The Fire Within

Trial by Fire doesn’t have to mean us going through something outwardly tragic; it can also mean us having to let go of something that is inwardly dear. 

There is no need for me to elucidate upon the scope of our various inner fears, prejudices, and idolatries. The Lord’s word is sufficient:  trial by fire for some, is within. When Moses encountered Yahweh, he saw the Angel of the Lord “in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; … yet the bush was not consumed.“ The Hebrew word translated as “bush” means bramble bush or thorn bush. We are the bramble bush. Indeed, the thorny bush, ‘tis I. Jesus wore us as a crown upon His blessed head, enduring our pricks that drew His holy blood. His blood atones for our sin, but from that moment onward, His Spirit works within us to sanctify our will.  Thus, the fire of the Lord must search us through within, leaving only what cannot be consumed. He cannot consume His own nature. All that is contrary to His nature is consumed. 

Our God is a consuming fire who has created mankind to be His dwelling place. We receive His nature when the spirit of His Son enters into us by faith. That same spirit searches us and tries us, sanctifying our will and emotions so that we reflect the desires and character of God. But we must be willing to let go of the things we cling to within that keep us tethered to  ignorance, immaturity, and the likeness of our fallen flesh. 

We must all pass through the fire. We may pass through willingly, unto sanctification. Or we may pass through at the command of Christ, unto destruction. Either way, the fire will judge every man. If you are a human being, then God is inevitable and there is no escape from this. To survive God, you must have His nature. To have His nature, you must receive His Son. Even so, for those who have received His Son, some will suffer loss, and some will receive reward. 

“…’The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:30,31)

“…each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” (1 Cor 3:13)

Blind Spots

“We are not blind too, are we?”

In my quiet time with the Lord this morning, I asked the Spirit to lead me in my requests and petitions of the Lord. And one of those prayers He spoke through my lips was for His Body to have the unity the Father truly desires, rather than the unity we imagine or assume He desires. Then He began to minister to me about blindness and its relation to our heart. How the state of our heart affects how we see. 

We may pray for the Lord to remove our blindness, but for Him to answer that prayer, He must deal with our heart, because He teaches that the pure in heart will see (Matt 5:8). He also ministered to me this morning that if He were to take us into the great halls of truth, many would not be able to bear it. It would be incomprehensible and even unacceptable to them, because of the state of their heart, or inner man. We only see what we are able to see, rather than the fullness of what truly is. We see only what we accept as true, and we turn away from what we don’t understand or what we are not willing to accept, and in that place, there is blindness. 

As I wept and prayed for us, the Holy Spirit communicated this word, “Sinners can be dealt with in their denial far more easily than the arrogant can be dealt with in their blindness.” He brought my mind to the words cried out at John 9:40, “We are not blind too, are we?” So I guess the question we must ask ourselves is, how much are we willing to see? And we mustn’t ask that question in relation to any blindness we may perceive in others, we must ask that question solely of ourselves. 

We must not ask in indignant incredulity, “We are not blind too are we?” But we must simply assume that we are, and ask instead, “Father in heaven, what are my blind spots?”

(John 16:12,13) I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.

(Luke 4:17-19) ..the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(John 9:39-41) Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” Those who were with Him from the Pharisees heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains."

A Fire In Their Bones

For Patti.  And all the others who have languished with a fire in their bones.

~But if I say, "I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name," then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it. (Jer 20:9)

One thing I need to point out before I explain this, is that I will not argue with people who want to make Scripture out to mean something that it doesn’t when it comes to certain issues.  One of them is about who I am in Christ as a woman.  How women are perceived in certain denominational doctrines is a heart issue that only Christ can resolve, and He will resolve all things upon His return.  I will not teach on these issues unless specifically asked, and even then, I say what I have to say and leave it alone because some of the most disgusting and vitriolic encounters I’ve ever had in the church involved people’s spiritual arrogance and pride over the issue of what women “can” and “cannot” do in the church and I want no part of it. It is not a hill that I am willing to die on.  It makes me tired and the arguments lead to nowhere, they are pointless and an utter waste of time, detracting from our focus which should be on Jesus Christ, not ourselves.  I refuse to engage in them. Christ HIMSELF showed us what He expects women to do in His church (John 20:17,18 and John 4:25-30,39-42).  The lens of Christ’s own words and actions must be the lens we look through when we try to interpret and understand anything else written in the Bible.  Christ changed everything, and that is the direction He was trying to lead first century Judaism.

Having said that, I will explain how 1 Cor 14:33-40 should be understood using proper exegetical and hermeneutical principles, rather than the typical proof-texting that this particular passage is commonly used for. 

