His Nature: Sovereign Pt. 3

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“I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” – Ecclesiastes 8:2-4

A few days ago I was watching The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when the scene of Gandalf and his companions entering the presence of King Théoden caught my attention. If you are not familiar with it, in this scene Théoden, the King of Rohan has an advisor named Grima Wormtongue. Wormtongue is in fact a servant of one of the antagonist of the story, Saruman, and is whispering lies into the ear of the king and in doing so is twisting the kings mind. As a result, the king seems to be severely aged and decrepit and is being possessed by Saruman himself as the scene portrays. What caught my attention however was how despite the situation and the fact that all of the soldiers and guards in Rohan seem to know exactly what is going on, none of them seem to disobey their king.

This caught my attention largely because I have recently been reading and studying the story of David. Specifically the years in which he was on the run from King Saul. As I was contemplating on these stories, I couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like to pledge your fealty to David as your king, ride with him into battle, run from Saul and Israel with him, protecting him all the way. And then every time Saul, the source of your kings troubles and thus yours, is within your power to kill, David tells you no. Why? Because your king has gotten it into his head that Saul is anointed by God and therefore you aren’t allowed to touch him. I can image David’s men feeling frustrated with what must have seemed to them at the time as a foolish command. Nonetheless, they obeyed him and did not kill or touch Saul. (1 Sam. 24:1-7, 26:7-11)

Fast-forward a bit and we see how Saul has died by his own hands while fleeing from the battle with the philistines. (1 Sam. 31). A young Amalekite man arrives in the city of Ziklag to inform King David of King Saul’s death. He lies to David claiming that Saul had asked him to kill him and that he did as Saul had asked. He then shows to David the crown and bracelet that he took from Saul’s body as evidence, presumably to earn favor or a reward of some sort. Perhaps he thought he would be a hero if they thought he had struck down David’s enemy. Instead, David asked, “How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” Then David ordered his men to kill the Amalekite for killing the LORD’s anointed. (2 Sam. 1:1-16) I mention this part of the story because I wish to point out how these soldiers were not just loyal and obedient to David regarding his command to not touch King Saul, but now they are also told to kill a man for having done so. They had to withhold violence against the man who caused them so much trouble and pain, and now that he is finally dead, they have to unleash violence on the man claiming responsibility for ending Saul’s reign of terror. These commands most have seemed so contrary to what they thought was right. And yet, they obeyed their King.

Sometimes kings make bad decisions or are just simply evil and corrupt, like Saul. Sometimes they are tricked into making wrong decisions, like Théoden. David, for all his shortcomings, was a righteous king. His commands seemed nonsensical at the time, but we know looking back that what he did was out of wisdom and knowledge acquired from intimacy with God. Sometimes a command born out of divine wisdom makes no sense in our sin-riddled minds and shortsighted perceptions. But David in doing this exemplified a truth about God that we need to take to heart. I know that today we live in a world where very few kings still exist. We now have congresses, parliaments, or some other form of group-led governments ruling most of the world. It is difficult for us to fully comprehend or appreciate what it is like to have a king who wields absolute authority over us. And yet, that is what we have in our God. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our Sovereign and our King. And we are expected to serve Him with obedience. We are to show Him fealty and allegiance. We are merely stewards of His kingdom, though we behave as if we are our own masters. Though He is patient and longsuffering, He will not tolerate this faithlessness forever. We have to learn how to submit to our King and stop behaving as if we can lay hands on God’s anointed and not suffer judgement for it. For Jesus is God’s anointed King. The title of Christ literally means ‘Anointed’!

So let us not approach Him foolishly as the Amalekite man did. Recognize Jesus is your King, the LORD’s Anointed, and obey His commands. Has God asked something of you that you struggle to understand the wisdom of? Don’t question Him, if He commands it then we must do as He has ordered. If it means that you will suffer more trouble and tribulations for obeying His voice, then listen to Him over the pleading of your flesh which is always leading down a carnal path. You are either obeying God or your own fleshly nature. We are told “If you love Me, keep My commandments” by the King Himself in John 14:15. But if we listen to our own desires, we are putting our own interests over His. We are showing that we love ourselves more than Jesus. And what we are doing is showing Him that we do not acknowledge Him as our King and that we do not care about what He wants.

“I say: keep the king’s command”. To obey the King of kings, we must sacrifice our own interest. Let this be a reminder and encouragement to obey the Lord, your Sovereign, no matter the cost, for He is a faithful and righteous King. Show your faith in Him by obeying His commands even when you don’t understand why He is commanding it.

Jesus, forgive us for our disobedience to Your commands and will. Lord, strengthen our hearts and will to resist the flesh and obey Your commands. Holy Spirit, convict our souls so that we will turn away from our rebellion and return to our King. Thank You King Jesus for Your many mercies as we struggle to remain faithful to You. Amen.

His Nature: Sovereign Pt. 2

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The greatest challenge of believing in God as our Sovereign Lord is maintaining faith in the face of circumstances that seem to run against what He has called for. We see this illustrated perfectly in the story of the people of Israel during their captivity in Egypt. God sent them Aaron and Moses who “spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses.” and “did signs in the sight of the people. So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.” Exodus 4:29-31

And yet, when Moses and Aaron went before the pharaoh of Egypt and asked him to let the people go, his response was to refuse. Instead he insisted that they still meet the quota of bricks that was required of them. Except now he commanded his taskmasters to no longer give them the straw they needed to make the bricks, instead they would have to gather that up on their own in addition to making the bricks. Then finished his commands with this line: “Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.” Ex. 5:9 He refused to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over His own people, refused to behave in a way that aligned with what Israel expected from their Lord, and finally called into question the very words God had spoken to them via His servants Moses and Aaron.

