hi all. lately i have been thinking about the story of asaph. not familiar? well that’s understandable. asaph was a musician attached to the temple in ancient israel and wrote about a dozen psalms. the most significant of which, at least in my opinion, is psalm 73. it is an amazing story of how asaph wrestled through a crisis of faith and somehow came out the other end, better. isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work for we who follow jesus? i think so, but sadly, that is not always the case. in fact i’m not sure it is even the most usual outcome. experience tells me things like anger, bitterness, whining, complaint, depression, giving up are way more prevalent. so i would like us to think through what asaph has to offer. we live in a broken world. we will at some point deal with exactly what asaph experienced. probably already have. i don’t want to fail in that moment, i don’t want you to fail. i believe asaph can really help us.
as we come to psalm 73 the first thing that strikes me is asaph starts the psalm with his conclusion…surely god is good to israel. this emphasizes that fact. but asaph traveled a very dark road to get there. look at how he moves from that positive affirmation of god’s goodness to his own personal journey. he had nearly slipped, lost his foothold, why? in a word…PERSPECTIVE. he focused on the wicked…those who were not dedicated to following god as he was. what he saw was a consistent pattern. in general, they prospered. they didn’t struggle, they were healthy, they were free of the burdens asaph was weighed down with. they were the epitome of do your own thing success, and proud of it. they flaunted it, they had a following, and they didn’t give god a second thought. and that stung asaph. he began to feel following god was the biggest mistake of his life, that it lead to only pain, and that kind of thinking made his life situation even more oppressive.
have you ever been here? have you ever struggled with this kind of thought? obviously you are not the first to do so, i don’t think you will be the last. this is a crisis that sooner or later we probably will all have to face. in a broken world those who follow jesus will eventually experience the same kind of thing jesus experienced…its inevitable. those that are deceived by satan, who pursue their self centered agenda, often appear to prosper. it can drive you nut’s. it doesn’t seem right or fair. so let’s deal with it.
first, how we measure things like success, prosperity, blessing has undoubtedly been skewed by living in a broken world. we need a different yardstick. second, i think we need to reconsider where we want to experience things like success and prosperity. here and now on a temporary basis, or, in eternity, forever. i think it is possible to have both, but what i’m getting at is the eternal state, our life experience in eternity is way more important that my life experience here and now. in fact i believe this is why so many scriptures refer to our hearts (seat of human personality, the CPU of life where intellect, emotion, and will are exercised) or our minds. our minds are to be renewed, follow the model of jesus, every thought taken captive, governed by thinking on “these” things, etc. i say this b/c as asaph tells his story he tells us plainly everything changed when he went into the sanctuary of god (v 17). then he understood.
he understood how ignorant his thinking was. in that moment he realized as jesus teaches…what is a man profited if he gain the world and lose his soul? sure, externally it appears the wicked are prospering. but they have one foot in the grave and the other is on a banana peel. he recognized there are times when life is very much like a bad dream…but guess what, we eventually wake up, the dream is not endless. and this dream, well as bad as it is, will be replaced with a dream like existence for the righteous that is incomprehensible right now. this is how asaph came to the conclusion “surely god is good to israel”. in that moment of clarity he recognized god was always with him, that god would guide him through this life and then take him to live with him forever in that perfect place we call heaven. as a result, the earth didn’t have anything to offer that would be so important as to control or dictate the course of his life. i think what we learn here is: if you do not have god, the only thing you have to live for is here, now, and the stuff the world is made of. but if you have god, well you have so much more to live for that it would be silly to live a one dimensional, here and now kind of life.
will that lead to pain? you betcha. those unconcerned with god are liable to advance in their “earthly” pursuits. we may experience suffering as jesus did, as the apostles did, as the church has experienced throughout her history. in that context we might find ourselves exactly where asaph found himself…our flesh and our hearts failing us. but then we read…but god. he is the trump card, he makes the difference, but that starts with getting our eyes off the externals that surround us, going into the presence of god, having that asaph like moment of clarity where we recognize what is really important.
i find asaph’s story incredibly helpful. god is good to me. even when life isn’t working the way i would like it to, or think it should. b/c life is about more than here and now. one day god will take me to glory and all’s i can say about that is…WOW. hope to see you there, so let me encourage you to check out the sanctuary of god…enter into his presence. i don’t want to speak for you, but i constantly need him to straighten me out.
thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. blessings. vince
i am presently involved in a bible study on monday morning where we have been studying the book of judges. we are presently in the midst of the story of samson. have you ever thought about samson and his life? i recommend it, but i will warn you up front. as you do, you will probably struggle with a number of inconsistencies. now, i’m not trying to demean the bible record, or suggest it is anything less than the inspired/infallible word of god. but this story presents events that are hard to reconcile with what we often think about god and how he works. let me explain.
samson grew up in what i could only describe as a spiritually grounded home. when the angel of the lord announced his impending birth to his parents, and specifically described his future role and that he would be under a nazarite vow, they reacted with a seriousness that you would expect from a god fearing couple. i don’t think samson shared their respect for god, and perhaps the parents could be accused of enabling samson in at least one story. but as far as i can tell his parents pointed him in the right direction. on several occasions the text of the story tells us the spirit of god came upon samson. i cannot imagine the spirit of god leading samson into the reckless, undisciplined life that unfolds in this story. and if that wasn’t enough, samson was blessed with incredible strength that enabled him to do amazing exploits in his battles with the philistines. the reality i see is samson had many advantages that should have resulted in a careful walk with god.
unfortunately we see the opposite. he consistently rejected his nazarite vow, the teaching of scripture, the wishes of his parents, and good old fashioned common sense. yet god kept bailing him out. in fact some of his poor choices were explained as god “looking for an occasion” against the philistines. it is almost a living illustration of paul’s question to the romans…”should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?”…apparently, yes. or at least so it seems in the life of samson. he wants to marry a philistine when the bible and his parents condemn such things. he employs prostitutes. he murdered 30 philistines to pay off a gambling debt. you know the story, it presents some very difficult questions.
did god lead samson to sin? if not, why would he bless samson as he did? and should we not conclude we can live any old way we please as long as the end justifies the means?
think about it, i have, here is what i think. first, i see samson as an underachiever god used despite who and what he was. second, although he judged israel for 20 years, what would his judgeship have been had he been a man of character and integrity. i do not believe god led samson to sin. i do believe god in his infinite foreknowledge knew exactly what samson would do and incorporated this into his ongoing plan. this insures god’s plan plays out while at the same time samson is responsible for his actions.
as such i do not see god blessing samson in his individual circumstances as much as i see god blessing israel, using samson to begin the liberation of israel from philistine oppression. this to me is perfectly consistent with the rest of scripture. god often has used people of questionable standing to execute his plan (pharaoh, nebuchadnezzar to name 2), he has even used donkeys and adultery (as in hosea’s wife). yes, god delivered samson and gave him great victories when perhaps he deserved defeat. but this seems to me to be more about israel’s liberation than samsons well being. his life did have a sad ending, did it not?
and do i think the end justifies the means? do i think we can live any old way we please and expect god to bless? not me. as i said, i think god used samson despite who and what samson was. i think his life and leadership would have been way more beneficial had he walked with god. but we don’t have that story. yet it really seems you could draw that conclusion from samson’s life. how can we state otherwise?
let me suggest a couple thoughts. i do not see samson as a great role model. despite how god used him, my understanding of scripture is that he will have to give an account for his choices as will we all. god does keep score and our eternal status, whether with god in heaven or separated from god in hell, is effected. do you remember the parable of the talents? one servant was given 5 talents, another 2, another 1. the one with 5, produced 5 more. the one with 2, produced 2 more. the one with 1, out of fear, produced nothing. i think samson is a different wrinkle in this story. he may have been given the equivalent of 5 talents, but he only produced at perhaps a 1 or 2 talent level. as i see him, he was an underachiever.
so i think there is a lesson. do your best. do all you can. be all you can be. god deserves more from us who follow him, than underachievement. hope this makes you think. blessings. vince
hi out there. spent some time in the book of job in recent days. gonna wrap up our series on the biggest losers, by looking at his 3 friends who had a chance to come alongside job in an incredibly painful moment, and completely failed. what’s worse is, not only did they offer no comfort, they actually piled on with judgementalism making the situation even worse. even if they had been right in their evaluation, and they weren’t, they would still have been wrong. this was a time to share in job’s suffering, to bear his burden with him. it was not a time to kick him when he was down.
but that is not what i want to focus on right now. as the story begins, there are 2 moments described where satan and god have a conversation centered on job. god’s perspective is job is a great example of what man can and should be. satan’s perspective is: of course he is, but only b/c he has known only blessing in life. satan asserts should god take his hand of protection and blessing off job, job would turn around and curse god. and then it happens. twice god gives satan permission (with limits) to attack job leaving him with virtually nothing. he lost his wealth, his family, his health. the rest of the story describes how he dealt with all of this, and how it all ended up better than when it started.
