Today’s passage begins and ends with different expressions of the same message. It is not enough to hear God’s word, to believe God’s word. We must act on God’s word. In between, James gives some examples of what it means to obey God’s word. That means thinking before we speak and choosing our words to bring glory to God. We should not show favoritism to some people over others. That means welcoming strangers among us and treating them as friends. Obeying God’s word means having a merciful attitude, and being merciful, towards those who have done wrong. Remember, the person who commits adultery is just as guilty of sinning as the person who murders. So is the person who tells lies.
Ezekiel’s prophecy to the valley of dry bones reminds me of congregations which have been given up for dead (in particular one near where I grew up). We, as people, look at these congregations which have grown old and become stagnant and think that they will gradually fade away. They have become stuck in their rut and the people are unwilling to adapt to the times. However, such does not need to be the case. God may send a prophet to speak to that congregation, He may send His Spirit upon them and put flesh back on their bones and breath life into their lungs. If there is still one person in that congregation who is faithful to God, that congregation still has a future. I feel called to pray for those congregations which appear to be as good as dead. Let us remember that with God all things are possible.
We read today the story of Jesus raising Lazarus back to life. This is an example of Jesus’ power over even death. There are other lessons contained within the verses of this passage, but today I was struck by a question which is not really answered. Why did Lazarus have to die?
Martha and Mary, and probably many others, suffered intense grief at Lazarus’ death. Yes, that grief turned to joy, but for four days they mourned. Why did they have to go through that suffering? Even if Jesus could not have arrived before Lazarus died (He waited two days after hearing the news, yet by the time He got there Lazarus had been dead for four days), He could have healed Lazarus from afar. He had healed others that way. I do not have a satisfactory answer to the question I asked. I do not know why Lazarus had to die. I do not know why Martha and Mary had to go through that period of mourning. The passage tells us in part that this happened to bring glory to God, and it certainly did that. My main point is that sometimes we suffer grief and heartache for reasons we do not understand. Sometimes, like in this passage, that grief is relieved and we gain some measure of understanding. But sometimes we will never learn in this life why something happened. We do not always have the ability to understand God’s plan. Just because we do not understand why we suffer does not mean that our grief and suffering are meaningless.
Once again Saul goes hunting for David, and once again David passes on an opportunity to kill Saul. David realized that if he stayed in territory nominally controlled by Saul, sooner or later, he would have to fight Saul. Desiring to avoid this, David went to the Philistine king of Gath. From there, David raided the enemies of the Israelites who were not Philistines, but he told the king of Gath that he had raided Israelite settlements. This convinced the king of Gath that the Israelites would now hate David. So, he invited/ordered David to join him as he mustered with the other Philistine kings for battle against Saul.
When Saul observed the mustering of the Philistine army he was frightened. When he could not get an answer from God concerning what he should do, Saul sought out a woman who spoke with the dead, he did this despite having banned the practice. The woman called up the spirit of Samuel for Saul. Saul asked the spirit what he should do and was told that it did not matter what he did, God was going to hand him over the Philistines the following day. When you have turned your back on God, and God has turned His back on you, all of you choices are bad.
The wicked are fearful of everyone because they know what they would do if they were in the other person’s shoes. The righteous have no fear for the very same reason.
God’s love for everyone is powerful and enduring. I will praise Him for all the good He has done and encourage others to do the same. If you have not experienced God’s love it is because you are not looking.
James tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak, and even slower to anger. He goes on to tell us that anger does not produce the type of behavior God desires in us. Instead of getting angry we should get rid of the filth and immorality in our lives replacing them with the word of God. However, it is not enough to listen, we need to act on what we hear. This is true when we listen to other people, but even more so when we listen to the word of God.
If we listen to God’s word but do not act on what God says, the listening will do us no good. We can claim to be religious, but if we do not control the words we speak we are kidding ourselves. True religion means taking care of widows, orphans, and others who cannot care for themselves. It is not enough to tell people that you wish them well. If they are in need, we must do whatever is in our power to meet their needs. Faith that does not cause us to act righteously is worthless.
The lesson that James is trying to get through to us in this passage is that we should listen carefully to what others say they need and to what God tells us we should do. Then once we have heard what is being said to us, we should act according to God’s will.
