Merciful God from the Beginning
Not only was I out and about after reading today’s portion from Genesis 3:22 through 4:26 (end of chapter 4), I was driving, so I couldn’t do the entry from my phone app as I intended to do on days when I’m running. I just got home and looked at the clock, so time is short, which means I’ll have to keep this short. But I’m determined to make my best effort to write every day.
Yesterday, the Scripture ended with man and woman knowing they were naked and sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves. And then God shed the first blood to cover them completely. It was only after I began studying the Hebrew roots of my faith and falling in love with the old testament that I saw God in a new and merciful light, and this is the first place I saw Him that way. I had always believed in God as the “Big Meanie” in the old testament who got nice when He robed Himself in flesh in the new testament. But now, I see Him wanting to visit with Adam and Eve, and feeling pain because of the sin that has now divided them. Scripture says that for God, associating with the flesh is “strife” ( see Genesis 6:3), and He will not have it that way forever.
So, here is God with the new creation, the ones He called “very good,” and it’s hurting Him to even visit with them. What does He do? He causes Himself a bit more pain by slaying yet another of that which He has created, so the blood can temporarily cover the sin and allow Him to fellowship with them once more. I believe He hurt over killing that animal even more than most animal lovers would hurt. I don’t think it was a small thing for Him with that sacrifice or any sacrifice He demanded later. But it was a necessary sacrifice in order for God to participate in the lives of those He made in His very own image.
As this reading begins, we have God setting up angels to guard the “Tree of Life” to make sure that mankind cannot touch it and eat and live forever. That is a huge act of mercy because had they eaten from that tree after being in the sinful state caused by their eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would have been doomed to live in that terrible state forever. Imagine having a front row seat to all the darkness and evil in the world and having to sit and watch it forever. That would have been their fate if God had not intervened with His mercy. Yahveh God purposely caused the knowledge of evil to shorten their lives, so they would not have to live forever in hopelessness. Not only is that a great mercy from Him, it is still only the beginning of what He would do to give hope and a future to those who love Him. Amazing!
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The Fall Before the Fall
Today’s reading comes from Genesis 2:4 through Genesis 3:21. As usual, there is so much I could comment on, from God Himself breathing the breath of life into the first man, to the heavenly garden in Eden where mankind could eat fruit planted by His Creator, to man and wife being as one flesh. But I’d like to focus on the verses from 3:1 through 3:6.
So imagine Adam & and his new companion walking along a path and just enjoying the beautiful creation that surrounded them. Somehow, they end up right in front of the one tree of which they are not to partake. A voice comes from a serpent also hanging around this very tree. (Of course, this makes me wonder if all the animals talked since neither the man or woman seemed to have been surprised to be conversing with a snake.) And the first thing the snake does is challenge their Creator on whether He is a good provider. My translation: The serpent asked, “Hey, you people, did God say you could not eat from EVERY tree in the garden?”
Wait a minute–ONE tree vs EVERY tree? That lying snake was trying to make the one forbidden tree look like it was of more value than all the other trees put together. The focus was shifted from all they did have to the one little thing they didn’t have. And that’s not a new trick. I think it contributes to much of the depression in today’s world. Sure, I’d love to live a cushy life where all my big desires are covered with plenty to spare. But I have the blessing of remembering times when I’ve had less, so those memories often bring me back to a place of gratefulness. The newly created couple didn’t have that to lean on, so all they could do is imagine that maybe they were missing out on something.
Next, the woman restated the rule of the tree of knowledge. Now, it could be that God said more to them with the first given orders, but if not, I’m wondering why the woman enhanced God’s words and added the part about not touching the tree. Did she fill herself with extreme fear to make sure she stayed on the straight and narrow? Or, maybe the law was spoken to Adam, and in his overly zealous desire to protect his wife from disobedience, he told her that she was not only to avoid eating it but also to avoid touching it. (Kinda like when parents tell their kids things like, “If you keep doing that, it’ll stay that way forever.”) Unfortunately, even strong warnings of never and forever don’t always work, and the fear of discipline in front of the woman was not enough to stop her from listening to the next lie.
So, in verse 4, the serpent flat-out calls God a liar. The husband is standing there, (we see that in verse 6), but he doesn’t seem to be getting defensive about all these lies. I wonder why he wasn’t shouting, “Come on, Honey, let’s get out of here. This little wimp has challenged our Creator on His ability to care for us, and now he’s calling Him a liar! We don’t need to hear anything else that snake has to say.” But they just stood there and listened, and the lying words started sinking in.
