The Lindbergh Children

Here’s two presentations of the same dilemma …entrenched idolatry.
Note the change in God’s expectations of how well His people can handle it.

WAY BACK WHEN (OLD TESTAMENT):
“13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.”
(Exodus 34:13-16, KJ)

CURRENT DAY (NEW TESTAMENT):
“9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world [because this bad stuff is everywhere].”
(1 Corinthians 5:9-10, KJ)

WAY BACK WHEN
In the Old Testament God was trying to help His people by having all idols and idolatry removed.
The between-the-lines message from God was, “You CAN’T handle daily exposure to idolatry.”

CURRENT DAY
In the New Testament, God is NOT trying to remove all traces of idolatry. In fact God is saying, “You can’t get away from it.”
The between-the-lines message from God here is different: “You CAN handle daily exposure to idolatry.”

WHAT CHANGED GOD’S CONFIDENCE IN HIS BELIEVERS?
Had to be the arrival of the new birth on Pentecost.

When God speaks of new things about you, He is being literal.

You are the supreme race that the Devil has tried to artificially create a few times during earth’s history.

———–Some “New” Scriptures————
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Romans 7:6 “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Ephesians 4:24 “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Colossians 3:10 “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”

Entrepreneurial – (adjective)
“…willing to take risks …marked by imagination, initiative, and readiness to undertake new projects;”
“Innovation is a specific tool of an entrepreneur…” ¹

THE BACKDROP
I was watching one of those hour-long ‘news magazines’ on t.v. One segment covered some of our military members, injured in Middle East fighting. Now, out of the military, some of these remarkable people had started up their own businesses.
Here’s the video (under 13 minutes long):
Succeeding As Civilians

During the segment, an observation was made that being in the military generates an entrepreneurial quality in people, because they are so often given an assignment by their superior, and then told, “You figure out how to do it.”

When I heard this, my mind immediately went to a scene from “Patton” (George C. Scott). During one battle, Patton wondered why no progress was being made on a particular front. When the officer in charge of that mission displayed a lack of determination, Patton fired him on the spot. In Patton’s next breath, he put another office in charge, and barked the goal: “You got four hours to break through that beach head down there. If you don’t make it by then, I’ll fire YOU.” ²

Then Patton walks off. He had provided the goal. Now it was up to the officer to engage his entrepreneurial self to work out the plan and the details. If this officer succeeded, he will have learned a serious lesson in “accomplishing on demand” … a lesson that, after the war was over, he could take back into civilian life and accomplish anything he wanted, including starting up a successful business.

BIBLICAL APP
My interest in entrepreneurial, though, lies elsewhere.

“…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12b-13, NIV)

Verse 12b does not speak of godly works you do to get saved. It speaks of godly works you do AFTER getting saved. Note some elements required of you … ‘work out’ … ‘to will’ …’to act’.

Verse 13 does not tell us that God micro-manages our lives. Yes, there will be occasions of revelation to take specific steps. But for most of your life, He gives you goals and lets you work out the details.

EXAMPLE
Songwriters … you might see something in scripture and think, “That would make a good song.” Say you ponder that possibility a moment, then conclude, “Yes. God wants me to write that song.”

But…don’t assume God is going to auto-feed the completed song to you. Most of the time, these songs will fall under the category of “10% inspiration, 90% perspiration”.

You now have a goal, but it will need your “imagination, initiative, innovation.” The message you saw from scripture may be only a few words long. So it will need to be developed … expanded into verses and a chorus, both lyrically and musically. Guess who’s gonna have to do that work.

God will not grab your hands and make them produce the music. You’ll have to tinker and experiment with your instrument and voice.

Nor will God grab your mind and make you think the lyrics. You may make an outline. You may experiment with rhymes. As a songwriter, you are probably already joined at the hip with the word ‘rewrite’.

OBLIGATORY REMINDERS

Don’t forget your #1 collaborator. Ask for input from Jesus Christ. He’s pretty smart. Pray during the creative process. You might have to research the Word some more.

…BUT…
The point of this article is … you will have to put some of your own, self-induced, effort into it. Accomplishing the goals God gives you requires the ‘entrepreneurial you‘ to emerge … “imagination, initiative …readiness to undertake new projects … innovation…”

God put these qualities into all mankind, but really to benefit a smaller portion … His believers. His entrepreneurs.

Those qualities are tools to maximize godly productivity in our ministries.

