Tag Faith

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

Todd R Leave a comment

According to Wikipedia, “”Quizás, quizás, quizás”, sometimes known simply as “Quizás”…is a popular song by the Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés.”[1] Translated to English, the song title is “Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps” and the song has been covered by many artists over the years in both English and Spanish since it originally became a Spanish hit in 1947.  The artists covering it are diverse, from Doris Day to Cake.  The song is about someone trying to figure out whether someone else loves them, but they only answer “perhaps, perhaps, perhaps,” leaving the person perpetually wondering.  Being in such a position can be frustrating, but sometimes we can do no better, as the song suggests.  And when we can do no better, maybe we should stop trying.

What’s this doing on a Christian blog?  Well, in a lot of sermons, discussions, and elsewhere, we can find many instances of “perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.”  Or “maybe.”  Or “most likely.”  I see it regularly when I read study Bible notes.  I also find that if I’m not careful, I take something that is “perhaps” true and treat it as Gospel truth.  I base a doctrine on it.  I base an action on it.  I build more “perhaps” thoughts around it.  One unlikely thing grows into more even less likely things.

The temptation to do this comes up more often when reading passages of the Bible we don’t understand.  For example, in Numbers 29, there is a long list of daily offerings to be made during the Feast of Booths.  There are sacrifices of bulls, rams, and lambs.  The number of rams and lambs doesn’t change over the 7 days of the Feast, but the number of bulls decreases by one each day until it gets to 7.  Why?  The Bible doesn’t tell us, but that doesn’t mean people don’t have theories.  In such situations, I think the best approach comes from John Calvin in his commentaries: “why the distribution was so unequal, I confess, is not clear to me, and it is better to confess my ignorance than by too subtle speculations to vanish into mere smoke.”

How to avoid speculation?  Consider these two quotes from each end of the Scriptures:

Deuteronomy 12:32 – “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.”

Revelation 22:18-19 – “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

Photo by D koi on Unsplash

While the first is referring specifically to the law and the second to the prophecy of the book of Revelation, the principle is consistent: don’t add to God’s words or take away from God’s words.  Anything he wanted to say, He would have said it, and anything He said He wants us to take seriously.  Beyond God’s own words, I find “it is better to confess my ignorance than by too subtle speculations to vanish into mere smoke.”

The song “Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps” ends without a resolution.  The singer still doesn’t know the other person’s feelings toward them.  Likewise, there are a lot of unresolved, unexplained things in the Bible, but unlike the song that doesn’t mean we don’t know that God loves us.  God has given us everything we need to know, but He also doesn’t expect us to understand everything.

Therefore, don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”  Don’t be overly concerned if you can’t explain everything in the Bible.  This doesn’t mean to just give up and stop trying to wrestle with God’s word, but to insist on answers sometimes can lead us to conclusions we should have never jumped to.  When we read or hear “perhaps” or “maybe,” realize we just might be on shaky ground.  The Bible doesn’t exist to satisfy all of our intellectual curiosity, but it does exist to point us to our Lord and Savior.  When I cling tightly to what I do know about God, what doesn’t come with a “perhaps,” I find everything I need to trust God, yet also everything I need to know that I am far from perfect and have plenty of work to do.  Perhaps I should focus on that.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz%C3%A1s%2C_Quiz%C3%A1s%2C_Quiz%C3%A1s

Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad News?

Todd R Leave a comment

One day when my son was almost 4, he greeted me at the door after work, crying, and said “mommy turned on CNN!”  It wasn’t CNN in particular that was the problem.  It could have been any network, and we watch a variety of news outlets in our house.  While they each have their own point of view, the one thing they all seem to have in common is described in this 1974 quote from CBS journalist Eric Sevareid:

“The biggest big business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement and distribution of anxiety.”

It’s a sad truth that news outlets know that if they get an emotional response from us, we’re more likely to keep watching, which is how they make money.  This is nothing new.  They also know we’re more likely to respond to bad news than good news.  It’s sometimes enough to make anyone cry, not just a 3-year-old.

The problem also has a lot to do with the subjects covered.  Much of what’s in the news has to do with politics, which reminds me of this 1923 quote from H.L. Mencken:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

Just like anxiety is big business for the media, keeping us “alarmed” is big business for politicians because if they can make us terrified of something and present themselves as the only solution, they can keep us hooked to their side, sometimes for life.  They’re after our undying allegiance and if fear of the enemy is what gets that allegiance, then fear of our enemy is what they’ll create.  The bigger the hobgoblin the better, even if it’s bad for the viewer’s health.

However, we don’t have to be anxious and alarmed by everything we see in the news.  Psalm 112:7 describes a particular sort of person:

“He is not afraid of bad news;
            his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.” – Psalm 112:7

Who is this fortunate person?  Does this person really exist in this hyper-partisan, 24-hour news cycle world?  The author (unnamed) begins Psalm 112 with this verse:

“Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
            who greatly delights in his commandments!”

So, who is not afraid of bad news?  The one who fears the LORD and delights in His commands.  With God’s help, we can overcome the fear and anxiety generated by our politicians and their media outlets.

The “man who fears the Lord” knows that God is capable of overcoming these problems, and if there’s something wrong in the world there’s a reason for it.  He’s in control.  They not only know that He is capable, but also that only He is capable.  No politician can do everything they promise to do, including getting rid of the hobgoblins.  Sometimes political promises are so outlandish that believing them would amount to idolatry.  Only God will keep all of His promises and can handle all of the world’s bad news.  If we really believe this, we will not be afraid of bad news.

The one who “greatly delights in his commandments” knows that nowhere does God command us to address every problem we’re aware of, everywhere in the world.  Nowhere does God command us to swear blind allegiance to any politician who warns us of “an endless series of hobgoblins,” because only He can ultimately deliver us.  They know that although God commands us to love our neighbor, we all have limits in what we are able to do.  But the person in Psalm 112:1 also knows that we have no excuse to ignore the problems we can address.  We don’t need to have anxiety about things we can do nothing about, because nothing escapes God’s attention and in His commands to His people, He has considered all possibilities.

So, does the news cause you alarm and anxiety?  If you do, you’re definitely not alone.  I struggle with it.  The solution can be found in cultivating a deeper relationship with, and reverent fear of, the Lord.  Spend regular time in the word, rather than in the TV, to build confidence in God’s character.  Spend time praying and meditating, sharing with God your concerns.  Spend time with God’s people and avoid rabid political partisans who draw your attention away from God’s peace to the hobgoblins and the pretend saviors.  It’s hard, because there’s an entire industry designed to make us fearful and anxious.  But over time, while we may take 2 steps forward and one step back, we always know that He is with us.

Does the news not cause you alarm and anxiety?  Count yourself blessed.  But for all of us:

“Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
            who greatly delights in his commandments!”

God is Awake!

Todd R Leave a comment

Sometimes even Christians with strong faith may look at the evil and problems of the world and wonder where God is.  Does He care?  And if He does care, why isn’t He doing something about the state of our world?  If God is a God of love, why doesn’t He protect His people, and if God is a God of justice, why doesn’t He punish evil?  God may seem so distant and unconcerned with our problems that He might as well be sleeping.  We may feel like calling out in these words from Isaiah 51:9 and 10 –

“Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon?
Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?”

We know the stories of God’s power and strength from our knowledge of the Bible.  We know how He acted in “days of old.”  We know how He humiliated the gods of Egypt during the exodus, represented here by “Rahab.”  But where is He now?  When we are discouraged, we may think He is asleep.  However, He is not asleep, so what’s going on?

When Isaiah says, “awake, awake,” it is because his awareness of God has grown dim, not because God actually sleeps.  Like Isaiah we can be more or less aware of God at different times.  We also may be more or less aware of particular attributes of God.  At times, we may “feel” God’s love, or mercy, or power, but not all of these at once.  Often, when good things happen, we are aware of His love, and when bad things happen, we are aware of His justice.  When times are uneventful, we may forget He is involved at all.  He doesn’t seem to us like the God we read about in the Bible.  Our knowledge of Him is incomplete and inconsistent.

When Isaiah said to God “awake, awake” he was prophesying to Israelites facing exile.  Israelites who might forget the power of the Lord.  But Isaiah told them that they must know that all of God is always with them.  God is able to fulfill His purposes.  God is awake and cares about them, but in their present circumstances this would be hard to believe.  Likewise, our circumstances often make us see an incomplete picture of God.  We are all in exile in this world, and there is much to question.  Injustice and violence.  Calamity and disaster.  Blasphemy and apostacy.  Sin and hypocrisy.  Where is God?

At these times, it is essential to remember the times God acted on behalf of His people, and on behalf of us!  It is essential to remind ourselves of God’s character.  Our God declared Himself to Moses as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”[1] When will He show Himself as such?  As God said to Habakkuk: “the righteous shall live by his faith”[2] Faith that the full impact of God’s love and justice may be delayed, but it will not be delayed forever.  Even when God seems to be asleep, He is not.  God is awake!

When we feel the need to cry “awake, awake” note what Isaiah said next in Isaiah 51:11, which says:

“And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

God will save His people because He tells us He will.  It might not look like it on some (or many) days, but “the righteous shall live by his faith.”  Pray for God to teach us that His promises are enough, even when things don’t make sense. He is awake!

Amen.

[1] Exodus 34:6
[2] Habakkuk 2:4b

God is Faithful in Trouble

Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

Psalm 71 was likely written by an old man, looking back over his life and the many instances of God’s faithfulness.  Looking back over a lifetime of walking with God strengthens his current faith, and he writes to strengthen ours.  Although some might expect a testimony of God’s faithfulness to talk about uninterrupted good fortune and all the good times the Psalmist has had, in verse 20, they write:

“You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
            will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
            you will bring me up again.”

This man’s life, like most people’s lives, was filled with “many troubles and calamities,” yet these only strengthen his faith because God has rescued him every time in the past.  Without allowing us to experience trouble, how could God develop a track record of rescuing us?  John Calvin comments on this verse that:

“Had he always enjoyed a uniform course of prosperity, he would no doubt have had good reason to rejoice; but in that case he would not have experienced what it is to be delivered from destruction by the stupendous power of God. We must be brought down even to the gates of death before God can be seen to be our deliverer.”

God is always faithful, but we experience it especially in bad times.

Amen.

The Desires He Delights to Give

Todd R Leave a comment

Does God give us what we desire, or does He decide what we desire?  Some of my earliest prayers I remember (I was probably about 6) are ones asking to wake up the next day with my room full of all the toys I wanted.  Naturally, I never woke up to a room full of toys.  God probably knew I would only ask for more, and if I kept up that attitude toward prayer, there would never be enough.  That doesn’t mean I only prayed that prayer once…I learn slowly, but He is patient.

This sort of prayer isn’t limited to minor things like toys, nor do I think it is unusual.  While his mother was suffering from cancer, a nine-year-old C.S. Lewis prayed earnestly for her to be healed.  When she wasn’t, and cancer took her from him, his faith was shaken for years.

In my case, in later life, after understanding Christianity somewhat better, one of the first Bible verses I set out to memorize was Psalm 37:4, which says:

“Delight yourself in the LORD,
       and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

But I still wondered: are the desires what He gives us, or is the fulfillment of desires what He gives us?  I now believe it is both.  In the times I genuinely seek Him, I find that He molds my desires, so they become more aligned with His character.  I also find that He directs those desires toward what will fulfill them.  While that fulfillment is not always immediate, I learn to trust from what He does fulfill that all will be made right in eternity, and I also learn patience and peace.

When we truly delight in Him, we end up finding out that what we desire is righteousness; we also find out that He provides all the righteousness we desire and need.  We find those desires fulfilling rather than frustrating, we find that fulfillment durable rather than fleeting, and therefore find ourselves content rather than anxious.

However, we don’t always delight in Him, or seek to desire what He desires, and we find ourselves conflicted and unfulfilled.  Reflecting on his prayers for his mother’s healing, C.S. Lewis later wrote what he had wrong:

“I had approached God, or my idea of God, without love, without awe, even without fear. He was, in my mental picture of this miracle, to appear neither as Savior nor as Judge, but merely as a magician; and when He had done what was required of Him I supposed He would simply – well, go away.”[1]

Elsewhere Lewis wrote: “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.”  By experiencing disappointment and death in this world, perhaps He is teaching us that death and disappointment are all that this world has to offer.  Sometimes this is the only way to get us to let go of the world and embrace eternity with Him, even while we sojourn here. Sometimes He lets us down easy when the toys do not appear; sometimes He lets us experience significant pain.  All in His wisdom.

Therefore, since He is both Savior and Judge, as well as all-wise:

“Commit your way to the LORD;
         trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
         and your justice as the noonday.” – Psalm 37:5-6

Keep Driving Toward Morning, dear fellow travelers, and today, pray we will find our delight in Him.

[1] Lewis, C.S.  Surprised by Joy (1955).  P. 21