And the people of Israel responded not out of faith but out of doubt. They viewed the situation from the perspective of perpetual slaves with no way out. One moment they are excited at the prospect of freedom and worship their God. The next moment, they are downcast and defeated. They approach Moses and Aaron and say to them, “Let the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Ex. 5:20-21

They had yet to learn how to trust in the Lord as their Sovereign and Deliverer. They wouldn’t have to wait for long. When Moses and Aaron go into the chambers of Pharaoh once more to issue God’s commands, they no longer merely speak the commands of their King. Now they will begin to display His sovereignty! God says to His servants, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves’, then you shall say to Aaron, “Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh and let it become a serpent.'” Ex. 7:8-9 I want you to notice two things in this statement. The first being that God is telling them in advance what Pharaoh will say to them. Pharaoh thinks himself the ultimate authority. And yet, God has pointed out that He already knows what Pharaoh will do. God already knows how this situation will go and how it is going to end. He will not allow for it to end any other way then the way that He wants it to. The second thing is that He says to “let it become a serpent”. He doesn’t say “make it become a serpent” but “let it”. As if He is saying to Moses and Aaron, “Do not try and exert your own authority here. Abandon what you think will work. Submit to Me instead”. The staff is a symbol of authority and He is asking His servants to submit their own authority over their own selves and actions to Him as their ultimate King and Authority. In contrast to this, not only is Pharaoh rebelling against God and exerting his own authority but his own servants embody this when they come in and threw down their own staffs and turn them into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up all the others showing that no matter what others may try to do, those who walk in obedience to God’s will, have His authority backing them. What God wills becomes reality. What others will is only as powerful as God allows for it to be. And when someone exerts their will in opposition to God’s, they are always defeated and their authority swallowed up.

Unfortunately, Pharaoh hardened his heart. So God displayed His authority over heaven and earth, destroying any perception that Pharaoh, his magicians, or any of their so called “gods” had any control or dominion over themselves or the land. Blood, frogs, lice, flies, disease, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. God destroyed the land of Egypt and they were helpless to stop Him. But Pharaoh still wouldn’t concede that he had no power over the God of Israel. Then God killed the firstborn sons, including Pharaohs. God entered Pharaoh’s own home and took his son from him. Pharaoh could do nothing to stop it. When he finally allowed Israel to leave he then rode out after them when he thought they were trapped in the wilderness because he still believed that he could change the outcome. All he accomplished was to get himself and his whole army drowned in the sea.

So, we see how Israel at first thought that Pharaoh’s resistance and evil behavior were enough to thwart God’s will over their lives. And how in the end, no one has authority over God. We need to take this lesson to heart. God has spoken over our lives both through scripture and in our personal relationships with Him. In response, the world and the enemies of God have attempted to dissuade us from belief. They, like Pharaoh, say “Do not listen to false words.” Circumstances happen that provoke us to question if God will really deliver us from our troubles. They seek to make us question God’s promises over our lives. Pharaoh may have sat upon a throne but his throne was of no consequence without God backing it. It was nothing more than a fancy chair. The only throne that truly matters is the great white throne upon which God Himself rests. God is on His throne, now and forever! The devil tried to overthrow Him with a third of the angelic host at his side and was thoroughly defeated. Pharaoh rose up against God, failing to realize that God rose him up Himself (Ex. 9:16), and then cast him down in the midst of the sea.

No one, I repeat NO ONE, is great enough to overthrow God. No one has a plan that is more secure than God’s. In spite of all the rebellion and chaos filling the earth, God already told us through the mouths of His prophets that all these things would happen and how the world would eventually end. If you are looking at your life or at the world and society as a whole and are wondering if God is still in control, then rest easy in the knowledge that yes, God is still in control. Even now, the demonic forces rage and lie that God has lost control, that He has abandoned us to our sins. But He is still on the throne! These tribulations were foretold. This is the greatest time to prove ourselves faithful. Trust in the Lord even now. He is still Light, though the world be shrouded in darkness. He is still Omnipotent though it may be difficult to see His power at work. And He is still the Sovereign over all creation despite the chaos. Though the world may mock us for our faith, remember that Pharaoh mocked as well. Look ahead of what is happening now and fix your gaze on the coming salvation!

His Nature: Sovereign

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“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” Psalm 45:6

To say that God is Sovereign is to say that He is Lord and King of all creation. He is the supreme authority who governs all existence. Nothing happens without His knowledge and allowance. Whatever occurs, does so either because He caused it or because He allowed for it. In His sovereignty He allows us freedom to make choices, though He may not agree with how we choose. This may create in the minds of many the illusion that we have control and authority over our lives, but the truth is that God is still the one who is in charge. He grants us freedom, but not His throne.

Mankind has been putting kings in power over themselves since the beginning of civilization. Chieftains, lords, Kaiser’s, czars, pharaohs. The titles may change from one culture and language to another, but the idea is always the same. One person rules over the rest, holding ultimate power over the people. But one people group started off differently. Israel languished under the rule of the pharaoh of Egypt until God delivered them out of captivity and brought them into the promised land. Israel was a peculiar people, standing out from the rest of the cultures across the globe. They stood out because of their unique relationship with their God. They worshipped one God, not many. They made no idols for their God, unlike the other people groups. And they looked to their God, not a man, as their King.

Sadly, they eventually rejected this and sought to adopt the culture of the nations surrounding them. Anyone familiar with the history of Israel knows just how destructive the consequences of this proved to be. Civil war, invasions, assassinations, instituted idolatry; the list goes on. But what is probably saddest of all is the loss of Israel’s connection with God as their sole Sovereign and what that meant for their identity as a people. God is Sovereign, which is to say He is Lord and King over all creation. He rules over not just Israel, but all mankind. Though the nations live in rebellion, Israel was expected to model themselves after God’s design. They were to stand out from the world, as a light in the darkness, and reveal to humanity the nature of God. And in doing so, they would show the nations the God that was truly Lord over all the earth. One way that they were to do this was to follow and worship God as their King. But they rejected God as Sovereign as recorded in 1 Samuel 8:6-7, “But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their King.”

