Don’t Miss the Forest 'or' the Trees

Most of us have heard the old expression, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.” The point of that idiom is to warn ourselves to not miss the big picture (forest) as a result of focusing on the individual details (trees). We can easily become so engrossed in trying to master every detail of some project or task that we end up losing sight of what was important about the certain project or task in the first place. The old expression still holds true and is useful for us today and yet, we must spend a lot of time looking at the trees. And, not only the trees but the leaves on the trees, and not just the leaves, but the veins on the leaves found on the trees, which are in the forest.

What Does a Forest Have to Do with the Bible?

The Bible is a forest full of trees and these trees appear as the books of the Bible. Sixty-six books in total make up the entire biblical canon and they are there for us to know God in the way that He has revealed Himself to the world. Within those books (trees) of the Bible are thousands of Bible verses (leaves) that also need our attention. The individual verses in the Bible are the means by which we come to know God. We do not take in the entire theme of the Bible in one shot. We have to read every word of every verse of every paragraph of every chapter of every book to begin to get a grasp of this enormously glorious God. Therefore, we cannot neglect those leaves on the trees and we must pay attention to the veins on the leaves because, without them, we will lose the forest.

How Does Memorization Help?

Scripture memorization is a means – among many others – that can be used to know God more completely. Memorization of individual verses, entire chapters, or entire books of the Bible works in us and through us for ministering to others and to ourselves, which, in turn, works to bring this God that was once misunderstood into the light so we can see and know Him better. When memorizing verses or larger sections of the Bible we are forced to work word-by-word as we commit each word and then each verse to memory. As we work through this process the Holy Spirit begins to show us things that we did not see before. When we are diligently working word-by-word through a verse we begin to soak in what the biblical authors were receiving. We feel their heart and the heart of our Lord as He is ministering to us through words written long before.

How to Balance the Trees and the Forest

Even with all of that, a balance must be struck. We still cannot forsake the forest for the trees but we also cannot forsake the trees while attempting to see the entire forest. The balance needed to see the trees as well as the forest is struck through partaking in both the discipline of Scripture memorization as well as reading large portions of the Bible in one sitting, and then repeating that process over and over again. One could memorize in the morning while saving the evening for a reading time that is not focused on the trees but instead, works to take in the whole theme of a certain book. Once that routine is established, the person who works to both memorize for the trees and read for the forest will begin to grasp the entirety of the Bible while being able to point out the magnificent trees (verses) that can still be found. Either way it’s done – memorizing in the morning or evening while reading at the opposite end of the day – we must do both because without the discipline of seeing the forest as well as the trees we will begin to see only one and thus, less than what is offered.

When God Makes Us Wander

The Israelites were not hungry as they wandered in the desert as a result of poor food rationing. Their entire life depended on God and God established their hunger and lack of food and wandering to make that truth clear. Does this make God some bully who seems to enjoy messing around with his creation even up to the point of some of the Israelites dying in the desert? It actually means just the opposite. The same God who brought the Israelites out of 400 years of slavery is the God who is, in effect, wandering with them in the desert. The Israelites were not abandoned to the desert. They were made to wander with God.

In the middle of their rebellion and grumbling and hatred towards the God that miraculously brought them out of slavery, God did not turn his back on them. God did not give into their pleading to be led back into Egypt and slavery because of their lack of food. God did not relent and raise up another to take the place of Moses when the great multitude began to malign him and call for another leader. God did not abandon His people when, in their hearts, that is what they wanted. God knew better and still knows better.

God did not abandon the Israelites; instead, He made them wander for forty years. He brought them to a place of discouragement and opposition within themselves in order to grow them and to show them who their God was. The wandering and discomfort of seemingly traveling nowhere is exactly the means that God used to show them who He was. The mistake, which is often arrived at, is to assume that because Israelite people suffered God was nowhere to be found. That assumption forces one to join suffering and the reality of God’s existence as if they are somehow related to one another. Suffering does not destroy the existence of God and the absence of suffering does not prove the existence of God. The Bible teaches that it is in the midst of the Israelites wandering and suffering that God was present and active among them. He dwelt with them.

The same reality is to be applied to our lives as we attempt to reconcile two realities: 1) we may feel as though we have been wandering or are currently wandering, which leads us to believe that God has left us, and 2) God declares that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Could it be that in your season of wandering God is showing you a greater picture of himself than you have ever seen before? Is it possible that the times in which we have felt most alone have been graciously and mercifully granted to us by God so that we may come to see Him as all satisfying? Dare we thank God for the periods in our lives when He has so provided a space for us to come to him in a way that we would not have been able to do without His orchestration? I humbly and whole-heartedly announce YES!

When God makes us wander we know that it is for His glory and for our good (Romans 8:28). And, when God makes us wander, we know that He who began a good work in us will surely bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6). This means that if you love Christ and yet are feeling like you are alone in the desert, you are not alone. The God of all creation is with you. In the words of Douglas Wilson, “The winter is breaking. This is not just a thaw but promises to be a real spring.”

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 Essay Series

Why is Deuteronomy 10:12-13 for Us?

Deuteronomy 10:12-13, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?”

INTRODUCTION

Set Apart as God’s People

Moses plainly writes that Israel – the chosen nation, who is the people of God based on God’s decree – is to live in four distinct ways. These four ways will not only set them apart from others that they live near and from the rest of the world but it will give them a more robust understanding of God, which will then work to transform them into the people of God. The four distinct ways in which Israel (or the people of God) is to live are as follows: they will 1) fear the LORD their God, 2) walk in all his ways, 3) love God, and 4) serve the LORD their God with all their heart and all their soul.

This instruction from God given to Moses and then from Moses given directly to the nation of Israel (and indirectly to us) is both wonderfully clear and wonderfully complex at the same time.[1] The requirements on how to live are clear in that there are four of them, not four hundred; four succinct requirements are given to the people in order that they might develop a more God-honoring, life-giving, and complete relationship with the LORD our God.

Foundational Requirements

Not only are the four requirements clear and succinct, but they also are given in a way that shows their necessity to the other requirements given in the group. To remove one of the four foundational requirements from the nation of Israel is to have the entire structure of communion with God crumble to the ground in a heap. We must have them all or have none of them. I base this statement on the fact that it is impossible to walk in the ways of God if we first have no beginning fear of God. Likewise, in order to serve God with all our heart and all our soul there first has to be the foundation of loving God existing in order to rouse the service of God.

Complexity of the Four Requirements

As was mentioned earlier, even though these requirements seem simple at first, their complexity increases the more we seek to know and understand this God who gave them and how we are to respond to the requirements. We are called not only to follow through with the requirements but also to firmly understand what is meant by each requirement. What does it mean to fear God? What are God’s ways and how do I walk in them? How can I love God? Why does God want me to serve him? And, even before moving into working through these questions we must come to terms with the fact that Moses is writing of requirements that God has for his people. Does this mean that God is dependent upon our actions and follow through?

Why Devote Six Essays to Examining Old Testament Requirements?

The short answer is Jesus, but there is more that must be said. The reality is that the four requirements given to Moses for the nation of Israel were directly for them and not for us today. It is the result of irresponsible biblical exposition that directly applies every part of the Bible to our present time and situation without first noting the obvious elements that come along with the Old Testament text. We must make clear the fact that these requirements were given during a specific time in history to a specific group of people in order to fulfill a goal that does carry over to us today. However, the danger remains in slipping into a world that we are not a part of – one that existed before the revelation of Jesus Christ – and thus, denying the work of Jesus in our lives. This is a danger that I aim to steer us clear of at every turn by consistently and relentlessly pointing to Christ as the final manifestation of Deuteronomy 10:12-13. Jesus is our key to interpreting the Old Testament and he will be our focus throughout this entire series because, after all, it is the will of God that we would be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).

My Prayer for You

It is and will be my prayer, throughout this series, that you would come to know God in a way you have not known him before and, because of that new knowledge, you would come to love Jesus more.

Look for next month’s installment dealing with the “problem” of God having requirements.

[1] From this point on within the Introduction and throughout the entire series I will be using the titles nation of Israel or Israel and the children of God or us/we interchangeably unless I wish to explicitly refer to either the Old Testament nation of Israel or the New Covenant people of God. 

6 Things God Is Teaching You During Your Cold

My meditations on God during a week with a cold:

1.     You are not in control. During a cold we must come face to face with the reality that we are not the ones who are in control. We can take all the precautions possible in preventing a cold but we will eventually succumb to the runny nose and scratchy throat that a cold brings with it and, in those moments, we are presented with the gift of knowing that even with a simple, measly cold, we don’t control it and therefore, we are free to depend on God.

2.     The world is fallen. Colds are a part of this life because the world is fallen. We are not living amongst God in such a way where sin does not exist; sin is rampant and affects everything in this world. The common cold is a reminder to us that the state of the world in which we currently live is itself sick.

3.     God is preparing you to worship in distress. It is easy to worship God when we are comfortable and things are going well, but when life gets difficult we come to find out for ourselves what place God has in our lives. With a cold, God is giving us a taste of what millions of people have done before us – worship God in distress. If he is our supreme treasure then we will worship him when we have lost everything – and life with a cold is good practice.
 

4.     God is gracious to heal you. God teaches us that it is by sheer grace that he is pleased to heal you. Why should God heal anyone that has rebelled? Outside of the realm of grace we are unable to find a reason why but within the reality of grace, all our answers find their home in Christ Jesus.

5.     Death is a reality. God reminds us, with a cold, that this life will ultimately come to an end. We are reminded that our bodies break down, we become weak, and in the end we will all die. God is merciful in that he does not withhold this truth from us. We know death is real and yet we know it is not the end for those who trust in Christ.

6.     Resurrection is a reality. The process of coming out of cold is a picture for us that his resurrection was a reality and ours is coming. Transitioning from sickness to health is a way for God to show us that he will heal everything in time – all things will be made new. This is the pattern for the existence that he has created. Those who trust Christ will be resurrected to him into an eternity of an ever-widening, ever-deepening, ever-increasing, joy in Christ.

