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Job versus the Proverbs

27 Mar

The biblical books of Proverbs and Job appear to be polar opposites. The former presents practical wisdom for living the best life possible, and the latter is a story of the best life gone bad. The one offers success formulas that are supposed to work, and the other says, “I’ve done all of those things and my life is still a wreck.” The books of Proverbs and Job are so opposed to one another that it can almost be difficult to see them in the same Bible.

In fact there are really only two things that these books have in common: God and you.

The same God who promises to honor right living in the Proverbs is the God who rescued and restored Job at the end of his calamity. And you and I will live through each of these books as well.

Fortunately, the majority of our lives will be spent in the book of Proverbs. In fact about 9/10ths of our life will probably be simple, manageable, and quietly rewarding based on how well we follow the principles of Scripture. The book of Proverbs addresses these 9/10ths.

What Job addresses is the 1/10th, the unexpected and unexplained. We will all be touched by the unexpected and unexplained; however, even though we might live through some Job “seasons” very few of us will have an entire Job “life.” Not even Job did—many scholars believe that his crisis lasted about nine months before the Lord intervened and started rebuilding and restoring him.

Don’t be afraid of the 1/10th. Calamity isn’t lurking around the corner. God is faithful, and He will take care of you. And even if you do touch on some Job-like moments, you too, will eventually be able to say with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

One of my favorite teachers in Bible school (a woman in her eighties), said, “When God showed up, my deepest valleys became my highest mountaintops.”

I hope your life is mostly mountaintops. But when it’s not, I hope you, too, can find Him in the valleys. He’ll be looking for you.

What Super Mario Bros. is teaching me

29 Feb
New Super Mario Bros. Wii

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In recent months my daughters and I have become addicted to the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. My wife laughs at us as we alternately cheer, scream, and groan while our respective characters, Mario, Luigi, and Lemon-head face off against giant mushrooms, poisonous fish, and nasty snapping turtles. We’ve gotten pretty good—we’re more than halfway through the entire game—and we’ve also learned an important lesson along the way.

Heroic fights can seldom be won alone.

Through our Mario Bros. exploits we have discovered the incredible power of synergy, and we’ve learned to rely on one another during the tougher parts of the game (Amber is the best at dodging falling rocks, and I’m the best at jumping on the giant frog at the end of each level). When we pool our strengths, and guard each other’s backs we progress much further than we could ever do on our own.

That sounds almost biblical doesn’t it? :)

The Bible makes it clear that life’s adventures should be tackled in community. Jesus never sent His followers out to do great works alone—at the very least he sent them out in pairs so that the power of unified synergy would accompany them. Leviticus 26: 8 says, “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”

The principle in that verse has proven repeatedly true in my life–and it will likely be proven again tonight when Amber, Maddie, and I attempt to conquer level 5.

God in a tank top

2 Nov
Superman

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I hope this doesn’t sound too irreligious, but sometimes I wish I could see Jesus dressed in something other than His baggy, white robe, and blue sash.

Sometimes I’d like to see Him in a tank top.

Six times in the book of Deuteronomy Moses refers to God’s “Mighty hand and stretched out arm.” In Psalm 89:10 it says of the Lord, “You have scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm.” And then in verse 13 it says, “Your arm is endued with power…your right hand is exalted.”

One of our recurring failures as humans is to rely too heavily on the strength of our own “arms.” I do it all the time. I look at a situation through the grid of my personal strength and ability, and then gauge whether or not I have what it takes to come through. And that’s a terrible thing to do because Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and who makes flesh his arm.” In its original Hebrew language the word “curse” means to hem in with obstacles, and render powerless. When we trust exclusively in our own strength we will eventually find ourselves surrounded and stuck.

We need to recapture a view of God that shows Him sustaining the universe by the word of His power. He is big enough to sustain you. He is vast enough to provide for your deepest needs…He is wise enough to help you navigate life’s tricky mazes…and He is strong enough to carry you through every twist and turn you might encounter during the course of your Christian race.

A different kind of identity theft

18 Aug
The Fortunes of a Street Waif, an illustration...

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Many of us who would never even consider robbing someone of their hard-earned possessions are less reluctant to rob them of their hard-earned reputation. If, as the proverb writer suggests, “A good name is more desirable than riches,” then robbing someone of their good name is no less injurious than inflicting physical damage on them.

And people commit this kind of robbery all the time. They might not steal your money or your car keys, but when you leave the room after being with them, they’ll turn to others and express negative, critical, or revealing words about you. In doing so, they’re committing a theft that is very hard to recover from—a theft of reputation. It’s a different kind of identity theft, one in which words can forever taint the way that someone’s name is viewed.

A good name that has been hard-won can be robbed by careless, insensitive words. Shame on us if we’re ever found guilty of that kind of identity theft!

Let’s police one another in this area and refuse to allow thieving words in to our midst. Let’s live up to our name and forever be a community of “grace.”

Scripture reference: Proverbs 22:1; Ecclesiastes 7:1

Open season on foxes

20 Jul
Red fox. Picture from Skandinavisk Dyrepark, D...

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For the past couple of weeks at Grace Church we have been discussing “the crossroad with a Goliath” in it, and we’ve been trying to learn some giant-slaying keys from David’s famous example. There are times in our lives, however, when our enemies are much smaller than Goliath. They’re not 9 ½ feet tall, fear-inducing giants with thirty pound spears—they’re foxes. They stand about two feet off the ground, and they’re small enough to be chased away with a stick. They’re not nearly as terrifying as Goliath, and they don’t evoke the same sense of urgency or dread. And yet according to King Solomon, they’re dangerous enough to destroy God’s work in our lives. He wrote: “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom” (Song of Songs 2:15).

I would hate to survive Goliath only to be taken out by a fox.

One of the most fascinating, Holy Spirit-powered exploits that Samson performed in the book of Judges was when he “caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs” (Judges 15:4). It’s a powerful, encouraging reminder that the Lord will help us identify the foxes that lurk in the “vineyards” of our life, and He will give us the strategy and strength to intentionally declare “open hunting season” on them.

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