Unfortunately, we have all sinned in this manner quite regularly. We call God Lord but do we behave as if He truly were our Lord? Do we obey as a good servant does, following His commands? Humanity tends to follow the leading of sin over that of our King. The scripture continues in 1 Sam. 8:8, “As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.” And we have so often done this too! We may not have made a literal calf of gold with our own hands to worship, but what we have done is equal in its sinfulness and treason against God. We have lived our lives as if we were not submitted to One that is greater than us. Israel was resisting God’s sovereignty the entire journey through the wilderness. We, however, have their story as a lesson. And the author of Hebrews points this out when encouraging us to not copy their rebellious ways.

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the days of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'”

Beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:7-13

God is King and Sovereign over all mankind. All who walk in sin do so as an act of rebellion against the King of all creation Who reigns over heaven and earth. For those of us who have encountered Him, claim to serve Him, and be His disciples, there is no excuse to rebel against Him. We are no longer ignorant of His existence as God and Sovereign, therefore our sin is rooted in our own arrogance. We think too highly of ourselves and too little of our God. We see ourselves as our own lord. If we truly believe in God as our Sovereign, we will practice such faith through obedience to His commands. We will trust in His promises and live our lives accordingly.

And this is my exhortation to you today. Stay faithful to God as your King and Sovereign. No matter how you feel emotionally, how chaotic the world gets around you, or how little sense you can make of things in your mind, God is still sovereign. The King is with you. His dominion is over you. Stay obedient to the Kings command.

“I say, “Keep the King’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God.” Ecclesiastes 8:2

Interpreting Scripture: The Bargain

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“If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” Genesis 28:20-21

The other day while doing some biblical reading and study, I came across the story of Jacob as he fled from the murderous rage of his brother Esau. Growing up in the church, I was always taught that bargaining with God was wrong. I still believe this is wrong today. However, like so many other things I was raised to believe, I decided to examine this more closely to understand it for myself, no longer believing this just because I was told to in my youth. Out of curiosity I went online to see what other’s views were on this story and found some who of the opinion that it is acceptable to make a bargain with God.

If you have read all my other articles on this site, then you know my main focus is on the nature of God. I use the nature of God as the standard for understanding truth. When it comes to interpreting biblical stories, I look to His characteristics as a guide to better understand what I am reading and seeing what these stories have to teach us. I find it helps to weed out my own selfish and subjective views and see God more clearly within the writings that He inspired. The scriptures teach us of God’s nature, and understanding His nature increases our understanding of the scriptures. Thus, we are enabled to continuously go deeper in His ways. Lets look at the story of Jacob with God’s nature in mind and see what we find.

Jacob was a young man and at the beginning of his relationship with God. One could say this was the beginning of his relationship with God. After all, God introduces Himself to Jacob in verse 13 as, “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac”. And Jacob says in verse 20, “then the LORD shall be my God”. Suggesting that the relationship of the LORD being the God of Jacob and Jacob being His faithful servant had yet to take root. So, he was both youthful and a bit inexperienced in the ways of God. It is entirely understandable if he were to say or do things that were unwise or blatantly wrong. As a patriarch of Israel and a major faith figure in the bible, it is easy for us to understand everything he says or does as being acceptable. But just because scripture doesn’t say in plain letters: “what he did was wrong”, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t.

So let us look at what he said to determine if he spoke wisely or not. We will look at it in two pieces. The first part is: “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.” Another way of wording this is: “If God will be faithful to me and fulfill what He promised me, then I will His disciple.” As I said above, Jacob was inexperienced in the ways of God. By studying the nature of God, we can see that God is faithful. Not merely by choice but by His very essence. If He makes a promise, He keeps it. Period. His bargain or vow opens up with the question of whether God will be faithful. But faith in God results in knowing that He will be faithful and knowing that it is not within His power to lie or to contradict Himself. Who He is and how He operates never changes. And there is no other force in all of creation that can stop or thwart His plans.

Jacob did not speak out of understanding born of faith, but out of his own ignorance and doubt. This shouldn’t be too difficult for us to understand however. How many of us have had similar moments in our lives? In the early days of our faith, facing dangers and difficulties, uncertain as to what will happen, we ask God for His help and we bargain with Him, as if He could be fooled by us into thinking that it is He who must prove Himself and not us. He is faithful, always has been faithful, and will continue to be faithful forever, even as man is faithless time and time again.

This brings me to the second part of Jacob’s bargain. “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” As if it wasn’t enough to call into questions God’s faithfulness, Jacob vows his own faithfulness in response. Mankind, Jacob included, is changing, sinful, and inconsistent, even on a good day. And yet, here is Jacob promising his own faithfulness as if it were something that he could guarantee. He promises to give a tenth of everything that God will give him despite having never proven himself faithful to God first. He expects God to prove Himself, while thinking that his own faithfulness is guaranteed.

Only God is faithful in His very nature. Man is unable to fulfill his promises like this. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) Sure, we may set out to be faithful and fully intend to be so. But our own shortcomings and sinfulness get in the way. We cannot offer perfect, unfailing faithfulness to God. It is not the nature that we have. It is not within our capacity to perform as such. To offer this up in a vow to the Faithful God is deceptive and blasphemous. We cannot offer to God that which we do not have to give. And on that same subject, Jacob offered God a tenth of what he was expecting God to give him. It is always easier to offer something that you do not currently possess, and always harder to give it away once you have it. His forefather Abraham gave a tenth of what he had to God in the form of Melchizedek. He gave of what he had in his possession, did so freely without being commanded, did it without having to think about it, and without regret. His sense of security was in who God was for Him. He had already learned that God was faithful. Jacob instead seemed to have his mind on worldly things, namely his current situation – lack of food, water, or clothing, and future expectations – land, offspring, and wealth. His sense of security was in himself. In faith, Abraham looked to heaven and valued the presence of God more than the physical possessions he had received. Jacob looked down at what he didn’t have and saw God as a way out of his situation, which was ultimately his main concern. He had yet to learn to trust in God’s faithful nature. This was probably due to the fact that he was too reliant upon his own cleverness in getting what he wanted or getting out of tough situations, such as tricking his brother out of his birthright. Hence his brother’s declaration: “Is he not rightly named Jacob ? For he has cheated me these two times?” (For he was using Jacob’s name in the context of a supplanter or usurper.)

