Category Archives: Faith

Wisdom is Calling

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In Proverbs 8, Solomon gives wisdom a voice. He personifies wisdom as a woman who is describing herself and the benefits we can receive if we follow her advice. Some of the things we can learn about wisdom from this monologue are—Wisdom is the application of truth and righteousness (vss. 7-8). Wisdom is more valuable than silver, gold, or precious jewels (vss. 10-11). Those who follow wisdom experience blessings and peace (vss. 18-21), and they receive life and favor from God (vs. 35). Just and righteous kings rule with wisdom (vss. 15-16). And God created all things through wisdom (vss. 22-31).

In summary, one could deduce from this Proverb that wisdom is the right application of truth and humbly doing the right thing at all times. It should be valued above even the most precious things such as silver or gold. And, when followed, will bring honor, blessing, peace, and order to their life instead of chaos, fear, or stress (see Matt. 7:24-25).

So, where can we find wisdom if wisdom is so precious and should be sought after? Solomon answers that question in Proverbs 9:10. He says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” The next question is what does he mean by “the fear of the Lord”? Are we supposed to be afraid of God if we want wisdom? No, but to understand what Solomon means we need to examine the word “fear” more closely.

The word translated “fear” in this passage is the Hebrew word yirah and it has a wide range of meanings. It can mean having dread or terror from something such as when Israel was afraid of God when He appeared on the top of Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:18-19). Some feel this type of fear is self-centered because the focus is on “what will happen to me?” This is exactly Israel’s response to the Presence of God— “But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Ex. 20:19).

The word yirah, however, can also mean to revere, be in awe, respect, or worship. In this case, the emphasis is not on what happens to the person, but on God’s glory, power, and majesty. And, instead of causing us to draw away from God as it did with Israel, it compels us to move closer to Him and motivates us to please Him like Moses (Ex. 20:21). When we encounter the power and glory of God, it humbles us and brings us to repentance because we recognize our sinfulness in the presence of His holiness (Job 42:1-6), but it also fills us with an awe-inspired love for God. We desire to grow closer to Him and learn from Him. We recognize that His laws are for our benefit because they teach us how to live, and a wise man out of this fear (awe, respect, reverence) for the Lord will put them into practice.

This type of fear of the Lord can be developed and I would challenge you to begin to discipline yourself to grow in the fear of the Lord and wisdom. First, pray for God to put a hunger in your heart to experience the Presence of God (Matt. 5:6). Ask Him to give you a passion for more of His glory (Ex. 33:18). Then, when you read your Bible, don’t read it merely to gain information about God. Instead, read it with the fear of the Lord. Read it with awe, wonder, and reverence (Ps. 19:7-11) as you sit down with the Almighty Creator of the Universe and listen as He speaks to you. Following this, go through your day with the fear of the Lord. Worship the Lord as you think about His power and glory (Ps. 63:1-4) and realize that He is always with you so that you want to please Him in everything you do (Col. 3:22).

Wisdom is calling, encouraging us to develop a true fear of the Lord that will make us aware of His awesome glory and will put a hunger in us to draw closer to Him. She then helps us apply God’s word to our lives so that we can find true life, blessing, honor, and favor from God. Will we listen?

You Have a Purpose

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Anyone who has been around the church at all has undoubtedly heard the stories about Joseph: his dreams, the special coat given to him by his father, his brother’s jealousy that led them to sell him to merchants heading to Egypt, becoming a slave to Potiphar and ending up in prison without reason, his interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams which led to him being exalted to a high position in Egypt, and how he was reconnected to his family and saved them from the famine by bringing them all down to Egypt (You can read these stories in Gen. 37-50).

All the events of Joseph’s life have all the makings for an exciting soap opera—dysfunctional family setting, jealousy, seduction, mystery, revenge, and many other plot twists. However, I think the most interesting thing about Joseph’s life is found in Gen. 45:4-8 when Joseph reveals to his brothers that he is not angry with them for selling him as a slave because everything that happened was a part of God’s plan. He tells them “do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:5,8).

