A Serpent On The Pole or The Snakes In The Grass?
“Jerusalem shall dwell
safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our
righteousness.” (Jer. 33:16).
Why spend our emotional
energy on worries instead of on prayer and faith in the written word of
God?
We have the following
experience to teach us where worrying leads and from what our worrying is
derived.
“And the people spake against
God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in
the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul
loatheth this light bread.
And the LORD sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel
died.
Therefore the people came to
Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and
against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us. And
Moses prayed for the people.
And the LORD said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass,
that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” (Num.
21:5-8).
If the Lord spent 40 years, while under His protection, teaching the nation how to abide in Him, and His
grace couldn’t motivate them to learn, then it was time to let consequences
motivate them to learn. Looking at Christ is not optional for freedom from
worrying, and obtaining peace of mind. We’ve been in this wilderness for a long
time. Have we learned that Christ is our only hope from anxiety? Have we
learned how to abide in Him?
The lesson for us to learn
is, What do we look at to solve the problems that are killing us, especially our problematic worrying? Do we look at the Serpent on the pole, or do we look at the snakes in
the grass? There are lots of self-help resources and psychologies, quips and
quotations, which give pointers on what “I can do myself” in order to overcome
worrying. Believe it or not, the self-help resources and psychologies teach us
to rely on self to fix self’s problems. What doctor relies on his diagnoses for
his own diseases? Doctors go to other doctors. Therefore, self-help resources and
psychologies cannot help self. They are only gimmicks. They all have “I” problems. What we need is the Great Physician, but the self-help resources and psychologies do not teach
us how to rely on Christ. They teach us to hope in #1 (self), (which is what
sin is all about,) when what we need is hope in God and the healing touch of the Master.
Self-help psychologies cannot teach us
faith because they have zero experience in trusting the
unknown, unseen God. They have never hoped in “God’s” solutions. Neither can
they teach us how to trust in Christ’s beautiful merits because they can’t teach us to
look at Christ and His righteousness, or to His great cloud of witnesses who
all testify of Him. Therefore, the self-help resources and humanistic
psychologies don’t teach what He can do for us through resting in His powerful
justification and presence.
For instance…
“Don’t let worries kill you,
let the church help.”
“Why worry when you can
pray?”
“Worrying is like a rocking
chair; it gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.”
“We each choose how to spend
our emotional energy, just like we each choose how to spend our money…. You can’t
get it back once it’s spent.”
(All quotes taken from It Is
Written, “Worrywarts under the microscope”
Humanistic quips and quotes
keep us fixated on this broken world and the things of this world instead of
looking away to heaven and to our great High Priest who is touched with the
feelings of our infirmities.
This is what Jesus has to say
to these Babylonian authorities who only perpetuate the misery of millions:
“But unto the wicked God
saith, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take
My covenant in thy mouth?
Seeing thou hatest
instruction, and castest My words behind thee.” (Ps. 50:16,17).
“Gather My saints together
unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice….
Offer unto God thanksgiving;
and pay thy vows unto the most High:
And call upon Me in the day
of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.” (Ps. 50:5,14,15).
Although this world’s helpful
hints undeniably provide some help, look at them closely and you will see that they lack
faith; they all lack faith Jesus. They are essentially atheistic, and in the end they only manage problems, they not remove them. Here are more…
“A day of worry is more
exhausting than a day of work.”
“We spend our days thinking
about things that will never happen, but the things we think will happen.”
“I am an old man and have
known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Mark Twain
“How much pain they have cost
us, the evils which have never happened.” Thomas
Jefferson
“As a rule, what is out of
sight disturbs men’s minds more seriously than what they see”. Julius Caesar
A study done on people’s
worries:
“50% never happen
25% the past
10% [unconfirmed] criticism
10% about health
5% real problems.”
In a way, all of those “helpful
things to do” are only looking at the snakes that are coming to bite you. This
is because we aren’t looking at Jesus. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom.
14:23). It’s a law that if we aren’t looking at the Serpent on the pole, then
we are automatically looking at and worrying about the serpents in the grass.
These are the only two options.
But, faith looks away from
the fiery snakes and looks to the bronze Serpent who was made to be sin in our place. Faith distrusts the self-help measures and the psychologists’ suggestions to ignore
worrying. Faith pays no attention to positive thinking and to New Year’s
resolutions to stop worrying. The atheistic, self-help mind stares worrisome
things in the face and arrogantly proclaims, “I will never look at you again!”
But it does not look away from the causes of worry and anxiety because it
cannot. No matter the boasts, the atheistic mind has no willpower to look away from earth, neither
does it deep-down desire to do so. It is a self-satisfied captive to Satan’s delusions.
And heaven keeps itself far enough away in order to challenge the god of proud,
atheistic self-help.