Fortunately for Jacob, and us, God is understanding when we are ignorant and foolish. We speak words that we believe are wise and flowing out of our faith, but are truly saying things that are wrong and born out of doubt, ignorance, and pride. God is merciful with us as we say worthless words with no meaning. Instead He tries to teach us of His truth so that we weigh our words, consider His ways, and speak more wisely.

So, we see that bargaining with God this way does not work. It is not an act of faith but of doubt. Jacob’s words question God’s character and ability, while exalting man’s. It is understandable for a young Christ follower to make this mistake. But let us move past this blind bargaining, and enter into a deeper understanding of and a more mature relationship with God. A relationship where we think, speak, and act out of the truth of who He is. And know where we truly stand: a sinner who is unable to be faithful and righteous without the intervention of God, in the form of the man Jesus who died for us and made us righteous in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21)

His Nature: Wrath

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When it comes to the nature of God, His wrath is the single attribute that seems to inspire the most controversy and debate. Scripture is quite clear that God has wrath. Just a couple of verses out of many are: “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” (Ps 7:11) “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Rom. 1:18) “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Eph. 5:6)

So, if scripture is straightforward on this matter, than why do so many people fail to believe that this is a part of God’s character? The answer lies with our misunderstanding of what wrath is and how it relates to His other attributes, namely His love and goodness. In this blog, I want to look at one particular misunderstanding that we have about His wrath. That misunderstanding being that we fail to realize that God’s wrath is not the same as ours. Wrath is understood as an intense degree of anger in which our emotions become unstable and we tend to lash out at those who are the target of our wrath. Wrath is when we seek to punish or avenge ourselves. And because we are familiar with God’s wrath coming in the form of divine judgement, such as with the flood or Sodom and Gomorrah, we assume that they are one and the same.

What I would like to point out however is that we tend to give in to our strong emotions, allowing them to steer us in our decision making. Wrath leads us into physical conflicts, crimes of passion, or harsh words being spoken without thinking of the consequences. In short, we lose control over ourselves when our anger or wrath becomes too hot. But this presents to us a problem: God is sovereign and thus subject to nothing but Himself. Can God be controlled by His emotions, like a man? No, of course not. He created our emotions and dictates how they work. If He were able to be moved by emotions, then we could emotionally manipulate Him. But God answers to no man. Instead, as hard as it may be for us angry humans to comprehend, God is in complete control over Himself and His anger. I’m not going to claim to understand how that looks or feels like for God for I surely cannot comprehend it. I just know that God is in control of His wrath and knows when it is best to withhold it and when He should unleash it. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Scripture grants us evidence of this and the greatest example of it is in Exodus 32. This chapter is about the Israelites making the golden calf and worshipping it. I believe that it is the best example of the difference between God’s wrath and man’s because it shows us both of them, allowing us to see them in contrast to one another.

As Moses is on the mountain, the Israelites become inpatient and rebel. They make the idol and sin against God. God then tells Moses to get down the mountain and says to him, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” This was followed by Moses pleading with God to not destroy them. Then it says, “So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” What many people miss here is that God, in His wrath, is still self-controlled enough to continue a conversation with Moses and to even be persuaded to relent from unleashing His wrath. I have heard theologians teach that God was testing Moses here and did not truly intend to kill all the Israelites. While that may be true, God does not lie and He was being honest in regards to how He felt towards there evil. He was wrathful, yet He was calm and coherent and able to engage in sensible conversation. These are not typical behaviors for us when we are overcome with anger. Our anger usually results in our reason and logic going out the window as we scramble to hurt someone.

As Moses is about to illustrate to us. After convincing God to relent, Moses goes down the mountain and upon seeing the Israelites with their golden calf, his immediate response is one of violence and aggression. First, he slams the ten commandments, two stone tablets carved out of the rock and written on by the very finger of God, into the ground, smashing them into pieces. Second, he destroys the idol with fire and grinds it into powder. Third, he mixes it into water and forces the people to drink it. It is not until after this that he finally finds words to speak. Of course, those words came in the form of the confronting of Aaron for his role in the sin. “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” (Ex. 32:21)

This confrontation is then followed by the fourth and worse violent act. He says, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side – come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.” In the end, about three thousand people died.

When we contrast these two responses, God vs. Moses, we can see a clear difference between them. God, often accused of being violent and genocidal, is calm and seemingly patient in His response. Moses is instantly angry and resorts to violence before speaking to anyone. Also worth noting is the fact that in verse 10 God says “that My wrath may burn hot against them”. Then in verse 19 we read, “So Moses’ anger became hot“. Even the scriptural terminology is the same, further showing that God and Moses were both dealing with intense anger but expressed it differently. Moses’ response is so much more intense that as I was reading this chapter I almost missed the last sentence of it. Verse 35 reads, “So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.” God plagues them yet this line seems almost mild in comparison to Moses’ response.

If you look at other instances in the bible of God unleashing His wrath you will find the same thing playing out. When He came down to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He visits with Abraham and allows him to try and talk Him out of it, as Moses did. When He decided to flood the earth, He warned Noah in advance so that there was someone who testified to the reality of what was happening. All of humanity had the opportunity to repent but were unwilling. When Enoch had his first born son, he named him Methuselah which means “his death brings forth” or “when he is dead it shall be sent”. Enoch is said to have walked with God from that day on until he was taken up. Scripture doesn’t explicitly say this but it would seem to imply that Enoch had an encounter with God and was informed that the flood was coming and would arrive with the death of his son. Methuselah lived for 969 years. So, if that was when God first informed someone of the coming judgement, then that would mean that God was patient in His wrath. 969 years patient!

Thousands of years have passed since the flood. In that time God has shown mankind great acts of mercy and love. He showed the ultimate display of this love in the incarnation of Christ and His death and resurrection. But to repeat Psalm 7:11 once more, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” God is angry at sin and evil every day, and has been for thousands of years. And in the midst of this anger, He sent His son to earth to die for sin so that we would not have to suffer His wrath. This is an amazing display of patience and self control. Even more impressive is that after Christ’ death, He has waited yet another two thousand years (and counting), allowing us more than enough time to choose Jesus as His cup of wrath continues to fill and will be poured out at the appointed time. Appointed sounds more like a day that is planned in advance than it does an uncontrolled emotional outburst.