God made a promise to Joseph’s great-grandfather Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in a strange country for 400 years after which He would deliver them and bring them to the promised land of Canaan (Gen. 15:13-16). Joseph was the key to the fulfillment of that promise. Therefore, everything that happened to Joseph—both the good and the bad—was part of God’s plan to get him where he needed to be to fulfill God’s purpose. These events also helped prepare Joseph for the work God was calling him to do. The enslavement, the seduction by Potiphar’s wife, and the wrongful imprisonment all helped build his character and his faith in God because Joseph could see that God was with him through it all (Gen. 39:2-6, 21-23). He could also see that nothing that happened to him was by chance or accident but was all part of God’s purpose for his life.

Many years ago, I attended a leadership seminar during which we were asked to make a timeline of our life. We were to list the major events of our life on a chart—both good and bad. We were then asked to identify the historical and cultural setting into which we were born, our family influence that helped shape our personality and moral sense, and the skills and talents we were born with or that we acquired over the years. Finally, we were asked to look at all the events and experiences of our life to see how God had been working and preparing us for the purpose He has for our life.

Going through this exercise helped me realize that, just as with Joseph, nothing happened to me by chance. God had/has a purpose for my life and everything that happened to me was part of the process of getting me where I needed to be and building my character so that I can fulfill that purpose.

The same is true for you! If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a special part of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-31). God never intended for His followers to come to church and just sit, being mere spectators while others do the work of the ministry. He designed each of us to serve according to our gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11). He has a place for you and a role for you to fulfill. Therefore, He is working through the circumstances of your life (good and bad) to prepare you for that role.

I would encourage you to briefly examine your life. List all the events and experiences of your life and look at how God used those experiences to build your character and develop your skills: to shape you into the person you are today. If you do this, you will also recognize that nothing that happened to you was by chance but was all part of God’s plan to bring you to the place you needed to be. And, just like Joseph, you will realize that you have a purpose!

Satan As a Roaring Lion

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1 Peter was written to Christians facing persecution in Rome and the Roman territories of Asia- modern-day Turkey. Peter warns the believers of all kinds of trials that they would be facing for their faith, gives words of encouragement, and instructs them on how to live during times of persecution. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter encourages them to be watchful because Satan, as a roaring lion, is “seeking someone to devour”.

As I read this passage the other day, I began to wonder about a lion’s roar: when does he roar and why, so I did some research on the subject. I found out that it is the male lions who roar most and have the loudest roar. They usually roar at night when the air is cooler and sound travels farther. And they usually roar for four reasons: 1) to warn the pride of impending danger, 2) to locate members of the pride who may have strayed and gotten lost, 3) to scare away intruders, and 4) to display dominance. Lions do not roar when they attack their prey because they are sneaking up on them and, therefore, want to be as quiet as possible. So, other than warning of danger and locating lost members of the pride, the purpose of the lion’s roar is to frighten and display dominance.

If it is true that lions do not roar when attacking their prey, then I wondered why Peter said that Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (ESV). To try and get a better picture, I further examined the words he used. The word for prowl is the Greek word peripateo which means “to walk, live, conduct your life, behave, or be occupied with. The word, then, is not just referring to strolling or going from one place to another but is used in reference to their behavior or conduct. We use it in the same sense today when we say someone should “walk the talk”: that their behavior should match their words.

Also, the word devour is the Greek word katapino which means “to drink, swallow, destroy, and consume. But it also means “to be overwhelmed”. It is used in 2 Cor. 2:7: “so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (ESV emphasis mine). With all this in mind, then, I believe a paraphrase of this verse could be: “Be aware of our enemy Satan for he is occupied with overwhelming us with fright through his roars.”

When Nancy and I were missionaries in Hungary, we lived in the city of Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary. Debrecen is a beautiful city with a large zoo about a mile from our apartment. The zoo housed some lions and on some summer evenings, we could hear the roar of the lions. They say that a lion’s roar can be heard for up to five miles, so you can imagine how loud and clear the roar was for us. I knew that the lions were in a strong enclosure so we didn’t need to fear, but I could imagine how fearful it might be to hear that sound on the African savanna at night.

I also know that it is easy to be overcome with fear when Satan roars. However, I don’t believe Peter was warning the believers because Satan posed a threat. On the contrary, he immediately tells them that they can resist him (1 Peter 5:9). Instead, I believe that he was warning them of Satan’s tactics: that Satan is going to make a lot of noise to attempt to frighten them. But, because Satan was defeated through Jesus’ death and resurrection, all his roaring is just that—a lot of noise! He has no power or authority over God’s people, so he tries to intimidate and display dominance.

In my opinion, in these verses, Peter is giving the believers instructions on how to handle the adversity they are or will face. He tells them to humble themselves under God’s mighty hand (verse 6). In other words, they should place themselves in God’s care because He is bigger than any problem they face, and they don’t need to worry about the problem (verse 7). They should remember that Satan is defeated and all he can do now is make noise to frighten them. Therefore, they don’t have to give in to that fear but can stand against his attacks (verses 8-9). And they can rest assured in the fact that, in the end, God will restore all things in Christ (verse 10). The message Peter gave to the believers facing persecution in Asia is true for us today. No matter what attacks, persecutions, or problems we face we can stand firm in God’s power and care knowing that no matter how loudly Satan roars, we will not fear because we know that God is bigger, and we win in the end.

Because You Obeyed

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In Genesis 22 we read the familiar story of Abraham offering his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice in obedience to God’s command. We know how Abraham, Isaac, and two young men traveled three days to the land of Moriah. As they approach the mountain, Abraham and Isaac leave the young men and go up the mountain alone with the wood and the fire. Isaac, of course, asks his father where the animal for the sacrifice was, and Abraham responds by saying that “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering” (Gen. 22:8).

At the top of the mountain, Abraham builds the altar, lays the wood on the altar, binds Isaac and lays him on the wood, then raises the knife to slay his son. Of course, God stops him, Abraham sees the ram caught in the thicket by his horns, and they sacrifice the ram instead of Isaac. Following this, the angel of the Lord calls to Abraham, and the words he says I believe are significant, not only for Abraham but also for us.

The angel says, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:16-18).

The blessings mentioned in these verses are part of the covenant blessings God made with Abram earlier (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-5), but it appears that the promised blessings were conditioned upon Abraham obeying God’s command. Is it possible that, though God gave Abraham the promise, he would not have received the fulfillment of that promise if he had not done what God asked him to do and offer Isaac as a sacrifice? Could God be testing Abraham’s faith to see if he would fully commit himself to God regardless of the cost? I believe the answer to both questions is, yes.  

 We know that Abraham did make a great step of faith when he left his family and homeland not knowing where he was going—only that God would show him (Gen. 12:1). However, there were moments when Abraham’s faith wavered. He showed a lack of trust in God when he asked Sarah to say she was his sister when they were in Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20). And he and Sarah did not show great faith when they tried to help God provide a son by having Abraham father a son through Hagar (Gen. 16:1-4). Then, both Abraham and Sarah laughed when God confirmed that they would give birth to a son (Gen. 17:15-17; 18:9-12).

It seems, however, that since the birth of Isaac, and Abraham saw the faithfulness of God to keep His promises, his faith grew to the point where he believed that God was even able to raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19).  Abraham had grown to trust God so much that when God asked him to give up the son of promise, he was willing to obey because He knew God would somehow fulfill his covenant promise of a multitude of descendants through whom the nations of the earth would be blessed.  He may not have understood why, but he trusted God which is why Abraham is called the father of our faith (Rom. 4).

