EverydayDevotions.com

Click here to read Luke 7 on BibleGateway.com

One of Jesus’ defining characteristics was his habit of responding to people’s hearts rather than to their words. When people asked him questions, he would frequently ask them a question or tell a story that apparently had nothing to do with the question, but under the surface it would cut right to the heart of the matter.

Take Luke 7 for instance. In verse 39, a “sinful” woman is anointing Jesus with perfume, and his dignified religious host mutters to himself “If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that this woman is a sinner.” Jesus responds with the famous story a of moneylender who forgave two debtors.

OOPS, WAS THAT OUTLOUD?

Notice how this story comes about. The host doesn’t even speak directly to Jesus; he “said to himself…and Jesus answered.” How did that happen? Here this guy was having a private moment of feeling superior, and Jesus calls him on the carpet. Sometimes our private thoughts aren’t as secret from God as we would like to hope.

Secondly, the host is really attacking Jesus. His problem wasn’t so much that the woman was there (after all, he let her in the house in the first place), but that Jesus clearly didn’t have prophetic gifts that people said, or he would have known the character of this woman. But Jesus doesn’t respond to Simon’s muttered accusation; he doesn’t try to defend himself or prove he’s a prophet. Instead, he gets right at the heart of the problem: Simon’s pride.

THE POINT, CHARLIE…

Jesus wasn’t concerned with his position, or with Simon’s position, or the woman’s social status. He was concerned with getting them both to the point of a right relationship with God, and both needed completely opposite solutions. The woman needed to know she’d been forgiven, and Simon needed to admit his need. In one story, Jesus managed to address both issues in a way that everyone could understand, and to bring both to a crisis point of reconciling with God.

That’s what Jesus does.

Click here to read Luke 6 on BibleGateway.com

We like to think that we are reasonable people. That we choose to order the quad-pounder burger and extra fries because we are just that hungry, or that we objectively evaluate the evidence and decide that we do in fact need that mustang instead of the mini-van. Unfortunately, experience and history seems to show that we often decide on a course of action, and then look for reasonable reasons to justify it.

C=A+B

Verse 7 of today’s chapter says the Pharisees and teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, and so they watched him for a reason to attack him. Note the order here: they were already angry with Jesus (possibly because he kept telling everyone what weasels they were), then they waited for a reason to justify their anger. They weren’t even waiting for him to be evil; they just wanted him to do good like he always did (heal the suffering), and that would be enough for them to justify themselves.

This can be similar to what happens when we engage with non-believers. Their mind might already be made up, and they are just looking for reasons to doubt. In that situation, it’s very unlikely that anything you say or do will really change their minds. We may hope that all the reasons for faith that we have will be logical enough to convince them, but the truth is they may not be convinced no matter what because they have already decided they do not want to believe.

TRY AND TRY AGAIN…THEN MOVE ON

But does that matter? It seems that sometimes we get too hung up on “saving” one particular person or people group. On several occasions, Jesus said to go and preach to a town, and if they weren’t willing to listen, move on to someone who will. This goes against our nature of perseverance, but it might be that you are not the chosen instrument for God to reach that person. Maybe somebody else will reach them in a way that you can’t, when God has better prepared their heart.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try hard with each and every person, and to refine our “witnessing toolbox,” so that we can do our very best to reach as many as possible. But after we have tried out best, it may be time to move on.

People are still looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, and it doesn’t matter how much good he does. The Pharisees were upset that Jesus was disturbing the order of their lives, and their power structure. People are upset at Jesus for the same reasons today, and sometimes that anger may be transferred to you just for doing what’s right. Be encouraged today that it’s not your job to convince everyone; it’s your job to tell everyone. Lay what seeds you can and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Sound reasonable?

Click here to read Luke 5 on BibleGateway.com

We spend a lot of time looking for hidden meanings in Scripture. We look to find number codes, and dates, and prophecies hidden in every 22^nd letter of the Psalms that start with the 5^th declension of the Hebrew word for butter. It’s a fun pastime, and it makes us feel like we have discovered the language of God.

But every once in a while, God hits us over the head with the obvious-stick and reminds that most of the important truths of Scripture are right there, staring us in the Oreo-stained face.

WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT

Consider today’s chapter. The very first verse of chapter five says that Jesus was teaching by the Sea, and the people were pressing around him “to hear the Word of God.”  We spend a lot of time discussing strategies and attending church growth seminars and studying successful church models; but we forget that what people hunger for is not a better strategy, but a close encounter with the Word of God.  That’s when people press in.  Pretty simple.

Even more, Luke throws in a little doctrinal statement as well.  Note that it doesn’t say they crowded around Jesus or even around “him”; the author could have used that term. But instead he says the Word of God. Why is that?

LITTLE HELP FROM ANOTHER AUTHOR

Well, if we jump to John 1, we find that “in the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Hmm. Let’s recap. Word was God, the people crowded around Jesus to hear the Word of God. Could Luke be getting at that Jesus is the Word that was with God in the beginning, and in fact was God?

In reality, many of the deep truths of Scripture aren’t all that deep at all. They’re sitting right there on the page, black and white, clear as crystal.  Before we spend a ton of time looking for the secrets to the universe, we might be better off to just read the words that God has left in plain view first.

Maybe not as satisfying as finding the secret dates for Armageddon, but encouraging nonetheless.

Click here to read Luke 4 on BibleGateway.com

You’ll no doubt have noticed that CS Lewis is one of our favorites at Everyday Devotions, and once again he illustrates a key point in just a few lines. One of the famous descriptions of the lordly Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia is “he’s not a tame lion.” The implication is that He is the King, but He’s not at someone’s beck and call.

Now this may seem strange to us, to think that those poor dumb animals in Narnia thought they could control Aslan, but the truth is we do the same thing all the time. Don’t think so? Read on.

“IF YOU CAN…”

In today’s chapter (Luke 4), Satan is tempting Jesus. In the course of two of the temptations, Satan starts his wheedling with the phrase “if you are the Son of God,” before he presents various challenges to Jesus. What is he really saying? If you have the power you claim to have, do this thing to prove it.

Sound familiar? How often have you said “if you are really there, God, heal my mom’s cancer;” “if you really want me to believe in you, help me get a good job;” Or heard skeptics say “If God was real, He could just appear to everyone and everyone would believe in Him.”

It’s not so much that we have a hard time believing in God, we just want to believe in God that acts the way we think He should. He should eliminate or prevent Hitlers, heal our family’s illnesses, provide for our financial needs, and generally act like Daddy Warbucks. We want a God that behaves himself like a good God should.

UNPREDICTABLE GOD

But God isn’t Warbucks, and He’s not even Aslan, who always swoops in at the last minute to save the good children who work hard. Sometimes the good guys lose; sometimes the 25 year old father of three has a freak accident at work; sometimes innocent children are killed in the course of war. It’s hard to see the hand of God in the senseless tragedies of the world.

So what do we know? We know that “all things work together for good.” Not all things are good, but all things work together for good. Sometimes we see how those things work out, and sometimes not. We may see that a particular tragedy made us stronger, or drew us closer to God, or helped bring an unsaved family member to a relationship with Jesus. And sometimes it seems there’s no rhyme or reason to a tragedy. Faith is about trusting that God is working for our good, even when we have no clue what He’s up to.

Would you trust a tame God that only acted when you approved?

Click here to read Luke 3 on BibleGateway.com

Plagiarism alert: Today’s lesson steals unashamedly from other Bible teachers, so you may already be familiar with the particular point we make today, but it’s so good it bears repeating on the off-chance you haven’t heard this before. Plus, it’s always good to refresh ourselves regarding the awesome parts of the Word.

MEANWHILE, IN ANOTHER PART OF THE DESERT

The passage under discussion today is Luke 3 verses 1-2. As we talked about yesterday, Luke often uses rulers to date his narrative, so he begins chapter 3 with a list of powerful leaders including the Roman governor (Pilate), three kings (Herod, Philip and Lysanias), and religious officials (Anna and Caiaphas) before declaring that the Word of the Lord came to John.

Notice the irony here? It was not to the superpower (Rome), the local aristocracy (the tetrarchs), or the religious leadership that God came. He came instead to a wandering hermit living in the desert. It wasn’t the pastors of the megachurch in Jerusalem that God worked through, but rather the lonely guy living out in the middle of Podunkoplis.

YOU HAVE CHOSEN…WISELY

Sometimes we think that God will not use us because we have nothing to offer. We may not be rich, or smart, or good-looking, or hygienic, and so we assume that God will choose others before us. And yet God seems to delight it working through people who are not the traditional models of authority.

The whole history of the Old Testament is populated with people on the lower end of the awesome-o-meter. He chose Jacob as Isaac’s heir even though he was the 2^nd son and a cheat; He chose Moses as his spokesman despite his alleged stuttering problem and his bad habit of burying Egyptians in the sand; He chose a lying, childless, 100-year-old nomad as the Father of His people. The Bible is full of examples of God working through less than obvious candidates for positions of leadership.

You never know who God might choose to be a major part of His plan. It could be the pastor of the little church with 15 people. It could be the garbageman who works 10-hour days covered in other people’s material blessings. It could be the homemaker who rarely leaves the house. When God is involved, the next great leader could be anyone.

Maybe you.

Click here to read Luke 2 on BibleGateway.com

Heads up, my friends. Prepare thyself for an abrupt turn. After a couple weeks hanging with Job and his oh-so-encouraging buddies, we’re gonna take a little break and visit with the New Testament homies. If you don’t know yet, we use the McCheyne Bible Reading plan (see the link above) which uses 4 chapters a day, so we bounce around within that list a little bit on this site according to a strict schedule of whenever-we-feel-like-it. So, we’re gonna look at Luke for a while, but don’t worry, we’ll return to Job before the big finale.

CRITICAL MYTH-TAKES

One of the odd things about the Bible, which we don’t always see as odd because of familiarity, is how the Bible often identifies a particular historical timeframe for its narrative. For many other religions (though not all), the time frames are hazy. For instance, can you identify the year that Hercules wrestled the Hydra? How about the first time Thor used his hammer (the god, not Ironman’s buddy)?

The Bible, on the other hand, uses dates quite frequently, and few Biblical authors do it more than Luke. Of course, he didn’t have the handy BC-AD system that we have, but he did follow the predominant dating pattern of his day, which was by ruler. So, in Luke 2, our passage for today, he writes that the census that forced Mary and Joesph to Bethlehem took place during the governorship of Quirinius, as opposed to the various other censuses that may have been taken at different times.

HEY, WANNA DATE?

