“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord. But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!” (Psalm 14)
I’ve seen Psalm 14:1 quoted many times and in many contexts, so that’s one of the reasons I chose this psalm to cover in a blog post. Often, this verse is quoted referring to atheists or those who don’t believe in God, but is that what it really means?
The word translated as “fool” is nabal in the Hebrew, which according to Mounce’s dictionary means “foolish, lacking understanding, fool; often pertaining to insolence, pride, and disobedience to God.” The Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew lexicon gives the meaning specifically in this verse as “denying God.” This fool is one who does not acknowledge God; this can mean denying God’s entire existence, or just denying God’s importance in his or her life. Atheists would fall into this category, as would anyone who does not acknowledge God working in their lives.
The second half of verse 1 goes on to describe this fool even more: they are corrupt, do vile deeds, and are not good. This “fool” is generally a wicked person who goes against God and His ways, having no regard for the judgment that will be coming. This person is without God in their lives, not caring about God’s standards and laws to treat one another with respect and love. The psalmist is showing us, just in this one verse, the total depravity of mankind and our natural inclination to do evil rather than good.
After that dismal start to the psalm, it can only get better, right? Next, in verses 2-3, we see God’s perspective of this. God is involved in His creation and He sees what His creation is doing. God is looking for anyone who desires to seek Him rather than their own evil ways. God is looking for those who are the opposite of the fool, those who truly want to know Him and follow Him (verse 2).
But, sadly, God sees that all have turned away from Him, and again there are none who do good (verse 3). The repetition of all, no one, and not even one show us the totality of that - there is not one single person who does good and follows God.
If that sounds familiar to you from the New Testament, that’s because the apostle Paul actually quoted Psalm 14:1-3 in Romans 3:10-12 (read this for more on the context of that passage). This idea that all people are sinful is foundational to the need for a savior. If we could save ourselves, we wouldn’t need Jesus, His perfect life, or His sacrificial death on the cross for us. When we realize that every last person, even those who may appear to be “good” to us, is truly sinful and in need of a savior, then we can acknowledge and accept on faith what Jesus did for us. The psalmist would not have known Jesus by name, but he knew that all people are sinful and cannot save ourselves, and he would have had faith in the promised Savior that would come.
We see more about those who do evil in verses 4-6. Because these fools care nothing for God, they also care nothing for God’s people. The fools do not acknowledge God, and they only do evil toward God’s people, the righteous ones. But even in spite of all that evil and disrespect, God is still the refuge of His people.
This psalm concludes in verse 7 with the hope that God’s people have in salvation. Since this psalm was written hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth, they had faith in God’s promise of a Savior who would come and rescue them from these evil fools. The psalmist is looking forward to that time when God would restore His people. In a short-term context, this may refer to when the people of Israel got to go back to their land after their exile in Babylon and were able to rebuild it. But looking long-term, this refers to the salvation that everyone will receive through faith in the saving work of Jesus on the cross.
Do you feel like you’re surrounded by fools and those who do evil? While this psalm was written to the people of Israel thousands of years ago, it also rings true for us today. Society seems to keep getting more and more evil, with more and more people disregarding God and His ways and doing evil toward God’s people.
But while the negative part of this psalm still rings true today, so does the hope we have in God’s salvation! Rather than looking forward to a promised Savior, we can know with certainty that Jesus is that Savior. He came, He lived a perfect life, He died on the cross, and He was raised to life again, and when we believe that in our hearts through faith, we have the assurance of our salvation, no matter what is going on in the world around us.
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by Logan Ames
I’ve been blessed to visit a wonderful place called the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky two different times. Developed and operated by Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum offers patrons an opportunity to see evidence that supports our belief that God created the entire universe out of what was not visible (Hebrews 11:3). It also gives people a chance to pet animals that are hybrids of two species within the same family of animals, such as a “zorse” and a “zonkey," enjoy camel rides, and experience a teaching on snakes and what God’s original design was for them before the fall. Despite all of these experiences at the museum, the one that was by far the most impactful for me was called “Created Cosmos." We went into this room that would remind you of a planetarium and sat in these seats that recline far enough back that you are almost looking straight up at the ceiling dome above.
