A few days ago, I had a conversation that shocked me a bit. I was having lunch with a friend and former colleague, and we were talking about future kinds of things. I told her that the job I had been head-hunted had fallen through but then mentioned a couple of other positions that I’m applying for, one of which is at a large a well-known conservative university of my denomination. Her somewhat negative reaction to my interest in that position surprised me. I know that she does not share my faith, but I thought she knew enough about me to understand that, while I might not agree with all that comes out of the mouths of well-known highly conservative evangelical Christians, that I am, in fact, a pretty conservative and definitely evangelical Christian. After all, she’s known me for at least 18 years; she has actually attended an event or two at my church when invited; and I’ve never hidden what I believe.

The conversation moved on, though she seemed distracted, until she suddenly asked, “Are you a creationist?”

I was caught a little off-guard by that, but responded honestly. “It depends on what you mean by that. I certainly believe that God created everything.”

“But, recently?” she asked.

Now this threw me into murky waters. I don’t pretend to know when and how God created everything. The arguments that the days of creation have to be 24 hour periods seem a little specious when there wasn’t even a sun until Genesis 1:14. I also tend to think that we are always on dangerous ground when we find ourselves saying, “God had to.” If that’s grounded in his character and firmly Bible-based, it might be okay to say. Otherwise, it’s usually foolish. On the other hand, there is the whole “evening and morning” thing. My own person speculation is that God is a great storyteller who may created the universe just as the action was getting started (with Adam and Eve) but with a backstory (all of the evidence, but not spending the time). Of course, since God is outside time, maybe he created in such a way that some of those seven days were really, really long. The two things I am certain of are that God did it and that all of the scientific evidence does agree with that reality when fully and correctly understood.

There was no long pause in the conversation. I stumbled through a probably less coherent version of the above paragraph, and concluded by explaining that I do believe that the Bible is basically word-for-word true, that I certainly believe that people like Job and Jonah and Adam and Eve were real people and that the things the Bible says happened to them really did happen.

My friend looked at me a bit oddly and commented that maybe the university we had been discussing would be a place I would fit in.

So here is my quandary. Have I been that bad at sharing who I am and what I believe? Or has she been ignoring the evidence I have presented?

I don’t know.

I suspect, really, that it is some of both. She certainly knows that I claim to be a Christian, that I take Christianity serious,  that I attend church regularly, that I’m a missionary kid, that I reference God and Christ more comfortably than most. But I don’t know that I have ever been as clear about my beliefs to her as I should be. On the other side, there is a tendency in a university setting for people to assume that no one really believes that the Bible is true in its entirety. There are a surprising number of church-goers among the faculty who actually don’t believe that at all, many who don’t believe in fundamentals like Christ died to atone for our sin. So I would not be surprised if she had ignored some of the evidence about my beliefs simply because no professor at a state university could actually believe that, could they? She has just realized that at least one of them (and I do know several) actually can.

I guess the real question is what do I take from this moving forward. There was a sense in which my light was shining all along, but was I allowing it to be hidden in part by my circumstances? Do I need to speak more clearly of my faith in these relationship with non-believers or people I suspect are only nominally Christian? I think the only answer there can be yes: I need to be more intentional about sharing what I believe when opportunities arise.

I don’t know what will come of my recent conversation, but I pray that it is God’s way of opening a door to talk of spiritual things. Please pray with me for the courage and calm to speak very clearly in a way that this friend can accept if that door opens.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect I Peter 3:15 (ESV)

Photo by David Monje on Unsplash

Many Christians like to show a picture of strength to themselves and the world. We point to verses like Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (ESV). We believe that we should be able to stand strong, and we often present a facade to the world and even our fellow church members that hides (or tries to hide) our weaknesses. Then we consider ourselves failures because we don’t live up to our pretense of strength and perfection. And when others see the weaknesses, they may be turned off by hypocrisy.

The sad thing is that we often get to this place with good intentions and a desire to follow God. So what goes wrong, and how do we avoid the traps?

As always, take my answers as one set of thoughts from my understanding the Bible. I would never pretend to have all of the anfswers for any of the topics I discuss.

