A Reason For Reading in Context

 

I've done a couple of blogs  on the reason my readers should not take my word for it that what I copy from the Bible and insert here is God's message. It has to be "taken in context." As Google's AI explains:

Context is the situation in which something occurs or exists, and it can help explain it. For example, "It is important to see all the fighting and bloodshed in his plays in historical context". 

Context can also refer to the parts of a written or spoken statement that come before or after a specific word or passage, and usually affect its meaning or effect. For example, "You have misinterpreted my remark because you took it out of context".

Let me sshare an example that occurred today. It happened in a prayer group of scattered people, with one person in the group, whose husband is experiencing serious health problems, certainly in need of prayer from believers in God's ability to help His children. The group utilizes a social media that allows them to cross time zones and international boundaries to join in specific prayers. That's a blessing in so many ways.

One sincere believer wrote to "name and claim" a specific verse that she believed carried a promise from God:

Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. (Job 22:27-28 KJV)

That does sound good, doesn't it? It's easy from these two verses to assume God is speaking to Job, telling Job that all he has to do is pray, giving a decree of what he wants, and it will happen. That is taking it out of context.

Job's story is about tragedies he endured, costing him his family and all he had worked for his entire life. He was left sitting in ashes, with four friends who came to keep him company, and to convince him of his sinfulness for God to have punished him so strongly. The person speaking in verses 27-28 is introduced in verse 1, and continues well beyond verse 28. The chapter heading is: Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great:

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect? Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment? Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? (Job 22:1-5 KJV)

I really wouldn't want a friend such as Eliphaz to tell me how deeply I have failed God, even ignoring widows in need or breaking an orphan's arm. In veres 27-28, Eliphaz is encouraging Job to pray for God's mercy, God will hear when Job prays then pays for what he has done wrong. Job then can ask God for something good and expect it to happen. 

Trust me, bad things happen to very good people. They are inexplicable, beyond making sense out of what is happening. There are many tragedies we will not understand in this world, but a good deal of them simply occur because we live in an imperfect fallen world that does have active evil doers. Job was a good man. Get to know him at least in the first chapters of his book.

Also know there are promises spoken by God where He is specifically identified as the speaker. Our lesson in last Sunday's sermon from Habakkuk was such a promise - to allow Israel to fall to the Chaldeans:

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. (Habakkuk 1:5-6 KJV)

God kept his word there and Jerusalem fell, the people taken into captivity. For what life was like there, read the book of Daniel, a young man who purposed in his heart to do what God expects. Does God allowing Israel to be captive mean God is vengeful? Actually, He is just. Israel turned away from Him, forgot Him, ignored Him. The Chaldeans served as a reminder that from people given much, much is required.

To know God in context, the entire Bible is necessary. Don't treat is a buffet where only the gifts are shown. Remember that there are responsibilities, and communication is one. Search the Bible for God's interaction with mankind, not for verses that appear to fit the moment, especially when they are easily shown to be out of context. Open the book with a prayer that God's Holy Spirit will provide what you need.