Category Archives: Obedience

Live Out Your Love

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In Matthew 22:34-40, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, tested Jesus by asking Him what the greatest commandment was in all the Law. Jesus responded by quoting Deut. 6:5 which says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus then added Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself” as the second greatest commandment stating that these two commandments form the foundation for all the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus did not randomly select these verses. The passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is one that every Jew would have memorized from early childhood. It is called the Shema and is an important prayer Jewish people would have prayed every morning and every evening: and still do. The prayer begins with “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4). The first word Hear is the Hebrew word Shema from which the prayer gets its name. However, Shema means more than taking in sound through our ears. It includes the idea of acting upon what is heard. Therefore, God was not just telling Israel to listen and pay attention. He was telling them to act upon what they hear and obey His words. He was telling them to be doers of His word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

This is also true of many Hebrew verbs: they are not merely mental activities but encompass action as well. For example, when the Bible tells us to believe or have faith in God, it means more than mentally acknowledging certain facts or information about God. It includes believing in God enough that we are willing to put our faith into action and obey what He tells us to do as when Noah built the ark at God’s command because he believed Him.

The word love is another example. We often think of love as an emotion: having good feelings towards someone. But, although love can involve our emotions, it is better to see it as an act of kindness. We love someone when we do loving things for them. Therefore, when God commands us to love our enemies, He is not telling us to develop an emotional attraction for them. Instead, He is telling us to do acts of love for them even if we don’t feel loving towards them. We’ll discuss this more later.

The next key word in the prayer is the word Echad which is often used to mean “one” in the sense of singular. Therefore, the common translation of the phrase is, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” meaning that there is only one God as compared to the many gods of the other cultures. This would, then, be a statement of belief: that we believe in only one God and He is Jehovah. However, another way the word Echad can be translated is “alone” which would change the phrase to “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” Lois Tverberg, in her book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, states that this translation is becoming widely used and that scholars believe that this is more likely the original sense of the word Echad. If this is true, then this would change the purpose of the Shema. Instead of being a command to adhere to a particular belief about monotheism, it is calling the person to pledge allegiance to God. It is a twice-daily recommitment to worship and serve God and God alone.

Following the command to hear God’s word and obey it, and to recommit ourselves to worship and serve God alone, we are commanded to love God. Remember, the word love in Hebrew involves more than emotion. After all, how can you command someone to love someone else? You can’t. Therefore, the command is not to develop loving feelings towards God but to demonstrate our love to God through the way we live. Let’s look at how this works.

First, God is commanding us to love Him with all our heart. We usually think of the heart as the seat of our emotions, which is why we view love as an emotional feeling. But in Hebrew, the word for heart (levav) also includes one’s mind and thoughts. This is why God says in verse six, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts”. This also fits with verse eight where God says, “Tie them (His commands) as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” In other words, all our thoughts and all our actions are centered on the Word of God. Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by constantly meditating on His word and using it to guide our actions by “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. (2 Cor. 10:5)

Next, we are to love God with all our soul. The word for soul is Nephesh which means life or being, the part of us that exists while we have breath. Tverberg states that “the Jewish interpretation of this line is that you are to love the Lord with all of your life, meaning with every moment throughout your life” (2012, 48). Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by giving Him every moment of our life as long as we have breath, and not just a few moments a week or when it is convenient.

 Finally, we are commanded to love God with all our strength. The word used here is Meod, and has nothing to do with power, might, or strength. The word means muchness, abundance, or very. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, it expresses the idea of magnitude or degree. It is a common adverb used to intensify adjectives such as when someone says they are very well. It is the word used in Gen. 1:31 when God says that His creation is “very good”.

So, how does this apply to loving God? Randall Buth, a Hebrew scholar, reads this phrase as saying that we are to love God with all our oomph (Tverberg 2012, 51)! In other words, we demonstrate our love for God by loving Him heartily, earnestly, with much zeal, with every fiber of our being, and with everything we’ve got! Maybe as David did when he brought the ark into Jerusalem and he “danced with all his might before the LORD” (2 Sam. 6:14).

