Tested and Tried

Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them... They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. 

Judges 3:1a & 4, 

We live in a world of temptation! And it seems like temptation is always becoming more easily accessible to us. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which we are currently in, some pornography providers decided to offer their service for free to those under quarantine. As though developing an addiction to pornography would help people out. Yes, there is temptation all around us, and isn't just sexual temptation. There is greed for riches. There's fame and longing after the approval of men. There's hatred and the incessant temptation to blame your problems on some other group of people. There are temptations to violence and theft and lying and living only for yourself. 

These temptations surround us and there is nowhere on this green earth we can go to flee from them. I know because the monks tried. They retreated into lonely wastelands to avoid temptation, but it didn't work. Recently, I read the story of St. Benedict who was so overtaken by lust in his desert hideaway that he stripped off his clothes and ran naked into thorn bushes to combat temptation. 

We must accept that temptation is unavoidable in this world. But have you ever stopped to ask why? Certainly, some of it is a result of the Fall, but even before the Fall God chose to place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. Why? 

Scripture tells us that God often tests His people (Genesis 22:1-19, Exodus 16:4, Deuteronomy 8:2). Now if you think of this testing like a kind of entrapment then you understand it wrongly. The word for "test" in the passage above can mean to prove something. In other words, what God is doing when He tests us is to bring out and prove what is truly in our hearts. He isn't tricking us or tripping us up. He is proving who we really are. And in our struggle against the temptation of the world every single one of us have heard the message Daniel interpreted for King Belshazzar off the writing on the wall. "You have been weighed on the scales (tested) and found wanting" (Daniel 5:27) We all fail the test. We all prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what is in our hearts is wickedness and lust and greed and selfishness. 

What are we to do then? When our actions leave no doubt at all what is in us? We can either try to hide our true nature or we can drag it into the light and confess it before God asking for His forgiveness and grace. This is what the believer does over and over again. This is what I hope you will do. If you'll do this, Scripture promises that God will change you and give you a new heart. And as God transforms you more and more into His image you will win more and more victories over temptation. But you must be careful to never grow too comfortable. All of us still live in the flesh and none of us are beyond failing the test. So turn to God and ask for strength and help to pass whatever tests He will place in your path today.

Pursuing God in Quarantine

For the past five Sundays the church I pastor has been unable to gather physically in worship because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We do not yet know how many more weeks it will be before we are able to gather again. So what should the believer do when we can’t gather as a church? It seems to me that this is a good time for us to focus on our personal relationships with God.

The stuff we do at church helps strengthen your relationship with God. We give you tools and support to help you grow and connect with God personally. But sometimes Christians come to church and put all the tools in their tool belt and then leave and never put them to use. There’s a lot of value to what we do here at church corporately, and right now you aren’t able to get some of what you need as believers. You can’t get some of the fellowship and support that the church would normally give you. I’m not minimizing that, but it’s important that we remember that Jesus didn’t die so you could listen to sermons; He died to give you direct, personal access to God.

Matt 27:50-51a teaches us this. "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." This curtain was symbolic of the separation between God’s presence and His people. When Jesus died on the cross that curtain was torn in two to show that Jesus’ death gives you direct access to God. This access to God’s presence is the most precious gift you have ever been given and yet many of you take it for granted.

Even when we can't meet as a church, you can still meet with God. You don’t have to go to a temple or a church building to enter His presence. You can commune with Him anytime, anywhere. But how many of you are wasting this opportunity! You waste the Word that He labored to place in your hands. It sits on your shelf collecting dust. You waste the great privilege of entering His throne room in prayer. You don't think you have time for that. And you waste the opportunity to bless Him daily with wholehearted worship, adoration and praise because doing so makes you feel uncomfortable. Don't waste your greatest privilege in life, Christian. Don't miss out on having a living, vibrant, and personal relationship with God. Pursue Him! Especially now when you are cut off from so much of the Christian life, don't cut yourself off from God.

Aksah Asks a Favor (W.o.W. rewind)

And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

Joshua 15:16-19

This is an obscure little story hidden in a portion of the Old Testament that details the boundaries of the tracts of land given to each of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Promised Land. It isn’t likely to garner much attention today, yet God saw fit to include this short story not once but twice in Scripture. It is recorded again, almost word for word in Judges 1:12-15. Why? Because it has a tremendous little lesson to teach God’s children.

Aksah’s father, Caleb, was a faithful, God-fearing man. You may remember that he was one of only two of the twelve men who spied out the land of Canaan to bring back a good report. Caleb stands out in Scripture as an example of faith, courage and wisdom. In this passage we find Caleb carefully crafting a situation to provide a strong, brave man for his daughter to marry. It worked. Aksah’s husband, Othniel, later becomes the first judge whom God raises up to deliver His people (see Judges 3:7-11). From this (and many other examples I am sure) Aksah knows that her father loves her. She can see that he wants to provide for her, and she begins taking an interest in her own provision as well.

