Tag Archives: World

Chapter-a-Day

Political Imprisonment

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Political Imprisonment (CaD Acts 24) – Wayfarer

At the same time {Governon Felix] was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.
Acts 24:26 (NIV)

Wendy and I are long-time readers of the Wall Street Journal. Over the past year, we’ve been following the case of Evan Gershkovich, a WSJ journalist in Russia, who has been arrested and imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of espionage. It is a game the Putin regime plays on a regular basis, arresting high-profile individuals who can be traded for his henchmen who have been captured in the West. It’s a terrible situation for the victims like Gershkovich who’s done nothing to deserve his fate, but it has worked time-and-time-again for Putin, so he’ll keep doing it. It’s the way the world works.

In today’s chapter, Paul is tried before the Roman Governor, a corrupt and incompetent leader named Felix. Felix only lasted a few years as Governor and was eventually recalled to Rome to answer for his poor leadership.

It’s easy to miss the political game into which Paul has been swept, but it’s important context. Paul has one motivation: To be a witness of Jesus, His resurrection, and the eternal salvation He offers. For every other player in the events of these final chapters of Acts, their motivations are personal and political.

The Roman Empire holds sway throughout the Western world. The Empire’s prevailing desire is to maintain power, maintain peace, and keep tax revenues flowing to Rome. In Judea, keeping the peace means dealing with the Jewish leaders who control the Jewish population. The Jews hate the Romans and the Romans despise the Jews, but they have to deal with one another.

To complicate the issue, Paul was born a Roman citizen. His parents were tentmakers in Tarsus, and were likely providers of tents for the Roman legions. It’s speculated that their family may have been granted citizenship for their service in outfitting Roman armies, or perhaps they were wealthy enough to purchase citizenship.

Being a citizen of Rome was not something every person born in the Empire received like you do in countries like the United States. Citizenship had to be purchased or granted, and relatively few people had it. Roman citizenship was more like having an elite status with the airlines that gave you all sorts of perks like free first-class upgrades that the majority of fliers back in economy class could only dream about.

The Jewish ruling council couldn’t just deal with Paul as they did Jesus, who was a nobody in Rome’s eyes. Rome took care of its citizens, which means Felix has a political blue-chip in Paul. The Jews want Paul dead, but Felix holds the power to give them what they want or hold on to Paul and string them along just to make them mad. Furthermore, being a citizen was typically a sign of wealth, and Paul’s testimony was that he came to Jerusalem with money for the poor. If Paul has access to money, perhaps he will offer Felix a bribe for his release. Felix doesn’t care about Paul. He cares about himself, his pocketbook, and his power.

The thing I found fascinating as I meditated on the chapter this morning is to compare Paul to everyone else in the situation. Paul is simply a disciple of Jesus who is focused entirely on bringing God’s Kingdom to earth in any and every way he can. This is such a contrast to both Felix and the Jewish leaders who represent people of this world, living for this world, and representing kingdoms of this world. Felix keeps summoning Paul for conversations hoping Paul will offer him a bribe. Why would Paul offer Felix a bribe? Paul cares more about the opportunity to talk to Felix, the Roman Governor, about Jesus than he cares about his freedom.

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but wonder how I might fare if I were unjustly arrested and detained simply because of my faith. As I think about it, I tend to think that the situation would reveal a lot about me and that which I believe. If I am focused on this life and the things of this world, then it would likely cause all sorts of spiritual, mental, and physical anguish. If, however, I am focused on God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, then I suspect I have a completely different attitude entirely.

Of course, I hope never to end up in those circumstances. Yet, as I reflect on it in the quiet, I realize that the same contrast exists today as I live in freedom and affluence. Do my life and my actions reflect a person who is living for this world and the things of this world, or do they reflect a person living to bring God’s Kingdom to earth?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Politics and Religion

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Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”
Acts 23:6 (NIV)

It is a major election year here in the United States, which means that politics is already at a fever pitch and it’s only going to get worse. Both the trials of a former President and a number of important appeals before the Supreme Court with regard to hot political issues and elections have put politics and the legal system on a collision course.

