berachah means “blessing” (v. 26). Even a valley can become a place of blessing if we learn how to praise the Lord. 'Prayer changes things' is a familiar saying that is certainly true. But it is also true that 'praise changes things.' Why? Because true praise changes people, and God can work in and through people who praise Him. True praise involves faith, hope, and love, the strongest weapons in the Christian armory.” [1]
David proclaims in 1 Chronicles 16:23, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; show forth from day to day His salvation. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He also is to be [reverently] feared above all so-called gods. For all the gods of the people are [lifeless] idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [round] in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and in holy array.
Tremble and reverently fear before Him, all the earth's peoples; the world also shall be established, so it cannot be moved. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigns! Let the sea roar, and all the things that fill it; let the fields rejoice, and all that is in them.
Then shall the trees of the wood sing out for joy before the Lord, for He comes to judge and govern the earth. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever!
“The time has come to stand for all we believe in, so I for one am gonna give my praise to You... in everything I do, Yeah, all the praise goes out to You.”
Paul says in Ephesians 5:19-20, “Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [and instruments] and making melody with all your heart to the Lord, at all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”
“Let justice and praise become my embrace, to love you from the inside out” sings.
The Psalms are filled with praise for God. Praising God and singing to Him out of joy and thanksgiving are to be a regular part of our lives. Psalm 33:1-3 says, “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud and joyful sound."
Once commentary notes, “Our praise toward God is the means by which we express our joy to the Lord. We are to praise God both for who He is and for what He does (Ps. 150:2). Praising God for who He is is called adoration; praising Him for what He does is known as thanksgiving... The godly person will echo David’s words, “My praise shall be continually of You . . . And [I] will praise You yet more and more” (Ps. 71:6, 14).” [2]
The Hayfield Bible Handbook notes about praise, “Man was created to live and breathe in an atmosphere of praise-filled worship to His Creator. The avenue of sustained inflow of divine power was to be kept by the sustained outflow of joyous and humble praise to his Maker.... Such a walk of praise-filled openness to Him will cultivate deep devotion, faithful obedience, and constant joy.” [3]
According to this source, there are several important considerations in praise:
There is power in the unity of praise (2 Chr. 5:13). [4] 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 says, “And when the trumpeters and singers were joined in unison, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments for song and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
Praise births the victory (2 Chr. 20:15-22) [5] and causes ones enemies to be dispelled. Psalm 18:3 says, I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” As noted previously, some of the greatest victories in the bible came as a result of praise. It prepares the way for the Lord to accomplish His divine purposes.
David proclaims in Psalm 68:1-4 says, “God is [already] beginning to arise, and His enemies to scatter; let them also who hate Him flee before Him! As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before the presence of God. But let the [uncompromisingly] righteous be glad; let them be in high spirits and glory before God, yes, let them [jubilantly] rejoice! Sing to God, sing praises to His name, cast up a highway for Him Who rides through the deserts -His name is the Lord -be in high spirits and glory before Him!”
And Psalm 66:1-5 proclaims, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth; sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious! Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You... All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah.
Praise pushes back the advancement of darkness (Ps. 7:14-17). As the Hayford Bible Handbook notes, praise is the answer when we are tempted by inequity or if someone sins against us. [7] In our praise, God will make a covering over us and defend us against our enemy.
Psalm 5:11 says, “But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy, because You make a covering over them and defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You and be in high spirits.”
Praise turns our hearts toward God and turns us away from our sins and idolatry. Psalm 67:3 says, "Let the peoples praise You [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God..." Praise will “bring the glorious presence of Jesus, driving out the desire to identify with the sinful act/or thought... Praise draws our attention to who He is rather than the circumstances we are in.” [8]
Praise ushers into God’s presence (Ps. 22:3-4). Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise!” The Hayfield Bible Handbook writes, “Unquestionably, one of the most remarkable and exciting things about honest and sincere praise is taught here: Praise will bring the presence of God. Although God is everywhere present, there is a distinct manifestation of His rule, which enters the environment of praise.” [9]
Psalm 22:3 proclaims, “But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.”
“Show me your glory, send down Your glory, I want to see Your face” sings in the background.
Praise brings a deep sense of satisfaction [10] and contentment (Ps. 63:1-5). Psalm 63:3, 5 says, “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My whole being shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips...”
Praise is not dependent upon our circumstances. Habakkuk proclaims in 3:16-17, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Praise is also an act of the will.[11] “It is not merely an exuberance overflowing with words, but a self-induced declaration of thanksgiving—a sacrifice. The praiser chooses to praise.”
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.”
Praise and thanksgiving is an offering we give to God. Psalm 50:23 says, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."