The presentation begins and they show you a satellite image of the building in which you are physically sitting in Petersburg. They begin to zoom out until you can’t see the building anymore and keep going until your view is outside of the earth, then they keep going until you can’t even see the earth anymore and can only see hundreds of stars. The narrator gives you Scriptures and information all along, like the fact that some of those stars are 600 times the size the earth. Once the picture has taken you as far away from earth as it can go, the narrator says, “And that’s just the Milky Way Galaxy." It is understood that there are many more galaxies out there. I walked out of there after the first time I was there realizing just how out of touch I was with just how big God is. My human mind simply cannot comprehend His greatness, and this world that seems so huge to us is just a tiny speck in His universe that He formed in ONE day!
The realization that we cannot comprehend God’s greatness combined with how small we are in a world that is already minute within the universe ought to impact us beyond mere head knowledge. In James 1:16-18, the writer reminds believers of the clear distinction between the simple and fleeting pleasures of the world that we chase and “good and perfect gifts” that are “from above” (v. 17). James had been talking about temptation and how we are enticed to sin by our own evil desires. He declared that the ultimate conclusion of allowing oneself to be dragged into sin is death (James 1:15). He then tells us in verse 16 that we shouldn’t be deceived in this way. When we pursue that which our corrupt hearts and minds desire, we do so because Satan has convinced us that it will ADD something to the life we already have. James says it will lead to death as he echoes the words of his older half-brother, Jesus, who declared that the thief (Satan) “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” while it is actually Jesus who brings life (John 10:10). Another apostle, Peter, said basically the same thing when he reminded believers: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). It’s absolutely critical for all believers to know that God gives truth and brings life, while Satan deceives and seeks to kill.
There are so many things in this world that we want and that we pursue even though we know they are not what God wants for us. We get trapped by them because they appear to be pleasing and seem attainable. They are all things of this world that will not accompany us into eternity, but most of us can’t get past the overwhelming temptations. This is why James tells us to focus on what we know about God and the good and perfect gifts He provides. Everything that looks good in this world that is against God is a mere smoke screen. That which is TRULY good comes only from God, who is more than the world, above the world, and infinitely greater than the world. James is telling us that our view of what is “good” should include a look at eternity. Things that seem to provide some kind of temporary good right now, like just about any temptation of the flesh, might ultimately lead to our destruction. Things that don’t have much of an appeal in this world, like patience, endurance, and faith, should ultimately reap eternal rewards.
James also reminds us that the God we serve is the “Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (v. 17). Did you ever think about what happens to the sun at nighttime? The answer is absolutely nothing! God created the sun and stars and they literally NEVER stop shining their light. The only reason we don’t see the sunlight at night is because the earth turns away from the light. That’s when darkness comes. The sun doesn’t change one bit at night. James is telling us that God is like the sun in that regard. He is a great God who generously gives out “every good and perfect gift," but we don’t see His goodness when we turn away from Him. Once we have lost sight of His goodness, anything that masquerades as good has the opportunity to ensnare us. Think about King David and all of God’s goodness that he experienced. Yet, one day he saw Bathsheba and decided he had to have her regardless of the fact that she was married to someone else. Once he committed the sin, was found out, and repented, he asked God, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51:12). David had lost sight of the joy he had because of God’s goodness, and suddenly Bathsheba seemed like the best possible thing he could have. We can view any false gift as the best if we too lose sight of God’s goodness in our lives.
James wraps this section up by reminding the early Christians that they were given the greatest gift of all - the opportunity at a rebirth “through the word of truth” (v. 18). Like David, James seemed to understand that salvation is the greatest gift and there is nothing else even close. And the really cool thing is that God chose them so that they could “be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." This is another reminder that God gave the gift of salvation generously, but it was not meant to be kept hidden from others. It was given first to the Jews who made up James’ audience, but he seemed to understand that it would eventually spread to Gentiles. For us today, we can trust that God has even more people out there that have not heard about His salvation through Jesus and it’s up to us to share it.
If you look at your life and realize you’ve been chasing after fleeting earthly pleasures and ignoring God’s perfect gift of salvation, today is the day of change for you. Don’t spend another minute looking for gifts that are contained in this world and can only destroy your chance at eternal life with God. Look to the unchanging God who offers you far more than this world ever can and trust in Him!