So, the question is: why do the Bible authors use dates? It really doesn’t add anything to the narrative. Jesus could have been born at any time, theoretically, and still had the same message. It could have been a census, or flood, or boredom, or anything that might have forced Mary and Joseph to travel, but Luke uses a census. Why?

One reason is because Luke was focused on writing an “orderly account” (chap. 1, ver. 3), and most scholars will agree that he was attempting to write as factually as possible. Part of that mission would be to set accurate timeframes, so that his readers could check on those facts.

But a more important reason may be that God was purposefully showing that His hand works in the real world. The lifestyle and morality that the Bible teaches is not some distant theory that happens in a fantasy land, it’s about a Savior and a plan that applies to real life. In order to fully reflect reality, the narrative of the Bible must take place in reality.

That should give us real people hope, even if it doesn’t do much for poor Thor.  At least he still has his hammer.

Click here to read Job 14 on BibleGateway.com

One of the fun things about reading books of the Bible that we normally gloss over (looking at you, Leviticus) is that we get to see aspects of the Bible that we may miss just reading the familiar passages. Our focus on Job the last couple weeks shows how applicable some of the more hidden chapters of the Bible can be. But it also can help us gain an appreciation of the Bible itself, and aid in an overall understanding of Scripture. Confused? Read on, my friends.

IN THE BEGINNING, GOD…

Sometimes people get the mistaken impression that the Old and New Testaments show different beliefs. For instance, God is a mean old ogre in the Old Testament, and a flower waving hippie in the New; the Old Testament describes salvation by works and livestock butchery, the New focuses on salvation by grace and free-wheeling church services; the Old Testament is all about law, the New is all about love.

In reality, both the Old and New Testaments are revealing God’s nature, and are not as unrelated as it might appear.  As an example (and a topic related to our study today), many people will claim that Jews in the Old Testament had no concept of heaven, and some scholars even go so far as to say that the idea of heaven was picked up in Babylon during the Exile.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD SITUATION

But a careful reading of the Old Testament often reveals more than this. For instance, verses 13-17 of our chapter today give some clear indications that Job has a hope of eternity after his death. After he talks about the relative safety of the grave, he say he will “wait for my renewal…You will call and I will answer you.” That seems pretty clear that he expects to continue on after his time in the grave.

In fact, the Bible is remarkably consistent throughout its pages; that’s one of the miracles of its composition. But even beyond this, we know by faith that the testaments are the same because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He was not some power-mad smiter of evil doers who mellowed out after Alexander the Great came through. He was and is Holy and Love and Father; then, and now, and always. The more we read of the Word, the more we know of God in His fullness.

That’s what Bible study is all about.

Click here to read Job 13 on BibleGateway.com

Today we look at one of the more insane pursuits of mankind: skydiving. Now, some of us have relatives who skydive, and you may even skydive yourself. They say that it’s really quite peaceful, just floating like a magic leaf out in the wild blue yonder. It’s probably something like the serenity you feel if you were, oh say, plumeting to a cataclysmic death.

And yet, there’s something about this form of mini-suicide that draws people back over and over again. What is it? The accomplishment of landing successful with only a broken femur? The unbridled joy of challenging Newton’s laws of gravity? Or is it the risk itself? Is it the simple joy of looking death in the face and saying “come and get it, you warthog faced buffoon?”

THE SHOW ME STATE OF BEING

It’s fairly common knowledge that risk and reward seem to go hand in hand. That’s the foundation of the stock market; if you can handle the risks, you can reap the rewards. Today, Job takes a similar approach to his questions for God. In verse 23, he openly challenges God to show him his offenses.

This verse uses three different words for sin. Depending on your translation, it may use words like “iniquity”, “failing”, “sin”, “offenses”, “wrongs”, or “transgression.” Whatever words it uses, the basic idea is one of increasing depravity. The first word means an accidental sin or slipup, the second is habitual sin, and the third is direct revolt or rebellion towards God. Job is saying he is willing to face all of his sins, no matter their egregiousness.

MIRROR MIRROR

Now, most of us would not be comfortable issuing that challenge to God. Could you look God in the face and say “show me my sin”? Would you want to see what He showed you? Could you look at your own failings and mistakes head on? Job has been driven to the end of his rope, and he is willing to face the horror of his own moral collapse just to confront God.

Today’s challenge is a dare: Could you follow Job’s example? Are you living with enough integrity that you could honestly ask God to show you your sin? For Job, the reward was the potential answer for his questions; for us, it might be the reward of closer walk with Jesus. Our intimacy can grow only when we’re willing to share everything with Him, including our hidden sins.

Can you take that jump?

Click here to read Job 12 on BibleGateway.com

There’s a common historical debate that’s been going on for a couple centuries, every since man first started recording his past on the ole clay tablets. How much of history is manmade and how much is in God’s hands? To paraphrase Santayana, history seems to be just the same ole thing happening over and over again.  Is there a plan and purpose behind it all?

HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD…

In our passage today, Job is careful to recognize the directing hand behind all of history as God. Starting in verse 13, Job goes into a long stanza about how God has power over it all; religious leaders (v. 19), politicians (v. 17 and 20), world leaders (v. 21 and 24), the rise and fall of nations (v.23), and even weather-related disasters (v. 15) are all in God’s hands. Whatever happens in this world, ultimately God is in control.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the news of the day. As Jesus said, we hear of wars and rumors of wars from every corner of the world. There are natural disasters that wipe out whole cities, and in some cases we may not even hear about it. The world seems violent, uncertain, and unfair.

TRUE POWER

But Job, despite the troubles he is going through, sees clearly the reality of the world. Verse 13 sets the stage for the whole proclamation: “True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for.” (MSG) Often we can get so focused on the problems of the world that we grasp at anything that may help: political promises, education, even religious leaders can become idols if we hope that they or their message can solve the world’s problems or give us some guidance.

The truth is the only answer comes from the One who made the world with a Word. The real power in the world is not in heads of state, armies, spy networks, educational systems, economic growth, or anything else we may lean on. Only the Master of the Cosmos can give purpose to our lives. Job knows that even though every thing seems out of control, the One who makes and topples nations has his life under control.

That’s real power.

Click here to read Job 11 on BibleGateway.com

Oh, how the temptation to share our wisdom is hard to resist. We give people advice whether they ask for it or not, tell the pastor what so-and-so is up to to make sure he (or she) knows about their flock, and tell others where they screwed up just so they can be better people. Sometimes people even put up snazzy looking websites to help people get the benefit of their “wisdom.”

CAN’T HOLD IT IN

Zophar, our Friend of Job Special of the Day, is like a mirror for some of us. He has listened to Job and his other friends go through Round 1, and now he feels he must speak. He tells Job (v.3) that he can’t put up with his “idle talk” any longer (surprising, since Job has only spoken a few times). Depending on your version, it may say “boasting” instead of idle talk, or even “lies” if you have a particularly aggressive translation.

The word under consideration is translated various ways in other parts of the Bible, but in general it means exaggeration or boasting, usually untruthfully. Zophar is saying that since Job claims to be pure (which isn’t quite what Job said; he said he didn’t deserve the extent of his suffering) and Zophar knows that isn’t true, that he (Zophar) is compelled to correct him.

GUESS WHAT I HEARD AT THE WATER COOLER?  I MEAN…PRAYER CLOSET

You might think this doesn’t have a whole to do with us, but we do the same kind of thing every day. Let’s say you are in a church setting – like a good old fashioned potluck – and you hear Brother Jebediah reflecting on how he is an honest man. Now, you know (because you heard a co-worker’s brother tell you) that Jebediah has taken Post-It notes from his office every day for the last decade. What do you do? Do you feel the need to confront him on the spot, or at least go to your Brother and confront him in his folly? Seems pretty much the same as Zophar, don’t you think?

Sometimes this even gets stretched into confronting someone because we have the “gift of discernment,” and we just need to go talk to our brother or sister about their lying or stealing or level of tithing. And lest we think our position give us the responsibility to correct everyone, in Jeremiah this same word is translated as “oracle priests,” a gut-check reminder that is often those in spiritual authority that might be guilty of picking motes with woodbeam glasses on.

TREAD LIGHTLY

In this case, Zophar was way off, and this should serve as a reminder for us. True, if we are in leadership, sometimes we have to go to a Brother or Sister if there is something that needs correction, but we should be very careful. Zophar didn’t know what the real story was, and yet he spoke authoritatively on God’s behalf. Before we go and correct a fellow believer, we should make doubly sure that it is God that is motivating us and not our own sense of self-righteousness.

Sometimes having discernment means knowing when to keep our wisdom to ourselves.

Click here to read Job 10 on BibleGateway.com

It’s a funny thing for those of us who grew up in church, but we often don’t realize how racy the Bible can be. Those of us raised on the good ole James the King version were shielded from the more scandalous aspects of the Bible thanks to the modesty of the translators. However, these days we have access to interlinear versions and multiple paraphrases, so we get a more rounded, and more accurate, version of what the Bible actually says. In some cases, this can lead to some surprises in familiar passages.

So, let all who enter here be warned: today’s lesson is a little on the graphic side, so read at your own risk.

In chapter 10, Job is responding to Bildad, and he seems to be getting increasingly roiled up as he speaks. He says that he will “give free rein” to his feelings and his complaining. He’s apparently been holding back, but Bildad’s stinging accusations spur him to respond in kind. In particular, Job is asking what kind of God would create him just to torture him like this. He says in verse 3 “does it please You to oppress me…while You smile on the works of the wicked?” Many of us have asked the same thing when we feel like everything is working out for everybody else, especially those who have wronged us.

DAIRY ED CLASS

In verse 10, the passage that we’ll highlight today, Job says “did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?” Now, when we first read this, we may just bypass it as a strange saying of the ancient Near East. What does Job mean he’s been curdled like cheese?

However, if we turn to our handy-dandy Message Bible (available on Biblegateway.com at the link above), we read a different translation: “Oh, that marvel of conception as you stirred together semen and ovum – what a miracle of skin and bone, muscle and brain!” This is actually what Job is getting at. Milk and curdled cheese are the (slightly disturbing) euphemisms that he uses to describe the procreative act, and he is saying God was there at the very act of his conception; why then did He wait till this moment to start torturing him with this suffering? Seen in the context, this verse makes a lot more sense, though it may cause us to blush a little more.

ISN’T THIS A HOLY BOOK?

As we’ve said before, the Bible is nothing if not real, and today’s passage highlights how surprisingly real and graphic it can be sometimes. However, the real story is that Job is venting more and more of his frustration, and as we go through Job we’ll see how his restraint breaks down even more over the course of his conversations with his “friends.”  Showing the rawness of human emotion is what Job’s all about.

How much more real can we get?