Now the woman takes a more deliberate look at the tree and begins a thinking process that has gotten man into trouble ever since. 1 John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” Now look at the thoughts it says were going through the woman’s mind: When the woman saw the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to desirable to make one wise (pride of life), she was enticed. She imagined trying to BE like God rather than to SERVE her Creator, and in that, she imitated the very thoughts that got the voice behind the lying serpent thrown out of the Heavenlies in the first place. This was the fall before the fall. Before she even partook of the forbidden fruit, she engaged in evil thoughts and let the flesh win. And because her husband did not challenge the lying voice, she took him down with her.
But I do not want to stop here with hopelessness. It is evident that sin is something born into the flesh from its inception, or she would not have been able to sin in her mind before acting on her thoughts. But knowing this gives us a way to fight when those same thoughts try to bombard our minds. And even better, we are told in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” How was Yahshua (Jesus) tempted on all points? In Luke 4:1-13, we read of “the temptation in the wilderness.” The temptations included the lust of the flesh (turn these stones to bread), the lust of the eyes (look at all the kingdoms I can give you), and the pride of life (cast yourself down and make a show of the angels not letting you fall). He was truly tempted in EVERY way we can be tempted, and thus continually delivers us from what started with a liar at the beginning of creation.
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Wholly Good Creation
I am so in love with the word of God that I can find multiple things to talk about from even a short reading. For me, Scripture is living and filled with wonder and awe. I can see the possibilities of mistranslations by mankind, and yet the thread of truth is so strong that I do not doubt the validity of life I receive from the written words. Today, I read from Genesis 1:24 through Genesis 2:3.
Creation day 6 was quite the busy one. All the rest of the animals brought forth from the dust of earth, and then mankind. And it was so much more than simple creation. It was the decision to make man a little higher than the animals, so that he could rule them from the earth. It was the decision to risk putting God-like attributes in human flesh made from dirt.
Surely, God being God, knew what He was getting into when He did all of that, and yet upon its finish He said, “It is very/vehemently/wholly good.” Apparently, He saw something more in us that we can see in ourselves. He didn’t just like what He had accomplished, He vehemently loved what He had accomplished. It’s hard for me to imagine why anyone would want to reject that, but I can only guess it comes from people who see themselves as good in their own eyes rather than accepting themselves as wholly good as He sees them and created them to be. That gives me understanding as to why He prefers a humble spirit.
And, after all the flourish of work, creation, risk, and emotion, God was done. He wasn’t done being God, but He was done setting up the dominoes, and it was time for them to do what He created them to do… to multiply, to govern, and to be like Him and create things on their own. I wonder though if His letting go was similar to a parent taking the training wheels off a child’s bike and just letting the child go–even knowing the child may fall. I hope when He takes a chance on me, I bring Him reward that makes it worth the risk of His letting go and letting me have free will.
And this seems like a great place to post a poem called “Free Will” that I wrote back in 2002 in the aftermath of so many claiming 9/11/2001 was something God allowed (or caused) to punish sinful Americans.
FREE WILL
Free will, I say, to all free will,
To do just as you desire.
Tis the greatest of gifts giv’n to man,
It can help or can hurt, as does fire.
Many men seek to do all good,
Neither hurt a friend, nor a foe.
But some men abuse this gracious gift,
And it makes God’s head bow low.
So let us not blame our God above,
For men and their evil deeds.
Let us instead use our own free will,
To comfort a heart that bleeds.
An object or word can cause great pain,
In the hands of hatred and spite.
But in the hands of men filled with love,
A balm of healing and light.
May God be thanked for His gift of free will.
Let all men use it for love.
And bless each other as we fulfill,
The goodness of God above.
Copyright ©2002 Crystal A. Murray
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Creation Days 4 and 5
Today I’ve read Genesis 1:14-23. I’m stopping at the Ashkenazi portions (the “A” in the “A” and “S” I mentioned yesterday), so some are very short, but later some may get very long.
The more I read and study, the more I see how many ways there are to do it. For a Torah reading calendar, I like the site “Hebcal” which also includes a holiday calendar, Shabbat (Sabbath) candle-lighting times per zip code, and more. Importantly, it also includes a Torah reading schedule that is divided by reader (or day if you choose to do like I am doing), and it has links to commentaries on the topics. When you go to the schedule, simply click on the portion next to the date where you are looking, and you’ll find the divided portion and links to actually read the Scriptures and commentaries. For example, you’ll see for September 28, 2013, that the portion is “Bereshit” (Beginnings) and is Genesis 1:1 through 6:8. You will notice, however, that the divided portions are based on the Sephardic (S) divisions, so if you follow that, it will be slightly different from the commentary I make here. Of course, if you just read the entire portion, those differences won’t affect your reading plan. I could do that and only comment once per week, but I’m trying to make myself write more often, so I’ll push on.
