Husbands and Wives

A friend of mine had a wedding anniversary January 11. She remembered the wedding by posting photos of the man she loved all 35 years of their marriage, but who left her alone in this world as he moved on to the next. They not only believed but lived the promise “Till death do us part”, and it did.

The Bible has a lot to say about marriage. God set the example in Eden, and Jesus confirmed it during a discussion of divorce:

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:3-6 KJV)

So what about divorce? Aren’t there specific laws in Leviticus? The Pharisees were very familiar with the verses:

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:7-8 KJV)

Mankind has the choice – accept the hardness of their hearts and do as they please, or adhere to God’s original plan. It was, and still is, easier to accept the concept of divorce than to adhere to God’s design – in marriage as in every other area of our lives. When a couple does stay married, and remain in love with one another, they are considered an anomaly. Statistics today indicate marriage is optional.

Yet our instructions are pretty explicit. There are many, but my favorite is:

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:19-25 KJV)

A couple making melody in their hearts to the Lord will not find arguments comfortable. A couple giving thanks, always, for all things, will not be looking beyond their Lord for their future and happiness.

Political correctness does not like “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” because they teach women to be true only to themselves. Yet, when a husband loves his wife as much as Christ loved the church, she gets the best of marriage.

That’s one reason I work toward being a Titus 2:3 aged woman, teaching this same lesson of loving ones husband, pointing to beautiful examples – such as my friend.

Thought About Your Gift?

But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. (1 Corinthians 7:6-7 KJV)

In this chapter Paul answers questions about a man’s relationship to a woman and marriage. He doesn’t seem strongly in favor of marriage, wishing all men were as he, unencumbered to travel and preach the gospel. Right now, though, I’m interested in two other aspects of these verses.

First, what he writes here is with God’s permission, not God’s commandment. Here we see that God allowed Paul to include a personal suggestion – once it was made clear that not all men had to follow this to be examples of Christ to others. Paul understands that a wife and family means obligations and responsibilities that would not allow the freedom of movement needed for his work:

But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:32-33 KJV)

Paul is careful to explain the items that are his, not God’s:

But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. (1 Corinthians 7:12-13 KJV)

We see that same permission a bit later:

Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. (1 Corinthians 7:25 KJV)

He was given no commandment from the Lord in this question, but he offers his opinion. To me this is included in God’s word to help us understand the freedom of choice He has given us.

I also thought about the inclusion of the word “gift.” Paul’s gift appears to have been a ministry that could not include a family, but for another, the proper gift might be a family. Paul could understand, and share his opinion, on another’s gift. I believe God uses his words to give us a personal insight to our own gift.

Fifty-four years ago I made the choice for family. Even now I’m not certain I put sufficient thought into whether or not it was God’s choice for my life, but He has blessed that decision, abundantly. I do appreciate my gift!

I also appreciate this chapter as it allows us to see that God does give us choices. Paul could have omitted references to his personal views and written this chapter as commands from God. He took care to differentiate his thoughts from God’s commandments – and that allows us to consider the freedom we have within God’s gift to us.

How To Read

I ran across a book on Amazon, Read The Bible For Life. I was struck by the opening sentence in the review:

The Bible may be the most bought book in the world, but it is also often the least read and least applied due to a basic lack of understanding and motivation on the part of readers.

At this point, I have no recommendation for or against, no review whether or not I think this book would be helpful in understanding or applying God’s word. I have found many such helpful tools, but have not read this one.

I do, however, strongly advocate reading the Bible for life – life everlasting!! That’s the very first promise one should learn from God’s word. If one is a follower of Christ, it is essential for growth, application and obedience to God’s commandments for those who love and serve him.

I remember a time we had a couple over for dinner. We had known “of” them for years. I feel well acquainted with them, aware of their church faithfulness, greeted them often in services, knew their children – but that Friday night was the first time we’ve spent time as two couples, sharing experiences, becoming friends.