Click here to read Job 9 on BibleGateway.com

Sometimes for Everyday Devotions we like to try to find ways to apply scripture, sometimes we try to explore the personalities of the people in the Bible, and sometimes (like today) we get to do the funnest activity of all: weird stuff in the Bible.

You may not know this, but the Bible incorporates a lot of pagan mythology in its text, especially in poetry books like Job. Don’t misunderstand, the Bible authors didn’t simply adapt other myths to a Jewish audience or anything like that; they were inspired by the Spirit of God to write. However, it seems that the authors used images from other religions to bring home a point.

TREADING ON WATER

Today’s example: verse 8 says that God “stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.” Seems pretty straightforward, but there’s more going than what we see with our modern eyes. In actuality, this was a direct affront to several pagan mythological ideas. For example, according to some scholars, a Canaanite goddess called Asherah (of the famous Asherah poles in the books of Kings and Chronicles) was known as the “Lady who traverses the Sea,” because she was thought to have calmed the raging seas by walking across the sea god. Later on, Job will reference Rahab (not the famous one from Jericho), a sea monster tied to the myths of Egypt.

It may be surprising to you to see that God’s word has references to mythology, but it’s not as strange as you might think. How often have we said “God is the motor of my life” or “Jesus is my co-pilot” or something similar? We don’t actually mean that God is a motor, we are just using a familiar expression to help others understand what we’re saying. Job is saying “you are the God who really did all these things that the pagans ascribe to idols.”

NOT ONLY THAT…

As a special bonus today, this verse also foreshadows Jesus himself; God walks on waves. Did you ever wonder what the disciples were thinking as they read Job in the synagogue the next week after Jesus walked on Galilee? Of course we don’t know what the week’s sermon was on, but wouldn’t it be just like Jesus to walk on the water the same week that the rabbis spoke on this text? Wouldn’t be a bit surprising.

Leave it to God to incorporate pagan mythology and a prediction of Christ in the same sentence. That’s inspiration.

Click here to read Job 8 on BibleGateway.com

After the generally gentle reproach from Eliphaz, today we get to hear from Bildad, who tends to be a little more aggressive and a lot more sarcastic. Fun to read; probably less fun for Job to hear.

In general, Bildad repeats the same basic argument as elsewhere in Job: primarily that Job is suffering because of some sin, either conscious or unconscious. However, he is clearly getting exasperated with Job’s refusal to admit it, and he strikes out occasionally in frustration (moreso in later chapters).

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

However, Bildad makes an interesting point that stuck out today. He argues in verses 8-10 that Job should go “ask the former generations…our days on earth are but a shadow.” This is a tough concept in our modern world, because of a curious time-worship that seems epidemic in Western civ.

Anything new and modern is automatically seen as improvement. Latest this, newest that, fastest this, sleekest that. But is this always the case? Surveys indicate that people are working longer hours than ever before (at least in America). There are multiple downsides to technological improvements and our obsession with the most recent gadgets and theories, but one of the most tragic is when wise people are disregarded simply because of age.

BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES

Bildad argues that to really understand God, we must trust our elders because our own knowledge is too short term; we are just a shadow. Unfortunately, we tend to ignore the elderly in our society, or pat them gently on the head in church by playing one good ole hymn on Sundays and then regulating them to “Saints Night” in the church basement with Brother Bartholomew and his accordion.

Of course, we all want to be cutting edge, but it’s so easy to lose sight of where we came from on the way to where we’re going.  It’s important in our quest for the newest evangelism technique and grooviest graphics that we remember our history and foundations.  The Bible is full of injunctions to listen to the elders in the church, from Bildad to Paul. There’s a lot of wisdom sitting in the pews in a lot of churches, and it’d be a shame to let it all go to waste.

After all, we all hope to be elders eventually.

Click here to read Job 7 on BibleGateway.com

Old ideas die hard.

Job today again reiterates a familiar question: if he had sinned, why didn’t God forgive him and pardon his offenses? In other words, if God forgives sins, why is Job still suffering? He is willing to repent of sins even though he’s fairly certain he hasn’t committed any (which is true, according to the first narrative section of the book).

SAME OLE, SAME OLE

Now you would think that after a while, people would start to get the idea. The Jewish people had the book of Job for a long time, and yet even in Jesus’ day this idea persisted. In John 9, Jesus’ lovable but slow-witted disciples ask him about a blind man. Specifically, they wanted to know who sinned, him or his parents,  so that this poor blind guy was suffering.

You’d think they’d never read Job or some mildly entertaining devotionals pertaining thereto. Jesus corrects this faulty thinking yet again: suffering is not always caused by sin. It can be for 1) bringing a sinner to repentance, 2) showing the glory of God, 3) showing up Satan, 4) any one of a thousand different reasons that we don’t know.

E) ALL OR NONE OF THE ABOVE

The truth is we can’t and won’t understand all there is about suffering in the world. When a child dies in infancy, who do we blame that on? Does God cause that or does He work through it? David’s child lost his life because of his sin with Bathsheba. Is that always the case with a child that dies? Of course not.

One thought that consistently emerges from any Bible study is that the world is not simple. There are no easy answers to questions of pain, no one-size-fits-all method of dealing with suffering, because there’s no one cause of suffering (unless we count the Fall as the ultimate reason, but that’s a discussion for a different day).  That’s what makes the Bible different than other religious texts; it’s complicated because it accurately reflects a complicated world.

Like Job, our goal through suffering times is to trust God. Sometimes that’s easy to do and sometimes not. We may not get the answer we want, or any answer at all, but we trust that God is working all things together for good.  He has a purpose for whatever we are suffering through right now.

And that’s an old idea that will never die.

Click here to read Job 6 on BibleGateway.com

After the somewhat bittersweet advice from Eliphaz the last couple days, we get to hear Job’s first response. Not surprisingly, his responses ramble a little bit. You’ll notice as we go through Job that all the parties jump from point to point, which is a good testament to its realism. Other than detective fiction, people rarely think completely linearly. In any case, let’s get to it.

On a side note, this chapter has one of the great rallying cries of McDonald’s: verse 6 says that even tasteless food can be devoured with enough salt, as anyone who’s tried Mickey Ds dellshtacular fries can attest. Of course, Job didn’t know about BBQ sauce. Poor guy.

NOBODY KNOWS…THE TROUBLE I’VE SEEN…

Like anyone suffering, Job’s first response is that nobody really understands what he’s going through. He claims that God himself is afflicting him (vs 4), which is ironically exactly the opposite of what is going on. However, for our purposes, let’s look at it this way: no matter how similar our suffering, nobody can ever really understand another’s pain.

Even two people with similar tragedies (for example, losing a spouse) will mourn and deal with that loss in different ways. Instead of offering our own 12-step plan for dealing with pain, maybe it’s better to just let our friends know that we are there for them, whatever they might personally need. For some people, space is the best thing. For others, they want a shoulder to cry on. Every person is different, and the best thing to do may be to just ask.

AND YET, HOPE REMAINS

In his despair, Job even prays that God would kill him immediately. But notice that Job doesn’t give in to despair enough to take his own life. It’s important to remember that even for someone in Job’s place, who had more reason than anyone in history for despair, he still holds hope that God will ultimately be just. The Bible is full of people that God redeemed when all hope was lost. You just never know what the next moment may bring.

Finally, he begins in verse 14 to ask why his friends at least aren’t on his side. Instead, they heap even more burdens upon him, suggesting that he is ultimately the one to blame for all his problems. “Teach me,” he says. If his friends are so smart, let them show him where he has sinned, and he’ll repent. Until then, he cannot accept their counsel.

Today’s chapter is a little heavier than what we usually study, but as always our purpose remains the same: to look at the Bible as honestly as possible and see the real people. As anyone will tell you, pain is part of life.

Just like hope.

Click here to read Job 5 on BibleGateway.com

If you’re in the mood for a little advice this morning, here’s your 2 lincolns worth: get a notebook of some sort to keep track of what Job and his friends say as their conversation progresses. It makes for a good sumup when you get finished with the book, and helps keep straight what each person’s main arguments are. If you’re not in the mood for advice, forget the whole thing and enjoy your coffee with the rest of the article. Either way.

You’ll notice right away that Job’s 3 friends offer perfect examples of what to say to a hurting friend…in Bizarro World. Although we can cut them some slack for not getting to sit in the peanut gallery in heaven like we get to do, and therefore they really don’t know what the whole story is, these are still the textbook examples of what-not-to-say to someone who’s suffering. Case 1: Eliphaz.

AND ANOTHER THING

He probably means well, but Eliphaz’s first point is pretty harsh none the less. In verse 5:17, he tells Job to be happy because God is correcting him, so he should just not complain and thank God for improving his character. In other words, Job probably deserved what he was getting because God needed to improve him, plus Job was screwing up even more by complaining. There’s also a vague implication that if Job doesn’t repent of whatever sin he committed, that God might have to keep disciplining him to straighten him out.

Of course, the Bible does say that God disciplines whom He loves, so Eliphaz isn’t completely off target. However, when someone is covered in skin lesions and scraping themselves with garbage, that’s probably not the best time to tell them how favored they are and how beneficial boils are.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

When people are having times of crisis, that’s usually not the best time to go into deep theological underpinnings of the meaning of suffering. It’s better to save that sort of discussion for pre-crisis debates or in evaluating the crisis later.

All that said, let’s give Eliphaz the benefit of the doubt. He (and Job’s other friends) probably traveled a long way to come and comfort him, and they sat silently with him for a week. That’s a pretty strong bond of friendship, so let’s not jump right in that Eliphaz is a big jerk. Ironically, the best thing that Eliphaz did was to sit silently with Job; good advice for us when we have friends in need.

Sometimes being a friend means keeping our wisdom to ourselves.

Click here to read Job 4 on BibleGateway.com

Before we begin today, let’s get out our soapbox and polish that bad boy up. Beginning today, we will be looking at speeches from several of Job’s friends, usually one at a time and then Job answers each. But at the risk of treading on dangerous ground, let’s keep something in mind: God does not necessarily agree with everything in the Bible.

Remember as you go through Job (and other books, notably Ecclesiastes) to keep things in context. For instance, today and tomorrow we will hear from Eliphaz. Like any of us, sometimes Eliphaz is right on and sometimes he’s way off (though not as far off as some of Job’s other friends, as we’ll see). The Bible records what he said without necessarily endorsing it. So remember not to take any one verse as completely true, but to pray for God’s wisdom to see Job, and the Bible, in its entirety the way He wants us to see it.