I believe that one of our first mistakes may be that we tend to look at Philippians 4:13 out of context. Paul is talking about coping with circumstances. Look at the preceding verses: “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” Philippians 4:11-12 (ESV). Thus, the “all things” Paul mentions in verse 13 is doing what must be done and adhering to Christ in all of these different circumstances. We know that he hasn’t changed the subject because verse 13 continues to talk about the Philippians ministering to Paul in reduced circumstances, which is what had led him to this speech.

Am I arguing that we can’t do all things through Christ outside this context? No, but I think that we see the verse out of context and focus on the first half of it and lose sight of the second half. We were never intended to be able to do much of anything without Christ. And Christ, I believe, expects much of that strengthening to come through his body, the church. When we hide our weaknesses from our fellow Christians, we deprive ourselves of the opportunities for strength and growth that are the whole point of the church.

There’s another verse that I think we sometimes misuse to our detriment in this area. That would be I Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (ESV). Too often we think that this verse means that we should be able to stand strong in the face of any temptation. As a result, we allow ourselves to stay in tempting situations, and then we berate ourselves for giving in to the temptation.

But Paul is not saying that we should be able to stand strong in the midst of a tempting situation here. In fact, his point is the exact opposite. He says that God will provide a way of escape. If we don’t take that escape, then we open ourselves to the temptation. The context of this verse is also important. Paul is speaking very specifically to the Corinthian Christians who believe that they are strong and above those who are weaker and have issues with eating meat that had been offered to idols. Paul is warning them that they need to be careful about getting too close to idolatry. It’s one thing to buy meat in the market and not worry about where it came from. He’s say that it’s a very different thing to go and eat in a pagan temple and believe that you won’t get drawn into the idolatrous activity there. Similarly, if alcohol is a strong temptation, a bar is bad place to hang out. If you have issues with lust, maybe you should avoid being around scantily clad people of the opposite sex when possible. Resisting the devil so that he will flee from you looks more like walking away from the offered temptation than it does becoming immersed in it.

One other comment about strength and I Corinthians 10:13. Some people lose sight of the topic in this verse (temptation) and will say that God won’t send us anything we can’t handle. I don’t believe that’s true. He won’t send us anything that he can’t handle, but sometimes he does allow sorrow and pain to come beyond what we can bear. I believe it is always his intention that we turn to him and rely on him completely because only he carry us through such circumstances. However, I think it’s much easier to turn to God in those circumstances if we don’t feel betrayed because of a misunderstanding. God will provide a way of escape for every temptation, but there are other things he may allow to come to us that will overwhelm us and leave us utterly dependent on him alone.

Photo by Cyril Saulnier on Unsplash

There’s a song I love by Scott Wesley Brown named “When Answers Aren’t Enough.” It makes the point that whatever we’re going through, Jesus is always there and he’s way more than just an answer. That has been a valuable reminder in the past few weeks as I’ve watched tragedies unfold.

Some of those tragedies you’re all aware of: the shooting in Las Vegas, the truck in New York and the recent church shooting in Texas. These events leave us stunned and asking once again those questions about why God allows people to perpetrate such violence, in some cases against his own. In the midst of all of this public tragedy, my family has been dealing with its own private pain. One of my relatives has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer: one of those situations where the doctors all say there’s nothing to be done but to try to ease suffering until the end. Given that she is in her sixties, that’s enough of a source of grief, but she will leave behind two grandchildren that she’s been caring for since their mother’s death a year and a half ago. That leads even more to that temptation to ask why? After all, no human will caused this suffering.

I trust in God’s complete plan that he knows why he has allowed these things to happen and how all of them will ultimately “work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28b (ESV). However, I don’t think that “why” is what we need today. I think we sometimes miss the comfort we are offered by getting caught up in the desire for understanding.

I believe there are two things that we truly need as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death that we are all walking through in these days. The first is to know and learn to recognize that God is here and he truly cares. The psalmist says “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” Psalm 23:4b (ESV). He doesn’t say evil isn’t there: it is. But God is also there, providing guidance (the rod) and support (the staff). Many are familiar with the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept” John 11:35 (ESV). However, we forget to look at the context and recognize the point of the verse. Jesus has no personal reason to be sad here. Yes, one of his good friends, Lazarus, has died. However, Jesus knows what’s going to happen. He knows why Lazarus had to die. He weeps in shared grief with Mary and Martha and the others of the village. I don’t think we will ever fully understand why the self-sufficient God who created the universe allows himself to be moved, even grieved by our pain and suffering, but he does. And he knows when we need support rather than correction and direction or answers.

