Life's Inanities and Ironies

  "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." — Acts 13:2 After the risen Christ ascended, He did not leave His people without direction. He gave the Spirit, the apostolic Word, and a missionary church. Acts is not a catalog of techniques for getting personal messages. It is the record of the church’s founding, and it still teaches a guided people how to live together under that Lord. Notice the setting. They were ministering to the Lord and fasting. Guidance for world mission was given in worship, not in restlessness. Barnabas and Saul were not sitting in a corner demanding a destiny. They were in the work when the next work was named. The Spirit’s call was confirmed in the body. The church fasted again, prayed, laid hands on them, and sent them away. Private impressions were not treated as sufficient. That pattern rebukes two kinds of men: the man who will not be sent, and the ma...

  "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." — John 6:38 All lesser examples bow here. The Lord Jesus is not merely our pattern of guidance. He is our Savior, and only the saved can follow Him. You cannot treat the obedient Son as a model while refusing Him as a substitute. Yet once you belong to Him, the Gospels show a human life lived in perfect, glad submission to the Father. “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19). He moved when His hour had come and refused when it had not. At twelve He must be about His Father’s business, and still He went down to Nazareth and was subject unto His parents. In Gethsemane He yielded the cup He naturally shrank from. There is no conflict in Him between the will He came to do and the sorrow He felt while doing it. This silences two errors. First, that God’s will is always immediate comfort. The will of God sent the Son to the cross. If your definition of...

  "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." — Jonah 1:3 Not every crisis of guidance is a lack of information. Sometimes the Lord has already spoken, and we do not like the assignment. The most honest sentence some of us could write is not “I cannot find God’s will,” but “I have found it, and I am booking a fare the other way.” Jonah is the patron saint of the informed rebel. “Arise, go to Nineveh.” The word was plain. He went down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into sleep, down into the sea. Sin always has a downward grammar. He had theology enough to confess that he feared the Lord which hath made the sea and the dry land. He still ran. Knowledge without surrender is not guidance. It is indictment. God’s direction includes pursuit. He sent out a great wind. The lot fell upon Jonah. The fish was prepared. You cannot outrun the God who made the sea you are sailing. Psalm 139 asked the question Jonah tried to answer: whither shall I flee from...

  "I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry." — Psalm 40:1 David was anointed long before he was crowned. Between the horn of oil and the throne lay caves, betrayals, and opportunities to seize what God had promised by the wrong means. The most important education of his life was not how to be king. It was how not to take the kingdom. Twice he could have killed Saul. In the cave at Engedi his men whispered that the Lord had delivered the enemy into his hand. The circumstances looked like providence. David cut the skirt, and then his heart smote him. “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed” (1 Samuel 24:6). Not every open door in a cave is from God. Some are tests to see whether you love the promise more than the Promiser. David inquired of the Lord again and again — at Keilah, after Ziklag burned. He did not treat yesterday’s instruction as today’s automatic answer. First Samuel 30:6–8 is worth han...

"And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light." — Exodus 13:21 Israel did not wander because God lost the map. He refused the near road through Philistia, “lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt” (Exodus 13:17–18). He led them about, through the wilderness of the Red sea. The long road was not a mistake. It was mercy they could not yet recognize. We want the shortest distance between conversion and ease. God wants a people who know His name in the desert. The pillar meant guidance can be unmistakable and still uncomfortable. Israel did not lack direction. They lacked contentment. Those are different problems. Moses himself had to be led. Forty years in Pharaoh’s house. Forty years on the backside of the desert. Then the bush that burned and was not consumed. If you are in a hidden season — a small church, a plain job, a long obedience with little...

  "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." — Hebrews 11:8 Genesis 12 is the schoolhouse of guided faith. “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” The command was clear. The map was not. God named the leaving before He named the coordinates. He often gives enough light for obedience, not enough light for control. Abraham had a promise, an altar, and a tent. He did not have a completed itinerary. Faith does not require omniscience. Faith requires a trustworthy Speaker. If you must see the whole road before you will take the first step, you are not asking for guidance. You are asking to stop needing it. Guidance demanded separation — country, kindred, father’s house. Some paths cannot be walked while you remain entangled with the old life or the approval of people who do not fe...

  "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." — Colossians 3:15 Many have been taught to “let peace be the umpire.” There is a biblical place for that sentence. There is also a ditch on either side of the road. Colossians 3:15 does not float as a method for choosing a house or a spouse. It sits in a paragraph about putting off the old man, putting on mercy, letting the word of Christ dwell richly, and living as members of one body. The peace in view is not a private shiver of excitement. Even the phrase “in one body” warns us against treating peace as a purely individual sensation. God can restrain a believer through holy unrest. But Jonah slept in the storm, which proves a quiet conscience is not always a clean one. The flesh can feel peaceful while walking toward disaster. Conversely, obedience can feel costly and still be right. Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood in Gethsemane and was in the exac...

