James 4:5,6 – “Testing the Spirit”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁵Or do you suppose that the Scripture says emptily the spirit dwelling in us lusts toward envy? ⁶But He gives more grace, therefore it says, “God opposes proud ones but gives grace to humble ones.”

Verse 5 before us is something of an exegetical battleground for several reasons, of which the two biggest are that 1) the words as such don’t appear anywhere in the Scriptures and 2) one must decide which spirit is being discussed – His or ours. One can consult any decent commentary and read the various positions and their support.

Personally, I think it is consistent with the context to understand He is talking about our spirits. The words “The spirit dwelling in us lusts toward envy” are in the same vein with Gen 6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Some argue that nowhere else in the NT does a writer talk about our spirit as “the spirit dwelling in us” and that phrase in particular would more naturally refer to the Holy Spirit. However, as I have worked through the Greek text of this book I find it true that James has “odd” ways of saying a lot of things. The fact is this is the only book of the NT he wrote and he is a unique person who may express himself in unique ways. Also, it doesn’t bother me at all that the words, “The spirit dwelling in us lusts toward envy” don’t appear anywhere in the Scriptures. I think James is just saying, “The Bible tells us our spirit is rotten.” That statement doesn’t have to be made particularly anywhere. It is, of course, the general teaching of the entire Bible and can be supported from many passages.

The context, all the way back to 3:13 (at least) is comparing our spirit with His. In chapter 4, we’re probing the question of why our world is so marred by conflict. He tells us the problem is our rotten spirit, our selfish, lust-driven, greedy, envious spirits, then even calls us adulteresses. Since we’re inclined to think we’re “not so bad” He then throws in, “Or do you think the Scripture speaks emptily?” About what? About our spirits. And what does it say? That our spirit “lusts toward envy.” This seems, granted, another odd way of saying things, but I think James’ point is well taken. Our spirits are naturally drawn passionately toward evils like envy – the restless angry resentment that someone else might have “more” than us.

The fact is that is quite true and we’d do well to admit it.

This verse (and the rest of the Bible) is telling us our sinful inclination toward lust, envy, malice, and endless war is not an unfortunate choice we make. It is our very spirit. It is “the spirit dwelling in us.” If we would honestly accept this truth, then it becomes all the more apparent why contentment in the Lord Himself and love to Him and others is the only cure. There is no cause for strife if our heart is not “wanting” things, if it is content with what the Lord provides, and if our highest priority is to be loving Him and others. His Spirit is the only cure for our spirit!

We should note here, as Barnes points out, James’ clear intent is to move us “to the duty of honestly and unflinchingly considering what is the disposition of heart that underlies and reveals itself through our conduct.” Clear back in 3:13 he asked the question who is wise and understanding and then insisted, “Let him prove it by his life.” From that point on, he has said in different ways that our conduct will prove the true condition of our hearts. As Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know them.” He’s calling us to “test our spirit.”

When we think we can call ourselves “religious” and yet our lives are marred by conflict and anger, we “suppose the Scriptures speak emptily.” We suppose they speak “in vain.” Of course the standard and immediate response will be, “Oh, I don’t do that.” But that response is a sure bet we do.

This is a point where none of us can search someone else’s heart. It is precisely this point where God calls us to search our own. It is here our “duty to honestly and unflinchingly consider what is the disposition of heart that underlies and reveals itself through our conduct.”

God help me to be honest who I am.

James 4:4 – “The Line”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

⁴Adulteresses! Do you not know the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world has become an enemy of God.

Honestly, to me it is very difficult to see how to apply this passage. I think in explaining why I find it difficult to apply, I’ll actually move closer to seeing how. That being said, this is likely to be a long post. So here goes --

Once again practically every commentator reads this verse and then goes off on a harangue about “those bad people out there” who make themselves “friends of the world.” I’m sorry but I can’t buy that approach to Scripture. The Bible was written to change me. “These things were written for our admonition …” I have to read this and then say, “Lord, search me and try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me.”

I say all that just to put on paper that I can’t buy the broad-brush “bad ole people out there” interpretation of this passage. If you do, this is an easy passage to apply [to them.]