There are so many lessons that can be learned from Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. Today, it makes me think of congregations which have become dried up and dead. I remember a man who was serving as interim pastor for a congregation which had been struggling for years. He told someone that there was nothing wrong with letting a congregation die.
He was not exactly wrong… but he was wrong.
There is nothing wrong with a congregation dying, but who are we to say that God does not still have a purpose for a congregation, even one which appears to be already dead. Perhaps if that interim pastor had spoken a prophetic message to that congregation instead of preparing to bury it, the Spirit of God would have moved in it to accomplish a great work.
I currently attend a congregation that was in much the same state as the one that interim pastor said that about, at the same time. However, God sent the congregation I now attend a man who spoke a prophetic message. A man who called on the Spirit of God to breath new life into the congregation. Both congregations were in areas which desperately needed the love of God. In both cases the congregations are still there. But the first one is small and struggling still 30 years later. The other is vibrant and growing. The difference is that in one all leadership saw was dry bones, in the other leadership saw that God’s Spirit could breathe new life. I know of at least one other church leader who was called by God into the area of that struggling congregation, but he looked elsewhere because all he could see when he looked at that congregation was dry bones. I pray to God that He never let me dismiss something as dry bones when He desires to use me to bring His Spirit to breathe new life into it.
If you make plans without seeking, and listening to, advice, those plans will likely fail. The more people you get advice from, the more likely you are to cover all of your bases when you make plans. No one person is going to see all of the ways in which a plan may go wrong, so make sure you have gotten advice from enough different people to cover all of the likely problems you may face.
I pray that everyone, from every nation, will praise the Lord. God loves us with a love which is beyond compare. If only people would come to understand and accept God it would make this world a much better place.
There are many lessons for us in the story of raising Lazarus from the dead. There is Thomas telling the other disciples that they should go and die with Jesus. There is Martha’s statement of faith and Jesus pushing her to have even more faith. There is Mary’s anger at Jesus for not being there in time and Jesus not judging her for that natural reaction. But the thing I want to look at is the reaction of the Jewish high council. They had rejected Jesus’ teaching and were unwilling to accept that He was the Messiah. They had asked Jesus for proof. They had asked Him for signs and wonders. Now, when He had raised someone from the dead, they did not say, “Finally, proof. He is indeed the Messiah.” Rather they said, “What are we going to do?” They decided that they had to arrange for Jesus to die. It was the only way they could think of to protect their position. We need to remember that there are people who will never accept Christ, no matter what proofs they are offered.
When faced with God’s signs and wonders we need to decide what we are going to do. Are we going to react like Martha (“I have always believed that you are the Messiah.”)? Or are we going to react like the Pharisees and chief priests (“If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him.”)? What am I going to do?
Despite having repented of pursuing David after David had spared his life, Saul once more had his army out trying to track down and kill David. Once more David has the opportunity to kill Saul and declines to take that opportunity. David will not kill Saul because Saul was anointed by God as king over Israel. David feels that it is up to God to bring about Saul’s death. Shortly after this, David left the lands controlled by Saul and went to live among the Philistines, beyond Saul’s reach.
The Philistines mustered for war against Saul and the Israelites. Saul was fearful and did not know what to do. My reading of these passages tells me that Saul was a great warrior and a good general. But he was unwilling to share the glory with anyone else. As a result, he had few subordinates who could command units of his army well enough to be given independent command. He could only muster an army which he could command himself. He could not raise and command an army as large as that of the Philistines, who had five or more independent commanders. Saul’s unwillingness to delegate left him in a bad way. Saul continued to compound the mistakes which he had made in not following God’s commands.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Saul once more brought his army out looking for David and his men. One night while Saul and his army were sleeping, David slipped into the camp with one of his men, Abishai. David and Abishai managed to get all the way to Saul’s side with no one waking up. Abishai offered to kill Saul for David, since the Lord had placed Saul in their power. David refused to allow Abishai to kill Saul, but he took Saul’s spear and his water jug. Once the two of them had left the camp, David called out to Abner, the commander of Saul’s army. David asked Abner why he had failed to protect the king. When Saul heard David’s voice, he apologized to David for seeking his life and invited him back (although David wisely did not take Saul up on this offer, as this was the second time Saul had felt remorse for attempting to kill David after David had spared his life). I meant to touch on a point that comes up again today. David did not kill Saul because Saul was God’s anointed king over Israel. I think this tells us something important about what our attitude should be towards government leaders. We should be respectful towards those who are in positions of government authority, since they are in that position because God put them there. I struggle with following this when I disagree with those in authority, but it is something I am working on with the Holy Spirit’s help.