So, far from wrath being an attribute that doesn’t fit with the rest of His character, His wrath actually fits perfectly with who He is. And now we see how His wrath highlights His patience, longsuffering endurance, committed love, and self-control. And that, I believe, is something to take comfort in.

His Nature: Goodness

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“Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He teaches the sinners in the way.” Psalm 25:8

There is a common phrase many Christians love to repeat: God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” The truth that God is good is biblical but unfortunately it has also become a cliché statement. I would like to focus in on this attribute of God so that we might actually understand what it means instead of merely knowing it as statement.

So what exactly does it mean that God is good? We love to say something is good because of how we feel towards it. Pizza is good because we enjoy the taste. A person is good because they meet our criteria of what is moral. A movie is good because it entertained us or met our expectations. This way of using the term “good” is not what it means to say that God is good. That’s not to say that God isn’t good in these ways. I would argue that He is definitely capable of being good in this manner for it says: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8) and “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (Jas 1:18) We can see that God is good in a pleasing manner as we experience His good gifts. All that He has made and done is good, pleasing, and perfect.

But when we see what else scripture has to say on the subject, we clearly see that there must be a different way to be good. Jesus Himself says, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Mark 10:18) The Greek term interpreted as ‘good’ is agathos which means virtuous. People can be virtuous and morally upright. But Jesus states that only God is good. Not man, not creation, not angels, nor experiences. If only God can be good than we must examine what this goodness actually is so that we might differentiate it from the familiar goodness that we experience. This goodness is only found in God because it is perfect. God is pure. There is no hint of sin or deceit within Him.  All of God’s actions, intentions, thoughts and words are good. They are without shadow, there is no evil or malice in them. God is not capable of doing anything that does not end with a good and righteous outcome. He is upright in all He does. We may strive to be virtuous and to do good, but our sin nature always taints our actions despite what we might have intended. Selfishness and deceit run too deep within mankind for us to avoid flaws within our virtuous acts and intentions. But with God, all that He does is perfectly good for sin cannot touch His motivations. His intentions are good and His actions and their consequences are always just and righteous. God is goodness itself, it is a part of His unchanging nature.

This doesn’t mean that we can’t experience negative feelings or circumstances. It merely means that if God has allowed something to happen to you, then it is beneficial in some way, whether you are able to recognize it or not. J. I. Packer says in Knowing God, “We should not, therefore, be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? Simply that God in His wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and He is dealing with us accordingly.” He is not harming you for evil but as it says in Hebrews 12:11: “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Discipline is the best example of God’s goodness at work, for it is unpleasant and painful to go through, however, it results in good things for us, namely: righteousness and maturity.

If we wish to correctly comprehend His goodness, we must be careful to keep separate the concept of His moral and virtuous character from pleasant experiences. Should we fail to do so then we will lose faith in every experience that includes pain or loss. All that God does is for our good and everything that happens to us, even if it is bad, is turned around for our good.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

We can take comfort in the truth of God’s goodness, for all that He does is good and all that happens to us, even if it is bad, will be turned around for our benefit. All we have to do is trust in His goodness. So no matter what you may be going through, you can rest in His goodness towards you by having faith that He will make everything turn out for your good.

His Nature: Omnipresent

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God is always present. He is everywhere, at all times. He is at the farthest reaches of the universe and beyond it. At the same time He is right beside you, even within you. That is what it means for Him to be omnipresent: All-Present. He is everywhere, simultaneously, all the time. You cannot find a place that God’s Presence won’t already be. There is no place that He wont go.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your Presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. Psalm 139:7-10

All that exists, does so within His Presence. For God is greater than all of the universe and is in fact larger than the universe. Even hell exists within His Presence. Many believe that hell is the absence of God’s Presence. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says it is to be “away from the Presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might” but this is not the complete absence of His presence. Those in hell will not enjoy the manifested Presence and His glory. While His presence may not be tangible or visible, He will still be present there for there is nowhere God cant go.

So there is nowhere that God can’t go and there is never a time in this life that God doesn’t show up. The church can take comfort from this truth. I already discussed previously how God is relational in His nature. His omnipresence is a key part of being able to walk in relationship with Him. We may be abandoned or forgotten by others, but God is still with us, always. And while we may long for human relations, we always have access to relationship with God.

It is because of this that the idea of loneliness is proven to be a lie. You are never actually alone. You are never on your own. God is always with you and watching over you. The enemy wishes for us to feel and become isolated to make it easier for us to succumb to temptation. But the Lord is always there, ready to guide us through life.

Hidden and Manifest Presence

We can understand the Presence of God in two context: hidden and manifested.

Hidden means when you don’t feel Him, hear His voice or see the evidence of Him working but the truth that He is present still stands. It is during this time that we put our faith in His presence. We have to trust that He is still there and believe the truth of His omnipresence. We have faith that God has not abandoned us, as many of us have probably believed in these times.

Manifested means His Presence is tangible. You feel His Presence. You hear Him speak or see Him at work. The experiencing of Him may vary from person to person but you get the impression that God is here, right now! This is the one everyone wants to experience.

Practice the Presence

“You don’t have to pray out loud; He’s nearer than you can imagine. It isn’t necessary that we stay in church in order to remain in God’s Presence. We can make our hearts personal chapels where we can enter anytime to talk to God privately.” – Brother Lawrence

If you have never read Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence I strongly recommend it. It is a very short book that is simple and easy to understand. In it Brother Lawrence explains living in the Presence of God on a consistent basis. To practice the Presence is to turn your thoughts and affections to God as often as possible. Set aside time in your day to just rest in Him. Don’t busy yourself with other things, turn off your phone, and just spend time with God.