Praise has power. It frees the people from bondage and opens the prison doors, setting all the captives free (Acts 16:25-26). The Hayfield Bible Handbook notes about this, “Study this example of the power of praise, even in difficult circumstances. Beaten and imprisoned, Paul and Silas respond by singing a hymn of praise—a song sung directly from the heart to God. The relationship between their song of praise and their supernatural deliverance through the earthquake cannot be overlooked. Praise directed toward God can shake open prison doors! A man was converted, his household saved, and satanic captivity overthrown in Philippi. Today, as well, praise will cause every chain of bondage to drop away. When you are serving God and things do not go the way you planned, learn from this text. Praise triumphs gloriously!” [12]
We are to teach our children to praise God. Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall laud Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts.” They Hayfield Bible Handbook notes, “We must not merely “suppose” that children will grow up and desire God. We must be careful. Whatever we possess of God’s blessing and revelation can be lost in one generation. We must consistently praise Him and we must also teach (by example, as well as by words), so our children and our children’s children will do the same.” [13]
Sean Feucht sings, “You are good, Your love it knows no end” in the background.[a]
Praise is similar to prophesy in that it proclaims the victory and points one to what God is doing rather than focusing on one's circumstances. The Psalms are filled with both praise and prophesy. They often proclaim the victory in light of difficult circumstances.
Psalm 22:19-22 says, “But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me! Deliver my life from the sword... Save me from the lion's mouth... I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You.”
The Hayfield Bible Handbook writes, “Praise Releases the Spirit of Prophecy.... As we joyfully sing praise to our God, Christ comes to flood our minds with the glory of the Father’s character (“name”). There is no doubt about it—the praises of the people in the church service release the spirit of prophetic revelation—the magnifying of God through Jesus Christ. Thus, praise introduces edification, exhortation, and comfort to bless the whole body.”[14]
As we listen to the news and voices of the world, it prophesies fear and disaster at every turn. If we are not teaching our children to praise God, the world will teach our children to fear and worry.
Sean Feucht in his book, “Fire & Fragrance” notes, “many of us have allowed the voice of the liberal media and secular society to infiltrate our minds, homes, families and churches for too long. These worldly voices have been used to prophesy discouragement, strife, recession, fear, and panic while the Church was meant to set the tone with a clarion sound of life!” [15]
Sean writes, “Anyone who can read has plenty of reasons to be discouraged with sliding morals, demonic laws, and increasingly humanistic ideals celebrated worldwide. However, it takes a totally different kind of person, operating in a different perspective, bringing a different reality, to see all of this and yet live with a constant, confident hope that the Kingdom of God will not be stopped, and despite the headlines of the media, He is winning!” [16]
He goes on to write later, “It is interesting to me that when we are living in times of struggle, lack and disappointment, the Bible points to one acceptable and appropriate response: SING!” [17]
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the world will become strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace” sings.
Corporate praise brings the victory as it releases God's provision and pushes back the darkness. At one event, as Sean was corporately releasing worship, praise and prophetic proclamation in the atmosphere, he encouraged those who were struggling with the heaviness of the world on them to sing and praise. Sean noted that the breath of God was releasing life back into these broken people and they were literally 'coming alive.' He wrote, “Hope, dreams, life, faith, and fresh energy were restored as this sound went forth....” [18]
He goes on to write, “When we release this sound of life, faith, and hope from our mouths, we can actually prophesy ourselves, our families, cities, and nations into a new season of fullness and restoration! Is that not incredible to comprehend? What a beautiful truth of this new prophetic sound God is restoring on our lips!” [19]
“I wanna sing a song for You, I wanna sing a song” sings in the background.
In corporately praising God, we can 'build an altar' to Him where He is glorified that releases a 'fragrance' that is pleasing to Him as it burns. Sean Feucht writes that the sound of worship is the fragrance that releases the sound of life, hope, restoration and salvation. [20]
He goes onto note, “Worship prepares the way!” As God is lifted up on the altar of our hearts and we release declarations of praise, it changes the very atmosphere. He talks about an experience where worship shifted the climate from fear to love, sorrow to joy, and anxiety to peace. He writes, “The atmosphere of worship and prayer cultivated space for the kiss of Heaven to reach broken humanity. People were radically and immediately healed from disease, pain, and sickness!” [21]
He notes that the largest global harvest in history will come on the heals of praise and the sounds of love and adoration coming from his blazing bride. He refers to Psalm 67:5-7,
“May the peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.” [22]
Sean writes about this movement, “This movement of the power of His Presence arising across the nations of the earth is far more than just a cool new religious or flashy form of godliness lacking true power. But we are literally coming together as the 'living stones' referred to in First Peter 2:5 to build a dwelling for the presence of God. It is not a new ritual, fad, or some slick structure. Our lovesick worship and pursuit is creating a hotbed for the raw presence of God as He is 'enthroned in the praises' of His people according to Psalm 22:3. From the establishment of His throne in our midst, genuine transformational power is made available to a broken humanity.” [23]
He goes on to note, “A dying world does not need our fancy buildings and programs. It needs to experience a life-altering encounter where people are marked by the glory of His Presence resting among them! As the world's citizens continue their quest to fill the ache in their hearts, we have the incredible privilege to host Him -the One who heals the heartaches -in our midst.” [24]
Sean speaks of corporate praise and worship not only only ushering in God's presence powerfully, but bringing forth true revival to the land. Sean speaks of a time where as God was lifted up, the Kingdom came to a Red Light District. In the most barren of streets, justice came pouring forth.[25]
“May Your wonders never cease” sings.
