I Samuel 1:5 The Lord had closed her womb

This seems like a strange thing for God to do.  Why would God close a woman’s womb, so that she wouldn’t have children? 

As I read that this morning, I saw that I had made a note on the text.  Some time ago, I noted that Hannah’s barrenness caused her distress, and because of that, she vowed to God that if He gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord.

Hmm, and He did.  And this son turned out to be Samuel, one of the great men of the Bible.  She then went on to have 5 other children, none of whom we know anything about except that three of them were boys. 

So what does this all mean, if anything?

To me, it only makes sense in this way:

God knew long before Samuel was born or even conceived what kind of person he would turn out to be.  So He wanted Samuel to grow up in the Temple so that he would fully live that life.  His mother would never had made that vow if she had had children like most women did. 

What am I saying here?

I am saying that God knows human beings down to their cellular level.  He saw your future before you were conceived in the womb. 

Human beings are not like puppies or kittens, where if we think we have too many of them, we can dispose of a few.  We are created in the image of God, but I think we often fail to grasp the full significance of that.

Theologians will say that that means that we have self-consciousness, a mind, a soul, a will, a reason that can make moral choices.  What they tend to miss here is how that image binds us to God in ways we can’t or just don’t imagine.  Our physical children are the best way for us to understand in a very small way what this means.  We see ourselves in them in so many ways, and it binds us further to them.

We establish a child’s worth today by how far along it is developed in the womb, or whether this child is actually born, and then how functional we determine this person to be.  If a person is missing a few parts, we often regard this child’s existence as pointless.  But for a God who sees the soul, I don’t think that is the case.

God has entrusted human beings with an incredible gift and responsibility.  We get to create images of God all over the world.  It’s our choice.  It is often not a conscious or even a willing choice, but the result is the same.  We are entrusted with an incredibly precious gift from God: a human being.

Our society sees far more things as far more important than creating and nurturing these human beings.  After all, what is life all about?  Is it about having careers where we work all day to make money to buy stuff and then we die, and we evaluate our lives by how much money we made or how much stuff we had when we died? 

OR life is about loving and creating and nurturing human beings, because our relationships with them teaches us about the One in whose image we were created. 

I had a career.  I had successes and failures.  Nobody else cares about any of that.  Certainly not my former employers.   But what remains is my family, and the people in whom I have invested my life, even casually as I walk my dog or go shopping.

Our society marginalizes religion for the sake of inclusion or whatever, but it deprives its people of meaning and substance.  How would we know the enormous value of another human being if God Himself hadn’t told us?

 

 

 

Mark 9:23 All things are possible to him who believes

I do a lot of writing and teaching on the Bible.  So a lot of times I will see things and come to understand things that are beyond my experience.  That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve seen them and understood them.  It’s just I haven’t fully seen them in my life.

Sometimes you have to see the next steps before you can take them.  Yes, sometimes you’re walking in the dark.  I’ve done that for years at times.  Other times you see where you need to step.  Peter didn’t walk on water in the dark.  It didn’t surprise him that he was now going over the side of the boat.  He knew what he was going to do and then did it.  It didn’t last long, and we don’t know if he ever tried that again, but he saw what he needed to do and did it.

The verse here is one that we all know about, but we don’t know exactly what to do with it.  So I’m going to tell you.  And myself.

The other night I got angry with God.  Really angry.

There were some things I have prayed about for years.  Sorry for the lack of details here.  But praying for things means that the responsibility for these things happening falls on God.  The truth is that often the responsibility falls on us.

I know a lot of people don’t like to hear that, but I find that conclusion inescapable. 

In the story here, Mark 9:14–28, a man had brought his son to the disciples.  “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; ¹⁸ and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn’t.”

And Jesus got upset.  “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

²⁰ They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”

Jesus’ words mean nothing but that this man and the disciples could have and should have dealt with this already. 

Did the man pray for his son all these years?

Of course he did.

The disciples just met them, but they too should have been able to rid the boy of the demon.

All things are possible to him who believes.