In summary, when God commands us to love Him, He is not commanding us to have warm, fuzzy feelings towards Him. He is commanding us to demonstrate our love to Him by hearing His words and obeying them, by committing our lives to Him and Him alone, by bringing all our thoughts and actions into submission to His word, by worshipping and serving Him as long as we have breath, and by serving Him heartily and zealously. In other words, if we love Him, we will obey His commandments (John 14:15).

Based on the Shema in Deut. 6:4-5, I’ve put together my version of the prayer. LORD, I hear Your words and I will obey them. I recognize that You are the LORD, and I commit myself to You alone. I will demonstrate my love to You by submitting my thoughts, my will, and my actions to Your will. I will love You by dedicating every part of my life to You as long as I have breath. And I will love you heartily: with all my “oomph!”

Tverberg, Lois. 2012. Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Do You Fear God or Are You Afraid of Him?

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The Bible talks a lot about the fear of God, but I would guess that most of us don’t understand what it means. Usually, when we hear the word fear we think of being terrified of something. Therefore, since we don’t want people to think that they should be afraid of God, we soften the word and say that the fear of the Lord only means that we should be in awe of Him and revere Him.

However, the word used for “fear” in both the Greek (phobeo) and Hebrew (yirah) can mean to have a fear or dread, to be terrified, or to be in awe and show reverence. So, the question is, does the fear of the Lord mean only to revere God or does it include dread and terror? Of course, many books and articles deal with this subject at length, and it is not my intention to delve into the subject that deeply here. I do, however, want to present some thoughts on the fear of the Lord that might help bring some clarity.

First, let’s begin with Exodus 20:18-21. In this passage, God had just revealed Himself to Israel on Mt. Sinai with thunder, lightning, trumpet soundings, smoke, and verbally giving the Ten Commandments. The people’s response is that they “trembled and stood afar off” (verse 18). They also told Moses to not let God speak to them again because they did not want to die (verse 19). Moses’ response was “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin” (verse 20). Here, Moses is saying that God does not want them to be afraid of Him, but He wants them to fear Him, and he uses a form of the same word (yirah) in both instances. What is the difference? How can we tell if we are afraid of God or if we fear Him? One way we can tell is by looking at the responses of Moses and Israel to God’s presence on Sinai.

Israel, because they were afraid of God, drew back from the presence of God because they were afraid of dying. Their focus was on “What will happen to me?” so they didn’t want to go any further with God. Moses, on the other hand, drew closer to God (verse 21). His desire was to experience more of God’s presence and was not concerned about his own life (see Ex. 33: 12-23). A person who is afraid of God is not concerned about growing closer to God but only about what will happen to him, but one who fears the Lord will hunger for more of God’s presence.

Second, in Isaiah 6:1-7, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord on His throne. He saw the glory of God and the angels crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah’s response was one of humility and repentance. He cried out “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips…” His experience in the holy presence of God made him aware of his sinfulness and he repented and was cleansed (verses 6-7).

Compare this with what Jesus says in John 3:16-21. Here, Jesus talks about God sending Jesus as a light into the world to save the world. However, some do not receive the light because they love their sin more than they love the light and they don’t want their sin to be exposed (verse 19-20). A person who is afraid of God, then, does not want to grow closer to God because they don’t want to give up their sins, while a person who fears God is willing to humble themselves and repent whenever the light of God’s presence exposes their sin because they love God more then they love their sin.

Finally, let’s consider Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1-3. God gave Aaron specific instructions about the altar of incense (Ex. 30:1-10). The altar of incense was to be dedicated for incense only and not for any other offerings (Ex. 30:9), and the fire for the incense was to be taken from the altar of burnt offering outside the sanctuary (Lev. 16:12). Nadab and Abihu, however, did not follow God’s direction but used unauthorized fire for the incense. Because they did not revere God enough to follow His directions, fire from the Lord came down and consumed them. God responded by saying that anyone who comes near Him must regard Him as holy and He must be glorified before all the people (Lev. 10:3).