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Poll after poll after poll have been taken and rather consistently about 60% of the population claims to be “Christian” and followers of Christ. Yet, it only takes a superfluous look at society as a whole to see this is clearly not true. I hear people claim to be Christians and that they love and follow Christ all the time, yet when I listen to them speak I have to wonder, “Do you even know who the guy is?” Paul warned repeatedly through his letters against those who preach “another Gospel” and “another Jesus” other than the one he preached. Why is this important? There are many wolves dressing in sheep’s or shepherd’s clothing and they will proclaim things that on the outside look Christian, but when you investigate further, you realize it has nothing to do with the Gospel or any form of truth. Paul’s concern is that those he trained would believe it. Today, we certainly are seeing that concern was spot on.
Our culture here in the US has all but completely lost the identity of Jesus and who He really is. And the more I listen to other “Christians” the more I realize they are no more “Christian” than the militant atheists who hate the one true God. Now, that is not a blanket statement, because just as in Elijah’s day when God preserved 7000 from having bowed their knee to Baal, God has also preserved true followers of the true God in this by and large not Christian but pagan culture, much of which is decorated and disguised cosmetically in Christianese. With this post, I am going to start a series about who the true Jesus is as preached in the Bible, not the ones preached from the bulk of American pulpits and media centers. To start it, I am going to look at the counterfeits being presented to us. I have kept a running list of “false Jesuses” and that count so far is up to 18 false images of who Jesus is. Many of these overlap, but not a single one of what I am about to describe is the real thing. Then when I finish examining these “another Jesus” images, I will explore who He truly is.
One of the most common images of Jesus we are given by American Christianity is what Voddie Baucham calls a “Sissified Jesus.” I’ll use another term he uses for it: the Shampoo Model Jesus. The Shampoo Model Jesus is mostly what we see every time we see Jesus on film or in church pictures. He has lovely, flowing, golden hair. His skin is smooth as though he never worked a day in his life. He usually is the color of the primary audience looking at it (usually white in Europe/America, though I’ve seen/heard of him being black in Africa). Eric Ludy describe this type of “Jesus” as being “metrotheistic” in his book The Bravehearted Gospel. He is culturally relevant and full of acceptance and love, but when it comes to drawing a hard line or making a stand, he’s rather a pansy. You’d never see this Shampoo Model Jesus get into a fight with a false teacher or the Devil. This image of Jesus never would been able to take on the cross, let alone survive the Jewish trials, the Roman beatings, or the journey to the Golgotha.
Another very popular image is the Genie Jesus. This model has been made very popular by the “Prosperity Gospel” and/or “Word of Faith” movements. This model of Jesus is there to grant your dreams and wishes and if you don’t get it… well, you just didn’t have enough faith. If your child dies, you simply didn’t have enough faith that he’d live (my pastor once described how a well-meaning person actually said that to a grieving couple). There’s a major problem with this idea. While God does promise blessings for faithfulness and obedience, he also promised trials and tribulations even in being faithful and obedient. The Genie Jesus never prepares you for hardships or opposition but is there to grant you whatever wish you desire, no matter how selfish it is. Those who promote this Jesus rarely think of God’s purposes when asking for something, but whatever temporal, ‘feed-me-now’ desires the sinful self wishes to have. And it almost always, if not every time, comes in three forms: physical health, physical wealth, and “prosperity” (meaning titles, reputation, and the praise of man). Paul tells Timothy seeking these things is a temptation and to avoid them.
Related to the Genie Jesus is the Divine Butler Jesus. The Divine Butler is the type of Jesus that is always at your side, waiting for you to call on him when you are ready for him to serve you. This abuses the idea that Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and treats Jesus as a slave to your will and desires. If you don’t need Jesus around, you give him no heed, but when you need some comfort or have a desire, he comes running. The Divine Butler Jesus has the power to give you what you want, when you want, in the amount that you want, and you get to blame him when you don’t because, of course, there’s nothing wrong with you. You are his master, after all. God’s commands become advice only in which you have the power to decide what to do about it. This preys on the claim that we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings and are thus royalty, but it twists it by putting us above said King of Kings, not submissive to Him. Jesus did come to serve, but He is also the King and He does not take orders.
There is a Cool Jesus among the ranks too. He is the kind of Jesus who, like the Shampoo Model Jesus, is just cool with everyone, no matter what they believe, no matter what their status is, no matter how much sin they are living in. Those who preach this kind of Jesus are very quick to defend their sin or any false teachings, usually with an “Only God can judge me” line. When you do sin, this Jesus will turn a blind eye, wink at you, and say, “It’s all good.” He’ll let you get away with sin, but if anyone offends you, he’ll come to your rescue and bring judgment. He’s a great dude to hang out with, and if you want to do something according to your own flesh, he’ll tag along, help you out in it, and cover your back when caught. While the actual Jesus did dine and eat with tax collectors and sinners (the primary line of thinking these people use), He NEVER tolerated sin.
And finally for this post, there is the Flexible Jesus. Flexible Jesus is one who holds no absolute moral standards. When a new culture with new standards arises, he adapts to them so the culture will be willing to receive him. The “Emergent Church/Progressive Christianity” along with the “Gay Christian” movements love this Jesus. They teach that truth stretches and adapts to the cultural needs and what was a sin 30 years ago is no longer a sin today, because society now embraces it. The True Jesus does not change nor adapt to any standard. He sets the standard and makes the rules. We obey His commands and His way, or good luck defending yourself when He tells you, “I never knew you. Depart from me, worker of iniquity.”
Over the next two weeks, I’ll address more of these “other Jesus” models. Then I’ll introduce you to the real person.
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by Steve Risner
Last week we began by looking at a post from a Christian on the internet who answered a question about his thoughts on the age of the universe and the earth. Tom, the author, has some great resources and some very good points to make over much of his website. But his stance on the age of the universe and the earth and how to read Genesis are way off track in my opinion. I’ll continue my thoughts on that here.
Last week we left off where Tom said that we can observe the age of the universe. Immediately after this, he gets extremely off base by stating that we should consider the scientific method as authoritative as the Bible. As he's described it, the “scientific method” is his own thing and not the actual scientific method, which was developed by a creationist by the way. He claims we should hold its interpretation no differently than how we hold our interpretations of nature. He actually says, referring to the scientific method and the Bible, that “it would be wise to consider the conclusions of one as you would the other.”
This, to me, is a terrible thing to say for a few reasons. One reason is that the Bible is God's Holy Word and has no equal in its authority. I thought that this went without saying for Christians. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding him. Another of those reasons is that our knowledge of nature, as ever growing as it may be, is far from complete and it never will be complete. New discoveries are made all the time that force us to toss out what we “knew” for sometimes centuries, or at least our old beliefs must be refined because of new information. And when it comes to the universe, what do we actually know? We're a pale blue dot with a great deal of space between us and literally anything else. Everything is so astronomically far (see what I did there?) that we've only visited one place that isn't earth (except, of course, just orbiting) and that's the moon. Going there was a major deal and cost a great deal of money and was very risky. That's about a quarter million miles away. Depending on when you're measuring, Mars and Venus are something like 30 million miles away! The closest star to earth aside from the sun is 25,000,000,000,000 miles away! The closest galaxy to earth is over 66,000 times further than that! We know very little about this vast, incomprehensible universe we call home. We've made a lot of discoveries and a great deal of guess work has gone into it. To suggest we know much about it is laughable, especially when we compare it to what we don't know (which, of course, is not possible to know).
Then he tries to suggest that the theory of the Big Bang was arrived at via the scientific method. No. There was data (incomplete at that) collected. It was interpreted by someone who extrapolated into deep time and made up a story. That's it. He further tries to imply that science has predicted many things that were found to be true later and these things were based on the Big Bang. He gives no examples. He moves, then, to assaulting the Bible's narrative on creation and tries to suggest it's less compatible with science than the Big Bang. This is hogwash. The two are competing ideas on origins and neither is a scientifically valid theory. We can use science as we discuss either, but neither is a scientific study. They are historical. They are beliefs. One is based on the Bible, while the other is based on humanism/atheism. He's chosen the latter as his source for truth in this matter.
He goes so far as to say that Biblical creation (what he terms young earth creation) is scientifically bankrupt. That's always funny to hear people say. It's getting more scientific support all the time, and modern science was invented by creationists who believed what the Bible clearly states about creation. Furthermore, if your authority on the matter is “science” rather than God and His message to us, your faith is scientism and not Christianity. There are a great many things that cannot be known from science. What science “knows” now will likely be scoffed at in years to come all the while the Bible will stand alone as authoritative. We're just waiting for science to catch up.
