The Disciple's Road

“Lord, Why Am I Having to Wait?”

Posted on August 3, 2024 by russellmckinney

I was driving down the interstate one day, listening to a Christian radio station, when I happened to hear one of those little call-in promos such stations do. This promo featured a woman who had called the station to voice her appreciation for the station’s influence in her life. I listened as she explained how she had interviewed for a job she really needed and been forced to wait a week before finally hearing that she got the job. Shortly after hearing that she’d been hired, she called the radio station and through her tears talked about how we all just need to learn to be patient and trust God. So there I am, driving down the interstate, listening to this woman’s heartfelt testimony, and I’m sarcastically thinking, “Wow, you had to wait a whole week, huh?”

Now, I don’t use that illustration as a way of devaluing that woman’s experience. I’m sure that to her that week seemed like an eternity. But to those of us (and you know who you are) who have been waiting a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time for God to do a certain thing, one week seems like child’s play, right? Can I get an “Amen”?

Of course, the Bible stories on this topic are numerous. Abraham and Sarah waited twenty-five years to hold baby Isaac (Genesis 12:4, 21:5). Isaac and Rebekah waited twenty years to hold their twin babies, Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:20-21,26). Joseph waited thirteen years to become a ruler in Egypt (Genesis 37:2, 41:46). Moses waited forty years in Midian before returning to Egypt to lead the Israelites (Acts 7:30). We don’t know exactly how old David was when Samuel anointed him as king (1 Samuel 16:1-13), but he had to wait until he was thirty years old before he reigned over the southern portion of Israel and another seven-and-a-half years before he reigned over the whole land (2 Samuel 2:4, 2:11, 5:4-5). The woman with the issue of blood waited twelve years before Jesus healed her (Luke 8:43-47). The woman who was stooped over and couldn’t raise herself erect waited eighteen years before Jesus healed her (Luke 13:10-13).

Keep in mind now that, as far as we know, not one of these people added even one day to their waiting because of their disobedience or lack of faith. No, the appointed times of their waiting were all somehow preordained by God, and all the praying in the world wouldn’t speed Him up any. His process had to run its course, and that’s all there was to it. While there are some Bible cases of people adding years to their wait time —the Israelites adding forty years to their conquering of Canaan is a classic example — there are more cases in which the characters don’t do one thing to deserve the incredibly long years it takes God to answer their prayers.

I often think of the people of Israel and their 400 years of bondage in Egypt. Question: What were they doing in Egypt anyway? Answer: God had pulled them out of Canaan and sent them down there so that Joseph could sustain them during a great famine. At that time the family patriarch had been Jacob, who had ended up spending the last seventeen years of his life in Egypt (Genesis 47:28).

All was well for Jacob’s family in Egypt until Joseph died and eventually a new Pharaoh, one who “did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8), came to power. When this new Pharaoh looked at the people of Israel, all he saw was a threat from a race who reproduced at a far greater rate than the Egyptians and could potentially align themselves with Egypt’s enemies during a time of war (Exodus 1:9-10). In the new Pharaoh’s mind, the Israelite threat had to be curtailed, and his way of doing it was to set taskmasters over them and force them to build cities for Egypt (Exodus 1:11). That was the beginning of not only four centuries of enslavement for the Israelites but also four centuries of them crying out to God, begging Him to deliver them.

You see, Israel didn’t do anything except mind God to get themselves into that fix, and they couldn’t do anything to shorten their days of waiting on His deliverance. Whether they understood it or not, they were living under the time clock of a prophecy that God had spoken centuries earlier to Abraham, the father of their race. God had told him, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13). Really, the length of Israel’s waiting in Egypt had as much to do with God delaying judgment upon the inhabitants of Canaan as it had to do with Israel (Genesis 15:16).

And so how should you apply all of this to your life as you continue to wait on God to do that certain something in your life? Allow me to suggest two ways. First: You should consider the possibility that your waiting has more to do with others than it does you. The mere fact that God is making you wait doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all somehow your fault. I suppose it could mean that (depending upon your situation), but it doesn’t have to mean that. Instead, it might just be that God is sorting some things out in the lives of others in your orbit.

Second: If you know that God has promised you something in your life, hang in there with Him and keep expecting the fulfillment of that promise until you receive it. Never forget that it’s always too soon to stop trusting God to keep His word to you. The Israelites in Egypt got no warning whatsoever that Moses was going to hit town one day with their deliverance, but suddenly there he stood with Aaron (Exodus 4:27-31). What had changed? Had the Israelites finally somehow stumbled upon just the right words in prayer? Nope. Had they finally managed to do everything God wanted them to do? Nope. Had they finally perfected their faith? Certainly not (as Moses would come to learn all too well). What had changed was the fact that God’s time clock had finally struck midnight and it was time to begin a new season in the nation’s history.

Here’s hoping that your clock is about to strike midnight like that. But before it does you should make sure that you know how to handle the deliverance. The best advice I can give you is to follow the Israelites’ example. The Bible says of them:

So the people of Israel 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 worshiped. (Exodus 4:31, NKJV)

That three-step reaction (believe, bow, worship) will still work today to show God that you are not only ready for His deliverance but appreciative of it. It’s so much better than saying, “Well, it’s about time, Lord! What took you so long?” So, you keep this in the back of your mind as you keep on looking for your Moses to hit town. Who knows? Today really could be the day.

Posted in Adversity, Belief, Comfort, Commitment, Desires, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Timing, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Impatience, Needs, Perseverance, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Prophecy, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged Bible examples of waiting on God, Israel's 400 years in Egypt, reasons why God delays His answer, waiting on God, Why does God make us wait? | 5 Comments

One Reason Why God’s Will Rarely Gets Done

Posted on August 1, 2024 by russellmckinney

Suppose I wake up tomorrow morning and God burdens me to spend the day working on a new sermon based on John 3:16. Okay class, how many individuals are involved with me either doing God’s will by preparing that sermon or not doing it by spending the day doing something else? Answer: One. In a situation like that, God getting His will done isn’t that hard because all He has to do is somehow get me to work on that sermon.

Now let’s suppose I wake up tomorrow morning and God burdens me to spend the day doing yardwork with my brother, Richie. Okay, now how many individuals are involved in whether or not God’s will gets done? Answer: Two. I’m still involved, but now Richie has entered into the equation as well. This means that God getting His will done is now twice as hard because He has to convince not only me but also Richie to do the yardwork. If one of us is obedient but the other one isn’t, the yardwork won’t get done, at least not in the way God wants it to get done.

Now let’s suppose I wake up tomorrow morning and God burdens me to spend the day with my two sons visiting the elderly at the local nursing home. Okay, now how many individuals are involved in whether or not God’s will gets done? Answer: Three. I’m involved and so are my two sons. This means that God getting His will done is now three times as hard because He has to convince not only me but also my two sons to do the visiting. Even if two of us are obedient but the other one isn’t, the visiting won’t get done, at least not in the way God wants it to get done.

By now you can see where I’m going with this. When it comes to God’s will, the more people who are involved the less likely God’s will is to get done. Putting it simply, one weak link ruins the chain, which means that a higher number of links equates to a greater chance of the chain failing. It’s basic math.

Several years ago, I was elected as the pastor of a church that was deeply divided over a particular issue. So, I spent my first few months there gathering the relevant information on the issue and figuring out what God wanted me to lead the church to do. Over the course of those months, I spent countless hours in prayer, seeking God’s guidance, dying to my own agenda, and asking Him to show me His will. It was a lengthy, time-consuming, arduous process. By the end of it, though, God had given me His answer and I led the church in that direction. Thankfully, most of the members agreed with the direction.

There was, however, a minority group who disagreed with it, and one of the women from that group talked with me immediately after the church vote. I told her how much I had prayed about the decision, how open-minded I had been to doing anything that God wanted done, and how confident I was that the direction was His will. But I’ll never forget her response. Concerning the answer I had received from God, she said, “That’s just not what I’m getting.” Obviously, that woman and I were at an impasse because one of us was in the wrong as to our discernment of God’s will.

While it was true that the majority of the church had agreed with the answer I had gotten, I knew that even majorities can be in the wrong. However, what I did trust was my own process of working through the decision with the Lord. I hadn’t gone into that process with any preconceived notions. I hadn’t reached a decision overnight. I hadn’t made a snap judgment. Consequently, those words, “That’s just not what I’m getting” didn’t cause me to quake in my shoes and question the direction in which I had just led the church. Instead, they made me realize more than ever how hard it is to get God’s will done in a fairly large setting of people.

Now, I’m happy to report that I eventually patched things up with that lady and she remained a faithful member of that church. I’m also happy to report that over the years I managed to mend most of the fences with the rest of that minority group. I’d be lying, though, if I said I got them all mended. Such is the life of a pastor, I guess. I trust that we’ll get it all straightened out in heaven one of these days.

To get back to the point of this post, though, one reason why God’s will rarely gets done in this world is the problem of the weak link. It doesn’t matter how submitted you are to doing God’s will, if you’re involved in a “chain” situation you are at the mercy of another (or others). Maybe this is why God oftentimes does His best work through individuals. When He can get one-on-one with a person, that makes it much easier for Him to get His will done.

So, today, let me encourage you to be that one person who seeks God’s will and does it. No, you can’t make everybody else follow your example, but what you can do is make sure that, as much as depends on you, God’s will gets done. That’s your link of the chain. And the good news is that even if the chain breaks down somewhere past you, you simply carrying out your link will make a sizable difference not only in your life but in the lives of others. Count on it.

Posted in Choices, Church, Criticism, Discernment, Disobedience, Doing Good, Doubt, Dying To Self, God's Will, Obedience, Pastors, Personal, Prayer, Preaching, Rebellion, Reconciliation | Tagged Can other people keep you from doing God's will?, division in a church, God's Will, weak link in the chain, why God's will rarely gets done | 1 Comment

“Surely the Wrath of Man Shall Praise Thee”

Posted on July 29, 2024 by russellmckinney

The title for this post is taken directly from Psalm 76:10, the full text of which says:

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. (K.J.V.)

But what does “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee…” mean? It means that even when a person or a group of people rages against God, rebels against His will, thwarts His purposes, and becomes a roadblock to His plans, He can take all that bad stuff and recycle it to bring praise to Himself. As the New Living Translation renders the verse:

Human defiance only enhances your glory, for you use it as a weapon.

There are numerous Bible examples of this promise in action. Here are some I thought of off the top of my head:

Example #1: Jacob was a saved believer and had God’s hand upon his life, but his unsaved uncle, Laban, frustrated Jacob’s life for twenty years. First, he deceitfully tricked Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel (Genesis 29:15-30). Second, he was perfectly willing to set Jacob at what seemed to be a distinct disadvantage in their business partnership (Genesis 30:25-36). Third, he unscrupulously changed Jacob’s wages ten times over the course of Jacob’s years with him (Genesis 31:4-7).

But how did God flip all of Laban’s “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by blessing Jacob incredibly despite Laban’s actions. Even with Laban working as hard as he could against Jacob (and God), by the time the two men finally parted ways Jacob had been blessed with an exceedingly large family and large flocks of sheep and goats, flocks much larger than Laban’s (Genesis 31:8-10). As Jacob himself said of Laban, “God did not allow him to hurt me” (Genesis 31:7).

Example #2: Joseph was a young man destined for greatness with God, but his jealous brothers did everything they could to keep him from fulfilling that destiny. First, they mocked him for his prophetic dreams that foretold he would one day rule over them (Genesis 37:1-11). Second, they threw him into a pit in the wilderness (Genesis 37:12-24). Third, they sold him as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelite traders who were headed to Egypt to do business (Genesis 37:25-28).

But how did God flip those brothers’ “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by eventually raising up Joseph to be the second-in-command of all Egypt. In this role, Joseph was able to save his entire family during a time of great famine. As Joseph himself would come to say of his brothers’ treachery toward him, “…you meant it for evil against me; but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20).

Example #3: God’s plan was for Moses to lead the people of Israel out of their enslavement in Egypt, but Egypt’s Pharaoh stubbornly tried to prevent that from happening. First, he increased the workload upon the Israelites (Exodus 5:1-9). Second, despite nine plagues that God inflicted upon Egypt, Pharaoh still wouldn’t let the Israelites leave (Exodus chapters 7-10). Third, once Pharaoh had finally released the Israelites following the tenth plague, he changed his mind and had his army chase them down and trap them at the Red Sea (Exodus chapters 11-14).

But how did God flip Pharaoh’s “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by using those ten plagues to break Pharaoh’s stubbornness and by drowning Pharaoh’s army (and perhaps even Pharaoh himself) in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:1-31). As God Himself spoke to Pharaoh through Moses, “…for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (Exodus 9:16, Romans 9:17).

Example #4: Hezekiah was God’s anointed King over Judah, but Assyria’s King Sennacherib sent an army to bring Judah under his rule. Sennacherib started by attacking and capturing Judah’s fortified cities (2 Kings 18:13; 2 Chronicles 32:1; Isaiah 36:1). Then his army laid siege to Jerusalem, which allowed him to exact tribute money from Hezekiah and demand that Judah fully submit to Assyria (2 Kings 18:14-37; 2 Chronicles 32:2-19; Isaiah 36:2-22).

But how did God flip Sennacherib’s “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by sending the Angel of the Lord (an Old Testament preincarnate appearance of Jesus) to slay 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (2 Kings 19:35; 2 Chronicles 32:20-22; Isaiah 37:36-38). Sennacherib then returned home to Nineveh, where he was assassinated by his two sons (2 Kings 19:36-37).

Example #5: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego proved their loyalty to God by refusing to bow down before the image of gold that Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar had erected (Daniel 3:1-18). Nebuchadnezzar responded to their refusal by having them thrown into a fiery furnace for execution (Daniel 3:19-23).

But how did God flip Nebuchadnezzar’s “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by keeping Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego safe in that furnace. They didn’t even have the smell of smoke on them when they were pulled from the furnace (Daniel 3:24-27). This prompted Nebuchadnezzar to praise God himself (Daniel 3:28), decree that anyone in his kingdom who spoke against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego would be put to death (Daniel 3:29), and promote the three young men (Daniel 3:30).

Example #6: Daniel proved his loyalty to God by continuing to pray to God three times a day despite King Darius’ decree that no one in his kingdom should make petitions to any man or god besides him for thirty days. Anyone who broke this decree was to be thrown into the lions’ den, a fate which befell Daniel.

But how did God flip Darius’ “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by sending an angel to keep Daniel safe inside the lions’ den (Daniel 6:19-22). Darius then had the men who had talked him into instituting the decree thrown to the lions, and the lions devoured them (Daniel 6:24). Darius also praised Daniel’s God and decreed that everyone in his kingdom must tremble and fear before that God (Daniel 6:25-28).

Example #7: Mordecai was God’s servant in the Medo-Persian kingdom ruled by King Ahasuerus, but a man named Haman despised Mordecai and plotted to have him hung (Esther 5:9-14). Even worse than that, Haman also enacted a plan by which all of the Jews in Ahasuerus’ kingdom would be put to death (Esther 3:1-15).

But how did God flip Haman’s “wrath” around to where He received praise from it? He did it by orchestrating a series of circumstances which led to Haman, not Mordecai, being hung on the gallows which had been built to hang Mordecai (Esther 7:1-10).

Okay, I’ll stop there to keep this from getting too long, but hopefully this limited list of examples is enough to prove the point. Yes, God really can cause the “wrath” of man to praise Him. For the record, this is all part and parcel to that famous verse from Romans, Romans 8:28, which promises:

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. (N.K.J.V.)

So, keep all this in mind anytime someone does you a wrong turn and seems to get away with it. It might take a while for God to get the job completed, but He will eventually cause that wrongdoing to work out for your good and their bad. Even if the job extends out into eternity, God will get it done. In the end, all human “wrath” will only serve to praise Him. We just have to be patient and trust Him to bring this promise to pass.

Posted in Adversity, Disappointment, Doing Good, Encouragement, Faithfulness, God's Omnipotence, God's Judgment, God's Work, Patience, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Rebellion, Revenge, Reward, Sowing and Reaping, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged 185000 soldiers killed, Daniel and the lions' den, Jacob and Laban, Joseph and his brothers, Mordecai and Haman, Romans 8:28, Sennacherib, surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the fiery furnace, You meant it for evil but God meant it for good | Leave a comment

An Interesting Thought About Politics

Posted on July 26, 2024 by russellmckinney

Let me begin by saying that I am a card-carrying member of the United States of America. I was born and raised here. I have a birth certificate. I have a driver’s license. I pay taxes. My children went to public school. My wife taught in a public school for 31 years. I’m registered to vote, and most elections I exercise that privilege. I’ve never even set foot outside America’s borders.

I say all this to let you know that this post isn’t a bashing of America or the American political process. I’m just want to draw your attention to what I’ve felt for years is an interesting thought from the Bible about politics in general. As for applying it to your life, there’s really no way you can. That being the case this isn’t some rah-rah “call to arms” kind of thing by which I’m trying to motivate you to go out and do something. Consider this, instead, just another little nugget of Biblical knowledge for your spiritual collection. And what is this thought that I find so interesting? It’s this: God didn’t establish a democracy in ancient Israel.

When the Israelites finally claimed the promised land of Canaan, Joshua was their national leader. He had replaced Moses in that role when Moses had died. But in claiming Canaan, the Israelites didn’t do a thorough enough job in either driving out or killing off the other races that called Canaan home. Consequently, long after Joshua’s death Israel had to deal with periodic military threats from those races. This is vividly on display in the book of Judges that follows the book of Joshua.

The time period of Israel’s Judges lasted for approximately 350 years. It’s important to note, though, that Israel’s Judges were not national leaders the way Moses and Joshua had been. They were, instead, regional leaders whom God raised up to deal with localized military threats as needed. It was true, however that once a person had been cast into the role of Judge, he (or she, in Deborah’s case) would serve in that capacity until death, and many of the Judges held the title for decades.

Israel’s last Judge was Samuel (1 Samuel 7:15), who also served as a Priest and a Prophet. Even though his home was in Ramah, each year he traveled a circuit that took him to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:16). At each stop he rendered decisions in regards to civil, religious, and military matters. The people of Israel loved Samuel, respected his wisdom, and obeyed his instructions. Everything worked well until Samuel grew too old to continue in his duties and made the mistake of installing his sons, Joel and Abijah, as his successors. Those two men did not walk in Samuel’s ways and were well known for chasing after dishonest gain, accepting bribes, and perverting justice (1 Samuel 8:3). Because of this the elders of the tribes of Israel got together and made a trip to Ramah to present Samuel with a request. They wanted Samuel to appoint a King over all Israel.

To say that Samuel wasn’t on board with the idea would be an understatement. He understood better than anyone that the people of Israel functioned at their idyllic best when they let God be their King and let Him speak to them through the Prophets, the Judges, and the Mosaic law. Scholars call this a Theocracy, as opposed to a Monarchy (where a King rules) or a Democracy. To his credit, though, Samuel took the matter to the Lord in prayer. He was probably hoping that God would tell him to take a strong stand against the idea, but God went in the opposite direction. His answer was, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

God did add in that Samuel should warn the people about the potential dangers of having a King, and Samuel certainly didn’t hold back in giving that warning. He told the people that a King would: make children serve as runners before his chariots; recruit citizens as forced labor to tend his crops and make his weapons of war; force young women to be his cooks, bakers, and perfumers; claim a tenth of all harvests and sheep as his own; and confiscate donkeys, servants, and the finest young men and make them do his work (1 Samuel 8:11-18).

We would think that such a graphic warning would have given the Israelites pause for concern about having a King, but it didn’t. Their response was, “We will have a King over us that we may be like all the other nations” (1 Samuel 8:19-20). Samuel then took that reply back to God, who had heard it anyway, and God said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and give them a king” (1 Samuel 8:21-22). And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how ancient Israel got into the King business.

The time period of Israel’s Kings was very much a roller-coaster ride for the nation. Some of the Kings were godly men, but others weren’t. Even the godly ones sometimes did ungodly things. For example, even though Solomon might generally be classified as a godly King because he wrote three books of the Bible and oversaw the building of the Jewish temple, he also plunged the nation headlong into idolatry and inflicted so much burden upon the people that the nation underwent a civil war after his death. This split the nation into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom (called Israel) and the southern kingdom (called Judah). Naturally, with two kingdoms operating at any given time, you get two Kings operating at any given time. You can read all about it in the Bible’s books of 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles.

But now let me get back to my topic. At no point in Israel’s history did God ever say, “Okay, now I’m going to abolish the Kingship and install a new concept called a democracy.” While this might seem strange to those of us who have never lived in anything but a democracy, there are definitely certain problems that come ingrained with any democracy. Consider the following:

In a democracy, the majority wins the vote. This works fine as long as the majority are godly people who vote as God would have them to vote. But what happens when the majority are ungodly and vote to suit themselves? At that point, God’s will doesn’t stand a chance. And, by the way, if you study your Bible, you will find that God’s people are just about always in the minority (Matthew 7:13-14).
In a democracy, everyone’s opinion counts. The problem with this is that many people couldn’t care less about God or His word. Consequently, when all voices are brought down to the same level, God’s voice doesn’t carry any real weight. His opinion becomes merely one more in a sea of opinions that all serve as little more than fodder for public debate.
In a democracy, once a nation reaches a low ebb spiritually and morally, it is virtually impossible to get things set back right again. Why is this? It’s because even if one person gets right with God and wants to begin a national revival, that person is just one person. Even if that person happens to be the President, his hands are still tied because even the President can’t impose his will in a democracy. Conversely, when a King rules, if God can get the King where he needs to be spiritually, the nation can be turned back to God almost overnight as the King decrees His orders and forces them to be carried out.

Please understand now that I’m not saying that there aren’t also potential problems with a Monarchy. Samuel himself laid out a pretty sizable list of those problems, and world history has taught us that even his list didn’t scratch the surface. I guess when you get right down to it any form of government can become a problem if ungodly people are dominating it. As Proverbs 29:2 says:

“When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.” (New Living Translation)

So, my goal with this post has simply been to help you better understand how politics and God either mesh together or don’t mesh together. As I said, a democracy can work fine as long the godly are the majority and they vote in ways pleasing to God, but once that setup has been turned upside down then real trouble follows. That’s where we are in America today, and no one election that installs any one candidate is going to fix it.

Posted in Current Events, Government, Leadership, Politics | Tagged democracy, Government, Is a democracy better than a theocracy?, Israel wanting a King, Israel's Judges, Proverbs 29:2, the problems with a democracy | 1 Comment

The Word American Christians Don’t Want to Hear

Posted on July 24, 2024 by russellmckinney

But the Lord said him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16, N.K.J.V.)

The current Americanized version of Christianity doesn’t look much like the New Testament version of it. 2,000 years difference in time will do that. Existing in two completely different cultures and in two completely different parts of the world will as well. The current Americanized version is basically an odd, hybridized mishmash of the New Testament version mixed together with the “American dream.”

In the current Americanized version, Jesus still dies on the cross and rises from the dead, but He is mostly a Savior who helps you get along in life and takes you to heaven when you die. In other words, we’re not really interested in that whole “lordship” thing wherein you have to endure persecution and perhaps even martyrdom to prove your loyalty to Him. That was for Bible times.

In the current Americanized version, if you give God $1 out of every $10 you make, you’ve covered yourself until the next payment is due. Conveniently, the church won’t even send you a past-due bill or a repossession notice if you miss every payment. You see, getting to keep 90% of our money (or all of it) works better for us than those scores of New Testament passages that encourage generous/abundant giving and strongly warn against the dangers of wealth (Matthew 6:19-21,24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 12:13-21; Luke 16:19-31; Luke 18:22-23; Acts 4:32-37; 2 Corinthians 9:6; 1 Timothy 6:6-11; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; James 5:1-6).

In the current Americanized version, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) becomes the magic quote for success in athletics, the business world, the classroom, and anywhere else we might want success. The quote certainly has nothing to do with enduring imprisonment for the cause of Christ (Philippians 1:12-14), being abased and hungry (Philippians 4:11-12), or being in distress (Philippians 4:14). After all, we Americans are winners.

And in the current Americanized version of Christianity, we certainly don’t want to hear the word “SUFFER.” Can you imagine a “health-and-wealth” televangelist explaining to his viewers how grateful he is that God has allowed him and his staff to be afflicted and endure the sufferings of Christ to the brink of death so that they can now better minister to fellow sufferers? That doesn’t jive too well with wearing an expensive suit, living in a mansion, driving a Bentley, and flying around in a private jet, does it? And yet that’s what Paul said concerning himself and his traveling companions (2 Corinthians 1:3-11).

Can you imagine a pastor telling his Sunday morning congregation that God has granted them the privilege of getting to suffer for the sake of Christ? The average church member might think, “Gee thanks, God. I always wanted the privilege of getting to suffer.” And yet that’s the message that Paul relayed to the Christians of Philippi (Philippians 1:29-30).

And can you imagine a preacher advising an employee who works for a mean-spirited employer to quietly endure that employer’s harsh mistreatment and see it as a way of following Christ’s example of suffering? That employee would say, “Uh, yeah, I’ll get right on that. By the way, are there any other churches in town?” And yet that’s the advice that Peter gave to the Christian slaves in the Roman empire (1 Peter 2:18-25).

As I read our text verse, I can’t help but feel for poor ole’ Ananias. He lived in Damascus, had a good reputation, was a devout disciple of Christ, and was a leader in the church in Damascus (Acts 9:10, 22:12). As such a leader, he was one of the targets for the notorious Saul of Tarsus, the land’s most feared persecutor of Christians (Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-2, 22:4-5). Ananias had heard that Saul had received written permission from the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem to enter into the synagogues of Damascus, arrest all Christians, and transport those Christians to Jerusalem as prisoners. Surely the thoughts going through Ananias’ mind as Saul and his entourage approached Damascus were not comforting ones.

But then the Lord spoke to Ananias in a vision and told him to go to the house of a man named Judas who lived on a street called Straight. There Ananias would find Saul praying and waiting for him to lay his hands on him so that Saul’s sight could be restored (Acts 9:10-11). God had already shown it all to Saul in a vision (Acts 9:12).

Predictably, Ananias’ reaction to the Lord’s instructions was not enthusiastic. He said, “Lord, I’ve heard many reports about this Saul. I’ve heard how much harm he has done to Your followers in Jerusalem. And now he’s come here to Damascus with authority to arrest all Your followers here” (Acts 9:13-14). Ananias might as well have added in, “Lord, are you nuts? If I visit that man, he might arrest me or kill me. Oh, and if he’s been struck blind, isn’t that a good thing? At least a blind man can’t go around arresting and killing your people.” But that’s when our text verse comes into play:

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (N.K.J.V.)

Please don’t miss that last part of the Lord’s quote: “For I will show him how many things he must SUFFER for my name’s sake.” Mark it down, Saul of Tarsus’ transformation into the apostle Paul would begin a ministry that would be characterized by incredible SUFFERING. There was simply no way around it.

So, what happened next? To his credit, Ananias did pay Saul that visit, and as soon as Ananias laid his hands on Saul, Saul’s blindness was cured. Shortly afterward Ananias baptized him. Saul then spent several days with the disciples in Damascus before he began preaching Jesus in the synagogues of Damascus. Saul’s conversion and newfound ministry created such a stir among the unbelieving Jews that they began plotting to kill him. That plotting was serious enough to cause the Christians of Damascus to smuggle Saul out of town in order to keep him safe. Thus began the transformation of Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of Christians, to the apostle Paul, sufferer for Christ’s sake.

Now, getting back to our Americanized version of Christianity, what kind of life does the typical American parent want for his or her children? That parent wants that child to make straight A’s, excel at sports, take music lessons, be Class President, be Valedictorian, go to college, graduate with honors, get a high-paying job, get married, buy an upscale home, join the most popular church in town, become a leading figure in the community, have a couple of kids, and then begin the process of recreating all that in the lives of those kids, right? I mean, that is the American version of successful parenting, isn’t it? But how many parents in America want their children to do any SUFFERING for the cause of Christ”? That list would have to be a short one even though the New Testament clearly teaches that suffering builds character.

Truth be told, whereas suffering was an expected and normal part of a New Testament Christian’s life, our Americanized version of Christianity simply isn’t interested in such a concept. Seriously, I couldn’t even use the word “Suffer” in the title to this post because I knew it would instantly turn some people off and cause them to hunt something else to read. Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh on us, but it seems to me that we Christians here in America oftentimes come off as superficial, worldly people who would rather live the American dream in prosperity and popularity than join in the sufferings of our Savior by way of persecution, fighting Satan, or taking an unpopular stand.

That’s our choice I guess, but we shouldn’t be surprised then when we no longer have the spiritual power to set the moral tone for this nation. We forfeited that power sometime back when we became, to use an Old Testament phrase concerning Israel, “at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1). And as long as that ease is our top priority nothing is going to change. Our situation reminds me of that famous visit that Thomas Aquinas paid to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. As the Pope and Aquinas watched the priests counting their money in the treasury, the Pope said in reference to Acts 3:1-6, “You see Thomas, gone are the days when the church can say, silver and gold we have none.” But to that Aquinas replied in reference to Acts 3:6-10, “Yes, and neither can it say now, ‘Rise up and walk.’”

Posted in Adversity, Children, Commitment, Courage, Disappointment, Discipleship, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Work, Loneliness, Ministry, Money, Parenting, Pastors, Persecution, Perseverance, Preaching, Priorities, Problems, Prosperity, Service, Sports, Stewardship, Suffering, Tithing, Trials | Tagged abundant giving, Christianity in America, God's call to suffering, joining in Christ's sufferings, Philippians 4:13, Saul and Ananias, Thomas Aquinas and the Pope | 1 Comment

A Bruised Reed & A Smoldering Wick

Posted on July 22, 2024 by russellmckinney

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…”(Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20; N.I.V.)

The words of our text are first found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah and then later referenced in the New Testament book of Matthew. In each instance, the “he” being spoken of is Jesus. The Isaiah verse is part of a passage that describes the Messiah who was prophesied to come to Israel. The Matthew verse is part of a passage that provides evidence that Jesus was the Messiah.

The text is built around two illustrations, the first of which is a “bruised reed.” Since the stalk of a reed is basically just a hollow shaft, a reed cannot stand strong and erect if its shaft is damaged. Consequently, the picture of a “bruised reed” is one in which damage has caused the shaft to become bent or bowed to some degree.

Imagine a patch of reeds growing undisturbed by a river bank. The reeds are healthy, vibrant, and standing tall. Now imagine a fisherman hiking into that scene and tromping through those reeds to make his way to the water. A path of trampled stalks is left to show his swath of destruction.

Are those trampled stalks totally annihilated? No, but they are now damaged. Did those reeds do anything to deserve that damage? No, they were just standing there by the water’s edge, doing what they were designed to do, when trouble found them.

In terms of people, a “bruised reed” depicts an individual who has been damaged through no fault of his own. Outside influences (either unfortunate events or deeds done by other individuals) have tromped into the person’s life and inflicted considerable injury. This injury can be emotional, psychological, mental, spiritual, physical, or some combination of any of these. In each case, though, the person ends up lowly, somewhat pitiable, and hindered from operating at a high level.

According to our text, Jesus handles such people with delicate care. Instead of breaking off the bruised stalk and thereby finalizing the damage, He works to repair and restore the stalk to help it stand tall again. This shows Christ’s tender compassion toward those who have been wronged, treated unjustly, or have simply gotten caught up in a bad turn of events they didn’t cause.

Turning now to the second illustration, that of the “smoldering wick,” in Bible times people commonly doused a piece of cloth in olive oil or animal fat to use as a wick for a lamp. That wick would keep the lamp lit as long as the oil or fat remained, but when the fuel source ran out the wick would begin to smolder and smoke rather than produce a true flame. Like the illustration of the “bruised reed,” the illustration of the “smoldering wick” depicts an object that is in a weakened state and isn’t functioning properly.

And what type of person does the “smoldering wick” represent? It represents one whose energy and resources have become depleted through the performance of duty. Such a person is spent, exhausted, and incapable of self-replenishment. He has given his all in doing what he was supposed to do, so much so that he can no longer do it effectively. Where there was once a flame there is now only smoke. The situation is akin to the modern term “burned out.”

Does Jesus throw such a person away and find someone new to do the work? Definitely not. Instead of snuffing out what is left of the person’s flame, Jesus provides him with a fresh supply of fuel and gets that flame burning brightly again. This shows Christ’s tender compassion toward those who have run themselves into the ground trying to do good and consequently have nothing left to give. Jesus appreciates such peoples’ effort and won’t leave them in their exhausted, drained condition.

I don’t know where these two graphic illustrations from Jesus find you right now, but my guess is that somebody out there is currently feeling like a bruised reed, a smoldering wick, or both. If that’s you please take encouragement from the fact that Jesus has no desire to finish you off completely. To the contrary, He wants to strengthen you, shore you up, revitalize you, and refuel you.

No matter what the circumstances were that brought you to your present condition, the main thing now is your future. Today can be the first day of that future if you will allow Jesus to begin the process of restoring you back to a healthy state. Therefore, I advise you to spend time with Him in prayer, telling Him all about your current situation and how you got there. Then let Him begin His marvelous work of restoring you and reviving you. Figuratively speaking, He really does want you standing straight and burning with a bright flame, and He can get you there if you will give Him your damaged or depleted self completely.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Encouragement, God's Love, Needs, Problems | Tagged a bruised reed, a smoking flax, a smoldering wick, Isaiah 42:3, Jesus wants to restore you, Matthew 12:20, the problem of burn out | Leave a comment

God: Heavenly Father or Heavenly Commander in Chief?

Posted on July 19, 2024 by russellmckinney

Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, I was a huge fan of the t.v. show M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital). For that matter, I’ve continued to watch the reruns ever since. I know all the characters, all the episodes, all the funny scenes, all the endings, and way, way too many of the actual quotes. This doesn’t mean that I approve of the show’s promotion of drinking, casual sex, and Corporal Klinger’s attempts to get a Section 8 discharge by wearing women’s clothes. It just means that I loved M*A*S*H when I was a kid and I’ve never gotten over the fondness.

M*A*S*H ran for eleven seasons and filmed 255 episodes, and one of the last episodes (episode #252) was entitled “Say No More.” It featured veteran character actor John Anderson as a gruff, no-nonsense general named Collins. General Collins gets involved with the 4077th M*A*S*H when his son, who is a young officer in the army, is brought to the 4077th for surgery after being injured in battle. To be close to his son, the general moves his command trailer to the 4077th and runs his part of the war from that site. He is a busy man, seemingly always on the telephone as he relays troop movements and strategy to his underlings. But he makes time each day for his son’s doctor, Hawkeye Pierce, to keep him posted on his son’s condition.

As for Hawkeye, he doesn’t particularly like the general because he thinks the man is too preoccupied winning the war to care much about his own son. Nevertheless, each day he knocks on the general’s trailer door and gives him an update. Even though the surgery goes well and Hawkeye expects the young man to make a full recovery, the general decides to stay at the 4077th until the son is back to full strength. In true television drama, though, the son suffers an embolism while in postop recovery and dies a sudden and unexpected death that couldn’t be prevented.

It’s then that Hawkeye has to make his way to General Collins’ trailer and relay the tragic news. Collins is devastated, stops taking phone calls for the first time in the whole episode, and orders everybody out except Hawkeye. Then he asks Hawkeye to share a drink with him in honor of his son. Over the course of the drink, Collins tells Hawkeye that his son had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the army. The father had been against the decision, but the son had voluntarily enlisted on his own. Collins also fondly tells how the son climbed the biggest tree in the family’s yard when he was young and afterward asked if they could move to a house with a bigger tree.

Hawkeye is touched by it all and begins to understand that Collins really did love his son. However, as soon as Hawkeye closes the trailer door in leaving, he hears Collins return to the phone and get right back to his job running the war. Hawkeye gives a slight grin as if he is genuinely perplexed by Collins. Was that minute’s worth of mourning all the time that Collins had to grieve for his son? Why couldn’t Collins talk to his son the way he had talked to Hawkeye about him? How could Collins continue to send young men into battle knowing that many of them would lose their lives the way his son had? It all makes for a great television scene.

I’ve thought about that scene many times as I’ve tried to make sense of why God the Father chooses to send His beloved children into spiritual battles, battles that sometimes result in those children getting either injured (bodily, emotionally, psychologically, financially, spiritually, etc.) or sometimes even literally martyred. I am a parent myself and I can assure you that one of my priorities concerning my two sons is their safety. I don’t want to see them get hurt. I don’t want to see them bloodied and battered. I don’t want to see them fallen on some battlefield. I want to keep them out of harm’s way instead of sending them into it.

But God the Father handles His children differently. He sends John the Baptist to confront Herod Antipas concerning Herod’s sin knowing that the confrontation will lead to John getting arrested and ultimately beheaded (Matthew 14:1-12). He allows Stephen to be brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin council so that Stephen can deliver a powerful sermon that will result in him being stoned to death (Acts 7:1-60). He raises up James to be a leader in the early church knowing that Herod Agrippa will have James put to death by way of the sword (Acts 12:1-2). You get the idea. How can God the Father love His children and yet still send them off to spiritual battlefields where they can get hurt or even killed?

The answer is that God isn’t just a heavenly Father, He is also a heavenly Commander in Chief. Make no mistake, the Bible explicitly calls the Christian a “soldier.” The passage is 2 Timothy 2:3-4, where the apostle Paul says to Timothy:

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. (N.K.J.V.)

Please note those closing words: “…that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Obviously, that is a reference to God the Father. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 9:7 Paul defends himself for receiving financial support from churches by saying, “Who ever goes to war at his own expense?” You see, Paul understood what many Christians don’t. He understood that God sees the Christian as a soldier fighting a great war in His army. Paul returns to this theme again in 2 Corinthians 10:4 when he writes:

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. (The Amplified Bible)

Along these same lines, in Ephesians 6:10-18 Paul exhorts the Christian to put on the whole armor of God. That armor consists of: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the peace that comes from the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so why does the Christian need armor? He needs it because he is fighting in a war, a spiritual war against Satan and the other fallen angels (Ephesians 6:11-12).

And so, you see, it is because God the Father must play the role of heavenly Commander in Chief, in addition to His role of heavenly Father, that He oftentimes has to place His beloved children in harm’s way by sending them out to wage war against Satan and Satan’s forces. The objective of this warfare is the overthrow and destruction (the “pulling down”, K.J.V. and N.K.J.V.) of Satan’s strongholds, and those strongholds certainly don’t come down without some intense fighting. This fighting always results in God’s children (soldiers) getting battered and bruised in some way either figuratively or literally, and sometimes it even results in their literal deaths. That’s what happened to John the Baptist, Stephen, and James.

The good news is that the Satanic strongholds that claimed the lives of these great servants of the Lord were indeed eventually pulled down, overthrown, and destroyed. The wicked Herod family that killed John the Baptist (Herod Antipas) and James (Herod Agrippa I) eventually lost their power and influence, and God even struck Herod Agrippa dead shortly after James’ death (Acts 12:20-23). As for the Jewish Sanhedrin that claimed the life of Stephen, that council came to nothing when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple in the year 70 A.D.

In closing, let me say that God the Father being willing to send Christians out to wage potentially dangerous spiritual warfare should make perfect sense to us. Why? It’s because He once sent His beloved Son, Jesus, into battle to wage such warfare. In two separate stories, God the Father refers to Jesus as “My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5), and yet He knew the work (John 4:34, 6:38, 9:4) He was sending Jesus to do would get Jesus ridiculed, mocked, hated, rejected, arrested, scourged, and crucified. It was all part of the heavenly Commander in Chief’s plan.

So, Christian, the next time God the Father burdens you to strike a blow for Him in the great ongoing spiritual war, don’t be surprised if He allows the enemy to hit you with some serious blowback in return. That won’t mean that your heavenly Father doesn’t love you as one of His children. All it will mean is that your heavenly Commander in Chief thought enough of you as a soldier to trust you with a difficult mission.

Posted in Adversity, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Commitment, Courage, Demons, Dying To Self, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, God's Work, Ministry, Missions, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Satan, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged actor John Anderson, death of James the apostle, death of John the Baptist, death of Stephen, God as Commander in Chief, Hawkeye Pierce, Mash episode "Say No More", the Christian as a soldier | 5 Comments

Job’s Wife & Her Tongue of Fire

Posted on July 17, 2024 by russellmckinney

The book of Job consists of 1,070 verses and 42 chapters. First, chapters 1 and 2 feature conversations between God and Satan. Second, chapters 3 through 31 feature conversations between Job and Eliphaz, Job and Bildad, and Job and Zophar. Third, chapters 32 through 37 feature what amounts to a lecture that Elihu (who was younger than Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) speaks to Job. Fourth and lastly, chapters 38 through 42 feature a conversation between God and Job and then a conversation between God and Eliphaz. Obviously, there is a whole lot of talking in the book of Job.

Interestingly, though, in the midst of all that talking there is only one quote from Job’s wife. The context for the quote finds her and Job living in the aftermath of an almost inconceivable series of events. For starters, Satan has recently orchestrated events that have caused Job to lose his worldly wealth by having his oxen, donkeys, sheep, and camels stolen. Even worse than that, Job’s seven sons and three daughters, as well as most of his servants, have been killed. Then, when Job has continued to worship God despite all that loss, Satan has afflicted him with gruesome boils that extend from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head.

Job’s diseased condition has prompted him to remove himself from normal society and make his way out to a certain ash heap to mourn his situation. So there he sits, in the midst of those ashes, scraping his boils with a broken piece of pottery in an attempt to get some relief from them. Other than Jesus hanging on the cross, there has probably never been a more pitiable figure than Job is at that very moment. And it’s then that Job’s wife goes out to the ash heap and says to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9, N.K.J.V.)

During the eras when society was dominated by men, preachers typically blasted Job’s wife for what they deemed her coldness, cruelty, and lack of compassion for her decimated husband. In more recent years, however, as women have risen to a more prominent place in the world, many preachers have gone easier on her by saying, “We must take into account that she had just buried all ten of her children. That would make anyone bitter.”

Regardless of what our opinion of Job’s wife should be, there’s no doubt that Job’s reply to her certainly wasn’t laced with compassion, tenderness, and understanding. He said, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10, N.K.J.V.)

After reading that response, you might think, “Was that rebuke really what God wanted Job to say to that woman at that moment?” All I know is that immediately following the reply the Bible says this: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10, N.K.J.V.). Clearly, “all this” would have to include Job’s response to his wife. This means that we shouldn’t completely let her off the hook for her infamous comment. Job called her foolish for saying it, and God backed him up on that assessment.

But would any of us have done any better at handling the catastrophic situation into which this woman was suddenly thrust? Her husband was the richest man in all the East (Job 1:3), a fact that gave her a lofty standing in her world. By reading between the lines a bit, we can surmise that she had fine clothes, beautiful jewelry, a staff of servants, and in general an overabundance of everything. If there is such a thing as an overabundance of children, she even had that too as she had ten of them. Then suddenly all her overabundance vanished virtually overnight. That might turn any otherwise good woman into a bitter, scornful, sarcastic nag.

Furthermore, if we are right in assuming that this same woman was the vessel through whom God ultimately blessed Job with ten more children after those first ten had been killed (Job 42:12-15), she must have been a wonderful mother. Imagine the same woman giving birth to twenty children over the course of one lifetime! Whatever else we might say about Job’s wife, she couldn’t have been nearly as self-centered as her infamous quote makes her appear to be. Carrying twenty babies in her womb and delivering all of them just wouldn’t have allowed her that option.

So, let’s understand that there is a lot to commend about Job’s wife, and it’s unfortunate for her that history only remembers her for unloading on her husband during the low point of not only his life but also her life. Sadly, though, that is the damage that ill-spoken words can do. In Proverbs 18:21, the Bible goes so far as to say, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” (N.K.J.V.), and James 3:6 calls the tongue “a world of iniquity” and “a fire.” The tongue being compared to a fire explains why I entitled this post “Job’s Wife & Her Tongue of Fire.”

Nevertheless, despite the problem of the tongue always having the potential to set a situation ablaze, God doesn’t want us to be mutes. Remember that it’s not just death that is in the power of the tongue, it’s also life. As Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (N.K.J.V.). You see, talking is fine as long as you do it the right way. The goal is to always say what God wants you to say, to whom He wants you to say it, when He wants you to say it, and how He wants you to say it. Therefore, let’s all work on our conversing and make sure we don’t burn down anything with the fire that lies behind our teeth. Job’s wife spouted her flames and with one quote became known for something for which she’d rather not be known, and here’s hoping the same thing doesn’t happen to us.

Posted in Communication, Complaining, Criticism, Influence, Marriage, The Tongue | Tagged a word fitly spoken, conversations in the book of Job, Curse God and die!, death and life are in the power of the tongue, Job's wife, the fire of the tongue, the tongue is a world of iniquity | 3 Comments

False Expectations

Posted on July 15, 2024 by russellmckinney

During the period of my late teens and early twenties, I spent four years working at Bakersville Quick Mart, a convenience store in my hometown. My job there entailed a wide variety of duties: pump gas, run the cash register, unload the grocery truck, stock the shelves, fill the coolers, deliver groceries to shut-ins, mop the floor, etc., etc., etc. I’ve got about a hundred stories that I could tell from those days but right now I’ll just go with one of my favorites.

One Friday night a rough looking old truck pulled up to the gas pumps. As was my job, I went out to the truck to pump the gas. There were three men sitting in the truck seat, all of them probably in their late twenties to mid-thirties, and each one had that “wild-eyed southern boy” thing going.

It didn’t take a detective to figure out they were out on the town for a fun Friday night. I asked the driver how much gas he wanted and as I recall the reply was, “$10 worth.” (This was back in the day when that was a decent amount of gas.) So, I pumped the gas and returned to the driver’s window to get the money. Normally that would have been the end of the transaction, but that night those fellows asked me to go into the store and get them some cigarettes, a couple of drinks, and maybe one or two other items that I can’t recall right now. Then the driver handed me $20 to pay for the gas and the other items.

I didn’t mind doing the favor because I suspected those fellows had been drinking and didn’t want to make a spectacle of themselves inside the store. Unfortunately, what none of us realized was that $20 wouldn’t be enough to pay for everything. I myself didn’t figure out the shortage until I had gathered up the items and totaled up the amount on the register. “Oh great,” I thought, “I get to explain to a bunch of wild men that I need more money from them.” I was also genuinely worried that $20 was all they had between the three of them.

So, out I went, carrying not only the requested items but also the bad news. I approached the driver’s window cautiously and said to him, “Uh, sorry, but you didn’t give me enough money. The total was ……” At that point I didn’t know what to expect, but I feared the worst. Would the three get angry? Would they cuss me out? Would they get out of the truck and start making threats? Would they start the truck and roar off without paying for the gas? I was on red alert.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when the fellow in the middle absolutely cracked up as if I had just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard. And somewhere through all that laughing he managed to get out a line that I’ve never forgotten. He said, “And us out here waitin’ for change!” When he said that, the other two men just cracked up, too. So did I for that matter. You talk about relieving the tension! Then the driver pulled out the additional money as easily as if he was a multimillionaire and that was that. Problem solved.

Many years have passed since that memorable night at the Quick Mart, but I can still picture those three desperate looking characters sitting in that truck busting a gut over their false expectations. They aren’t angry. They aren’t argumentative. They aren’t belligerent. They are just genuinely embarrassed about the absurdity of the predicament in which they’ve placed themselves.

And now that I’ve told you my story, the question becomes, “How do you apply it to your own life?” Well, allow me to suggest the following: Spend some time today examining your life to see if you yourself have some type of false expectation going. I like the way the New Living Translation translates Proverbs 10:28, and we should all heed the warning. It says:

The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked are all in vain.

Maybe your false expectation involves a goal you’ve set that you will simply never reach. Maybe it involves a decision you’ve made that will never produce the results you’ve planned. Or maybe it involves a plan you are right now formulating that will never be God’s will for your life. I don’t know what your personal false expectation might be, but there is one thing I do know: If you are sitting in a truck waiting on change that’s never coming, it’s time to switch trucks.

Posted in Change, Choices, Disappointment, God's Will, Humor, Personal, Waiting | Tagged chasing a wrong dream, false expectations, knowing when to cut your losses, waiting for something that is never going to happen, when it's time to give up on something | 2 Comments

Is God Good All the Time? (post 3 of 3)

Posted on July 12, 2024 by russellmckinney

“The Lord is good to all…” Psalm 145:9

“…No one is good but One, that is, God…” Matthew 19:17

With this post I’ll finish up my series “Is God Good All the Time?” In the first post, I explained why the title question is a reasonable one. In the second, I listed five facts that lay the foundation for a Biblical answer to the question. Now, with this third post I’ll use post #2 to interpret post #1. I’ll do this by taking those instances of “bad” I named in post #1 and filtering them through those five facts from post #2.

As I wade into this, I quickly find that the combination of fact #3 and #4 provide the explanation for the majority of the examples of “bad.” By way of reminder, fact #3 was God shouldn’t be blamed for “bad” caused by man and fact #4 was God shouldn’t be blamed for “bad” caused by Satan. Obviously, between the sinful deeds of people and the destructive work of Satan and his fellow fallen angels, there is a whole lot of “bad” being churned out that has nothing to do with God.

So, from my list of things in post #1, we shouldn’t blame God for:

the Holocaust
the deaths caused by wars He didn’t sanction
terrorist acts
murders
rapes
acts of sexual molestation
acts of adultery
abortions
divorces
any instances of injustice large or small
world hunger (there is enough food to feed everybody if mankind managed it properly)
undiscerning judges and juries
any struggles I might have had in the ministry
the tight finances Tonya and I have sometimes faced

Just because God doesn’t overrule the moral freewill of nations or individuals, even when that freewill is being used wrongly, that doesn’t make Him responsible for those sins or the consequences produced by them. And, for the record, the same thing applies to attempts to blame Him for the actions of Satan and the other fallen angels. How would you like to get blamed for something you didn’t do?

Okay, so fact #3 and fact #4 working together explain most of the examples of “bad” from post #1. Got it. But what about those examples in which God either commanded the nation of Israel to kill people or did the killing Himself? Well, those deaths all fall under the heading of fact #5, which was God can’t truly be “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.” To see this, let’s retrace that list:

The millions of people whom God killed by way of the great flood were exceedingly sinful. Genesis 6:5 says that mankind’s wickedness was great in the earth, so great that, “…every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine). You talk about strong language! Come on now, who could expect a holy God to sit up in heaven and take all that without eventually dealing with it? To God’s credit, He gave the human race 120 years to repent (Genesis 6:3) while Noah worked on the ark as a public object lesson and preached the coming judgment (2 Peter 2:4-5). Someone asks, “But what about all the babies, infants, and small children who drowned in the flood?” The answer is: The Bible teaches that the souls of children who die before reaching what we call “the age of accountability” go to the same place as the “saved” in the afterlife (2 Samuel 12:22-23). This includes miscarried babies, aborted babies, and all other children who die before reaching an age where they can mentally understand their sinful condition and their need for salvation. It also includes children who die in worldwide floods.
The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah were a wicked, sexually perverse people. God described Sodom’s sin as “grave” and said the outcry against its citizens was “great” (Genesis 18:20). The situation was so bad that He couldn’t even find ten righteous people there (Genesis 18:23-33). Sodom was marked by pride, gluttony, laziness, and a lack of concern for the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49), not to mention the city’s trademark sin of homosexuality (Genesis 19:1-11). The Bible describes Sodom’s homosexuality as “abomination” (Ezekiel 16:50), “sexual immorality” (Jude v.7), and going after “strange flesh” (Jude v.7). Furthermore, homosexuality also ran rampant in Gomorrah and the other cities that surrounded Sodom (Jude v.7). So, again, how could a holy God who loves “good” do nothing as all that sin and perversion played itself out each and every day? He couldn’t, and He didn’t. Just as in the great flood, though, the souls of the children under the age of accountability went into a blissful afterlife.
The Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizittes, Hivites, Jebusites, and Girgashites were sinful, idolatrous races who flaunted their idolatry and their evil ways before God for many centuries. Actually, by the time God gave Israel the command to wipe out these races, their sins had reached a full measure of completeness (Genesis 15:16). These races were all built around false religions that featured bizarre worship practices such as ritual prostitution (Deuteronomy 23:17-18) and infant sacrifices to the false god Molech (Leviticus 18:21; 20:1-5). To God’s credit, He gave these people an extra 400 years — the 400 years in which the Israelites were slaves in Egypt — to repent of their sins and serve Him (Genesis 15:16). But they never repented. Instead, they continued to teach their children how to perpetuate their ungodliness. Therefore, at some point, God in His holiness just had to deal with all the ‘bad” that was going on in Canaan. He even made it clear to Israel that those races’ prolific sinfulness was the reason for Him using Israel’s army to pour out His judgment upon them (Deuteronomy 9:4; 18:9-12; Leviticus 18:24-28). And, one more time, the good news is that the souls of all the children under the age of accountability ended up with the Lord.
All those laws that God expected Israel to live by in Old Testament days were commands, not mere suggestions. And, yes, those laws did include many death-penalty offenses. God’s recurring theme of justification for the death penalty was, “So you shall put away the evil from Israel” (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7; 17:12; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21; 22:24; 24:7). If Israel had kept that body of law rightly and dutifully carried out the varying punishments prescribed by it, including the ones involving capital punishment, the nation as a whole would have been well served. For example, if a proven murderer had been legally and publicly executed, who could have predicted how many other lives that one death might actually have saved? Obviously, it would have saved the lives of any other victims that murderer would have killed in the future, but it also might have saved even more lives by throwing a scare into other budding murderers (Deuteronomy 19:20). You see, when you understand how the Old Testament law was designed to function, you realize what a tremendous template for “good” it was. You also realize that God shouldn’t be blamed for any deaths produced by it being broken.
The citizens of Jericho can be lumped into the same group as all those other “ites” who called Canaan home, and God’s judgment upon those citizens of Jericho was justified for the same reasons. Why are we always so surprised when holy God comes down hard on unholiness? Also, here again the age of accountability applies to Jericho’s children.
The Amalekites were an immoral, murderous people who were a special thorn in Israel’s side. As Israel was making its way toward Canaan under the leadership of Moses, the Amalekites launched an unprovoked attack upon them. At the time of the attack, Israel didn’t even have an organized army. Not surprisingly, God didn’t take kindly to that sneak attack and swore to wage war against the Amalekites “from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16). Later on, His command for Saul to kill all the Amalekites, including the infants and nursing children, was a part of that war. So, putting it simply, God didn’t pick a fight with the Amalekites until they picked a fight with Him. And as for the infants and nursing children, see my previous comments.

Alright, at this point my list of examples from post #1 is getting seriously whittled down in terms of assessing blame for them. But now let’s tackle another one from the list. Isn’t it “bad” on God’s part that lost unbelievers will first be sentenced to the “hell” that is Hades and will ultimately spend eternity in the “hell” that is Gehenna (Luke 17:19-31; Matthew 10:28; Mark 9:47-48)? Well, here again the explanation stems from fact #5: God can’t truly be “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.”

Throughout all history God has granted individual salvation on the basis of individual belief (faith) in Him. In the Old Testament era, believers such as Abraham and David were saved by placing their belief in the one true God (Romans 4:1-8), even though they had a somewhat limited understanding of Him in comparison to the one we have today. Later on, in the New Testament era, God revealed Himself more fully in the person of Jesus Christ, which meant that salvation then came by way of individuals placing their belief (faith) in Jesus (John 3:16-18; Acts 4:8-12).

The point is that in either era God had a way of salvation in play, and that way was always centered in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Just as Christians now look back to Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, Old Testament believers looked forward to it in confident expectation of the Messiah who was prophesied to come (Genesis 3:15). So, from God’s viewpoint He has provided the human race with everything necessary for salvation and He wants everybody to get saved (2 Peter 3:9).

Sadly, though, the majority of people do not take advantage of God’s way of salvation. (Matthew 7:13-14). This leaves God no choice but to punish these unforgiven sinners. Someone asks, “But what about God’s love?” Unfortunately, that isn’t the relevant question because God’s love isn’t the issue. The issue is His holiness, and even His great love cannot override His holiness. Think of it this way: People go to hell unsaved, not unloved.

“But,” someone else asks, “what about all the people who die without ever having a chance to hear about Jesus?” The answer to that is found in Romans 1:20, which teaches that creation itself conveys the existence of an intelligent, all-powerful Creator God. Individuals living in every corner of the world can choose to either embrace what creation is conveying and seek out the truth concerning this Creator God or ignore the lesson and ignore the God. If a person responds rightly to what revelation he or she gleans about God from creation, God will somehow orchestrate circumstances to make it possible for that person to hear the story of Jesus (Acts 17:26-27). Biblical examples of God sending sincere “seekers” the evangelistic help they need are found in Acts 8:26-40 and Acts 10:1-48.

You say, “Alright, but what about the deaths of all those soldiers Jesus is going to kill at the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21)? How can they be explained in light of God being good all the time?” Perhaps you’ve guessed by now that those deaths also fit under the category of fact #5: God can’t truly be “good” if He doesn’t deal with “bad.”

Trust me, Jesus returning to walk this earth again and reign over it for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-6) is a good thing. This return will take place to close out the seven-year tribulation period that is prophesied to come upon this world. But when Jesus returns will He receive a King’s welcome? No.

Instead, His first order of business will be to make the short walk to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (which according to Acts 1:9-12 is the site to which He will return). At that time, Jerusalem will be inundated by enemy soldiers who are waging war against the citizens of the city. But Jesus will inflict a fatal plague upon all of those soldiers and in so doing save the people of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-15).

Next, He will make His way to Megiddo (Revelation 16:16). There the soldiers of the armies of the world will be gathered for what has come to be known as the Battle of Armageddon. These armies will think they are there to fight either Israel, each other, or both, but in reality, Satan will have them there to try to accomplish a far loftier goal.

That goal will be to prevent Jesus from establishing His reign upon the earth (Revelation 16:12-16; 19:19). As for the soldiers themselves as individuals, despite the fact that the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world during the tribulation period (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:1-8; Revelation 14:6) each of them will have rejected Jesus and chosen instead to take the Antichrist’s “mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:16-18). This means that when these soldiers see Jesus interjecting Himself into the Battle of Armageddon, rather than fall down before Him and worship Him, they will wage war against Him in their attempt to stop Him from establishing His earthly reign. Their attempt will be futile, however, as Jesus will merely speak the word and slay them all (Revelation 19:21). Nevertheless, the attempt itself will serve as evidence that Jesus will be perfectly within His rights to do this killing. After all, He’s trying to do something good (reign upon the earth) and they are trying to prevent it.

But now, at last, all this brings us to the final grouping of examples from post #1, and these are the ones that can’t be so easily explained by any of the five facts from post #2. From my own personal list of examples, these would include our two miscarriages, the unexpected death of Tonya’s dad (Charles), and the medical issues that Tonya and I have been inflicted with from time to time. Likewise, from post #1’s list of examples from around the world, I would group the millions of deaths caused by the Black Plague in Europe into this same category.

While it’s true that Satan does have a limited ability to affect the medical realm (Job 2:7; Luke 13:16), I’m not prepared to lay all the blame on him for all these hard-to-understand happenings. To paraphrase pastor E.V. Hill as he was preaching the funeral of his wife, “If we give Satan the power to decide who lives and who dies all of us will be gone before nightfall.” Admittedly, that statement is probably an exaggeration, but you get the point. So, I don’t blame Satan for the two miscarriages, Charles’ death, all our ailments, or the millions of deaths from the Black Plague. Furthermore, I can’t explain away these things as God somehow dealing with “bad” either.

Consequently, I’m left with the question, “In light of God’s goodness, what do I make of these happenings?” What I make of them is that even though my finite mind can’t see God’s goodness in these things, I know enough about His nature, character, promises, mercy, grace, and LOVE to know that the goodness is in there somewhere. This is not me “spinning” God (as I talked about in post #1). Instead, it’s me giving someone I know very well the benefit of the doubt even when I don’t have a clue what He’s doing. I love Abraham’s question to God in Genesis 18:25. He asks, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” I also like Deuteronomy 32:4 where Moses says of God:

“He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” (N.K.J.V.)

Coming at the issue another way, I’m not so arrogant as to think that I, someone who can’t even do higher math and has trouble working a smart phone, can figure out God’s ways. In Romans 11:33, Paul says that God’s judgments are “unsearchable” and His ways are “past finding out.” Along the same lines, in Isaiah 55:8-9, we read:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (N.K.J.V.)

These passages let me know that God isn’t sitting up in heaven quaking in His boots, saying, “Oh no, I’ve done something that Russell can’t understand. I’d better explain it to Him.” Frankly, if I could match God mentally and beat Him at chess, He wouldn’t be much of a God, would He?

And so, in the end, I’m left with two very important conclusions. Conclusion #1: I know that I can take the Bible and offer logical explanations for the majority of “bad” that goes on in this world. (That’s what I’ve done with this post.) And then Conclusion #2: I know enough about God to give His goodness the benefit of the doubt in the remaining minority percentage of occurrences that on the surface appear to be void of that goodness.

You see, folks, sometimes we just have to let God be God and trust that He will always do the truest, purest, most impacting, and long-reaching version of “good” even if His actions don’t appear that way to us. Is such a mindset particularly satisfying to our human egos? No, it isn’t. But is it a mindset that will allow us to forge ahead with God in exceedingly difficult and confusing times when we don’t know what just hit us? Yes, it is.

Somewhere in my files I have a quote from an old preacher who once said of God, “Even when I can’t track Him, I can trust Him.” I’ve got that quote on my mind as I write the close to this series because I think that simple line encapsulates the one lesson I want you to claim from everything I’ve said in these posts: Even when you can’t track God, you can trust Him. You take this simple lesson and cling tightly to it anytime something “bad” happens that you can’t explain. Just put your trust in God and know that somehow, someway, somewhere, in His timing, in His plan, and in His will, the Judge of all the earth will do right and His goodness will be displayed in the doing of it.

Posted in Abortion, Adultery, Adversity, Belief, Capital Punishment, Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, Death, Depravity, Faith, God's Chastening, God's Holiness, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Hell, Homosexuality, Justice, Prophecy, Rebellion, Salvation, Satan, Series: "Is God Good All the Time?", Sin, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Death Penalty, The Devil, Trusting In God, War | Tagged even when I can't track Him I can trust Him, God works in mysterious ways, Is God good all the time?, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? | Leave a comment

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