=====FOOTNOTES================
¹  sources of definitions:
The Free Dictionary
Wikipedia

²  Here is where you can watch part of this “Patton” scene. To save time, slide to the 2 minute mark (2:04 to be exact).
Patton, great film moments

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” (Colossians 1:13, NIV)

This is the Holy Spirit’s description of a change that comes along with the new birth.

RELOCATION AT ITS BEST
The verse describes a shift to a new country. It is being removed from a hate-based government, where you were pretty much just a victim to the Devil’s whims … and relocated to a love-based government, where you are given freedom, rights and ownership by the guy in charge.
Sort of like the Israelites relocating from slavery under Egypt to the freedom, rights and ownership in the Promised Land.

There is, of sorts, an “extradition treaty” between the two governments, though that metaphor breaks down quickly for a few reasons:
1- it is really nothing the Devil agreed to. It was forced on him by Jesus Christ.
2- the Devil cannot prevent his citizens from voluntarily being extradited into the kingdom of Jesus Christ;
3- it is not a reciprocal treaty. Once a person is extradited into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the treaty does not allow for the Devil to extradite that person back.

A RELOCATION PARABLE
In ancient times, when an enemy army approached a fortified city (meaning a wall around the city), the enemy army often would use the patient tactic of siege. They would surround the city, cutting of incoming food and water. Then the enemy would play cards, shoot some hoops, read books, practice war games, clean their catapults  …  just killing time until those in the city were out of food and water. The outcome at this point usually favored the patient enemy.

Imagine you were inside this city under siege, and thinking there was not much hope.
But a fellow drops down out of the sky and says, “You wanna get out of here? Come live with me, under my rule?”
You don’t know for sure what all that entails, but looking around at your current prospects, you decide, “It has to be better than this.”
You say, “Yes.”
He grabs your hand and the two of you lift off toward the sky. As you rise, you look down and see the enemy does indeed have a death grip on where you just left. Already, your relocation is looking like a very good move.

ABUNDANT LIFE? THINK BIGGER THAN MONEY
When you land again, you’re someplace completely new … like Dorothy landing in Oz. It will take you a while to adapt to the new environment, but life in this new kingdom immediately has more promise than your previous life under siege.

As you learn about your new home and new government, things like Courage, a Heart, a Brain  … they all find room to grow and prosper. The big guy in charge here is defending you, rather than taking shots at you. You find you don’t have to be in fear for your future … which upgrades the ‘now’ moments that flow by during daily life.

The conviction that you’ve made the best decision a person could ever make only gets stronger.

The average quality of life in your new home eventually passes even the greatest moments (if there were any) of your previous residency. You begin to understand what Jesus meant by “life … more abundantly” (John 10:10b, KJ), and you laugh that, at one time, you thought he was talking about money.

BALAAM NAILED IT
When Balak (king of Moab) asked Balaam (sort of a regional ‘prophet’) to curse the Israelites (so they’d be weakened when Moab attacked), God intervened and gave Balaam this mind picture of the traveling Israelite throng:

“The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” (Numbers 23:9b, KJ)
Today, that might describe the body of Christ as a whole, and you, as an individual member. You don’t belong to the Devil’s system anymore. You are in the world, but not of it.

NEW GOVERNMENT MEANS NEW RULES
Your old home, and your new home, do not overlap. Each has its own climate control.

• One says you are guilty. The other says you are innocent.
• One says you must have some illness. The other says you were healed.
• One says you are on your own. The other says you have a Father that is both willing and able to take care of you.
• One says you are inadequate. The other says you are fully equipped.
• One says you will lack. The other says all your need shall be supplied.
• One says life is uncertain. The other says “that ye may know.“
• One says you have nothing. The other says you have an inheritance.
• One says life is a self-serving event. The other says it’s to help others.
• One says “this is impossible“. The other says “with God all things are possible.“
• One says circumstances run your life. The other says you run your life.
• One says there are some things you can’t forgive. The other says forgive anyway.
• One says God unpredictable. The other says He never changes.

ENJOY YOUR NEW HOME

Jesus Christ paid all the closing costs, then provided the moving van.

Settle in for the duration.

I went to Blue Letter Bible where it is easy to do word searches in over a dozen translations. Searches of ‘aggression’, ‘aggressive’, ‘aggressiveness’ nearly always turned up zero hits¹. It was almost like aggressiveness was a forbidden quality, thus a word to be avoided.