What happens here is that people will say, I tried that, but it didn’t work.  Like Yoda said, Don’t try, Do. 

Things usually will not change immediately either when we pray or believe they will.  We read the stories in the Bible of great acts of faith, whether a healing or even raising someone from the dead, but we think these events happened in a vacuum.   

Maybe you’re not at this place yet.  Maybe you are.  This is where I need to go.  I just thought I should share this with you today.

 

 

 

Matthew 16:5 They forgot to take bread

One of the biggest things that keeps us from being happy as a Christian is ourselves.  I know, in my case, it’s that I can never do enough.  Coupled with that are the things that I just didn’t do, for whatever reason. 

Here in this passage Jesus addresses this fear.

Matthew 16:5–12 [my translation] ⁵ And the disciples having come to the other side [of the lake] forgot to take bread. ⁶ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ And they began to reason among themselves, saying, “Because we didn’t have [any] bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves that you have no bread? ⁹ “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up? ¹⁰ “Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up? ¹¹ “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

They had forgotten to bring food, and Jesus reminds them of two recent times when they had food, but it wasn’t nearly enough.  No problem.  God multiplied what they had.  Always believe God that you have enough.  That things will always work out alright. 

Or, maybe I should say, things will always work out alright if you can believe they will. 

What would be the point of chiding them for little faith if it didn’t matter anyway?

Four times in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus talks about people with little faith, and each time He addresses a concern that they have.

In Matthew 6:30, He is talking about people who worry about their daily needs: ³⁰ “But if the grass of the field being today and tomorrow into the furnace is being cast God so clothes, not much rather you, you of little faith!  (My translation is a little rough here, trying to catch more the sense of the original rather than making smooth English.)

In Matthew 8:26, He is talking to experienced fishermen who are afraid of drowning in a sinking boat.  ²⁶ He said to them, “Why are you timid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.

In Matthew 14:31 (NASB95), Jesus is talking to Peter who just attempted to walk on water and was about to drown.   ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

In two of these cases, they were in difficult straits, but Jesus was physically present with them.  What if He wasn’t?  What if that were you?  On a sinking boat or drowning? 

Does faith make a difference?

If it didn’t, then no point of even bringing it up.  If everything that happens is God’s will, then you don’t need faith.  What will be will be.  They all would have drowned. 

And, no, that wouldn’t have been God’ will.

Don’t try to overthink things here.  Just learn to believe God for more things.

Jesus wants us to not worry when we forget things, when we think about our needs, and when our lives are in danger.  Always walk in the confidence that God is not only able but quite willing to do what needs to be done to remedy the situation. 

 

 

 

 

We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies Ephesians 2:6

I’m guessing that you haven’t thought about this lately.  You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.  You remember reading about it, but you haven’t thought about it, because you have no idea what it means. 

Well, I think I know now.   Not completely.  I’m still learning things.

I mentioned last time about God being our Father.  The entire Old Testament was spent teaching us who God is, what He is like, His power, His holiness, His awesomeness.

Now in the New Testament, we learn that this God, the Almighty, the Everlasting, is our Father.  Some people will think that I might be taking God too casually here, and I think too many people are missing the whole point.

But that was last lesson.

I have had things that I have prayed for for decades.  With no resolution.  Things even getting worse in some cases.

Hmmm, is this God’s will?  Why won’t He answer my prayers?

I think this is the answer.

When our children were young, they were dependent on us for everything.  We made them breakfast, we picked out their clothes, bought them, and even dressed them for a few years.  Our goal is that they would be able and actually do many of these things for themselves.

When the text says that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, are we sitting on folding chairs or small stools?  It doesn’t specifically say, but generally speaking, when we are sitting with somebody anywhere, we mean we are sitting at the same table or on the same furniture in the same room as this other person. 

Too many of us are still living in the Old Testament where we are afraid of displeasing God, uncertain of where we stand with Him from day to day. 