It saddens me to see someone with such intellect and such a platform be duped by the enemy. Fortunately, it seems like he focuses very little on this in his ministry. But the Bible is exquisitely clear: God could have created however He wanted. He could have created over eons of time or instantly. However, He chose to do it in 6 days, and He explained what happened on each of those days very clearly. I'm at a loss to understand why people want to marry the secular humanist's origins myth with Christianity. There is no need for this, and it is an assault on the Word of God.
God could have done it any way He wanted, but He told us exactly how He did it and left very obvious clues in His Word as to when He did it. Old earth creationists take their belief in deep time and try to force it into the Scriptures, where Biblical creationists allow the Bible to reveal the truth of the creation event. There is no doubt from the Bible that God created everything in 6 days about 6000 years ago. This was followed about 1500 years later by a global catastrophe that killed all land-dwelling animals and all people except what was on the Ark. A huge number of marine creatures died as well. One hundred or so years later, God confused the languages of man at the Tower of Babel. The Table of Nations outlined in Genesis 10 gives us the origins of all people groups. It's amazing to look at the evidence for this from all around the world. All of these events are chronicled for us. If any of them are true, deep time is false, or at the very least has a harder time.
It's simple really. Rather than start with an idea that is not founded on Scripture and then cramming it into the text, we should look at the Bible and see where it leads us. I hope Tom decides to look into this further and trust God and His Word rather than man and his attempts to reject his Creator.
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“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13)
Have you ever been told that it’s not okay to question God? God is perfect and holy, after all, and we’re just sinful human beings, so who are we to question the Almighty God?
But here’s the thing: Scripture is God’s holy truth written to us, and we see David questioning God in this psalm. David isn’t showing a lack of faith by questioning God, but he’s expressing his true and deep emotions to his God in this psalm. It’s not a sin to be in despair and question what God is doing in your life; it’s a call for us to trust Him more.
When David writes, “How long will you hide your face from me?” in verse 1, he knows that God is not truly hiding from him. Throughout Scripture, we see that wording of God hiding His face indicates the people being cursed, whereas God’s face shining on them indicates blessing (such as in Numbers 6:25-26).
The repetition of the four “how long” questions of verses 1-2 show the intensity of David’s emotions in asking God what’s going on in his life. There’s even an emphatic ending on those words in the Hebrew text. Through these questions, David expresses his despair. He feels utterly alone because of the anguish in his life. We don’t know what situation was going on in David’s life when he wrote this, but it’s clear that he is deeply troubled by a number of things: his thoughts, his emotions, and those around him.
But instead of dwelling on those negative thoughts, emotions, and situations, David turns to God in prayer in verses 3-4. Just in verse 3, David gives 3 commands to God: look, answer, and give light. While we cannot control God, we can implore Him to do things on our behalf. Asking God to look on him is asking for God to bless Him, which goes along with being in despair that God had appeared to turn His face away. The “light to my eyes” that David is asking for is also an expression of asking for blessing, the opposite of being cursed as in death.
If David were to die (which may not necessarily mean physical death but simply a lack of blessing from God), then his enemies would triumph and they would not see God’s glory portrayed in that situation. If David’s enemies win, then they won’t acknowledge God as God; if God triumphs and blesses David in spite of the situation, then God will be glorified in it.
While it appears that David is praying for God to bless him purely for selfish reasons, he is also asking God to protect His honor and show His glory in this situation. While David may be in deep despair, he knows that even in our misery, God can and will be glorified.
Even though David is experiencing this deep anguish and calling out to God to save him, he still trusts in God’s love and salvation. Verses 5-6 show us how he continues to hold onto that promise from God no matter what, even in what seems like the darkest situation.
The Hebrew word translated as “unfailing love” in verse 5 is the word hesed, which really has no good meaning in English. It’s like a perfect combination of God’s perfect love, mercy, grace, and kindness, all wrapped up into one. Hebrew typically doesn’t include the pronoun with a verb, such as the “I” in “I trust,” since it’s included with the verb, but here we see the pronoun “I” present, meaning it’s emphatic. Even though David is going through all these bad things, he is emphasizing how much he is truly putting his trust in God’s hesed (love, mercy, grace, kindness) no matter what!