First of all, I think it is too easy to read this and immediately our mind goes to our list of “do’s and don’ts.” They equate “friendship with the world” with a list of practices of “the world.” In many peoples’ minds, “friendship with the world” = going to movies, dancing, tobacco, alcohol, and listening to “worldly” music. They smugly commend themselves that they are not “worldly” because they “don’t do those things.” They call themselves “separated” and think that makes them religious. A lot of people, I believe, build their entire sense of “righteousness” on this very thought. The Pharisees built their religion on their list of “do’s and don’ts,” on being “separated,” and where did it get them? They crucified the Messiah! They were “separated.” They were very “religious,” yet their “religion” actually made them Satan’s minions! They scrupulously avoided “worldly” practices and yet they were the very enemies of God!

So “friendship with the world” isn’t something cured by a list of do’s and don’ts. The lists won’t cure us of “worldliness.” The Pharisees championed that approach and you see where it got them.

The next thing that we might think is that we need to somehow minimize the time we spend with “lost” people, that they are “the world” and we just can’t get too “friendly” with them. In other words, “friendship with the world” means being too close to the people of this world, spending too much time with them.

But wait. If that is our conclusion, something is really wrong with our thinking. Jesus was a friend of sinners. He loved the tax collectors and the prostitutes and they knew it and loved Him in return. Jesus came to this world to live among us. He prayed not that the Father would “take us out of the world but that He would keep us from the evil one.” Johnstone said of Jesus: “… His life was pre-eminently one spent in the world, in constant and close contact with men. ‘Friendship with the world,’ then, does not mean simply presence in the midst of activities of the world, and taking part in its work … The question then, you observe, is strictly one in regard to the state of the affections.”

“The question then, you observe, is strictly one in regard to the state of the affections.” Johnstone is one of the (very) few writers who took the time to see there’s more going on here than just washing our hands of “worldly practices” or of avoiding time with “sinners.” Well then what is it? I would suggest when the Lord warns us here against “friendship with the world” and about making ourselves His enemies, we need to stop dead in our tracks and ask Him to open our eyes to see what He really means.

That is precisely where I am struggling. I can’t just dismiss a list of practices and I certainly can’t just isolate myself from people.

On the other hand, there are clearly practices of this world where I don’t belong and people I don’t necessarily want to be with.

As I live in this world and spend my time with the people of this world, where is the line between being like Jesus or simply becoming a “friend” of the world and thus an enemy of God?

As I have pondered and prayed over this, the only thing that makes sense to me is to say that line is defined by love. My mind goes back to Jesus’ words that the only thing that matters is to love God and love people. Can I safely say that the moment I stop loving God and people, I’ve crossed the line? Can I say this instead of looking for some line defined by “do’s and don’ts” or by certain people and their activities? I think I can. I John 2:15,16 says: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”

Why would I ever not love God and people? Is it not because I am loving my lusts more? Is that not exactly what John is saying? I am either loving God (and therefore people) or I am loving something this world offers me – pleasures, possessions, or applause. And the problem is not the pleasures, possessions, or applauses in and of themselves. The problem is my love for them. This is also consistent with the context back again in James 4. This verse 4 we’re studying follows verses 1-3, where he’s been talking about our “desires that battle in our members.” That is what causes the wars and fightings among us. The problem is what is going on inside of us and it comes down to a question of what we’re desiring, what we’re loving.

So it is a love problem!

Doesn’t this explain how the Pharisees could be scrupulously religious and “separated” and yet be found the enemies of God? They did all of that but they didn’t love. They loved each other’s applause but they didn’t love God or people. And doesn’t this explain how Jesus could spend so much time with “sinners” and yet be “without sin” Himself? He loved God and He loved them. He just never loved what they loved.

I am thinking that is exactly what we should do with James’ admonitions here. We should be mindful what we love. In the context, when what we love causes us to war and fight, when it creates in us bitterness and selfish ambitions, then we can be sure we’re loving the wrong things and have made ourselves not the friends of God, but His enemies.

I have to say, putting all of this in the metaphor of “friendship with the world/enmity with God” is for me too obscure. Love God/love people makes sense to me. Then it is clear to me the problem is what is going on inside of me. When I try to see it through the “friendship of the world” metaphor, it is hard not to see the problem as practices and people. But they are not the problem. I am. So for myself, I certainly appreciate James calling my attention to the problem from a different angle but I think the only way I can apply this is to keep with the Love God/Love people approach.