The other thing we need, equally important but definitely second in chronological terms, is perspective. I think for some situations that can be earthly perspective: the one that reminds you that you’re dealing with first-world problems. I have an email from my sister that I used to use for that one. She was living in a ger (or yurt) in a nomadic village in Mongolia, and this email describes the process of washing clothes in the winter in those circumstances. It was very effective in reminding me that many of my struggles are just not that bad.

Of course, when we face not the struggles of daily life, but rather life changing and life taking circumstances, the perspective we need is not earthly, but heavenly. In earthly terms, it really is that bad. This Monday, God used the Facebook Memories feature to remind me of that heavenly perspective. A post popped up from six years ago in which I had quoted 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (ESV).

Those verses can be hard to read and hard to believe. What we’re going through doesn’t feel light and momentary. But it is. Our lives themselves are light and momentary from the perspective of eternity. And when we can learn to see the world around us from God’s perspective, at least a little bit, when we begin to recognize the unseen glory that awaits us, then we can find the strength to walk on in the pain of this life, leaning fully on the support God provides.

So Halloween was yesterday, raising the perennial question of what a Christian response to the holiday should be. My husband and I have struggled and discussed and found our personal peace, so I thought I’d just share my own thinking in relation to the dilemma.

It seems to me that there are aspects of the All Hallows Eve traditions that a Christ follower should steer well clear of. The Bible is pretty definite on subjects like witchcraft and divination and the exist of spirits that are inimical to human beings. Exodus 22:18 makes the point about magic use rather dramatically: “You shall not permit a sorceress to live” (ESV). Deuteronomy 18:10 reiterates: “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer” (ESV). Some might say this is just the Old Testament, but note that Paul lists sorcery (witchcraft in some translations) among a list of “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19-21. The list ends with the warning that “those who do^[b] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Galatians 5:21b (ESV).

It seems to me that if God is serious about his people avoiding witchcraft and sorcery, we should take that seriously today. We should recognize the reality of the spirit world and the danger of trying to manipulate or foresee through use of that spirit world.

So where does that leave us. Halloween certainly has relationships historically (and, for some, today) with that spirit world. My personal belief is that we need to be very careful to avoid involvement with those relationships. Is it a sin to dress in a traditional witch costume? I don’t know; I personally don’t really think so, but I don’t know. I’m sure that trying to cast a spell is wrong. Is pretending to cast a spell wrong? I don’t know. I think it might have to do with what your audience may think. I am pretty certain that dressing in costumes that aren’t related to the occult and going to door to door asking for candy is not a sin. I’m also pretty certain that handing that candy out is not a sin.

But what about the accoutrements, the decorations, the gore in many cases, the deliberate frightening aspect of haunted houses and the like? I would offer that I become more and more convinced that these are things that Christians should be careful about involvement in. First, there’s the purpose of them. 2 Timothy 1:7 says that we were not given a spirit of fear. So what does it mean if we deliberately involve ourselves in activities meant to scare us or others? We’re told to set our minds on things above Colossians 3. In Philippians 4:8, we’re call to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise” (ESV).

I’ve come to think that while much of Halloween and the activities associated with it may not actually be sinful, much of it does fall into either activities that aren’t profitable for our growth as Christians or activities that can fall into Paul’s discussion in Romans 14 about activities that can cause others to stumble even if your faith is strong and they won’t harm your own walk.

This is one of those things that I believe every Christian has to work through for him or herself, but my own household is going to keep handing out candy but stay pretty clear of the other elements associated with the holiday.

As an introvert, I usually get home from work with a desire to hide from the world for a while. I’ve dealt with people all day long, and I’ve had enough. There are even times while still at work when I start to get frustrated with all of the meetings and coffees and casual conversations in the hall and people leaning in to my office to find out if I “have a minute.” (Note that a minute is always at least a quarter hour long.) After all, I have important paperwork to do. Right now, I need to finish drafting the Fall 2018 class schedule, write a description of a proposed program, review and edit the slides for an upcoming advisory board meeting, gather and report a bunch of statistics on our various programs, write up reports from about six recent classroom observations, and several other things that are not immediately coming to mind. And that excludes several email responses I owe people.