here is what i want you to chew on, what i have been chewing on, why would god allow satan to do this to job?doesn’t it seem unfair of god? job was one of the good guys, satan was up to no good, why would god play along? this line of questioning is not limited to the story of job. it has been around throughout human history, b/c throughout human history we humans have experienced evil. it is not a new question, and the story of job is not unique.
satan is referred to as the accuser of the brethren. he is said to be on the prowl, looking to devour us. he is described as an enemy/a thief who has come to steal, kill, and destroy. he buffeted paul with a thorn in his flesh. he filled the heart of annanias and saphira with deceit leading to their death. according to paul he is shooting fiery arrows at us. so satan accusing and attacking job is not new.
god allowing this to occur isn’t new. he allowed satan to tempt adam and eve in the garden. when they followed satan, the entire world was plunged into sin causing way more heartache, pain, and evil to be unleashed in the world than we see in the book of job. he allowed satan to attack paul, the church, even his son jesus. so why does this story trouble us?
i think there are a couple underlying reasons. first we have a built in sense of fairness. i would suggest, that like the rest of us, this sense of fairness has been skewed by sin. i can be way more objective as to what is fair in your life than i can when it comes to my life. when i am involved my sense of fairness is blurred by selfishness. tied to this is the notion that if we are righteous, god is obligated to bless us. we should only experience trials when we misbehave. this is exactly what job’s friends thought. hey job, since you are suffering, you must have sinned somewhere along the way, better confess that sin and only then will things return to normal. but job hadn’t sinned yet, he will, eventually as the trial persists. but in the beginning he was as righteous as a man could be. that fact simply adds to our discomfort with this story and brings us back to that nagging question…why?
here is what i’m thinking. and please understand i am not claiming to have an adaquate answer here. this question exposes our inability as finite human beings to understand an infinite god. if we can’t understand things on his level, and we can’t, then we are in no position to challange, question, or judge his actions. so, having said that, here goes.
i believe the most troubling aspect of the story for me is the conversation between god and satan where god gives permission for satan to attack job. now i’m not trying to minimize scripture or question its integrity. i believe these conversations actually happened. but i also think the reason it causes me to question god is b/c this is the only time we see a story like this in scripture. what if this conversation takes place regularly, but we are not given those stories? suppose that is how satan was able to attack paul with the thorn in the flesh. or annanias and saphira? maybe that’s how he attacks us? he is called the accuser of the brethren…who does he make those accusations to? we do have an advocate (a defense attorney) with the father…jesus christ the righteous one…against who does he argue?
i guess what i’m saying is, to me this story is kind of normal. ever since mankind left the garden we have lived in a world described in scripture as lying in the hand of the evil one. a world where satan is referred to as god. a world where he has blinded and enslaved humanity. sure god is sovereign. thus satan is limited. but the idea that god goes around giving satan permission to attack me…well i’m not sure we readily understand this if we only look at job. this permission, at least in my way of thinking, is implicit in the choice made in the garden to disobey god and follow satans lead. as paul said to the romans, to whomsoever you yield yourself, their servant you become. we became satans victims when we rebelled. he runs the show in this world, with the limits that god imposes on him. but from where i sit, those limits are vast. remember, god allowed satan to kill jesus. it was an integral part of his plan. just as the story of job. just as the story of vince, or greg, or mike, or ken, or mary, or diane, or karen, etc.
what i find helpful is to look at the whole story. david said god’s goodness and mercy followed him all the days of his life. i think that is true in job as well. god was with him the whole time. redeeming, restoring, reclaiming so that after satan had attacked to his fullest, at the end of the story of job , job was better off than at the beginning.
satan is real. he is up to no good. what he offers and what he delivers never reconcile. he is the ultimate con man. if we knew his intent, we would never follow. be warned, he wants to do to you, what he did to job. only he wants you to get angry, resentful, bitter. he wants you to lash out and blame god and others. he doesn’t want you to see it is him. but it is. and he certainly doesn’t want you to see god. but within the pain you will discover, if you look for him, god is there. his grace is sufficient. you can trust him. he wants to give us fullness of life. YEAH GOD! so instead of focusing on why would god do this, i focus on what i know to be true about god in the midst of a fallen broken world. i can come to him, depend on him, and he will never fail. wow.
thanks for reading. hope this makes sense to you. love to hear your questions and or comments. peace.
