Category Archives: Humility

The Good Stuff

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Can you imagine the laughter back in the kitchen?  When Jesus turned water into wine the only people who were in on the secret were the servants.  They knew because they had taken the foot-washing pots and filled them up with water, as instructed.

When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  (John 2:9-10)
How they must have laughed.  But it is worth noting that the only people who got to experience the power of Jesus were the ones who humbly worked with Him, doing what He said to do.  The others got to taste the wine, but they missed the good stuff.

Unbridled Power

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​They had lived by that river for decades and thought they knew it.  But when the St. Vrain ripped through town, uprooting and destroying rouses, roads and utility plants, they realized they didn’t know the half of it, not really.  Because it happened in the dead of night, most could only hear it.  Sounded like the roar of an enormous frieight train, they said.  The sound of unbridled power.  Like the voice of Jesus. 

Nobody knew Jesus better than the Apostle John.  But he didn’t know the half of Jesus’ power.  And when Jesus gave him more of a glimpse, John collapsed in fear.  He recalled the experience like this:

The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.  (Revelation 1:14-15)
“The roar of many waters…”   That phrase grabs me, stops me, pulls me back to try to grasp what John was expressing.  Hmmm…  Perhaps this: If you think you know Jesus, remember that we cannot know the half of Who He really is, the half of His unbridled power.  

Blinded by What We Think We Know

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The best place to hide something of great value is in a container that looks so common and mundane that nobody would mess with it.  Because they already think they know what it is, they won’t discover what is really inside.  That principle explains why Jesus couldn’t get much understanding from His hometown folks.  They thought they already knew all about Him.  They’d seen Him as a little kid, chucking rocks into the lake.  They’d seen Him as a teenager, getting used to feet that suddenly grew too big.  It was very hard for them to get past what they thought they knew and see Who He really was.

And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.   (Mark 6:4-6a
I think we have the same problem.  We hear so much about Jesus over time, we think we have Him all figured out.  As a result, many people never get to know Him.  And really miss out.

By the Book

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Have you looked under the hood of your car lately?  Ridiculous.  Used to be you could gap your points with a paper match and set the timing by ear.  Now you need special training, special tools.  Mostly, you need the book.  A friend who is an expert diesel mechanic told me that.  He said trucks still have the same kinds of problems they used to have but to fix them right, you have to have the book.  You can’t guess and get it right.

Psalm 19 says “the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  In plain English, it means, if you follow the instructions in God’s Word, and do so with simple trust, not trying to improve on them or change them to suit what you think is best, you will wind up looking very wise. 
My mechanic friend tells me the best manual is usually the one put together by the manufacturer for its service technicians.  You can trust those.   Same thing in life.

With God on Our Side

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God is on our side.  Says who?  Says God.  And who, exactly, is referred to by the word, “our?”  You.  Me.  Everybody.  He’s on our side.  Chile, Vietnam, Belgium.  God’s plan is to bring peace throughout the world.  I’ll bet your first thought is, “Yeah, right; I’m sure that’s going to happen.”  But peace looked no more likely when God sent that promise (repeatedly) than it does today.  And He was serious.  Be honest: Wouldn’t you really rather have a world filled with peace?  Isn’t there a part of you that yearns for that?  God does, too; He’s on our side.  And He is already working to bring it about.  The reason it looks dubious from our vantage point is because God is not in a hurry.  He exists beyond the strictures of time.  His work is done thoroughly, not necessarily suddenly.

So, how do we know He is actually working on it?   One of His promises to bring world peace, given through Isaiah, specified that He would do it through the work of a “Chosen Servant.”  The Servant would be born to Israel in the line of David.  He would be rejected and eventually killed by being “pierced.”   Nevertheless, this “Servant” would then “see the light of life.”  His work on earth, which would look at first to have failed, would be accomplished in a quiet but relentless way.  And God promised:

he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:3b-4

Seven hundred years later, Jesus fulfilled those prophesies of the Servant.  As unlikely as it would seem, this impoverished, homeless guy, who lived a short and relatively obscure life in a conquered land, has had His Name and teaching gradually spread across the entire globe.  Quietly and yet relentlessly.  God says His work will continue until all nations live by it.  He got the first part right; I believe He’s right about the endgame.

So what is our part in all this?  It is to recognize that God is on our side and shut up!  Except God said it in a nicer way:

He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:9-10

People used to say, “God is on our side; fight harder!”  God says, “I’m on your side, stop fighting.”  When nations understand that, peace will come.  If you truly yearn for that, join Jesus in praying, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Ears of Peace

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A friend shouted at me because he suspected I had a different political opinion.  You too?  They say it’s going to get worse, no matter who wins the election.  But  it does not need to get worse around you. Not if you apply this simple principle, from Jesus’ little brother, Jimmy.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…”  (James 1:19)
In arguments, most people pretend to listen while mentally lining up devastating rebuttal arguments. Listening is more than no moving your mouth.  Real listening strives to understand.  People raise their voices when they don’t feel understood.  If you quietly listen without criticizing, defending yourself or doing anything except try to understand what the other guy really means, he’ll settle down in a hurry.  Especially if you sincerely ask, in your own words, “Is this what you are trying to say?” Once he knows you understand – really understand, even though you may not agree –  most of the time the shouting will stop.  He may even be willing to listen to you.  

