Bill's Bible Blog

I’ve been working on what was going to be my next series on the Basics of the Christian’s life–the Bible (spiritual nourishment), prayer (spiritual communication), and temptation (spiritual protection). But a couple of days ago as I returned to my car from Walmart, the show on Truth radio just ending was Matt Slick Live.

I didn’t quite catch what the caller had been talking about, but Matt responded, “What I’ve found works best for me is to approach God’s Word with a devotional attitude rather than a scholarly attitude.”

Zing!  Talk about an arrow to the heart!  I felt like God was using that statement to point out how much I was approaching the Bible with a scholarly attitude, old scholar that I am, and not enough with a devout attitude.

So, while I work on that attitude of devotion, I’m going back to what I had originally planned for my next series, and that is some things I learned from the Spring Men’s Bible Study on Genesis, Part 2.

INTRODUCTION:
As we were studying the second half of Genesis, I began to notice two main things. But first a little bit about Biblical interpretation.

1. The first is to interpret the old by the new. That means we, as Christians, interpret the Old Testament based on what the New Testament says.

(b) Secondly, within the Old Testament, interpret the Books of the La,w and history based on what the Prophets and Psalms say about them.

(c) And then, within the New Testament, interpret the Gospels by the Epistles. So, as I tell and comment on these origin stories of the Patriarchs, I’ll also include what the Bible says about them later in order to better understand God’s perspective.

2. The second thing to keep in mind is to interpret passages in the Bible based on the type of writing represented. Genesis is a collection of historical stories passed down by word of mouth that were written down by Moses, or under his direction. As such, they are considered historical narrative. That is, these people did/said these things to/with each other at these places. The basic questions answered are who, what, when (in terms of sequence) and where. There is no editorializing, they are not allegories (made up stories to communicate moral truths). But they can be viewed allegorically as true life examples that can help us understand how God interacts with people.

OVERVIEW:
1. So, one thing I noticed is that a lot of the historical characters are doing things that we as Christians would consider morally wrong, even just plain sinful. I thought a lot about that and realized that I should not spend time condemning these historical characters when the Bible is not condemning them. The truth of the matter is, they are not anyone particularly holy. These are, quite simply put, unredeemed sinners. As such, we should not be surprised that they act sinfully.

2. The second thing I realized is these stories are not actually about the historical characters!  Instead this ‘His story’ is really about God shepherding His plan of salvation for humankind along from one generation to the next. Therefore, I learned to look for God’s touch and for instances when He ‘showed up.’

What I began to see was God Is very skillful at moving people in the direction needed and that His touch was light. Essentially, God is trying to ‘herd cats.’ Instead of forcibly moving people like helpless pawns on a chess board, He skilfully works within sinful human nature to accomplish His divine purposes.

APPLICATION:When I begin to see all that, I was even more impressed by God’s capabilities. If you’ve ever tried to get a recalcitrant child (or even an adult) to do something they don’t want to do, then you should know how difficult that can be. That God is very skillful in shepherding recalcitrant people has several implications, I think, for us.1. As Christians, we’re supposed to be willingly obedient all the time to God’s commands and guidelines. If that is true about you, raise your hand…🖐

Yeah, me neither. Bill Gothard pointed out in his seminars in Basic Youth Conflicts and Basic Life Principles, that God initially gives us the chance to obey Him and move willingly in His direction. If we won’t do that, since it is so important to God that we live correctly in our relationship with Him, and because it is to our best benefit, then He goes to a harsher Plan B.

The example that he used when I went to his seminar was of a young woman who was unhappy with the continuous restrictions placed on her freedoms by her parents. She decides that the best way to get out from under their thumb was to get married (this was a long time ago when young women didn’t have today’s opportunities to be on their own.)

So, she gets married and has to maintain a household. Then she gets pregnant and has to care for a child. The responsibilities that her parents were trying to teach her, and against which she rebelled, now become necessities in her life. She is actually less free than before, but she’s learning!

(a) So, what should we do? First of all, when you know God is telling you to start doing something new in your spiritual life or to stop doing something that is sinful, Just Do It! As a take on the sports apparel motto, that is the path to victory (Nike = the Greek goddess of victory.)

(b) Next, don’t listen to the lies of our Enemy like, ‘It’s okay, it won’t hurt anything.’ ‘It doesn’t matter what you do, it won’t make a difference.’ ‘No one will ever know.’ ‘Do you really think you can change anything?’ ‘Come on, everybody does it!’ ‘Try it, it feels sooo good.’ It won’t hurt to do it just once.’ And I can go on and on. Recognize the lies of the Enemy, which are also the lies of the World, for what they are–LIES–and fix your eyes on Jesus in obedience instead.

(c) And if you don’t hasten to obey, then don’t be surprised if God goes to Plan B by disciplining you. Our pastor @jdgreear.com points out that God’s discipline in our life is actually a sign of His love and grace. God loves each of us so much that He’s willing to meet us where we are, but He also loves us so much, He doesn’t leave us where we are–in the squalor and slavery of sin.

Like our recent sermon series @summitchurch.com about God rescuing the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt in Exodus, God also wants to rescue us from a life of slavery to sin (whether we realize we’re in it or not) to a life of freedom serving Him. He wants to take us to a better place in our lives, just like He took the Israelites to the promised land.

(d) My mantra in that situation in my life lately has been, ‘The judgments of God are just.’ God knows what we need in order to be changed into that new person He created us to be in Jesus Christ. He knows how long the metal must be heated, how long it must be pounded into shape and how many times it must be taken through the process to produce the strength that is needed for His purposes. If you could not learn to submit yourself in obedience, learn to submit yourself in God’s judgment. And as He promises, at the proper time  He will lift you up.

So, if you wake up one day to realize you’ve become a slave to sin, cry out to God for deliverance and He’ll hear you. Make every effort to follow His ‘way of escape’ (1 Corinthians 10:13), however it is presented.

2. The other implication of God’s skillful ability to direct people along His plan has to do, in my opinion, with intercessory prayer. If you are praying for a wayward family member or friend, you can believe and trust that God is exerting subtle and skillful pressures to gently bring them back to right relationship with Him and with you.

If they are in a harsh situation and suffering hardship, don’t try to bail them out of it!  Keep praying, keep trusting God that He will bring them to that ‘Aha’ moment like the prodigal son, where they’ve been humbled enough to return to what they will finally realize was best all along.

If you need some encouragement to keep praying for something or someone, listen to Matthew West’s recent song, Don’t Stop Praying.

We’ll start next with Genesis chapter 24, Finding a Wife for Isaac.