Exposing the Manipulator - Laban the Scorpion

One of the hardest types of people for us normal folk to understand: the compulsive manipulator. He or she will scheme and manipulate even when it is not to their benefit to do so. Against the regular predator or bully, we can contain their behaviour by ensuring it is always to their benefit to not give us problems. For the compulsive manipulator, on the other hand, that is not good enough. Even if it is to their detriment they cannot help but to scheme, plot and deceive.

I don't know much about how to manage such people; being able to recognize them in the first place will allow us to be on our guard and not be caught by surprise. The Scriptural account of Jacob and Laban gives us crucial insights into how they behave and think, so we can tell what we are up against and plan our escape accordingly.

Foothold

Gen 29:15 - Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?”

On the surface, Laban looks very noble here. It looked as if he wanted a fair exchange of value between Jacob and him. But actually, Jacob serving Laban freely made Laban VERY uncomfortable. Why? Because there was nothing to manipulate. The compulsive manipulator knows subconsciously that Jacob was free to walk away at any moment. And he was fishing for some way to hold on to Jacob, not only for the sake of tangible benefit, but because it was his nature to scheme and manipulate.

Jacob gave Laban the opening he wanted; when Laban knew Jacob wanted to Rachel as his wife, he made a deal and sank his hooks into Jacob. However, instead of keeping his word and securing Jacob's trust and loyalty, he foisted off Leah on Jacob.

Breaking Trust

Genesis 29:25-27 (NKJV) - And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?”

And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.  Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”

There are two sorts of liars in this world:

• those that want to be believed (so they make their lies believable)
• and those who don't care. They actually get a kick out of forcing people around them to swallow their nonsense.

Laban is obviously the second sort. If what he said was true, how could Jacob have worked for him seven years and never saw that happen before? Or that Jacob would not just ask a local if that really was the custom in that part of the world? But Laban was the sort who would never admit to being wrong or committing it. He would either double-down on the lie (use outrageous lies to cover up the earlier ones) or change the topic and use manipulation instead. "You are my son-in-law, how could you not trust me?" Laban could have said something like "I could have refused to let you marry either of my daughters in the first place; is this how you repay my kindness?"

How did I know Laban was such a sort? It comes out later in the account. For now, suffice it to say that if you meet someone who refuses to give you a straight answer to your questions but keeps diverting them away, or his or her claims get more ludicrous as the conversation continues, recognize that you are dealing with such a compulsive manipulator. Better to cut your losses and leave the situation as soon as possible.

Note also how Laban cunningly manipulated the situation. By the time Jacob realized what Laban did, these were his options:

1) dump Leah and leave - then his seven years would have gained him NOTHING.

2) take Leah and leave - then he would not have gotten what he wanted. Laban would have taken it as a win. Make no mistake about it; Laban counts it as a win if he can make you lose. Meanwhile, he could still use his other daughter, Rachel, as a bargaining chip with other men and secure another beneficial alliance.

3) take both Leah and Rachel and leave immediately, breaking his promise to work another seven years - then Jacob would have only gotten what he originally wanted. Leah would still be off Laban's hands. Given that Leah was harder to marry off, he may have already written her off as an asset that would unlikely to yield much of a return on his investment in the first place.

Jacob, being inherently an honourable person, kept his promise and stayed his term. So, when Jacob's term of service was up, Laban had to make yet another play to secure Jacob. Jacob thought he was prepared for this.

You're never really prepared

Genesis 30:25 - 26 (NKJV) - And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”

One of the biggest clues that you are facing a manipulator boss - none of his or her staff want to stay. Or they don't want to take up higher positions and the boss has to find outsiders to fill the managerial or leadership roles. Staff either resign or are fired. In this case, you see Jacob, a long-time employee of Laban, not keen to stay, even though he had married into Laban's family. Why? Because he knows Laban cannot be trusted.

Laban makes yet another play on Jacob's good nature, as manipulators do to the people around them.

Genesis 30:27-28 (NKJV) - And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.” Then he said, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”

If you are the regular run-of-the-mill Christian, odds are that you would be taken in by Laban's words here. We'd take Laban's words to mean that he recognizes God's blessing through Jacob and will respect Jacob accordingly. Nope. It was just a ploy. Even the call to Jacob to name his wages was to give Laban the opportunity to find loopholes in Jacob's terms and exploit them. Watch and see...

Genesis 30:31-36 - So he said, “What shall I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.

 And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Jacob made the number one mistake we make with such people; he thought that if he gave Laban a good deal at the beginning, Laban would just take it and not try to shortchange Jacob further. Nope, such people do not see concessions as a sign of goodwill, they see concessions as a sign of your weakness, as an invitation to prey on you further. Laban was not content with the extremely good deal Jacob offered him. Before Jacob could take out for himself the speckled and spotted animals, Laban took them away first.

Can you imagine the chagrin on Jacob's face at the end of the day when he looked through the flocks and found nothing he could take for his own? Was Laban sniggering at one side? In a modern setting I can imagine Laban ghosting Jacob's text messages and always being too 'busy' to answer Jacob's demands for an explanation.

Laban is like the scorpion in the story of the frog and the scorpion; the scorpion stings the frog in the middle of the river even though it means itself drowning to death, because that is in its nature. Likewise for Laban; he cannot resist the temptation to immediately show he has outwitted Jacob. Regardless of the long-term consequences, Laban has convinced himself that his wit and quick tongue will always enable him to come out on top.