The “salvation” referred to in verse 5 is not necessarily meant in terms of life and death, but it refers to the well-being of God’s children. David wants to know for certain that God cares for him, will give him victory over his enemies, and will help him tame the thoughts and emotions he’s experiencing. David rejoices when God shows His Fatherly care for him in these ways. His situation may not change right away, but he still praises God for caring for him through all things. Even if things don’t seem good in life, David still praises God for His goodness.
What are you going through in your life that seems like you’re in the depths of despair? Are you able to echo David’s words in this psalm in any way? It’s okay to question God and ask Him to give us answers to what’s going on in our lives that may not make sense to us; that will deepen our relationship with Him. But like David, when your negative thoughts and emotions seem to getting the best of you and overwhelming your life, turn to God in prayer. Remember what God has done for you. Ask God to be glorified in your life and your circumstances. Most importantly, praise Him in and through all things!
Like Katie’s writings? You can purchase her book What the Bible Says About... here!
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by Logan Ames
The church where I am currently pastoring has a slogan and mission that our goal is to “help people say YES to God." It has been attached to our church since long before I was there. So, when I first came to the church in 2017, I asked the outgoing pastor what it means to help people say “yes” to their Creator. I never really got a clear answer and when others have asked me, I can’t give them much of a clear answer. Saying “yes” to God is a vague concept, somewhat intentionally so. My dad says that it always means “obedience." Others would say that saying “yes” to God means something different for everyone. I would actually agree with both those statements. God does speak to us each in unique ways and we all have unique circumstances, but He is asking for every single one of us to respond to Him in a way that shows that we desire to obey and trust Him more than we desire something else.
As I came across the next few verses in the Book of James to continue in this series, the answer of what it means to say “yes” to God has become somewhat clear. James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." The first thing we need to know is that the Greek word for “trial” in that sentence comes from the verb peirazo, which can mean “to test, try, or tempt." We have a tendency to separate all the bad things that happen TO us from the temptations that we face daily. While we see these things in completely different lights, James sees them as very similar.
There is a reason why one Greek word encompasses each of those English words and I certainly don’t believe it’s a coincidence. There is often, dare I say almost all the time, a connection between our seemingly unfair hardships and our temptation to sin. I recently counseled a man who has been struggling more with alcoholism and lust ever since his wife passed away. Someone who was born with toxic substances in their system due to their mother’s drug abuse will have a greater temptation to use drugs than the average person. In a general sense, we’re all tempted to be mad at God, to take out our frustrations on others, or even to give up on life completely when we’ve experienced some severe hardship. Ultimately, we are more tempted to play “God” in our lives if the bad circumstances just keep coming. We all reach our breaking points where our perspective goes from “God is in control and I trust Him” to “If I were God, I would never let all this bad stuff happen to one person or family."
Because we can see the clear connection between hardship and temptation, James, in a statement that is akin to his older brother speaking the Beatitudes, states that the person who can endure it will be “blessed." This does not mean that person will necessarily get to enjoy the blessing in this life. The person who endures will receive the “crown of life." When you think about it, a person doesn’t usually receive a reward for an achievement DURING the task itself. Olympians don’t receive their medals in the middle of the performance, race, or game. The ceremony is always AFTER it’s over. The question then is, when is the “trial” that we face over? And the answer is when we finally breathe that last breath. I think that’s why James is not talking about any very specific trials here. He knows that for the committed follower of Jesus Christ, the renewed life is one where there is constant hardship and temptation for which the believer receives the power of the Holy Spirit to endure. Sure, there are individual hardships that come and go and the times in between are a reprieve, but we cannot sit back and be waiting for God to just take away the difficulty because that isn’t going to happen until we are with Him for eternity.
Take Job for example. He didn’t experience ONE trial that he had to endure. First, he lost most of his wealth in the form of his livestock and the servants who tended to them (Job 1:13-17). Then, he experienced great tragedy as his children were killed when a mighty wind knocked over the house where they were feasting (Job 1:18-19). Job grieved and mourned, but he did not blame God or sin against him (Job 1:22). Job still had his health, but later even that was taken away. He was inflicted with painful sores over his entire body and a wife who lost perspective (Job 2:7-9). Job had lost everything, yet he still did not sin (Job 2:10). But his trial still wasn’t over. He spent a long time after that asking and waiting for God to give him an answer regarding why He would allow all this calamity in Job’s life. In the end, God never actually gives Job the reasoning he requests. Instead, He just reminds Job who He is and who Job is not. As Job accepts this and repents, God restores him in mighty ways (Job 42).
