Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13:5 ESV)
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I’ve often heard people quote this verse from Joshua 1:5, that God will never leave or forsake us. I hear it a lot when people are going through rough seasons, or just during prayer. I’m not saying that this verse is always taken out of context or misused, I think it does apply in those situations; but it’s interesting to me that I never realized the author of Hebrews quotes it in the context of being content and free from the love of money. The “I will never leave you nor forsake you” Scripture is used to show that God’s presence is more than enough for us to be content and not under the rule and love of money or possessions.
When I think about it, it makes perfect sense that the eternal God of all creation’s presence with me and within me, working in and through my life and guiding and correcting and disciplining me throughout all I do--that’s something not everyone can say they have. If I’m honest, I find that I’m not always content just to be where I am, with what I have. My nature is to always want more.
Steve Jobs announces new gadgets and I want them. And whoever directs the advertisements for Apple products makes me feel like I absolutely have to have that specific product because it makes life so much better and improves the condition of the world. Why is it hard for me to remember that even when I get my hands on something I’ve been wanting, it doesn’t fix anything, I’ll still want more and more.
So this context shows me that God’s promise to never leave or forsake his people enables me to be content with what I have and helps me be free from the love of money.
But when we look at it’s original setting (God speaking to Joshua on the east of the Jordan as Israel was preparing to cross into Canaan), God means it in a completely different sense than money and contentment.
Joshua 1:5-6
[5] No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. [6] Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
Here, Joshua is charged with a military assignment. He’s going to lead a brand new nation of wanderers of some thousands of warriors into a land filled with experienced armies, giant warriors, and fortified cities. Against these overwhelming odds, God assures Joshua that he will not leave or forsake him throughout this task.
So it’s also meant to show that against overwhelming odds, when God’s people are obedient to him and his chosen leaders, he will bring them all through the valley of the shadow of death.
But even more than that, verses 7-8 shed even more light on what God intends for us to understand why he won’t leave or forsake his people:
[7] Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. [8] This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Here God adds that there must be obedience to his word and commandments. There isn’t just going to be military success; we aren’t just going to be content and free from love of money, God’s presence with us and among us is also meant to faithfully serve him in daily obedience to his word, “for then” our way is made prosperous, and we will have success, or be free from love of money and filled with contentment. God’s presence is coupled with his word. There isn’t any way around it.
"I will never leave you nor forsake you"
THE Spirit
Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
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In speaking of Jesus, Isaiah prophesies that God's Spirit will rest upon him. The Holy Spirit is the very spirit of God. Here Isaiah describes 3 pairs of the Holy Spirit's attributes:
wisdom and understanding;
counsel and might;
knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Isaiah says even more explicitly that the Holy Spirit is THE Spirit of these things. Only the Spirit of God can give true wisdom and understanding in it's fullest measure. Only the Holy Spirit can give true counsel and empower people with the strength (or might) of the Lord. Only the Holy Spirit can give knowledge of God, and enable the proper fear of God. I think even in our fallen nature, we are able to touch on these things, but we are unable to experience them in their fullness. We can have a certain measure of wisdom and understanding, but until the Spirit comes upon you and dwells in you, the fullness of wisdom and understanding are not possible for anyone.
This does not discount the fact that the heart is wicked above all things and that we are hopelessly dead in our sin. But being made in God's image, by default, gives us a measure of divine wisdom. Atheists and haters of God have this. But they nonetheless are blinded because they reject the fullness of God's wisdom in his Spirit.
For myself, there are days that being a Christian feels so hum-drum and flat. I honestly don't always feel like I have a spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of God. But this verse reminds me that these things are always present in my life, but I choose to stand on them or not.
It also helps me reorder my priorities and it gives me a direction to focusing my life. Today I need to lean on the Holy Spirit for all wisdom, counsel, strength, and knowledge. Also, and maybe most importantly, to fear the Lord properly. In verse 3 of Isaiah 11, it says that the Messiah's joy will be in the fear of the Lord. It says he will delight in the fear of God. This is a funny phrase, isn't it? that delight will be found in the fear of something?
But I think wisdom and understanding leads to that truth. The simple fact that God exists, deserves our fear. Who doesn't fear things greater than themselves? From astronomical catastrophes to cockroaches, we fear things. Ultimately, only God is worthy of fear, but we can't give him that if we don't know him or if we aren't familiar with his riches and his depth. The Spirit of God provides this, and this is the foundation of knowledge and understanding.
When this is the foundation of all my wisdom, I can properly access counsel and knowledge and might and understanding. Since this is a prophecy about the Messiah, Jesus had these things to a perfect degree, and the Scripture then goes on to describe what the Messiah would do under the power of the Spirit, what his reign and character would be like. To really understand how the Spirit of God works with a person, I need to go to Jesus and study him; learn from him and seek his wisdom. There isn't any other way. Isaiah never prophesied that God's Spirit would rest on Hanzo and empower me to lead his kingdom; I need to seek the King first and foremost.