Lord, you amaze me! I do want to sing a song for You of praise. Teach us how to praise You in the midst of our difficulties and struggles. You are worthy of all praise. Too often we praise you with our lips but not enough with our hearts. As the clock was reading 3:33 as soon as I started pressing into this, I feel like it is something you have for your body in this season. Would you lift us to that place of genuine praise. May it be a pleasing fragrance to you. Let altars of praise, prayer and worship be built to you everywhere. We long to see your justice come forth on earth as it is in heaven.
1. Wiersbe, Warren W.: With the Word Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1991, S. 2 Ch 20:1
2. Youngblood, Ronald F. ; Bruce, F. F. ; Harrison, R. K. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1995
3-14. Hayford, Jack W. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Hayford's Bible Handbook. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995
15-25. Feucht, Sean and Byrd, Andy. Fire & Fragrance: From The Great Commandment to The Great Commission. Destiny Image Publishers, Inc. Shippensburg, PA. 2010.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
"He will not fail or become weak or be crushed and discouraged till He has established justice in the earth"
“Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one [each] year was 666 talents. Besides what traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. And King Solomon made 200 large shields or bucklers of beaten gold; 600 shekels of beaten gold went into each shield.
And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, with 300 shekels of gold spread on each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Moreover, [he] made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
There were six steps to the throne and a gold footstool attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the arms. And twelve lions stood there one on either end of each of the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom before.
King Solomon's drinking vessels were all of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not counted as anything in the days of Solomon. For the king's ships went to Tarshish with Huram's servants; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.” (2 Chronicles 9:13-22)
Francis Chan paints a vastly different picture of the kingdom of God and what it is to look like in his book “Crazy Love”. He writes, “I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them. I believe He wants us to be known for giving—of our time, our money, and our abilities—and to start a movement of “giving” churches. In so doing, we can alleviate the suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride in America.”
In Isaiah 58:2 the Lord says that the people “delight to know My ways, as [if they were in reality] a nation that did righteousness...” He told them rather than oppressing others and seeking one's own gain out of greed, to “pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like noonday.” (Is. 58:10)
“I see a mighty breaking in of revival” sings.
Somehow after this great outpouring of the Spirit where fire fell from heaven and the glory of the Lord filled the temple in 2 Chronicles 7:1-3, there was no lasting change in the king's or people's heart. There was no revival. They had this incredible outpouring of God's glory but they failed to allow it to change their hearts and lives.
When there is a true revival, people are transformed more into the likeness of Christ and there is justice for the poor. God the Lord says about and to His Son the Lord in Isaiah 42:1-4, “He will bring forth justice and right and reveal truth to the nations...I will give You for a covenant to the people [Israel], for a light to the nations [Gentiles], to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness from the prison.”
Solomon was no longer building God's kingdom but was beginning to build his own. While he was increasing his fame, wealth and 'wisdom, it was at the expense of others. He was oppressing the people, making their yoke “grievous” for his own gain (2 Chronicles 10:4).
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!”
Solomon went on to write, “There is a serious and severe evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt... And this also is a serious and severe evil -that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he who labors for the wind?”
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:7-10, “For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied). But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing.
For the love of money is a root of all evils [a]; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs.”
Not mentioned by the author of 2 Chronicles, Solomon eventually also fell into idol worship and his heart was turned away from the Lord. 1 Kings 11:4 says, For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect (complete and whole) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
Solomon did not set out to oppress the people, using them for his own fame, riches and glory. Nor did he intentionally turn away from God and to idols. Mother Teresa writes, “We must keep the heart pure. How does our heart become impure? By pride, by lies, selfishness, insincerity, especially want of sincerity.” [1]
As Mother Teresa notes we don't step into a big sin all at once but rather step by step and little by little. [2] For instance, we don't usually set out in dishonesty by stealing a car. Rather, we start by a few white lies, then a few bigger lies, then by a little cheating here and there, and maybe stealing a few candy bars from the store before we move into Grand Theft Auto.
While we will be tempted by Satan to sin, as Mother Teresa notes, just like Jesus in the wilderness, we have to chose to say yes for it to be a sin. She writes about Satan, “He can do nothing unless we want... The whole of hell can come near you, but no one can force you, no one can touch you.” [3]
She notes that temptations will come, but with our Lord, we can fight them with confidence and humility. It is our pride that often gets in the way. It is allowed by God because it is “like fire in which gold is purified.” [4] It is actually in the struggle that we come alive to our true convictions and have the opportunity to live them out.