Live to Be Mastered by Scripture

The call to be mastered by anything already feels sort of out-of-balance with the world in which we live. We are called to be masters of our own selves, masters of our own fate, and masters of anything that we wish to use for our own advantage. However, with Scripture – with the holy inspired words of God – they are of most use to us when we work not to master them but to be mastered by them. 

The Pitfall of “Mastering” Scripture

Pitfalls come along unnoticed and often in a manner in which one could scarcely imagine why they might exist. That is their mode of attack – to catch those ignorant enough to believe they do not exist. These pitfalls are present within our lives, especially in places that seem to us as if they are most secure – as is often the case with the Bible. It is the Bible-reader who strives to dominate the pages of Scripture that will find himself swallowed up within those pages. The words of God, given to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are an ever-increasing ocean of knowledge, revelation, insight, application, and truth. To think that we are able to take hold of the thoughts of God in a way that we may be able to master them is foolish. But we try. We try because we like to make gods of ourselves. We like to make gods of ourselves because we don’t know the true God as we ought. The Triune God that lives. And, in making gods of ourselves, the first wave of attack is usually brought against the Bible. It is assumed that if we can master Scripture then we can mold it to our liking. History shows that changing the Bible to fit social and worldview outlooks always moves people further from Christ and closer the world.

The Joy of Being Mastered by Scripture

When we give ourselves up to the life-changing work of the revelation of God that is found within the pages of the Bible we come to find that there is joy in being mastered by Scripture. It is joy to know that the great and glorious God of the universe has not hidden himself from his people. It is joy to know that God has revealed himself in the written word and has been pleased to care for that written word over thousands of years of copying and translation. And it is joy to know that this book that contains direct revelation of God is mainly about God. We are called to be mastered by a book that tells us who God is and, in that, there is joy. A joy that comes with the realization that within the pages of the Bible we can come to know who Jesus is – this Jesus that died and was resurrected in such a way to atone for and secure to himself those that would call him Lord and Christ.

Five Ways to Be Mastered by Scripture

1. Read a lot of the Bible. Take big gulps of the Bible. Read the Old Testament in 90 days, the New Testament in 30 days. Read the Gospels in one week. Read great amounts of the Bible in shorter periods of time. Ask God to give you the strength to read the Bible in a year.

2. Read the Bible consistently. Follow a reading plan. Stay regular with your readings, not off and on or when it feels right. Ask for God’s grace to discipline you to read every day from the Bible.

3. Memorize verses in the Bible. Memorize a verse a week. Memorize verses that are beneficial and helpful in your walk with God (verses about God’s faithfulness, righteousness, love, mercy, and grace). Write down the verse on a 3”x5” card and take it with you throughout the week. Ask God to help secure his word in your heart.

4. Read about those that have been mastered by Scripture. Learn from the lives of those that have given themselves to conforming to Christ through their reading of the Bible. Charles Spurgeon said that if you pricked John Bunyan anywhere, he would "bleed Bibline." Examine the lives of people that are greatly steeped in Scripture and see how it has shaped their lives. Ask God to give you people to shape your life.

5. Look for Jesus in all of the Bible. Jesus is not just found in the New Testament; he is found in all of Scripture. Look for him. The prophets spoke about the Messiah. Read their writings and soak in the hope that they had for a savior. Ask God to show himself to you within the pages of the Old Testament. 

Experiencing the Wonder of Being Knit Together by God

An answer that is often provided when conversations of existence and an ultimate cause are had is one that presents humanity as, for the moment, extremely lucky. It is said that billions of years ago hydrogen reacted in just the right way with nothing else in the universe and now we have life. Life that dreams, imagines, assembles, tells stories, loves, and sacrifices. It does seem that if the universe and all of life did come about in the manner that is most regularly taught then we would be the luckiest of all evolved beings that we know of. We have been the ones to persevere to the point of being at the top of the food chain. We win. Only, can we really say we win if we are here by chance? Chance would receive the credit for our existence and chance would be glorified for the fact that the human race has sustaining power.

Another option to this question of existence and ultimate cause is God. In an existence where an endless string of causes would need something to even render existence a possibility there would have to be the uncaused cause, or God. Now, to be clear, this uncaused cause or God is not a little-g god, this is the capital-G God – Yahweh, the great I AM, the Lord of Lords, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect unity. And this personal God has spoken to us through his word and his Word. In Psalm 139, David writes, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” David’s soul knows the fact that he is not responsible for his coming into being and neither are his parents or their parents before them. He is the sole work of God.

Realizing this truth will make you stop in wonder of the glory and power of God. The power of God to make something out of nothing and the glory of God that you are reading this right now and have not yet stopped to make sure your heart beats or made a point to take the right amount of breaths to stay conscious. We need not concern ourselves with those things. Instead, we can rest alone in the reality that this God is upholding His creation by the word of his power and, because of that, we are free to wonder!