When Saul withdrew from hunting David this time, David realized that he would never be safe among the Israelites as long as Saul was king and that if he stayed, eventually Saul would catch him. So David went to live among the Philistines. He took his 600 men and joined Achish, the king of Gath. He convinced Gath that he and his men should stay in one of the country towns around Gath, rather than in the city itself. Achish gave David and his men Ziklag. From this base of operation, David and his men raided the towns of enemies of Israel. When they raided a town, they killed everyone there so that no one could report that they had attacked the town. After sacking a town, David would return and report to Achish. Achish would ask him where he had raided most recently and David would reply that he had raided Judah or allies of the Israelites. Achish became convinced that David was becoming hated by the Israelites and had no choice but remain loyal to him.
After David had lived among the Philistines for a little over a year, the Philistines prepared to go to war against Saul. King Achish called David and required him to bring his men to join the attack. David replied that now Achish would see what he could do.
Jesus was on the east side of the Jordan River when He received word that Lazarus was very sick. Jesus told His disciples that Lazarus’ sickness would bring glory to God and remained where He was for two more days. When He told His disciples that He was going back to Judea, they responded that only a few days earlier the people of Judea had been trying to stone Him. Jesus said that Lazarus has fallen asleep and He was going to wake Him. When the disciples demonstrated that they did not understand, Jesus told them that Lazarus had died. At that point Thomas (which means twin in Aramaic), said to the others, “Let us go and die with Him.”
When Jesus got to Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters lived, He was told that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was close to Jerusalem and many Jews had come out from Jerusalem to comfort Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters. Martha came out to meet Jesus, but Mary stayed at home. When Martha greeted Jesus, she told Him that if He had been there, Lazarus would not have died. This does not appear to be an accusation, merely a statement of faith. Jesus replied that Lazarus would rise again. When Martha said that she knew he would rise on the last day, Jesus replied that He was the resurrection and the life and that everyone who believed in Him will live even after dying. He then asked Martha if she believed this. She replied that she did indeed believe that He was the Messiah.
Martha then returned to her home and told her that Jesus had come and was looking for her. Mary went out to see Him at once. When those who had been with Mary comforting her saw her go out so hurriedly, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’ tomb to mourn for him there. So, they accompanied her. When Mary saw Jesus she threw herself at His feet and told Him that if only He had been there, Lazarus would not have died (this was closer to being an accusation then Martha’s greeting). When Jesus saw her weeping and those with her wailing, He was deeply moved and troubled. Jesus asked where they had put Lazarus. They took Jesus to Lazarus’ tomb and when Jesus got there He wept. Some of the mourners openly expressed the thought that Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying in a manner that asked why He had not done so.
Jesus asked them to roll aside the stone in front of the tomb. Martha protested that Lazarus had been dead for four days and by now the smell would be terrible. Jesus told her that He had said that if she believed she would see the glory of God. So the people rolled the stone aside. Jesus then loudly thanked God for hearing His requests, pointing out that He was speaking for the benefit of those listening, not because it was necessary. Jesus then called out to Lazarus and commanded him to come out of the tomb. When Lazarus emerged clothed in the traditional grave clothes, Jesus ordered those around to unwrap him and set him free. I think there is a lesson here that we do not need to pray out loud when asking for miracles from God. The only reason for praying out loud when we are requesting a miracle from God is as a witness to those who are close enough to hear what we say. This suggests that there is a time for openly praying for a miracle and a time for quietly praying for a miracle. We should be careful that when we pray out loud for a miracle, we are doing so to bring glory to God, not to ourselves.
When making plans, get advice from many sources. This is the best way to make sure that your plans will succeed (as long as you actually take the best of that advice). The second proverb tells us that saying the right word at the right time brings one happiness. But that does not just happen. It requires thinking about what others have said and considering one’s words carefully, and it requires being open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