King of Everything
Hebrews 2:8b-9
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
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I'm having one of those, "How did I never see these verses?!?" moments.
Interpreters are mixed about verses 7-8. Is the author talking about Jesus, or about mankind in general? Personally, I think it's talking about man in general, because verse 9 sounds very clarifying as it introduces Jesus into this argument. Also, since the rest of Hebrews deals largely with Jesus' superiority to all things, especially to our earthly priesthood (and even angels), it makes sense for the author to begin with an inferior frame of reference (namely, fallen humanity).
Genesis 1:26-28 make it very clear that God created mankind to have all things created under subjection to him; this was man's responsibility from the start. Throughout the Old Testament, God still shows this was his plan. That's why he chose people to carry out his will: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. These people were to make God's plan a reality, to rule the world in righteousness and fulfill mankind's original responsibility.
Ultimately, God fulfills his original plan through Jesus, who himself is God; but it's not cosmic cheating, because God becomes fully human. So in the end, the entire world is put under the subjection of mankind, and the king of man is divinely perfect. God's plan is accomplished, and it becomes even better, since Jesus is also God himself. What grabs my attention here is how it says in verse 8 that we don't even see everything in subjection to God's kingdom. If we specifically talk about Jesus as the king of God's kingdom, we don't even see completely everything that Jesus rules over. We see the world, but we can't see all of the world. As connected as we are today, we don't really fully see the full extent of Jesus' lordship; that's why we're continuously amazed when we hear about remote places and cultures being saved.
It also means that the spiritual realm is under Jesus' rule. In Matthew 28, before the Great Commission, Jesus says that ALL authority has been given to him, IN HEAVEN and ON EARTH (v.18). There are realms and things we can't see, and Jesus is king of it all. This helps me so much because there are so many times I find myself struggling over things like finances and whether my family or friends will be saved, things I feel I have no control over because I can't see everything...and yet Jesus is lord of it all. He's king over a whole realm I can't even see; he's just the king of everything. It doesn't matter whether I can see it or not.
Even though we can't totally comprehend and understand even a fraction of God's wisdom, the point is that we CAN see the king. The author of Hebrews here in verse 9 says that we don't see everything in subjection to God, we can and should see Jesus, and he is more than enough. We don't need to see all things, we just need to see the one who has it all under control.
The Impossible Kingdom
2 Kings 15 tells how the northern kingdom of Israel had 6 kings in a span of about 30 years. One of these kings, Shallum, reigned only for one month. Israel was politically and spiritually chaotic throughout it’s separation from Judah; but especially during this time. This chaotic period ends with the total domination and scattering of the northern kingdom by the empire of Assyria.
It got me thinking about how amazing Jesus’ claims of the kingdom of God were. Jesus comes on the scene 700 years after the northern kingdom of Israel falls to Assyria, and he proclaims that the kingdom of God is at hand; and that this is “good news.” To better understand why this is such a radical statement, let’s rewind a bit.
God gives Adam and Eve the responsibility to rule the world as his perfect image bearers. They don’t get very far. In fact, things get really, really bad. Mankind is judged and the earth is flooded. God is going to start over again with Noah and his descendants. They also don’t make it happen. Rather than covering the whole earth and building many nations under the gratefulness of God’s salvation and living under his greatness, man decides to just stay in one place and build one huge city with one even huger tower and make himself great. And so out of the biggest kingdom of that time, Ur (Babylonia), God chooses one man - Abram, descended from Noah (and particularly from Noah’s son, Shem), to go inhabit a land and become the father of a new nation that God himself will dwell with and bless among all the other nations of the world. It takes a long time for this to happen. In fact, it doesn’t happen in Abram’s lifetime. Abram gets a new name, Abraham, and has a son, Isaac. Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob gets a new name, Israel. Israel has twelve sons. One of them, Joseph, is secretly sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers, who becomes second in command at an important Egyptian’s home then goes to prison but eventually becomes second in command to Pharaoh, also an important Egyptian. Pharaoh thinks Joseph is the bomb and provides for his entire family, including Israel and Joseph’s eleven brothers and their wives and children (that’s a lot of people), recognizing that Joseph was used by God to save Egypt from certain collapse, but the next Pharaoh forgets that important detail of Egyptian history. Then 400 years go by and the house of Israel becomes Egypt’s official plumbers, janitors, pyramid carpenters, statue builders, taxi drivers, and royal tomb builders; AKA, slaves.
At this point, dead Abraham is probably wondering “what about the great nation that was supposed to come from me?” It doesn’t say in the Bible that dead Abraham had these thoughts but there’s no reason to think he probably maybe might have; even though God told him that his offspring would be “afflicted servants” in a land not their own for four hundred years. Apparently, we start to see that God has a plan and seemingly knows what he’s doing (what a concept!).