Sometimes we can have all the right things to say, but then temptation comes and we immediately give in to it, appearing hypocritical and inconsistent. We have all heard the parable of the sower in Mark 3:3-20. What is sown of the truth is sometimes taken away at once. Other times, it is received and welcomed with joy, but does not take root deep enough. The belief is superficial. Therefore one endures a little while but once difficulties come, it is taken away. Other times, the cares of the world and temptations suffocate the Word and it becomes fruitless. It is only when the seed is received, welcomed and then takes root, enduring difficulty and temptation that it bears great fruit.
Too often, we follow after God on the 'big' things but we allow smaller sins to eat away and erode our relationship with God. In Song 2:15 the beloved says, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. Beloved”
As Mother Teresa notes that Satan temps us because he wants to destroy God in us. She writes, “If we allow ourselves to be unfaithful in little things and say, 'it doesn't matter,' the day will come when we want to get rid of it, and we will be so blinded that we won't know how to.” [5]
And Francis Fenelon in “The Seeking Heart” writes, “To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid “big” sins— is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?” [6]
When asked by the scribes, Jesus noted in Mark 12:29-31 the greatest two commandments involved wholehearted love for God. He answered, “The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Deuteronomy 6:7 goes on to note that when you love the Lord wholeheartedly “[then] You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you like down and when you rise up.”
We can only pass on to our children what we have truly received. We teach our children not with our words alone, but with what we truly put as priorities in our lives. We can have all kinds of words of wisdom to give our children, but what they inherit from us is what we genuinely live.
Mother Teresa notes that love begins at home just as sin begins at home. She quotes John, “You are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor.” She writes, “I think this is something we must all understand, that love begins at home. Today we see more and more that all the suffering in the world has started from the home.” [7]
She goes on to note, “Our children depend on us for everything -their security, their coming to know and love God... And if the parents do not show their children what love is, who else is going to show them? These children will grow up to be spiritually poor, and this kind of poverty is much more difficult to overcome than material poverty.” [8]
Children often learn to value what their parents value whether they intend to or not. In my family, my father valued working hard because his father did. His father was raised on in an orphanage where you worked to 'earn your keep.' As my father was growing up, his father owned a business as a ditch digger and was also a farmer. My father 'earned his keep' by working hard farming and helping with digging ditches all his younger years until he left home.
My father was very much a hard worker and valued this. In our family, often the value people had was somewhat based upon how hard they worked. As a result, I grew up valuing working hard. My sister and I both married men who valued working hard. In the same way, my son inherited this value. My son is exceptionally bright and considered intellectually gifted, however the first thing people at his work will say to me about him is “he is such a hard worker.”
At the same time, since my father never had opportunity to have 'fun' growing up, he broke away from the pattern of thinking that hard work was all that mattered. Besides working hard, he would go out of his way to make opportunities for our family to do some fun things.
David had passed on to his son Solomon a deep love and devotion to God and desire to walk in all his ways, calling the people to do the same. In David's last charge to Solomon, he told him, “walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His precepts, and His testimonies, that you may do wisely and prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” (1 Kings 2:2)
And in 1 Kings 3:3 it says, “Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes and practices of David his father, only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. “
Solomon was following the Lord wholeheartedly at first as king. Sacrificing in the 'high places” was not a compromise at this point because the temple had not yet been built. 1 Kings 2:2 says the people sacrifice in the high places..., for there was no house yet built to the Name of the Lord.” Abraham also sacrificed in the high places, on top of Mount Moriah when he offered up Isaac to God.
One of the other things that David passed on to Solomon was a value for wisdom. Solomon writes in Proverbs 4:3-5, 8, 11, “When I [Solomon] was a son with my father [David], tender and the only son in the sight of my mother [Bathsheba], he taught me as said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and life. Get skillful and godly Wisdom, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation); do not forget and do not turn back from the words of my mouth... Prize Wisdom highly and exalt her, and she will exalt and promote you; she will bring you to honor when you embrace her..I have taught you in the way of skillful and godly Wisdom...”
Solomon had not started out in his ministry having learned from his father David to oppress the people for his own gain. Rather, David was someone who cared deeply for the flock that was given into his care.
Solomon having received a value for wisdom and desire to serve the people from his father, started out in ministry deeply desiring this. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what He he could give Solomon. Solomon responded, “Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chose, a great people who cannot be counted for multitude. So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people?”
Commentary notes, “This is the high privilege of the child of God. Each one's life tells what he has asked for-- “in heaven above or earth beneath.” Which shall it be, God's will and glory, or our own?”
Solomon, unfortunately, after starting out so well and after praying and seeing fire fall from heaven and the glory of the Lord fill the temple, began compromising. Solomon had success after success and was told by others how great was his wisdom and renown. He probably began to believe it himself and fed his ego it, caring more about his renown than those he served.
Solomon not only built up excessive wealth, but he also acquired many wives and concubines. In doing so, he failed to demonstrate to his children what love looked like. 1 Kings 11:3 says, He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.”
It was if God directly wrote Solomon a little love note warning him of this in Deuteronomy 17:16-17. It says, "The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the LORD has told you, 'You must never return to Egypt.' The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the LORD. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.
Besides accumulating large amounts of silver and gold, and having many wives, 1 Kings 10:26 says, Solomon accumulated chariots and horses [from Egypt and Kue]; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
Rather than passing off a value for wisdom, integrity and faithfulness to God like his own father David, greed, power and renown are the values he passed on to his son Rehoboam. To be great, his son in his spiritual poverty thought he would have to do more than Solomon in oppressing the people to acquire for himself so that he could look good and gain renown.
Mother Teresa asks, “How do you know, love, and serve [God]? How do you prove that you love him? In the family, the father proves his love by all he does for his children, for his wife. We prove our love for Jesus by what we do, by who we are.”
Solomon failed to demonstrate what love looked like to Rehobaom – both love for God and love for others. Mother Teresa also notes, “If a father and mother are not willing to give until it hurts to be faithful to each other, and to their children, they are not showing their children what it means to love. And if their parents do not show their children what love is, who else is going to show them?” [9]
When Rehoboam was to be made king, the people came to him asking him to lighten their load and offering then to serve him. Rehoboam disregarded the counsel of the old men who spoke of love. They had told him, “If you are kind to [those] people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.” (2 Chronicles 10:7)
Instead, Rehoboam chose to go with the advice of “the young men who were brought up with him” (those who would have been raised under Solomon's leadership in his days of compromise). They told him, “Tell the people who said to you, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
Also, what Rehoboam saw with his father is that once he was totally established and everything was going well for him, he no longer needed the Lord. He could do it all and be successful on his own. So when Rehoboam had established himself as king and strengthened his position, 2 Chronicles 12:1 says, “he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.”
Rehoboam never realized that his lack of ability to love the people was the issue. He saw the people as something to be used for his own power, glory, and gain. He thought the reason he did not rule over the rest of Israel was because he was not 'forceful enough' when he was young and inexperienced. This is what he taught to his son Abijah.
Abijah went to war against Israel telling them, “Ought you not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his Lord [the king]. And there gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young [as king], irresolute, and inexperienced and did not withstand them with firmness and strength.” (2 Chronicles 13:5-7)
Abijah did not forsake the Lord like his father however. Abijah called on the Name of the Lord. In the midst of the battle when Abijah was losing, he cried out to the Lord and the priest blew the trumpets, then the men of Judah gave a shout. Because Israel was in a great deal of compromise during that time, having dispersed the Levites and sacrificing to golden calves, God smote Israel before Abijah and Judah. (2 Chronicles 13:13-15)
Just because one's father follows a path of evil, or forsakes the Lord, it does not mean the children are destined to follow in the same direction. A child still has a choice. They can choose a different path than what they learned as a child growing up. .
Asa is an example of someone who chose loving God and others rather than seeking after his own gain and glory. He sought after the Lord and brought genuine revival to the land. As a result, the people had rest and peace on every side (2 Chron. 14:7).
2 Chronicles 14:2-5 says about him and his reign, “And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and high places and broke down the idol pillars or obelisks and cut down the Asherim... And commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers [to inquire of and for Him and crave Him as a vital necessity], and to obey the law and the commandment. Also Asa took out of all the cities of Judah the idolatrous high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under his reign.”
Asa also taught his son to follow in the ways of the Lord through his own faithfulness to God. 2 Chronicles 21:32 says about Jehoshaphat, “And he walked in the ways of Asa his father and departed not from doing it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.” As Jesus notes, the most important thing we can do is learn to love – both God and our neighbor.
However, even if someone follows the Lord, it does not guarantee their child will follow in this same path. There have also been times that the 'son' has chosen evil rather than following after the ways of their father. This was the case with Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son. In 2 Chronicles 21:6 it says about him, “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he married the daughter of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
Jehoram foremost demonstrated his greed and hunger for power in the way he behaved within his family. As soon as he was established as king, he killed all his brothers with a sword and also some of Israel's princes that he viewed as a threat.
Lord, we long for a revival where people are genuinely transformed, loving You and others with their whole hearts and bringing your justice to those around them. And we so long for our sons and daughters to inherit something of true value: how to love you and others. Would you teach us how to love You well first of all and then love well those around us, especially our families. May we not waste our time and energy on the things that don't really have any value.
a. Revelation 13:18 is the other place (other than the parallel verse in 1 Kings 10:14) where the number 666 is referenced. The verse in revelations says, “Here is [room for] discernment [a call for the wisdom of interpretation]. Let anyone who has intelligence (penetration and insight enough) calculate the number of the beast, for it is a human number [the number of a certain man]; his number is 666.”