Another hot topic of late is a new book by Salman Rushdie regarding his miraculous survival of being attacked and stabbed 15 times. Rushdie has famously been living under the threat of a fundamentalist Islamic fatwa calling for his death for decades.

Politics and religion are both kingdoms of this world and I have long observed that they often intertwine. They came to mind this morning as I read the chapter. Paul is on trial before the religious ruling council in Jerusalem, the same body that tried Jesus and had Him executed some 20 years earlier. Now it is Paul who has threatened their power and fundamentalist religious politics.

You’ve got to hand it to Paul. He was a lawyer trained by the very system that is now trying him. He knows that system and its internal politics as well as anyone, and he makes a brilliant political move. Paul knew that the ruling council was politically divided into two major factions who hated one another. He also knew that the major divisive issue between the two factions was whether there was a resurrection and life after death. So, he loudly proclaims “I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

It was a shrewd political play. Suddenly, he shifts the focus from himself and Jesus and stirs the festering theological rancor that divides the ruling council itself. In making a stand for “resurrection,” he makes allies of every Pharisee on the ruling council while tearing off the scab of a festering conflict within the ruling body itself. The entire ruling council erupts, turns on each other, and Paul is whisked away by the Romans amidst the tumult. Paul was a Roman citizen, and he knew that the Romans would politically refuse to let the Jewish ruling council harm one of their citizens.

Paul is safely placed under the political protection of Rome, while 40 of his fundamentalist religious enemies take an oath to neither eat nor drink until they’ve murdered him. I can’t help but think that Paul and Salman Rushdie could have a fascinating conversation about living under the threat of death from fundamentalist religion.

Politics and religion. Two kingdoms of this world combine to make a combustible cocktail. It was true in the events of today’s chapter. This is true in current events. All I have to do is read the headlines.

In the quiet this morning, I am once again reminded of the contrast between the kingdoms of this world, and the Kingdom of God that Jesus brought to this world. The Kingdom of God on earth is focused on each individual disciple who is empowered and called upon to live and relate in a manner consistent with Jesus’ teaching and opposite the kingdoms of this world. If my personal faith in Jesus and my focus on daily living as His disciple transforms into being just another member of an earthly, collective religious system then my faith withers on the Vine and I become just another religious minion subject to a kingdom of this world.

Note: I will be out traveling on business for the next two days. Lord willing, I will plan on posting again on Friday, April 26.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Contrasting Statements

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Contrasting Statements (CaD Jhn 16) – Wayfarer

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 (NIV)

Contrasting statements. On the desk in my office is a list of fourteen contrasting statements. These contrasting statements are key differences in understanding between members of a certain team of people. They are the source of conflict within the system and because of them, every member of the team is experiencing a lack of peace on multiple levels.

Systemic conflict lies at the heart of the Great Story. In the beginning, God creates the universe and everything in it. He caps off creation with a man and a woman, places them in the Garden, and calls it “very good.” There is shalom, the experience of wholeness, goodness, completeness, and peace. Then the evil one enters the garden and introduces both doubt and temptation to the man and woman. Interestingly, the evil one’s basic tactic in the disruption of shalom was the introduction of contrasting statements: “Did God really say…? You won’t certainly die!“

From that original sin, humanity has been yearning for shalom and God has been actively acting to restore it. That’s the Great Story in a nutshell.

In today’s chapter, we are approaching the climactic event of the entire Story. The key players are all involved. At the beginning of his account, John introduced us to Jesus as the God of Creation who came to Earth in human form. The evil one, having successfully filled the head of Judas Iscariot with contrasting statements, has put the wheels into motion to have Jesus arrested and killed. Both Jesus’ followers, His enemies, and the crowds are the humans across the spectrum of belief to whom Jesus seeks to provide restoration, redemption, and the new life of shalom.

Jesus’ followers have no idea of what’s about to happen. They are expecting the restoration of shalom the only way the world, and the Prince of this World, knows how to deliver it: gain power, exert force, suppress resistance, maintain control. God, however, had long ago tried to explain to humanity that His ways are not our ways. He will provide shalom, not by power but by suffering, not by force but by surrender, not through the suppression of resistance but through love, forgiveness, and freedom from sin and death.

Throughout Jesus’ final discourse to His followers, He continues to bring up the peace that He will provide. In the same manner, this peace is not like the peace the world seeks or promises. The shalom Jesus provides is not peace from trouble, but peace in the midst of trouble. Jesus continues to warn His followers of the trouble, persecution, resistance, and suffering that will be theirs to experience and endure. At the same time, Jesus promises them the peace of God’s Spirit to, as Paul put it to the believers in Philippi, “guard their hearts and minds” as they experience trouble and walk in Jesus’ footsteps of suffering, surrender, and love.

In the quiet this morning, my mind is on contrasting statements that don’t appear to offer a path forward. Then I think about the contrast between the world’s way and God’s way. As a disciple of Jesus, I have been provided the footsteps to follow into humility, surrender, and maybe even suffering. The way of Jesus reveals to me that death is the path to new life. And, I will find peace along this path.

I’m back on Facebook for those who liked to read my chapter-a-day posts there! Facebook refuses to give me access to my old, hacked account, but I have started a new account. Please feel free to search for me on Facebook and friend me. If Facebook won’t let you friend me, please go to my Facebook profile and “Message” me on Facebook Messenger, which should then allow me to friend you. Cheers! -Tom

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Peace That’s Not of this World

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Peace that's Not of this World (CaD Jhn 14) – Wayfarer

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:27 (NIV)

Judas Iscariot is in the process of his betrayal of Jesus. The wheels are in motion and the climactic event that Jesus has clearly stated is about to take place. Jesus knows that He will be arrested, He will suffer, and He will be executed. The religious leaders and the Romans? They’re just the pawns. What’s about to happen is the result of a larger spiritual conflict that has been brewing since before the beginning. As Jesus finishes His last meal with the disciples and prepares, He even says to His disciples, “The Prince of this World is coming.”

I find it fascinating that amid these impending events, Jesus declares that He has peace. In fact, He has enough peace that He will generously give it to His disciples. He also clarifies that His peace is not “as the world gives.”

This got me meditating in the quiet this morning about how I’ve observed the world offering peace.

I watch politicians on both sides screaming of the aisle that their side is the only path to peace and prosperity. The other side will bring only death, destruction, and the end of democracy. So both sides claim they will bring peace if the other side is obliterated, subjugated, and goes away. Peace comes only through the absolute and total destruction of your political enemies.

Last October, a group of terrorists tortured, raped, and slaughtered 1200 human beings. They took others hostage. I’ve been told that this all happened to bring peace to one group of people and will be achieved if the other group of people they terrorized are wiped off the face of the earth. Both groups continue to kill one another to achieve peace.

When I was a young man, it seemed that the world promised peace if you had certain things. Those things could be tangible like money, cars, designer gear, etc. They could also be intangibles like success, popularity, fame, status, and power. This is still the Prince of the World’s game. In fact, it fuels our economy and continues our seemingly endless need for more. If I just add that thing everyone’s talking about to my pile of personal possessions I’d probably feel so content as to never needing another thing.

In my lifetime, I’ve observed that the world’s promise of peace has gotten more insidious with its intangible paths to inner peace. Thanks to social media, the world convinces children and their parents that peace will be yours if you have followers and likes, or because you have a sudden case of Tourette’s or gender dysphoria that makes you special. Peace is promised for the latter at the end of hormones, drugs, and life-altering surgeries.

Jesus promised peace that is spiritual in nature. He said it would come with spiritual oneness that happens when I surrender, follow, believe, and obey. Jesus promises His Spirit to indwell me. That’s the source of the peace. The following, believing, and obeying are rooted in His teaching that there really is something much larger going on in my life in the same way there was something larger going on in the events of His arrest. If He is in me, and I am following His teaching, there is peace that comes with His presence and with seeing the larger, spiritual, eternal perspective which allows me to view my momentary troubles in a very different way.

Peace, my friend.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Jury Box Pondering

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“Remember that you molded me like clay.
    Will you now turn me to dust again?”
Job 10:9 (NIV)

Many years ago, I taught a class on creativity that was based largely on The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The lessons and exercises in The Artist’s Way were instrumental in my own journey. God used them to bear the fruits of insight, understanding, and spiritual healing in me. In my class, I simply shared them and facilitated their work in others. I was amazed how the creative process allowed some individuals to express, perhaps for the very first time in their lives, traumatic events that had been a giant, suppressed, spiritual block for many, many years.

I have known individuals along my life journey who have had horrid experiences in life whether it was being the victim of a human perpetrator or the victim of an accident or natural disaster. I have observed many different ways in which people cope (or don’t cope) with the suffering. I have heard many different voices work through the stages of grief, or sometimes spiral into a perpetual cycle of despair.

In the previous chapter, Job dreams of a courtroom drama in which he has the opportunity of taking God to court where he can put the Almighty on the stand and make God defend the suffering that Job accuses God of inflicting on him. In today’s chapter, Job continues to play out his mock trial before his three friends. He questions the heavenly defendant, before concluding, in despair, that whether he was guilty or innocent, God appears not to care.

I pondered Job’s prosecution of God this morning as if I was a juror in his improvisational courtroom play.

I don’t fault Job for his anger. He’s walking through the stages of grief like any other human being. But in his line of questioning, I noticed that Job has made some prosecutorial assumptions.

First, Job is assuming that God alone is the perpetrator of his earthly suffering. This is nothing new. We do that to this day. When a branch of my tree fell on the neighbor’s house and went through their roof the insurance company called it an “act of God.”

God gets blamed for a lot of things, but the Great Story (and the Job story) make it clear that the force of evil is also at play in this fallen world. We could spin into a philosophical discussion, of course, but for now I simply acknowledge that it was Satan who accused Job and was the perpetrator of his suffering. I find it ironic that after Satan afflicts Job he disappears in the story. I believe this to be one of evil’s common tactics, to perpetrate suffering and then pin the blame on God.

Job then asks God an interesting question:

“Remember that you molded me like clay.
    Will you now turn me to dust again?”

It’s ironic because it points directly back to the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sin, God explains the consequences of their sin. They will exit the Garden and live in a fallen world where sin holds sway, evil has dominion, and earthly life ends in death:

“By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

In accusing God of turning him into dust again, Job ignores the fact that death, suffering, and the consequences of sin has been humanity’s lot since Adam. Job lives on the same earth I do, in which evil exists and leaves innocent victims in its wake as it pursues power, greed, lust, and pride without regard to the pain, chaos, and death that naturally results. We also live in a fallen world in which rivers flood, hurricanes blow, volcanos explode, earthquakes rock, tornadoes spin, and tree limbs fall through your neighbor’s roof.

In the quiet this morning, I continue to feel for Job’s questions, his pain, the anger he feels in the seeming inequities of his experience. He had been living a pretty blessed existence that fit neatly into the box of his simple, contractual “Santa Clause” theology: “Do good and God blesses you. Do bad and God punishes you.” But my own life journey reveals that to be incongruent with what the Great Story actually reveals and what we experience on this earth.

In the midst of my own (relatively inconsequential) suffering along the way, I’ve had to do my own work through the stages of grief. One of the things that I discovered was that blaming of God for my suffering was actually denial of what God clearly reveals as the realities of life in a fallen, sinful world.

Sometimes you do nothing but good, and they crucify you for it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Uncategorized

Bullsh!t

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Bullsh!t (CaD Php 3) – Wayfarer


What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…
Philippians 3:8 (NIV)

I have been so blessed on this earthly journey. I try to remember this always. I marvel at it and am so grateful for it. In my conversations with God I try to continually express my gratitude because I have done nothing to deserve any of it. I have simply tried to follow where God has led, and the Good Shepherd has led this lost sheep to some pretty green pastures. I am so thankful.

As the spiritual renovation of life has progressed I have increasingly come to understand and embrace one of the basic tenets of Jesus’ teaching. God’s ways run opposite of humanity’s ways. What this world values is not what God values, while what God values is given little or no consideration in the value system of this world.

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
-Jesus

Paul makes the same argument in today’s chapter as it relates to earthly status. He gives a brief version of his CV to the Philippians. In the Hebrew world of his day, Paul was a golden child. He was born into a good tribe, educated at the finest schools, was a member of the most prestigious organizations, and held important and powerful positions. In today’s terms it would be like having law degree and M.B.A. from Harvard and working for a prestigious firm on Wall Street or in Washington D.C. And, Paul writes, it’s all bullshit.

He really writes that. When Paul writes that he considers all this earthly status and prestige “garbage” he uses the Greek word skybalon. It’s a useful Greek word for labeling all sorts of rotten and decaying things. One of the things the word specifically referred to was cow dung. That’s what Paul thinks of all his earthly prestige.

As a disciple of Jesus, I increasingly understand the truth of this. All of my earthbound blessings, achievements, status, and possessions are eternally worthless in God’s economy. Jesus said that the real treasure, the stuff of true eternal worth in God’s Kingdom, is to know Him and in knowing Him to produce and flourish in relationship with others with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself once again taking stock of my own life. Where is my treasure? What is it I truly value? What is of eternal value?

How much of what I value is just bullshit?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

How the World Works

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Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom. Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy person had to contribute fifty shekels of silver to be given to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and stayed in the land no longer.
2 Kings 15:19-20 (NIV)

When I was just out of high school, I took a manual labor job that I knew would only last four months until I went to college. I chose not to join the union, as was my right because I knew it was just four months. I was bullied, coerced, and threatened until I quit. When I complained I received a shrug of the shoulders. “This is how the world works.”

Another job I had as a young man was for a private company working in a government building. By federal law, there was no smoking anywhere in the building, yet two ladies sat at their desks every day smoking like chimneys as I passed by. When I asked about it, my boss told me that they were legacy employees protected by the local political machine that had been in power for decades. They could do whatever they wanted. They were untouchable. “This is how the world works.”

In another department within that same building was another legacy employee who refused to help me when I came in with a records request. I was a bit confused when she told me, “I’m not working today. Go to another window.” When I told my boss and co-workers what had happened I got the same familiar shrug. “This is how the world works.”

I worked for several different churches in different denominations when I was a young man. I learned very quickly that there were the official boards and consistories that were set up to govern the church, and then there were individuals (typically wealthy, prominent, legacy, and generational members) who really called the shots. By this time, I should have learned: “This is how the world works.”

Today’s chapter contains an overview of five successive kings of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Four of them were assassinated by the person who then claimed the throne. One of them, Shallum, assassinated his predecessor and sat on the throne for one month before he, himself, was assassinated in the same manner by a man named Menahem. Whoever has the guts to assassinate the king gets the throne. “This is how the world works.”

Menahem happened to be on the throne when the army of Assyria came raiding. Menahem was a big fish in a small pond compared to the ascendant Assyrian Empire. Menahem didn’t have the army to withstand a takeover, so he had one choice. He extracted money from his wealthy citizens and paid the King of Assyria. It was really no different than the mafia or a local gang extracting money from neighborhood businesses for “protection.” It was just done on a larger scale. “This is how the world works.”

In the quiet this morning I’m reminded that the more things change, the more they stay the same. With the dawn of the technological age, my generation has arguably experienced greater change than any other generation in history. And yet, what has not changed is the human condition. The culture wars being waged online are simply a reboot of tribal warfare. Throughout COVID lockdowns there were endless examples of those in power (on both sides of the political aisle) who made rules for constituents, then flagrantly violated those same rules.

“This is how the world works.”

Into this world, Jesus came to exemplify and prescribe an alternative. Before beginning His ministry Jesus was approached by the Evil One whom Jesus referred to as “The Prince of this World.” The Prince of this World offered Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” if only Jesus would bow to him. It was quite an offer. Jesus could then change the world as He wished in a top-down power grab. It would surprise no one. That’s how the world works.

Jesus declined the offer.

Instead, Jesus asked me and all of His other followers to live, think, act, speak, and relate to others “not as the world works” but as the Kingdom of God works. It’s one of the things that drew me to Jesus and continues to draw me in.

I learned how the world works.

I don’t want to live that way.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Plunder

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Plunder (CaD 1 Sam 15) – Wayfarer

“The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”
1 Samuel 15:21 (NIV)

Plundering has been an aspect of warfare for as long as people have made war on one another. In fact, throughout history, there have been people groups who made themselves rich by attacking weaker people groups and plundering all of their possessions as their own. Part of the horrors of the holocaust, less than 100 years ago, was the fact that the Nazis drove Jewish families from their own homes to death camps, and then plundered all of their possessions. American soldiers also plundered as they fought their way through Europe to Berlin. Plundering has always been a part of warfare.

In today’s chapter, it’s important to place Samuel’s directive to King Saul in this light. The Amalekites were a nomadic people who had violently opposed God and set themselves against God’s people since the days of Abraham. We read about the Amalekites warring against Abraham, Moses, and Joshua as well as in the days of the Judges. When Samuel gives Saul the instruction to destroy the Amalekites, the ancient Hebrew word refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to God. In other words: No plundering. Destroy it all.

Of course, this directive would not have been popular with the fighting men who saw plunder as the reward for putting their lives on the line. Plundering was viewed as a right and privilege of warfare. There would have been grumbling and complaining. There might even have been talking amidst the troops of desertion or rebellion. This is a test of Saul’s leadership.

He fails.

Saul compromises on carrying out the directive, allowing his men to plunder “the best” of the Amalekites’ hoard. He then “set up a monument in his own honor.” When confronted by Samuel, Saul tries to justify his actions before confessing that he feared his own men. Samuel then declares that God has rejected Saul as king.

I noticed a small detail in the text that I believe might often be overlooked. When Saul is justifying his disobedience he twice tells Samuel that they took the Amalekite plunder in order to sacrifice them to “the LORD your God.”

As Jesus said, “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

Saul distances himself from God, and God’s command. This is your God, Samuel. We did this to make sacrifices to your God.

This got me thinking this morning about my own relationship with God. I have long observed individuals who relate to God as other. Jesus, however, was quite specific about His desire to be one with His followers just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in the mysterious union of being that is beyond human comprehension. I don’t consider God to be other, I consider God to be intimately personal, connected, and one with me, and me with God, in ways I can’t even comprehend.

As I wrap up my quiet time this morning and launch into a busy new work week, I’m not leaving God behind in the quiet. As St. Patrick’s prayer so aptly communicates, God goes with me, within me, before me, beside me, above me, behind me, on my right, and on my left. This, in turn, changes the way I think about the entire week.

I’m living to surrender and serve Christ, not plunder this world.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Different Ways

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Different Ways (CaD Jud 7) – Wayfarer

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’”
Judges 7:2 (NIV)

History is filled with stories of military deceptions. In World War II, the U.S. created an entirely fictitious army group so that the Germans would think that the invasion of Europe would be focused on a different part of the French coast far east of the beaches of Normandy. They even used inflatable tanks and vehicles so that German reconnaissance planes would verify the misinformation that had been fed to spies and planted in radio communications about the “First U.S. Army Group.” The Germans were so convinced by the deception that when the invasion finally did happen at Normandy, they kept reinforcements at the false invasion point for seven weeks, allowing the Allies much needed time to resupply and bring in more reinforcements.

Today’s chapter is a classic case of military deception allowing a smaller force to rout a much larger enemy. Before the battle, God purposefully whittles down the army Gideon has gathered to fight in Midianites from 20,000 to just 300. Using the powers of illusion to stoke the Midianites’ fear, the enemy is thrown into chaos and begins to flee, believing that there is a much larger force about ready to attack.

So, on one hand, today’s chapter is just one in a number of great stories about military deception. What’s fascinating to me was the fact that it was God who was leading Gideon. It was God who told Gideon to get rid of 19,700 of his troops and attack with just 300. Today’s story is one in which it’s very easy for me to focus on the event and lose sight of the context.

At this point in the Great Story, we’re still in the toddler stage of human civilization, and God is trying to teach His people to trust Him and to follow Him. God has a motivation in reducing the fighting force. He knows human pride and hubris. A giant army defeating a similar or smaller force requires little faith, just good tactics. A force of 300 routing an enemy of thousands? Well, that requires a considerable measure of faith.

Throughout the Great Story, God reminds me again and again that the Kingdom of God does not operate like the Kingdoms of this world:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8

So [the angel] said to [Zechariah], “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.'”
Zechariah 4:6

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the ways that the kingdoms of this world operate. How ironic that government, media, social media, big tech, and the corporate world are all worked up about misinformation, disinformation, and fake news. Illusions, deceptions, and talking heads, it all begins to feel a bit chaotic to me.

So, as a Jesus follower, I shift my focus from the chaos of this world. I take captive my thoughts, opinions, fears, and anxieties. I consciously choose to direct my thoughts toward love, joy, and peace, and the things Jesus calls me to do as a disciple. I’m to make people my priority. I’m to love the person I’m with, even if that person happens to be a stranger in an elevator or a check-out guy at the gas station. I’m to look for opportunities to serve others and then do it. I’m to be kind. I’m to be generous. I’m to forgive.

God wanted Gideon to see what He could do with just 300 men. Jesus wants me to see what He can do through me if I will trust, follow, and love well.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Contrast

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The Contrast (CaD Matt 26) – Wayfarer

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas…

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper…
Matthew 26:3,6 (NIV)

This past November, I gave a message among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers in which I shared a handful of personal lessons I learned about how the world works:

  • When a local union threatened and bullied me into quitting a part time job I’d taken for a season to save for college.
  • When a local political machine allowed their employees to smoke at work even though it was against the law for everyone else.
  • When a powerful businessman and donor of the church successfully twisted the arms of church leaders to wrongfully accuse the staff and force his will on the congregation.

The world has been having a conversation about systemic racism for the past few years, and it’s an important conversation to have. However, along my earthly journey, I’ve observed and experienced that systemic power exists in many forms and affects every person in one way or another. It’s woven into the human experience. Even Jesus was a victim of it.

I couldn’t help but notice this morning, the contrast Matthew presents between the religious power brokers at the pinnacle of the religious system, and Jesus with His followers.

The religious power brokers met in the high priest’s palace, while Jesus and His followers were guests at the home of a former leper whom He’d healed.

The religious power brokers in their palace schemed how to arrest Jesus secretly and kill Him. FYI: it was illegal to arrest someone secretly at night, and they had no legal authority to execute anyone. Meanwhile, Jesus quietly arranged to celebrate the Passover feast with His disciples in a borrowed room.

As the religious leaders broker a deal with Judas to betray Jesus in the middle of the night, Jesus assertively prepares for His fate in fellowship with His closest friends and in prayer. He has, three times in this chapter, demonstrated that He knows what is coming:

“As you know, the Passover is two days away — and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” (vs. 2)

“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.” (vs. 12)

“Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” (vs. 21)

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but ponder the difference I see between Jesus and the religious system that killed Him and ponder Jesus’ words: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” What does that mean for me as I endeavor to follow Jesus every day of this earthly journey? As I ponder Jesus example in the chapter I come up with:

Live a life of surrender not of supremacy.
Invest in people, not possessions.
Live a life of giving, not of getting.
Always expect the Prince of this world to use the systemic power of this world to suppress the purposes of God’s kingdom on earth.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.