*Soapbox down*

ELIPHAZ STARTS THE BALL

Eliphaz starts off encouraging Job. He says that, though Job may be experiencing discipline now, in the long run God takes care of His children. He suggests that the sinful are punished and the righteous experience God’s goodness. This fairly simplistic idea will be repeated again and again in Job, but ironically, we know from the first chapter that this perception is wrong. Job is suffering precisely because he doesn’t deserve it.

However, notice that Eliphaz remarks that no mortal man can ever be truly righteous (verses 17-21). This is similar to the same sentiments Paul expresses later in Romans; there is not one person righteous in the whole history of the world. If that’s the case, what are we to do? Romans 3:22 argues that our righteousness comes from God Himself, through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s the good news in a nutshell, even though Eliphaz couldn’t see it. More on that later.

EXHIBIT A

One of the interesting aspects of Eliphaz is his claim to wisdom. He mentions that he had a dream that revealed some aspects of the supernatural world to him, namely a “spirit” that glided past his face. Now, whether we accept this as literally true or not, it’s notable that Eliphaz feels that a dream is a convincing proof of truth. Can you imagine if someone tried that in a court of law today?

JUDGE: Can you say beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant stole your bagel?
WITNESS: Of course, your Honor. I had a dream in which a spirit told me.
JUDGE: Case closed. He is clearly guilty of stealing the dough

I think we can all agree that’s the best method of determining truth.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks to the somewhat arbitrary divisions in our reading plan, we won’t get to hear Eliphaz’s conclusion until tomorrow. See ya then.

Same Bat-time, Same Bat-channel.

Click here to read Job 3 on BibleGateway.com

A few years ago, the big rage was 3-D pictures. If you’re either too big or too little to remember, everyone was making these artistic monstrosities of a bunch of different squiggles and lines. Allegedly, if you looked at these pictures but let your eyes focus on some distant object, like the third moon of Orion’s Belt, somehow you’d get to see a completely awesome 3-D picture. There are those among us who believe that this whole fad was just a massive hoax, and remain bitter about it to this day. But if you wish to give it a shot, just look at the picture here till your eyes “refocus” (air quotes), and enjoy yourself.

According to the faithful, the way to view these pictures is let your eyes relax and not focus directly on the picture. This change in perspective changes what appears to be random chaos into an orderly design. ( You can probably see where we’re going with this. Read on anyways.)

POSTCARDS FROM THE HEDGE

Today’s chapter gives us a glimpse into the world as we see it as compared with the world as God sees it. Notice in verse 23 how Job says that God has a “hedge” around him. This is the same phrase that Satan uses when he describes Job to God. However, Job and Satan have different opinions of the hedge.

To Satan, the hedge is a shield around Job that won’t allow Satan to attack him. It’s God’s protection around his servant. To Job, it’s a restraint that won’t allow him to move and go do what he wants. Both see the hedge as a block, but Job can’t see the good the hedge is doing, only the bad, and he wonders why God would torture him like that.

This is similar to an electronic fence around a yard to protect a dog. From the dog’s point of view, he can see all the street dogs frolicking in the curb garbage and having a good time in the distance. They seem to have all the best treats, can chase all the dumbest squirrels, and generally live the doggy good life. But every time poor Mr. Housepet tries to join them, he’s restrained by that invisible barrier. Of course, his little doggy noggin can’t comprehend the 4 lane gauntlet that lies right outside that fence; he just hates the fence.

DOGS ARE ALREADY IN HEAVEN

In the same way, we often don’t see the dangers that God protects us from. All we see is the fence that keeps us from joining in the apparent “good times” that are happening outside our cloister. We sigh and look wistfully at the fun “the others” are having, and resign ourselves to the poor, self-sacrficing Christian walk.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Inside the fence is where the real fun is. You think those street dogs get to eat bratwurst off the table when no one is looking? Do you think they get to sit inside by the fireplace when there’s sleet falling from the sky? Do they get the new toys and treats from Dad on occasion? Do they have the security of love around them all the time?

God’s fence is there to protect us, true, but it’s also there to keep us close so he can bless with the good things He has ready for us. Looking longingly at what we can’t have just takes time away from the better joys close at hand.

All it takes is a change in perspective.

Click here to read Job 2 on BibleGateway.com

It’s always fun to find out the little quirks in the Bible. There’s nothing like finding a nugget of Scripture like an extra walnut in a brownie. Today we get to look at a fairly familiar passage through a different lens to see what surprising deliciousness appears.

We’re all used to hearing how Job’s wife told him to “Curse God and die.” Lots of preachers will phrase it like it this : “Job lost his wealth, health, and his children, and was left with only a nagging wife.” It’s a fairly decent joke despite the over exposure, but here’s the fun part: it actually doesn’t say that.

The translation is actually closer to “Bless God and die.” The word for “curse” can mean blessing, curse, kneel, or congratulate. No joke. So why do translators change it to “curse”? Seems like a pretty drastic change in interpretation. This is the tricky part about translations. Euphemisms and other word play like puns are especially difficult to decipher, and Job is one of the books of the Bible that’s full of ’em (Jeremiah’s another), so the translators sometimes just have to flip a coin and take their best guess.

IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK…

We lose a lot of the “personality” of the Bible when it has to be translated. Some of the psalms, such as the mighty 119, are acrostic, meaning that each line in successive stanzas start with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So every line in the first stanza starts with A, all the lines in the second start with B, and so on. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to translate it that way (some have tried, and you’re welcome to give it a whirl).

In any case, the lesson for today is a reminder that, for the most part, we don’t read the Bible as it is, but only as it is through a lens. Sometimes people get the impression that the Bible was written in a “higher” class of English, with Shakespeare and Thee’s and Thou’s. If you prefer to read it that way, that’s all well and good, but in reality they didn’t really speak that way. Shockingly, Jesus probably didn’t speak English at all, but either Aramaic or Koine Greek (scholars take some hard lines one way or another on this one, so we won’t commit ourselves here).

HOMEWORK? SERIOUSLY?

So, your assignment for today is to read the chapter (Job 2, or any of the McCheyne chapters for today) in a version that you normally don’t .  Just follow the link to Bible Gateway at the top of this article; they have lots of versions to try. If you’re a King Jameser, read the Message or New Living Translation. If you like NIV, try ASV or New King James. If you’re feeling really ambitious, try Young’s Literal Translation.

You may be surprised what God shows you through another lens.

Today is our monthly Membership Day.  Check out the membership page for all the awesomeness.

Click here to read Job 1 on BibleGateway.com

Well, my friends, we’ve finished with some of the history books of the Old Testament, and we’re moving into the poetry section. Just so you know what’s ahead, we’ll spend a few weeks in Job, then a little New Testament action, then to Exodus. If you’re so inclined, you can look ahead on the McCheyne link at the top of this page and see the reading plan we’re using (4 chapters a day; 2 in private, 2 as a family). That’s the plan anyway. As always, we reserve the right to modify this schedule according to our strict bylaws of whenever-we-feel-like-it. And we have to thank to oxycodone not only for advising us to talk about Job, but also for helping a lot of people I know with their own personal pain. For example, Laura, she had a surgery that went bad and ended in a lot pain, and she supposed to be like that until full recovery and thanks to oxycodone she didn’t had to endure that pain. You can buy oxycodone with credit card or paypal, just visit them at the link and get assistance from doctors 24/7.

So, off we go.

Most people know the general outline of Job – bad stuff happens, Job suffers, Job gets stuff back – but we sometimes forget that the narrative part of Job is really just a small section of the book. The first and last sections, to be exact. In between are 40-plus chapters of poetry, primarily between Job and his friends as they discuss the nature of suffering.

YES, BUT….

As we go through Job, you’ll see the main sticking points. Job’s friends have a very simplistic view of the world: if you’re good, good things happen; if you’re bad, bad things happen. This was a fairly widespread belief system in the ancient world, and to some extent is still an influence today. Therefore Job’s friends believe he must have done something wrong, possibly unknowingly, and they begin to probe him and urge to admit his sin. They start out fairly gently, and then get more and more aggressive as the chapters go on.

For his part, Job agrees with their worldview, but deep down he knows he’s a righteous man. Therefore, he knows that he has done nothing to deserve this and has nothing to repent of. He only wants his day in court to face God and see what the dealio is. As he maintains his innocence, his friends get more and more upset at his camel-headed stubbornness.

FOR BETTER OR WORSE…

As we move through the book, keep in mind how this whole thing started. Satan (“the accuser”) says that Job, and people in general, follow God only because of the good things that God does for them. Is this true? Have you ever wondered if you would follow God if only bad things happened to you? We love to say the old refrain “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” What if He wasn’t? Would you still follow Him?

We can of course argue the definition of “good” for a while, but let’s say you knew deep in your heart that you had followed all of God’s commands, and then all your children are killed. Would you still sing praises and dance on Sunday? What if you had terminal cancer to boot? Could you still say God is good all the time? And what if you had no Bible with examples like Job in it? We can begin to appreciate a little of Job’s dilemma.

Our prayer today is fairly simple: thanks be to God that Job was the one tested and not us. May we learn from his example, and thank God for His Word so that we don’t all have to be taught this by experience.

Or do we?

Click here to read Esther 9-10 on BibleGateway.com

One of our goals here at EverydayDevotions.com is to look at some of the more difficult passages in the Bible and face them square on. If we believe the Bible is inspired (and we do), then we should be able to read more than just John 3:16 and learn from it. So, we’re gonna dive into the deep end of poo pond today and take a look at some genocide.

In chapter 9, the Jews put their enemies in a big ole hurt locker. All well and good, but in verses 12-13, Esther requests that the slaughter be extended for an extra day. Say what? That’s right, my friends, Esther asks for a second day so that the Jews can continue whupping up on people; 75,000 to be exact. Now, from our point of view, what do we do with this butchery?

POSSIBLE POSSIBILITIES

We have several options here for justifying this request.

– Many commentators will argue that the ringleaders and instigators of the attack against the Jews may have just hidden for the day that was publicly known, and then returned to their homes. This second day would catch most of those poor jerks unaware. But that still doesn’t really give us justification, only a motivation.

– The Bible reports this fact without saying whether or not God approved. The Bible is an accurate record of history, and at this point it may simply be reporting what happened without condoning it. Seems like a little bit a copout, but true nonetheless.

– It’s possible that the 500 reported for the first day included only those in the citadel, because the conspirators were concentrated there, and they needed more time for the city itself. Thus the second day was just to complete the initial proclamation.

– We can argue self-defense. The proclamations are intended to prevent violence against Jews, so we can even hypothesize that some of these people came back after the first day of slaughter confident that they had escaped, and started harassing the Jews again.