It was Jewish tradition to refer to something previously in the bible without explaining, expecting the reader to understand because they knew the scriptures. For instance, the prophet spoke in Jude 1:11, “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.”
While there is much debate around the interpretation of the verse in Revelation, I lean towards believing John could have been referring to 666 as “the number of the beast” in relation to 2 Chronicles 9:13 / 1 Kings 10:14 -referring to greed and oppressing of people for ones own gain.
1-5, 7-9. Mother Teresa. “Where There Is Love, There is God.” Random House, Inc. New York, NY. 2010.
6. Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. David C. Cook Distributions, Colorado Springs, CO. 2008. First chapter located at: http://www.crazylovebook.com/the_book.html Last Accessed 12/7/11.
And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, with 300 shekels of gold spread on each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Moreover, [he] made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
There were six steps to the throne and a gold footstool attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the arms. And twelve lions stood there one on either end of each of the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom before.
King Solomon's drinking vessels were all of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not counted as anything in the days of Solomon. For the king's ships went to Tarshish with Huram's servants; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.” (2 Chronicles 9:13-22)
Francis Chan paints a vastly different picture of the kingdom of God and what it is to look like in his book “Crazy Love”. He writes, “I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them. I believe He wants us to be known for giving—of our time, our money, and our abilities—and to start a movement of “giving” churches. In so doing, we can alleviate the suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride in America.”
In Isaiah 58:2 the Lord says that the people “delight to know My ways, as [if they were in reality] a nation that did righteousness...” He told them rather than oppressing others and seeking one's own gain out of greed, to “pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like noonday.” (Is. 58:10)
“I see a mighty breaking in of revival” sings.
Somehow after this great outpouring of the Spirit where fire fell from heaven and the glory of the Lord filled the temple in 2 Chronicles 7:1-3, there was no lasting change in the king's or people's heart. There was no revival. They had this incredible outpouring of God's glory but they failed to allow it to change their hearts and lives.
When there is a true revival, people are transformed more into the likeness of Christ and there is justice for the poor. God the Lord says about and to His Son the Lord in Isaiah 42:1-4, “He will bring forth justice and right and reveal truth to the nations...I will give You for a covenant to the people [Israel], for a light to the nations [Gentiles], to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness from the prison.”
Solomon was no longer building God's kingdom but was beginning to build his own. While he was increasing his fame, wealth and 'wisdom, it was at the expense of others. He was oppressing the people, making their yoke “grievous” for his own gain (2 Chronicles 10:4).
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!”
Solomon went on to write, “There is a serious and severe evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt... And this also is a serious and severe evil -that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he who labors for the wind?”
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:7-10, “For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied). But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing.
For the love of money is a root of all evils [a]; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs.”
Not mentioned by the author of 2 Chronicles, Solomon eventually also fell into idol worship and his heart was turned away from the Lord. 1 Kings 11:4 says, For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect (complete and whole) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
Solomon did not set out to oppress the people, using them for his own fame, riches and glory. Nor did he intentionally turn away from God and to idols. Mother Teresa writes, “We must keep the heart pure. How does our heart become impure? By pride, by lies, selfishness, insincerity, especially want of sincerity.” [1]
As Mother Teresa notes we don't step into a big sin all at once but rather step by step and little by little. [2] For instance, we don't usually set out in dishonesty by stealing a car. Rather, we start by a few white lies, then a few bigger lies, then by a little cheating here and there, and maybe stealing a few candy bars from the store before we move into Grand Theft Auto.
While we will be tempted by Satan to sin, as Mother Teresa notes, just like Jesus in the wilderness, we have to chose to say yes for it to be a sin. She writes about Satan, “He can do nothing unless we want... The whole of hell can come near you, but no one can force you, no one can touch you.” [3]
She notes that temptations will come, but with our Lord, we can fight them with confidence and humility. It is our pride that often gets in the way. It is allowed by God because it is “like fire in which gold is purified.” [4] It is actually in the struggle that we come alive to our true convictions and have the opportunity to live them out.
Sometimes we can have all the right things to say, but then temptation comes and we immediately give in to it, appearing hypocritical and inconsistent. We have all heard the parable of the sower in Mark 3:3-20. What is sown of the truth is sometimes taken away at once. Other times, it is received and welcomed with joy, but does not take root deep enough. The belief is superficial. Therefore one endures a little while but once difficulties come, it is taken away. Other times, the cares of the world and temptations suffocate the Word and it becomes fruitless. It is only when the seed is received, welcomed and then takes root, enduring difficulty and temptation that it bears great fruit.