But not all aggressiveness is evil. If God put that capacity into us, then there must be a good way to use it. Many biblical examples of positive faith involved some element of aggression on the part of the believer.

It is often the quality that gets us from point A to point B, when nothing else seems to.

WHAT TRIGGERED MY RECENT AGGRESSION: A DRY SPELL
It started around March 21, 2013. I was studying the Word daily (my habit), but I suddenly stopped having those “did-not-our-hearts-burn-within-us” moments of discovery. Sure, I was learning new things. Mostly about the Old Testament (time lines, characters, culture, i.e. historical stuff). But nothing exciting. Nothing to spark a new Songsermons™, or a new article, which are normal manifestations for me when something from the Word strikes my heart.

After a couple weeks of this, I started getting perplexed. It was like God had suddenly tuned me out regarding His Word.
I didn’t feel alienated from God. I was exercising daily prayer and seeing results.
I was not burdened by guilt over something. (But, I did a forgiveness prayer, “just in case”.)

I was prospering and protected. My level of blessed living had not gone down.
But, there was this undeniable absence  … nothing thrilling from the Word.

THE TURNAROUND
It started with an article (timely, for me) by my Facebook friend Jason Amato, entitled Uzziah Sought The Lord, And He Won! ²
Jason opens the article with a key verse about growth with God.
Hebrews 11:6  (NIV)
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

I’ve encountered this verse numerous times in my 40 years with the Bible, but this time I particularly liked the word ‘earnestly’. (In the KJ version, it’s the word ‘diligently’.)

Neither ‘earnestly’ nor ‘diligently’ have the exact same meaning that ‘aggressively’ does. But all three words overlap on some points.

And when you need permission to figuratively kick some teeth in (like when some vague fog is impeding your growth with God), ‘aggressively’ gives it to you more than ‘earnestly/diligently’ does.

THE LORD SOMETIMES GETS AGGRESSIVE
The Lord? Aggressive?
Perhaps this does not surprise many of us. A flood to wash the planet of evil  is aggressive.

Here’s a different example … less spectacular visually, but more spectacular in terms of a strong relationship between God and a believer.

“He [the Lord] will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou [the Lord] wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19, KJ. Emphasis added.)

If you are like me, you usually think of forgiveness as more of a passive activity… something done mentally. Something done with a simple decision. Not much physical effort involved.

Here, Micah is inspired with words that capture an aggressive Lord. ³

Not because of any ‘dry spell’ the Lord was encountering.

Not because He was wrestling with His ability to forgive, and needed an extra push.

There was no vague fog He was trying to break through to get from point A to point B.

The Lord’s aggression was for the benefit of His people.

They apparently were the ones fighting a vague fog. They needed to hear how the Lord was ready to kick in the teeth of unworthiness and guilt. If His people could visualize the Lord rising to action, rather than simply dictating truth from His recliner, it might wake up minds lulled to sleep by religious Nyquil®.

The Lord wanted an image of not only stating policy, but executing it as well.
Aggression can be love in action. Don’t be fooled. You will need aggressiveness from time to time to fulfill your walk of love with Jesus Christ.

EXAMPLES
Remember the woman who wanted to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment? She had to push her way through a packed crowd. Many of those in her way were men, bigger than she was. Her aggression got her from point A to point B. Both geographically, and in regard to her healing.

Remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he was glad he spoke in tongues “more than ye all”? This documents aggression he applied on himself … to keep doing something that is so easy to stop.

Anyone who has participated in an exercise regimen has experienced what it takes to break through to the next level of strength and endurance. A few people I have known played hard metal rock through their earphones during their workout. Aggressive music, that can push fatigue aside, push extra effort into the mind, and push the person to a new level.

Ever watch athletes compete?
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24, NIV)
Would ‘a way to get the prize’ be by running 24/7 in a relaxed jog?

Ever watched the front lines of football teams? Detect any aggression there?

Jesus got aggressive when he overturned the tables at the temple. But I see that as mild compared to the aggression he applied in his face-to-face dealings the Devil and his crew, who were ruining the lives, and futures, of people. You just don’t win those confrontations with lukewarm.