Spending time studying God’s word is just such life-changing experiences. Each time we sit down with Bible in hand, prayer in our hearts and an open mind to hear Him teach us, we come closer to Him. Our decisions are strengthened, having His words available for application in our lives. Rather than stopping to wonder, “Is this what God would want me to do?”, we carry that awareness as we walk into situations that would lead us away from His will. David knew this:

With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalms 119:10-11 KJV)

How can we hide His word in our hearts unless we seek that knowledge? And, can we acknowledge that what we seek often cannot be seen?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)

Where do we gain and grow that faith?

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJV)

Why do we need faith?

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. … But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:3, 6 KJV)

Am I responding solely for the rewards? I pray that is not so – for I do believe that He is, that my faith can grow and I’m determined to diligently seek Him.

This isn’t simply a Christian, New Testament doctrine:

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. (Isaiah 55:6-8 KJV)

His ways are not ours – but we can change our ways. Read from the original, in context, verify for yourself.

A Prayer Request

A sweet young Christian lady has requested prayer for strength as her beloved grandmother enters hospice. We all know why hospice exists – both of my parents and my brother-in-law spent days being cared for by hospice. Their employees I’ve known were caring professionals who provided as much peace and comfort as possible for their patients and the families.

No matter how well their job is accomplished, we begin to grieve and feel bereft. We know what is coming, and we do not want that day to arrive. That is no different for Christians than for non-believers. We grieve for what we are going to lose, for what our loved ones are going through and in the midst we seek comfort. It was promised to us:

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18 KJV)

This is a beautiful chapter containing the closing conversations Jesus held with His disciples. He begins with a comforting thought:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1 KJV)

There are many things that trouble us. He addresses many in this chapter. One is in my father’s favorite verse:

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2 KJV)

That prompted Thomas to ask, “How can we know the way?” I pray that by the time our loved ones enter hospice – and well before we do – we understand the answer to Thomas’ question:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

But – He was leaving! He just said so. Philip still didn’t understand and asked for a sign, “Show us the Father and that would be sufficient.” How patient is our Lord!

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (John 14:9 KJV)

So, He continued explaining that they would not be left alone.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26 KJV)

So, for this young lady, I pray she’ll continue to ask for prayer from friends and family as she remembers the promises for peace, and the reason for rejoicing:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. (John 14:27-28 KJV)

At the time my loved ones were in hospice, I grieved. I could not rejoice, but that’s what I’m asking from those who will wait should I enter hospice:

If you loved me, please rejoice. I believe what my savior has given us in God’s word. I believe verse 6, that He is the way, truth, life and that we come to the Father through Him. I believe the Comforter is available and able to bring all these things to our memory when we ask. I believe He told us why these things are available to us:

And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. (John 14:29 KJV)

Join in prayer, please, for the family’s strength as well as comfort for their grief through their loss.

Wrong

I had ordered the package a week before. It was already a day late and as we drove home, we passed a UPS truck leaving our area. An expectation had been set. Nope – nothing on the porch, and UPS is used to leaving packages there.

I go to the trusty PC, bring up the order site, check the shipping – and their site says it was delivered, and has a tracking number. I take the tracking number to the UPS site to make a complaint. The entries’ response was “Not available.” I was becoming frustrated! I went back to the order site, to be certain I had the tracking number correct – and noticed I had misread the carrier. It was USPS, not UPS.

I was wrong. I had an expectation set in my mind and filtered what I quickly glanced over to fit my expectations.

How often do we do that with scriptures? Or, take one bit out of context since it does fit our expectations? That’s why I strongly advocate personal study based on a desire to learn more.

One example is the ever quick to be used:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1 KJV)

It is not good to create a doctrine on a single verse. Look to the surrounding verses to know the subject matter, the speaker, the audience as well as the rest of the lesson. It will take several verses to understand that judgment is not condemned when it is done correctly. Besides, that same lesson is found in Luke:

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: (Luke 6:37 KJV)

Once again, there’s an introduction to the lesson, and additional informational information follows:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (Luke 6:38 KJV)

It’s also not good to seek out a verse that agrees with a specific purpose. We still need to check the surrounding verses and the other criteria. A small example is a verse often used in wedding vows:

…whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

The whole verse:

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: (Ruth 1:16 KJV)

… was said by a Moabitess to a Jewess, a widowed daughter-in-law to her widowed mother-in-law. A commitment from King David’s great-grandmother to his great-great-grandmother. Go back a little further in the genealogy in Matthew and we find:

And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; (Matthew 1:5 KJV)

That Rachab is also known as Rahab – remember her from Jericho?