Too often, we follow after God on the 'big' things but we allow smaller sins to eat away and erode our relationship with God. In Song 2:15 the beloved says, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. Beloved”
As Mother Teresa notes that Satan temps us because he wants to destroy God in us. She writes, “If we allow ourselves to be unfaithful in little things and say, 'it doesn't matter,' the day will come when we want to get rid of it, and we will be so blinded that we won't know how to.” [5]
And Francis Fenelon in “The Seeking Heart” writes, “To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid “big” sins— is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?” [6]
When asked by the scribes, Jesus noted in Mark 12:29-31 the greatest two commandments involved wholehearted love for God. He answered, “The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Deuteronomy 6:7 goes on to note that when you love the Lord wholeheartedly “[then] You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you like down and when you rise up.”
We can only pass on to our children what we have truly received. We teach our children not with our words alone, but with what we truly put as priorities in our lives. We can have all kinds of words of wisdom to give our children, but what they inherit from us is what we genuinely live.
Mother Teresa notes that love begins at home just as sin begins at home. She quotes John, “You are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor.” She writes, “I think this is something we must all understand, that love begins at home. Today we see more and more that all the suffering in the world has started from the home.” [7]
She goes on to note, “Our children depend on us for everything -their security, their coming to know and love God... And if the parents do not show their children what love is, who else is going to show them? These children will grow up to be spiritually poor, and this kind of poverty is much more difficult to overcome than material poverty.” [8]
Children often learn to value what their parents value whether they intend to or not. In my family, my father valued working hard because his father did. His father was raised on in an orphanage where you worked to 'earn your keep.' As my father was growing up, his father owned a business as a ditch digger and was also a farmer. My father 'earned his keep' by working hard farming and helping with digging ditches all his younger years until he left home.
My father was very much a hard worker and valued this. In our family, often the value people had was somewhat based upon how hard they worked. As a result, I grew up valuing working hard. My sister and I both married men who valued working hard. In the same way, my son inherited this value. My son is exceptionally bright and considered intellectually gifted, however the first thing people at his work will say to me about him is “he is such a hard worker.”
At the same time, since my father never had opportunity to have 'fun' growing up, he broke away from the pattern of thinking that hard work was all that mattered. Besides working hard, he would go out of his way to make opportunities for our family to do some fun things.
David had passed on to his son Solomon a deep love and devotion to God and desire to walk in all his ways, calling the people to do the same. In David's last charge to Solomon, he told him, “walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His precepts, and His testimonies, that you may do wisely and prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” (1 Kings 2:2)
And in 1 Kings 3:3 it says, “Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes and practices of David his father, only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. “
Solomon was following the Lord wholeheartedly at first as king. Sacrificing in the 'high places” was not a compromise at this point because the temple had not yet been built. 1 Kings 2:2 says the people sacrifice in the high places..., for there was no house yet built to the Name of the Lord.” Abraham also sacrificed in the high places, on top of Mount Moriah when he offered up Isaac to God.
One of the other things that David passed on to Solomon was a value for wisdom. Solomon writes in Proverbs 4:3-5, 8, 11, “When I [Solomon] was a son with my father [David], tender and the only son in the sight of my mother [Bathsheba], he taught me as said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and life. Get skillful and godly Wisdom, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation); do not forget and do not turn back from the words of my mouth... Prize Wisdom highly and exalt her, and she will exalt and promote you; she will bring you to honor when you embrace her..I have taught you in the way of skillful and godly Wisdom...”
Solomon had not started out in his ministry having learned from his father David to oppress the people for his own gain. Rather, David was someone who cared deeply for the flock that was given into his care.
Solomon having received a value for wisdom and desire to serve the people from his father, started out in ministry deeply desiring this. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what He he could give Solomon. Solomon responded, “Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chose, a great people who cannot be counted for multitude. So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people?”
Commentary notes, “This is the high privilege of the child of God. Each one's life tells what he has asked for-- “in heaven above or earth beneath.” Which shall it be, God's will and glory, or our own?”
Solomon, unfortunately, after starting out so well and after praying and seeing fire fall from heaven and the glory of the Lord fill the temple, began compromising. Solomon had success after success and was told by others how great was his wisdom and renown. He probably began to believe it himself and fed his ego it, caring more about his renown than those he served.
Solomon not only built up excessive wealth, but he also acquired many wives and concubines. In doing so, he failed to demonstrate to his children what love looked like. 1 Kings 11:3 says, He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.”
It was if God directly wrote Solomon a little love note warning him of this in Deuteronomy 17:16-17. It says, "The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the LORD has told you, 'You must never return to Egypt.' The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the LORD. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.
Besides accumulating large amounts of silver and gold, and having many wives, 1 Kings 10:26 says, Solomon accumulated chariots and horses [from Egypt and Kue]; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
Rather than passing off a value for wisdom, integrity and faithfulness to God like his own father David, greed, power and renown are the values he passed on to his son Rehoboam. To be great, his son in his spiritual poverty thought he would have to do more than Solomon in oppressing the people to acquire for himself so that he could look good and gain renown.