So, what does that mean for us today? There are three points that I take from Abraham’s story. One is that faith is really a matter of trust. I think we have this idea that faith is simply saying the right words, making the right confession, or believing in something strong enough that it will happen. But faith comes out of our relationship with God. The closer we get to God and the better we know Him, the more we can trust Him. So, if we want to see our faith grow, we need to grow closer to God. The second point is that our faith does grow with experience. We are not going to start out as giants of the faith who can see amazing miracles happen right away. Like anything else, we begin trusting God for little things. Then, as we see that He keeps His promise in the small things, we will know that we can trust Him for bigger things. This is all part of building our relationship with Him. The third point is that obedience must accompany our faith. James says that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). I remember hearing a pastor say years ago that faith never stands around with its hands in its pockets. Faith is always demonstrated with action. If we have faith in God, we will do what He asks us to do even if, as with Abraham, we may not understand why. It is only when we put our faith into action and obey God that we will see the promises God has for us fulfilled. Only “because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:18).

And God Remembered Noah

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I am sure most of you are familiar with the story of Noah. In Genesis 6, the Bible says that mankind was so wicked that God was grieved that He had created man and found it necessary to destroy the world (Gen. 6:5-7). Noah was a righteous man and walked with God, so God commissioned him to build an ark to save him and his family along with representatives of every kind of animal (Gen. 6:8-22).

In Genesis 7, we read that after Noah, his family, and all the animals entered the ark, God shut the door. It then rained for forty days and forty nights, the waters of the deep burst from the ground, and the heavens opened up a deluge (Gen. 7:11-12). The flood waters covered the entire earth and rose above the highest mountains. Every living thing, both man and beast, on the earth perished in the flood and all the dry ground was covered (Gen. 7:17-23). The only ones left were those on the ark, and all they could see was water.

Imagine being on the ark and experiencing the horrendous torrent of rain and the dramatic upheaval of the earth bringing a flood that destroyed all of life on the earth. Then, picture yourself living through the next 150 days of seeing nothing but water. How would you feel? Would you feel abandoned? Lost? Without hope? Would you wonder, “Where is God?”

Then we come to Genesis 8:1 which reads, “But God remembered Noah…”. At first glance, this almost sounds as if God woke up one day and, slapping His forehead, said, “Oh my, I forgot I left Noah, his family, and the animals bobbing around in the water on that ark!” However, that is not what this phrase means. It is important for us to realize that Hebrew words have a much fuller meaning than most of our English words do. Lois Tverberg explains it as follows:

In English, our definition of the word remember focuses entirely on the idea of recalling memories and bringing ideas into our thoughts. To forget is to fail to bring a certain memory to mind. Both words are concerned entirely with mental activity—whether or not information is present. But the Hebrew verb zakhar has a much wider definition than just “remember.” It includes both remembering and the actions that are taken because of remembering. It often implies that a person did a favor for someone, helped them, or was faithful to a promise or covenant.a

In other words, with the Hebrew words, the emphasis is on action and not on mental activity. When the Bible says that God remembered Noah, it does not mean that He was recalling lost information. Instead, it means that He was acting upon a promise He had given earlier. It was now the right time to keep His promise to Noah, and to intervene and fulfill His purpose.

We see another example of this in the New Testament in Mark 6:45-51. In this passage, Jesus, after feeding the 5,000, sends His disciples in a boat to cross the sea to the other side while He goes up the mountain to pray. A storm came during the night and the disciples struggled to make any progress. I’m sure they were fatigued and fearful that they might not survive the storm. I also believe they may have wondered where Jesus was and why He wasn’t helping them as He had done before when they were caught in a storm (Mark 4:35-41).  Jesus, however, had not abandoned them. He was on the mountain watching everything that was happening (Mark 6:48), and at the right moment, He went out to them walking on the water, and rescued them.

I believe that everything Jesus did with His disciples was done for a reason. I believe sending the disciples into the storm was a test of their faith. It was an opportunity for them to learn to trust Him, and to know that no matter how difficult the storm, He is always watching them, and He will come at just the right time to help them: He will remember them.

What storm are you going through now? Do you feel lost, helpless, and without hope? Do you feel as if God has abandoned you? I want to encourage you to remember Noah and the disciples. Even though you may not feel God’s Presence in your current situation, He has not forgotten you. He sees you and knows what you are going through. And, at the right moment, God will remember you and will intervene to keep His promise and fulfill His purpose for your life.

aTverberg, Lois. Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Location 918