Ebenezer in the Wilderness

January 19, 2024January 18, 2024Todd R Leave a comment

In the ESV Bible, the phrase “but God” appears 43 times, changing the direction of the story. An Ebenezer is a “stone of help,” or reminder of God’s benefit to His people in the past, providing strength for the present and future. Ebenezer the squirrel, this blog’s mascot, represents these “but God” memorials the Bible records of God’s intervention in the world and in our lives. As a squirrel can unexpectedly draw our attention, I write about these moments to draw our attention to God as a reminder that adding God to our circumstances can change everything. One of these instances comes at a key point in David’s life.

Prior to becoming Israel’s second king, David may have spent a decade in exile, running from Saul, Israel’s first king. Saul was extremely insecure and jealous of David and sought to kill him for years. In 1 Samuel 23 there is a story about Keilah, a border town in Judah that was near the Philistine city of Gath. Bands of Philistines were stealing grain from Keilah and David heard of it. This small border town may not have interested Saul, but David prayed to God about whether to rescue it. After getting affirmation from God, David and his men rescued the town.

Saul, with spies everywhere, heard that David was staying in Keilah and planned to besiege the town, probably to starve the people until they gave David up. In other words, Saul hated David so much and wanted him dead that he would attack a town in his own territory. Saul was persistent and not interested in seeking (or following) God’s guidance.

David, informed by God that the people of Keilah would give him up to Saul, fled into the wilderness again, then we get to verse 14 of the chapter:

“And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.” (emphasis added)

Saul sought David “every day, but God” was on David’s side, and “did not give him into his hand.” It wouldn’t matter how hard Saul tried – hunting David while he should have been minding his kingdom – David would not be caught unless God allowed it.

As the story continues, Saul is informed that David is hiding in the wilderness of Maon (verse 25). Then, “As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.’ So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.” (verses 26b-28)

While the news of this Philistine raid may seem like mere coincidence, I don’t believe it was. First, the timing worked out just right, as David seemed cornered by Saul and his men. Second, Saul was not concerned about raids on Keilah – why is he concerned this time? “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will,” says Proverbs 21:1. Perhaps this was one of God’s ways to “not give him into his hand.” While Ebenezer means “stone of help,” David found a “Rock of Escape,” and God can be our escape as well. When we feel threatened by enemies – physical or spiritual – remember that God watches over His people. Those enemies may seem overwhelming, “but God” will not give us into their hand unless He knows it will benefit us and our faith, for “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). God changes every story for the betterment of His people.

Amen.

David’s Spiritual Battle with Goliath

January 16, 2024January 14, 2024Todd R 1 Comment

David’s defeat of Goliath is such a popular story that it has become a cliché. For example, unbalanced games in sports where one team is much better than the other are referred to as “David vs. Goliath.” In these cases, the storyline is about whether a seemingly physically inferior opponent can beat a physically superior one. However, this misses the point of the story – that it was a spiritual battle.

On one side of the battle, we have false gods. After David decided to fight and was approaching Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:43 says: “And the Philistine [Goliath] said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.” But even though Goliath invoked his gods in curses, he was counting on his size and strength advantage to win the battle. He was not actually relying on “gods,” and did not expect to win “by his gods”, but by the god of worldly strength and dominance.

^{Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash}

On the other hand, David was clear that this was a battle between true and false gods. In 1 Samuel 17:26, David says “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” and also in verse 37 David says “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” David was actually trusting in and relying on his God for victory, unlike Goliath who just used his gods’ names in vain. David knew his relative physical weakness against Goliath was not relevant.

So, to Goliath the battle was David vs. Goliath, but to David it was the true God vs. false gods. And that’s why David won. David wanted to beat Goliath so “that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hand.” (verse 47)

People also curse us by their gods when we refuse to live by those gods’ standards. These may be gods of wealth or convenience or rebellion, and many of our spiritual battles are against this world’s gods.

Does it sometimes seem foolish not to make choices based only on what’s best financially? Is it sometimes inconvenient to worship? Is it sometimes inconvenient to love our families, congregations, and neighbors? Is it tempting sometimes to sin “only once” or if we think nobody will find out?

These are battles we all face, but we’re not going to win by doing better by the world’s gods’ standards, but by relying on the true God. So, a question for us is: do we see these challenges as spiritual battles between true and false gods? Or do we invoke God in name only like Goliath did, and then rely on our own strength?