Mother Teresa asks, “How do you know, love, and serve [God]? How do you prove that you love him? In the family, the father proves his love by all he does for his children, for his wife. We prove our love for Jesus by what we do, by who we are.”
Solomon failed to demonstrate what love looked like to Rehobaom – both love for God and love for others. Mother Teresa also notes, “If a father and mother are not willing to give until it hurts to be faithful to each other, and to their children, they are not showing their children what it means to love. And if their parents do not show their children what love is, who else is going to show them?” [9]
When Rehoboam was to be made king, the people came to him asking him to lighten their load and offering then to serve him. Rehoboam disregarded the counsel of the old men who spoke of love. They had told him, “If you are kind to [those] people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.” (2 Chronicles 10:7)
Instead, Rehoboam chose to go with the advice of “the young men who were brought up with him” (those who would have been raised under Solomon's leadership in his days of compromise). They told him, “Tell the people who said to you, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
Also, what Rehoboam saw with his father is that once he was totally established and everything was going well for him, he no longer needed the Lord. He could do it all and be successful on his own. So when Rehoboam had established himself as king and strengthened his position, 2 Chronicles 12:1 says, “he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.”
Rehoboam never realized that his lack of ability to love the people was the issue. He saw the people as something to be used for his own power, glory, and gain. He thought the reason he did not rule over the rest of Israel was because he was not 'forceful enough' when he was young and inexperienced. This is what he taught to his son Abijah.
Abijah went to war against Israel telling them, “Ought you not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his Lord [the king]. And there gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young [as king], irresolute, and inexperienced and did not withstand them with firmness and strength.” (2 Chronicles 13:5-7)
Abijah did not forsake the Lord like his father however. Abijah called on the Name of the Lord. In the midst of the battle when Abijah was losing, he cried out to the Lord and the priest blew the trumpets, then the men of Judah gave a shout. Because Israel was in a great deal of compromise during that time, having dispersed the Levites and sacrificing to golden calves, God smote Israel before Abijah and Judah. (2 Chronicles 13:13-15)
Just because one's father follows a path of evil, or forsakes the Lord, it does not mean the children are destined to follow in the same direction. A child still has a choice. They can choose a different path than what they learned as a child growing up. .
Asa is an example of someone who chose loving God and others rather than seeking after his own gain and glory. He sought after the Lord and brought genuine revival to the land. As a result, the people had rest and peace on every side (2 Chron. 14:7).
2 Chronicles 14:2-5 says about him and his reign, “And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and high places and broke down the idol pillars or obelisks and cut down the Asherim... And commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers [to inquire of and for Him and crave Him as a vital necessity], and to obey the law and the commandment. Also Asa took out of all the cities of Judah the idolatrous high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under his reign.”
Asa also taught his son to follow in the ways of the Lord through his own faithfulness to God. 2 Chronicles 21:32 says about Jehoshaphat, “And he walked in the ways of Asa his father and departed not from doing it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.” As Jesus notes, the most important thing we can do is learn to love – both God and our neighbor.
However, even if someone follows the Lord, it does not guarantee their child will follow in this same path. There have also been times that the 'son' has chosen evil rather than following after the ways of their father. This was the case with Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son. In 2 Chronicles 21:6 it says about him, “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he married the daughter of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
Jehoram foremost demonstrated his greed and hunger for power in the way he behaved within his family. As soon as he was established as king, he killed all his brothers with a sword and also some of Israel's princes that he viewed as a threat.
Lord, we long for a revival where people are genuinely transformed, loving You and others with their whole hearts and bringing your justice to those around them. And we so long for our sons and daughters to inherit something of true value: how to love you and others. Would you teach us how to love You well first of all and then love well those around us, especially our families. May we not waste our time and energy on the things that don't really have any value.
a. Revelation 13:18 is the other place (other than the parallel verse in 1 Kings 10:14) where the number 666 is referenced. The verse in revelations says, “Here is [room for] discernment [a call for the wisdom of interpretation]. Let anyone who has intelligence (penetration and insight enough) calculate the number of the beast, for it is a human number [the number of a certain man]; his number is 666.”
It was Jewish tradition to refer to something previously in the bible without explaining, expecting the reader to understand because they knew the scriptures. For instance, the prophet spoke in Jude 1:11, “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.”
While there is much debate around the interpretation of the verse in Revelation, I lean towards believing John could have been referring to 666 as “the number of the beast” in relation to 2 Chronicles 9:13 / 1 Kings 10:14 -referring to greed and oppressing of people for ones own gain.
1-5, 7-9. Mother Teresa. “Where There Is Love, There is God.” Random House, Inc. New York, NY. 2010.
6. Chan, Francis. Crazy Love. David C. Cook Distributions, Colorado Springs, CO. 2008. First chapter located at: http://www.crazylovebook.com/the_book.html Last Accessed 12/7/11.
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