We see a similar situation in Acts 5:1-11 when Ananias and Sapphira sold some of their property to give the money to the apostles to be used for the needy. However, they kept back part of the money for themselves and lied about the amount that they received for the land (verse 3). Again, just as with Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and Sapphira did not recognize how awesome and majestic God is nor value Him enough to treat Him with the honor and respect He deserves that they thought nothing of lying to Him. They devalued Him and did not take sin or God’s judgment seriously.

Wouldn’t doing this mean, though, that they were not afraid of God because they were not afraid of what He would do to them? Actually, this is a result of being afraid of God. When a person is afraid of God, they don’t want to face who He truly is. They don’t want to face His power because it is far more than they could imagine, and it frightens them. They don’t want to face His holiness because they don’t want their sins to be exposed. They don’t want to face His righteousness and judgment because they would have to obey Him and could not do what they wanted to do. Therefore, because they are afraid of who God really is, they create a milder, less powerful, less threatening god. Their focus is on saving themselves. A person who fears God, though, has had an encounter with the glory and holiness of God and, instead of backing away, they hunger for more of His presence. They allow His holiness to expose any sin that would hinder them from growing closer to Him, and they humbly confess those sins allowing Him to cleanse them. They also recognize His power and majesty and give Him the honor and reverence He deserves through their praise and obedience. Their focus is on knowing God and glorifying Him.

Sharpen Your Blade

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The book of Hebrews was possibly written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem when Nero was persecuting the Christians. Because of the persecution, some Jewish converts were tempted to revert to Judaism, therefore, the book’s author (possibly Barnabas or Apollos) wrote to encourage the Jewish believers to remain strong in their faith in Christ.

Throughout the book, the author emphasizes the superiority of Christ to the ancient prophets, angels, Moses, as well as the priests and Old Testament sacrifices. He added that Christ was the full and final revelation of God and that all the Old Testament prophecies and promises were fulfilled in Him. Therefore, the author warns them that there is no returning to the previous Old Testament sacrificial system for the atonement of sins since it had been superseded by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

During his discussion on the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the author makes an interesting statement at the end of chapter five. He states that there was much more he wanted to say about this, but he couldn’t because they would not understand it. He said that they were “dull of hearing” (Heb. 5:11 ESV). The word dull means lazy, sluggish, or listless. Other translations say, “because you no longer try to understand” (NIV), or “you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen” (NLT). In other words, they were not putting forth much effort to grow spiritually or learn to discern the voice of God.

 Consequently, when they should be mentoring others, they themselves were still children requiring spiritual milk (Heb. 5:12) and were unskilled, i.e., without experience, or ignorant in discerning the word of God (Heb. 5:13). The author adds that a mature believer can distinguish between good and evil because they have trained themselves by constant use of the Word of God (Heb. 5:14). They make it a habit of listening to the voice of God and putting His Word into practice in their lives.

The picture that comes to my mind as a way of illustrating the two is a child playing with a dull wooden sword compared to a skilled soldier welding a sharp saber. The child will wildly flail the sword around as if he knew what he was doing, but even if he should strike a blow, it would do little harm because the blade is dull. He is unskilled and ineffective. The soldier, on the other hand, has trained himself by constantly practicing the fine art of swordsmanship until he is able to wield the sword skillfully. Also, he has taken the time to sharpen his blade so he can easily wound his opponent. He is skilled and effective because of his constant training and use. The question we each need to ask ourselves then is “Which one am I?” You see, learning to discern good from evil, learning to hear God’s voice clearly, and growing spiritually in the things of God does not happen automatically. We cannot allow ourselves to be lazy, but we must discipline ourselves and develop spiritual habits that will train us to use our “swords” (the Word of God) effectively. I would suggest the following: 1) Develop a daily habit to read the Word of God. But don’t just read it. Get into the habit of asking God to speak to you through the passage you are reading. Listen for His voice and write down in a notebook what He is revealing to you. 2) Then, put what God said to you into practice right away. This is how we “sharpen our blade”. Learning how to pray, prophecy, and be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit requires practice so ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength to do what the Lord is directing you to do. And 3) Teach others. The author of Hebrews chastised the believers because they were not spiritually mature yet to mentor someone else. This is what we all should be doing (Matt. 28:19-20) however, few of us are obeying that commandment. I would encourage you to ask God to show you someone whom you can help as they learn to develop their own spiritual habits and become skilled soldiers with sharpened blades.