One last thing before I close. The fact the problem is inside each of us is also supported by James using the vocative “Adulteresses!” He probably used the feminine form either because he is referring to us as the Church, the Bride of Christ, or simply to shock us men into listening to what he’s saying. What is really, really ugly here is to realize what he’s saying. It would be bad enough for a wife to have an affair with another man – but what if that other man was her husband’s worst most bitter enemy? How unspeakably evil would that be? But that is exactly what we’re doing when we give our hearts to this world’s pleasures, possessions, and applause. It is spiritual adultery, but worse than that, it is adultery immersed in betrayal.

But that is who we naturally are.

I wish my heart wasn’t like that. I don’t want to make myself the Lord’s enemy. God help me to mind my heart, to mind my desires, to love like Jesus. But most of all, as I ponder all of this, I am thankful for His grace. I am His enemy. My very existence is to betray Him, to go “a whoring” after whatever idol allures my heart today. And yet, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!” “Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!” The other day my mind was bludgeoning me with all my failures. I opened my Bible and the very first words my eyes fell on were in Isaiah 41:9: “I said, ‘You are My servant;’ I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”

He’s just like that. Kind to His bitter enemy. And that love melts my whoring heart. Makes me want to never again for one second do anything but love Him in return. To love people like He does. Makes me cry with the old song writer, “Adam’s image now efface; Stamp Thine image in its place! Second Adam, from above, reinstate us in Thy love!”

Wars and fightings. Bitterness and selfish ambition. Killing and coveting. Enemies of God. Loving what He hates. Adulteresses. Yep, that’s pretty much me.

Lover of my soul, make me different.

James 4:1-3 – “Sweet Spirit”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Where [do] wars and where [do] battles among you [come] from? [Do they] not [come] from here – out of your pleasures which are soldiering among your members? ²You lust and do not have; you murder and covet and are not able to obtain; you battle and war; you do not have because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly in order that you may squander [it] on your pleasures.

In verse 2, James accosted us that we often do not have simply because we did not ask. In verse 3, he addresses the possibility that we did ask but didn’t receive.

As I read this verse, what jumps off the page at me is that the major reason we ask but “don’t receive” is simply because the Lord knows better – that we simply “know not how to pray for what we ought” (Rom 8:26). As I survey my own life and my prayers, the answer has often been “no” but then as time goes by I see how wise and loving the Lord was not to give me what I asked for. In fact that is true to such a point that I can honestly say I don’t want Him to give me what I ask for. I want Him to give me what He knows is best. Then I just need grace to live in a world often far from what I wish it was. All that said, I also live in the amazement of how often He does answer my prayers and how unbelievably kind He has been to me. In fact, when He answers prayers, He usually does it in ways that really are immeasurably more than I could have asked or thought. He really does Himself give “a full measure, pressed down and running over.” He is still the One who said, “Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full” and “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

However, in James 4:3, we have to wrestle with this problem that my “no” answers might be because there’s something wrong in my asking. I hesitate to even wander into this matter because pretty much all my life I’ve heard people saying things like “You shouldn’t pray for your own needs and wants. That’s selfish. You should only pray for other people.” Or I’ve heard things like, “You shouldn’t bother God with little things,” … like finding a pair of shoes on sale or finding that left hand glove that seems to have disappeared. I soundly and totally disagree with those attitudes. In the Lord’s prayer itself, Jesus taught us to say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Elijah prayed for rain. Hannah prayed for a son. John prayed for his friend’s good health (III Jn 2). David prayed to be delivered from his enemies. Jeremiah instructed the exiles to “Pray for the prosperity of their city” (Jer 29:7), and Jesus was concerned when people were hungry. Jabez prayed “Oh that You would bless me indeed and that Your hand would be with me, that you would enlarge my borders, and that You would keep me from pain,” and the Bible specifically says he was more honorable than his brothers and that the Lord answered his prayer (I Chron 4:9,10).

In fact, God wants us to pray over the least little details of our lives. That is the point of Jesus’ teaching in Luke 18:1: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” That is His point as well in Matt 7:7-11: “Ask and it will be given to you … how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” The Lord wants us to pray about everything. It’s just like when my own children were very small – it was such a delight just to hear their little voices. I wanted them to ask me for anything at all their little hearts desired. I wanted them to ask, because I enjoyed when I could give them what they asked for. And even when I could not, I felt it was a valuable teaching time – explaining why I could not, or encouraging them to pray to God for it.

So, with that firmly asserted – that the Lord wants us to pray for everything and anything our hearts desire, big or small, anytime, anywhere – yet we come to James’ admonition here in verse 3. It is possible that our prayers are not answered because we “ask them amiss, that we may squander them on our pleasures.”