“The Presence of God is the concentration of the soul’s attention on God, remembering that He is always present.” – Brother Lawrence

Prayer is no longer a series of words that seem to go no further than the ceiling. Instead prayer becomes real communication between you and Christ. You can speak, knowing that He is in the room with you. Then you listen and see if He responds. Your problems no longer seem to be overwhelming. You can just lay them before Him and ask Him to take care of them, resting in the knowledge that He hears your plea, and sees the troubles of your life.

You know longer read the bible to find Him. You already found Him, or more accurately He found you. Now, you can read the bible with Him, asking Him what things mean and receive direction and teaching from Him.

To many Christians, “relationship with God” is a metaphor for practicing spiritual disciplines. Praying, fasting, attending church, reading the bible, doing good deeds. They don’t see it as a real thing. But relationship with God is real and it’s His omnipresence that is key to that truth. Practicing the Presence makes that relationship come alive!

Holy Spirit, I pray that every person who reads this and all who call on You to draw close to them, experience deep intimacy with You. Make Your Presence known to them and banish the feelings of loneliness from their hearts. Take them from knowing You exist to experiencing Your existence as they learn to walk with You through life. Amen.

His Nature: Reality

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There are two different realities. One that is real and one that is a lie. No, I am not talking about the Matrix. Although that movie is a great analogy for it. The two realities I am speaking of deal with faith or fear, confidence or worry, a creation existing in the hands of God or a creation that is random and unstable.

I spent a large portion of my life seeing reality as unpredictable and dangerous. I devoted an unhealthy amount of time to trying to protect myself from dangers that never actually arrived. I tried to control every aspect of my life in a futile attempt of self-preservation only to enslave myself to fear. Fear that was so strong in my life that I could no longer act when I needed to or even speak when I had something to say. Sadly, this is how many people live their lives. Many Christians live this way also, although we are supposed to know better.

My life now is drastically different than it once was. I encountered God. I don’t just mean I became a Christian. I encountered Him in a way that made me finally realize God as an actual being and not just an idea that I believe in. I know most Christians would say they believe God to be real this way as well but because of my past experience as well as observing the lifestyles of other Christians its hard to believe all of them. It almost seems like Christians use the same terminology to express two different things. Allow me to explain.

God is real. God is present. And God is willing to speak to you. There is the biblical scriptures and then there is God Himself speaking to you in the here and now. But many Christians think and behave as if God only exists in their minds. He is not a real entity outside of themselves. He looks and acts the way they think He should. Example: If they have sinned or failed, God is unhappy. If everything is going well and they feel good, then God is happy with them. These people go to church every Sunday, read their bibles and pray all the time and call that relationship. They fail to see that all of that is just spiritual discipline. But God is real and acts as He will’s, not how others expect of him. There are Christians who have encountered God and walk in relationship with Him. Real relationship, the kind you have with another person. They speak and then wait for an answer. They don’t simply study the nature of God, they become intimately acquainted with it through experiencing His presence. Every Christian seems to live out one of two different realities. One where reality defines God, the other where God defines reality.

What does this have to do with reality? If God says something will be, then it will be. I won’t delve too deep into why that is, since I can do that in other articles. But suffice it to say that God is sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing and always faithful. Put all those together and you get a God who cannot be stopped, cannot make mistakes and cannot fail in fulfilling what He sets out to do. If God says to a single man or woman that they will one day be married, then they will one day be married. If he says to a mother that her children will return to Him, then her children will return. No one can stop His words from coming true. If God says He loves you and nothing can separate you from that love then nothing will separate you from that love. Faith is when we receive His words and believe in them. And we show that we believe in them by how we act.

If the mother to whom God said “Your children will return to me” responds by worrying than she shows herself to doubt God and is living in the worldly reality. She lives as if it is up to her to save her children and somehow worrying is supposed to be the source of their salvation. This of course makes no sense, worry has no power to save. It’s the same with the single man/woman struggling with loneliness. God said they would be married yet they still succumb to the fear that they will be single the rest of their lives. Lack of success in relationships causes them to doubt. They devote all their time instead to fantasizing what it would be like to have what they think they will never obtain, causing themselves more heartache. Or they waste time trying to earn the favor of the opposite sex only to be denied. Or, worst of all, they try to convince themselves that maybe they are just meant to be celibate, as if that’s God’s plan for them when this is actually doubting His plan for them. Things would go better If they had just trusted the Lord in the first place and devoted their free time to their relationship with God and in so doing allowed Him to prepare them for their future relationship. And many a Christian knows the biblical verses about God’s love for them and sing about it and declare it over others. Yet they go through life downcast in their souls because they believe He must be angry with them for some sin they committed. They try to achieve perfection through religious discipline to earn His favor when they already had it.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

Above I quoted John 8:32. What is interesting about this verse is that the Greek word being translated as “truth” is Aletheia, which also carries the meaning of “reality”. Truth and Reality are a person, Jesus. What He says, goes. “For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” Isa 14:27 I know that learning how to live in the promises that God makes to us is difficult at first. Like Neo failing to make the jump in the Matrix when he was being trained. But the church must learn how to begin living as if what God says is reality. Not what the world throws at us. Not the fears and worries that crawl around in our heads, conjuring up images and ideas of what might happen. Christ spoke of the “Truth” setting us free. It was sin that we have been enslaved to that He wishes to set us free from. We have obeyed the voices of fear, worry, and anxiety our whole lives. Jesus, The Truth, sets us free by showing us the true way to live.

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” John 14:6

I don’t care if every circumstance in life points in the opposite direction of what God said is going to happen. You have to learn that what God said is more concrete then the circumstances around you. And that is hard, because we have all been raised in the world, in this false reality. But keep at it. Keep learning how to live with God as your source of what is true and real. Let God be the Way that you live. Let Him be your source of Life, not the world. For God determines what is real and possible, not doubt.

I personally have reached a place in my life where I have waited for years for promises to come true. I am not far from the fulfillment of some of them. And as the date of their fulfillment draws closer, it is becoming increasingly clear to me what the consequences are. If God doesn’t come through for me its not just a matter of saying I misheard Him. My life will be a mess. I will be devastated. Because I have put so much of myself and my life on the line, trusting in Him. However, I am not afraid. I have watched, just within the last few years, as things God has shown me become a reality before my eyes. I know that I will not be disappointed. Even if nothing in the world suggests that He will come through and naysayers oppose me, telling me I’m wrong. He proves Himself faithful time and time again as I look to Him to know what is real and true.

Father, take them on a journey to learn how to live in the reality of Your Presence. Take away all false ideas, disbelief and fear. In their place give them faith, truth and ever increasing confidence in You. Amen.

His Nature: Savior Pt. 2

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“The LORD is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer, my God, my Rock, in Whom I take refuge, my Shield and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold. I call upon the LORD, Who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:2-3

The Lord continues to draw my attention to the subject of salvation. Specifically, not saving ourselves but trusting in Him instead. I talked about this in the previous article but I feel moved to stay on this subject for a little while longer.

Taking Refuge

There are many verses throughout scripture that refer to God as a refuge, just like the one above. Many of the saints of old clearly sought God as such, but I wonder if most of us today in our independent-living culture truly grasp and live out what they were talking about. I talked about in the previous article about how salvation comes from God and not from the strength of our own hands. And the examples I gave clearly exemplified the point: Gideon fighting Median, Joshua fighting five kingdoms at once, and Joshua’s name change and his battle against the Amalekites. However, all three of these examples have to do with men fighting in actual warfare. And the fact is that most of us are not facing actually combat situations or even life or death situations in the same manner as they were.

So I felt a need to talk about this in a way that is more relatable and practical. The Lord has been teaching me this over the last couple of months. My life lately has been full of all sorts of conflicts and issues and just bad experiences in general. God has brought my attention during this time to a few different moments in scripture. The one I would like to talk about today is the story of David and Nabal.

So I was reading the story of David and Nabal in 1 Samuel 25. A wealthy man by the name Nabal,  which means “foolish”, refused to help David’s men and spoke insultingly of David. David’s response was to call all of his men to arms and march on Nabal’s land and kill him and everyone within his household.! I know what Nabal said and did was wrong but David’s response in this situation seems very extreme. He didn’t just want to kill Nabal but every male that Nabal had in his family.

At no point does it say that David consulted God about this. Instead, he responded out of his anger and pride. He was insulted and he moved to vindicate his hurt pride. But Nabal’s wife Abigail came out to David and convinced him not to kill Nabal and blessed him with a gift for his men. After pointing out that her husband is a fool she says this: “Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.” (1 Sam 25:26) Abigail shows through her words that she understood the importance of not saving oneself and credit’s God as being the one who prevented David from doing this thing. In other words, the Savior saved David from himself!

She goes on to say: “And when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself.”(1 Sam 25:30-31)

This discourse shows us that there was no need for violence and bloodshed and that David was in the wrong for trying to fix his problem with his own wisdom and strength. He hadn’t consulted God on what to do, he didn’t approach God at all! Yet, in verse 38 it says: “And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.” David could have gone to the Lord and received guidance on what would come of Nabal. But more importantly, he could have approached God and found peace and emotional stability so that he could handle the situation with wisdom.

Everyone these days seems to behave as David did. We are reactive. Were I work, we have a chemical that is called a ‘reactive agent’. You wouldn’t know by looking at it that the chemical is dangerous. But if you cause it to come into contact with another chemical or other substance, this ‘reactive agent’ catches fire. That is what happened with David and that is whats happening too often with us as well.

David reacted with murderous rage and maybe some of us share that struggle with him. But for many others it’s not necessarily anger. When things are going badly for us; when we’re falsely accused, betrayed by friends, fired from work, get insulted, made fun of or robbed in some way, we respond. Poorly. There are so many things, too many things, for me to list out here, that go wrong in our lives. And they go wrong all the time. Our responses can often take the form of anger, depression, entertainment to distract ourselves such as watching TV, playing video games, or social media. It can look like surrounding ourselves with as many ‘friends’ as possible, burying ourselves in work, or living in a fantasy world so we don’t have to face what is happening. Sometimes we react in a way so that we may forget what is happening, such as with drinking and drugs. We smoke weed or cigarettes or resort to sexual gratification so we don’t feel the pain that has been brought into our lives.

Regardless of the problem and regardless of our reaction, all of these are stemming from the same root issue. We read the psalm’s and quote the phrases “God is my refuge” but we don’t actually go to Him for refuge. We go to others. We go to drugs. We go to porn and sex. We go to entertainment. We seek refuge in the false salvation of worldliness. Nabal means ‘fool’ and we keep reacting to the foolishness of this fallen sinful world. Refuge is the condition of being safe from pursuit, danger, or trouble. When we turn to these things we seek refuge in lies, which is foolish. We fight the foolishness that opposes us with foolishness of our own. And then get upset when the exact same problems rise up against us once more!

We need to learn as David did that our refuge is in God. For in ten days, David’s issue with Nabal was resolved. God struck down the foolish, and it never got up again. How many of our problems would we never have to suffer from, never react to again if we would only learn to seek God as our refuge. If we could only stay our hands and resist the urge to work salvation ourselves. It is imperative that we learn to rest in the Presence of God so that we might dwell in His peace. In His Presence we can take our eyes off of the problem and put them back on God, and in doing so we find rest from our troubled thoughts and disturbed emotions. I know in our society that refusing to defend yourself or to confront things immediately looks like cowardice. But as it says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”

Next time you need salvation turn to the Lord. Retreat within the Presence of God, submit your problems to Him and then trust Him to work out your salvation. Trust Him enough to relinquish your troubles so that you may be calm and unmoved, just as our Savior was as He slept on the boat in the midst of the storm. Always go to God first. Train yourself in it. So that in time, your reaction to trouble is to go rest in the Savior.

God, teach us how to rest in You in the midst of conflicts. Open our eyes to Your faithfulness, so we might see that You are trustworthy and able to save. For You are and always have been able to save but our doubt has gotten in the way. Help us so that we may let go of control over our issues and sit back in rest as we confidently watch You work out our salvation. Amen.

His Nature: Savior

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Salvation belongs to the LORD; Your blessings be on Your people! Selah (Psalm 3:8)

The fact that God is our Savior is kind of a no brainer among Christians. After all, it’s sort of the main role that Jesus walked out during His earthly ministry, culminating with His death and resurrection. If I asked a group of Christians “what is Christ to you?” the Savior would probably be one of the first responses given. The new testament is dominated by Jesus’ work of salvation. Because of this, I’m actually going to avoid talking about the new testament in this article. The reason for this is that I want to show God as our Savior before the coming of Christ. I want to show you how this aspect of His character is found throughout the old testament and even beyond, so that you can see that the role of Savior is given to Him because of who He is and always has been. (This in no way diminishes what Christ did.)

God Scares Gideon

“The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand…”

So if you don’t know the story of Gideon, basically Israel has rebelled against God and He has allowed their enemies to afflict them. In this specific instance, the Midianites are ravaging the lands of Israel, stealing their crops and livestock. God calls Gideon to deliver the people of Israel from their oppressors. Gideon, however, is a little uncertain about his own abilities and tests God twice with a fleece. (Judges 6:36-40)

Now, once Gideon responds to the call God has on his life and has acquired an army of 32,000 men, God throws him a curve ball. He tells Gideon that he has too many men for God to give the enemy into their hands. Normally, this would be really bad logic. Because typically, the larger the army the easier it should be to overcome your opponent. But with God, well, what constitutes as logical doesn’t look the same to us. God tells Gideon to send home all who are afraid and just like that an army of 32,000 is reduced to only 10,000. Then he reduces the number again down to only 300!

But why does God say they are too many? “lest Israel boast over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.'”(Judges 7:2) God taught a timid Gideon an extremely valuable lesson: bravery that is rooted in numbers or in one’s own might is foolish. True bravery is trusting in God to save you. As it says in Judges 7:7, “And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand,…”. Take note that God says “I will save you”, not “they will save you”. Gideon was still scared at this point and entered the enemy camp only to find that they were afraid of him! He hadn’t even done anything yet but God had spoken to one of the Midianites in a dream which led to the people becoming afraid of Gideon.

God saved Gideon from his own fear and then saved all Israel from Midian through an emboldened Gideon. God revealed Himself to Gideon as a Savior on a personal level. Then through him, God revealed Himself as the Savior to the whole nation.

The Rock Throws Rocks

Now, lets go back a little further in history…

After leading Israel into the promised land and succeeding in the conquest of Jericho and Ai, and making peace with the city of Gibeon, Joshua was faced with his greatest test yet. Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, calls together an army made up of five kingdoms! Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Debir have all come out to war against Gibeon for making peace with Joshua and Israel.

As I mentioned before, with God logic and numbers really don’t mean that much. Joshua and the Israelite’s come upon the massive army suddenly, sending them into a great panic! Canaanite soldiers are running everywhere while Israel pursues them. There isn’t enough light in the day to catch all of them so Joshua commands “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” (Joshua 10:12) And amazingly, it happened! Israel destroyed the armies and killed the five kings. But while this “day” that was no ordinary day transpired, Israel was not the one who dealt the most damage to the enemy. As it says in verse 11, “And as they fled before Israel,… the LORD threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.”

Gibeon may have used trickery and deception to make peace with Israel and convince them not to destroy them, contrary to God’s original command, but what is most amazing about this story is that Gibeon’s first encounter with Israel after making peace with them is that they are in need of their help. The five kings weren’t attacking Israel, they were attacking Gibeon. And while I’m sure most of us have seen this event as the Lord continuing the conquest of Canaan (which it is), I can’t help but see this as a great introduction for Gibeon to have with the God of Israel. Israel came to Gibeon’s aid and God got directly involved. He killed more of the enemy than Israel did and in doing so, showed Himself as being the one who saved Gibeon.

And so, just like with Gideon, God showed that Israel wasn’t able to save others or themselves on their own. They needed God to fight for them. The people of Gibeon were Canaanites and yet we also see the Lord coming to save them.

Name Change

And since we’re talking about Joshua, I would like to point out that his name was originally Hosea. But Moses called him Joshua instead and from that point on he is known as Joshua. Hosea in Hebrew means Salvation. While Joshua means He is Salvation or God is Salvation. Interestingly, Joshua’s first experience in leading Israel in battle was against the Amalekites. Moses stood on top of a hill, holding up his arms and as long as his arms were up, Joshua and Israel were succeeding but whenever he let his arms down, they began to lose. I believe this was first hand experience for Joshua, as the future leader of Israel, in understanding and living out the difference between salvation and salvation from God. It was the difference between Hosea – salvation acquired on your own and Joshua – salvation from the hand of God.

Before the Foundations

There are so many other stories I could pull from the old testament showing God’s role as Savior. The miracles He performed in Egypt, the work’s of Moses in the wilderness, all of the judges, and the striking down of 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a day are just a few such stories. But for the sake of time I will end with this. Revelations 13:8 says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Yes, I know I’m using a new testament verse but I need it to make my final point)

The interesting thing about this verse is that it suggests the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. In other words, before God actually came to earth in the form of Jesus, even before the first man, Adam, walked on the earth, the Son was already the willing sacrificial Lamb. The crucifixion was not a band-aid. God knows everything and so He knew we would inevitably sin. If Adam and Eve hadn’t done it, then perhaps Cain or Abel or you or me. The point is that He was fully prepared and ready to save humanity before we ever even existed.

God is our Savior! God is The Savior! He has always been the Savior and will always continue being our Savior. God is continuing His salvation even now. Don’t just trust that God has saved you from your sins but trust in Him to save you even now from the enemy. Learn to let Him fight your battles for you.

I’ll end with this, one of my favorite chapters of scripture: Isaiah 43. I encourage you to read the whole chapter on your own but here I’ll simply leave some highlights of the chapter.

But now thus says the LORD, He Who created you, O Jacob, He Who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you.

“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Me. I, I am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior.