He’s a ‘Creative.’

It has become fashionable to describe people as “creatives,” converting the adjective to a noun.  I’ve heard the trendy, slangy noun used to describe musicians, artists, marketers, even entrepreneurs.

The Bible records the biography of an interesting “Creative.”  He showed up at a party ready to stump the crowd with a riddle he had written.  (How many people you know have ever written a riddle?)  Even his revenge was creative; it was so complicated and original, it’s a symphony of vengeance.  This was not a rash, hurried man: he captured 300 foxes, tied them together in pairs by their tails, mounted a torch between each, and released 150 pairs of foxes all over the Philistine lands, destroying wheat, vineyards, and olive groves.

Next he killed 1,000 men swinging a donkey’s jawbone.  He gave God credit for that amazing victory. Then he did another imaginative thing: he took revenge on the city of Gaza not by killing, but by pulling up the city’s gates and posts and carrying them to the top of a mountain, leaving the walled city exposed and unprotected.

Samson was smart, imaginative, and creative. But he had a weakness for women–particularly Philistine women. When his fiancée cried for seven days, he told her the solution to his riddle—which she immediately shared with her Philistine people (who later killed her).  Twenty years later Delilah wore him down and he told her the secret of his great strength—which she immediately shared with the Philistines, who then captured and blinded Samson.

But God was in control.  When Samson chose a non-believing Philistine fiancée, “his mother and father did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion against the Philistines” Judges 14:4. God continued to use the flawed “Creative,” allowing Samson to judge Israel for 20 years before his capture and dramatic death—in which he killed more Philistines than he had in life. 

God was with Samson: He was creative, strong, and flawed.  But God’s plan was fulfilled nevertheless.

God, please use us greatly in spite of our weaknesses!

P.S.–I like the picture above because it is the only one I could find–out of hundreds on the web–that shows Samson as something less than a bodybuilder. There is no Biblical support for the idea that Samson was a huge, muscle-bound man. After all, his enemies were always asking about the secret of his great strength. If he were huge, there would be no secret. I like to imagine a film about Samson with someone like David Schwimmer or Ethan Hawke playing the strongman. I got this picture from the website of the Triangle Community Church in North Carolina. https://tcc.org/

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Ask God for Wisdom.

The best answers to parenting questions come from God. You have to realize your deep need for wisdom, and you have to ASK. Jesus says, “You have not because you ask not.” So ASK. Always ask God for answers.

When the Angel of the Lord (not a typical angel, but likely a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ) tells Samson’s mother that she will have a son who will deliver Israel, she reports it to her husband, Manoah. Manoah immediately prays:

“Please Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.” Judges 13:8.

So that very day, God sent the angel a SECOND time. Then Manoah ran to the angel and asked him:

“When your words come true, what will the boy’s responsibilities and mission be?” Judges 13:12.

What EXCELLENT questions. We should all ask these questions. As young people, you should ask God these questions about yourself—and about your future children. Ask Him to help you understand:

(1) What should you do to prepare yourself?, and

(2) What will your responsibilities and mission be?

As parents, we need to ask these questions about our kids. What would God have us do, not in general, but specifically, for these SPECIFIC children. Every child is different, with different talents, gifts, and callings—and weaknesses. Parents may need to enroll one child in music lessons and another on a sports team. And God can give you those answers. He knows the best way to raise each child—and no two children, not even siblings—have the same needs.

Pray the prayer of Manoah: Dear God show me what to do for myself and for my children. And please help me understand my responsibilities and mission, and that of my children. Give us the wisdom of Manoah, a father humble enough to beg God for insight.

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Oh Soul, Are You Weary and Troubled?

All of us know weariness.  All of us have been tired, exhausted, depressed, and worn down by grief and struggles.  But does God become weary? Do our troubles affect him, or is he impervious?

Yes, our problems affect God. When the children of Israel cried out to God about their slavery in Egypt, He said their cry reached him.  And when the nation was oppressed by the Canaanites, they again cried out to God.

“So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshipped the Lord, and HE BECAME WEARY OF ISRAEL’S MISERY” Judges 10:16.

If you are miserable today, be encouraged—God will become weary of your misery.  He DOES care and He will deliver you.

Talk to the God who loves you.  Praise God and thank Him for His compassion.  Thank Him that He SEES your misery.   He KNOWS your suffering and your struggles.  And He will BECOME WEARY OF YOUR MISERY. He will deliver you.

God, we praise you for your infinite love and compassion.  Thank you that you are touched by our struggles and you do not want to watch us suffer.  Thank you for the deliverance that IS COMING.  And until it does, help us to walk by faith, knowing that we are growing in you through everything that we suffer.  Make us more like you every day.

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And God Became Weary. Judges 10:16.

How can God be weary? Does God become tired or worn out? Are not His power and patience infinite?

The author of Judges says that God became weary. I wonder why.

The story was, Israel had rebelled again.

“Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshipped the Baals…. They abandoned Yahweh and did not worship Him. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He sold them to the Philistines and the Ammonites. They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for 18 years they did the same.” Judges 10:6.

Finally, God’s people repented. Finally, they returned to Him and cried out for forgiveness and restoration: “We have sinned. Deal with us as You see fit; only deliver us today! So they got rid of the idols and worshiped the Lord, and HE BECAME WEARY OF ISRAEL’S MISERY.” Judges 10:16.

Are you suffering today? Are you miserable? Repent and return to God. Cry out to Him alone for deliverance, because He is “WEARY OF YOUR MISERY.” Like any loving parent, He does not want to see you suffer. He grows weary of your misery—just like you do! Give Him your heart, your worries, your fears, your anxieties, your misery. He will deliver you.

Pray. Dear God, thank you for your infinite love for me. Show me when I do wrong. I surrender to you anything in my life that may be an idol. Help me to love you faithfully and to obey you fully. Thank you that you grow weary of my misery. Deliver me from misery today, Lord. Give me the peace and the hope that can come only from you. You are Yahweh Shalom, the God of Peace.

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Choose Your Words Carefully!

When I was a child, my parents affectionately called me “Motor Mouth.” I understood; my mouth turned on when I woke up and it did not stop until long after I was tucked in bed. The flow of words was ceaseless. Today, I talk MUCH LESS! Sometimes I love to simply sit in silence, listening. Turning off the word-faucet is so peaceful.

The older we get, the less some of us should talk.  We must communicate well—and LISTENING is a big part of that.  Listen and think before you speak.

Jephthah was a judge in Israel and had to battle the Ammonites.  Before leading his brothers into war he made a vow.  What are the rules for vows?  First, God punishes people who make vows but do not keep them.  There are many examples.  Second, do not make rash vows.  Think about what you are saying!

Jephthah made this vow to the Lord:

“If you will hand over the Ammonites to me, whatever comes out of the door of my house to greet me when I return in peace … will belong to the Lord, and I will offer it as a burnt offering” Judges 11:30-31.

Maybe Jephthah’s house had an old blanket hanging in front of an open door.  Maybe goats and sheep were regularly wandering in and out of his house.  That is not as unusual in his culture as it would be in ours, particularly in bad weather (animals may shelter on the dirt-floored lower level and the family live on the second).  But this vow sounds rash to me.  Seriously rash.  The rashest of rash.  God provided a great slaughter of the Ammonites.  Jephthah won 20 cities and came marching home proudly, staring eagerly at the door to see what would come out first.  Would it be a sheep, a goat, a chicken, or a dog, maybe? 

“When Jephthah went to his home … there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter besides her.  When he saw his daughter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘No! Not my daughter! You have devastated me! You have brought misery on me.  I have given my word to the Lord and cannot take it back” Judges 11:34-35.

“Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry” James 1:19. 

WORDS MATTER. Choose wisely.

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The Spirit of the Lord Took Control of Gideon.

Do you ever feel amazed by the incredible feats in the Bible? How did Samson kill 1,000 men with a piece of bone? How did little David, a teenager at best, face Goliath with such boldness? How did Gideon and 300 men take on over 100,000 Midianites—an enemy who filled the land “like a great swarm of locusts”?  And for that matter, how could Noah build a huge, sea-worthy ship when he had never seen a ship before? How could Moses challenge Pharaoh, the king of the known world? How did Elijah face down the 400 evil prophets of Baal and Israel’s evil king and queen?

There is only one answer:

“The Spirit of the Lord took control of Gideon” Judges 6:34.

God had appeared to Gideon in a pre-Incarnate appearance of Jesus, and addressed him: “Hail, mighty warrior, the Lord is with you” v.12. He told Gideon that he had been chosen and Gideon had doubts and was afraid.  But Gideon OBEYED GOD.  He took small steps and God began to use him.  And then “the Spirit took control of Gideon,” and after that the man fought and led with total courage and boldness.  I believe something similar happened to each of the people named above.  A few chapters later, “the Spirit of the Lord took control of Samson,” and he killed a lion with his bare hands in Judges 14:6. The phrase is repeated in 14:19, 15:14.

Great achievements come when we submit to God.  We must obey God.  We seek him, we hear his plans, we obey, and then when we have fully submitted to him, the Spirit of the Lord can take control.  I know this experience: God can give you courage to face anything, and a mental sharpness that helps you make good decisions quickly, as you allow him to lead you step-by-step.  It is an amazing experience—a rare one for me—but it is amazing.  And it follows total submission of ourselves to whatever God wants.  When we obey Him and are available to Him, He will take control and do amazing things.

God, help us listen and obey. Help us submit to you and allow you to work in us and through us.  May your spirit take control of us!

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“May the Force Be With You”

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU.

There will never be another STAR WARS.  What a blockbuster movie franchise.  By some estimates, the saga generated more revenue from toys and “merch” than from films and DVDs.  The whole world jumped on board.  We bought the tickets, we bought the tee shirts, we bought the Millennium Falcon, we bought the philosophy. 

Yes, the philosophy.  “Use the force, Luke.”  It was weirdly cool in 1977 and maybe it still is—but is there any truth to it?  What “force”?  You’re telling me there is a force out there in the universe, some impersonal energy that will help me pull the trigger on my X-Wing Fighter and blow up the Death Star, if I can reach a state of Zen-like calm during battle (as pictured above)? 

You may recall that Anakin Skywalker who later takes the name Darth Vader has history’s highest number of midi-chlorians in his blood, and passes it to his children.  Thus Vader later says of Luke, “the force is strong with this one.”  Yet, even on May 4th, you won’t find Obi-Wan Kenobi in a hooded robe talking about Midi-Chlorians, the microscopic life-forms that connect Star Wars characters to the Force.  No one speaks seriously of the Force.  Instead they call it “The Law of Attraction.”

Those who promote the so-called “Law of Attraction,” whether Oprah, Osteen, Steve Harvey, or Jim Carrey, explain that if you speak positive things into the universe, the universe will send positive things back to you, and if you speak negative things, negative things will come to you.  They argue that “like attracts like.” 

First, one concession: there is nothing wrong with positive thinking.  Optimism and hope certainly have their place.  And “visualization”? I admit it: standing over a golf ball and imagining your swing is helpful. That kind of visualization works, just like imagining a difficult conversation before you have it.

But the thought, the “visualization” just before swinging a golf club is a rehearsal, not some hocus-pocus negotiation with the universe (which is not listening anyway). The problem with the law of attraction is that it assumes the universe is PERSONAL and that the universe is LISTENING.  But how?  The universe is an impersonal arrangement of various created things.  Do trees listen to you?  Or air?  Or soil? Rocks? Plants?  Or George Lucas’s make-believe midi-chlorians?

Only God is personal.  Only God is listening.  Everything else in the universe is a created thing.  We are commanded to worship the CREATOR, not the creature.  We do not pray to the universe—and the universe does not listen.  It requires only the most cursory reading of the Bible to see that God will not tolerate those who worship His creation.  We are required to worship Him alone.  Yet the law of attraction says that either God is listening to everything we say, a Heavenly waiter trying to fulfill our wishes, or God created a universe that listens and responds to whatever we “manifest.”

Do you MANIFEST?  Can you speak and believe really hard and somehow MANIFEST your desires?   

Can insisting on a specific outcome make it happen?  Can you command the universe to do YOUR will, simply by refusing to accept any other result?  (How’s that working for ya’?)  You cannot.  Sometimes, things go your way, other times they don’t.  God is not a genie and you are not Aladdin.  He is the Sovereign King of the Universe. 

The Ancient of Days, the Almighty Maker of Man’s First Breath is not here to make MY dreams come true.  I am here to serve His plans.

Consider these arguments:

“You can’t trust the universe to bless you just because you’re putting out positive vibes. Indeed, because the universe is a created thing, it has no power at all to either bless or to curse – that power belongs to God, alone. In the end, this belief is just another futile attempt to manifest happiness and prosperity through one’s own efforts.”

“There is a scientific basis for visualizing an action before performing it, and how that makes you more likely to succeed. This is different from visualizing yourself winning the lottery, however.”

“Law of Attraction proponents teach that you can overcome sickness and poverty, etc. if you let your mind conquer your body. But God’s Word teaches that he is the Creator, who is sovereign over his creation (Colossians 1:16).  If you’ve ever had the stomach flu, you know that all the positive thinking in the world isn’t going to get you out of it. You can’t manifest a cure for cancer. Instead, we must turn to God the Creator and trust him in both good times and bad.” [1]

“For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and things on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or powers, or rulers, or authorities.  All things have been created by Him and through Him and for Him” Colossians 1:16.

God is sovereign.  Bow before Him.  Present yourself to Him to do His will.  Pray as Jesus did in the Garden: “Thy will be done.”  THAT is the only thing you need to “put out there” into the universe.  Otherwise, believe in the so-called “Law of Attraction” if you must, but don’t pretend that the doctrine is Christian.  It is not. 

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[1] From “What is the Christian Perspective on the Law of Attraction?” available at https://newportbeachchristiancounseling.com/articles/what-is-the-christian-perspective-on-the-law-of-attraction/

The Greatest Storyteller.

God is the greatest storyteller ever—and the hero of his own story.  Consider the Birth of Israel.  Incredible stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Pharaoh, and Moses.  Then when the people finally reach the Promised Land, the first real battle is with Jericho.  Jericho was protected by a huge wall but Rahab said her people were scared—they’d heard how God dried up the Red Sea forty years earlier. 

Next Israel crossed the Jordan—and God dried that up too.  Now Jericho was shaking in its boots.  Then Jesus appeared:

“When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’

‘Neither,’ he replied. ‘I have now come as Commander of the Lord’s Armies.’ Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship” Joshua 5:13-14.

Jesus said to march around Jericho once a day for six days, blowing trumpets, but saying nothing.  For six days, Israel marched in silence. (Imagine how that stoked the fears of the pagan people of Jericho.) Then on the seventh day Israel marched around the city seven times.  On the seventh trip, the trumpet blasts changed, Joshua gave the order to shout, Israel shouted—and the walls of Jericho fell inward, allowing every soldier to march straight into the city.

Imagine the next morning’s headlines all over the Promised Land!  God used the miracles in Egypt, the Red Sea, the Jordan River, and now Jericho to proclaim his truth throughout the pagan lands.  As Rahab said, “the Lord Your God is God in heaven above and on earth below” Joshua 2:11.  Like Rahab, some would turn to Him. Most would refuse and would die without excuse.

God, thank you for telling such an amazing story of miracles, of good and evil, of courage and fear, of grace and forgiveness. Help us to love your STORY—and to better recognize your work in our own smaller stories.

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The Younger Generation, Joshua 2:10.

Everyone complains about the younger generation.  “Kids today,” people say, as if that is a complete sentence.  They’re on their phones too much. They watch TV too much. They play too much. They don’t take school seriously.  The complaints go on and on.  Guess who said the following:

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for elders and love to stand around talking rather than exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants in the home. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. The contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up good food at the table, and tyrannize their teachers.”

Who stated the above?

(a) George Washington

(b) Ronald Reagan

(c) Bill Clinton

(d) William Shakespeare

(e) Socrates.

It was Socrates, speaking 400 years before Christ.  The younger generation is always bad—just as the good old days are always good.

Yep, kids are outta’ control.  But what can be done? Whether manners, morals, reading, or religion—if you want kids to care about something, you must TEACH them to care about it.   After Israel moved into the Promised Land, a new generation “rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel” Joshua 2:10. 

WHAT?!  How does that happen?  Why do young people fall away?  Because parents fail to teach them to love the Lord.  Or more likely, parents TALK about loving the Lord, but their lives—their choices—teach a different message.  Still, it boggles my mind.  Adam and Eve walked with God—imperfectly, to be sure. But later generations fell away.  Noah walked with God, but today’s world is filled with godlessness.  Even Israel, delivered from Egypt through a succession of amazing miracles, fell away.  How could that happen?  Children make will make their own choices to be sure—and there is grace for parents who do their best.  But I’m afraid some just can’t be bothered.  Who has time for church commitments when there are club teams for kids and golf for mom and dad?

Nothing is more important than passing the gift of faith to the next generation.  Dear God, don’t let us fail at the most important part of parenting!

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How Can God Possibly Fix This?

Do you ever look at your problems and think there is no way to solve them—that even God is stuck this time? God does not look at your problems that way. He is a miracle-worker. Do not go around thinking He won’t work a miracle for you!

When Israel had enemies, God intervened. Sometimes the Israelite army had to fight and slay their enemies on the battlefield. But often God stepped in and delivered His people in amazing ways. In Numbers 26:10, Moses had to face a mutinous rebellion by the followers of Korah. God intervened:

“And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died, when the fire consumed 250 men.”

The earth opened up and swallowed them! Can you imagine?!

Later, in Joshua 10:11, five kings brought their armies to fight Israel. God miraculously intervened:

“And the Lord confounded them before Israel…. As they fled from Israel, the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Asekah, and the died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.”

God threw hailstones? What? I bet He never misses either!

Later, in Joshua 24:12, God reminds Israel of the way they defeated the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites. God miraculously intervened:

“I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.”

I was attacked by dozens of bees while riding the lawn mower the other day. Let’s just say, it was not fun. But bees are nothing like hornets. IMAGINE! God sent HORNETS! He gave the earth a mouth and it swallowed people? He threw hailstones? Hornets! Let’s face it—your God is a miracle worker. Never doubt that. Never think that you are on your own. Prayer works. Seeking God works.

“The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name.” Exodus 15:3. Talk to Him about your problems right now. He will fight for you!

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