How do we balance this with all I said above? I don’t think it really that difficult. The fact is that anything we do is susceptible to motive. The little child can ask for something sweetly or they can be a demanding little brat who throws a tantrum when you say no. Sweet little children wrap us around their finger. Demanding little brats get spankings. It’s no different with the Lord. It’s up to us to keep the sweet child’s heart. That is James’ point.

Now what exactly is he talking about, this “asking wrongly, that you may squander it on your pleasures?” I think we need look no further than I John 2:16, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” which I have found convenient to designate our love for “pleasures, possessions, and applause.” The lust of our flesh. Once again, the evil “wanter” within us. The fact is we are so evil, we can even sin in the process of doing something as holy as prayer! We see it happen in Luke 18:11 when, “The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.’” Clearly, even in the business of prayer, we need to be vigilant not to let our flesh be the driver of our hearts.

Once again, that doesn’t mean we should hesitate to ask for even the smallest thing we want or need. It just means, even in that, we need to be aware of our hearts. Will the Lord hear the sweet voice of His precious little child, or the demanding voice of a brat who needs to be spanked? We make the choice what spirit we ask in. Then He makes the choice how to respond.

So let us ask away, but let us do it in the sweet spirit of a child and their loving Father and try to be aware when our evil “wanter” is rearing its ugly head. Love God, love people. Even in prayer!

James 4:1,2 – “The Victory of Faith”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Where [do] wars and where [do] battles among you [come] from? [Do they] not [come] from here – out of your pleasures which are soldiering among your members? ²You lust and do not have; you murder and covet and are not able to obtain; you battle and war; you do not have because you do not ask.

As I have read a number of commentaries on these verses, the biggest thing that surprises me (but shouldn’t) is how practically everyone turns this into a “those bad people out there” passage. Practically everyone throws up this lustful, murderous, discontent, prayerless villain and concludes with “Shame on them!” Seriously??? How can anyone not see that James is talking about us! This is not some villain “out there.” He’s talking about the villain in me!

Sometimes I wonder if this isn’t at the root of why so much preaching does so little good. If the man behind the pulpit doesn’t see his own face in the mirror, if he can’t see the villain inside himself – this lustful, murderous, discontent, prayerless villain – then it is highly unlikely he’ll help anyone else see the villain in them. Reminds me of Jeremiah 8:11: “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.” The problem is that it is serious! I am of my father the devil and the lusts of my father I will do. He was a murderer and a liar from the beginning and I’ll be just like him unless the wonderful grace of Jesus invades and conquers my heart! Any victory of love and peace that He wins in this black heart is nothing short of a miracle. He isn’t just a nice addition to my life; He is my life. My hope. My help. My strength. My peace. My rock. My refuge. The villain in James 4:1-2 is me. And it takes the Hero of Grace to allow me to see it and then rescue me from it. No one less. God deliver me from me.

Hopefully having convinced anyone reading this that he’s talking about us – we shall move on.

James brought up at the end of chapter 3 the wonderful business of peace, then opens chapter 4 pondering why there is so little of it. “What causes all these fights and quarrels in your life?” He then gives the answer we all should be all too aware of  -- they come from the lusts that are actually battling inside of me. In verse 2, he expands on this problem for the very purpose of helping us see just how bad it is. What he tells us is that we humans are so driven by our lusts that we actually turn murderous . Here again the Lord would have us “beware our wanter.” At the very, very deep root of our sin problem is exactly this – our wanter. He warns us in I John 2:15,16 that our natural bent is to lust after pleasures, possessions, and applause (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) and it is those very things which rob us of our love for the Father. In II Peter 1:4 He warns us we have need to escape the “corruption in the world caused by lusts.” It is literally our wanter that ruins us, and that is precisely what James is trying to help us see.

Realizing all of this only helps us to see just how badly we need the Lord in our life and very specifically how true it is that “Faith is the victory.” There in II Peter 1, the particular weapon He has given us in order to escape the “corruption in the world caused by lust” is “His very great and precious promises!”  What can possibly conquer this evil, murderous wanter inside of us? Faith. Faith in very great and precious promises. Yes, I “want” things, but what if I had a God I could trust to provide them? What if way down deep, way down at the very root of my “wanting,” what if I could be convinced that the Lord will provide everything that is really, truly best for me? What difference would that make? All of a sudden, I’m not driven any more. I don’t need to be murderous. I can have peace.