  "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." — Proverbs 11:14 The lone-ranger Christian is not a picture of faith. He is often a picture of pride. God has set believers in local churches under qualified pastors and among mature saints. The man who will not be advised is already announcing that he trusts his own heart, and Jeremiah 17:9 has answered that confidence. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15). “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established” (Proverbs 15:22). God frequently guides through people who know the Word and know you. That is not a downgrade from “hearing God.” It is one of the ordinary ways He has chosen to be heard. Choose counselors carefully. The world will counsel you toward comfort. A carnal friend will baptize your flesh in spiritual language. Rehoboam forsook the old men who had s...

  "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." — Proverbs 16:9 God’s guidance is not only inward. He rules weather, kings, delays, illnesses, unexpected meetings, and the failure of plans we thought were wise. This is providence: His almighty power whereby He upholds and governs all things. Joseph could not see the purpose of the pit or the prison. Years later he said, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good… to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20). The Lord was directing steps Joseph did not choose. That does not make the brothers innocent. It means their sin could not outrun the purpose of God. Paul intended Asia and Bithynia. The Spirit suffered them not. Then came Macedonia, and the gospel entered Europe (Acts 16:6–10). Closed doors are not always the devil. Sometimes they are mercy. An open door is not always the Lord. Sometimes it is bait. First Corinthians 16:9 shows Paul recognizing a great door and many adversaries. Oppor...

  "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." — John 16:13 Every true child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9). “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). This is precious. It is also one of the most abused sentences in the modern church. The Spirit of truth guides into truth. He does not authorize a divorce Scripture forbids, a scheme the Word condemns, a partnership with darkness in the name of ministry, or a departure from a sound church because the preaching has begun to meddle. The same Spirit who moved holy men to write Scripture (2 Peter 1:21) will not now whisper a different gospel. God is not at war with Himself. His leading is bound to Christ and to the apostolic Word. He shall glorify the Son (John 16:14). He shall bring to remembrance what Christ has spoken (John 14:26). He produces the fruit of Galatians ...

  "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." — James 1:5 Prayer is not a technique for getting God to approve our plans. It is the child coming to the Father, confessing need, and placing the outcome in His hands. The man who will not pray is not bold. He is self-sufficient, and self-sufficiency is a poor compass. James does not tell the believer to invent wisdom. He tells him to ask. God gives liberally. He does not scold the honest seeker. But the asking must be in faith, nothing wavering. We cannot ask God to show us His way while reserving the right to refuse it if the answer costs us. That is not prayer. That is negotiation. Before choosing the twelve, the Lord continued all night in prayer (Luke 6:12–13). Before the cross He prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Direction and surrender travel together....

  "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." — Psalm 119:105 If you want to know how God guides His people, start where He has spoken most clearly. He has not left His will locked in impressions, dreams, or the tone of a preacher’s voice. He has given a Book. Scripture is inspired, inerrant, and sufficient. Second Timothy 3:16–17 declares that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. That includes walking in the will of God. If the Scriptures thoroughly furnish you, you do not need a second Bible whispered into your feelings. Many sincere people wait for a voice while neglecting the Voice already written. God will never lead you to do what His Word forbids, and He will never lead you to neglect what His Word commands. Before you ask whether to take a job, marry a person, move to a city, or jo...

Before I begin today I want to wish my son Joshua a very happy 30th birthday.  Love you Joshua    "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." — Psalm 32:8 Beloved brother or sister in Christ, the first truth we must settle is this: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has not gone silent. He has not retired from the care of His flock. He has not left His redeemed children to wander by chance, by personality type, or by the latest method for “finding your purpose.” The same Lord who led Israel by a pillar of cloud and fire still directs those who belong to His Son. Fundamental Christianity rests upon the character of God before it ever rests upon a technique. He is sovereign. He is personal. He is faithful. Because He is sovereign, nothing in your path is accidental, and no enemy of your soul is unsupervised. Because He is personal, He deals with you as a Father, not as a distant force. Because He is faithful, His ...

  Healing is not forgetting. Meaning is not a tidy moral. Ministry is not a demand that you be grateful for the wound. “…a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.” — Isaiah 61:3 Jesus reads this passage in Nazareth and applies it to Himself. The Messiah’s work includes binding up the brokenhearted. The exchange does not insult the ashes. It grows a future out of them without pretending they were never ashes. What healing is—and is not . Healing is not the day you stop missing them. That day may never come. Healing is more like this: the loss becomes a room in the house rather than the whole house. You can enter the room. You can also leave it and cook dinner. A better Christian phrase than “moving on” is “moving with.” The gospel is a religion of remembrance. Christians should be the last people to treat memory as a problem to solve. Providence without cruelty . Romans 8:28 is true. The “good” i...

  Hope is not the opposite of tears. Hope is what keeps tears from becoming the whole language of the future. “…that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” — 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Christian hope is not optimism. Optimism is a weather forecast of the personality. Hope is a promise with a name attached. We are born again to “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). If the tomb still held Him, Paul says we would be of all people most to be pitied. What happens to those who die in Christ. They are “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). That intermediate rest is real comfort. It is not the end of the story. The great hope is resurrection: “the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). Jesus is the firstfruits. His glorified, scarred, recognizable body is the pattern (Philippians 3:20–21). Love is not wasting itself on a person who has been deleted. Reunion will be in a redeemed creation, in bodies that ca...

  The body of Christ is not a theory. It is a casserole, a silent chair, a name spoken correctly. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” — Romans 12:15 The New Testament treats grief as congregational. “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Corinthians 12:26). “Bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). Isolation in grief is often a second wound. What helps—and what harms. Job’s friends were at their best for seven silent days. Then they tried to make the math of the universe come out even. Helpful: “I am so sorry. This is painfully wrong. I do not know why. I can sit with you. I will come Thursday and take the trash.” Unhelpful: “At least…” “God needed him.” “Everything happens for a reason.” “I know exactly how you feel.” Even true doctrines become weapons when they close a conversation God has left open. Practical mercy. Grief depletes executive function. The church’s gift is concrete: meals with a plan for the dishes, childcare, lawn care, estate...

  The Shepherd does not always lift you out of the dark. He walks it with you. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” — Psalm 23:4 Psalm 23 is gentle and unsentimental. There is a valley. There is shadow. There is death. The psalm does not promise a detour. It promises company, a rod, a staff, a table, and a house at the end. Close to the brokenhearted. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). If you want to find God, look toward the people who can barely stand. A bandage is not a resurrection. It is mercy in the meantime. The God of all comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4: the Father comforts us in affliction, not only after it, so that the comforted become comforters. Your present darkness may one day be part of someone else’s survival. That is not a reason to be grateful for the loss. It is a reason not to...

  The Bible does not only give us songs for Sunday. It gives us language for midnight. “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?” — Psalm 13:1 Roughly a third of the Psalter is lament. God put on the lips of His people prayers that accuse, complain, and refuse easy resolution. If those prayers are in the hymnal, they are not bad manners. They are worship. Lament is not unbelief talking. Unbelief walks away. Lament stays in the room and tells God the truth. It is faith with its gloves off. The shape of biblical lament Turn. Address God. Grief that only talks to itself becomes a closed loop. Complain. Name the trouble without varnish. “Every night I flood my bed with tears” (Psalm 6:6). Ask. “Consider and answer me.” We ask because we still believe Someone is listening. Trust. Most laments turn: “But I have trusted in Your steadfast love.” Psalm 88 is the exception that ends without sunlight—and even that psalm is still speech directed at “the God of my salvation.” Darkness addr...

  We do not bring our tears to a distant throne. We bring them to a Man of Sorrows. “Jesus wept.” — John 11:35 Jesus has already said Lazarus’s illness is for the glory of God. He has announced that He is the resurrection and the life. He is minutes from calling a dead man out. And He weeps. He is not confused. He enters the grief of the sisters and the outrage of death. John says He was “deeply moved… and greatly troubled”—holy indignation at the wreckage death makes—then come the tears. A high priest who can sympathize. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15–16). The Son took a real human nervous system. He knew hunger, betrayal, Gethsemane, the death of a friend. Isaiah named Him “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Acquainted—not briefly introduced. You do not have to clean up your sentences before you knock. The One who hears you has stood in a cemetery and felt His chest tighten. He bore our griefs. Isa...

  Grief is not unbelief. Sorrow is not a failure of faith. “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” — Ecclesiastes 3:4 Many Christians inherit an unspoken rule: mature believers should be “over it” quickly. We quote Romans 8:28 before the casket is closed. We treat tears as a theological leak—evidence that hope is not holding. Scripture will not allow that rule. Abraham mourns Sarah and buys a burial field. Jacob refuses to be comforted when he thinks Joseph is dead. David weeps until his voice is gone over Absalom. Israel weeps thirty days for Moses. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. An entire book is named Lamentations. Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, stands at a tomb He is about to empty and weeps (John 11:35). If the sinless Son of God can cry at a graveside, tears are not a defect in discipleship. They are one of the ways a human heart tells the truth. Death is an enemy, not a natural friend. The New Testament is sever...