So, the first thing I noticed when I visited Hebcal for today (that is, the day which began at sunset on Saturday and ended at Sunset on Sunday so I visited during the daylight period), was that it listed the portion for the next Shabbat which begins Friday at sundown. I thought to myself, “Wait, am I supposed to be reading the text through the week and ending on Shabbat because it is the 7th day or end of the week?” If so, that would mean I am a week behind. But, if I continue the direction I’m going, I begin my portion on Shabbat (September 28th for Genesis 1:1) and extend it through the week into the seven daily readings, and I’ll finish before the next portion begins. Hmm? What to do.
Well, since I periodically visit a Messianic fellowship called Adat Hatikvah (or Congregation of The Hope) on Saturdays, I don’t think I want to read the portions ahead of the services, so it looks like extending the reading through the week following the given Shabbat portions will work best for me. Yesterday morning, they read Genesis 1 in the service and talked about beginnings. Yep, this feels right for me. But for the rest of you, whatever it takes to get into the Word of God and apply it to your life, please do it. I welcome you to travel on my journey with me, and I’ll keep giving you links to–hopefully–make it easier, but I don’t proclaim to know specific and perfect answers for anyone–including myself. 🙂
And that brings me to this day’s topic; creation of the sun, moon, and stars (day four), and birds and fish (day five). The first thing I noticed in this reading was that the greater and lesser lights were given first for signs, seasons, and years, and then for light. Maybe this is because God had already spoken light, or maybe it’s because we should be paying much more attention to signs, seasons, and years than we do.
I could do a word study to determine if there’s a difference between the light from day one that God called “Day” and the light on day four that He used to light up both the days and nights. Maybe that will be next year’s commentary if The Lord delays His return. But, if I were to guess, I would imagine that the light He spoke into existence on the first day was more about telling the earth who He is and that He is in control. It was sort of like He was saying, “Earth, receive Me–Creator, Wisdom, Life-Giver.” He was giving Earth her first “lightbulb moment” (that one just “dawned” on me–pun intended) of understanding, so she would yield to His words of creation. And maybe that is why He called the light “good” but did not say the same thing about the darkness. Of course, that’s more of a commentary on yesterday’s reading, so I’ll go on.
So we have lights in the dome of the sky that divide the day from the night. The greater light governs the day and is the power generator. The lesser lights govern the night, and the main one (the moon) does not generate its own power. That says to me that if we reflect the power of God, we can light up any darkness. It is not our power or our own light. It is His. And like a full moon, we can bring so much more of His light when we are filled with Him instead of with ourselves. I like that. When I decrease, He will increase.
And on day five, all that light, and the oxygen created from the seed-bearing plants and trees from day three, needed to be occupied. So God created fish and fowl in the same way He created plants and trees–with the ability to reproduce. He commanded fruitfulness and multiplication because He knows that what He creates is good (every good gift and every perfect gift is from above), and He wants to see more of it. May whatever He creates in me also be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth that His kingdom may increase and fill the earth as well. Amen.
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The Joy of The Word (Simchat Torah)
The Torah by Flickr User Lawrie Cate, CC License = Attribution Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr.
So, I told members of my writing group that now that I have a WP app on my phone, it is my goal to write something every day. To facilitate that goal, it is my intention to write something about my daily studies in the first five books of the Bible, also known as “The Torah.” So, this will be of sorts a Torah commentary, but instead of being scholarly, it will be more about what it means to me or how it applies to my day. I am beginning today because of the festival day known as “Simchat Torah” which means “Joy of the Word” or “Joy of the Law.”
Simchat Torah comes at the end of the festival of Sukkot, also known at The Feast of Tabernacles. The Lord’s feast (note that Scripture does not say Jewish feast but rather Lord’s feast) is a celebration of remembrance. I have plenty I will say about it in another post, and I have said some already in a note I wrote on Facebook. But to sum up this day, it is the time when those who read the Torah through in a year begin again. It is a man-made time of beginning, but it works for keeping track.
The Complete Jewish Bible is a modern translation that tracks the portions (called Parashahs in Hebrew) and makes it easy to follow along. You can read the entire portion on Shabbat (Sabbath), or you can use the 7 divisions (in Roman numerals in the text) to have one reading for each day of the week. I’m choosing the one reading for each day for the commentary here. A note here: sometimes the Roman numerals will have a letter A or S before them. You can read about it in the beginning of the Bible notes from the author of The Complete Jewish Bible. However, even without knowing their meaning, just remember that if you are following using one of the letters, keep all your future readings using that same letter, or you can get very confused. 🙂
Reading God’s written word is both a gift and a privilege, and I’m grateful for the modern tools that allow me to do it with ease. As I study, I learn more about the personality of My Creator as revealed in the pages of Torah. The “Hebrew 4 Christians” site (in above links for Simchat Torah and Feast of Tabernacles) is another great tool. The link I listed for The Complete Jewish Bible takes you to Amazon (affiliate link) if you want one of your own. And, today’s Scripture in CJB is from the Bible Gateway site; a great tool for every Christian. From there, you can search through any part of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation in CJB and a variety of other Bible versions.
One final note before I get to today’s study is the blessing in the word Torah itself. The Hebrew word for “light” is the word “or” which is right in the middle of the word Torah. Follow with me, and may God Himself light your path with the joy of His word.
Today I read Genesis 1:1-13 about creation. I love that God is a God of beginnings and new beginnings. I love that He could come to a place of nothingness and turn it into something. And I love that each time He brought forth something new, He delighted in it and said it was good. In these verses, we have gone through the first three days of creation, and the earth is now bringing forth seed. And the one thing I noticed above everything else was that whatever God spoke, it happened without question. I’ll close with that and let you think on it.
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So Many Laws
Pretty Mosaic with Flowered Heart in the Middle
Genesis 18:19a has The Lord talking to the angels about Abraham and says, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment.” (Complete Jewish Bible translation.)
The first time I read this Scripture, my only thought was, “Can God say this about me?” How blessed to have God testify to the angels that He has found a subject He knows well enough to know the subject’s future holds not only personal lawfulness but also that the subject will teach lawfulness to others.
Today, my husband and I were in our Torah studies in Leviticus. (We’re a bit behind in the actual portion we should be reading, but we don’t want to skip around and miss valuable information.) For a few weeks now, we’ve been reading about the building of the wilderness tabernacle (also called The Tabernacle of Testimony). As I was listening to my husband read the words about all the laws concerning the tabernacle, sacrifices, offerings, etc., I remembered the words I had read earlier from Genesis. Then, something hit me; these laws came well after God called Abraham “one who would keep the Way of The Lord” (aka law keeper). And then I questioned in my mind, “I wonder what ways and laws of God Abraham was keeping?” I understood, even as I asked, that Abraham was not keeping specific laws, but he was keeping a lawful heart.
So, here we are in our current society looking to create law after law after law. Now (in April 2013), the focus is on gun laws and whether they violate our country’s foundational Constitution. But the gun laws, like the many other laws constantly in motion or discussion these days, are just a thin bandage. They will not create the answer so many hope they will because they do not fix the real problem: they do not fix what causes the need for laws in the first place—a need that comes from a general spirit of lawlessness.
So, Abraham not only had a lawful heart, but even before there was a law given, God knew he would teach those of his household to keep the way (law) of God. Already, he was teaching others to have a lawful heart and to yield to the instruction of God from pure obedience. Later in Scripture, we will read how it was necessary to create a priesthood and over 600 Levitical laws to direct people because their hearts had become lawless. As many have noted about these laws, and even several laws of our land now, they come with a big dose of bondage.
However, just imagine if we all strived to keep in our hearts the laws of yielding to a Higher Authority. We would automatically think of others before ourselves. We would not require instruction to not lie, not steal, not cheat, not murder, etc. We would not purposely do things to others that we would not want others doing to us. And if everyone lived that way, we would not need any other laws either from God or from man.
There is freedom in having a lawful heart because it releases us from falling under the bondage and condemnation of many external laws. Though we will not be perfect until we get to Heaven, just as King David was not perfect and failed God multiple times, we can be called a people after God’s own heart. In that way, each of us will not only be able to say we know Him, but He can testify to the angels, “I know that one!”
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Proverbs 2 – Treasure Hunt for Wisdom
Can you recall meeting people who would not let you get to know them? Maybe you tried to show interest in them and show that you cared, so you could create a safe place for them to be themselves. But no matter what you did, it seemed they were all locked up inside themselves. Maybe it was fear, maybe pride, or maybe a little of both, but whatever it was, it was frustrating.
For a person like me who will share just about everything about herself, it’s even harder to deal with someone who is closed up. But thankfully, God is not that way! It thrills me that He says in so many places in His word that He wants me to get to know Him. He says things like, “They that seek me will find me.” Of course, that verse is incomplete. It actually says, in paraphrase from Jeremiah 29:13, “Those that seek me with all their hearts will find me.”
Here’s what today’s reading from Proverbs 2 (talking about seeking God’s wisdom) has to say…
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. (KJV)
God wants us to know more about Him. He wants to share the treasures of His wisdom. But He doesn’t want to give those treasures away to just anyone. He wants to give them to those who desire them and will value them. They are as valuable as silver and gold, so God doesn’t want to just dump them out on those who are satisfied with fool’s gold.
Oh, but if we are seekers, He wants to share with us in abundance. In James 1:5, we’re even told that if we lack wisdom, all we have to do is ask God and He will give it to us liberally. And in James 4:8, we’re reminded that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. His presence is an awesome treasure, and this verse amplifies Deuteronomy 4:7 that says, “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? (KJV)”
Doesn’t that just make you want to run to Him and learn more about Him? I know it does me. I’m thankful He’s not a god who is, like the song says, “watching us from a distance.” He is near. His wisdom is near. He simply wants us to seek Him. And when we do, the rest of this chapter talks about how we will fall in love with His wisdom and knowledge and how it will protect us from being led down paths that could be impossible to return from. I cannot fully put into words how much I value His presence and His wisdom, but I welcome you to join me as a fellow treasure hunter, and to rejoice with me for all the wonderful gifts we will find as we seek Him.
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Proverbs 1 – When Wisdom Comes Calling
From https://www.youversion.com/bible/1/pro.1.kjv (Using KJV for quotes because it’s public domain)…
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
GOD’S WAY JUST WORKS–IT REALLY DOES
The Message Bible calls the Proverbs “A Manual for Living.” And it can be that for anyone who is willing to apply it. Wisdom in this book is in the feminine which is also the way much of Scripture related to the Holy Spirit is written. You could say it’s the “mothering” side of Our Creator. While Daddy is making the rules, Mom is explaining to us why it is in our best interest to follow them. It’s a picture of the wholeness of God’s love for us if ever I’ve seen one.
So what about those harsh-sounding warnings of laughter in the face of our trials? I used to think that was so cruel to even think God would laugh at me and mock when my fear came upon me. It was even worse to think He would not be there for me when I called upon Him. But through much study, I’ve found this is referring to the spirit of wisdom. In a brief thought, it is simply saying, “Because you didn’t listen to wisdom to keep yourself out of a big mess, you’re gonna be laying there crying, ‘I don’t know what to do, now,’ and you won’t be able to find the right answer.”
God’s mercy is new every morning, and He gets us out of a lot of self-inflicted bondage, but He’s not in the business of going around plucking us out of every entanglement we get ourselves into. If we’ve learned the fire is hot and we stick a hand in it anyway, He’s not going to stop it from burning us. If we knew from the wisdom in the depths of our souls that getting involved with the good-looker that has caught our attention, and then we end up brokenhearted like others who followed the same trail before we did, Wisdom will say, “What made you think that the same thing would not happen to you?”
So, today, let’s heed what this passage brings to us. Let’s put God in the proper place in our lives, on His throne and above us as Lord of our whole lives, and then listen when He speaks. Whether He speaks through our hearts, through His written word, or through others He brings on our paths to lead us, let’s have the fear (respect) that will cause us to listen to His wisdom like a child listens to his nurturing mother. When we do that, we have the promise that ends this chapter. As Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, “First pay attention to me, and then relax. Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.”
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31 Days of Thoughts on 31 Days of Proverbs
This is just a short introduction. In an effort to get myself writing and blogging every day, I am going to use a variety of tools. I plan to use different tools each month to go with my prismatic personality. I figure that if I change it up at least once per month, I’ll be less apt to get bored with my subject matter and more apt to keep pushing myself forward.
So, for the month of January 2013, I will write my thoughts on the study of the book of Proverbs. I have often gone back to the idea of reading the Proverb for the day for each day of the month. For months with 31 days, it works perfectly. For months with 30 days, I just read 2 chapters at the end. I cannot tell you how many times the reading for the day has been perfect for whatever I was going through on that day. Now, as I move forward, I will have the opportunity to share exactly how that is working for my current day.
As you can tell, I’m jumping off a day late, so later this afternoon, you should see two posts from me. I hope to stay on top of them for the rest of the month. If you’d like to read the subject matter ahead of time, go to the You Version website at https://www.youversion.com/bible/97/pro.1.msg (I’ll likely do most of my studying using “The Message Bible” and the NLT translation, so I’ve linked to “The Message” here), and pick your favorite Bible version to read from. Read the entire chapters of Proverbs 1 and 2, and then come back and see what I’ve gleaned from them in my personal life. Wednesday is my new designated writing day, so I’m excited to have a little extra to share for that anyway. Now, I must go to sleep to rest my writer’s mind since I’m still actually working on Tuesday the 1st. I was going to go ahead and write my first Proverb post before going to sleep, but I’m afraid it won’t have the same meaning if I don’t first get some rest.
Talk to you tomorrow,
~Crystal
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The Power of Faith
THE POWER OF FAITH – Revision One
By Crystal A. Murray 05-16-12
(This is a revision of the line-numbered article as linked to in my first post. The revisions are extensive, so please consider reading it even if you have already perused the first post or the article as I wrote it for my Scribd documents. Thanks.)
This study on the power of faith is a result of studies I conducted while walking through my personal valley of decision some years ago. I began to study after seeking God’s wisdom about the current “movements” in the churches about things considered as being in the realm of God’s Spirit. What many called “revivals” were cropping up all over, and they were lauded by all kinds of Christian media. It seemed to be real and to have proven results, so I sought God as to whether I needed to visit one of these “faith healers” about a desperate physical need in my life.
I had always wondered about the depth and value of my faith, and whether it was truly enough to “move mountains” in my life. I battled with episodes of guilt for not having enough faith, such as when I did not receive a miracle healing to conceive children. At other times, it seemed my faith was huge—especially when I prayed for others, and people would come to me requesting me to pray for them because they thought my faith was so much better than their own. I sought God to ask that my faith would always be within His perfect will for my life.
For many years, voices have echoed inspirations to “act in faith,” or to “believe to receive,” or “name it to claim it.” They told me to come boldly before the throne of God and to remind Him of His promises in Scripture, and to proclaim as my own whatever I am asking for in faith. I’ve been told that I would only receive what I believed and even reminded to “fake it until you make it” to encourage myself in faith. As part of the revival movement that started all this, I was even advised that a way to strengthen faith is to exercise it. The suggested exercise as being taught by many at the time was to command one of my own fingers to grow, return to its original size, grow again, return again, etc. People were getting results with this, but I had to wonder if the results were actually from God.
After being introduced to these kinds of powers, and to other teachings I felt might border too closely to mysticism, I felt it necessary to seek God and His wisdom from the depths of my heart. I asked Him to show me, by causing my finger to grow, if this was of Him. No fingers grew, though I knew I had faith since I had experienced this exact phenomenon when I watched my leg grow nearly two inches.
An important factor in the leg growth situation is that the growth came after God specifically directed me to believe in Him for a miraculous healing in my back that day. The growth has since been medically verified, so I had no reason not to believe God could do this type of thing, but only needed to know if He would and if it was His will.
When my finger did not grow, I had to believe it was God’s way of showing me that “practicing” faith was not something He was directing me to do. Still, people who were seeing results from this practice warned me that if I didn’t have enough faith when I asked for healing, I would end up getting worse instead of better. This did not sound like the God I knew from Scripture or the God I knew from my personal testimony of His love toward me. I knew He had plenty of power to share, but I never wanted to think of Him like some kind of “genie in a lamp” type of god.
The more I sought to understand these things, the more I continued to hear about the wave of miracles that was spreading wildly through the churches. The biggest of these “shows” was coming out of Lakeland, Florida, with a man named Todd Bentley. I had no desire to find fault with these events, especially since it would have been in my best interest physically to find them as true and to seek healing through the miraculous rather than through surgical means. However, God was about to open my eyes to things I never expected to find. I won’t cover it all in this article, but I will cover the main points of Scriptures I found about faith as God walked me through them.
My first answer came with just one section of Scripture. From two verses, I understood how people like Todd Bentley, (and other last days’ seducers and apostates as warned of in Scripture), could perform the miraculous, even if it was not of God. However, even knowing this wisdom came from God, I felt it necessary to continue studying to make certain I had more than one Scripture on which to base my understanding. The following Scriptures and commentary are a result of that study.
(All Scriptures used are KJV. Scriptures are bolded with Jesus’ words in red.)
First, the Scripture that tells how people can work miracles and yet not be of God:
(Matthew 7:22-23)
Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” And then will I profess unto them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
But wait, didn’t they just say they prophesied, and cast out devils, and did wonderful works of God? Furthermore, didn’t they say they did all these things in Jesus’ Name? So how can He then say to them that He never knew them? The answer is in the word “knew” which is translated from the same referral to intimate knowledge as when Adam “knew” Eve and she bore him a son. Jesus was saying that He never planted His seed within them. They were worshiping the miracles rather than the Giver of the miracles; the creation more than the Creator; the power more than the All Powerful. Because they had faith, and because—as I will show later—faith works, those referred to in this Scripture (people we will likely see in the “last days”) were able to do good works in the right name, but their hearts were wrapped up in the works of the Lord rather than in the Lord of the work, so their righteousness became as filthy rags. The remedy to this is found in the next verse, a command from Jesus to His disciples.
(Mark 11:22)
And Jesus answering saith unto them, “Have faith in God.”
Have faith in God and not in ourselves or a man. This is the beginning of an admonition to the disciples after they asked Jesus about the power He had over the fig tree. He is making sure they understand that it’s not just about power or faith in general, because (or verily)…
(Mark 11:23)
For verily I say unto you, “That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
Understand that faith in and of itself is so powerful that even if a man asks for an impossible thing like moving a mountain into the sea, faith will cause it to happen. God created faith with infinite possibilities–even the possibility to go against His perfect will if believers do not connect their will and their faith directly to Him. In reality, I don’t imagine God would want men running around changing nature and the ecosystem as He has created it, but because of the power of faith, they most certainly could do so.
(Mark 11:24)
Therefore I say unto you, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Therefore, or because of how great the power is that is found in faith, when you have a desire, make sure you pray and THEN believe. Notice Jesus did not say, “if you pray” but rather “when you pray” because it was important for the disciples not to use the power of faith incorrectly. Those things desired should be asked in prayer to God, not just spoken like a man talking to a mountain. This goes back to Jesus’ very first statement, “Have faith in God.” He was giving them a command and then informing them of how to act on it. First, make sure the faith is in God, and then check your desires against that faith by taking it to God in prayer, and then you can have confident belief in it because you know it is His true will for you.
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Here’s another look at the same scenario by a different writer:
(Luke 17:5-6)
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
The mustard seed here is used as an answer to the disciples’ request for Jesus to “increase their faith.” He says, basically, that the amount of their faith had nothing to do with the works they could do. He used something small to drive home that even if it was a tiny bit of faith, they could do great things with it. It wasn’t about the size of the faith but the source of the faith. Jesus was telling them they didn’t need to ask for an increase in faith but rather a change in the use and purpose of their faith. The purpose was to use it in obedience to His command to have all their faith in God. The next part follows this reminder with a story that would seem to be unconnected.
(Luke 17:7-10)
“But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, ‘Go and sit down to meat?’ And will not rather say unto him, ‘Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?’ Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.’ “
So why would Jesus follow the admonition about faith with the story about the servant doing what was commanded of him? Because, He was reminding them that having faith was a command. It was not something He was praising them for having, and it was not something they should praise themselves for having. They needed to be obedient and humble so that even when they operated in a power great enough to move a mountain they would say, “No big deal. We just did our duty.”
And let me add here that I am extremely uncomfortable with hearing someone say, “He’s a great man of faith” or “She’s a mighty woman of faith.” I believe this goes exactly against what Jesus was saying here about our obedience not making us anything more than unprofitable servants. When we use faith in Jesus, we are simply doing what He has commanded us to do. We are even reminded in Philippians 2:13 that God is the one who gives us the desire to serve Him, so we can’t even brag if we have a desire for faith, let alone if we carry it out. If He wants to see us more highly, that’s fine, but we should see ourselves as nothing more than obedient servants…
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And here is a longer example from Matthew:
(Matthew 17:14-21)
And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.”
Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.” And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, “Why could not we cast him out?”
And Jesus said unto them, “Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
In this example, we can see Jesus again telling the disciples that faith is so powerful, even a little bit can cause a mountain to be cast into the sea. And yet, He reminds them that demons only respond to that which is in the power of God. He goes on to say that He understands they may not be able to have that true and focused type of faith in God required to fight the enemy unless they subdue their flesh through prayer and fasting. This drives home that it’s more than just practicing faith over body parts, or proclaiming what we want to believe. It must be wholly wrapped up in God and His perfect will to be the kind of faith that pleases Him and yields the right results.
Furthermore, to have any kind of power in the spirit realm, we need even more to be sure we are working with God’s power and not our own “faith” which may not be motivated by obedience or love toward God. In Acts 19:13-16, the seven sons of Sceva had faith enough to get the attention of demons, (they were vagabond Jews so they knew the difference in God and the enemy,) but because they had no true relationship with God, and because they were not directed by God to cast out demons, they were overcome and wounded.
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And here’s one more example after the disciples watched Jesus curse the fig tree…
(Mat 21:20-22)
And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, “How soon is the fig tree withered away!” Jesus answered and said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
Again, Jesus tells them if they have pure faith, they will not only be able to have power over the fruit of a tree but even greater things. And again, He follows it with the reminder that belief is not enough and that all things should be asked in prayer.
Important note here: Prayer is not the time to speak our beliefs, it is the time to make certain our beliefs are in God’s perfect will for us. Once we have that answer, we can go on to confident belief, which is the meat or evidence of things not seen until they come to pass. Jesus is giving the disciples an exact diagram here of how to have faith. And it works the same for us. Pray first and pray always. Or, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing.
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And this one does well in wrapping it all up for me.
(Rom 12:2-3)
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
I believe it is first saying we should make sure our motives are correct, so we will do God’s will and not our own. We do not want to be like the world in trying to feel better about ourselves by judging someone else—especially not concerning something like faith that is a gift God gives to all of us. This thing we do where we pat people on the back because they appear to have “great faith” or condemn people because they don’t have enough faith is too much like the servants of flesh that unwisely compare themselves among themselves.
My idea of how Jesus might tell a parable that would explain the power of faith:
“There once was a man who wanted to see a demonstration of the power of God, so he prayed about it and asked God to use him. God handed him a cup of water and sent him to the desert with the command to splash it on a man he would find there. When he splashed it on the man, what do you suppose happened? ”
The disciples correctly answered, “The man got wet and it cooled him off.”
“Right,” said Jesus. “The water had the power to get the man wet and cool him off at the same time. If you have faith in God, you too can take a cup of water and splash it on any person or object and it will get that person or object wet. Even a little water will still cause whatever it touches to get wet. But always pray before you splash so you won’t be tempted to revel in it when a hot and dry man praises you for cooling him off.”
My commentary:
Since faith has power even apart from God, in the same sense that water gets someone wet even if God is not the one splashing it on, we must remember to think clearly about our use of it. In other words, if God gave us a cup of water, and we used it to get someone wet, would we brag about how they got wet because we were the ones that splashed it? If he gave me a smaller cup of water and you a larger cup of water, should you brag that you were able to get more people wet than I was? Would that change the properties of the water having the ability to wet things, or would it change who gave the water these properties?
We should never think, just because we obey God’s command and use what God has given us to perform something, that we are more highly valued than anyone else, or even that we have any greater power in God. Unlike what was done to Todd Bentley, our actions in faith do not deserve a special robe and ring, and a declaration from other “mighty men of the faith” that we have some special anointing. That is simply pride that goes before destruction, like the embarrassing truth that came out about Mr. Bentley cheating on his wife with one of the members of the ministry team.
The fact is, just like God made water with the properties to get things wet, He made faith and made it to yield power. The power of faith, like the wetness of water, will work whether or not it is God’s perfect will for us to “splash” it around. We are not special because we are able to use the gift of God’s faith, but by God’s grace we are able (and even commanded) to operate in His gifts–even in this mortal flesh. We should praise God for His grace to trust us with such power, but even when we rejoice in that, we must remember Jesus words to the disciples in the 20th verse of Luke 10: “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Final Notes: The remaining verses in Romans 12 list many gifts in the body of Christ and remind us that we are to use them as a duty, just as Jesus reminded the men when He talked about the servant. By having an obedient and humble spirit, we can remain joined as a body, yielding to our callings, preferring others above ourselves, instant in prayer, not influenced by “high” things, and compassionate. These things culminate with not being overcome by evil, (or subdued by empty worthlessness), but rather taking victory over worthless things by sticking to the right, the good, and the beneficial things. Have faith in God, not because of the power of faith but because of the power of God.
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Walking More Closely With God
Today’s reading is from Genesis 5:1-24. Somehow, I knew I might have some trouble writing in those chapters that deal with genealogies. This one is the genealogy of Adam. I know that bloodlines can tell us marvelous facts if we understand their study, and there will be some later on that I can comment on, but this one is not bringing me something easy of myself, so I’m going to borrow from a message I have on CD by John Bevere.
In the message, and in his book called “Drawing Near,” John Bevere brings up a point I doubt I would ever have noticed. The long lifespans at that point in history allowed many to hear Adam’s story of the days in the garden when he walked with God. Like a grandpa telling about the good ‘ol days, Enoch must have been the one that listened most intently. In John’s words:
He goes on to tell more about creation secrets that Yahveh likely shared with Adam, and it is powerful as well as sad because Adam gave up all that intimacy for the desires of flesh. John continues and talks about the effect these words likely had on Enoch:
And we know from verse 24 that Enoch walked so closely to God that one day he was there on the earth and then suddenly, he wasn’t. Scripture tells us that God took him. It’s like, one moment he was walking on the dirt and then suddenly, the dirt turned to gold.
I try to share my testimonies of both my successes in my service to God and my failures to Him. But this makes me want to focus just that much more on sharing my relationship with Him. I want to share Him in such a profound way that others will be like Enoch and become hungry to have an even deeper relationship. I, myself, want to feel that passion that overwhelmed Enoch and press in until I am walking so close to God that there will be little difference when He brings me to join Him at His throne. What a glorious way to live life whether it lasts 900 plus years or 90 plus years.
*Excerpt from book, Drawing Near, by John Bevere found at Google Books in the preview. Read the entire preview, or just the beautiful section about Adam and Enoch (on pages 11-13) yourself and let me know what you think. I would recommend the book and/or study set for anyone who wants to deepen his or her relationship with Yahveh Almighty.
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October 3, 2013 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adam, Bible, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, crystalwriter, devotion, Drawing Near, Enoch, genealogies of Adam, genealogy, Genesis, Genesis 5, God, John Bevere, Scripture, spirituality, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, walk with God, walking with God, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, Yahveh, Yahweh | Leave a comment