Is not this very matter at the root of Jesus’ words: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:31-33).

Jesus is calling us to truly believe way down deep in our hearts that the Lord will provide. He is saying that “the pagans run after these things” – they are driven by their wanter and they have no one to trust. They have no assurance at all that they won’t end up destitute and starving – so they must take it all upon themselves to get whatever it is they want and need. They must do whatever it takes to make sure they get their piece of the pie. But, again, that is because they have no one to trust. But we do.

Faith is the victory. We have very great and precious promises to rest our weary hearts upon. “Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4).

This is probably precisely why at the end of verse 2, James says, “You have not, because you ask not.” And why wouldn’t we ask? Why wouldn’t we remember to ask of God? Because our wanter is in motion rather than our faith. I like what Albert Barnes said: “The true way of obtaining anything which we really need is to seek it from God by prayer, and then to make use of just and fair means of obtaining it, by industry and honesty, and by a due regard for the rights of others. Thus sought, we shall obtain it if it would be for our good; if it is withheld, it will be because it is best for us that is should not be ours.”

That is a wonderful truth – but can you see that it is useless without faith? “We shall obtain it if it would be for our good …” Therein, I would suggest is exactly where the rub occurs. I might not get it. I want it. I may want it very badly. Rather than letting my wanter drive me, I need to simply trust God to provide it. But what if He doesn’t??? Here is the very point where I need to live my life with open hands and here is the very point I must know the Lord as my wonderful, wise, loving Father, whom I am assured will in fact provide for me all that really is good and best.

Faith really is the victory – faith in a Savior whose plans are to do us “good and not evil all the days of our lives, to give us a future and a hope.”

Lord, I have a dark evil heart. James is talking about me. But You said “Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound.” May Your amazing grace conquer my evil heart at those very moments when my wanter would take the reins. May Your love be my hope and, in it, may You give me the victory of faith. And may the wonderful freedom of faith be the portion of my family and my friends.

James 4:1 – “Freedom”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Where [do] wars and where [do] battles among you [come] from? [Do they] not [come] from here – out of your pleasures which are soldiering among your members?

Well, it’s time to get back to James. As I think I noted back in chapter 3, this is one of those places where I’m afraid the chapter division is misleading. The fact that we’ve “moved on” to chapter 4 implies that James is taking up a new subject. I don’t think so. He just got done comparing the effects of worldly wisdom versus heavenly wisdom and concluded with the profound statement, “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by ones making peace.” He now asks the question, “Where do all these wars and battles among us come from?” Peace is a wonderful thing – why do we see so little of it?

I think it notable to consider to whom James is speaking. There are a lot of opinions but I find it really hard to believe he’s speaking to anyone but believers. They are particularly Jewish believers but believers nonetheless. The book is addressed (1:1) “to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” and then to (2:1) “my brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ ...” In 5:14, he will say, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church …” Whatever James says is applying specifically to believers and he is talking about what goes on in their lives, in their relationships in their families and their churches.

This is important because he isn’t necessarily talking about international politics or corporate policies. It is hermeneutically indefensible to use this passage to promote pacifism. One may maintain it is true that all wars and battles, even internationally, are the result of lusts and therefore wrong. But that would be an extrapolation from this passage, which is specifically addressing believers in their relationships with one another. In fact, the Lord Himself specifically says that governments “do not bear the sword in vain,” and that one of their legitimate functions is to protect their people (Romans 13:4). Nowhere was this legitimate function of government ever seen more clearly than in World War II. Both Germany and Japan had evil intentions to cruelly dominate the entire world and they would have succeeded had not our government risen up and fought against them. Not one bomb was ever dropped on the continental United States, not one bullet fired here, but only because there was literally a human wall that stood between them and us. To take this passage and any other and teach that all war is wrong would be to rob our government and our military of this very important and necessary service.

It is also important to note James is speaking to believers because he really is speaking to believers when he asks this question, “From whence come wars and fightings among you?” Yes, it is true. Wars and fightings go on between believers and in churches. Anyone who’s been a Christian for more than ten or twenty seconds won’t find that statement incredible. American churches in particular are typically consumed with their own wars and fights, much to their utter disgrace in the community. Believers are often known, not for their love to one another (John 13:35), but rather for their constant and bitter feuding.