You can see the next move coming

Genesis 31:1-2 - Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”  And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.

Scorpion Supporters - Don't be surprised if the scorpion has supporters. Sometimes they are people who are convinced the scorpion is working towards their good, such as the beneficiaries of a charity the scorpion is heading. Sometimes they are manipulated into supporting the scorpion. Sometimes the supporter is a toady, he himself is also a manipulator who has figured out the chief scorpion's weakness and is happily pandering to it. Why? Maybe that's how he can wheedle out luxury watches from the chief scorpion later, or he sees the chief scorpion as the means to achieving his dreams of living on landed property in Singapore. Who knows?

Whatever it is, when the supporters of the scorpion are eying you and the scorpion himself/herself is clearly unhappy with you (because you managed to work your way around their scheming), be prepared. It is obvious that Laban and his sons were up to something; since Jacob knew they held the overwhelming advantage in their home territory, he figured out it was time to leave.

Genesis 31:19 - When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.

The daughters themselves resented their father. Rachel pretty much betrayed her own father. What do you expect? Everytime Laban shortchanged Jacob, he shortchanged their husband, the one who was providing for them. Laban obviously did not care about his daughters once he had married them off to Jacob.

Here is another clue to help you recognize manipulators; they are always on their guard against betrayal. They'll complain about how hard it is to find people they can trust or rely on, conveniently forgetting that they themselves created bad blood with people who know them best. Sometimes the untrusting person is not one who has been preyed often too often; sometimes it is a predator who discovered that occasionally the prey bites back!

Genesis 31:26-30: Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?”

Finally, the confrontation between Laban and Jacob takes place. Note how Laban just HAD to mention that he had the power to harm Jacob. Manipulators are often enjoy making threats, because everything is ultimately a power game to them, and they know that threats are often effective in either intimidating, confusing or distracting people. He then tries to show how woke he is by saying Jacob left because he missed his family at home. Nope. Jacob left because Laban was a horrible person, but Laban grabbed the opportunity to get his point in first to sway the audience his way.

Jacob, of course, would have none of it.

Genesis 31:36 -37 -  Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both!"

Manipulators shrink away from such public exposure like a vampire from garlic. They want to stay on their home territory so that they can control the narrative and what the people around them hear. The last thing they want is a face-to-face confrontation with someone in public and openly displaying all the evidence clearly against them. Laban brought along his relatives both as a show of strength and for an audience for his intended humiliation and defeat of Jacob; now they stood as witness that Jacob was innocent and Laban had mistreated and shortchanged Jacob horribly. Did Jacob's following words make them recall occasions when Laban pulled a fast one on them too?

Genesis 31:38-42 - “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.  I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night.  This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.  It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”

Trying desperately to salvage face

Genesis 31:43 - Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?

And even after he is exposed, did he repent? Nope. People like that find it very hard to repent. That takes reflecting upon their own actions, and acknowledging to themselves and to others that ALL their motivations and actions have been based on selfishness and a sick desire to control others, regardless of whatever cause they claimed to have been serving. Even when they appear outwardly contrite, their minds are scrabbling frantically for ways to save face, then rewrite the narrative in their favour. Admitting to wrong feels like dying to them.

So even if you somehow manage to stop their schemes in their tracks (by police action, independent arbitration or such), expect that they will still scramble to eke out some way to salvage their lost face.

Genesis 31:49 - 50 - May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”

Honestly, Laban is in no position to demand that Jacob not shortchange Leah and Rachel. Jacob has the track record of being responsible, Laban doesn't. Laban is only grandstanding, trying to regain some face in front of his own relatives and trying to fish for sympathy from his two daughters. I bet they rolled their eyes when he said all this!

Two Parting Thoughts

A) In the end, Jacob was able to out-maneuver Laban only because of God intervening and Rachel taking her own action behind his back. Otherwise it would not have ended so well for Jacob. If you ever think of trying to confront or bring down a scorpion, please recognize that it will not be easy. They are the sort who will have lawyers on retainer, professional indemnity insurance and maybe even a PR firm on call. This is not an easy battle to survive, much less win. Personally I think it is safer for you to learn to recognize such scorpions and just avoid them as much as you can.

B) Laban left defeated this time. His relatives now knew there was some truth to all the rumours circulating about him before. Even though Laban would still have the support of his sons, and there was nothing to keep him from finding a new victim to exploit and shortchange, how would it all have ended? Were his sons each manipulators in their own rights, and tore the family apart in the inheritance wars that would have begun even while Laban was still alive? Or did the brightest among them manage to scam all the rest of his brothers and get the lion's share of whatever remained of Laban's wealth?

Whatever the scenario, I cannot imagine Laban living out the rest of his days happy and fulfilled. He always had to wonder if his sons were preparing to move against him behind his back, even while he was still alive. And if there was a chief toady, would that toady have remained with Laban after he got his branded watches and fulfilled his landed-property dreams? Or would he have ghosted Laban and left Laban alone in his declining years? Who's to say? I only know that the law of sowing and reaping will eventually bite such scorpions hard, and they will discover that there are many who would smile at seeing their fate.

So guard yourself against such scorpions, and for God's sake don't ever become one of them yourself!

 

Taking Someone's Position (4)

To take someone's position, you need to be specifically called by God, willing to do the lowly tasks and able to serve without resources or rewards. And if you think all that is tough, the next one is often the final stumbling block, one obstacle that many cannot clear.