Moses comes on the scene and escapes baby genocide and gets to go to Egyptian private school. His mom even gets paid by Pharaoh’s daughter to raise him (the first and only mother in history to actually get paid for the job of “full-time home-maker). He graduates with honors but then runs away to be a shepherd in a foreign land after a burst of Hebrew pride overtakes him and causes him to kill an Egyptian and build a sand castle over the body (slightly misconstrued). God uses Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt and into the wilderness where he reveals himself in awesome glory and miraculous deeds and begins teaching them how to be a kingdom that will become a light of blessing to a fallen world. Egypt is sad because bugs have eaten their crops, their cows have died, hail and fireballs have caused some property damage, the male population has drastically decreased; and there aren’t any dirty Hebrews to help them clean up the mess. The dirty Hebrews also aren’t dirty anymore because they took all the Egyptian’s upper class gold and jewelry, and their clothes and sandals are miraculously not wearing out even though they don’t have a portable laundromat. That’s pretty cool. Almost as cool as having mystery bread delivered to your tent at dawn for six days of the week, and miracle water that comes out of a rock in the desert. Despite having all these things and hearing God explain in great detail how to be the most blessed and just nation in the world, the Hebrews decide it’s not cool enough and get really grouchy and rebellious. It gets so out of hand that they give an old guy (Moses’ brother) a whole bunch of gold and he makes a baby cow out of gold. Apparently it was the most awe-inspiring baby cow ever to be fashioned out of gold that the people decide a golden baby cow is cooler than God, so they worship it and have a rave around their new God-Almighty. Did I mention that their new god of choice is a baby cow made of gold? For obvious reasons, God says that these people probably shouldn’t enter the Promised Land and be the kingdom of blessing he has been training them with divine patience to become. Now it’s up to the Hebrew kids and goonies (for an eye-opening definition of “goonies,” check out this link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091020200854AAqLCx8). Twelve of these Hebrew goonies lead a Spielberg-ian goonies mission into the land of Canaan. Giant grapes are everywhere. Score! Sadly, it logically follows that giant grapes are eaten by giant warrior-people. Ten of the goonie-spies decide now is not a good time to try and take over the land. Moses passes the baton of leadership to Joshua, one of the twelve Jew-goonies. A very modern notion, since at this time, it was still acceptable to have a leader who was a 120-year-old man. Joshua leads the people into the land and with miraculous military success, most of the land is occupied and settled.
Joshua kind of forgets to raise up a leader in his place. The people of Israel now go through a long period of turf wars and cry out to God when they need him but then forget about him after he saves them. FYI, that’s not what a kingdom that is supposed to be a blessing to the entire world is supposed to look like; although, during this turbulent period some pretty cool people kill a bunch of bad guys with a cow-poker stick, tent pegs, left-handed swords (?), and donkey face-bones. In the midst of this era, also known as Israel’s “Scorsese Mobster era”, a really nice foreign lady marries a really nice Hebrew man and have kids, grand-kids, and great-grand-kids. One of these great-grand-kids is a boy with a slingshot named David.
Israel decides to pick a king for themselves. They choose the tallest, handsomest guy in the land named Saul and realize a bit later that it may have been one of those “I just got caught up in the moment” mistakes. Case in point: Saul, being stressed out, needs music to help him relax but ends up trying to impale a boy harpist. The boy who plays harp happens to be David. To make up for playing the harp, he knocks out a professional warrior-giant with a rock and cuts of his head. All other male harp players feel good about themselves on that day. Saul loves David but also hates him pretty intensely and David spends a lot of his life on the run from a bi-polar king, living in caves with a bunch of misfits who fight good. David is so cool that he plays the harp for them and they like it. Saul dies and David becomes king. He unites all of Israel and puts an end to their mobster era and is a national hero. David is the man. But then a really hot lady decides one night that it’s a good night to take a bath on her roof. David gets a free show. He then has his own “I just got caught up in the moment” mistake. One of his sons drives him out of the city and sleeps with all his concubines but dies humiliatingly by getting his head stuck in a tree branch and becoming a human piñata . David’s son, Solomon becomes king, as well as the wisest and wealthiest man in the world. He writes hundreds of fortune-cookie strips and builds a temple so epic that God actually sends his presence to live in it. Everyone gets a chance to see that event.
The kingdom of Israel is finally rockin’ and rollin’! Or is it?
After Solomon, the kingdom splits in two and no king that follows is able to bring harmony back. This also, is not exactly the picture of a kingdom who blesses the world that God had in mind. Some kings are good, most are bad and corrupt. God sends many prophets to help the kings set everything straight again but they tend to not listen. Assyria conquers the northern kingdom. Assyria is conquered by Babylon. Babylon conquers the southern kingdom. Persia conquers Babylon. Miraculously, a young Hebrew woman becomes the queen of Persia and stops an evil plot to exterminate all the Jews. Actually, her uncle does a lot of the work.