All of that is important. It’s all stuff that actually affects people, both students and faculty. And I’m going to shut my door for a portion of the day tomorrow to get some of the most urgent part of it done. But the reality is that when I start resenting the people who are getting in the way of my finishing the paperwork, I’ve lost sight of what’s important. Because God is not about the paperwork. God is about the people.

How do I know that? Well, there are a lot of clues in the Bible, but the most recent sign of it I ran across was in reading Romans 16. That’s the last chapter of the letter, and the end is a beautiful doxology, but the first 15 verses are a bit slow-going: somewhat reminiscent of various passages in the first five books of the Bible such as the genealogies.

In these verses, Paul is talking about a bunch of people. First, he tells the Romans a bit about the person carrying the letter, and then he greets a lot of different people by name. Some of those people are kind of familiar to us from other parts of the New Testament. Prisca and Aquila are the Priscilla and Aquila with whom Paul stayed in Acts. Rufus may be the same as the Rufus mentioned in Mark 15:21, a son of Simon of Cyrene who helped carry the cross. But most of these names are not familiar to us; many don’t appear anywhere else in the Bible.

So what’s the point of having all of these names listed? For that matter, what’s the point of all of those long lists of names in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy? Why should we take the time to read them? Why are they part of the inspired word of God?

While I am sure there are reasons I don’t understand yet, I would offer this one: they demonstrate to us that God cares about the people. Every one of those names represents someone who matters to God as an individual. If we can take nothing else from such passages, we can take comfort from knowing that the God who cared enough to have that person listed for posterity cares just as much about us as about the people whose names appear in the Bible.

And, I think, we should take those lists as a reminder that the people matter. Yes, it is important that I get the Fall 18 schedule drafted by the deadline and that I do a good job of it. That will impact 800 or so people next fall. But I can’t forget that it is also important that I take the time required to stop and listen to whatever individual is asking for my attention, because that person is important to God and must, therefore, matter greatly to me.

I have a very clear memory of my reaction to a church service during my second year of college that made me very unhappy and probably solidified my decision to change churches. I was already frustrated with the new college minister and his wife (more on the subject of God’s attitudes toward women another day), but the final straw was a sermon by the new pastor. He announced the passage the sermon was on and made his first point. I proceeded (in my arrogance) to jot down a pretty full outline of the sermon and then got more and more annoyed as he preached the exact sermon that I had just outlined.

In my next letter home, I complained to my parents at some length with the theme that there’s no point in wasting my time listening to a sermon when I obviously already knew everything the pastor was going to say. My very wise mother made the point that it was a good thing that the pastor was preaching the passage accurately and that being reminded of things could be good. I left that church soon after despite her advice, but I have later tried to remember that sometimes we do need repetition, whether we like it or not.

And, really, we don’t always dislike it. I, personally, love rereading favorite books. I used to read Pride and Prejudice once a year. Other favorites I would read whenever I got the chance. I remember staying up all night rereading The Lord of the Rings as a teenager because my family was spending a weekend at the house of friends who owned the trilogy when I didn’t yet.

We seem to be born with a love for repetition. Infants and toddlers will do the same thing over and over as they figure out the world. Rereading is a must for them. I remember sitting with my first son on my lap reading the same book over and over. He used to grab the book when I finished, turn it over, and say “‘gain” most emphatically. His record was 10 times in a row for the same book.

Children want and need the repetition as part of their learning process. As adults we often become less tolerant of repetition, especially of things we know, or things we think we know. Nonetheless, repetition is still something we need. As we read the Bible passage again, we often glean new insights, whether because we read more carefully, because God helped us reach an understanding that we haven’t had before, or because our experience has made something more relevant.

I’m currently in Deuteronomy for my Old Testament reading. Of course, the book is a repetition as Moses tells the Israelites who are about to enter the Promised Land about everything that has happened as he led them out of Egypt to Mount Sinai and then to Canaan and then out into wilderness for 40 years of wandering and finally back to the Jordan River.

Why? Why include this book that is largely a rehash of Exodus and Numbers?