Faith has a different object to
which to look, instead of trying hard to ignore the object that creates worry.
Faith looks to Jesus, what He had to say as well as what He did from Genesis
1:1 (“…the beginning...”) to Revelation 22:22 (“The end”). Faith talks with His Spirit and rejoices in His presence. Faith says, I will
ignore everything else for victory over fears and worries. I will draw
close to Jesus through His actions throughout Old and New Testaments, and His
words during the same.
“Sinful man can find hope and
righteousness only in God, and no human being is righteous any longer than he
has faith in God and maintains a vital connection with Him. A flower of the
field must have its root in the soil; it must have air, dew, showers, and
sunshine. It will flourish only as it receives these advantages, and all are
from God. So with men. We receive from God that which ministers to the life of
the soul. We are warned not to trust in man, nor to make flesh our arm. A curse
is pronounced upon all who do this.” Testimonies
to Ministers, p. 366.
Faith is not manufactured from within. Faith is beyond our control. Without the presence of Jesus by His personal Spirit, we are completely dead of faith. It is
completely a gift of God. But we do have a part to act in its cause. We can look at the warnings and promises from Jesus. And that is all we can do. Then trust in Jesus happens. It
just happens. And when it does our worries vanish, and peace comes.
“All that man can possibly do
toward his own salvation is to accept the invitation, ‘Whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely’ (Revelation 22:17). No sin can be committed by
man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary. Thus the cross, in
earnest appeals, continually proffers to the sinner a thorough expiation.” Selected Messages, bk.1, p. 343.
“...no human being is righteous any longer than he has faith in God and maintains a vital connection with Him” is the formula for
justification that gives us victory over the past. But, it is also the same formula
for our sanctification, as we work out our own salvation with fear and
trembling. Do we have “faith in God” and
maintain “a vital connection with Him”? Are we accepting “the invitation, ‘Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely’ (Revelation 22:17)”? If so then we
have peace. If not, then we have anxiety biting us, and the traps of the
devil ensnaring us. Know Jesus, know peace. No Jesus, no peace.
“Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1).
If we don’t trust in Christ’s justification,
then we have no peace—a peace that passes all comprehension.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7).
That’s a lot of faith! Or,
that’s the right kind of faith. Do we have faith that remains through all our
current tribulations? Will we end up with the faith that will remain through
the great tribulation? Or, will we fall for cunningly devised fables that tell
us we will be raptured away before the tribulation hits?
“For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8).
We are justified by faith and
saved by faith. But Paul also said that we are saved by hope.
“For we are saved by hope:
but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope
for?” (Rom. 8:24).
So how do justification and
salvation happen, by faith or by hope? What is the connection between hope and
faith? We have the famous definition for this question in Hebrews 11.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the
elders obtained a good report.” (Heb. 11:1,2).
Would you like to receive a
good report card from the righteous Judge? Wouldn’t we all!
Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is based on evidence.
No one can see God and say, “Now I know God.” God has purposely separated Himself from us
for our own good. We need to relearn the wonderful faith that we lost in the
Garden of Eden. And that relearning necessarily requires harsh situations under
His Law’s hot reproofs. Or relearning Edenic trust comes through slushing around in the muck of this sinful world, so
that we will need God sufficiently so that our cries to to Him break through the atheism-faith
barrier.
Every sinner must look at His workmanship in order to say, “Now I know God.” But too many “seeth Him not,
neither knoweth Him”. (John 14:17). They say that because they can’t see Him
then He must not exist. But He has left tons of evidence, and they won’t look
at the evidence. Deep down inside, it’s an offense to them that He won’t appear
before them.
“Believe Me that [I say] I am
in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’
sake.” (John 14:11).
Their faculty of faith is lazy or titillated by temptation. They won’t go to the evidence of Himself that He has left strewn all around. They won’t let the evidence speak to them.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor
language, where their voice is not heard.” (Ps. 19:1-3).
“Nature and revelation alike
testify of God’s love. Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom,
and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of
their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only of man, but of
all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh the
earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator’s love. It
is God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures. In the beautiful
words of the psalmist--
‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee;
And Thou givest them their meat in due
season.
Thou openest Thine hand,
And satisfiest the desire of every living
thing.’
Psalm 145:15, 16.” Steps to Christ, p. 9.
But faith is more than
evidence. It is also the fruit of hope. Faith is the substance of hope. Both
faith and hope are abstracts that need something concrete to help describe
them.
“NowG1161 faithG4102
isG2076 the substanceG5287 of things hoped for,G1679
the evidenceG1650 of thingsG4229 notG3756
seen.G991” Heb 11:1
The word, “substance” is the
Greek hupostasis, which Strong’s
concordance attaches the number,
G5287
ὑπόστασις
hupostasis
hoop-os’-tas-is
From a compound of G5259 and
G2476; a setting under (support), that is,
(figuratively) concretely essence, or
abstractly assurance (objectively or
subjectively): - confidence, confident, person, substance.