And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. (Joshua 2:1 KJV)

… mentioned again several times in the New Testament. My favorite is in Hebrews:

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. (Hebrews 11:31 KJV)

Take time to pay more attention than I did between UPS and USPS. While you may follow “rabbit trails” down different paths, it is best to realize differences. The difference can be a simple verse or two between right and wrong.

Elisha – II Kings 2

Detail from Willem van den Bundel's"The Prophet Elisha curses the children who mocked him"

We ended the year studying Elijah on Wednesday nights, and begin this year studying Elisha – a natural transition. We covered Elisha’s selection in I Kings 19:16-21 in December, as well as Elijah’s departure in II Kings 2. We returned to II Kings 2 last night to see the same scene from Elisha’s viewpoint – and move a few steps forward.

Elisha knew what was coming, though he was reminded in verses 3 and 5:

And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. (2 Kings 2:3 KJV)
And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. (2 Kings 2:5 KJV)

But later, those prophets did not listen to him. Even with foreknowledge, they were concerned about what happened to Elijah:

And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. (2 Kings 2:16 KJV)

They shamed him:

And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. (2 Kings 2:17 KJV)

He responded as most of us would – told you so!

And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not? (2 Kings 2:18 KJV)

II Kings 2:23-25 was hard for me to understand. I’ve read it several times. Pastor’s lesson and van den Bundel’s painting helped me understand more. His painting is filled with lush foliage, definitely not the Judean hillside that would have been the Bethel area. He painted what he knew, and the word “children” meant the children he saw around him. Perhaps the ones who insulted Elisha were older, yet not considered adults:

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. (2 Kings 2:23 KJV)

It is not a good idea to mock God’s chosen. It sounds to me as though they were daring him to go up the same way Elijah did, adding a literal insult to injury by pointing out his baldness. It also sounds to me as though Elisha understood they were mocking God, too. Yes, he cursed them, but the Bible doesn’t say that curse included bears – the punishment was in God’s hands.

Of course, just as van den Bundel painted from what was familiar to him, I’m interpreting from what is familiar to me.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7 KJV)

Sending

I didn’t see this photograph as I was growing up, but I’ll never forget this strong-jawed young girl.  I heard about her long after her death in Japan on Christmas Eve, 1912. She wrote a letter in 1887 that is said to have been …

… credited with providing the impetus for the creation of a Southern Baptist offering to support international missions, which later became the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

In our First Baptist Church of Cottondale, we’re not affiliated with this mission offering. We send our missionaries a little differently. Those called to missions present their plans to several churches, who then decide through congregational vote to support – or not. Our church doesn’t have a set amount, just a set percentage of our weekly offerings, along with any offerings specified for missions.

The church in Antioch did it similarly:

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 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. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3 KJV)

They did a good job. We read about it Acts, and in Paul’s letters to the churches as he continued the work he was called to do. The church at Philippi is an example – they cared for Paul:

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. (Philippians 4:10 KJV)

These churches were able to show their care for specific missionaries, getting to know them, hearing about their travels, the people they’ve met and hearing from their supportive churches:

Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.(Philippians 4:14 KJV)

We get that, too – letters from missionaries we support are on our lobby walls, pictures of their families, where they are serving and their prayer requests. And, we are in contact with them. Several are on social media, allowing us daily contact. Paul did not have such an option, and some failed to communicate with him:

Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. (Philippians 4:15 KJV)

I know the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is important to the Southern Baptist Convention, but I like our methodology better. It creates a partnership between the congregation and the missionary. That’s good for the congregation as well as the missionary:

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 KJV)

That is so true when our need is to support those we are sending to fulfill Christ’s command:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)

Not all are called to a faraway mission field. But we are all called to be in His service, even when that calling is sending another.