I think there are a number of reasons, but I’m going to offer two for consideration. First, as I reread the opening chapters this time, I was struck at how much the voice and personality of Moses come through in this book in a way that they don’t in the previous books. Moses tells it like it is from his perspective. It’s kind of entertaining, and I think it’s a reminder that God made us all as unique people with personalities. He’s not interested in a bunch of robots. Walking closely with God won’t erase who we are: it will make us the best version of ourselves.

The other reason I want to offer is that Deuteronomy is a reminder that we do need to hear it again. The Israelites knew all of the stories. Most of them had been children or not yet born during the initial exodus, but they had heard the stories. However, they need this formal big reminder of all that God had done for them (and all that they had done wrong) as they prepared to take the next big step and to lose the only leader they had known during this forty years. This should serve as a reminder to us that we need to re-hear truth, that we need to re-visit the story of God’s work in our lives. We should never get tired of hearing the gospel, because it is the center of what God has done for us.

So how am I doing these days? Better. I won’t claim that I never get bored with a sermon. And I certainly don’t prefer sermons where the pastor tells you what he’s going to tell you, then he tells it, then he tells you what it is that he just told you. However, I am doing much better about having an open mind and trying to hear the truths that I didn’t get before or that I have forgotten or that I just need to be more focused on.

So there was a lot of moving going on at the end of September in my world. We helped move one of my sons and his wife from St. Louis to Baltimore. The same weekend, a family from our small group moved from here in Normal to Las Vegas (now there’s a life change). One thing I know for sure about both of those trips is that there was a lot of praying going on. The other thing I know for sure is that things didn’t go smoothly.

Our move was a do-it-yourself all the way: not even a rental truck, though there was a rental SUV involved as well as the purchase of a few good packing boxes. The kids had been living on a shoe string for years and had saved for new and better furniture after the move, so they donated what was worth donating and threw the rest away and managed to squeeze their lives and the cat into their two cars and the SUV. This, of course, took quite a bit longer than anticipated. The really interesting part came when the transmission on one of the cars started having issues while we were still in Indiana. So we end up driving the long way to the Motel 6 in Richmond, IN (which takes cats and is very clean, if a bit Spartan).

Of course, the next day is Sunday, so the closest rental place that is open is in Dayton, OH. The kids get the car and drop off the other at the Ford dealership. By the way, that dealership was great. If you ever need one in the vicinity of Richmond, they were wonderful. We get on the road around 11 am, knowing that we have to reach Baltimore that night because my son starts his job there on Monday morning. That day was less eventful, but my daughter-in-law had never driven in mountains before, and there are certainly some crazy drivers on I-70, so we were all pretty stressed but very grateful to reach the hotel safely that night.

The story continues with an “Available Now” apartment that wouldn’t be ready until at least the next Sunday. You may remember that there’s a cat and a bunch of stuff involved, and the kids now have to drive back to Richmond to get the car and drop off the rental over the weekend.

By all accounts the other move happening was even more harrowing. Sick kids, a snowstorm, a car stuck in the snow at one point. Sounded like quite the adventure that I would want to avoid.

So here’s the question: where were all those travel mercies that were being prayed about?

There are some practical answers to that question. My kids are safely in an apartment (a different apartment than originally planned). The cat survived their absence and didn’t wreck the new place and is beginning to settle in. The transmission was still under warranty, so the only extra cost was the rental car, and the kids say they’re currently under budget for the move plus furniture. And the other family is safely in their new home as well.

But still the angst and exhaustion and pain and frustration are real.

I don’t have the all of the answers, but I think there are a few. The first is the basic flaw in believing that Christians lives will or should be smooth. “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” John 16:33 (ESV). This is partly about tribulation because we are Christ followers, but it’s also just about trouble because the world is imperfect in its current broken state. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” Proverbs 27:17 (ESV). A lot of the issues we faced had to do with people being imperfect. Iron sharpens iron in a way that would be painful if the objects could feel. It is sometimes painful for us. God cares about our character, not our comfort; our holiness, not our happiness. So he’s not going to prevent things that bring pain but may bring growth with it.

However, I really appreciate all of the people praying for those travel mercies. Can you imagine if the transmission had just quit on the highway instead of allowing us to limp on to a dealer? Or if any of those scary moments that felt like near accidents had turned into real accidents? Keep praying, folks. We don’t always get to know all of the good that our prayers do, but we do know that the God we pray to is good and cares for us.

