Logic Defied

On July 23, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 11: 24        Amplified

There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want.

Have you ever heard anything so counter-intuitive in your life? How can you give away and yet have more or hoard and have less? It makes no sense. Look at the NIV translation rendition of this verse: “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” I feel compelled to conclude that things work differently in the Kingdom of God than they do in the world.

We could reverse engineer this verse and get an epiphany. This is how that would look. If I want to increase more, then I would want to generously scatter abroad or as the NIV says, I would need to give freely. Now, here is where we have to make a decision. God is telling us one way to increase but all of our experience and logic tell us the exact opposite. If I need money, for example, my natural first response is not to go give money. One might work overtime, sell something or maybe not give to the church this month. That is how we have been taught by the world economic system. Look around you, though, how well is the world economic system working. Have you been listening to the news broadcasts about Greece’s troubles? Greece is not alone. We are all just a few short days away from being broke, busted. Why then are we so heavily invested in the world system? Does that really make sense? We keep investing in a broken system; we keep taking our advice from those who have run entire economies into the ground. Perhaps it is a time for a change in our thinking. Maybe it would be a good thing to take our financial advice from a guy who paves his driveway and roads with gold.

Honestly, if we want to succeed in this life, we are much better off to listen to our heavenly father than to continue to try to get a harvest from depleted fields. Our father has abundant resources staged and awaiting each and every one of us. We need to start listening to Him and applying His advice. It may not seem to make sense at first blush but how much sense does it make for us to continue to pour our money and other resources down the drain. This world system cannot produce fruit. It is broken. How long are we going to continue to try to ride a dead horse? Take a tip from the master investor. Scatter abroad, give generously. Then you will indeed have a great harvest. It’s true!

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God’s Logic

On April 16, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Joshua 6: 2                 NIV

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”

Score massive points for Joshua. Not only did He register that God had spoken these instructions but he also followed them to the letter. I am glad for Israel that I was not the leader of the nation because I would probably still be sitting there saying, “That can’t be God.”

Sometimes we need to follow the Lord in spite of logic because His instructions do not always make sense to our mortal minds but they will deliver wonders and victory when we follow Him. You know the rest of the story. The priests, on the seventh day, blew the long blast on the trumpet during the Israelites’ seventh circuit around Jericho, the people shouted when they heard the blast and, as the song says, the walls came tumbling down. The soldiers did not have to file through a few gates but rather each person just walked straight up and they took the city with ease.

What do you think distinguishes Joshua from those of us who would have questioned the logic of God’s battle plans? Can you picture Joshua arousing this great multitude of people and getting them to march around the walled city of Jericho for seven consecutive days? He must have been very sure that he had heard from God. If you knew beyond all doubt that God spoke specific directions to you wouldn’t you also find the strength and courage to follow His instructions to the “T” just like Joshua?

In all the years that Joshua followed Moses one surmises that Joshua witnessed what was necessary in order to lead the nation of Israel. He must have observed Moses fellowshipping with the Lord and learned how to separate himself from the fray of everyday life so that he could hear the Word of the Lord. I am also reminded of the advice the Lord gave Joshua when he took Moses’ position. God’s sage advice was two-fold. First, be strong and courageous and second, do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth but rather meditate on it day and night being careful to do all contained therein (Joshua 3: 8 – 9).

In conclusion, having walled cities, or any other challenge for that matter, crumble at your feet comes from precisely obeying the Lord’s instructions. We can only have faith and confidence in those oft times seemingly illogical, nonsensical directions when we know beyond doubt that we have heard the voice of the Lord. That kind of confidence and faith comes only from fellowship with the Lord and in His word but fellowship in the Word and in the presence of the Lord yields the bold courage that frees one to follow uncharted paths, it emboldens the heart to do all that the Lord has spoken and it sees obedient zeal in place of questioning critical thought. It gives an ordinary human being the fortitude to do that which seems unreasonable to the human mind and to do such in confidant assurance of the prize.

So if what God is telling you does not seem to make good sense to your logic center, rejoice. You have joined very good company for no one who has ever done anything great for the Lord has not had to face the same fears, doubt and indecision. Just get alone with your Father and let Him confirm His will to you and don’t worry if His logic doesn’t agree with the world’s. That is where the fun begins.

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