The key to the battle between David and Goliath is that David won because 1) he knew his God is real, and 2) because he actually relied on Him. We can win the same way and overcome the giants that seek to overthrow us.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12

The Lord is Not Looking For “The Good Face”

January 8, 2024January 5, 2024Todd R 1 Comment

One of my favorite books is Moneyball, which is about Billy Beane’s career as General Manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Beane ran a winning team on a shoestring budget by pioneering the use of precise measurement, data, and analytics, in contrast to sometimes-arbitrary eyewitness reports from talent scouts. Author Michael Lewis notes that in the late 1990s, “Some of the scouts still believed they could tell by the structure of a young man’s face not only his character but his future in pro ball. They had a phrase they used: ‘the Good Face.’”[1] Billy Beane himself had “the Good Face” when he was a prospect and yet had a mediocre career as a player; therefore, his own career arc suggested that there might be a better way to find good players.

Reliance on “The Good Face” isn’t just a baseball phenomenon. Many politicians, celebrities, businesspeople, news personalities, and others succeed by having “The Good Face,” but the Bible warns us not to rely on “The Good Face.” One such warning is the story of King Saul, who was “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.”[2]

Samuel, the LORD’s prophet, was impressed by Saul and was led to anoint him Israel’s king. However, when Samuel called the people together to announce Saul’s rule, something strange happened: “So they inquired again of the LORD, ‘Is there a man still to come?’ and the LORD said, ‘Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.’”[3] Saul should have responded “Here am I”, but instead shamefully hid. Being so large, it must have taken some effort to find a place to hide, but he managed it in an attempt to avoid God’s call. This became a pattern with Saul, because when Israel’s army was challenged by the giant Goliath, “Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”[4] Saul, while having “The Good Face,” was unwilling to trust God when He called. He was faithless and a coward. Perhaps “tall, dark, and handsome” but not useful to God, and not a good leader for God’s people.

When looking for Saul’s successor, Samuel, as God’s talent scout, almost repeated the mistake of picking “The Good Face.” Samuel was to pick as king one of the sons of Jesse, and he wanted to pick Eliab after he “looked on” him. “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”[5] After this warning, David, the youngest son of Jesse, is chosen as the next king. David also had many admirable qualities, being not only handsome, but also “skillful in playing [the lyre], a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence,” but most importantly, others reported that “the LORD is with him”[6] and it was true. David knew that everything that really mattered about him came from God (see Psalm 139:13-16 for example) and he could only succeed by relying on Him. If God called, he would come, and if the world challenged God, David would defend Him. David slew Goliath without hesitation.

Today, the power of Christ living through us is what matters, not having “The Good Face.” Therefore, be concerned about having “The Good Heart.” Be not concerned about whether you are photogenic, or handsome, or tall, or well-dressed, or anything else the world may value. According to the prophet Isaiah, even Jesus didn’t have “The Good Face”: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.” – Isaiah 53:2b

When God calls, come, and you will have “The Good Heart.” When you fail, God, whose heart is perfect, will create in you a new clean heart[7], as David learned time and time again.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:31-33

[1] Lewis, Michael. Moneyball (2003). P. 7.
[2] 1 Samuel 9:2
[3] 1 Samuel 10:22
[4] 1 Samuel 17:11
[5] 1 Samuel 16:7
[6] 1 Samuel 16:18
[7] Psalm 51:10

Give Up Your Lists

November 8, 2023November 5, 2023Todd R 1 Comment

Today is part 3 of a series on the first Beatitude from Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Monday covered how the statement could make both the “proud” and the “ashamed” humble and be blessed by God. Tuesday was about the rich young man who was fully set on earning his own salvation to see that it was impossible, all while Christ was right before him, loving him and offering him salvation by grace.

Today begins with Luke 18:10-14 –

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Similar to Monday’s post, this passage is a rebuke to the proud, while comforting the ashamed, which is made clear at the end of these verses. This passage also plays on stereotypes of the Pharisee as one who would have been perceived as religiously superior, versus the tax collector, who was under the ban, or that time period’s rabbinic version of excommunication^[1]. At the end of the first sentence, the audience would have been expecting the Pharisee to pray well – after all, they were the “experts.” But as an “expert” in the law, the Pharisee prays (and thinks) in terms of lists of good things and lists of bad things. As a result, he is able to credit himself with all good things and the tax collector with all bad things because his lists aren’t complete.

The Pharisee manages this level of pride in spiritual accomplishment by narrowing down his list of sins to “things that other people do.” He also excluded more subtle or internal manifestations of sin from his lists. For example, at other times, Jesus said Pharisees “devour widow’s houses,”^[2] which may have been a form of extortion. Also, in his heart he may have been unjust and an adulterer just by making this prayer – judging the tax collector and misrepresenting God. God’s justice on the tax collector was poured out on Jesus – who was this Pharisee to say who that justice applied to? Also, in over-emphasizing the law, the Pharisee was “cheating” on God by idolizing the law as a way to salvation.