The Devil was just as committed to defeating Jesus as Jesus was to defeating the Devil. Like the front lines of football teams, they frequently crashed into each other.
Assuming their aggression levels were equal, then the reason Jesus kept winning the scrimmage line battle was because he had a wiser Coach, who could diagram the perfect plays that kept leaving the Devil knocked on his butt, asking, “What happened? How many men did he have on the field? Ref! Throw a flag! Unnecessary roughness!”

MY PEST-DRIVEN DECISION TO GET AGGRESSIVE
And so, to end my dry spell, I decided to get aggressive. Not because I suddenly understood how aggression fit into a walk with God. That would come after the decision to get aggressive.

No, my decision to get aggressive was more self-centered than intellectual. I  was simply tired of the dry spell.

To put it another way, my decision was based more on annoyance. The dry spell had become a nuisance … a pest, that (à la Micah 7:19) needed to be stomped on and torpedoed. (see The Message translation in the Footnotes)

Growing with God is sometimes like going through the forward gears of a manual transmission. Early on, you are in first gear. That gets you up to a certain speed, but there progress seems to level off.

If you reach this point and know it,  that may flag you in God’s eyes that you are ready to shift gears. He may put something in your life to prompt you to kick it up a notch.

In my case, it was a dry spell.

I have no idea what gear I was in. But the concept of getting aggressive was definitely a shift up. Aggressiveness has rarely been a part of my personality.
When I made the decision to get aggressive, the action I included in that decision was, “I’m getting an article written. Period.”

WAS I HOOKED ON A FEELING? OOPS. MY BAD.
This article that you are reading is the result of me getting aggressive.
Was it ‘thrilling’ material, I was burning to present? Oddly, not like I’ve been used to over the decades.

Which makes me wonder something else. Have I been studying the Word for a ‘feeling’? Has my hunger been for a ‘feel good moment’, rather than for the knowledge of God?
Was I just after something to quiet, at least for a while, the bummer side of life? If so, was that what hooked me on the Word 40 years ago?

Perhaps.
And if that’s the case, then my shift to this higher gear means some cool things:
1- I was ready for this step in maturity. ( I got ‘flagged’.)
2- I no longer need the warm fuzzy feeling to maintain my love for God and His Word, or for resulting productivity.
3- I have learned a secret … that in some aspects of life, aggression yields results ‘on demand’.

Aggression. The pure stuff can be some good sh**. Try a hit.

———————Footnotes———————–

¹  The NIV was one exception, where the words ‘aggression’ and ‘aggressive’ show up a combined three times, all from Isaiah. However, their usages never refer to godly growth of the individual.
Isaiah 14:6 “[wicked rulers] which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression.”
Isaiah 18:2 “which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.”
Isaiah 18:7 “At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.”

² The Rise and Fall of Uzziah  There is a ‘Part 2′ to Uzziah’s life. Remember when I wrote, “… not all aggressiveness is evil” ? Uzziah crossed a line. It could be an example of ungodly aggressiveness … to the Lord and His priests, no less!

³ Here are a couple other (contemporary language) translations, better capturing the aggression in Micah 7:19:
(NIV) “You [the Lord] will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
(THE MESSAGE) “And compassion is on its way to us. You’ll stamp out our wrongdoing. You’ll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean.“

“Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. By an extension, the term “etymology (of a word)” means the origin of a particular word.
For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods of their history and when they entered the languages in question.” *

THE HEBREW WORD ATSAB (H6087 in Strong’s Concordance):
“Part of Speech: verb
Root Word (Etymology): A primitive root” **

From the book of Genesis, we get an picture of what atsab (the verb) means … being grieved over an action **. This is a human emotion experienced by all of us.

Note the verb form of atsab is the “primitive root”. Centuries later, atsab grew a new limb.

ATSAB (H6091) as a noun:
“Part of Speech: masculine noun
Root Word (Etymology): From עָצַב (H6087)” ***

Note the etymology … the verb came first (the root word), then later a noun form grew from the root. It appears that perhaps 400 years separate the two events … atsab first being used as a verb in Genesis, and later used as a noun (for the first time) in 1 Samuel.

HOW DID THESE TWO LOVERS MEET?
Here’s a possible scenario. As the Hebrew language developed, some ancient writer/speaker saw the connection that happened repeatedly to Israel over the decades: partnership with the gods of other nations (i.e. idolatry) resulted in grief for the Israelites.

Imagine this person making this connection public somewhere. It clicked in peoples’ minds, and the connection went viral. Atsab, the verb, suddenly had a ‘partner’ … atsab the noun.

Fascinating is the quantum leap in meaning.

When atsab came into existence as a noun, it didn’t mean simply grief over an action… which is what we would have thought would have happened due to the root from which it came.

Atsab, the noun, was bigger than atsab the verb.

Atsab the noun meant the source of grief … idolatry. An idol was now more than a dead statue. An idol now had life. It had personality. It had something “to give back to the community”.

TURNING ON YOUR PERSONAL BULLSH*T DETECTOR
or, WHAT MEANETH THIS BEEPING IN MY EARS?
What fills your day? What fills your thoughts during the day?
Here’s a few clues of what SHOULD fill our thoughts:

Nehemiah 8:10b-11 (KJ) “…for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry [atsab as a verb, meaning don't worry about past actions]; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Isaiah 32:17-18 (KJ) “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. 18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;”
Isaiah is referring to something yet to come for Israel. But for Christians, the new birth should be the source and inspiration for a life and mental state much like Isaiah describes.

Philippians 4:8 (KJ) “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

So if your mind entertains more grief, sorrow, distress, etc., than the positives in the three verses above, your b.s. (idolatry) detector should be beeping.

Am I saying you are bowing down in worship to an idol? Hardly. But if your mind is full of grief, etc., it’s a sure thing you are NOT bowing down to the God of forgiveness, peace, assurance, deliverance, etc.

A BONUS HEBREW WORD – ELIYL (H457)
This is an adjective meaning “of nought, good for nothing, worthless”. It appears to be another word that later developed a noun form, as eliyl often gets translated ‘idol’ ****.

I love this distinction between atsab and eliyl.
Eliyl tells us what we WON’T get from an idol … deliverance.
Atsab tells us what we WILL get from an idol … grief.

Idolatry is life’s biggest lose-lose situation.

ATTACKING FROM THE RIGHT DIRECTION
You can try to I.D. the idols in your life, then eliminate them one-by-one. That’s sort of like Joshua leading Israel into the promised land, and conquering the numerous foes one battle at a time.

Not a bad approach. But is there a better one?

Yes. Rather than attacking each pocket of darkness, we can attack the absence of light. Flip on the light switch. Fill much more of your stream of daily thoughts with God’s thoughts. That’s like tossing an “excessive contact” elbow into the collective nose of the other team. Make them all fall to the floor at once, while you play on, scoring much easier goals.

Here are a couple verses describing this less complicated method of tapping into God’s life for you:

Deut 28:2 (KJ) “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”

Matt 6:33 (KJ) “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things [your needs in life] shall be added unto you.”

Life’s biggest WIN-WIN situation.

==========Footnotes===========
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology

** ATSAB as a verb

The first three biblical appearances of atsab AS A VERB (written approx 1450 B.C.):
1- Genesis 6:6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved [atsab] him at his heart.”
2- Genesis 34:7 “And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved [atsab], and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.”
3- Genesis 45:5 “Now therefore be not grieved [atsab], nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”
NOTE THAT atsab does not include anger. The 2nd and 3rd appearances speak of anger, but treat it as a separate emotion, with a separate Hebrew word (H2734 – charah ). Yet anger can often follow along after the initial grief, sorrow, regret.

*** ATSAB as a NOUN

The first three biblical appearances of atsab AS A NOUN (written approx 1050 B.C.):
1- 1Samuel 31:9 “And they [Philistine troops] cut off his [Saul, Israel's first king] head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols [atsab], and among the people.”
2- 2 Samuel 5:21 “And there they left their images [atsab], and David and his men burned them.”
3- 1Chronicles 10:9 “And when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols [atsab], and to the people.” (same series of events as described in 1 Samuel 31:9, but likely from a different writer.)

**** ELIYL – worthless

My wife buys some of those women’s magazine from time to time. I see the teasers on the front cover. A recent theme has been ‘reducing clutter’ in the home.

It’s a good practice for our thought process, as well. We are told to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Wow. Every thought? That’s clutter freedom at its best.

A PERSONAL INSTANCE OF CLUTTER PRODUCTION
There have been times I have sought guidance from God.

At some of those times, I REALLY wanted His response to go a certain direction.
That, in itself, is neither good nor bad.

In my case, though, if there was more than a couple seconds of silence after my petition to God, it taxed my mind. The desire for a certain response was so strong it would start to fill in the silence with reruns of the response I wanted.

Those reruns cluttered up the space reserved for God to talk.

That clutter can cause a garbled reception, or missed words, or a complete drowning out of that still, small voice. The clutter can also make you think you received guidance from God, when He actually said nothing.

JESUS…THE BEST EXAMPLE, ONCE AGAIN
Remember when Jesus was praying in Gethsemane? He was asking God if there was another way other than the crucifixion.
Talk about wanting God’s response to go a certain direction.

Yet, Jesus did not let his mind manufacture the response he wanted to hear.
He would not let clutter invade his communication with God, even at this stressful point of his life.

It’s an amazing example of being tuned in to God.

I’VE GOT GOOD NEWS, AND I’VE GOT BAD NEWS. SO…HOW MUCH MONEY HAVE YOU GOT?

During the ministry of the prophet Micah (started approx. 632 BC), there were false prophets as well. These guys were “pros”, which means they made their living off their prophecies. It also means that they tended to tailor their prophecies to enhance their living.

Truth was not a priority to them, no matter how seriously you needed to hear it. Their income was their priority. Here’s the basic criteria that would determine the mood of the prophecy you would get:

“…As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim ‘peace’; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.” (Micah 3:5, NIV)

You could buy a ‘good’ prophecy. But if you didn’t fork over some payment, your free prophecy would be bad news.

PERSONAL GAIN…SO OFTEN A GOOD CLUE
Micah was one of the group of early prophets that foretold the coming problems for God’s people.

In a sense, Micah fit the ‘bad news prophet’ profile because he was not getting paid.

The difference was that Micah actually had a message from the true Lord. Micah understood this difference.
“7 The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.”
8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.” (Micah 3:7-8, NIV)

But how could a third person, watching both types of prophets in action, tell who to believe?
The chief indicator in this situation is probably that people were not voluntarily coming to Micah. He was going to them.

That chief indicator can be divided into two sub-indicators:
1- People were not coming to Micah with their needs. This meant Micah didn’t have leverage over them like the false prophets did.
2- People were not coming to Micah with payment in hand, supposing they had leverage over him.

So… how to tell who to believe? If you had nothing else to go on, note at least that Micah was not profiting. Nor was he changing his message from person to person.

He was not being manipulated by his audience.

Nor was he manipulating his audience.

I suppose it might be another version of “follow the money”.

ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR MICAH
Micah’s message was not popular. He was being told by leadership to ‘shut up’. It’s definitely a version of a “muzzled press”.
” ‘Do not prophesy,’ their prophets say. ‘Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.’ “ (Micah 2:6, NIV)

This is SOP (standard operating procedure) when leadership wants to keep the masses ignorant, or doesn’t want to hear truth themselves. When Stephen was bluntly truthful with a synagogue council in Acts 7, “…they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears…” (Acts 7:57, KJ)
Can’t you just picture that? “LA LA LA LA We can’t hear you LA LA LA LA!”

THE LORD’S IMPRESSIVE RESPONSE TO CENSORSHIP

The Lord, while delivering bad news to His people via Micah, makes this statement:

“Do not my words do good to him whose ways are upright?” (Micah 2:7b, NIV)

Bad news from the Lord, if heeded properly, turns into good news.
Bad news from the Lord is better than good news from liars.

WHAT DOES THIS DO TO GOOD NEWS FROM THE LORD?

Because of the context of Micah 2:7b, it becomes quite an endorsement for good news from the Lord!

If that which starts off as bad news from the Lord can become a positive thing, then what about that which starts off as good news from the Lord?

It must be in its own category of good.

Most of us know that the word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’.
‘Gospel’ is the noun, chosen by the writers of the four gospels and the New Testament, to label the message and accomplishment of Jesus Christ.
That good news must run rings around anything the world can do for us.

The Lord placed inside us the capacity to be thrilled by things. I’m guessing this category of good news (the gospel) is one of the things He had in mind to trigger a thrilled response. I’m guessing He saw this good news of Jesus Christ as something that should thrill us when we wake up in the morning, thrill us throughout the day, and thrill us as we fall asleep at night.

When the angel came to the shepherds in the field, he brought “good tidings of great joy…” (Luke 2:10, KJ)
That’s layers of good news.

FINAL THOUGHTS

A few weeks ago, I posted this article: ‘DEVELOPING’ YOUR PICTURE OF GOD

In the article I described the process of taking a negative from the Word, running it through the ‘developing’ process, and ending up with a positive. It took me over 1,500 words (and three pictures) to make the point that Lord did in one question:
“Do not my words do good to him whose ways are upright?”

Bad news from the Lord, if heeded properly, turns into good news.
Bad news from the Lord is better than good news from liars.

Ever hear the conversation that goes something like this…

Q: Why would you do such a thing?
A: Because I can.

Note how the answer is all about “I”.

ABUSERS OF POWER …
These folks are always with us. Micah says it well.

Micah 2:1-2 (NIV)
1 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.
2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance.

… AND HOW THEY HELP GOD
What makes these self-servers valuable is that they make it easy to pick out the non-self-servers.¹

When Christians obey the command to love, it is great advertisement for the God who issued the command.

It is also great advertisement for His non-self-serving Son (look at the attention he got), who, as hard as it may be to fathom, does not ask his followers to blow themselves up.

The rewards in his heaven accumulate by loving others, not killing them.

A RELATED SONGSERMONS [TM]:
Of All The Things God Might Have Been
EXCERPTS:
He is not vicious. He isn’t sadistic.
He isn’t unstable, prone to going ballistic.

We can all taste of how it will be.
With love as our guide we’ll sample God’s best.
If love is the thing that wins in the end
Why face our life with anything less?

He could have been hate. He could have been greed.
Just think where that would have put us.
Instead the Maker is made of love
And that can only be good for us.
Of all the things God might have been
Love is why He will win.

Maybe we’ll learn a reason someday
Why God could have been no other way.

========Footnote=======

¹ The owner of this site (also a FB friend of mine) and I were discussing this aspect. He had a good re-wording: “… people who think the opposite would show that they are as decent as they claim to be…without having to trip over each other to announce it.”

Good for you. It puts you in good company. Jesus found some prejudice in his followers, even in his twelve.

He didn’t like it either.

SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITY FOR MATURING WITH GOD
Here’s a summary of the ongoing battle Jesus waged against such hate, using a strategy that might be called “chipping away”. His efforts were rewarded by a breakthrough … Philip in Acts 8.

Excerpt from the Holman Bible Dictionary, article named ‘Samaria, Samaritan’.
“In the days of Christ, the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans was greatly strained (Luke 9:52-54; 10:25-37; 17:11-19; John 8:48). The animosity was so great that the Jews bypassed Samaria as they traveled between Galilee and Judea. They went an extra distance through the barren land of Perea on the eastern side of the Jordan to avoid going through Samaria.
“Yet Jesus rebuked His disciples for their hostility to the Samaritans (Luke 9:55-56), healed a Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16), honored a Samaritan for his neighborliness (Luke 10:30-37), praised a Samaritan for his gratitude (Luke 17:11-18), asked a drink of a Samaritan woman (John 4:7), and preached to the Samaritans (John 4:40-42). Then in Acts 1:8, Jesus challenged His disciples to witness in Samaria. Philip, a deacon, opened a mission in Samaria (Acts 8:5).”

ONE ‘CHIP’ THAT IS A BIT DIFFERENT
Most of the “chipping away” Jesus did involved actual Samaritans.
One chip, though, involved an imaginary Samaritan … the  ‘good Samaritan’ as we’ve come to call him. (Luke 10:25-37, pasted below).
Jesus could have picked a Jewish character as the hero¹. But he chose someone from an un-liked ethnic group. In defining the word ‘neighbor’, Jesus crossed emotional lines and focused on need. It seems that your neighbor includes people in your path, whether you like them or not, who could use help, and you have that help to give.
And note one other sterling trait of this character Jesus created. The Samaritan did not let “his problem” become the “inn keeper’s problem” (in this case involving cost of care). The Samaritan did not get so caught up in his noble mission that he damaged others as he plowed ahead

? MAGNIFY THE FICTITIOUS SAMARITAN OVER THE REAL SAMARITANS?
Of course not. But I find the details that Jesus injected into his parable to be indicators of several things:
1- how much prejudice existed at the time;
2- one cause of it (religion seemed to lead the way);
3- Jesus’ concern that his followers change their hearts.

LINK TO A RELATED SONGSERMONS [TM]:
GOD LOVES THAT PERSON (as much as He loves me)

———-Footnote———-
¹ There’s an irony here. Jesus did introduce a couple Jewish characters into his story … a priest and a Levite. These are two individuals that the twelve, because of their religious background, would have had some respect for. But these two characters turned out to be the ones with the hardened hearts. Jesus pulled off something of a double whammy here … showing how both tender hearts, and hardened hearts, can exist in places opposite of where you were expecting them.

———-Scripture———-
Luke 10:25-37 (NIV)
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

What if God was moody? Erratic? Temperamental? Whimsical? Unpredictable? Aimless? Haphazard?

If that was true, then one of our first responses might be to find something else to worship, even if that would be ‘self’.

If that is too extreme a move to consider, then we might remove all references to the concept of faithfulness from the Bible.

But, if we believe God is steady and dependable (which He does claim about Himself ¹), then we have an anchor for our life and our decision-making. We also have a basis for …

… FINANCIAL WELLNESS
Most of this article is not mine. It is cut & pasted from an online article I found written by Peter Wade, an Australian Christian. Mr. Wade puts some of our internal frustrations (about giving) into very “AHA! Yes! That’s it!” terms.

I recommend the entire article because the excerpts I present here do not always answer the bold-faced questions Mr. Wade has posed for us, and answers in his full text.

Excerpts from:  Attitude — Your Key to Prosperity

Poverty — a Christian virtue?
“Those who believe in a capricious God say that you must pray and seek God’s will and guidance on every matter, and if you have obeyed God, and if He wills, then He will help you out. But if He doesn’t, then make the best of it because when you get to heaven it’s going to be glorious up there. It’s pie-in-the-sky Christianity, and as far as the present is concerned, very much a hit-and-miss affair. I can well understand how people under that kind of teaching are frustrated, because they never know when they’re going to find God in the right mood; they never know whether the “sin” of kicking the cat is going to affect their prosperity.
God is a God of principles. A principle in the natural world works every time it is applied. Take two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen and you will get water every time. Whenever you apply the principle you get the results. Whenever you apply the principle of gravity to an object — when you let it go — it will fall. It’s a principle, and it doesn’t matter whether that morning I kicked the cat or patted the dog, the principle always works.”

Prosperity — is it God-given?
“When you apply the principle of giving and receiving, you can miss the result if you apply it with a wrong attitude. This verse clearly says that when you give you should not do it reluctantly, or as other translations have it, not sorrowfully; that is, not as if you feel you are losing something.”

[Mr. Wade gives two specific and illustrative examples of giving under compulsion ...which is also a result killer.]

“I have met many Christians who tithed, that is, they gave a straight 10% of all their income, to a local church all their lives, and were still poor by most standards. In spite of having given large amounts, there were few results. Why? The scripture is true. “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Money — the root of all evil?
“Many Christians are scared of money. They seem scared to have money or to talk about it. The verse says the love of money is a root of all evil. It has been well suggested that the lack of money is a root of all evil too.”

“Prosperity is not based on how much you have. Prosperity is greater and deeper than that. Prosperity is better described as a state of mind, an attitude based on God’s promises. It is faith in God’s unfailing supply regardless of any evidence to the contrary.”

Giving — a productive experience?
“…Jesus stated: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Why is it more blessed to give? Because it is more productive. If you receive ten dollars as a gift from some person, what you have is the ten dollars. But to the person who gave it to you as they applied God’s principle, it could be worth a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars.”

“As a child I was not taught this. Everything that my parents did for me, and they were good parents, impressed upon me that receiving was a good experience. At Christmas, our family had big believing. Instead of putting a stocking out for Father Christmas, we always had a pillow case near the chimney. We put the pillow case out and expected it to be loaded with exciting things. And yes, we were excited when we received our presents. Now we are adults and must change our thinking.”

————(end of Peter Wade excerpts)——————-

KEY CONCEPTS:
1- “God is a God of principles. A principle … works every time it is applied … it doesn’t matter whether that morning I kicked the cat or patted the dog…”

2- “… faith in God’s unfailing supply regardless of any evidence to the contrary.”

SPEAKING OF APPLYING PRINCIPLE
Here’s one of my Songsermons [TM] on the subject of sticking to principle:
THE LAW OF OBEDIENCE
EXCERPT:
“God isn’t making millions of choices
Of who gets blessed and who does not.
God is able to take a step back
And let the law of obedience handle all of that.”

============Footnotes===========

¹ Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; “