Happy Saturday before Thanksgiving!
What? How is this possible?
Time flies whether you’re having fun or not!
I have to confess that I’m in a season when I’m having a lot of fun—partly because I choose to bring my own fun wherever I go.
I know, however, that circumstances can turn on a dime, so I’m taking nothing for granted.
So, when I don’t have enough fun “in my pocket” to overcome the circumstances, I’m going to need something a little more substantial than fun.
That’s when the words of today’s hymn text get real:
“When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with You above the storm; Father, You are King over the flood, I will be still and know You are God” (“Still” – Reuben Morgan, 2002).
I don’t know who said it, but I love this quote: “Sometimes He calms the storm; sometimes He calms His child.”
I will BE STILL AND KNOW You are God.
THAT is the anchor—knowing God deeply, personally, intimately.
My Scripture reading today was Ezra 7.
There’s a phrase in verse 23 that caught my attention:
“Whatever the God of heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence …”
Notice the ellipsis at the end of the quote. That means that I didn’t include the entire verse. There’s something more to the context.
But before I get there, I think there’s something worth noticing and highlighting.
The Bible that you can hold in your hand may be accurately described as a “book” because it comes into our possession as a single, printed volume bound in a variety of materials (depending on how much you want to spend).
However, the ancient documents that make up the Bible could more accurately be described as a “collection” or a “library.”
Multiple authors, multiple languages, multiple genres, multiple contexts, multiple time periods, multiple intents—all inspired (not dictated) by God.
When you put that together with the multiple translators with multiple perspectives involved in bringing forth multiple translations in multiple modern languages, we’ve got to realize that everything is not as simplistic as “the Bible says.”
Sorry if I got too much in the weeds. I really am going somewhere with this.
My point (inspired by today’s verse) is that some things the Bible says are PREscriptive and some things are DEscriptive and it’s not always easy to discern which is which.
And that’s where a whole lot of division comes from.
I absolutely affirm that whatever God has PREscribed ought to be done. Therefore, there is a principle that we can draw from this partial verse regardless of context.
But the context matters in how we make the application. Here’s the whole verse:
“Whatever the God of heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should his wrath fall on the realm of the king and of his sons?”
The context is that a pagan King is authorizing one of his subjects—a deported Israelite priest—to give spiritual oversight and direction to the rebuilding of the temple of a God he (the king) doesn’t worship exclusively, but Whose reputation he fears.
Because he’s seen just enough to know that he really doesn’t want to make this God mad at him, his motivation is self-preservation!
Is that really the way we want to function? Do we really want people who are motivated by fear and self-preservation dictating how our lives are conducted?
I’m afraid there are far too many decisions made out of a fear of consequences than out of a reverent desire to bring pleasure to a Father who has revealed His mercy, grace, and love in Jesus.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I’m most grateful that my faith is not a transactional checklist to appease God and get the life I want, but an intimate journey of discovering the life I was made for.
Happy Thanksgiving and be amazing today, my friend.