My husband and I have been struggling with making some major life decisions in recent months. We’re looking at what our next steps are and when we should take those steps. A lot of work-related things and some pretty serious personal things have been slowly coming together to raise these questions.

Early on in this process, I had a chance to visit a dear friend who is one of my favorite Bible teachers and a strong prayer warrior. As we were talking, I expressed my frustration at not knowing what was next and not having a clue what the timing should be: is it this year; is it two years from now; am I just totally wrong about what’s next? I explained that with every major decision in my life to that point, God had very clearly indicated the way to go (not always as soon as I wanted, but certainly in time to make the decision) and given me great peace about the direction I was headed.

At this point, my friend said something that almost shocked me. She told me not to expect the same experience: that God might be planning to work with me in a different way. She said that God might even have me make the decision with his specific direction. My initial reaction was not positive, but as I talked with others, prayed, and read, I came to realize that she’s right. God may provide certainty about this big decision, but he wants me to work through things based on his general guidance and principles and in close communion with him, but using my own reason and emotion.

I had tried to reduce that direction from God to a formula where I pray and he answers with the kind of answer I want. That business of reducing interaction with God to a formula is always tempting but never effective and sometimes downright dangerous.

We see a church that is growing dramatically with many baptisms, and we try copying their programs, their music style, sometimes even their sermons. But it seldom works, because the growth is coming from a deeper place in which God works differently in different communities.

We want to become better Christians, so we read books that give us advice on when to read our Bibles and pray, what passages to read, how much to fast, etc. Those things may be useful (the spiritual disciplines that underly them are essential), but the specifics won’t make a difference. Only reading with one’s mind and soul open to learn and act on what is learned will transform. Only prayer from the heart truly matters. Jesus said, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Matthew 7:22-23 (ESV).

This business of reducing God and our relationship with him to mere formulae is not a new phenomenon. In Acts 8, we see Simon the magician try to buy the disciples’ power, having already professed belief and been baptized. “But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you” Acts 8: 20-22 (ESV). We may separate ourselves from Simon because he was after his own earthly gain. But am I so different in my desire to have God tell me what to do next? That’s partly out of a desire to serve him in the next phase of life, but it’s partly for my own gain and certainly my own peace of mind. 

Our eye must stay on the relationship with God and never how to get things from the relationship. Any time we start focusing on the fruit instead of the vine, we risk losing the heart of the matter.

Christians can sometimes be a bit too concerned about asking God for direction over every detail of our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that God cares about every detail of our lives and that we should make all of our little decisions in accordance with his will. However, there are two different ways in which we sometimes over ask for direction.

One of those is asking God to clearly show us what to do in every small decision. God actually isn’t interested in robots who just follow his programming at all times. If he were, he would never have made us. However, I’m going to save this concept for another week. There is also a danger in ask for God’s direction when we already know the answer, but we just don’t like it. This is dangerous because God will eventually let us have our way.

Don’t believe me? Let me tell you a story about a prophet. I’m going to call him Joe, because I want you to think about the story without jumping to the end. So Joe is a prophet of God, but not an Israelite. A king who is concerned about the Israelites sends people to Joe and asks him to come curse the Israelites. Then God come to Joe and asks what’s going on. Joe explains. God very clearly says “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” Numbers 22:12 (ESV). So Joe tells his visitors that he can’t come. So far so good. However, the story doesn’t end there. I want you to note that God didn’t say anything situational or ambiguous. He gives a blanket statement with no wiggle room.

Well, the king was not excited about Joe’s response, so he sends another group of even more important people. Now here’s where Joe gets it wrong. He starts by telling this group that he can’t do more than God tells him to, no matter what he is offered, but then tells them to stay so that Joe can ask again. Now there is no reason for Joe to ask. He knows the answer. My guess is that he is hoping that God will give him a little wiggle room so he can get some of the riches the king is offering. After all, have you ever asked God about something you really wanted that you knew wasn’t his will, but you really wanted a loophole? I have.

Now here is where things get interesting. God tells Joe he can go, but warns him not to do anything more God allows. However, God puts an angel in Joe’s path with instructions to kill him, instructions which are not actually carried out because Joe’s donkey can see the angel. By the way, for those who haven’t figured it out, Joe’s real name is Balaam. So Balaam and the donkey and the angel have a conversation, and eventually Balaam goes on his way.