Each of the things Job went through were individual hardships, but the overall test for his entire life was to say YES to God even while he was tempted to give in and reject God because of all the devastation. Job 1 and 2 tell us not just about his suffering, but the fact that it is caused by Satan and allowed by God. This is important for us to understand about our temptations and trials. God does not cause them, but He does ALLOW them. Satan and God have two opposite goals for the same hardship in your life. Satan wants to use it to cause you to reject God, while God wants to use it to test and approve you and draw you closer to Himself and His strength. That is the biggest temptation/test there is. Satan causes so much pain for you but still loses if you remain committed to and trusting in God. And by the way, a similar conversation to the one Satan and God had about Job is happening regarding your life. Satan is asking God for permission to inflict you with pain on top of pain because he will go as far as he possibly can to try to take you away from God, but God gets the final say over how much pain you’ll experience. Just as one other example of what I’m saying, take a look at Luke 22:31-32, where Jesus tells Simon Peter that Satan wants to tear him to pieces but Jesus is praying for Peter that his strength won’t fail during the hardships that are coming his way.
That’s one of the amazing things that we often miss about that passage, and in general about the fact that God allows us to experience pain and suffering. God is not sitting around and celebrating our pain. God the Son, who we know as Jesus, is praying for us as we go through things. Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus is “able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." James 1:13-15 addresses the fact that many of us are quick to blame God when we are tempted or go through something difficult. Rather than recognize that He wants to use it to build us up and that Jesus is praying for us and encouraging us, we decide that God must not really care about us if He’s allowing the pain. James says that ultimately, our temptation to reject Him and say YES to something other than Him comes from the fallen nature deep within us. It does not come from God and cannot come from God because He is holy.
If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us know this is true. Sometimes, we do everything we can to invite temptation. We accept things as true even when they are not consistent with God’s Word. We allow ourselves to “dabble” in sin, which gives the devil a foothold, because we think we can stop anytime we want. But James is clear that we are allowing ourselves to be “dragged away by (our) own evil desires and enticed." And it’s an awfully slippery slope, because sinful desire leads to sin, which ultimately leads to death. The trick of Satan is that he never reveals the ultimate death that will come as a result of our sin. He convinces us that sin will enhance our lives. But it never does. As Ravi Zacharias says, “Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay." If you’ve been experiencing this in your life lately, today is the day to say NO to sin and begin saying YES to God!
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“I would have lost hope had I not believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.” ~Psalm 27:13
I serve a God who is faithful to the end and is able to resurrect the dead. While I can testify to being a living miracle who was not supposed to live to see my first birthday, today I am talking about the resurrection of a dead dream and a dead calling. In 2006, I knew as clear as day that my primary ministry was to be with youth and the next generation. In 2009, God started a chain of events which lead me to get my teaching certificate in math and physics, which I completed in 2012.
I had some job interviews right away, however nothing materialized, and I needed to start paying off my student loans. Then God gave me the opportunity to become a substitute teacher. While it did not pay enough for me to live completely on my own, it was able to pay the bills. As more interviews continued to fall short, another opportunity came up for me to become a “permanent substitute,” where I would be stationed at the same local high school every day. I no longer had to worry about finding a job for the day because I was guaranteed pay even if there were no formal assignments for me.
During this time, I was assigned to several “long term” assignments where I was effectively the teacher on record while a new teacher was being hired or was on maternity leave. My first one was with ROTC, and while having never been involved in the military or an ROTC program, the other instructors were so impressed with me in how fast I was picking things up that if I had military experience, they would have hired me on the spot. I did other classes, namely in the sciences like chemistry and biology for 3-week stints while teachers were on maternity leave and being hired. Three years ago, I was assigned to a physics class seven weeks into the year and I ended up teaching the class the rest of the year as the teacher but paid as a sub. I learned a LOT during that time period where I pretty much did everything a teacher does except the formal documentation, and that was only because I could not access the system due to being a substitute. I applied for that position I was covering seven times but it was clear I was never on the radar for discussion for the job.