G5259
ὑπό
hupo
hoop-o’
A primary preposition; under, that is, (with the genitive) of
place (beneath), or with verbs (the
agency or means, through); (with the
accusative) of place (whither [underneath]
or where [below]) or time (when [at]): - among, by, from, in, of, under,
with. In compounds it retains the same genitive applications, especially of inferior position or condition, and
specifically covertly or moderately.
G2476
ἵστημι
histēmi
his’-tay-mee
A prolonged form of a primary
word στάω staō (of the same meaning, and used for it in certain tenses); to stand (transitively or intransitively),
used in various applications (literally or figuratively): - abide, appoint, bring,
continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand
(by, forth, still, up). Compare G5087.
So, the Greek hupostasis equates “substance”
with “understand”? The first word, “substance”, has a concrete meaning and the second, “understand”, an
abstract meaning. As we “understand” the promises our hope takes on substance until faith becomes hard as a bicep.
How about another approach. Think of the word, “gel”. “Gel” brings hupostasis together for us. “Gel” is something that we often squirt from a tube. The makers took some chemicals and when mixed those chemicals together until they solidified into a liquidy-pasty, semi-solid substance for haircuts and hair-dos.
How about another approach. Think of the word, “gel”. “Gel” brings hupostasis together for us. “Gel” is something that we often squirt from a tube. The makers took some chemicals and when mixed those chemicals together until they solidified into a liquidy-pasty, semi-solid substance for haircuts and hair-dos.
But we also often use the word,
“gel”, to mean an idea that came together for us after we brought
together other ideas. So there’s old Ben Franklin looking at lightning and thinking,
“Lightning has a lot of power. And I would like to harness that power. But I
need to get up there where the lightning is. Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. I know what to do, I’ll tie
a key to a kite and the kite will fly the key up to the lightning.” The idea of
harnessing lightning gelled for old Ben Franklin. So the abstract thought of
old Ben is similar to the concrete product of hair gel. It applies to hope and faith also.
How does this apply to hope
and faith? Hope gels into faith. Evidence for the possibility of things not
seen, such as the words and expressions that make up a future promise,
mixes with hope. The promise gets read and understood. It gets mulled upon and
mulled upon some more until suddenly faith and confidence appear. And the mulling
naturally takes time. Later, after more experience with the outcome of that
promise, comes greater confidence and faith. After playing with electricity,
electric generators were invented. Likewise, the more we work our faith, the
more we trust in God’s hand to work in our behalf, and the more He can put us
through tests, which incrementally grow in difficulty, the stronger our faith becomes.
We see this in Abraham after
years of walking and talking with God.
“Who against hope [against
all odds] believed in hope [his faith struggling to hope], that he might
become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall
thy seed be.
And being not weak in faith
[in God’s promise], he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about
an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:
He staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
And being fully persuaded
that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:18-22).
What was the evidence not
seen but believed? “The promise of God”, a promise from Someone who had previously proven
Himself to be faithful. It was the word of Jesus, Abraham “being fully
persuaded that, what [Jesus] had promised, He was able also to perform.” (Rom.
4:21). Does the word of God fully persuade you? Does the word persuade me?
Have we yet proven the Bible to
be true? Has it been reasonable? Has its evidences grown on us, so that at some
point faith in it happened? Just out of the blue? One day we were
still wrestling in doubt with it after many weeks or months or years, and the next day we didn’t
feel the need to wrestle with the Word of God any more, because we could see Him as trustworthy? What
was that? It was the gift of faith. One day vacillating between doubt and
faith; the next day solid confidence, substantial faith, hope with substance.
Another way to look at hope becoming the real substance of faith is in the states of matter, as in water that, given or taken away enough
energy, will become vaporous or solid. After giving boiling water another 539 calories of heat
it remains liquid. Not until giving it one more calorie does it flash into
steam. The molecular bond with other water molecules breaks and a molecule
wafts its way heavenward. Likewise, after removing 179 calories of heat from boiling water, upon removing one more calorie, suddenly it crystallizes into ice. Substance!
Likewise, does the mind when
it is given enough evidence and effort and time before the word of God and His
promises. As the Spirit from God descends to our ascending faith that imperceptibly
reaches upward and closer to the Spirit that moves upon the face of the
faithful, suddenly an arc connects heaven and earth. And our dead soul is jolted into life. Yes! Praise God from whom all blessings
flow! Praise Him in the highest! His mercy endureth forever! And Thy faithfulness unto all generations!
When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we
were like them that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our
tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great
things for them.
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are
glad.
Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in
the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious [promises],
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his [fruit] with him. (Ps.
126).
posted by David | 4:37 PM
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