By narrowing the list of sins to “what others do,” and reducing those sins to the external evidence of them, rather than the heart level, this Pharisee blinded himself to his own need, and therefore missed the blessing of the Beatitude. The only way to feel rich in spirit before God is to lower the standard, or to humbly accept Christ’s righteousness – the riches of His spirit – in place of your own.

In Psalm 51, King David wrote of his repentance after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed in verses 16-17:

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

This broken spirit and contrite heart recall the first Beatitude’s promise of blessing and the ability to follow God’s will, which David prayed for back in verse 12 of Psalm 51:

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

We can’t constantly compare our record of our sins with our record of the sins of others if we want to receive God’s blessing. Our records are always incomplete and biased. Doing so is only likely to destroy our ability to love those who God loves and to whom He offers His grace, including ourselves. We are poor in spirit, but we only realize it when focusing on Him, and we only are blessed when we decide His standard and opinion are the ones that matter. If we are Christians, the standard is Christ and through our adoption as children of God, He sees Christ’s righteousness when He gives His opinion of us.

Humbly knowing this, we can go to our house justified, and in eternity be exalted by Him, the only one we should compare ourselves to and the only one whose judgement matters. For now, this humility enables us to love God and love others as we love ourselves.

To find joy, give up your lists of sins and replace them with Christ.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3

[1] See an earlier post, Found! A Man in Need of an Ally, for an explanation of the ban as applied to tax collectors, and for Jesus’ striking decision to forgive Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector.
[2] Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47

“Let Not the Flood Sweep Over Me”

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023Todd R 2 Comments

Yesterday’s post was about Jeremiah’s comparison of false religion to a broken cistern, with God alternatively being “the fountain of living waters.”[1] Jeremiah lived when most of God’s people – including most of the priests and prophets – had turned from Him to follow other gods. As Jeremiah remained faithful, correctly predicting that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon, he was persecuted, including this instance in Jeremiah 38:6, where King Zedekiah’s officials “took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.”

Since God is “the fountain of living waters,” the only path to eternal blessing, it’s incredibly ironic that Jeremiah, one of the few remaining faithful prophets and therefore a rare source of God’s “living waters,” should be cast into a cistern with no water. Perhaps it was broken. King Zedekiah thought he could silence the “living waters” Jeremiah represented by casting them into a cistern, trading truth for falsehood.

Later, Jeremiah seems to recall the cistern experience in Lamentations 3:52-57, where he said:

“I have been hunted like a bird
            by those who were my enemies without cause;
they flung me alive into the pit
            and cast stones on me;
water closed over my head;
            I said, ‘I am lost.’
‘I called on your name, O LORD,
            from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
            your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
            you said, ‘Do not fear!’”

Returning to the book of Jeremiah, we read that Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, heard of Jeremiah’s situation and pleaded his case: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”[2] This unlikely source – a foreigner – was Jeremiah’s deliverance from God to rescue Jeremiah from the well. Ebed-melech gathered 30 men, “Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.”

Jeremiah was not the only Old Testament figure to suffer for his faithfulness. Many years earlier, King David also referred to “sinking in the mire” in the Messianic Psalm 69, verses 14-15:

“Deliver me
            from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
            and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
            or the deep swallow me up,
            or the pit close its mouth over me.”

David knew this feeling of sinking came not because of his sin, but when he was faithfully serving his Lord. David’s “sinking in the mire” happened under these circumstances from verse 9 of the same Psalm:

“For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”

In Jeremiah’s case, as well as David’s and that of Jesus, whom Psalm 69 foreshadowed[3], we know that cannot judge our faithfulness based on whether it improves our circumstances. When we do, we might stop being faithful because it seems we are “sinking in the mire.” Being reproached by the world and feeling down aren’t the circumstances we prefer, but “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[4] Through these and all other circumstances, God develops in us deeper trust in Him.

Therefore, with David may we pray:

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” – Psalm 69:13

And in His time, He will deliver us, perhaps in ways we don’t expect.

Coda

In 1995, Christian rock group Jars of Clay released their self-titled album, and the track “Flood” has similar themes to this post. The song was also a mainstream hit, charting as high as No. 12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,[5] amazing for a song that is essentially a prayer like David’s in Psalm 69.

You can check out the song’s lyrics here: https://genius.com/Jars-of-clay-flood-lyrics

Or, if you have 3 ½ minutes, watch the music video here: