Chapter 2 really gets into the meat of Proverbs.
It outlines how Solomon sees the accumulation of wisdom as a major life priority (vs 1 – 8). Many people would set great store by other things – money, power, sometimes pure information – but Solomon sees wisdom as a greater priority than all of the above. And remember, by his definition, wisdom is skill in making moral decisions – and as far as Solomon is concerned, it’s impossible to have true wisdom outside of a knowledge of God.
He then goes on to describe the benefits of Wisdom (vs 9 – 22). To whit:
• You can find the best trails to follow in life.
• Wisdom and knowledge will keep you company during life’s journeys.
• You can avoid danger
• You can avoid making wrong turns
• Wisdom will keep you out of the company of losers.
• Wisdom will keep you clear of the Seductress.
It is this last one that I’d like to explore in a little more detail tonight.
Solomon starts early with discussing the dangers of the seductive woman. And it is a valid question: Why start there?
There are a few reasons.
Firstly, the temptation to stray in marriage is a strong one – almost universal to men in particular, and many women too. As I write this right now, the United States government is dealing with the fallout from a particular Senator’s dalliances. But even if this wasn’t happening right now, you and I (gentle reader!) both know that soon there will be another scandal. It’s no great shock. Powerful men and women are under even more temptation than the rest of us, and it’s no surprise. We all understand that implicitly.
Secondly (perhaps leading on from the first fact), the writer of this passage, Solomon, was not exactly immune to the temptations of the flesh. In fact, the histories in the Bible inform us that women were Solomon’s downfall.
Thirdly, sexual matters are always fascinating to us all. John Dickson’s book “A Sneaking Suspicion” begins with discussing sex from a Christian viewpoint, and this is because (as Dickson says) “everyone was going to turn to the chapter on sex first, so I thought I might as well put that at the front”.
Fourthly (and here is the reason that I want to pursue further), sexual sin has a deep impact on who we are and how we feel. Sex is intimately (no pun intended) connected with much of what we do – our identity, our thought processes, the way we relate to others – and so if we can get that part of life straight, it follows that other parts of life will be easier too.
Having seen in a few friends’ lives how horrific the damage caused by affairs can be, I don’t need any more convincing – Solomon is absolutely right to concentrate on this area.
This puts me in the awkward position of asking you, gentle reader, if you are dealing with sexual sin yourself. If you are, then wisdom would dictate that it’s time to get clear.
18 June 2011
17 June 2011
Chapter 1
The Book is introduced with a description – the sayings of King Solomon. This is important because you want to know that the person you’ll be listening to is someone who has the runs on the board, so to speak. If you’re wanting to learn wisdom, there’s no point in listening to a fool! And indeed, Solomon is described elsewhere in lurid detail as having a spectacular God-given wisdom (He was really the renaissance ideal of a king, over a thousand years before the renaissance ever happened!). He’s ultimately a good person to pay attention to if one wishes to become wise.
Solomon introduces his treatise by contrasting wisdom and foolishness. Now, before we go on, it is important to understand that to Solomon, wisdom and folly mean something rather different than what they’d mean to a regular 21st century person. We see wisdom primarily as an intellectual or mental attribute – a wise person is someone who is clever, or perhaps one who is skilled at applying their intellect to life. Conversely a fool is one who fails to apply intellect to living.
By contrast, to Solomon (in common with many thinkers of his time) Wisdom is actually more a moral trait. Like us, the wise person is skilled in living; unlike us, the thing that makes them wise is a skill in making good MORAL choices. And again, the fool is one who has a problem with making good moral choices.
Once we get this idea into our heads, verses 7 to 33 make a lot more sense.
Verses 8-19 talk about the stereotypical fool. Note that he’s an evil man as much as anything else. He makes wrong decisions in his foolishness, mainly because of a self-centred attitude.
Solomon sees this as leading to a bad end. This isn’t to say that the morally corrupt person always ends up in a bad place; it’s a general principle, not a hard-and-fast rule. But it IS a reason why a person would not want to be this kind of a fool, no matter how good the deal seems in the short term.
Contrast the fool with Lady Wisdom, seen in verses 20 to 33. She declares her willingness to teach anyone who will listen. She goes all out to explain the consequences of foolishness – to use a metaphor, you’re building a fantastic house, only to discover that it’s really a house of cards. Sooner or later it’s all going to come crashing down.
The point that I want to concentrate on for ourselves tonight is a short phrase found in verses 7. “Start with God,” Solomon says, “The first step in learning is bowing down to God. Only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.”
This is a big call in our secular world. By contrast, I have had people ask me if it is possible for an intelligent person to believe in God.
But Solomon would see this attitude as about as far from the truth as it’s basically possible to get.
Far from the agnostic worldview we so often see around us today, Solomon sees that it is impossible to truly be wise if we don’t acknowledge our creator.
Now, this is from the moral understanding of wisdom, but even if we use the more intellectual idea, there is much to be said for recognizing your place in the universe and understanding God’s place.
There is a lot in this book for us to learn. If nothing else, the first thing we learn is that that wisdom is inextricably linked with an understanding of God.
Solomon introduces his treatise by contrasting wisdom and foolishness. Now, before we go on, it is important to understand that to Solomon, wisdom and folly mean something rather different than what they’d mean to a regular 21st century person. We see wisdom primarily as an intellectual or mental attribute – a wise person is someone who is clever, or perhaps one who is skilled at applying their intellect to life. Conversely a fool is one who fails to apply intellect to living.
By contrast, to Solomon (in common with many thinkers of his time) Wisdom is actually more a moral trait. Like us, the wise person is skilled in living; unlike us, the thing that makes them wise is a skill in making good MORAL choices. And again, the fool is one who has a problem with making good moral choices.
Once we get this idea into our heads, verses 7 to 33 make a lot more sense.
Verses 8-19 talk about the stereotypical fool. Note that he’s an evil man as much as anything else. He makes wrong decisions in his foolishness, mainly because of a self-centred attitude.
Solomon sees this as leading to a bad end. This isn’t to say that the morally corrupt person always ends up in a bad place; it’s a general principle, not a hard-and-fast rule. But it IS a reason why a person would not want to be this kind of a fool, no matter how good the deal seems in the short term.
Contrast the fool with Lady Wisdom, seen in verses 20 to 33. She declares her willingness to teach anyone who will listen. She goes all out to explain the consequences of foolishness – to use a metaphor, you’re building a fantastic house, only to discover that it’s really a house of cards. Sooner or later it’s all going to come crashing down.
The point that I want to concentrate on for ourselves tonight is a short phrase found in verses 7. “Start with God,” Solomon says, “The first step in learning is bowing down to God. Only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.”
This is a big call in our secular world. By contrast, I have had people ask me if it is possible for an intelligent person to believe in God.
But Solomon would see this attitude as about as far from the truth as it’s basically possible to get.
Far from the agnostic worldview we so often see around us today, Solomon sees that it is impossible to truly be wise if we don’t acknowledge our creator.
Now, this is from the moral understanding of wisdom, but even if we use the more intellectual idea, there is much to be said for recognizing your place in the universe and understanding God’s place.
There is a lot in this book for us to learn. If nothing else, the first thing we learn is that that wisdom is inextricably linked with an understanding of God.
16 June 2011
Introduction to Proverbs
As it has become customary for me to do, I will start this book with a bit of an overview.
Back in 1992, I was struggling with HSC Physics, mainly owing to the fact that I wouldn’t work in an iron lung (it pays to be honest!). I’m not sure if my parents realized at that point that my problem was technically known as “bone laziness”. Maybe they did, and the Tutor was intended to try and get me to do some work occasionally. Or maybe they simply thought School wasn’t teaching me properly or something.
In any case, they hired a tutor to help me with Physics. I can’t remember his name, and to tell the truth he didn’t help me much with Physics (mainly, it has to be said, because you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink). But he DID have one lasting impact.
The first time he came over to our home, he sat with me at my desk. He noticed the Bible sitting there, and asked me “Are you a Christian mate?”
I replied that yes, I was. In fact, it was my mother’s Bible there – I didn’t have much of a habit of reading it in those days! But I didn’t want this stranger to know that.
He grabbed the Bible, and turned to the pages of Proverbs. He then turned to me and said “Tell me, do you want to become wise?”
I don’t know why he asked this. Was I such a fool that it showed through? Quite possibly. Anyway, who doesn’t want to be wise? I certainly did, and I agreed at once.
He pointed at the first chapter of Proverbs.
“There are 31 chapters of Proverbs,” he said, “And there are 31 days in the month. Read a chapter of Proverbs every day, and you WILL become wise.”
I thought this tutor was a little odd. But I followed his advice.
I don’t know if you’d say I became wise, but you could definitely agree on WISER. I did, after all, have a long way to go.
Well, that was nearly 20 years ago. Cutting to today, I still have a way to go, but life has forced me a little farther down that road to wisdom (which, for all you Maths types out there, is an asymptote. For all the non-Mathematicians, that means something you can approach but never actually reach!).
It has, however, been a while since I read this book, and I don’t think I have EVER given it a comprehensive study. That’s why I decided it was time for me to turn our attentions in this direction.
So what do we know about this book?
Most of the proverbs are attributed to Solomon. Presumably there’d be a lot of discussion as to whether or not he actually wrote them. In some ways, though, it doesn’t matter much. Whoever wrote them had a decent claim to being very wise.
A recent article by Christopher Hitchens, the world-famous atheist, actually praised the King James Bible as a far-reaching and influential piece of English Literature. He pointed out that many sayings and idioms have their roots in the King James Bible. Not a few of these are in Proverbs, and as we read it over the next 31 days, we’re going to see if we can spot them (although we’re in the Message paraphrase rather than the King James).
I am praying that God will use these 31 days to add to my wisdom. How about you take time right now, gentle reader, to pray the same for yourself?
Back in 1992, I was struggling with HSC Physics, mainly owing to the fact that I wouldn’t work in an iron lung (it pays to be honest!). I’m not sure if my parents realized at that point that my problem was technically known as “bone laziness”. Maybe they did, and the Tutor was intended to try and get me to do some work occasionally. Or maybe they simply thought School wasn’t teaching me properly or something.
In any case, they hired a tutor to help me with Physics. I can’t remember his name, and to tell the truth he didn’t help me much with Physics (mainly, it has to be said, because you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink). But he DID have one lasting impact.
The first time he came over to our home, he sat with me at my desk. He noticed the Bible sitting there, and asked me “Are you a Christian mate?”
I replied that yes, I was. In fact, it was my mother’s Bible there – I didn’t have much of a habit of reading it in those days! But I didn’t want this stranger to know that.
He grabbed the Bible, and turned to the pages of Proverbs. He then turned to me and said “Tell me, do you want to become wise?”
I don’t know why he asked this. Was I such a fool that it showed through? Quite possibly. Anyway, who doesn’t want to be wise? I certainly did, and I agreed at once.
He pointed at the first chapter of Proverbs.
“There are 31 chapters of Proverbs,” he said, “And there are 31 days in the month. Read a chapter of Proverbs every day, and you WILL become wise.”
I thought this tutor was a little odd. But I followed his advice.
I don’t know if you’d say I became wise, but you could definitely agree on WISER. I did, after all, have a long way to go.
Well, that was nearly 20 years ago. Cutting to today, I still have a way to go, but life has forced me a little farther down that road to wisdom (which, for all you Maths types out there, is an asymptote. For all the non-Mathematicians, that means something you can approach but never actually reach!).
It has, however, been a while since I read this book, and I don’t think I have EVER given it a comprehensive study. That’s why I decided it was time for me to turn our attentions in this direction.
So what do we know about this book?
Most of the proverbs are attributed to Solomon. Presumably there’d be a lot of discussion as to whether or not he actually wrote them. In some ways, though, it doesn’t matter much. Whoever wrote them had a decent claim to being very wise.
A recent article by Christopher Hitchens, the world-famous atheist, actually praised the King James Bible as a far-reaching and influential piece of English Literature. He pointed out that many sayings and idioms have their roots in the King James Bible. Not a few of these are in Proverbs, and as we read it over the next 31 days, we’re going to see if we can spot them (although we’re in the Message paraphrase rather than the King James).
I am praying that God will use these 31 days to add to my wisdom. How about you take time right now, gentle reader, to pray the same for yourself?
15 June 2011
Chapter 13
Hebrews draws to a close. Mick seems to have much to say (and perhaps this chapter influenced St Augustine in his opinion that the writer was Paul – much of what Mick has to say here in this chapter reminds you of him!).
We have almost a hodge-podge of different instructions here.
Verses 1 – 4 are about hospitality, and the Christian’s responsibility to offer it to those who need it, especially former prisoners (presumably those imprisoned for faith) and victims of abuse.
Somehow this segues into an instruction to keep the Marriage vow pure and inviolate.
Then verse 5 gives us an injunction to avoid materialism.
And verse 7 gives an instruction to value the leaders of your church. Verse 8 gives a reason for this, incidentally providing us with a well-known passage – “Jesus doesn’t change – yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself,” being the Message translation.
All of these are good advice generally. But Mick isn’t finished.
Verses 9 onwards are a little less about actions themselves and more about once again contrasting the two covenants.
So what do we get out of it?
It’s a collection of instructions. They’re all good instructions. And yes, Christ IS the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. But why does Mick put these statements in our hands?
Throughout the book, he’s been bringing forth this idea of Christ as the Messiah (a natural way to tackle Jesus from a Jewish point of view). So it shouldn’t be a shock that he finishes by referring his readers back to basics. And we too would do well to listen one more time to the basics!
See you in Proverbs tomorrow!
We have almost a hodge-podge of different instructions here.
Verses 1 – 4 are about hospitality, and the Christian’s responsibility to offer it to those who need it, especially former prisoners (presumably those imprisoned for faith) and victims of abuse.
Somehow this segues into an instruction to keep the Marriage vow pure and inviolate.
Then verse 5 gives us an injunction to avoid materialism.
And verse 7 gives an instruction to value the leaders of your church. Verse 8 gives a reason for this, incidentally providing us with a well-known passage – “Jesus doesn’t change – yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself,” being the Message translation.
All of these are good advice generally. But Mick isn’t finished.
Verses 9 onwards are a little less about actions themselves and more about once again contrasting the two covenants.
So what do we get out of it?
It’s a collection of instructions. They’re all good instructions. And yes, Christ IS the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. But why does Mick put these statements in our hands?
Throughout the book, he’s been bringing forth this idea of Christ as the Messiah (a natural way to tackle Jesus from a Jewish point of view). So it shouldn’t be a shock that he finishes by referring his readers back to basics. And we too would do well to listen one more time to the basics!
See you in Proverbs tomorrow!
14 June 2011
Chapter 12b
Some readers may wonder why I have not yet put up a poll on where we should go next. I crave your indulgence – since we’re heading into the Old Testament again, the next book will be one of the Poetry books. And I have made my OWN choice here (Don’t worry, you may torture me again when we head back into the NT!) – we’ll be looking at the book of Proverbs next!
Also, my internet has been really erratic over the last couple of days. My apologies if today’s commentary doesn’t reach you until tomorrow or some such.
--
As I said I would yesterday, I’m spinning chapter 12 into two devos. This is because verses 16 – 29 are simply too good to miss out on.
Mick is continuing to spin out the differences between the old covenant and the new covenant. And he comes now to what is perhaps the most striking difference between the two.
It’s this: For the people of Israel, God was a figure of fear. A loving figure of fear, to be sure, and one who promised them much; but the relationship was succinctly spelled out: “I shall be their God, and they shall be my people.”
For the Christian, this can still be said; but it has a totally different meaning, because the relationship between a God and His people means something different to us. To us, rather than that aloof and slightly terrifying figure, God has allowed Himself to become like us, and therefore we have been given the privilege of knowing God translated into our terms. Jesus was fully God, but he was also a human, with human flesh and frailties. So whereas God had always been slightly alien to us, in Christ He becomes completely understandable for the first time.
The contrast is between awe and intimacy; between fear and love.
Note that once again He was still the same God. People could still experience intimacy with Him if they knew where to look. And today, He is still awesome in His power and glory.
What is the difference?
An oft-repeated story: When John F. Kennedy was president of the USA, he was in charge of that country at the zenith of its power. He was in charge of perhaps the most impressive nuclear arsenal the world has ever seen (we know now that the Russians never had sufficient weapons to equal the Americans).
In short, if you were the representative of a country that didn’t get on well with the USA, he was terrifying.
But at that time there was a small boy who used to sit on his lap in the Oval Office, who was able to gain access to the President at any time. His son, JFK jr, had intimacy with this man, even though he was a potentate with the ability to destroy entire nations.
The difference between intimacy and awe being the primary feeling about him depended on who you were. Similarly, the situation with us and God is analogous.
Under the old covenant, we were representatives of a country treating with an angry feudal lord. For us, God was being merciful not to simply stomp us flat.
Under the new covenant, God has adopted us as sons. We now have the right to interrupt His meeting, throw ourselves into His lap, and demand that he looks at the grubby snail shell we found in the backyard. And (amazing though it may sound), He loves that! He would rather sit and chat to His little kid than run the Universe!
(He can do both at once, in case you’re wondering . . .)
Mick doesn’t want us taking this God for granted. In verses 25 – 27, he reminds us that God still can shake the Earth if He wants to. In fact, He will one day give the Earth one last shaking.
But once that has happened, God will set up the final, UNSHAKEABLE kingdom – the kingdom that will never be destroyed.
Where is this important to us? It’s important because we often treat God differently from the way He wants to be treated. We think that God’s not interested in discussing the day’s events – somehow those events are too “mundane” to interest Him.
Where we go wrong is forgetting two things.
1) God is DADDY. He wants us to be sitting in His lap telling Him about all the things we saw today!
2) God isn’t limited as we are. He isn’t fixed in one spot in time. He therefore “always has time” for us – time isn’t a limiter for Him.
Don’t ever say to yourself that “this is too little a thing to bother God about.” God wants to be bothered!
Also, my internet has been really erratic over the last couple of days. My apologies if today’s commentary doesn’t reach you until tomorrow or some such.
--
As I said I would yesterday, I’m spinning chapter 12 into two devos. This is because verses 16 – 29 are simply too good to miss out on.
Mick is continuing to spin out the differences between the old covenant and the new covenant. And he comes now to what is perhaps the most striking difference between the two.
It’s this: For the people of Israel, God was a figure of fear. A loving figure of fear, to be sure, and one who promised them much; but the relationship was succinctly spelled out: “I shall be their God, and they shall be my people.”
For the Christian, this can still be said; but it has a totally different meaning, because the relationship between a God and His people means something different to us. To us, rather than that aloof and slightly terrifying figure, God has allowed Himself to become like us, and therefore we have been given the privilege of knowing God translated into our terms. Jesus was fully God, but he was also a human, with human flesh and frailties. So whereas God had always been slightly alien to us, in Christ He becomes completely understandable for the first time.
The contrast is between awe and intimacy; between fear and love.
Note that once again He was still the same God. People could still experience intimacy with Him if they knew where to look. And today, He is still awesome in His power and glory.
What is the difference?
An oft-repeated story: When John F. Kennedy was president of the USA, he was in charge of that country at the zenith of its power. He was in charge of perhaps the most impressive nuclear arsenal the world has ever seen (we know now that the Russians never had sufficient weapons to equal the Americans).
In short, if you were the representative of a country that didn’t get on well with the USA, he was terrifying.
But at that time there was a small boy who used to sit on his lap in the Oval Office, who was able to gain access to the President at any time. His son, JFK jr, had intimacy with this man, even though he was a potentate with the ability to destroy entire nations.
The difference between intimacy and awe being the primary feeling about him depended on who you were. Similarly, the situation with us and God is analogous.
Under the old covenant, we were representatives of a country treating with an angry feudal lord. For us, God was being merciful not to simply stomp us flat.
Under the new covenant, God has adopted us as sons. We now have the right to interrupt His meeting, throw ourselves into His lap, and demand that he looks at the grubby snail shell we found in the backyard. And (amazing though it may sound), He loves that! He would rather sit and chat to His little kid than run the Universe!
(He can do both at once, in case you’re wondering . . .)
Mick doesn’t want us taking this God for granted. In verses 25 – 27, he reminds us that God still can shake the Earth if He wants to. In fact, He will one day give the Earth one last shaking.
But once that has happened, God will set up the final, UNSHAKEABLE kingdom – the kingdom that will never be destroyed.
Where is this important to us? It’s important because we often treat God differently from the way He wants to be treated. We think that God’s not interested in discussing the day’s events – somehow those events are too “mundane” to interest Him.
Where we go wrong is forgetting two things.
1) God is DADDY. He wants us to be sitting in His lap telling Him about all the things we saw today!
2) God isn’t limited as we are. He isn’t fixed in one spot in time. He therefore “always has time” for us – time isn’t a limiter for Him.
Don’t ever say to yourself that “this is too little a thing to bother God about.” God wants to be bothered!
13 June 2011
Chapter 12
Well, I am TRYING to get a commentary out every day! Computer problems caused the postponement of yesterday’s effort however. But, let’s press on!
--
Chapter 12 continues on the theme from chapter 11. It takes as a given the idea of the great “Cloud of witnesses” (I love that phrase from the more formal translations!), and asks what we should do as a result.
And the answer?
Well, you could find it here. GET ON WITH IT!
Throughout my life I have often thought about how hard this Christian life can be.
You know what’s strange?
It’s strange that chapter 11 of Hebrews wasn’t a new chapter to me – it was in fact a nice, familiar chapter, parts of which I could rattle off from heart.
And yet somehow I had missed its significance.
It’s this – EVEN WHEN IT’S HARD FOR ME TO BE A CHRISTIAN, IT’S STILL EASIER THAN LIVING FOR GOD WAS FOR THESE PEOPLE!
What’s the worst that we comfortable middle class Christians are likely to face, really?
The worst I have ever had was being misunderstood for following Christ. Now, I grant you that it wasn’t fun. No question there.
But then I read about what chapter 11 tells us, and compare my sufferings with those seen there.
To use gamer parlance, I realize that those heroes found in chapter 11 would call me a “n00b” . . .
All I have faced is the occasional bit of discrimination, the odd snigger or snide remark here and there.
Yeah, poor little me.
And that’s all I’m probably EVER going to face. The odds of me ever having to face death for my faith are staggering[1].
Sorry if I seem to be heading back to chapter 11; it’s germaine, believe me.
The point is this – when you feel like it’s hard to be a Christian (or even hard to be in ministry!), it can sometimes be good to take a reality check. Read back in chapter 11 if it helps you to remember. But things have been a lot tougher for many people.
I was once told that it doesn’t help a depressed person if they get told “Look how much worse it gets for X, Y or Z”. And that’s true. But there’s also a place for the example of great people. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t feel bad when things go wrong in our faith lives. But we SHOULD look at these examples and realize that if they could keep going, maybe we can too. And if we are capable of thinking rationally, it’s also worth keeping in the back of the mind that the God who was able to help people face trial for their lives without flagging is the same God who is standing in your corner right now.
I’m actually going to break with tradition here and tackle the last part of chapter 12 tomorrow. There’s a lot of good material in this chapter, and I don’t want to miss out on it at all!
So tomorrow night we’ll take a look at the “Unshakeable Kingdom”.
[1] That’s not to say that it’s impossible – even in a totally free country, you get weird moments like what happened in the Columbine Massacre. But even counting stuff like that, you and I are almost certainly NOT going to face death for what we believe.
--
Chapter 12 continues on the theme from chapter 11. It takes as a given the idea of the great “Cloud of witnesses” (I love that phrase from the more formal translations!), and asks what we should do as a result.
And the answer?
Well, you could find it here. GET ON WITH IT!
Throughout my life I have often thought about how hard this Christian life can be.
You know what’s strange?
It’s strange that chapter 11 of Hebrews wasn’t a new chapter to me – it was in fact a nice, familiar chapter, parts of which I could rattle off from heart.
And yet somehow I had missed its significance.
It’s this – EVEN WHEN IT’S HARD FOR ME TO BE A CHRISTIAN, IT’S STILL EASIER THAN LIVING FOR GOD WAS FOR THESE PEOPLE!
What’s the worst that we comfortable middle class Christians are likely to face, really?
The worst I have ever had was being misunderstood for following Christ. Now, I grant you that it wasn’t fun. No question there.
But then I read about what chapter 11 tells us, and compare my sufferings with those seen there.
To use gamer parlance, I realize that those heroes found in chapter 11 would call me a “n00b” . . .
All I have faced is the occasional bit of discrimination, the odd snigger or snide remark here and there.
Yeah, poor little me.
And that’s all I’m probably EVER going to face. The odds of me ever having to face death for my faith are staggering[1].
Sorry if I seem to be heading back to chapter 11; it’s germaine, believe me.
The point is this – when you feel like it’s hard to be a Christian (or even hard to be in ministry!), it can sometimes be good to take a reality check. Read back in chapter 11 if it helps you to remember. But things have been a lot tougher for many people.
I was once told that it doesn’t help a depressed person if they get told “Look how much worse it gets for X, Y or Z”. And that’s true. But there’s also a place for the example of great people. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t feel bad when things go wrong in our faith lives. But we SHOULD look at these examples and realize that if they could keep going, maybe we can too. And if we are capable of thinking rationally, it’s also worth keeping in the back of the mind that the God who was able to help people face trial for their lives without flagging is the same God who is standing in your corner right now.
I’m actually going to break with tradition here and tackle the last part of chapter 12 tomorrow. There’s a lot of good material in this chapter, and I don’t want to miss out on it at all!
So tomorrow night we’ll take a look at the “Unshakeable Kingdom”.
[1] That’s not to say that it’s impossible – even in a totally free country, you get weird moments like what happened in the Columbine Massacre. But even counting stuff like that, you and I are almost certainly NOT going to face death for what we believe.
11 June 2011
Chapter 11
Hello everyone! Johno’s Commentary returns!
Thanks for those who emailed encouragement during reports. I really appreciate it!
Anyway, time to get back into it. I’m hoping to go back to updating daily from now for the next little while.
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Hebrews 11 is one of those chapters that we all remember bits of. You may know it better by a nickname rather than its actual chapter title – it’s the “By Faith” chapter, or even more grandiosely, the “Hall of Faith”.
Despite its familiarity, though (or perhaps because of it!), we often miss out on some of its gems.
This is part of the reason why I do these devotions in The Message translation – it sometimes kicks me out of my familiar groove. And this is one of those times. The Message translation of this chapter, though reminiscent enough that I am able to figure out which bits are which, is very different in feel to other translations.
Let’s take a look.
Firstly, Mick links the entire visible universe to faith. He points out that we understand – by faith! – that what is seen was made from what cannot be seen.
That’s a big ask right there. And people sometimes smugly suggest that it was easier for people back when this was written because, well, “We have science now.”
Oh really.
So people hadn’t figured out ways to get away from God’s existence? Please. As soon as people had even a smattering of sophistication, the attempts began. Atheists existed in ancient Greece; and I’m suspecting they’d crop up earlier than that, only we don’t have actual text evidence for that at this stage.
But Mick continues. He mentions a bunch of Old Testament characters, and points out how faith can be seen in them.
And really, the faith they displayed WAS remarkable.
The earlier you get, the more remarkable it is. After all, if it’s hard to show faith when you have hundreds of years of God’s history recorded in the Bible (plus goodness only knows how many years since then), imagine how hard it must be if you’ve never seen a Bible! This makes the faith of Abraham all the more amazing. And as for Noah . . .
The pattern is established. Over and over again, throughout the ages, God asks people to believe something that doesn’t make sense from what is seen. And then when it looks like He cannot come through, God brings it through.
We don’t have time to go through the list; and indeed, neither did Mick! He mentions a whole lot of them just in passing. I wish we had time for further discussion, but we don’t. Suffice it to say that it is very clear from this passage that God has always been able to do more than even His people imagine.
So let’s wrap up here. Faith allows you to do amazing stuff; More than that, though, we have the examples of those who have gone before us, just in case we are struggling.
What else could we need?
Thanks for those who emailed encouragement during reports. I really appreciate it!
Anyway, time to get back into it. I’m hoping to go back to updating daily from now for the next little while.
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Hebrews 11 is one of those chapters that we all remember bits of. You may know it better by a nickname rather than its actual chapter title – it’s the “By Faith” chapter, or even more grandiosely, the “Hall of Faith”.
Despite its familiarity, though (or perhaps because of it!), we often miss out on some of its gems.
This is part of the reason why I do these devotions in The Message translation – it sometimes kicks me out of my familiar groove. And this is one of those times. The Message translation of this chapter, though reminiscent enough that I am able to figure out which bits are which, is very different in feel to other translations.
Let’s take a look.
Firstly, Mick links the entire visible universe to faith. He points out that we understand – by faith! – that what is seen was made from what cannot be seen.
That’s a big ask right there. And people sometimes smugly suggest that it was easier for people back when this was written because, well, “We have science now.”
Oh really.
So people hadn’t figured out ways to get away from God’s existence? Please. As soon as people had even a smattering of sophistication, the attempts began. Atheists existed in ancient Greece; and I’m suspecting they’d crop up earlier than that, only we don’t have actual text evidence for that at this stage.
But Mick continues. He mentions a bunch of Old Testament characters, and points out how faith can be seen in them.
And really, the faith they displayed WAS remarkable.
The earlier you get, the more remarkable it is. After all, if it’s hard to show faith when you have hundreds of years of God’s history recorded in the Bible (plus goodness only knows how many years since then), imagine how hard it must be if you’ve never seen a Bible! This makes the faith of Abraham all the more amazing. And as for Noah . . .
The pattern is established. Over and over again, throughout the ages, God asks people to believe something that doesn’t make sense from what is seen. And then when it looks like He cannot come through, God brings it through.
We don’t have time to go through the list; and indeed, neither did Mick! He mentions a whole lot of them just in passing. I wish we had time for further discussion, but we don’t. Suffice it to say that it is very clear from this passage that God has always been able to do more than even His people imagine.
So let’s wrap up here. Faith allows you to do amazing stuff; More than that, though, we have the examples of those who have gone before us, just in case we are struggling.
What else could we need?
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