Now, I personally don’t believe God was actually intending for Balaam to die. He knew the donkey would stop; he allowed the donkey to see the angel and to explain things to Balaam. Instead I think God was teaching Balaam a lesson: a lesson he still hasn’t quite learned at this point, and a lesson that we could benefit from.

Balaam is brought to a place where he can see some of the Israelites. He has Balak (the king) offer sacrifices and goes to meet God to see what he should say. Balaam then blesses the Israelites. Then Balak takes Balaam to another of a different part of the people of Israel. Balaam has Balak over another sacrifice and he goes to talk to God again. And, once again, Balaam blesses the Israelites. (Surprise, surprise). It is at the next point of the story that I believe Balaam finally gets it. Balak takes him to a third view, and the sacrifices happen again. However, here the story changes slightly: “When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him,” Numbers 24:1-2 (ESV). And then Balaam proceeds to bless Israel the third time. I believe that this is where Balaam finally gets it. There’s no reason for him to seek direction; God made things clear from the beginning. The only reason to ask was in hope that God would change his mind or allow Balaam his own way. Now Balaam has aligned his thinking and desires with God’s.

Balaam isn’t the only person in the Bible who did this kind of thing. Even Moses, who was the greatest of Old Testament figures, argues with God quite a bit at the burning bush. If you don’t believe me, reread Exodus 3 and 4. Note that Aaron is appointed as spokesperson for Moses only because Moses insists, even after God promises “I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” Exodus 4:12b (ESV). Ever wonder what might have been different if Moses had trusted God there? I think of things like the golden calf episode where Aaron gets things completely wrong. Moses, of course, isn’t being subtle and asking for direction when he knows better: he’s just flat arguing with God. And God lets him have his way, just as he allowed Balaam to go with Balak’s messengers.

Let’s ask God for direction, but let’s be careful that we’re not trying to get our own way. The worst might happen: God might give it to us.

I have a two-year-old grandson. Like any grandson of that age, he is cute, adorable, and occasionally frustrating. Unlike many, he is large (huge) and has advanced gross motor skills. A couple of months ago, when he was right 23 months old, my daughter-in-law took him in to a clinic. When the nurse came in to the room, she immediately chewed Sara out for allowing the child to have a bottle at his age, explaining that it is not recommended for children to use bottles so long. A few minutes later, the nurse asked exactly how old the child was. Upon learning that he was 23 months, she expressed her surprise, saying that she thought he was at least two and a half and probably three.

A lot of us don’t really like the verses in the Bible about judging others. When we read Matthew 7:1-5 about judging other and  specks and logs, we want to believe that we don’t really have logs in our eyes; it’s those other Christians who misjudge. After all, judging others is kind of fun. It makes us feel good about ourselves when we point out the inadequacies of those around us. So we tend to justify our judgment by looking at other verses that encourage us discern good and evil and to avoid Christians who are are living in open, acknowledged sin.

I think there is something to be learned from the story of my grandson and the nurse. The nurse was not entirely wrong. A three-year-old probably shouldn’t be drinking a bottle in her clinic. On the other hand, she applied her knowledge of what was good and bad for a child incorrectly because her vision was incorrect, leading her to misunderstand the situation.

After telling us not to judge each other, Jesus went on to talk about specks and logs in our eyes. I think it’s significant that vision was involved, because part of his point is that we don’t see clearly. The reality is that our human eyes never see the whole picture. God sees into the heart; we do not. We may know whether or not something is a sin. We may not know whether the person doing it is even a Christ-follower, what other sins they’re working on overcoming, or many other things about their journey.

Even worse, when we judge by appearances alone, we may think something connotes sin when it simply doesn’t. That tattoo may be from a different period in someone’s life or it may be a symbol of a step on their journey with Christ. That glass of wine or bottle of beer is actually not a sin in and of itself (Biblically speaking), and it does not prove whether there is a pattern of drunkenness that would be sinful from a Biblical perspective.

There’s an old saying about judging books by their covers. It’s a far more dangerous thing to judge a human being by appearance.

Know what is good and what is evil, but don’t assume that you know what is going on in another person’s heart and life.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” Matthew 7:1-5 (ESV)