A New Look at the Sermon on the Mount

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In the past, my understanding of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 has been that it was a compilation of sayings or nuggets of wisdom much like the Proverbs. However, when I recently read through the sermon again, I noticed three themes that laid a foundation for Jesus’ message.

However, before we look at the sermon itself, let’s back up a couple of chapters to look at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. From Matthew 3:13 to 4:11, Jesus starts preparing for His ministry. He is baptized by John and is anointed by the Holy Spirit (3:13-17). After this, He is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and fasts for forty days and nights. Following this time of fasting, Satan tempts Him three times, but Jesus overcomes the temptation by remaining faithful to God (4:1-11). Jesus then begins His ministry by preaching the Kingdom of God (4:17) and demonstrating the power of the Kingdom by healing the sick and casting out demons (4:23-25). Immediately large crowds from the entire region began to follow Him, and when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and began to teach them thus bringing us to the Sermon on the Mount.

As I mentioned above, I saw that Jesus’ sermon can be divided into three themes. The first one is found in chapter five. He begins His message by discussing attitudes that people of the Kingdom of God should have. He says that people should consider themselves blessed if they are poor in spirit, meek, merciful, and hungry for righteousness. He even says they should feel blessed if they are persecuted. He then talks about us being the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and having a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. From here He discusses certain topics such as murder, divorce, and adultery. In each of the topics, He begins by saying “You have heard that it was said…,” and describes the common teaching on that topic. He then adds, “But I tell you…,” and presents a higher standard for each subject mentioned. I imagine the people hearing this sermon were confused because everything He was saying went contrary to human nature and the teachings of their culture.

The key verse which sums up this entire chapter is found at the end in verse forty-eight: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. The word translated perfect means complete, mature, and lacking nothing. When Jesus was baptized by John, He was anointed by the Holy Spirit to reveal the character of God, proclaim the message of the Kingdom, and demonstrate the Kingdom’s power. Everything He said and did went contrary to the culture which amazed the people and upset the leadership. In the same way, we are to be so filled with the Spirit of God that we can also demonstrate the nature and character of God to the world. We are not to follow the world’s standard but instead, we are to live by the higher standard of the Kingdom. We are to be the influencers—the salt of the earth and the light of the world that attracts people to God just as Jesus had been doing.

Chapter six presents the second theme. Jesus teaches that we are not to seek attention or earthly praise when we help the poor or in our times of prayer and fasting. Our focus should not be on building up rewards or accolades here on earth. Instead, our emphasis should be on humbly building the Kingdom of God. Jesus adds that our concern should not be on how much wealth we can accumulate in this world, but on storing up “treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:20). The key verse in this chapter is verse thirty-three: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (NIV). The principle Jesus presents here also goes against the world’s thinking. He is submitting the idea that we should develop such a passion for the Kingdom of God that the wealth, fame, or treasures this world has to offer are not important to us. He is also advocating that when we put His Kingdom first, we can have the confidence that He will provide for all our needs.

Jesus demonstrated this principle when He faced Satan’s temptation. He was faithful to God and so dedicated to fulfilling the work of the Kingdom that the worldly enticements Satan presented to Him had no effect. The Kingdom of God was first and foremost in His heart, demonstrate and He knew His Father would provide for all He needed (see Matt. 4:1-4).

The third principle is found in Matt. 7:24-27. Here, Jesus is teaching how important it is to build our life upon the Word of God. Throughout this chapter, He talks about making sure our life is in line with God’s Word before we start pointing out the faults of others (7:1-5). He reminds us that we fulfill the Law when we treat others with love and respect (7:12). He also warns us that just saying that we are a follower of Jesus is not enough. We must show it by obeying His Word and demonstrating godly character (7:15-23). It is only when we are committed to the Word of God in our life that will we be able to share the Word with wisdom and power and be able to see the power of God work through us through signs and miracles as Jesus did (Matt. 4:17,23-25). In summary, when Jesus began His ministry, He was anointed by the Holy Spirit and empowered to reveal God and the life of the Kingdom to the world. He was committed to the Father and the work of the Kingdom so that Satan was not able to distract Him with the attractions of the world. And the Word of God was the foundation of all He did (Matt. 5:17-18). These principles are what Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount, and are principles that we, as people of the Kingdom, should be incorporating into our lives. We should make the Word of God the foundation of our life, develop a passion for the Kingdom that overshadows any allurements of the world, and be so filled with the Spirit of God that we live by a standard that is higher than and contrary to the culture of the world. If we do this, we can become the salt of the earth and the light of the world that will draw people to Jesus.