Betrayal

1) Betrayal by leaders

You can say that David's journey to the throne was marked by betrayal. He was first betrayed by first by Saul, the one he looked up to, whom he saw as his mentor, as a father figure.

It began with the Saul looking at David with suspicion:

1 Samuel 18:9 (NKJV) - Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

... and then he eventually became David's enemy.

1 Samuel 18:29 (NKJV) - ... then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.

Saul first tried to have David killed by the hand of the Philistines (1 Samuel 18:25), then tried to kill him directly (1 Samuel 19:11). And throughout it all, David kept his heart towards Saul pure.

1 Samuel 24:10-11 (NKJV) - Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD had given you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’S anointed.’ Now, my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! 

2) Betrayal by those he helped

The next major betrayal David faced was from the people of Keilah. As stated in the last blog post, David had enough problems of his own with Saul seeking to kill him. And yet at the same time, God instructed him to save the people of Keilah from Philistines

1 Samuel 23:1-5 (NIV) - When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”

The LORD answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.

 

After David saved them, it is entirely reasonable to expect some degree of gratitude in return. The Philistines were looting their threshing floors, in other words, destroying their food supplies. David saved them from dying agonizingly from starvation. And yet at the first hint of trouble from Saul, God warned David that the people of Keilah would betray him. So David fled again.

Simply put, helping others is no guarantee they will not betray you immediately after...

3) Betrayal by your own team

1 Samuel 30:3-6 (NASB) - When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

The backstory - David and his men were allotted the city of Ziklag as their refuge. They left their wives and families there, and finally had some peace of mind to carry out their own military campaigns. Imagine how devastated they were when they came back to discover that their home was destroyed, their possessions seized and their families were captured.

And in the midst of that, David's men spoke of stoning him. If you were raised in a society that eschews violence, you need to realize that violent people do not threaten violence unless they truly mean it. For David's men to speak of stoning him meant that David himself was in genuine danger. Never mind the battling the Amalakites, could he even save himself from his own embittered soldiers in the first place?

There are two main takeaways from the betrayals on his way to the throne

A) Betrayal is one of the job hazards of leadership.

If you are a leader like Saul; suspicious, treacherous, selfish and manipulative, you are just setting yourself up to be betrayed. Then when you meet someone like David, who bends over backward to not betray you, you know that is a miracle from God, one you entirely do NOT deserve.

Isaiah 33:1 (ESV) - Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

But even if you have tried your best to live your life right, it is very likely you will be betrayed. Ask anyone who has already been in leadership. Maybe you're the guy patiently helping the woman of your dreams wean off her dysfunctional boyfriend, and all of a sudden she gangs up with that boyfriend against you. Or maybe you're the employee tirelessly going the extra mile for your boss, only to discover that the colleague you trusted has badmouthed you to the boss and the boss actually believes him. David was betrayed by his mentor; you could have been betrayed by your apprentice, someone you taught your trade secrets to who then left to set up a rival business and poach your customers.

You can say that if you are not ready to face betrayal on your way to the throne, you aren't ready to face betrayal when you are sitting there!

B) You need to know when to win people over.

Betrayal is not the trickiest part; the trickiest part is knowing when to stand your ground in spite of the betrayal and win people over. 

Notice David's reaction to the third betrayal. He did not flee as he did with Saul and the Keilahites. The Scripture implied that David, after hearing from the Lord, set out to win his men over to himself and rallied them to the task of rescuing their families. Anyone who has ever been betrayed before know that it is much easier to either flee or to stay and fight. To stay and win people over is a much higher, a much more difficult route. It makes you vulnerable to people who have already chosen to betray you before. One of the most difficult and dangerous things to do.

I personally suspect that was the reason why this incident was the turning point in David's journey. We are already used to David enjoying military victory wherever he went, because he obeyed God's leading in this area. But this encounter yielded different results. This battle allowed them to capture sheep and cattle (1 Samuel 30:20) and this time, he actually distributed the spoils of the battle among the various cities and regions of Israel he and his men would roam in. Was this turning point because David stayed behind to win over his men? Or because he was fulfilling the God-given assignment that Saul failed at, war on the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:2-3)?

Whatever the reason, David's experiences in dealing with betrayal before he became king helped him deal with betrayal after he ascended the throne. As soul-crushing as the rebellion of Absalom was (2 Samuel 15), David was still able to win back his nation. And even though it was soon followed by Sheba's rebellion, David did not give up in despair looking at how fractured the nation had become but continued to take the necessary steps to regain the throne to discharge his responsibilities as king. If he could not win back to himself his original team back in the ruins of Ziklag, of course he was certainly not ready to win back his nation after the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, true?

Faithful in little...

Conclusion

I started this series of blog posts with only a vague outline of the topics and very little sense of the details. I meant it as a mere intellectual investigation into David's journey to replacing Saul as king, interesting but with little application to most of our lives, because most of us would not be ordained by God to take such an unique path. And now at this, my last post in this series, I realize the best summation is expressed by my old friend, Kenneth Koh. He said we talk glibly of being king and priest (Revelations 1:6), yet have little idea of what it means to be prepared by God to take a throne. "So you wanna be king, huh?" How many of us are willing to stay the course if we already knew in advance what price was required of us?

More importantly, if you see in my series of blog posts enough parallels to your current life and struggles, stay the course. Keep praying, keep feeding your soul with the Scriptures and stay faithful to the tasks at hand. Our God is gracious and compassionate toward us. May his grace and comfort be your strength when facing a difficult season of your journey!