To use a modern illustration, it’s like we got a job at this huge company.  The pay and benefits are decent.  But we are always worried about losing our jobs, how well we are doing at work, performance reviews, worried when the boss calls us into his office.  But then you learn that the founder and owner of this company is actually your Father whom you never knew you had.  You are immediately promoted to one of those jobs where you go around to all the stores and check in on things.  If you find things you don’t like, you can either have it corrected immediately or you have access to the one who will.

Like Paul says in Romans 5:17 (NASB95) ¹⁷ For if by the transgression of the one [meaning, Adam], death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

This word ‘reign’ is the same word used of kings and queens in the Bible.  They have real authority.  Now we certainly know that God knows more and better than we do, and we would never want to think that we know better than Him.  But I think too many of us are afraid to make any decisions at all.

At some point, you will see things and situations that you know full well what God would want.  We may pray and ask God to change it, but I think a lot of times He will say, if we listen, you fix it.  You’re a big boy or girl now.  Take control of the situation, and change it.  Like when Jesus talked about moving mountains by talking to them.  Mark 11:23,24 (NASB95) ²³ “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. ²⁴ “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

We aren’t to pray that God will move the mountain.  We are to command it to move ourselves.

We are always so afraid that God might not want that thing.  Like kids who are afraid to do anything, because their parents might not want them to.  Afraid to get their own food out of the fridge to eat, afraid to spend money on anything, afraid to make any decisions at all.

Hey, I am talking to God all the time.  I want His input on everything.  But I think too often, we are praying that God will move the mountains, and He is saying, No, you move it.  I told you how, and I told you that you can.

Jesus wasn’t mad at Peter for wanting to walk on the water.  He was disappointed that he didn’t.  Matthew 14:31 (NASB95) ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

I think too many of our unanswered prayers is not because of God’s unwillingness, but because of our fear in believing that we have any authority or responsibility to act on our own.

 

 

 

Our Father who art in heaven Matthew 6:9

Pay close attention here.  This will absolutely change your life, but if you are not careful, you might think this is just an ordinary Bible lesson of stuff you already know.  So much of Bible teaching and preaching is all things you have heard over and over, so you’re not expecting to hear anything new.  But this was new to me, and I think it will be new for most of you too.

The Bible has two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Still with me?

The Old Testament tells us about God – who He is, what He is like.

He is the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.  He is infinite, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful.  He is holy.  Mortal beings cannot exist in His presence.  Like driving into the sun.  Can’t be done under normal circumstances.

Or as God Himself describes Himself: Exodus 34:6,7 (NASB95) ⁶ Then the Lord . . . proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; ⁷ who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

The Old Testament tells us what God is like. 

The New Testament tells us that this God is our Father.  At least those of us who believe in Jesus.

I remember years ago when Jimmy Carter was President.  He would be holding a Cabinet meeting with all his important staff with Secret Service agents standing at the door, and his daughter, Amy, who was 8 at the time, would simply walk past the guards, enter the room, and go sit on her daddy’s lap while he was conducting the nation’s business.

When Jesus came, He proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God.  No, this was not some kingdom where He was going to sit on a throne some time in the far distant future, and all the world would be in peace and harmony.  This Kingdom of God was a major shift in how things work in the world now.

Yes, God is still God, God Almighty, creator of the ends of the earth.  But He is your Father.

Now this is why God created families.

People talk today about how getting married and having a family isn’t for everybody, except that that is the best picture God can give you about what His love for you is like.  It can be really hard to see God as your Father and what that means unless and until you have experienced that kind of love for yourself.

Now that works both ways.

As children, hopefully we are on the receiving end of a love like that, and as adults, we are on the giving end.

You may ask, what about mothers?  Any love that a father has for his children, mothers have about ten times more. 

So what exactly does that love look like?  What does that mean?

There are two passages in Jesus’ teaching which shed the most light on this.

The first focuses on how much God, or the Father, wants to give us what is good for us. 

