Invitation to Trust God

In college, a coworker and I started a travel club. It was called the S.E.T.T. club, which stood for Students for Education Through Travel. Our motto was “Get SETT to see the world.” We had all we needed—except people willing to join. That’s where our campaigning, recruiting, and selling the idea came in. I bring this example up because I’ve heard it said that God is like someone wanting to start a club, a club called church, sponsored by Jesus. Just like the club I started years ago, in this scenario, God would have to go around recruiting and selling the idea to people in order to get a following. After all, Jesus asked many people to “Follow Me” during His ministry.

There are obviously a lot of problems with thinking God is doing whatever it takes to get people to join His club. One of the biggest problems is the age-old question, “How can a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people?” to which there are a host of answers. Within this dilemma, many people claim they couldn’t, or wouldn’t join God’s club—the church—as if to say, if He expects to entice new followers, He needs to have better incentives. And since He’s the all-powerful God of all creation, He should be able to deliver on this pledge.

But God revealed His plan through Christ, not to win a popularity contest or to have the most “likes” on Facebook. Instead, His was a plan of salvation, or simply put, an escape strategy out of a world corrupted with sin. However, it takes wisdom to recognize it as such. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, “…the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—His plan that was previously hidden, even though He made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.”

This wisdom doesn’t make sense to most people, so they reject the invitation. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-21, “We who are being saved know [this wisdom] is the very power of God… (20) God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know Him through human wisdom, He has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe….”

In our own Bible, God has inspired writings about this kind of wisdom. In fact, these books are often categorized as “the wisdom books” or “books of poetry.” They were labeled as poetry because these godly attitudes and teachings were put to music and recited in a chant and were easy nuggets of wisdom to help in everyday situations.

The book of Job focuses on what God desires for us even when we face unfathomable difficulties. The God we serve hasn’t changed; He still wants us to trust Him. People who trust Him are the ones He wants in “His club,” and all of us are given the opportunity to join. 

Read It Out Loud!

In the Middle Ages, there was virtually no literacy in Europe, except within the Church societies. In fact, many cultures didn’t seem to rely on the written word much at all compared to the spoken word. From tales of history, to popular literature, to ordinances, that were many times accomplished by someone like a town crier; an old fashion public announcement – oral reading was common.

However, during the early 15th century, there were notable changes happening all over the world. Things like the invention of the movable type printing press in 1436, but also political changes that opened the doorway for more exploration into educational and religious venues. The collapse of Constantinople in 1453 for one, and the events leading up to the Reformation Movement. So, for the first time in a long time, on a grand scale, more people were able to read, or at least had access to the written word. People heard the unaltered story of the gospel for the first time; straight from the text itself.

Hearing the actual words of God, not just sermons about God, caused people to think about their lifestyle, their faith, and even their death more biblically. When we look through the pages of the Bible, we quickly discover that those same kinds of problems had happened before, and the public reading of scripture had been a part of it.

After 400+ years in Egyptian slavery, the Israelites set out for the Promised Land and were given the opportunity to hear the will of the Creator spoken to them by Moses. In Exodus 19:7-8 after Moses shared everything with the people they answered, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” 40 years later, Joshua read the laws of God to the Israelites and they too responded, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.” (Josh 1:16). Then in Nehemiah 5:12 and Ezra 10, the people wept because they had heard the words of God spoken to them again.

It may be tempting to regard preaching about the Bible and reading the Bible out loud as one in the same, but I encourage you to consider that there is a difference. Although they both may have the same basic message, there is something unique about hearing the words of God read from the Bible. Paul said in 1 Timonthy 4:13, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”

Hope Matters

2 Corinthians 1:8-10, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again.”

A better understanding of God’s Will can drastically change how you face the trials of life. Just look at Abraham; a man who hadn’t had much experience in the faithfulness of God, and he really didn’t understand the promises of God all that well, but we read in Romans 4:20-24 that “Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise.” In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this, he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises. And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in the one who raised Jesus from the dead.

We could continue to look into the lives of many people we read about in Scriptures who really didn’t have much to go on, but they had faith. Hebrews 11 might be summed up as a list of people who endured some horrific situations because they had hope in a promise that they didn’t even fully understand.

Hope happens to be the theme of the Bible: hope of salvation, hope of eternal life, hope of forgiveness, and hope of purpose. But what is hope exactly? A feeling of expectation, a desire for something yet to come. 

For Paul, the reminder of new life made possible because Jesus returned from the grave was enough to motivate him to endure many trials. Although we may not face the trials that Paul experienced, they are still trials that test us. The result will either be stronger faith or weaker faith. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians was that their trials wouldn’t snuff out their faith, but make it bolder.

The truth is that is not normal. Our human nature will often cause us to get angry, discouraged, or depressed when trials rattle our cage. Yet, we’re not living according to the human nature, but the spiritual one.