Taking Someone's Position (3)

 To fully grasp the weight of David's struggle for the next part of his journey to the throne, I need to lay down a lot of background, so that you know I am not just talking off the top of my head. We have to go all the way back to the moment Israel decided to adopt a monarchy as their system of leadership.

1 Samuel 8:4-5 (NIV) - So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

From a corporate point of view, we have an organization deciding it is time to employ a CEO. They had a largely casual, family-based tribal network before, but now they want to implement a formal and fixed hierarchy. So they went to the recruiting agent, Samuel the prophet, and told him the temp staff he recommended before (his own sons) were just not up to par; so the people wanted a CEO and all the trappings that came with it. Of course, Samuel felt it was his duty to explain to the people what all that entails.

1 Samuel 8:11-17 (NIV) - “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves."

The two core parts of an employment contract: the job description and the pay and remuneration. Samuel here lists out factors such as labour to manage his lands, the right to allocate human resources toward his personal assets and to enjoy the best of the land. Some of them were common sense; for the king to be able to run a country properly, he needed to have authority and access to the necessary resources. Others were industry standard for remuneration and reward for performing that role. Did Israel want to accept the deal on those terms?

1 Samuel 8:19-20 (NIV) - "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

With that, the country entered into a spiritual agreement, a promise of sorts, that they would render to a king those rights and privileges in return for the king fighting for them and leading them into battle. Of course, we all know that a king's role was more complex than that. A king had to solve the nation's problems, arrange for the administration of justice and make decisions on foreign policy (whom to ally with, trade with or to declare war on). A king who only knew battle was no more than a glorified robber baron. That said, the most crucial role a king had to play was that of fighting the nation's battles. That aspect was the role that a king could not compromise on.

As for David...

It looked good for David in the beginning. He went from proving himself in his private battles (against the lion and the bear, 1 Samuel 17:34-35) to a public victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 17:50) to a crucial next step, leadership over a group of soldiers.

1 Samuel 18:13, 16 (NIV) - So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns...  But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.

This meant that David had to grow in his leadership and management skills. Not only did he need to have his own fighting ability, he had to ensure that the men under his charge were fighting fit also. He had to watch for their welfare and morale, as well as practice delegation, communication and coordination. We would certainly agree that these were essential skills for anyone in a position of leadership to possess. It looked like David's apprenticeship for the throne was going along nicely.

Then came the massive spanner in the works.

Saul began in jealousy of the popular acclaim David received, then progressed to believing David a threat to his throne, until Saul ended up in full enmity with David (1 Samuel 18:29). All that eventually erupted into an all-out attempt to eliminate David as a potential threat to his throne. Over the following chapters, David escaped and sought to take care of family from Saul's reprisals. Unexpectedly, he found himself sought out by a different and unexpected group of people.

1 Samuel 22:1-2 (NIV) - David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.

Bear in mind, Saul was always on a military recruiting footing. He was constantly on the search for mighty or brave men to enlist into his army (1 Samuel 14:52). Those were the type of men David led in his first military command. Those were NOT the type of men David found himself leading now. The men he led now were the rejects, those that Saul would not accept into Israel's national army, or who for some reason or other had left or had been expelled. 

So now David found his leadership responsibilities much more challenging. He had:

1) Less men (from one thousand to about four hundred);

2) Poorer quality (rejects from Saul's army, who either had less talent or more character flaws, or both)

AND

3) NO access to resources to take care of his men.

And this is the HUGE difference.

How on earth do you feed four hundred men out of nowhere? You cannot settle them down to start farming; that would only make it easier for Saul and the army to track them down and finish them off. You cannot raise herds, flocks and cattle, because these men had to remain mobile and ready to flee at a moment's notice should they hear that Saul was on his way. Their only hope was to find a sympathetic community that was large enough to support them and yet be willing to hide the news of their presence.

What did God do next? Did God bring David to a safe hideout with easy access to food supplies and other resources? Or did God just expect David to continue leading his people in battle anyway, for the sake of his people Israel?

1 Samuel 23:1-5 (NIV) - When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”

The LORD answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.

So even without resources, David still continued to serve in the most crucial responsibility of a king: protecting the nation against her enemies. He may have hoped that saving Keilah would have engendered some gratitude that could have led to them hiding his men for some time and feeding them, but that was not to be the case.

1 Samuel 23:10-13 (NIV) - David said, “LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant.”

And the LORD said, “He will.”

Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will.” So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place.

You cannot blame the people of Keilah. Saul had already shown himself willing to kill the priests of the Lord because he thought they were in cahoots with David. Of course he would show the people of Keilah not even a smidgen of mercy. Thus David and his men had to leave Keilah even before Saul arrived. You don't have to be a genius to figure out David and his men were sorely disappointed; firstly, at the lack of gratitude, and secondly at not having a place from where they could find the supplies they needed.

This was the difficulty David was in - he was doing the job he was called to do, fulfilling the responsibilities of the role he was anointed for, but WITHOUT the rewards or resources that would go with it. It is easy to fulfill the tasks and responsibilities of kingship when you have access to the resources and the manpower. The real test of a person's calling is whether he or she remains faithful to the task, devoted to the people, even without immediately receiving the rewards and resources that accompany the role.

David's only gain from saving Keilah? Getting another two hundred followers. That meant at least two hundred mouths to feed. Not as if he was doing very well in feeding the four hundred he already had in the first place, right?

1 Samuel 23:13 (NIV) - So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place.

When you are in David's position, leading a troop of armed men and with no access to food and other necessary supplies, you only have a few options.

1) Become a raider/robber of God's people - essentially, turn his army into a group of bandits.

2) Run an extortion/protection racket - a step up from being bandits, true, but still wrong. You cannot justify threatening God's people with death and destruction just to get food for yourself.

3) Find some rich community or landowner, protect his possessions and his land for free, and hope that later he would, out of goodwill, voluntarily share some of his bounty with you and your followers. 

1 Samuel 25:4-8 (NIV) -  While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

“‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

Was it entirely by chance that David happened to be in the vicinity of Nabal and his holdings? Or maybe David decided that looking for a town to take shelter in was too risky; because the larger population and the volume of human traffic meant that Saul would get word of his location easily. Nabal fit David's desired demographic perfectly: he was wealthy enough to support David's army, for at least a while, and there were fewer people in Nabal's vicinity to bring word to King Saul.

It is obvious that David would be quite pressurized by now. He was running low on options and time. I wonder at times what David told his men to discourage them from turning to banditry and preying on the rest of the Israelites. In any case, David was to be disappointed again.

1 Samuel 25:10-11 (NIV) -  Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days.  Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

And that was why David was so provoked by Nabal that he wanted to slaughter an entire household (1 Samuel 25:22) over the insult. Firstly the insult was totally uncalled for. David was not threatening to Nabal and his household in anyway. Secondly David's men were an assuring protection to Nabal's holdings. Consider:

1 Samuel 25:15-16 (NIV) - Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.

I'm skipping past how Abigail resolved the situation with words of honour (in place of insult) and with provision (in place of ingratitude). My point is, until David took refuge with Achish, King of Gath (which I am very uncomfortable with), he was struggling to feed his men. He was still trying to live as a king ought to, and without the necessary resources and attendant rewards.

The point is...

I firmly believe this is a core part of the process, a key aspect of David's journey to his destiny. He had to fulfill his responsibilities as a king without the necessary resources, and while resisting the temptation to extort the resources from the people of God. And, should you be called in some way to walk the same path as David, that would be your journey also.

You could be a worship leader, called to full-time ministry, but because the doors are not yet open you are forced to work a day-job while volunteering your gifts and abilities in church. You could be a bible teacher by calling, and you spend hours and hours preparing your lesson plans and teaching materials at your own expense. And in spite of getting little or no recognition you keep seeing opportunities to serve AND God's hand of blessing upon your work. You see people blessed through you and yet you yourself are not reaping the rewards of your labour.

Don't misunderstand me

It is God's plan and purpose that work be rewarded and recompensed.

1 Corinthians 9:7-10 (NKJV) - Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.

Should you ever be in a position where your work is not rewarded, your first response should be to examine yourself to see what you are doing wrong. Are you in the wrong industry or company? Or have you yet to learn how to draw boundaries and enforce them? For most people, looking into these aspects is enough to show them the cause and solution of the problem.

But should you find all this happening when you are growing into your calling, and you find yourself struggling to take care of yourself even while you are effectively blessing others, then take it to the Lord. Are you in the same position as David, trying to fulfill the responsibilities without the resources and the rewards?

If so, you need to stay the course. You need to seek God for wisdom day by day, week by week and even hour by hour. You need to guard your heart; bitterness will be your worst enemy masquerading as a warm friend. And of course NEVER walk this path without godly counsel; people whom you can trust to pull you back on track should you ever begin to veer off into error, self-righteousness or resentment.

I am NOT saying working without reward will automatically cause God to open doors to the position you want and bring you there. A situation like this is VERY rare. It is much more likely that someone would be deceived into thinking working without reward is the way to get you the position you desire. And that is setting yourself up for disappointment and resentment when God does not give you what you have demanded for and presumed you have earned.

But if you are one of the rare few, a man or woman after God's heart, whom God has been patiently cultivating and raising for the opportunity, then maybe this prophecy in Isaiah also applies to you in your journey?

Isaiah 49:4 (NASB) - But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,
And My reward with My God.”

 Conclusion - And if you think all this is heavy, wait till you check out the last obstacle to clear on the way to the throne. That is even harder to clear than what I talked about here. Will get on with it as soon as I can. In the meantime, chew on this one and let me know what you think?

 

 

 

 

 

Taking Someone's Position (2)

If you know me long enough, you'll know that I don't dream big myself. I don't have dreams of setting up my own epic business empire or such. My life goals are much more niche!

That said, I am always very keen to see the people around me dream big, set big goals for their lives, and go out boldly to pursue them. Now because life has bashed my head against the wall quite a few times, and because I am a keen student of the mistakes of others, I have some sense of what is necessary to make things happen. Not everyone else has that same sense...

A boss recently talked with me about one of her new hires, an employee who wanted to leave her small company after less than two weeks on probation. Reasons he gave include 'This company is too small, I cant see any progression. I dont want to be photostating stuff. i want to lead'.

(No, I did not miss the typos in the texts, I left them there on purpose.)

He told her he wants to do business. He wants a lot from his life. And when that is given as a reason for leaving her employment, it's clear he thinks he is not going to get anywhere working at her company.

Good thing David did not think that way.

When we last saw David, it was in 1 Sam 16:12 when he was anointed king by the prophet Samuel. And very soon in the Scripture account, David had his big break, his first open door, so to speak. He was appointed official court musician out of nowhere, it seems. And it was one huge step towards his destiny, yes?

1 Samuel 16:19-22 (NIV) - Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul. David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”

But what if David disdained the opportunity? If he was anything like the young man mentioned earlier, David could have said that he was meant to be king, and wanted to be groomed as such, and not have to waste his time as merely an entertainer or just a musician.

Thank God David was too humble for that!

1 Samuel 17:17-18 (NIV) - Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them.

By the next chapter, we discover that even the court appointment was not a full-time gig. He had to go home from court at times, and when he was at home he went back to his menial duties. Over here, we see that David had to do GrabFood delivery!

David had to cycle being available to minister unto Saul and going back to his original shepherd job. He could have let the lowliness of the situation overcome him with resentment. He could have even pulled rank on his family, so to speak, by reminding them he was anointed to be king; he ought not to be thrown the work the rest of his brothers refused. David did not do that.

1 Samuel 17:28 (NIV) - When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

The passage implies:

1) his brothers did not take seriously the call upon David's life;

2) David himself was unassuming, doing whatever he was ordered to do by his father. His promotion in the eyes of God did not fill him with pride; he remained in submission to the authority of Jesse, his father.

Important

Even David's first big break, being appointed Saul's personal musician, did not come out of nowhere either. Consider this passage.

1 Samuel 16:18 (NIV) - One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him.”

We can argue about the spiritual and practical significance of the criteria David fulfilled to be chosen for that job. But this is indisputable: David qualified for his first official appointment through all the work he put in during his shepherding days. We will see from the rest of his journey to the throne that after his first appointment, he still had other tests to pass along the way. Some of those tests were not as straightforward to overcome!

The point of what I am saying is this: a lowly position is where you get to build up faithfulness. That is where you get to practice and try out skills AWAY from the harsh glare of public scrutiny. That is where humility and patience are trained and cultivated. Why? Because if you make any mistakes in humility and patience at that point, matters are less likely to blow up in your face than if you make the same mistakes when you are in a higher position.

Conclusion

I am not saying that you should always choose the lower position if doors open at the same time and you get to decide. What I am saying is that if you find yourself stuck in a lowly position, or if the opportunity you have is the only one that is available to you, then don't despise it. Don't look down on doing cleaning, low grade paperwork or even just zapping enough copies of lesson materials for children's classes.  

If all you have to do is run errands, then run errands. Use the opportunity to pray and look out around you for things to notice and people to observe (and maybe help). In the course of the mundane life, you do not know when your burning bush experience will come, when God uses something a little out of the ordinary to catch your attention and speak to you. You do not know when the mundane tasks will turn out to be training you in skills you need in the future, or if the smaller challenges you have to overcome now in private are preparing you to overcome your Goliath in public.  

Luke 16:10 (ESV) - One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

This one single passage is probably responsible for almost everything of worth I have achieved in my life so far. May it encourage you in your own journey also. There is still more to share about David's journey to being fit to become king in Saul's place. See you at the next post!

Taking Someone's Position (1)

Have you ever had to take someone else's position before? 

Ever had to be the usurper, so to speak?

I hesitate to post on this, because there are people out there who will take this teaching and use it to justify and rationalize plotting against their pastor, bosses and other leaders. But I soon figured out those people don't need excuses from me, they'd proceed no matter what I say. So for the benefit of everyone else, people who'd actually NEED this teaching, I'll proceed. 

Romans 13:1 (ESV) - Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 

So every person in authority has been appointed by God. Therefore, to plot against them, to seek to remove them from power, or even worse, to take their place, is an extremely serious matter. 

1 Samuel 15:28 (ESV) - And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 

We have to be very clear - any removal of anyone from a position of authority has to start from God. If he did not decree it, it will not happen. And you risk very serious consequences, in both the material and in the spiritual realms, should you try. 

1 Samuel 16:12 (ESV) - And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 

Likewise for who is to be that leader's replacement. That is a decision to be made by God, not by us. It is not for you to desire and want to be the leader; it is for God to appoint you for it. And even if God himself has appointed you for it, there are still tests and trials ahead, tests and trials that you might very well fail and thus disqualify yourself.

What makes the whole thing very tricky is the fact that God looks at all these matters very differently from how we look at them.

If you were to judge the reigns of Saul versus David, Saul did very little wrong compared to David. He lost his kingdom to David for the sin of sparing the Amalekites. Meanwhile, David messed up horribly compared to Saul. And yet God decreed the throne of David a throne that would endure forever. 

What gives?

This should fill us with humility and the desire to seek the Lord, to walk close with him every step of the way, and strive to obey him in every single area we can. Confidence in the flesh is VERY dangerous, and even more so should you be called by God to leadership in any way, shape or form. We are woefully inadequate to judge if God has withdrawn his support for any leader he has appointed. Does it happen? Yes, of course. But when? It is well nigh impossible for us to judge thus in the flesh. And even more so if you believe you are the one chosen by God to replace him or her. 

Conclusion:

The entire Saul-David dynamic is very interesting to study. It raises questions for which there are sometimes no certain answers. I personally do not know any believer who had to walk David's path to take over someone else's kingdom, but I have read enough horror stories of what happens when people thought they were the David to replace a Saul, and they were wrong. The damage is extensive and far-reaching. 

This thought should spur is to humility and walking closely with the Lord, true? 

See you at the next post. Be blessed!

Buy Time and Use Time Wisely

I haven't been putting up teaching posts, because I have been really busy and tired out with work. Also, I wanted to do posts only if I could spend as much time and effort on them as I did in my earlier posts. That was unrealistic, to say the least. So, just to break the drought of posts, here is a simple one to get things going again. Hopefully...

2 Chronicles 17:3-5 (ESV) - The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand.

Jehoshaphat had just ascended the throne. He decided in his heart to not follow the example of his father Asa, who rejected the LORD in the later part of his reign, but instead to seek the LORD fully. The LORD established the kingdom in his hand. Simply put, his devotion to the LORD gave him a good head start, a position of strength over his kingdom.

2 Chronicles 17:7-10 (ESV) - In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat used that time to teach the people the Word of God. He made the deliberate effort to raise national Scripture literacy levels. To him, it was not enough that his heart was in the right place, he wanted his people to be educated in the ways of the LORD and how to please him.

Notice the result - because he sought to teach the Law of the LORD, the usual foreign enemies made no war against Jehoshapat. Of course, this was only a temporary reprieve; we know from the Scriptures that war eventually came against Judah later. But the point is this: the teaching of the Law bought him time even more time of peace, and allowed him to accumulate resources and prepare for war.

2 Chronicles 17:12-13 (ESV) - And Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built in Judah fortresses and store cities, and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.

Lessons for us
1) Start Well - set your heart upon the LORD. This is the essential foundation for everything else. It will bring us a basic level of success and prosperity.

2) Feed on the Word of God - many people get complacent. "Ever since I believed in Jesus, my sickness went away and I got a promotion at work". That's absolutely wonderful, but don't stop there. This is the time to renew your mind and feed your spirit man on the Scriptures, so that you become stronger still.

Hard truth - what helped you clear the easier trials and tests of faith is NOT going to be enough to clear you through what will come later. You need to continually grow in the LORD, to establish yourself more firmly in the faith. And a huge, huge part of that depends on the time you spend feeding yourself the Word of God. Use the time of peace to prepare yourself for the trials that will come, for they will come.

3) Plan for Trouble - Part of preparing for trouble is of course spending time in the Scriptures. By now I am convicted that every believer needs to regularly read though the entire Bible every few years at least, to ensure that they have some hope of remembering the next Bible verse they need. I have been reading through the Bible once a year every year since 2016, and given the trials I face that is just a bare minimum.

Another part of planning for trouble is being practical - save up money, don't splurge it unnecessarily Invest your money in what strengthens you (Jehoshaphat building fortresses and investing in troops) and build up supplies (Jehoshaphat building store cities). Build up your health, reduce your intake of unhealthy food, eat healthier food and get some proper exercise regularly.
You don't want to face the trials of life broke and sick!

Conclusion

I hate seeing believers get caught offguard when they are hit by the trials of life. What I often see is that they had a time of peace before that, but they failed to use that time well to prepare for trials. Don't let that happen to you, OK?

 

Flesh vs The Spirit

Boasting and Persuasion

Boasting in the Flesh

The older I get, the less keen I am to boast in the flesh. That, sadly, leads to a disconnect with people who don't hear well from the Spirit, but are much more familiar with their flesh. (I am using flesh, carnality and related terms here as a contrast to living by the Spirit)

Apostle Paul had a problem with the carnal Corinthians. He found that just using the Word of God and showing the works of God were not convincing enough to them, so he felt driven to pen these words.

2 Corinthians 11:21-29 (NKJV) - But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

The key idea of Paul here: "I speak foolishly" and "I speak as a fool". In other words, Paul feels it is stupid that he even needs to bring up this topic, and that he feels embarrassed to have to appeal to his experiences rather than the Word of God and the works of God.

2 Corinthians 12:5-6 (NKJV) - Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

The problem with boasting in the flesh is that it can cause misunderstandings. The carnal people speak to each other carnally, and they know what is meant. When the spiritual use carnal boasting, the carnal can easily misunderstand the words.

Let me give you an example.

When I first started playing drums for worship, it was at a mega-church. In other words, you know they had people to spare, they had standards and expectations from their musicians, and it meant that for me to play drums there at the age of 20, I was not a total incompetent.

But if I were to talk of it, "I first started playing drums for worship at 20 years old, at a mega-church", there will be people to take it to mean I am really skilled or knowledgeable at drums. Nope, I wasn't. It's just that I was not totally incompetent. But I still had a lot to learn then, and I admit to my shame, I was quite arrogant and unteachable at that time. So I didn't learn as much as I could have.

That is why I'd rather not talk about that season. If I wanted to make a point about how drums were to be used in church, I would rather use logic, reason, Scripture (if applicable) and let my own ability speak for itself, if I was worth listening to or not. Look at my music, especially my playing, to see if you should give weight to my opinions on serving via music.

But if someone less skilled than the 13 year-olds I taught drums to when I was 15 would say that when it comes to drums in church, I really don't get it (but he in his incompetence does), and if there are church leaders who would even give consideration to his words (to think he has a point when arguing against something I thought was common sense), that is when boasting in the flesh becomes necessary. I could understand that guy's arrogance, I mean, I was young and arrogant before too (except that I had more skills to back it up of course). But I could not understand if church leaders ever needed me to boast of my experience from the days I am now quite embarrassed about.

2 Corinthians 12:11-12 (NKJV) - I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

I am no apostle; signs and wonders for me measured in how seldom my boys are late for school even though I am the one in charge of getting them ready for school in the morning. In church I have a cushy ministry; I play music and get to call it serving the church, the people of God. Things cannot get much easier for me, so I don't get to boast of epic works of service. But in what I do know, I would say I know well, and I let those whom I have served decide for themselves if what I say is true.

In other words, the sphere to which I have been appointed includes church music, especially in the churches I serve in.

2 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) - We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.

Persuading by the Spirit

Now outside of that, when it comes to other aspects of the believer's life, I would rather use the Scriptures as my authority. When dealing with an unpleasant situation, if the word of God has given clear enough guidelines, that is pretty much all there is to it. I don't know everything in the Bible as well as I'd like, so if there are Scripture passages or principles I missed, do tell me. But if I didn't miss anything but expressed the clear and complete teaching of the Bible on a particular question, the word of God should just settle it immediately.

There are enough rules and guidelines in the Bible on how to live life. God knows how many churches would be fine if the members were taught to follow Matthew 18 in dealing with conflicts. The book of Proverbs contains enough wisdom to keep us from marrying narcissistic sociopaths by mistake. The Psalms transmit the essence of worship and prayer in ways that conferences and seminars are woefully inadequate to.

It's sad that for many of my fellow Charismatics who call themselves Spirit-filled believers, they seem to think they have a Catholic-like dispensation, an exemption from the parts of the Bible they don't like. The believers I know from traditional churches are much more serious about obeying the Word, and if they disagree with me on something they have Scripture-based arguments that I can respect, even if I don't agree with them.

The carnal are good at coming up with excuses. "You don't understand", "You don't know what it's like", "You have never been through what I have been through". *shrug Show me from the Scriptures since when those are valid reasons for nullifying the Word of God.

Don't Get Me Wrong

I don't obey ALL of the Bible either. I don't do everything I know from the Scriptures I ought to do. And because of that, I know I am NOT entitled to all the benefits of obedience. It is as simple as that. Any area of my life I do not obey the Scriptures in, is an area I cannot complain to God about when things go wrong or if I have no rest in my spirit.

And that is what I say to my fellow siblings-in-Christ. Obey the Scriptures, the best you can. Don't make excuses for not obeying, and later expect God to lavish on you the benefits of obedience anyway. Let me not have to boast in my flesh to tell you the Word of God will prevail. Let me not have to tell you stories of all the nasty lessons I learned from life because I was too stubborn to learn from God's Word directly.

And if God brings mentors into your path, for God's sake listen to them. Don't talk to them about how well you heard from God before, and that is why you don't need to obey the Scriptures immediately, now. A God-sent mentor can drastically level you up in your wisdom and following the ways of God. Empty your cup, be humble, let the Word of God through your mentor prune you further that you may bear much fruit.

John 15:2-3 (NKJV) - Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you



More blog posts coming up, God willing. :)

Michael Card - Biblical Imagination Series Review

One thing about me - I am an independent learner when it comes to the Bible. I don't go about chasing after the latest, greatest, flavour-of-the-month when it comes to Bible teachers. Why would I do that when I can just stay at home and read the Bible by myself? Of course there are other people who say the same thing, but not that many of them actually read the Bible. I do. I spend extended periods of time in the Scriptures and enjoy it.

But Michael Card has gotten me all excited about his Biblical Imagination Series!

The timing was interesting - I was going through the Gospel of John as part of my Bible reading plan this year and this time through I felt that I wasn't quite getting it. The Gospel of John wasn't quite sinking into me as much as usual. And just about that time I found out that Sought After Music was bringing in Michael Card to teach on the Gospel of John, I just KNEW I had to be there.

And I certainly was not disappointed.

To humour those of us who knew him more for his songwriting than for his teaching, he began by singing three of his songs, including his classic El Shaddai.


Putting it simply, he was singing in Hebrew way before it was considered cool!

Then he went into his prologue, giving us a broad overview of Jesus as presented in the Gospels, pointing out details that make each Gospel account unique. For example, the Gospel of John only spoke about Jesus' emotions four times, while the Gospel of Mark had fifteen adjectives for Jesus' emotions. And Mr Card used this example to drive home his point - we not only have to listen to what the Gospels say, we also have to listen out for what they do NOT say.

Especially for the Gospel of John, what he does not say is very important to note. 92% of the Gospel of John does not occur in the other Gospels. Because yesterday's session was only the first part, Mr Card did not yet delve much into the Gospel of John yet. He did, however, point out that John was a preacher, who by the time he wrote the Gospel account would have had 50 years of preaching experience. He would therefore know through experience when we listeners would need help and would insert parenthetical statements to explain his point further.

For example:

John 7:2-5 (NASB) - Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him. (emphasis mine)

I am not going to go into more detail here, because there is no way I can do Mr Card's material and presentation justice. But I urge you, strongly urge you, to attend his teaching yourself. He teaches in a way that is possible only for people who have spent huge amounts of time and effort digging into the details of the Gospels, the historical context of the events and the nuances of the Biblical languages.

So turn up. Mr Card still has one more session on tonight (9th November 2016), 7.30 pm, at Bible House, 7 Armenian Street, 5th Level. Entry is at $40 for the session, and you'll have to hurry because the seating is limited. I'll certainly be there for tonight's session. Hope to see you there!