Matthew 7:9–11 ⁹ “Or what man is there among you who, his son asks for bread, he won’t give him a stone, will he? ¹⁰ “Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake, will he? ¹¹ “If therefore you yourselves, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

The second passage is in Luke 15, where Jesus tells us about a son who left home to be on his own and who squandered all that he had in reckless living.

He returned home, hoping that he could just work for his father, because his father’s hired hands were doing better than he was doing.

Luke 15:20–24 ²⁰ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Notice the actions of the father:

His father was looking for him.  No, he didn’t leave home to search him out, but he was waiting expectantly for his return.

His father ran to meet him, he felt deep love for him, he held him and kissed him.

He asked for no explanations, excuses, or promises. 

He then called for a celebration.

Notice too that the man had slaves, but his son was not one of them.  Yes, I am fully aware that Paul and other people in the New Testament regarded themselves as slaves to God.  I can’t teach everything in one lesson, but I think it is more important to see yourself as a child of God first.  Leave that slave talk until you get this down first.

Now we commonly read this passage as a picture of salvation, an event that happened in the past, but we miss its present relevance. 

God wouldn’t have created families to give us an image of fathers and then reveal Himself as father if that only applied to a single event.  There would be no need for the elaborate picture that families offer.

What am I saying here?

I am saying that the greatest joy of being a parent is just being with our children.  I believe what God wants from us most is to just be with us.

Oh, yes, He is everywhere at all times.  Like broadcast waves are everywhere.  But they are not all tuned into the right frequencies.

I thought about titling this lesson: Hanging out with God.  That’s what I have been doing lately.  Hanging out with Jesus.  My older brother.  (Romans 8:29  ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers;)

And hang out with my Father.

I ask Him in the morning: so what do you want to do today?  And I talk to Him like I would talk to anybody who was accompanying me during the day.  About everything.  I think it would be hard for me to pray in public, because I have already been talking to God all along, and it would seem strange then to address Him in some formal way like most public prayers are.

But all this has been new for me.  I have been teaching a class on the gospel of Matthew, and I am learning more than the class is.  Teaching forces me to think through everything I read, and I understand things better than I did before.

When Jesus came, He started teaching everybody how things are now in the Kingdom of God.  And this God they read about all these years is their Father.  And yours too.  Be conscious of His presence with you at all times and talk to Him like you would talk to your other father if he were to be with you all day too.

 

 

Same Circumstances, Very Different Outcomes Acts 12:1-3

James and Peter were both apostles.  One was killed by an evil king, and one was miraculously delivered from death by that same king when an angel led him out of the jail in the middle of the night.

So what was the difference?

Why was one killed and not the other?  Why was one miraculously delivered from death, and the other allowed to die?  Was that God’s will for the one to die but not the other?  

The account is found in Acts 12:1–3 ¹ Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to cause them harm. ² And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. ³ When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

We could speculate why this happened, but the Bible tells us. 

Acts 12:5 (NASB95) ⁵ So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

Apparently, James was killed suddenly before anyone had time to react.  Peter was imprisoned first, so the Church could respond.

And they responded with fervent prayer.  And that made the difference.

Do we know that?

Yes, because it is a detail in the story that wouldn’t have been added if it wasn’t the missing piece. 

A long time ago, I learned about the Lord’s Prayer.

It’s a prayer that is meant to be prayed every day and early in the day.  I explain all that in other places, but it would be too long here. 

The prayer has a petition: deliver us from evil.  Some translations say ‘evil one.’  It could be translated as ‘protect us from the evil one,’ but the lexicon notes 3 possible different translations for this expression – the evil one, evil, or that which is evil.  I believe translating it as ‘evil’ is consistent with the rest of the Bible, though Matthew twice uses the same expression as a term for Satan.  Cf. Psalm 91:10,121:7, Proverbs 1:33, 12:21

If this prayer is to be prayed everyday early in the day, that means that this prayer is prayed before we encounter evil.  It’s a prayer for protection to keep us from evil happening to us.

Did James pray this when he got up that morning?  We don’t know.  I do know when people are busy and things are going well, we don’t expect bad things to happen.  It seems James’ death was sudden.

Was it God’s will?  Some will say yes, and some will say, maybe not.  The text clearly suggests that if the Church had been praying as fervently for James as they were for Peter, he would not have been killed

The fact is that Jesus taught us how to pray twice (Matthew 6 and Luke 11), and He told us to pray everyday for protection from evil.  Some Bibles say that that phrase is missing from the earliest manuscripts of Luke’s gospel, but it is definitely in Matthew’s.

If Jesus tells us to pray everyday for protection from evil, that doesn’t sound like a suggestion. I think He expects us to.

Does that mean that nothing will ever go wrong in our life? 

Often those bad things are opportunities for good things. 

Now I wouldn’t call this an evil thing, but recently I was trying to do something and cracked a window in my kitchen.  The guy came out to fix it and saw that the window did not stay open by itself.  He offered to fix it.  Now a window that was hard to lift and that wouldn’t stay up by itself and was never going to be fixed opens with a finger’s touch and doesn’t need to be propped up anymore. 

Something that could have been really annoying and ruin my day actually made it better.

But, no, that was not a evil thing.

There is a story in the book of Ezra (chs. 4-6) where the people were rebuilding the temple, and they faced hostile opposition from the neighbors.  The neighbors stopped the work while reporting them to the authorities.  The authorities in turn essentially told the neighbors not only to leave them alone but to help them in some pretty extraordinary ways. 

So what was a case of apparent evil turned into something very good.

But either way, Jesus said we should pray every day early in the day for protection from evil.

Let God figure out the details. 

Just do it, and stop asking so many questions.

 

 

 

 

 

Your Faith Matthew 9:22

Faith is a tricky subject.  Many Christians have experienced deep discouragement, sadness, and guilt, because they believed for something that didn’t happen as or when they thought it should.

I don’t claim to have all the answers.  I like to think I have some.

Seven times in the first three gospels, Jesus told somebody that their faith had saved them.  These were all stories of physical healing.  The word ‘save’ is used in the Bible in more ways than simply a person being saved from sin and hell.  In fact, twice in the book of Acts, this distinction is entirely blurred.  You can’t tell the one from the other.

Matthew 9:22 ²² But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has saved you.”  And the woman was saved from that hour.

Mark 5:34 ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

Mark 10:52 ⁵² And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

Luke 7:50 (NASB95) ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 8:48 (NASB95) ⁴⁸ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 17:19 (NASB95) ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

Luke 18:42 ⁴² And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.”

Acts 4:9–12 (NASB95) ⁹ if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. ¹¹ “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. ¹² “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 14:8–10 ⁸ At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be saved, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he leaped up and began to walk.

I would make the case that physical healing is part of the whole package of salvation.  But that would take a lot longer space.

Suffice it to say, always believe God for healing for your physical, mental, emotional problems.  It may not come as fast as you would like or how you would like.  But expect it to come, and no, I would never say that death is God’s answer.  But, yes, it happens. 

But you will never get anywhere if you keep thinking about what happened to other people or even yourself in the past.  All you have is today, and you are only ultimately responsible for yourself.

Seven times in the gospels, Jesus told somebody that their faith saved them.  Exact same words.  The perfect tense in Greek that emphasizes their present state of wellness. 

I learned a while back.  Pay attention to the gospels.  The life of Jesus, but more importantly, what He actually said and did.

Like Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14), it’s all about focus.  Keeping your eyes on Jesus and not on all the noise and things around you.

On a personal note, I have had cancer three times.

The first time was in 1996.  It was stage 3, and I turned down treatment, and then they said I didn’t need it.

The second time I had a lump on my neck the size of a tennis ball.  That didn’t go away like I expected, so I had treatment.  But I wasn’t clean of the whole thing until after the doctor said he didn’t expect the treatment to make any difference.

Now it’s a different kind of cancer, and no, I haven’t had any treatment.  Another test next week.

I’ll let you know what’s going on, but like Jesus told a man whose daughter had just died: Stop being afraid.  Only believe.  (Mark 5:36)