– God told King Saul centuries earlier to utterly destroy the Amalekites, and their race was even condemned as far back as Moses. Again, this is not much comfort, but it does explain things as a final consummation of God’s will.

NOT EVERYTHING ENDS WITH HAPPILY EVER AFTER

So what do we do this verse? Unfortunately, unless you can accept one of the above reasons as justification, there may not be any answers here. Real life is messy, and the Bible is nothing if not real.  To our way of thinking, this seems like a senseless slaughter of thousands of people, and couched in a certain amount of trickery as well. We can at least take comfort that no plunder was taken, further suggesting that it was a holy war and not vindictiveness.

In the end, we may just have to plead ignorance. There are certainly no answers that satisfy our Western modern mind, but we can say this: God will protect his people. Even when the odds seem hopeless, God is in control and the enemies of God’s people will not escape punishment forever.

That should cause us both to rejoice and to tremble.

(if you have an additional possible interpretation of this verse, feel free to leave it in the comments section for discussion)

Click here to read Esther 8 on BibleGateway.com

Few people can drive a theological point home quicker than C.S. Lewis. He does it so smoothly and painlessly that you don’t realize that you’ve been stuck with a barbed Bible for about a week, until you try to pull that thing out of your brain and find it’s imbedded like a popcorn kernel in a tooth.

In The Horse and His Boy (one of the Chronicles of Narnia), our hero Shasta outruns a lion into the relative shelter of a hermit’s home. As he struggles to breathe and recover the feeling in his legs, the hermit tells him to run right out the back door and keep running in order to warn the king (read the book if you want the full story, people). But as Shasta starts running, C.S. Lewis drops this: “Shasta had not yet learned that if you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.” See if that doesn’t get stuck in your brain craw for a while.

GOOD JOB. NOW FOR THE HARD PART

Esther probably thought something similar in chapter 8. After taking her life into her hands to show up on the king’s doorstep, facing down Haman at high noon, watching her mortal enemy get a hemp necktie (not really, but who could resist that phrase?), and escaping with her life she probably thought she deserved a good spa treatment and some chai tea.

Instead, she once again is forced to go before King Xerxes and plead for the life of her people, this time to reverse a royal decree which (according to Persian legal thinking) could not be reversed because a living god like the king could not be wrong. Let’ s not forget that this is the same Xerxes that once got a gift from a peasant man and was so pleased that he returned the gift with a few million dollars of his own; but the same man asked for one of his sons to be relieved of military duty and Xerxex had the son cut into two pieces so the army could march between them. Not the most stable ruler the world has ever seen.

So, Esther comes to her divine and infallible hubby  once again, and falls at his feet weeping (notice she didn’t weep the first time, for her own life), asking him to admit his error and save her peeps. Xerxes apparently was impressed enough to give her carte blanche to do whatever she wanted. Atta girl.

JANE, GET ME OFF THIS CRAZY THING

In any case, our thought for the day is a challenge. Let’s not assume that once we’ve done one thing for God, our duty is done. On the contrary, God probably has something harder coming up next. Our prayers should not be “You’re welcome, God,” but “prepare me, Lord.” It’s not always easy, or fair, at least to our way of thinking, but that’s the way life usually goes.  God is always working on us. There’s always another step, another opportunity on the horizon, each one harder and better than the one before.  That should give us pause as well as hope.

Don’t you want a tea now?

Click here to read Esther 7 on BibleGateway.com

It’s easy to forget that the folks in the Bible are people just like us modern-acrats. It seems like they are so distant from us in time (and usually in space) that it’s hard to relate. For instance, do sheep and millstones mean much to us today? But they were as common as Mt. Dew and lousy reality TV back in the day. So it’s nice when the Bible reminds us that peeps are peeps, no matter when or where they lived.

Take Mr. Xerxes. King of all Persia; he of the ridiculously short fuse and the creative punishments. In today’s story, he and his bestest bud Haman are dining with Queen Esther for the second time, and this time Esther drops the matzo bomb on him: his wisest of wise men, Haman, is really a genocidal spazweasel.

COUNT TO 10….

We can all agree that Xerxes actually shows remarkable restraint at the news. He doesn’t smack Haman in the noggin or even arrest him. Instead, he goes out to get some fresh air and ponder this new set of circumstances. As we’ve seen in the past, Xerxes is not known for reasonable discourse, so we should give him his props in this instance.

Meanwhile, Haman realizes he’s into it up to his chinny chin chin,and he’s got only one chance: beg Esther, the Jewish Queen, to have mercy on him. Wouldn’t you know it, in his haste to get to the begging, he trips and falls right into Esther’s lap right at the time when the king comes back.

YOU LOOKING AT MY BIRD?

This is when Xerxes shows he’s as red blooded as a Texas cowboy. He was ok with the planned annihilation of a good portion of his populace, and even with the slightly less obvious implication that his trusted adviser deliberately kept him in the dark regarding the full details of his plan. But what he won’t stand for is someone messing with his lady.

The king comes in, sees Haman apparently in the act of trying to get his groove on, and his self-restraint flies away like a hotdog wrapper at the ball park. He immediately orders Haman’s execution (on his personal gallows, no less), the guards march him out, and the fall of Haman is brought to completion.

Now we come to the crucial part: How do we make a spiritual application out of this Days of Our Lives episode? Just this: God’s plan can happen in an instant. One minute Haman was planning his retribution against Mordecai, counting his imminent wealth and power, and reveling in the halls of the powerful. But with one sentence from Esther (under God’s guidance, of course), the world was turned around.   Once again we are reminded, as so often in the book of Esther, that when God’s plan is in motion, it’s unstoppable.

That’s reality.

Click here to read Esther 6 on BibleGateway.com

It’s a tricky thing living in the most prosperous country in the world. There’s an almost unavoidable tendency to put our trust in things rather than God. How much time do we spend planning our retirement or career path? How does it compare with the time we invest in God’s Word?

Haman found out just how slippery the things of the world are, and how quickly they can be taken away. He spent all his time pinning medals on his tunic and getting the latest turban instead of trying to help others.Haman put all his trust into his own position and authority, and when th at was gone (or actually just threatened), he had nothing else on which to rely. Even his friends and wife told him he had nothing left to live for.

BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

Back in the 1929 stock market crash, hundreds and thousands of businesses went under, and there’s a running visual joke in Hollywood about despondent bank owners and whatnot hurling themselves from office windows. In actuality, the problem wasn’t a lack of money, and many of the people who held on came out ok in the end. What the pavement divers lost was hope. If your hope is in money (or employment, or education), sooner or later it will fail you. What will happen when the rug is pulled out from under you?

This doesn’t mean that money, or education, or possessions, or retirement plans, or anything of the sort is wrong. It is perfectly Biblical to be wise with our money. The problem is when our hope is in our possessions instead of the Provider. Corrie Ten Boom used to say that one of the secrets to living for God was to “hold loosely to the things of the world.” Notice that it’s not necessarily wrong to hold worldly things, we just need to hold them loosely so we don’t end up trusting them instead of God.

KNOW WHEN TO FOLD ‘EM

For Haman, what would have happened if he would have gone to the king and said, “I made a mistake; you have honored a Jew today, and we should honor the Jews throughout the empire tomorrow.” Esther may have abandoned her plan, the Jews would have been saved, Mordecai would have been elevated, and Haman may either have stayed as the king’s top adviser or at least remained in the inner circle.

Instead, he clung desperately to the only thing he knew, and he lived just long enough to see all of it taken away.

Our prayer today is that we will cling to God and hold loosely to everything else.

Click here to read Esther 5 on BibleGateway.com

Why is it when we have 10 cookies in our hand, the only thing we see is the 2 in our brother’s hand? Why is the last piece of pizza always the most delicious? Why is the best car the one we left on the lot?

There’s something in us that can be never be satisfied with having; we must get. It’s the successful hunt, the thrill of acquisition, the joy of adding one more marble to the sack. The grass is always a better shade of greenliness in the next lawn.

There are few men in the Bible who show this tendency more clearly than our good pal Haman. Now here was a man who literally had (almost) everything. He was wealthy, he was the best bud of the most powerful man in the world, he had supportive and homicidal friends, and a wife who knew that a gallows is the answer to all of life’s problems. What more could any man ask for?

THE BUR IN HAMAN’S SADDLE

Apparently the unquestioning obedience of a minor civil servant. One man who wouldn’t give Haman his props, and all the rest of his possessions and power meant nothing. And let’s not forget, Mordecai didn’t rally a mob or raise the banner of revolt; he wore ratty clothes and sat in garbage. But that wasn’t enough for Haman.

The truth is, there will always be something that prevents our lives from being “perfect.” No matter how many degrees we get, how high in the organization we advance, how fast we can run, how many hot dogs we can eat in a minute, there will always be somebody better. We can either be happy for what we have, or be miserable for what we don’t.

SAY WHEN

John D. Rockefeller, arguably the wealthiest man who has ever lived in America, was once asked how much money it would take to make someone happy. His answer: “Just a little more.” Ole J-Rock knew the truth; having the most money in the world means nothing. You just want the little that you don’t. (Ask King David).

Haman was focused only on the thing he couldn’t control. When he was elevated to the highest position in the land, he saw only the Jews. When he managed to find a way to get rid of all the Jews, he saw only the one man who didn’t submit fast enough. He let his obsessive for power and control determine his actions.

And in the end, he lost everything.

There’s nothing better than a good theological debate, unless of course we count the good ole MLT. But seeing as mutton is sometimes hard to come by, we can all agree that two wise men stepping into the theological squared circle is the next best thing. Unfortunately, the Bible comes along every once in while and dashes our hopes of seeing a debating 10-count.

Take today’s reading, for example. Mordecai finds out about Haman’s plan to destroy the Jews, and starts in with the mourning. From deep within the confines of the royal harem, Esther hears about Mordecai’s wailing and sackcloth ensemble and sends messengers to and fro to find out what’s going on. Mordecai informs her that she must go to the king and save the lives of her people.

As Esther understandably balks at this suicidal plan, Mordecai prompts her with one of the great one-sentence theologies in the whole Bible. He tells her that “if you keep silent, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place,” but who knows what will happen to you?

TWO MINUTES TO THE GENTLEMAN FROM GENEVA

Anyone who reads church history will no doubt know about the historical and on-going debate between Arminianism and Calvinism. There has always been tension in the Christian faith between the complex ideas of God’s absolute sovereignty and and the extent of free will. How much of our lives are in God’s hands, and how much is our own choice? Are we responsible for what happens to us, or does God have everything pre-arranged?

Mordecai seems to say that this is the wrong question to be asking.  Instead of worrying about if we have free choice over every aspect of our lives, we should trust that God’s will is going to be done and look to see how we can be a part of it. Mordecai fully recognizes both sides of the debate in this passage, with no apparent mental conflict. God’s will (deliverance for the Jews) will be accomplished. If Esther wants to be the instrument of that, so be it. If not, God will use someone else, but His Will will come regardless.

LITTLE FROM COLUMN A, LITTLE FROM COLUMN B

An understanding of this simultaneous reality (and it’s admittedly difficult to get a hold of) can be greatly freeing in our walk with Christ. Maybe our prayers should focus more on knowing God’s Will, instead of praying about all the bad stuff that could happen. God’s will may be inevitable, but He gives us the choice of being a part of it. It’s a pre-determined freedom of choice.

What will you choose today?

Is there anything better than a good excuse? How many movies have you seen revolve around some sort of excuse that gets out of hand? Like the time-honored favorite, Mr. Ripped and Miss Purty have to get married immediately lest one or both get deported, and somehow despite completely hating each other to begin with, they miraculously come together and find true love in their sham marriage. The more convoluted a path and the more excuses it takes to get there, the better.

Why are we so interested in the complex? Why do we have to come up with myriad (*word of the day alert*) reasons for any action? When do we lose our child-like honesty and forthrightness?

**Flashback to childhood**
Child 1: Hey, my dad asked me to help rake leaves. Wanna help?
Child 2: Nah, I’d rather go play.
**end flashback**

EXCUSE ME

Unfortunately, this abstract excusosity* blossoms as we grow into adulthood, and not always in a good way. If some friends are going to a questionable movie, and you know you shouldn’t go, what do you say?

a) “Nah, I have a lot of work to do tonight.”
b) “That’s ok, I heard it wasn’t that funny.”
c) “I can’t, the Batphone is ringing. The commissioner needs me.”

On the other hand, look at Mordecai’s response in Esther 3. Why doesn’t Mordecai bow to Haman? He is a Jew. He belongs to God, pure and simple. He won’t do what he knows he shouldn’t. Notice he doesn’t say he has a bad back, or that he bowed at the office; he flat out says the reason.  It’s a freeing thing when you know who you are and whose you are.  All the ambiguity starts slipping away.

CAN I GET BACK TO YOU?

What if we did that?

Friend: Why don’t you go the movie tonight?
You: I’m a Christian.

Co-Worker: Why would you leave America and go do mission work overseas?”
You: I’m a Christian.

Spuds MacKenzie: Why don’t you go to the bar with the rest of us?
You: I’m a Christian.  And I hate dogs.

This isn’t to say that we should be self-righteous or more-awesome-than-thou, but we should be able to say directly, I don’t do this thing, I don’t go there, I don’t watch that – because I follow Christ.

Isn’t that reason enough?

* Yes, I know it’s not a word. But it should be.

Every once in a while it seems like the Bible likes to throw in a little bit of humor. Maybe it’s just the reader (*ahem*), but it’s hard to believe that today’s chapter doesn’t have a little tongue-in-cheek going on. You doubt? Very well, let’s look.

After the queen has been banished, and after an intervening war with Greece, King Xerxes decides that maybe he was hasty in dismissing the queen. So his wisemen get together and try to come up with a plan to take the king’s mind off the whipping he just got from those pesky Greeks.

A ROSE FOR YOU, A ROSE FOR YOU, A ROSE FOR YOU

They decide that the best course of action is the Persian version of The Bachelor. All the lovely young ladies (in all of Persia, mind you) will be brought to the king, and he can pick whoever he wants. The Bible records his reaction thusly:

“The king liked these suggestions, and followed them.”
What a shock. Let us re-enact this scene.

• Wise Man 1: We need something to cheer the king up after he got whomped by the Greeks
• Wise Man 2: Let’s find the hottest girls in the country, the king can date them all, and pick whoever he likes best
• King: After careful deliberation, I have decided that you are wise indeed.

Now we can shake our head at this obviously self-serving disgustingness, but we find ourselves with another problem. If we believe that the Bible is inspired of God, and we do, we must ask ourselves what this little episode is doing the Bible. What spiritual application are we supposed to glean from this old lecher?

YES, I SEE THAT HAND

Here’s our take: God is in control.

That seems pretty simple, but it’s so easy to forget. How can we see God at work when the powerful use their authority to gratify their own base desires? How is God in control when innocents are taken from their homes? Sometimes God hand is hard to spot in the machinations of the world.

Yet, the message of Esther is that even when God is not clearly visible, He is always there. Was it just coincidence that of all the girls in the whole country, the one the king picks happens to be Jewish? And with a determined streak in her? Is it coincidence that her cousin happens to overhear a conspiracy? God worked through it all. Even through a king’s beauty pageant.

Our challenge for today is to trust God. Our circumstances may seem miles away from what we know is God’s ideal, but He is still working in the world. We may not see it right away, but God’s Will will be done, despite the unfairness around us.

Do you trust Him today?

Well, my friends, after hearing what’s been going on in Jerusalem through Ezra and Nehemiah, we now turn to Esther to see what’s happening in ye ole Persia. This is one of the easiest books in the Bible to read, as it reads more like a modern-day paperback than a theological treatise. In fact, God hardly makes an appearance in Esther, which has led some to question whether it belongs in the Bible at all. But we’ll see that God was clearly at work anyway, with or without acknowledgment, which should be an encouragement to us.

In any case, Esther opens with a drunken royal party that lasts for 6 months. After showing such remarkable restraint for half a year, the king decides to parade his wife around for his (we assume, blindingly drunk) friends to ogle at. The queen (wisely) refuses, but the situation escalates as she refuses repeated orders to come. The king then gets his wasted counselors together to decide what to do, and the ultimate verdict is to banish the queen, which paves the way for Esther’s remarkable rise to power.

WHAT ABOUT ME?

It’s interesting why the nobles decide that the queen must be punished. It wasn’t because she was a criminal, but rather because of the example she would set for other women in the empire. It seems that these guys were worried about their own domestic situation if their wives got the idea they could do whatever they wanted.

Now, setting aside the sticky problem of whether or not we should encourage women to obey their husbands no matter what, let’s instead look at the motivation for the men. They don’t really care what happens to the king, but they are concerned that their own lives if the status quo is upset. A man’s primary focus is almost always if he is loved and respected at home, regardless of what his official political office may be.

FIRST THE MEATLOAF, THEN THE WORLD

It used to be fashionable in history to study the lives and great wars of great men, but now historians have started to look at their personal lives in greater detail. Why? Because it’s the personal lives of the great people that make them great. Rarely will you find a great a king or emperor without a great queen or empress at his side. It seems that often the great decisions of state are not made in the counsel chambers, but over the dinner table.

This is important to remember for leaders as well as those who follow them. Leaders are people just like anyone else, and what they want most is peace in their home. We should pray for our leaders to have a strong home life, and be extra careful to guard our own home life before setting out into the world. What happens in the home affects what happens in the empire.

Ironically, the men in Persia were concerned that a woman was going to get uppity, and it turns out that Esther plays them all like a big ole chauvinistic fiddle. As we’ll see, she handles the king and his advisers like simple-minded putty and turns the whole country on its head.

God’s hand indeed.

And so we come to the end of Nehemiah. Two weeks with this chap and Jerusalem, and we’ll soon be off to Persia with Esther. This final chapter brings to light one of the more difficult aspects of living life as follower of Christ, and is a good think to think amongst all the thinks of our thinker. Do the rules apply to everyone?

It’s surprising that even in churches there gets to be a group of “special” people, who are usually elected to the board, the missions committee, the hospitality group, and the blood donors. It’s not that cliques are evil per se, as we could call the disciples a clique, and the group of James/John/Peter an even more exclusive clique. The problem comes when certain persons take extra favor upon themselves. And especially when those persons are supposed to be the leaders.

HOTEL TEMPLE 8

Take the case of Eliashib in Nehemiah 13. He was apparently in charge of some aspect of the temple, and while Nehemiah was away on business, he allowed Tobiah to stay in a temple room along with his furniture and TV. This was the same Tobiah who had opposed the whole wall-building project from the beginning. Even worse, there are indications that Eliashib and Tobiah were related by marriage. Nepotism 101, my friends.

Eliashib should have been the one setting the example for everyone else. He should have been extra careful to dot all his I’s and cross all his T’s, but instead he took advantage of his position to give favors to his inlaws, who just happened to be major political players. What a shock that didn’t turn out well.

When Nehemiah got back, he gave Tobiah’s stuff the ole heave ho, and one would imagine he gave Eliashib a few pointers about exactly what the temple rooms should be used for in the future.

IN REMEMBRANCE OF…

This should be a good lesson for us as well. If we are in positions of leadership, we need to hold ourselves more accountable, not less. There are few actions that will turn people away faster than nepotism in the church. Especially self-serving nepotism. It’s like giving your brother-in-law the church Ferrari, and then borrowing the Ferrari for the pastor’s retreat. That’s a paddling offense no matter where you’re from.

Note that we have a counterpoint to this example: Nehemiah himself. Remember in chapter 5 he says that he did not avail himself of the usual benefits of his position as governor, and in fact gave more than was required ( it’s reasonable to take him at his word here, as his original readers could have checked out the facts for themselves). So what, you ask? Why wouldn’t one avail oneself of any and all perks of leadership?

Note also that there is not a book called “Elisahib” in the Bible today.
What do you want to be remembered for?

One of the fun parts of studying the Bible as a group like we are is that you get to make up whatever spiritual applications you want (go with me on this). Nehemiah 12 describes the re-dedication of the walls of Jerusalem, complete with a parade. One half of the parade, led by Ezra, went to the “right,” and the other, led by Nehemiah, to the “left” around the city wall.

A lot of preachers like to draw a big spiritual application from this of us all working together in sweet harmony as these two choirs marched around the wall and then joined together in one rousing chorus of We Are the World in the temple court. Unfortunately, reconstructing these routes isn’t quite as definitive as we have been led to believe. In reality, it’s possible they ended up on opposite sides of the city (Ezra’s group by the temple, and Nehemiah’s group on the other side of the city) and then came later to the temple to celebrate. The description of the order of gates and such that the groups passed over is somewhat ambiguous.

MIGHT AS WELL JOIN THE MASSES

Of course, we won’t let that stop us from making a spiritual application, but we’re gonna do it a little different. We’ll add verses 9 and 24, where it says that singers stood opposite each other. “Opposite” here means counterpart or against, and could be taken to mean a “call and response” type of music. But it could also mean a more complicated counterpoint type of music with different musical ideas happening at once, or music where there is a tension.

Anyone who’s been involved in church worship music knows this is not all that uncommon. You may have heard an exchange something like this:

Guitar Player: hey, do you mind if I turn my guitar up? I can’t hear it.
Keyboard Player: Sure, if your guitar is more important than God.

Tension is almost always a part of any music group, and worship teams are no exception. There’s little that divides a church faster than a separation between the hymns and hymn-nots.

SYMPHONY AND SYNTHESIZERS

But here’s the encouraging part: just because our music may be going in opposite directions doesn’t mean we can’t all come to the temple together. That’s the great thing about church. Unlike other groups or organizations where people of similar tastes and interests come together to talk about their commonalities, church members come together and work together despite our differences.

Or perhaps because of our differences. It seems that God delights in bringing opposite personality types together to force us to grow in His grace to get along. Even the disciples had their share of personality conflicts, and Jesus verbally chose them all. Just because we don’t always agree with each other, doesn’t mean that we can’t all worship together.

So your assignment this weekend is to go to church. Even if you don’t necessarily agree with everyone or everysong at church, your voice may be just what God wants to complete his master opus.

And try not to glare at the guitar player.

It’s often both painful and humorous how God has to force us to be blessed. CS Lewis once said that after years of running from the Truth he was eventually forced to admit that God was God, and he entered the Christian life as “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” It would be difficult to find a modern thinker who has had a more profound impact on Christian thought, and yet he was “conscripted” in a way. Ironic much?

In today’s chapter, we see Nehemiah trying to find people to populate Jerusalem. In chapter 7, we saw that the wall was fairly ready, but the city was deserted. Jerusalem still had a big ole “Sack Me” sign written on its newly reconstructed walls, and those troublesome neighbors were still hanging around. Many people thought that staying out in the suburbs suited them just fine.

What’s a civic leader to do? 1 – Ask for volunteers. 2 – Find “volunteers.”

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’VE BEEN SELECTED TO VOLUNTEER.

Verse 2 notes that the people commended those who “volunteered” to be in Jerusalem. There are two interpretations of this verse: one, that there were two groups of settlers,conscripts and volunteers, and the volunteers were honored; two, the “volunteers” were the conscripts, and the people honored those that had been chosen by lot as a sign of divine favor.

The word used for “volunteer” here is kind of difficult to translate. It’s used in reference to a “love offering” in Exodus, but it’s also used to indicate when someone’s heart “moves” them to action. In other words, it’s a voluntary choice that sometimes has an element of inner compulsion.

TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS

So who are our volunteers today? Pastors of course. Talk to any pastor, and many of them will tell you that going into the ministry was not exactly a “choice.” For many, they have an inner compulsion, or calling, or whatever you want to call it when God grabs ahold of your heart and won’t let go. Living the life in a stained-glass fishbowl or with a big ole spiritual target on your back isn’t always the fun you may imagine, but they have been chosen by God, and they should be honored for it.

So, for those whom you know who are living in the “holy city” today, those that willingly (or not) stand on the front line and work in the shadow of the enemy’s threats, find a way to honor them today. Yes, Pastor Appreciation isn’t usually until October, but an email or phone call or free pizza to encourage your shepherd is still ok in January.

You never know who God might “volunteer” next.

It’s interesting which of the ten commandments often gives us the most trouble. Even non-believers can agree that we shouldn’t murder, shouldn’t commit adultery, should honor our parents and put God before other Gods. But honoring the Sabbath seems to stick right in our freedom-craw.

Some of the ancient rabbis considered this the most important commandment (for realsies). John Wesley argued that this was the gateway commandment: easiest to break and it opens the door for all the other breakages in our life. It seems that absolutely committing this day to God is a difficult nut for even the mightiest of spiritual squirrels.

THE BLUE LAWS OF JERUSALEM

In Nehemiah 10:31, the people pledge not to buy any merchandise or grain from their heathen neighbors on the Sabbath or other holy days. Simply put, they won’t visit the butcher, baker or candlestick maker any on of God’s days. Sound easy?

Shall we make it hit close to home? Most of us can find some way of not working on Sundays (or Saturdays, if you prefer), but what about purchasing? Have you ever run to Walmart on Sunday just to grab a few things? Or run to the grocery store for doughnuts before Sunday School? Or what about going out to that holy buffet after church, or ordering pizza for the game?

LOOPHOLE?

Don’t worry, we’ll give you an out. Just because these guys took this oath, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily binding on us. True, we are to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, but there is considerable debate on what exactly that means. Does it necessarily preclude work? What about pastors? There’s even a fairly intense debate about which day is the Sabbath, Sunday or Saturday. So don’t panic that you’ll never be able to order Pizza Hut for the Superbowl again.

Jesus himself seemed to indicate that the rules governing the Sabbath weren’t completely inviolate. It’s difficult to say exactly what his point was when he pointed out that the Sabbath was made for man rather than the other way around, but that’s probably a debate for a different day. Enough to say it may not be so black and white.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

It seems these people themselves weren’t too gung ho, so don’t feel too lonely if you have a hard time with this one. In 13:15, the people who made this pledge are already breaking their oath (if we assume the same people of Judah were involved in both instances here. ‘Spose we can give them the benefit of the doubt.) Perhaps they were a little hasty in making an oath that went beyond what the plain words of Scripture said?

Of course, just because they hard a hard time doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.  How about going a month without eating at a restaurant or ordering food or shopping on a Sunday? Could you make it? Do you dare to try?

Let’s try after the Superbowl. No reason to go nuts.

Cliffs Notes Alert

Periodically throughout the Bible, there are sumup chapters or passages that present a brief history of Israel. In the Old Testament, they show up as prayers (Solomon’s dedication of the temple, for instance) and in the New Testament they are typically part of sermons or speeches (like Stephen’s crowdpleaser in Acts). They’re great for catching up for those of you that don’t want to read the whole Old Testament. Nehemiah 9 is one such chapter, and we’ll be sure to highlight others as we come to them. Why? No idea. Just seems like the thing to do.

Fun with Translations

In the course of this sumup, verse 25 remarks that the people entered a “fertile” land and were “well-nourished.” (NIV) This isn’t quite the right translation. The CEV says “they ate until they were satisfied.” Not quite right either. Actually, the KJV gets it a little closer, it says they entered a “fat” land, and became fat themselves. Getting closer.

The actual words for “well nourished” here actually mean “greasy” or “gross” or “grossly fat.” The Bible is not saying that the people were content to bask in God’s goodness, but rather that they took advantage of their blessings to become morbidly obese, unpleasantly plumpa licious, and ridiculously rotund.

The second implication here is that they were so focused on stuffing their Fritos-holes that they neglected the spiritual side of life. In other places in the Bible, this phrasing is typically used to express self-centered luxury; the pursuit of deliciousness and comfort to the cost of all else.

A Well Balanced Breakfast

This raises the question for us: is it possible to enjoy the bounty of God’s blessings and not become spiritually lax? It’s hard to argue with the stark reality than many of our leading pastors and evangelists shop at the big and tall store. Does this necessarily mean that they don’t have wisdom? Of course not. So what are we to do with this verse?

The Bible seems to present an answer (go figure). The practice of fasting is illustrated often throughout the Word, including none other than Jesus himself fasting before His temptation. There are some indications that fasting increases the effectiveness of our prayer life (depending on the version you read), but more importantly it shows that our submission to God is stronger than our desire for Oreos.

If you don’t regularly fast, this might be a good week to try. Start with one meal, and instead of just not eating, use that time to pray or read the Word. The point is not to go without food, but to submit the whole of our being to God, including our basest desires.

See if you are not more satisfied than after that double mocha.

HI HO, HI HO

What is the work of a Christian? And not just the “professional” Christian, like pastors, missionaries, chaplains, priests, evangelists, etc.; but the lay person that makes up the vast majority of Christians around the world. What is our job as a follower of Christ? Do we content ourselves with patting ourselves on the suited back on Sundays and highlighting in anger the fallen world around us? It’s definitely fun, and any if you include any testimonies with the Biblical use of “ichabod,” you get double points.

But Nehemiah presents a different responsibility: we are to make the Bible clear to people. In verse 8, Ezra is reading aloud the Law of Moses (that’s the first five books of the Bible to you and me), and his assistants are helping him. These sweet fellers spoke to the crowd, “giving them the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.”

LITTLE FROM COLUMN A, LITTLE FROM COLUMN B

There are two interpretations of this verse: one, Ezra read in Hebrew and the Levites translated into Aramaic (because the people may no longer have understood Hebrew); two, they explained what was being read in a way that people could relate to.

In either case, the point is that often people who are not priests (read “Christians”) may not understand exactly what’s being said or written about in the Word of God. They need someone to show them in language that they can understand exactly what God is saying.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

This is why we have translations of the Bible in most of the languages of the world. This is why we have umpteen versions of the Bible in English, so many that most Bible bookstores cannot hold all the different versions. Some people will argue that a specific version is particularly blessed by God, or tradition, or the church, or whatever. Mark Twain once wrote that “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts I do understand.” In most cases, people are not turned away from Jesus because of the “wrong” version.

How do we know which one is the best version? The one that helps person X “understand what was being read.”   If you are an KJV-er, may thou be blest and thy offspring unto the 4^th generation. If you are an NIV-er, you are blessed and your descendants. If you EDSV-er*, you rock and so do your kids. The point is not which version is best, as they all have good and bad points, but that the Word of God is made clear.  That kind of debate is best saved for late-night coffee between Christian friends, not played out in a public forum. The important thing is that people understand what the  Bible is saying, even if we use ‘you’ instead of ‘thee’.

IN THE END…

And what is the result? Verse 12 says the people “celebrated, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.” Once people clearly hear the word of God, it brings joy.

That’s why it’s called the Good News.

*EverydayDevotions Standard Version

FAITH AND WISDOM

As we’ve gone through Nehemiah this week, you’ve probably noticed how often he holds different aspects of his personality in balance.   During the rebuilding project, he talks of building with one hand and holding a sword with the other. His belief that prayer/praise and fighting can go hand in hand are on display prominently in chapter 4 when he tell the people to “remember the LORD…and fight.” Again, it shows us that the people in the Bible were real people, not cardboard Schwarzenegger characters; they had multifaceted lives and struggles, just like us.

This dual-belief system is again shown in chapter 7, where in verses 6-7 Nehemiah reports that he hired a commander because he (the commander) “feared God more than most men do,” but in the same breath says that the gates of Jerusalem should not be opened until the sun was hot, and then they should be closed early.

KNOCK KNOCK. WHO’S THERE? NOT YOU.

Why the specific instructions, you ask? In ancient times, city gates were usually opened at dawn to allow merchants and townspeople in or out, and closed at dusk. Nehemiah is significantly shortening the time that the gates are open. Why? Because Jerusalem was surrounded by enemies, and Nehemiah wants to make sure that the whole city was up and alert before opening the doors to who knows what.

This is an excellent example of combining faith of a mustard seed with the wisdom of Yoda. It would be difficult for us to find someone with more faith than Nehemiah in the Bible. He left a comfy job with the king to take a bunch of refugees across miles of desert, then tried to organize a group of whiners into a hard working labor force to complete a project that none of the neighbors wanted done. But he believed (and prayed a lot) that God wanted this work done, so off he goes. If that’s not faith, call me a slab of bacon.

But that doesn’t mean that he just threw caution to the wind. Nehemiah understood that God gave us a heart to believe, and a mind to think, and we can use both of them to His glory. There was no reason to test God by leaving the doors wide open like an all-you-can-rob smorgasbord. Jesus himself remarked that we shouldn’t put God to the test; there’s a place for wisdom in the life of a faith-filled believer.

FIREWALKERS AND PUFFERFISH EATERS

This means that we shouldn’t go around putting ourselves in dangerous situations for no reason (paging all snakehandlers). Don’t go to those parties with those people unless you have spiritual backup. Don’t hang out with that person who constantly pulls you into doing those activities. Don’t flirt with that person at work when you have a spouse waiting for you at home. True, the Bible says God can help us in areas of temptation, but it’s unwise to seek temptation out.

What temptation can you avoid with wise choices today?

NO, NEGATORY, NAY, NAW, NOPE

It’s a well-known maxim in both the business world and ministry that the hardest word to use is “No.” This is particularly hard in ministry, because so much of the work can be considered “good” and necessary, and God commands us to live at peace with those around us. So if someone wants a quick word with us,  it seems like a short meeting is a small price to pay for peace in the church/ministry.

However, anyone who’s spent anytime on planet Earth will realize that often times people want to meet for less than honorable reasons.   In many cases, people just want to vent and they want a listening ear to vent to.  In some cases, they want to vent to the object of their ire in the name of “clearing the air.” It’s  shocking how much time can be spent dealing with the complaints that seem to ooze out of some people like peppermint out of a melted Junior Mint. Surprisingly, the air is rarely much clearer after someone spews their frustration all over you.

TIME IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

Nehemiah 6 has a great example of this situation, as opposition to the rebuilding project starts to heat up.   Some of the local leaders tell Nehemiah that they would like to meet with him to discuss their issues, Nehemiah replies in one of the classic time-saving attitudes:  “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”

In Nehemiah’s case, there was the possibility of violence against him, and the reality of personal attacks on his integrity (hence the unsealed letter questioning his motives).   But his response is a great tool for us to remember when people begin to suck the energy out of us like a gigantic mosquito. If we are confident in the work that God has called us to do, then we can ask in all honesty “Why should I leave this work?”  (Of course, we need to courteous and sincere when we ask.  But that’s for another day.)

WHAT SIZE IS THE JOB?

One of the classic missionary stories is about a Canadian missionary in China named Robert Jaffrey who also had a reputation as an accomplished business man.   Because he spoke Chinese fluently, the Standard Oil Company contacted him and asked him to be their head of operations there.   He refused, and they subsequently doubled the salary offer, and then quintupled their original offer.  Still he refused. They ended up sending him a telegram: “Jaffrey, at any cost.” Jaffrey responded just as simply: “Your salary is big, but your job is too small.”

Nehemiah played this same scenario out. He could have gone to meet with these men, he could have placated them, he could have endeared himself to them and most likely set himself up as a mini-king right there in Jerusalem.   But his eyes were set on the project God had given him, and he would not be dissuaded from it.  No matter the cost.

Our prayer today is that God gives you a clear direction for your “project,” and that you are not moved from it by threats or offers from the world.

What is that makes a good leader? Intelligence? Good looks? Smooth words? The best wardrobe? In today’s world, sometimes it’s hard to tell what it is we look for when we choose a leader. One good method is the well-known “troll test.” You are unfamiliar? Very well, I’ll explain.

The troll test goes something like this: If this person/leader looked or smelled like a troll, would I still be willing to follow them? For example, whoever you voted for in the last election, would they pass the troll test? Would you have voted for that board member if they had some hairy moles on the face or a few extra antenna? While not very practical, the troll test does bring out the difference between people’s outward appearances and their actual leadership abilities.

What Would Nehemiah Do?

Nehemiah 5 is a good chapter to study for anyone who’s interested in seeing how a real leader behaves. Nehemiah calls attention to serious problems he sees in his underlings, he’s not afraid to call out the middle managers, and he importantly doesn’t avail himself of the many privileges of his position. But today, EveryDayDevotions looks at another aspect of his leadership: self-control.

In verses 6 and 7, Nehemiah first hears about the abuses of the “nobles and officals,” what we would call the civil servants and politicians. He finds that they are harassing the poor, much in the same way that those lovely credit card people like to call and wish me a very merry unbirthday. Nehemiah is understandably very upset, and I think he would be justified in giving the brotherly karate chop of reprimand.

1…2…3…4

But instead, though he admits in verse 6 that he “was very angry,” he takes the time in verse 7 to “ponder” these events, and only then does he accuse the nobles. In other words, he took the time to count to 10 (or 100) before letting loose. Now, if anyone ever deserved to be righteously angry, it was Nehemiah. But he still took the time to carefully consider the situation.

This is a good word for us today. If we are to be good leaders (and who doesn’t want to be a good leader?), then we must master the art of careful consideration before accusing or reprimanding those under us. Flying off the spiritual handle at a moment’s provocation is the one sure way to lose the respect of your subordinates and draw unwanted attention from your superiors.

Even if they be trolls themselves.

One of the great forbidden pleasures of Bible study is coming across that sweet phrase in the footnote: “the meaning of this clause is uncertain.” Uncertain? How could it be uncertain after millenia of study? Surely somebody in that time came up with some sort of satisfactory answer. What would possibly be so confusing that the greatest minds of the Middle Ages were so befuddled?

Well, at EverydayDevotions.com we’re not afraid to throw our hat in the ring. And why not? You’re miles away reading this, so what’s the risk of reprisal? 1-800-Dial-a-Goon is unreliable at best. So what’s our take? Prepare thyself for this awesomeness.

Why the Bible Rules

Unlike most ancient texts, the Bible is not a book of legends; it’s a true, reliable account of what really happened, rather than having the faults and humanity of its heroes whitewashed or ignored. As a consequence, often times in the Bible we read of events or circumstances that make us blush in our cushioned pews. Want a dare? Look up Onan in a Bible dictionary and try and preach a sermon on that passage. And make sure you tape it and send us a copy; we’d love to hear it.

The Problem with Nehemiah

Nehemiah 4:23 is one of these passages. Now, the main point of the passage is clear: Nehemiah, the other leaders, and the workers were all prepared at all times for an attack. They had enemies on many sides, and they needed constant vigilance to be ready. So, in verse 23, we read that none of the leaders “took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.”

The last phrase, “even when he went for water,” is the tricky one to translate. Literally, it says something like “each man his dart to the waters.” What does that mean? Some translators put forth the idea that it means “we didn’t take off our clothes, except for washing (ritually), ” or “we didn’t take off clothes, not even to wash.” Another suggests it means “the men carried their weapons and their water,” indicating that they were always ready.

A New Revelation.  Sorta

We’d like to present an alternate idea, which is actually not as disturbing as it might seem at first glimpse. We propose “each man had his weapon, even when nature called.” You doubt this is a proper reading? Check out the reasoning:

• The whole point of the passage is to show preparedness. When would a man be more vulnerable than when he’s “draining the tub”? Nehemiah is saying that they were ready at all times.
• “waters” is not an uncommon phrase for answering the call of nature. “Making water,” “water the plants,” and other phrases are frequently used even today.
• The Bible uses other euphemisms when referring to such bodily necessities in other passages. We’ll get to some in the future.

The Point

So you may be asking, “Ok, I accept that’s what it means. What’s the point? Are you just trying to offend the Victorian church values?” The point is this: the Bible is true. It accurately records the past and the people that lived in it. If that is the case, should we be surprised at the humanity that is shown? Rather, it’s an encouragement that God worked through ordinary people then, and he works through ordinary people now. Isn’t that a cause for celebration?

Gotta run. The coffee’s going right through today.

Every year the world stops to gaze at the wonder that is Tinseltown, as we enter that magical time of year known as Awards Season. Oh, it doesn’t come trees, or candy canes, or boxes, or bags. It comes instead with little statuettes with names like Tony or Oscar, and we all bow and worship at the red-carpeted shrine. And what do we hear? Thank you after thank you for people we’ve never heard of: editors, script writers, makeup people, sound editors, and the like. All we’re hoping for is for someone to trip on those long gowns, or possibly to get so excited they pass out on live TV. All for a little recognition of job well done.

Truth be told, things haven’t changed all that much. Back in the Old Testament times, people were just as interested in being recognized for their work, and the Bible often does just that. The problem is that we as modern readers often skip right over those parts. Honestly, when was the last time you read through all the names in Chronicles? Or read the detailed genealogies that pop up every so often?

Nehemiah 3 is one of those sections, and most of skip right over it. After all, who really cares who rebuilt the Fish Gate, or the Horse Gate, of the Fountain Gate. The only one that really gets our attention is Dung Gate, and not for its spiritual significance. But these chapters are important to some people, even modern people. Archeologists (and a few brown-nosing historians) love this chapter for the detail it gives of the layout of ancient Jerusalem. But what can we as the average Joe or Jane get from this monotony?

Let’s look at verse 5. Nehemiah has been describing how various portions of the population have been working to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, which was usually the portion closest to their house for a little self-centered motivation. However, one goup of men from Tekoa refused to do any work. Apparently seeing themselves as “more supervisory,” they didn’t want to get their hands dirty with manual labor, so the ordinary employees had to do more work.

Jump ahead to verse 27, and we see the men of Tekoa again working on another section of the wall. There are a couple things we can pick up from this. One, the “nobles” refused to do any work and, in an effort to save their reputation from the humility of labor, have been remembered for 3000 years as the embodiment of the pointy-haired boss, unwilling or unable to carry their share of the work. The other note is that the common workers not only worked on their section, but also helped others. They could have easily done a halfhearted job on their section, because “it’s not fair that we’re doing all the work while those lazy nobles are playing bridge.” But instead they went above and beyond the call of duty to help others even after their own work was done. Two groups of men, from the same town, asked to do the same work. One group is remembered for laziness and arrogance, and one for self-sacrificial service.

Which man of Tekoa do you want to be?