What would happen if everyone who follows Jesus took the lead in applying that principle in our divisive circumstances?  Jesus said,

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  (Matthew 5:9)

Post Foxhole Stupidity

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“O Lord, if You get me out of this, I promise, from now on, I’ll…… ”   Ever pray one of those?  The king of Israel did and God came through in an astonishing way.  One day he was on his death bed.  Then, miraculously, his life was extended.  It was such an amazing answer to prayer, when the word got out, some high officials from Babylon came visiting, wondering,  “What’s he got that we don’t?”  This was exactly how God had intended to attract others to faith in Him, as they noticed the blessings He bestowed on His people who followed His instructions.

But King Hezekiah didn’t follow through.  When the Babylonians showed up, he didn’t take them down to the temple and explain about his prayer.  In fact he did the exact opposite:

1 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. 2 Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. (Isaiah 39:1-2)

God bailed him out, answered his foxhole prayer.  The neighbors came around and asked, “How did you get healed?”  Hezekiah’s answer amounted to bragging about how important a man he was, backing up his boasts by showing them how rich he was.  But he learned a pretty tough lesson in the process.  By failing to give credit to God, where it was due, and by bragging about all his riches, Hezekiah doomed his future.

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: 6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.   (Isaiah 39:5)

God doesn’t mind foxhole prayers; He is happy to respond.  Just don’t forget Him when the dust settles…

Check His ID

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They were short-handed that night, so my boss ask me to check IDs at the club where I was running the sound. It was in that capacity that I refused to let a man in without an ID who later turned out to be the owner of the club. He got over it, but at first he was pretty upset.Two of the saddest verses in the New Testament say this:

He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to

 that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

 (John 1:10-11)

Imagine Frank Lloyd Wright being turned away from a house that he had designed and built. I’m trying to imagine how much patience it took for Jesus to put up with being turned away by people who had no idea He had designed and built all of reality.  But it was those people who missed out.  Big time.  

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1:12)

The only thing that matters about this now is whether  you can identify Jesus and let Him in.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.  (Revelation 3:20)

A Simple Prayer

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And you thought you had problems…  Looking out his window, all Hezekiah could see were invading troops, about 200 thousand of them.  These ferocious, slobbering knuckle-draggers had been stomping through Israel, picking off one fortified town after another, until only Jerusalem was left.  The people of Jerusalem were holed up inside the walls, shaking in their sandals, as the commander of the troops outside loudly boasted about how mighty they were and how weak and untrustworthy King Hezekiah and his God were.  He told them, “Give up and come out and I’ll make sure you have wonderful farms and vineyards, or stay inside the walls and wind up eating your own feces.”  And then he sent a copy of his threats directly to the king.

Maybe you thought being a king would be a pretty cushy job, with all sorts of kingly perks. But Hezekiah was definitely having a bad day.  What to do?  How would you have handled the situation?  Here’s what he did:

“Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.  And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord.”  (Isaiah 37:14-15)

I’m struck by the simplicity and humility of that act.  He took the letter, filled with threats and insults, and he opened it up  and spread it out before God.  So often, when we are faced with problems we can’t solve, if we do pray we act as though we know what is needed.  “O Lord, here’s what I think You need to do…”  Hezekiah’s action said, “Lord, I haven’t got the slightest idea about how to get through this; I’m turning it over to You.”

I’m moved by that.  How much better, when we pray, to simply share with God the details of how we see our situation.  “Lord, they said I’d probably be laid off tomorrow and I can’t imagine how I’ll make ends meet.”  “Father, the doctors have said they have done everything they know to do…”   “Oh God, I don’t know where my son is right now and I’m scared.”  Then let Him be God.

By the way, if you read through the rest of Isaiah 37, you’ll see how that all worked out.  It was pretty cool…

Know More

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God doesn’t talk out loud to me, probably because I’m so deaf.  But when He has something to tell me, I know what it is.  After retiring from a pastorate, I asked, “What’s next, Lord?”  His answer was abrupt: “It’s time for you to get to know Jesus.”  I’d spent 22 years teaching others about Jesus, but now, God told me to get to know Him.  Humbling, that.  But recently, Randy Alcorn observed that Paul, after serving Christ for 30 years wrote in Philippians 3, he wanted to get “to know Him…” (Bible Study Magazine – September/October 2016).

There’s a big difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Him.   A demon knew all about Jesus called Him, “Jesus, the Son of the Most High God.” But he didn’t know Him (Mark 5:7).  Jesus said not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Why not?  Jesus said, “… I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.”

So, when God “took me to school”  I was  grateful.  I’ve learned there is always more to knowing Jesus.  As Paul came to that realization, he wrote:

Indeed, I count everything [all his former training and credentials] as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…    (Philippians 3:8)

And,

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  (Philippians 3:12)

For more about how, see the previous two posts, below…