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?

Why All The Laws

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When reading the Old Testament, especially the Torah- the five books of Moses, it is easy to get bogged down in all the rules, rituals, and regulations we see. Many of us will look at them as restrictive and outdated. And, since they have no application for our life today, why bother reading them? After all, we are a New Testament church, so the Old Testament laws don’t apply to us, right?

Actually, they do. In fact, the laws of the Old Testament form the foundation of our faith in the New Testament. We need the Old Testament to understand what God is doing in the New Testament, so it is important to have a proper perspective about the Old Testament and why all the laws are there. One of the best places to start is in our understanding of the word Law. When we think of laws, we think of rules that restrict and punish. However, the Jews don’t see it that way. In the Old Testament, the word that is often translated into the word Law in English is the Hebrew word Torah. This word can mean law, but it is more often looked at as direction or instruction.

God did not give Israel His laws (Torah) to restrict them but to instruct them in a way that will allow them to experience His blessings. He was giving them guidelines on how to live in a way that will bring “shalom”: peace, wholeness, and completeness. His purpose was not to place them under legalistic bondage to rules, but instead to help them enjoy the freedom that comes from a relationship with Him. In fact, God’s goal throughout the Bible is reconciliation: to restore everything to the way He originally intended it to be.

God created man to have an intimate relationship with him forever. Sin, however, shattered that relationship, and everything God has done since then has been for the purpose of restoration. Therefore, whenever we read the rules about cleansing, purification, and holiness—especially when we read verses that direct us to be holy as God is holy (Lev. 11:44)—we need to read them with the understanding that following these instructions will help reconcile us back to God and bring “shalom” in our relationship with Him.

We may sometimes feel that God demands that we be holy because He cannot be around anything that is not holy. We might even get the impression that God would somehow be contaminated if anything unclean was to ever enter His presence as though He had an immune deficiency and had to protect Himself in a sterilized environment. However, the truth is, is that God is not requiring us to be holy for His benefit, but for ours. We, as sinful men, cannot enter the presence of a holy God and survive (Ex. 33:20). So, again, God’s instructions on holiness are not to restrict us, but to allow us the freedom to be reconciled to Him and experience shalom in our relationship with Him once again.

The same is true regarding the instructions on how we treat one another. Whenever we read passages such as Leviticus 18-19 that deal with sexual relationships, honoring parents, treating the poor and our neighbors fairly and with respect, and being honest in our business practices, we need to again keep in mind that the reason for all these regulations is to reconcile our relationship with each other. When we put these guidelines into practice, we remove conflict and bring peace to our relationships with others. We also demonstrate to the world the character of God and what it is like to live in His Kingdom.

The regulations regarding the sacrifices are put in place so that, on those occasions when we do sin and our relationship with God or man is broken, we have the means to seek forgiveness and restoration. They are there, again, to reconcile and bring us back to a place of peace in our relationships. The festivals are also intended to help in our relationship with God for they are opportunities to remind us of who God is and how He has provided for our needs. They allow us moments to reflect, refresh, and reconnect with our Lord. All the commandments, then, regarding purity and holiness, the regulations for the sacrifices, and the rituals of the festivals are there to bring reconciliation: to restore our relationships with God and with each other. The goal of them all is to bring shalom: peace and wholeness to our lives and allow us to experience the freedom that comes with living under the blessings of God. Therefore, I would encourage you to not look at the “laws” of God as rules designed to restrict and hold us in bondage. Instead, whenever you read the Old Testament, remember that these “laws” are guidelines that will bring reconciliation and freedom.

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!

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).