In the verse above, Paul expresses how the trials of life can push us closer to God if our mind is focused. A quick reminder to us is that God is in control, so quit trying to micromanage Him. Instead, humbly make it your aim to talk of Him and His promises often. Learn to be content in the circumstance you’re in. Pray as if you really believed that HE is our savior, and not ourselves. Then keep your eyes on the promise God made long ago to those who trust in Him – eternal life.

Satan works hard at distracting us from that, but God (who cannot lie) wants us to “set our minds on things above, not things below” (Colossians 3:2).

Effective Communication

If you’ve ever been “the boss” or managed people on practically any level, you know the difficulties that come with communicating instructions. You may give crystal-clear instructions about what you needed done, but later discover that they didn’t get the message. It’s this dilemma that challenges many leaders: getting things accomplished AND keeping those doing the work, happy (and/or focused).

Truth is, that it’s exactly the issue Jesus faced with His disciples, and it’s what the Apostles faced with the Christians they’d shared the gospel with. So here are a few practices that some high-up managers use in accomplishing the task of effective communication of instructions.

Ask, don’t command
Emphasize what to do, not what to avoid
Explain why it’s important
Give freedom of action

Some would argue that these may work in an employment situation, but not in worship. While worship, and whatever is linked with worship, should be exalted higher than a secular job, the truth is we’re still dealing with imperfect people that can easily misunderstand. There’s a reason many of the effective communication skills work with employees, therefore it’s worth considering something similar within the realms of worship.

The Jews were known for their strict attention to details, even to a fault. This was something Jesus addressed on several occasions (Matthew 23, Luke 11); yet He wasn’t complimentary of it, but critical of it. Perhaps because within their strictness and their overbearance, they lost sight of what was important and how to communicate God’s will to the people. The reality is that they didn’t understand His will.

Paul compliments the Thessalonians for their understanding of the commands of God. They realize what faith leads us to do, and how love, and how that is a reflection of our faith, and that when these are combined with a godly motive we remain in the hope of the Lord. They got it; unfortunately, there are many that don’t. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 5:17, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” So, consider how well you grasp the place of faith, hope, and love in what you do in life, at work, or in worship.

God wants us to stand firm in the truth, but this takes a clearer understanding of what His will is for us. Thus the reason, to “meditate on His word day and night.” The great thing is that if we realize we haven’t been living with an accurate understanding of God’s will, He invites us to simply humble ourselves and begin today. It’s really not as complicated as many would like to make it; Paul said in Colossians 1:9-10, “we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Let’s make that our aim as well--understand and DO the will of the Lord.

Answered Prayers!

When do you stop praying for someone? Some might respond to that question – “never!”, and even quote 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” While that is true, there comes a time in most people’s lives when we naturally stop praying for something or someone: a sick person recovers, a person dies, problem resolved, etc. Typically, when the conflict is truly behind them is a natural time to stop praying.

Perhaps it’s more in our attitude that determines a stopping point rather than simply overcoming the conflict. The pattern in Scripture shows us a lot about the purpose and policy of prayer.
In Joshua 7, the Israelites face their first real disaster on their Canaanite conquest at the city of Ai. In the end, it’s discovered that Achan violated a command, which resulted in their loss in battle. Joshua tore his clothes and mourned for Israel, but God said to him, “Get up!” He goes on to describe why they’ve suffered a loss; then He tells them to take action. The point we can take from this is that there is a point when “just praying” may be an act of cowardice instead of a noble or godly thing.

David modeled something similar when he prayed for his sick son born of Bathsheba to survive in 2 Samuel 12:16-23. Once his son died, he got up and resumed his duties as king – the prayer for his son was over. However, after Nathan rebuked David, and during this trial in David’s life, he wrote Psalms 51, a prayer of repentance to God. We can read of many Psalms afterwards that reflected on God’s mercy and blessings.

The point is prayer is our appeal to God for guidance and wisdom, but at some point we must act on the wisdom and guidance we receive from God. At that point our prayer may change from a prayer for wisdom to handle a situation correctly, to a prayer of thanksgiving that He is a God who listens and cares about us.

At Samuel’s farewell address in 1 Samuel 12, he recounts all the challenges Israel faced in becoming a kingdom. The people, realizing their rebellious actions throughout their history, pleaded with Samuel to pray for them. His response in 12:23 was, “far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you…”

Paul demonstrates that he continually prays for the church in Thessalonica, as he does for many of the congregations he was part of. In the Thessalonian letter, he starts with a prayer of Thanksgiving for their obedience to the Gospel. Then he offers a prayer of Endurance, for their continued faithfulness. Finally, he concludes his letter with a prayer of Hope.

We too can share in those prayers for our congregation and our families. Let’s be in constant prayer, but realize when our prayer may need to come from a different angle.