The people are eventually allowed to return to Israel and rebuild their cities. Even so, a king is never set up again and the whole Sparta, Greek, Alexander the Great thing happens. Other nations with unmemorable names come and go and eventually the Italians run the show through the Roman Empire. Jewish politicians, religious leaders, and Scripture experts all get promotions and start enjoying upper class life in Jerusalem. And this is the scene that Jesus arrives on.
After all this time, God’s chosen people had never been able to do what God trained them for in the desert under Moses. They’d never been able to successfully become that kingdom that would be radically blessed by God and in turn, bless the world and turn the world to worship God and be united under him. The kingdom of God had not yet become a reality. And after centuries of failing in this responsibility, the son of a carpenter from Nazareth is baptized by an insect-eating guy who lives in the desert wearing a camel toga, and declares that God’s kingdom is very near.
It’s so amazing to think that God built up a nation from one man under the most unlikely circumstances, which became a kingdom, that kingdom split in two, and both were conquered; The kingdom that was supposed to come through Abraham's offspring got continuously smaller and smaller. The probability of this kingdom to be the light and blessing of the world became more dismal and hopeless with each generation yet Jesus’ church has spread throughout the world and millions, if not billions, of people strong.
It's the impossible event, that actually happened.
Booya.
After breakfast with a good friend and brother this morning, before setting aside a time to read the Bible, I was reminded to remind myself that although my physical body may be satisfied with food and drink my soul deeply hungers and thirsts for God. I need his word to truly live.
What does this mean? Certainly, it doesn’t mean that if I don’t read the Bible, my body will actually die. So I don’t “need” his word in that sense. Here’s what I think it does mean: the only way God has revealed himself to us is through a unique book that he has approved and inspired for us to know him - the Bible. If this is the primary means God has allowed us to know him, then it is the only way for us to truly know who he is. If my goal is to know God, then I need to be in his word daily.
It would be absurd for me to claim that someone is my best friend if I’ve only known him for 2 years and the only contact we have with each other is through 1 or 2 text messages a month. If I want to claim someone is my best friend, it needs to be proven; I need to have deep, rich history with this person and we should be talking consistently, knowing what is happening in each others lives. I should be able to describe this person in good detail to others who don’t know them. And so if my goal is to know God, then I absolutely need to be in his word, because that is where I get to know him; that’s where relationship develops and deepens.
If I think I can have a vibrant, true relationship with God, I am fooling myself by thinking it can be done any other way. There are supplements to this relationship: prayer, service, good works, fellowship, worship, etc; but his word on a daily basis is a need for me. My soul depends on this nourishment.
This is also true because those God saves, he gives them new hearts and new desires. If the core of my heart has been changed and replaced, it functions in a new way. If a born-again heart is from God, then God himself is the source of all the joy and pleasure and nourishment for this new heart. Without “the bread from heaven,” Jesus Christ himself (John 6:32-33; 51), my new heart from God depends on him as it’s only source of nourishment, and this can only be found by being with him personally - which comes prominently and primarily through his word. His word is the main vehicle; like a car. Everything else, prayer, fellowship, worship, etc; these things are accessories like wheels, steering wheels, windshields, windows, etc.
To deny this, I think, is pride. It is not humble to say that we can know God apart from what he has personally approved and inspired about himself. It’s prideful to say that all we need to know God is prayer, or conscience, or love, or intuition, or goodness, or peace. This is the central barrier between God and man, his sin and his pride. And in the end, pride will be done away with.
These verses stands out to me today as I read the opening chapters of Isaiah:
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
For the LORD of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
(Isaiah 2:11-12 ESV)
Humility is required to know God, because pride is a barrier, it cannot mix with knowledge of God. And the Lord has promised that there is a day when all that is prideful will be judged and shamed; including people whose hearts toward God are pridefully against him.
I read another portion of Scripture where the apostle Paul writes a letter to Titus. In it, he encourages Titus to be humble, but also to be a good leader who teaches and rebukes and has authority. But this section of Scripture encourages Titus to teach his congregation humility, and the reason he gives for this behavior is because we all once were prideful and disobedient to God, slaves to passion and pleasure, envious, and hateful. It’s a reminder that we have newly mended hearts, not new merit badges.
It’s possible for regenerated people, God’s people, Christians and the Church to depart and swerve from humility and thankfulness and back into pride. But this must be corrected because it’s a sign that we have lost sight of God’s glory and have regained some old eyesight where our own selves are bigger than God.
I’ll end this journal with a good chunk of Scripture. Sometimes it’s very good and healthy and necessary to read the Bible without chapters and verses and headings.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
(a chunk of Scripture from Paul’s letter to Titus)
