praying in hard days

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;

1 Timothy 2:8

This is the second call to prayer in 1 Timothy 2. And it should be understood in the context of the first call to pray found in 1 Timothy 2:1-4. In that first call the apostle Paul categorizes types of prayer and people to pray for. Prayers come as worship prayers, supplications asking God to work, intercessions on behalf of others in need, and thanksgiving to God for His past powerful provision and gracious answers. 

And who do we pray for? First on Paul’s list was the government (kings and authorities)… specifically that Christians could lead peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified lives. In an era of hostile persecution felt by all (Paul was, after all, writing these words from prison), this involved gospel-changed perspective and faith. This attitude in prayer Paul describes as “good” and “pleasing in the sight of God”, reflecting God’s own desire that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

It is with that kind of prayer that Christian gatherings are conducted according to Paul. We can lift holy hands, not complaining, grumbling, or trying to counter our circumstances under our own power. Instead, we must trust God to Whom we lift up our intercessions to keep us from harm, help us spread the gospel attractively, and lead peaceful, quiet lives in Christ’s kingdom. And so we should pray today, turning our disillusionments, our pains, our needs, and our persecutions over in trust to God Who is doing more through them because He ALWAYS does what HE WANTS even if His Kingdom succeeds against opposition. Our prayers lift up God’s agenda and place ourselves under Him.

Wisdom’s Promise

So you will walk in the way of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

For the upright will inhabit the land,

and those with integrity will remain in it.

Proverbs 2:20-21

Wisdom promises me a good way

a path for my feet to stay

where God leads His people well

in righteousness with Him to dwell

Wisdom leads me to inhabit a land

given by God’s good hand

filled with mercies always good

helping me please Him as I should

Wisdom walks before the Lord

righteously following His great Word

integrity marks the soul’s way

that in wisdom will always stay

Wisdom walks the way of God’s good

wisdom will surround my neighborhood

living in the wisdom of God’s way

He leads and controls every day

rejecting God’s wisdom

Because they hated knowledge

and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

would have none of my counsel

and despised all my reproof,

therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,

and have their fill of their own devices.

Proverbs 1:29-31

When people turn their backs on God’s wisdom, here is what they really lose: 1) True knowledge. Without God’s perspective knowledge is limited, warped, and corrupted by sin. It is more than incomplete though. It is inaccurate, deceiving, and false. Only God is the source of truth. 2) Respect for a holy God. Without God, we will worship the wrong things because human beings are hard-wired to worship AND WE WILL! The rule of false gods always destroys and disappoints. 3) True direction. Without the counsel of God’s Word, life choices are a pathetic roll of the dice. Sometimes a random good choice may occur. But often our choices turn out to be pain-filled and destructive because they are based on our own sinful desires. 4) Course correction. There is no way to get back to a true path when the internal GPS is hard-wired in sin to lead us to hell.

What happens when God and His offer of wisdom is rejected may not look so bad to people at first. God will let sinners have their way. And they will eat of the fruit of their choices and have their fill. And it may temporarily seem to satisfy. Until they want more and realize mortality and the grave are the only end in sight. Why are so many of the mega-rich obsessed with finding eternal health and youth? Could it be because all the wealth and power only shows their inability to avoid the inevitable? It is truly spiritual suicide to reject God.

There is a way out. Wisdom still calls out to any who will listen. The gospel of Jesus Christ is offered in the public square. True knowledge is in Jesus. A holy worship of God is found in belief in the gospel message. God’s loving direction comes to those who repent of sin and believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord. We can receive God’s Holy Spirit and find direction in God’s Word. Our lives are made holy and we can correct our ways through knowing Jesus, following scripture, and yielding to the Holy Spirit’s work in us. Wisdom’s voice still leads us to Jesus!

Lord of peace

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Lord,

I receive Your peace. I live under Your reconciling grace. You are my Lord. You gave me peace with God. You will lead me to be at peace in You with Your Church. You call me to proclaim Your peace in a rattled world.

Amen

Work quietly and earn a living.

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

2 Thessalonians 3:11-12

Paul addressed an unusual problem that had crept into the Thessalonian church. Because false teachers had introduced a destructive heresy saying Jesus has already returned (2 Thessalonians 2:2-3), there were people in the congregation who were led astray by this false doctrine, consumed with either worry or laziness. These people had stopped working for a living and were instead living off others. This eschatological inequity split the church into two categories; 1) Those who kept working and providing for their families, dismissing the outrageous heresy. 2) those overcome by bad theology, obsessed with it, who quit their careers, waited for it all to end, and begged their way into being a burden to the rest of the church. It is this group of prophecy buff freeloaders that Paul reprimanded seriously!

And in that reprimand we see a principle and a reminder for how all Christians live as they wait for Christ’s return. It is very simple: Don’t change a thing. Stay at following Jesus and proclaiming the gospel. Wake up every morning, go to work, do your job, make a living, provide for your family, trust God in your calling to provide for your needs. Christians obey Christ and wait for His return by simply going on with life and concentrating on the Great Commission.

Alarmist eschatology always wants to circumvent this. It is unbiblical. It is sinful. It is heresy to neglect preaching the gospel and replacing it with alarmist end times speculation. I am disheartened every time I see Christians participate in headline hermeneutics. We serve Jesus best in bringing Him into our day to day activity. Bring Jesus to the factory and work hard! Bring Jesus to the job site and build well! Bring Jesus onto the sales force and help people! Bring Jesus to the classroom and teach! Bring Jesus to the clinic and heal! Bring Jesus to the office and lead, organize, and conduct business benefitting the King of Kings! Work quietly. Earn a living. Follow Jesus. Wake up tomorrow and do it again. Don’t give up.

“Fear not, little flock.”

Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Luke 12:31-32

Modern worry has a strange physical appearance. It wears unusual masks on the outside. It hides profoundly deep inside new technology. Could the ultra convenience of Amazon consumerism and rapid delivery of nearly everything a person wants or needs be hiding a heart of worry? Could “Uber-eat”ing our way through days be a kind of awful insecurity that has turned hearts to worship an internet-powered, touch screen tech god? Has convenience blinded us from the One Who truly provides for us? If so, are we subtly being called to worship a tech kingdom rather than to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first?

God wants us to know the pleasures of His provision for us. He calls us to live not fixated on earthly things. We should not worry about what to eat, what to wear, what to do, or how much we have. We reject materialistic anxiety. That is what worldlings do… people who only live in a limited life perspective fixed on material wants and needs and blind to life in the Spirit.

Instead, we trust the God Who made all things, is above all things, and longs to care for His children. He has provided salvation in His Son. He has placed us in His kingdom. And He will take care of our needs with no reason for us to be caught again in the tyranny of materialistic anxiety. He shepherds us as His own little flock. He calms us tenderly: “Fear not, little flock.” He loves us greatly: “Fear not, little flock.” He owns us and cares for us intimately: “Fear not, little flock.”

Praise God for His Word.

He declares his word to Jacob,

his statutes and rules to Israel.

He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

they do not know his rules.

Praise the LORD!

Psalm 147:19-20

God’s Word is a precious gift. If God had never spoken, the universe would not exist. Everything literally exists and is sustained by His Word. And God gave His written Word to humanity that we might know Him. It came through one people, the Israelites, to the world God has made. And so much is known about God and about us and about how we may know God in His Word.

Thank God for His Word! In Genesis we see God make Himself known in great promises that began a way to save a race that had rebelled against Him. He chose a plan to bring a Savior. He chose one man and one woman, Abraham and Sarah, to produce His chosen people. To those people He brought His Word. And to those people He would send His Son, born an Israelite, Jesus, the Living Word!

In the Pentateuch God revealed His holy Law. Praise God for His Word! In it Israel saw His vast holiness and learned their great need of atonement for sin. And in that law priests and sacrifices provided the means to know God, all the while pointing to a great Savior, a Great High Priest yet to come… Jesus, Who would offer Himself as the last sacrifice once for all for the sins of the world.

Thank God for His Word! Prophets warned Israel to repent and follow God’s Word. They foretold not only judgment for disobedience, but the glories of a future kingdom. They testified to the failure of Israel’s earthly kings and looked forward to the reign of the King of Kings. They tenderly portrayed the love of a suffering Savior Who would die for sin and be raised again in power.

Thank God for His Word! For gospels that let us walk with Jesus! For history that sees God at work in actual events! For prophecy that gives us a certain future! For epistles that ground us in sound doctrine! Praise the Lord for His Word! It is a powerful and precious gift!