I would suggest part of the problem is that “religion” brings out a supposed sense of “right” that we think needs to be defended. When believers are embroiled in their in-fighting either side will be quite sure they’re “right.” If they hear James ask, “Where are these wars and battles coming from?” they would reply, “From our zeal for the Lord!” Johnstone noted, “For a century and a half after the beginning of the Reformation, almost every war in Europe, whether civil or international, was partly due, and many were due almost solely, to differences of view regarding religion.” As James already warned us, our mouths are set on fire by hell and our natural wisdom is demonic – and he’s talking about believers, and now he’s telling us that the wars and battles that go on among us have nothing to do with zeal for the Lord. They are borne of our own lusts. “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace” … not war.

Once again, he’s not talking about international politics. He’s talking about you and me. And as the Lord always does, he reduces the battle to one very important front: our hearts. “Where do wars and battles among you come from?” Good question. Where do they come from? “From the lusts that war in your members” – from inside each one of us. Jay Adams said, “The reason why you quarrel with others at home or in the church in an unnecessary, sinful way is because you and/or they have lost the battle within.”

This may sound delirious, but I think this is actually one of the most liberating truths the Lord has ever taught me – that I am my own problem. It’s so easy and may seem  desirable to see our problems coming from a million different sources, but the problem with all those things is there’s usually nothing I can do about it. If the problem is me, then with the Lord’s help, all I need to do is see it and change it. That to me is enormously hopeful. Along the same lines, the other thing I find gloriously liberating is realizing everything comes down to a love problem. All that matters at all is that I love God and people. So no matter the problem, no matter how it affects me, if somehow I can see where and how I can still love God and others, I will find the only solution that really matters!

The truth that I am my problem He has taught me before and I have been wrestling with for years. But lately and looking at James, I am seeing something I haven’t seen before: sometimes after I think I’ve handled my part of a conflict I walk away thinking to myself that the other person still has issues – and those issues of theirs still bother me. But why? Why do their issues bother me? Actually it is still because I have issues! I may want to say, “Well, but it’s just plain wrong what they’re doing.” And that may be true. But what am I saying? Am I saying that I just have this really keen sense of right and wrong, that I am some kind of champion of the right, that I’m some kind of noble upholder of justice and peace? Yeah, Don, give me a break. What James is saying is still true – that the real source of the “trouble” for me is still something in me. The truth is their issues bother me because I still have issues. The problem for me is still arising from “the lusts which are soldiering in my members.”

Once again, someone else may think I’m daffy, but I find that gloriously liberating. With the Lord’s help, I can fight me. With His help, I can love. If the real battle is entirely within me, then between me and the Lord, we can fight it. To say it is in any way someone else’s fault makes me a helpless and hapless victim. I don’t want to be a victim. I want to be free – even if it is the freedom to see that my problems are something in the end totally inside of me … and even if, in the end that means letting other people have their issues, letting them off “scot-free,” so to speak.

Where do the wars and fightings in my life come from? Really they come from inside of me. And sitting in the Lord’s lap, with His big strong arms around me, I know I can handle me. I can enjoy love and peace because He gives me the victory. He has before and He will again. Now that’s freedom! What an Immanuel gift!

Ruth 4:13-22 – “The Big Take-Away”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³And Boaz took Ruth to be to him to wife and he came in to her and YHVH gave to her conception and she bore a son. ¹⁴And the women said to Naomi, “Praise be to YHVH, who has not caused to fail to you a kinsman-redeemer today. May his name be called in Israel, ¹⁵and he will be to you a restorer of soul and to supporting your old age, because your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him, which she [is] a good to you from seven sons.” ¹⁶And Naomi took the child and she set him in her bosom and she became to him a nurse. ¹⁷And the women neighbors called to him a name saying, “A son has been borne to Naomi,” and they called his name Obed. He [was]…²²the father of Jesse, the father of David.

As I come to the end of the book, I don’t think I’ll note anything about the final genealogy. What is most significant, I think, is that it completes the book with all converging in the birth of David, and through him, of course, ultimately Jesus Himself. There is a wide variety of research and discussion about the list of names, time period covered, etc., but no defensible conclusions, so I think I just won’t spend much time on it.

I’d rather think about what someone called “the big take-away.” Obviously one could conclude the whole point of the book was to trace the genealogy of King David, but I would debate that position for at least a couple of reasons: First of all, if the whole point was simply to trace David’s ancestry, why present it in a story? Genealogies in and of themselves are a legitimate way of confirming lineage. That happens all the time and we even see that very activity in Neh. 7:64 where “These searched for their family records, but they could not find them so they were excluded from the priesthood.” It was the records themselves and not a four-chapter long story that either confirmed or failed to confirm ancestry. So I don’t think it at all defensible to hold the whole point of the book was to present the lineage of David, as important as that may be.

The second reason I cannot accept that position is that “All these things were written for our admonition” (I Cor 10:11).  The Bible is a book of discipleship. The whole Bible from cover to cover was written to illustrate for us what faith looks like and what it does not. Even if the point of the book of Ruth is ultimately to present David’s lineage, yet the Lord always records those things in a way where we can follow the lives of the people and learn ourselves how to walk with God. The Bible is always answering the question, “How shall we then live?” and always saying to us, “Here is the way. Walk ye in it.”

And so I would suggest the “big take-away” is always about our lives, about teaching us what it means to love God and love people. That being said, the book of Ruth is a bombshell of very, very encouraging and helpful truth. I say that because it allows us to see intimately into the very simple day-to-day lives of a group of believers who face all the heartaches, uncertainties, fears, hopes, joys, and blessings the rest of us share and yet show us what real integrity means.

The “big take-away” I would like to suggest is that it really is true that “all things work together for good to them that love God,” that it really is true when the Lord says to us, “Fear not, I am with thee,” when He says, “For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to do you good and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.” The book opens in almost unbelievable hopelessness and yet, here we are at the end with Ruth married and Naomi holding a baby in her arms. The Lord, of course, knew it all along, but just like us, Naomi and Ruth suffered in the dark, as it were, with no idea how it could possibly turn out well. The book teaches us to trust God no matter what. He is always up to our good. Even as we suffer He’s giving us a Ruth. And even though faith takes us to sometimes strange and scary places, the Lord has a Boaz waiting for us there. And beyond that, the book reminds us that His plans sometimes go far beyond us. We never know when we might have a great-grandson David or find ourselves in the line of the very Messiah Himself!

The “end of the story” for Naomi and Ruth is the same end we will see one day:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!

We need to be like Ruth and simply trust the Lord and “under His wings to take refuge.” We need, like her, to make love and faithfulness our greatest virtues and let the Lord be the One who pulls it all together for our good. We need to trust Him no matter what!

Another thing that Ruth teaches us is that, even in the darkest days, the Lord still has His people. The book is set in the hopeless dark days of the Judges. And yet we meet in this book a whole group of Israelites who greet each other at work, “The Lord bless you!” and who pray the Lord’s blessings on each other. Even in our present dark days, we need to remember that the Lord has yet reserved to Himself “7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” There are always good people out there who still trust God.

Along those same lines, the book of Ruth teaches us that there are some pretty amazing people out there. Naomi, Boaz, and Ruth are three of the most exemplary people you could find anywhere. Who can help but enjoy their simple love and humility and faithfulness -- Boaz’s gracious kindness, Ruth’s resolved faithfulness, and Naomi’s constant selflessness? And probably what tickles me the most is that it’s all seen not on some stage, not in front of a big church group, but simply in their everyday workaday world – exactly where our faith ought to shine the brightest.

One interesting thought is to compare this book to our other “young woman” book, Esther. In Ruth, we see the Lord intimately involved in the very simple everyday lives of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. In Esther, He isn’t mentioned even once. Esther is set in the very palace that was ruling the civilized world and yet the Lord isn’t even mentioned in the entire book. In Esther we see His hand at work, without being told specifically it was Him doing it. I wonder why that is? I wonder if the Lord wrote the two books to give us hope that sometimes in our troubles, He will be very present and visible, while other times it seems we cannot see Him at all – yet, in either case, He is always still there with His “plans to do us good and not to harm us.” And He will be up to that good whether we find ourselves in a palace or scratching in the dirt. Whether everyone around us acknowledges Him or whether they don’t even mention His name, He’s still there.

I guess with that, I have to say good-bye to my three friends. It sure has been a blessing to walk with them for a while. I feel like I’ve been with Jesus Himself. It’s been an exceptional blessing to see real faith lived out in such simple lives. I hope the Lord has deeply imprinted their character in my brain and I hope it makes me more like them. Most of all, I hope it helps me to remember “the big take-away” – trust the Lord, … no matter what!