Rowing Without Paddles

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1 [NASB])

In Genesis 15 and Psalm 91, both writers speak about the terror of night. What does this mean? For David, the man God appointed to lead His people, Israel, and a commander of an army, the terrors of night might have meant an army sneaking up and taking him and his army by surprise during the night. It could have meant the depression of the minds of his men as they awaited the battles of the next day. Or, in looking back on his life as King, it could have been the time David awaited his and Bathsheba’s son’s death. He feared it and understood the punishment was because of his sin with Bathsheba. David’s sin caused the death of the child. For Abram, the terrors of the dark night could have been the kings he and his allies defeated to get his nephew, Lot, out of captivity. The terrors that day showed his fear of not having an heir.

Terrors and fears begin in the hearts and minds of people. Satan puts the terrors and fears in our hearts and minds to distract us from the One who casts out darkness and brings light and truth to a situation and to life. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians that Satan “blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” In 2 Corinthians 11:14, he said, Satan must disguise himself as an angel of light to trick people, to “blind” them. Satan is not from the light of God; he is darkness and brings darkness.

This state of mind need not happen; people can avoid being tricked. How?  John said in 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.” We can choose to follow God and have His power to defeat Satan and the darkness in which he tries to envelope us. God is more powerful than Satan and that is why Satan must resort to trickery. He knows the goodness and love of God will win people’s hearts and minds. John said in John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The darkness could not break through the light, but God’s light casts out darkness. Darkness cannot exist where light is.

What does this mean for us? How do we defeat the terrors of night and live the life for which God gave us the vision? With hope. With belief in God. Abram’s biggest fear as of Genesis 15 was that he would die with no heir. That was his darkness, the “terror of his night.” As Abram rested that night, God told him He would give him an heir and descendants too great to count, just like the stars in the heavens. Abram was in God’s presence. God’s Spirit came in the form of a smoking oven and flaming torch to seal His covenantal promise to Abram (Genesis 15:17). Abram dwelled in God’s presence and slept with His peace.

David defeated the terrors of the night and the arrows that flew by day by being in God’s presence, too. He said in Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” David had learned from experience that God was his refuge and fortress. He had learned to live in the presence, in the shadow, of Almighty God. David was like any other person born; he sinned. Still, David recognized God as His Lord and repented when he sinned. He trusted God over all things.

David knew from Whom to seek shelter, comfort, provision, guidance, and protection. He recognized Who was almighty. David had learned to dwell in the shelter of the Most High. He had learned to live in the shadow of God. David didn’t worship God on the sabbath then live the rest of the week solely in his own strength and with his own wisdom and reasoning. He had learned how to live while being with God. Abraham lived while being with God, too. These men recognized God as being sovereign over the world and over their lives. What terrors could defeat them? None, not with God as their strength, hope, refuge, and fortress.

What terrors haunt you? What causes you fear for your future or for now? If you are a Christian, you know Jesus as your Savior, the One who redeemed you from Satan and the power of sin and death. You already have the victory because Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” When you are a Christian, you already have victory from the terrors of darkness and the arrows that fly by day. Remember that. Believe God will protect you and don’t allow the darkness of Satan to creep into your mind. If you aren’t a Christian, you can have this peace and hope. You can have redemption from sin and death and take refuge in God when Satan tries to force darkness upon you. Believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior who died for your sins, so you can have eternal life with Him in heaven. Give your terrors from the darkness to God and let Him be your light and refuge.

As we each live our lives and live the vision and calling God gives, we must live in His presence, under His wings. Don’t leave to do His work, instead do the work He calls you to do while you are with Him. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

You can’t row a boat without paddles. You can’t live life as God’s child without God.

God’s calling doesn’t mean we leave His presence to work.

It means working WITH Him.

Lord, I’m a mess. I say I am Your child, but then I later find I am not with You. I have walked off living my life by my own reasonings. In my busy-ness, I forgot to stay with You and live life with You as my guide, refuge, and strength. I trusted You with my life, but then I took it back. Lord, help me remember to live in Your presence, to live life as You lead and provide. You know all things and are all-powerful. I know only the small part of my life that is in front of me now. I cannot see the past or future and so I really don’t know how to live as You want me to live. Lord, forgive me for walking in my own way. Forgive me for taking control of my life. Forgive me for making my heart, mind, and body my gods instead of You. You are merciful and kind. You are faithful and continue to love me. Lord, I give my life to You. Please guide me with each breath I breathe and each beat of my heart. Amen.

Prejudice & Sight

Nathanael said to him, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 [NASB])

Consider a child who walks to school. The parents of that child tell him which route to take. Most times that route prescribed by the parents is for the safety of the child. The route instructed by the parents tells the child which streets to walk past and which to walk through as he goes. Often, the path the parents dictate makes the him walk longer. What causes parents or society to tell a child he can walk down one street but not another? The parents want the child to avoid these streets because he could be unsafe. Consider now, the reasons the parents want their child to bypass certain streets are not because of physical safety, but because of prejudice. Possibly one set of streets has people of another race or religion living or working on it. Why would anyone want to raise prejudiced children? Let’s examine what we learn from Jesus’ discernment of the heart of Nathanael.

In John 1, John testified he was not the Christ. (vs. 20) As He continued to speak to the priests and Levites from Jerusalem, he identified himself as the “voice crying in the wilderness” of which Isaiah prophesied. John believed in the Christ and proclaimed Him. He identified Him as greater than himself, and at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, he proclaimed Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (vs. 29) John’s heart was true to the Messiah before he met Him.

What makes a person able to believe and testify to Jesus being the Christ, the Messiah? What makes that person unprejudiced against Jesus? What keeps people from believing? John believed without seeing Jesus that the Messiah had arrived. Then when he saw Jesus, he proclaimed this Man is the one of whom he preached. He said, “This is the Son of God.” (vs. 34) Jesus, after His baptism, walked around the Sea of Galilee calling men to follow Him. First, two of John’s disciples followed Him, one of whom was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Next, Jesus found Philip and told him, “Follow Me.” (vs. 43) Philip found Nathanael and told him he had found the One about whom Moses and the Prophets wrote. He identified this One as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (vs. 45)

Nathanael’s reaction is often the reaction of people who express prejudice. In verse forty-six, he said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael had not seen or met Jesus yet and already held Him in contempt because of where His parents raised Him. He did not want to believe a man from Nazareth could be the Messiah and so already had bias against Jesus. Why did Nathanael hold Nazareth in contempt? What was the basis for his prejudice? Is there ever any right reason to be prejudiced?

Nazareth was in the lower region of Galilee on the southwest side of the Sea of Galilee. It was not on a major trade route and had few inhabitants. Bible scholars consider it may have had 500 people living in it during the first century. Nazareth was not a sophisticated or glamourous place. It wasn’t from where the Jews expected the Messiah to come. In answer to the questions posited, Nathanael held Nazareth in contempt because of its size and location. It wasn’t near Jerusalem or in Judah. He based his prejudice on place and what he’d learned from people in his own social sphere. Nathanael did not have a just reason for prejudice against Jesus. He had never met Him. No person can give a good reason for prejudice. God did not make one people with a particular skin color who lived in a preferred place and tell them to rule over the others. He did not make one race, nation, tribe, or tongue and call them very, very good, while all the others He called very good. God created man and woman in His image and declared them very good, then told them to have dominion over the animals and plants, not over other people.

Consider Nathanael’s response to Jesus when he meets Him. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to meet Him, He said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (vs 47) Before Nathanael met Jesus, Jesus knew his heart. Jesus showed lack of prejudice against Nathanael and told him the truth of his heart. Nathanael had no deceit, in Greek, dolos. This means Nathanael did not try to trap Jesus or others with his own ideas but sought the truth for himself. He did not stand back and spout contempt but went to meet Jesus for himself. Jesus confronted Nathanael with the truth of his heart, that he wanted to know the truth about Him. He answered Nathanael’s question about how He knew him in verse forty-eight. Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” He said, “I saw you.” He discerned clearly who Nathanael truly was in his heart and spirit. Nathanael’s response to Jesus’ understanding of himself caused him to proclaim his newly understood certainty of who Jesus is. With the blinds of societal prejudice removed from his mind’s eyes, he declared, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” (vs 49)

What made Nathanael able to trust Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God? Jesus’ revealed truth. What caused him not to view Jesus with prejudice? Jesus’ revealed truth. What keeps people from believing in Jesus? Prejudice, lack of truth. Jesus disclosed the true heart of Nathanael, the heart God created. The heart God created for each person is to love Him above everything else we hold dear and to love other people just as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40) Nathanael’s society caused him to learn prejudice against other people, particularly the people of Nazareth. Such prejudice is not part of God’s original creation but comes from sin. When Jesus disclosed the truth of Nathanael’s heart as He discerned it, the blinds that shuttered truth and love from his heart, mind, and spirit, fell away. This revelation allowed Nathanael to recognize the truth of Jesus, that He is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus’ gift to Nathanael was sight, truth, and salvation. That’s His gift to every person. Jesus wants each person to receive true sight so he or she can recognize the prejudice-sin-into which Satan tricks them into believing. He wants us to know the truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Consider again the parents giving instructions to their child about which way to walk to and from school. Ponder what could happen if a parent allowed a child to walk another way home so he or she walked through neighborhoods unlike his or her own and in which his or her physical safety was not a concern. That child would learn about people different from them socially and culturally. He or she would recognize the sameness of each person as God created them. That child would learn every person wants to be loved, to have a home, to live with family, and to have food, clothes, and drink. Each person wants to feel safe and truly to be heard and seen. If that child could walk the streets of people from different cultures and histories, he or she would learn to love more, understand better, see clearly, and care globally about all people, nations, tribes, and tongues. He or she would learn how to love as God wants him or her to love, without prejudice. Your child and you could hear and meet a man from Nazareth who came to be the Way and give each person salvation.

What roads do you avoid?

What paths in your heart have you closed?

What are you allowing to keep you from knowing Jesus, the Truth, the Light, and the Way?

Jesus sees and knows each of us before we even meet Him. He is ready to tell us the truth and remake us into His own image through God’s grace-offered salvation.

Will you declare Jesus the Son of God just as Nathanael did?

Will you choose sight and salvation,

or prejudice and perdition?

Lord, You’ve done it again; You’ve shown me truth and I don’t want to face what I am and have done. Yes, Lord, I have been prejudiced against people. I have chosen to side against them rather than stand for them. It’s easier that way. But Lord, now I am in the corner facing my sins regarding this. I recognize I am a sinner and truly sorry for the way I have thought about and interacted with and against people. Lord, You’ve shown me truth and I can hardly bare it. Yet, You tell me You will forgive me this. Lord, I am unworthy of Your forgiveness. I deserve punishment, yet You offer me grace; You offer me salvation from these, my sins. Lord, thank you. Thank you for loving me so much that You kept calling to me and showing me You already provided for the condemnation I deserve. Thank you for forgiving and saving me, Lord. I accept Your gift of salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life with You. I am unworthy, but You are almighty, faithful, and loving. Oh Lord, here’s my life, make it Yours completely. Thank you for giving me sight into the truth of myself and providing the Way. Amen.