I had one interview where I knew I was close. The principal at the school called me in for a pre-interview for a computer programming class. He was very impressed with my credentials, but I never got the job. I found him a few days later and asked him what was up and he said I was one of the top three but there was one who was slightly favored more. I was okay with that. I continued to have more interviews, and only that one even gave a hint that I was even being considered. In light of being constantly turned down, I got discouraged. I wrote about my struggles on this issue and my desire to be faithful to God despite the constant rejection in my posts “Getting Slighted,” “Do Not Doubt in the Dark,” and “Amen Living.” I constantly had the account of Joseph (Genesis 37-48) on my mind, reminding me to stay true to God.
It didn’t help that the main advice I was getting about getting the full-time teaching position was to finish paying off my student loans and then I could do whatever I wanted. I knew that was poor advice because getting the job just to pay off the loans and then quitting to do something else was the wrong motive. If I was to get the teaching job I needed it to be a career, but more and more it looked dead. I began thinking I would stay as a sub until loans were paid off and then go find some other ministry to be involved with. The idea of being a classroom teacher was dead and I had no interest in pursuing it any further. Even looking at job openings gave me absolutely no interest or desire to apply. And yet the entire time, I knew full well never to try to make anything happen in my own strength. I had opportunities to go to HR and ask why I had not been hired, as many educators had suggested I do at this point. But I knew I was not to do that. I would not take things into my own hands and likely as a result cut myself short of what God had in plan all along.
Then in September, my parents had a talk with me about needing to renew my search for a job because I simply could not pay my bills as I had been the previous six years. I had expenses I was not counting on or realized how much from my savings they would consume, and I was getting to a point of literally running out of money before paychecks came in. My parents’ advice was that I needed the better paying job because I needed to be able to live on my own and be able to absorb a sudden bill like a major car repair, which I could not do at that time. That was advice I could take.
That night, I was reading in my devotional from Blackaby (September 9 in the book) and it was on Luke 5:5 where Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Then in the morning, Jesus told him to drop his nets and Peter, an expert fisherman, knew there would be nothing but obeyed anyway and caught his biggest load ever. The devotional went on to say that when you have exhausted everything and still have nothing, if God tells you try one more time, would you? God immediately spoke to my heart about this teaching job and I told Him that night if He were to give me another chance, I’d apply for it.
A couple weeks later, I found a job posting for a science position with a heavy background in physics, my area of expertise, at a school I had been to as a sub but never applied to before. I applied, and nearly a month later after the application window closed, I had an interview that I knew was by far my best one. The interviewing panel really perked up when I said I had already taught physics before as a substitute. The next day, I had a second interview with the principal, the furthest I had ever gotten in any of my 20 interviews. God is able to turn the hearts of kings, so a principal and some central office personnel in HR are not a problem for Him. Two weeks later, the district central office called me due to a problem with finding my teaching certificate and I talked them through to find it and they did. The next two days, two of the teachers I had worked with and used as a reference told me they were contacted by the district. I knew what that meant. The central office would not be running through my application and verifying me unless I was the nominated candidate by the school. I was now just waiting for the final official word that I was hired.
I had a brief scare when I saw a different job posting for a physics position and I called HR to find out what was up. They had reposted the position specifically to allow for me to be formally qualified, as my current certification just includes physics and math and not all sciences (though I am currently studying and preparing to remedy that). I knew I could stop praying for this job because I had the answer. I had the job. A little time later, I got the call that I was formally recommended and that I needed to submit my transcripts, ID info, and sign a new background form. Two days later, the central office called me to let me know that my principal was being notified of my being recommended for the job and asking for when I could be released from my current school. That came through last week. My final day as a substitute was one week ago today and I signed all the final paper work.
God is so good and faithful. He directed me towards teaching and time and time again I kept getting denied. It was hard to stay faithful when the dream was dead it appeared to be clear that nothing was going to happen, but I knew God had full control of the situation. As I waited for Him to make my next step clear, I kept trucking along and doing what I knew best I could do. God delivered and I know He will bless me more in this current position in fewer years than I ever could have been had I rushed things and tried to make them happen. I am a formal full-time physics teacher and I am looking forward to being in a classroom where I can influence this next generation and be a guiding light in a world where they do not have any.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