Aksah is a shrewd young woman who knows where she stands with her father and is not afraid to take initiative. Knowing that the land her father has given her would do well to have a source of water, she musters some of the courage her father was famous for and makes a request. She knows her father wants to be a blessing to her, so she asks him for something specific, springs of water. Caleb gives her a double blessing, two springs of water! Imagine how fruitful this land must have been for her family.

In the New Testament Jesus says,

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

What are you asking God for right now? He has shown that He wants to bless you with good things. So what are you asking Him for? Pause and ask God for something specific. But ask wisely, not selfishly. Consider these words of James:

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

God's Plan Prevails

Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

Mark 14:1-2

Jesus of Nazareth has 3 days left to live as the religious leaders gather to plot how they can arrest and kill Him. The ESV Study Bible puts it this way- “The verdict about Jesus is decided. The only remaining issue is how to get rid of Him" (p2004). 

I have no doubt that these wicked men would've rushed and seized Christ to stone Him to death right then if it weren’t for certain political considerations that must be made. You see the Jewish religious leaders only held limited authority under Roman rule. They didn’t have the right to put anyone to death. Only Rome could execute a criminal. That posed a problem. On top of that, the little power that Rome did afford the religious leaders was predicated on them appeasing the Jewish masses and keeping the peace. They knew that if they arrested Jesus openly it might cause a riot which could in turn bring the wrath of Rome down on their own heads. So, they meet together to plot how they will navigate these murky political waters. 

We aren’t sure exactly when Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus. Some think it was on Wednesday of Holy week. But whenever he came to the religious leaders and volunteered to help put Jesus to death, we do know his assistance was key. Judas would help them find and arrest Jesus when He was away from the crowds at night. Something that would have been difficult to do in the dark without an inside man. 

But it's important for us to remember that in the end it wasn’t the plotting of wicked men, or Judas’ betrayal, or even the scheme of the Enemy himself that was the ultimate cause of Jesus’ crucifixion. It was the love of God.

If the plot of the religious leaders had ultimately been responsible for Jesus’ death then you would expect the early church to have railed against these leaders and to have sought their harm. But that is not the message we find on the lips of the earliest apostles. Certainly they condemned the unbelief and the wickedness of the Jewish religious leaders but that was not the theme of their preaching. From the earliest days they proclaimed that it was God the Father who had handed Jesus over to death.

Acts 2:23 says, "This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." Sure the religious leaders were wicked men who had participated in the death of Christ, but it was God's plan long before it was theirs. 

This serves as a powerful reminder that even now and especially in dark and difficult times God has a plan. And in the end His plan will prevail. That gives us a measure of consolation and peace when life isn’t going our way. Even in the darkest of times we know that it isn’t meaningless. It isn’t random. There is a good God at the back of it all. And even when we can’t trust those around us who mean us harm, we can submit to and trust Him.

Don't Fall Asleep in Delilah's Lap

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Judges 16:18-19

Samson's life wasn't an easy one. He lived during a time when Israel was oppressed by the Philistines. He constantly found himself in opposition to and in conflict with his oppressors. Of course, some of the difficulties he experienced were of his own making, but it was a hard life still. Unfortunately, Samson made matters worse by seeking comfort in all the wrong places. First, he sought comfort food in the wrong place when he turned aside to eat honey from a lion's carcass in Judges 14. But it's in chapter 16 that Samson's bad habit reaches its zenith. At the beginning of the chapter he seeks comfort in the arms of a prostitute. It nearly cost him his life. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to the worst mistake of Samson's life... seeking comfort and love from a woman named Delilah. What the Philistines were never able to take from Samson by sword, military strategy or might this woman stole by deception, manipulation and persistent nagging. And where was this strong man, this greatest of warriors when Delilah delivered the fatal blow that robbed him of his strength? He was curled up sleeping comfortably in her lap, lulled into a false sense of security as his life was betrayed for money. 

Learn a lesson from Samson. He sought comfort in the arms of the enemy. He gave her his heart. He listened to her lies and deceptions. Don't do the same! 

Believer, you have an Enemy. He is a master of deception, a dealer in the finest comforts this world has to offer, and he is currently working patiently and persistently to lull you into a false sense of security. He would have you curl up comfortably and fall asleep in his velvet-covered bear trap before he springs it on you. He will manipulate and deceive you. Be on your guard! Don't fall asleep in Delilah's lap!

All of us have tasted the forbidden fruit in one way or another and it has made fools of us all. We have sought comfort in alcohol, drugs, pornography, money, sex outside of marriage, or the approval of men only to have them be our downfall. Don't repeat your mistakes! The comforts this world offers have nothing for you. Don't be deceived. There is no rest for you in the things the Lord calls sin. Find comfort and rest in Him alone. Let the Lord be your refuge and strength. He alone is your source of every good thing in this world.