First you have to play by the correct rules of genre.  The rules of genre determine how what is being written should be understood.  For example, are we dealing with prophecy which should be understood symbolically/historically?  Or are we dealing with apocalypse which should be understood highly symbolically and eschatologically?  Or are we dealing with historical narrative which should be understood as descriptive and not prescriptive?  The letter of 1 Corinthians is none of those genres, it is a “letter,” and the “letter” genre is a didactic text, which means that it is instructional and we are to understand it literally, but our understanding must be based on the situational and circumstantial context.  Meaning, what is being taught is pursuant to the particular situation or circumstance being addressed.  Exegesis tells us what that situation or circumstance was about, and hermeneutics interprets how what is being said should be understood and properly applied to us today.  Exegesis helps us to find the spiritual principle of the passage and hermeneutics helps us determine how to best apply that theological principle today.  It’s called the “Principalizing Bridge.”  This is what is used to properly interpret passages such as the one about women’s head coverings, which are wholly based on first century culture and traditions.  However, there are spiritual principles that can be gleaned from what Paul instructed, and those spiritual principles still apply to us today.  It would be like reading a text written during the Victorian era that had someone instructing the church that women showing their ankles was a disgrace, and then trying to legalistically apply it to the church today.  We don’t live in the Victorian era, and we don’t wear floor length gowns.  However, the spiritual principle being taught is one of modesty.  So we take that theological principle and apply that to the church today.

In Paul’s letters, sometimes we are told the situation or circumstance that he is addressing, sometimes we are not.  So, the “letter” genre is sometimes referred to as “one-way telephone conversations” because we are reading Paul’s response to a previous letter that we do not have.  Several of Paul’s letters are his responses to letters or verbal news that he has received from the churches he is writing to.  So, in the case of Paul’s letters, we are only seeing his response to news that we haven’t heard ourselves or a letter we’ve never read. 

In the chapters prior to 1 Corinthians Chapter 14, Paul speaks of unity in the church among the Body, operating as one.  In Chapter 12 he makes a thorough case for unity and the need for the church to act as one, “all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body” (v. 12).  In Chapter 14, he describes how to have an orderly worship service in the early church of first century culture. In that context, he makes painstaking effort to teach the Corinthians that EVERYONE is to participate in the gathering, but in an orderly manner (“every one of you” 14:5; “the whole church” “everyone” 14:23; “everybody” 14:24; “everyone” 14:26; “anyone” 14:27; “you can all  prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged” 14:31).  And it is Paul’s thesis at 14:31 that sets up the context for his rhetorical argument at 14:34-40.  Paul builds his case for both unity and for the participation of all church members and then sums it up with “for God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the congregations of the saints.”(14:33) That is where Paul’s perspective concludes, and the few verses that come after that are either a gloss, or a part of a Greek rhetorical device called “procatalepsis,” where the speaker directly addresses a potential objection to their argument (also called antithesis).  We know that Paul was formally educated in Greek rhetoric (this area of study was called “progymnasmata” and I teach it at the high school level at the school), which is why his letters are full of Greek rhetorical devices to make his arguments.  In this case, Paul would be quoting his objectors’ arguments at 1 Cor Ch. 14, verses 34 and 35 using the rhetorical device of procatalepsis.

One thing that is needful to note here, is that first century Greek does not use punctuation.  That means, no periods, commas, or quotation marks.  So when someone is using a quote, it is typically inferred by grammatical nuance and is up to us to determine what that may or may not be.  For example, the period in the sentence at 1 Cor 14:33 is placed differently in certain translations.  Go look at different translations of 1 Cor 14:33-- the English Standard Version, NIV, the NASB, the Christian Standard Bible, the Holman Christian Standard Bible.  You will see that where the period is placed, makes a big difference in what is being communicated here.  Grammatically, the period belongs at the end of verse 33, as such:  “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”  Then we have verses 34 and 35 which seem to completely contradict everything Paul just taught the Corinthian church about everyone participating, which implies that it is actually a quotation (as in, what the Judaizers of the church were arguing, rather than this being what Paul actually says himself…more on that in a minute).  In some original manuscripts, verses 34 and 35 are actually at the end of the chapter, inserted after verse 40, so their contradictory nature and their inconsistent location in manuscript copies are two nuances that help determine how to best understand this passage. 

So, there are two things that could be happening here with this quotation.  It is either a parenthetical notation that was made to give clarity as to what argument was being made against Paul’s teaching of everyone participating in the church (remember, this is a one-way telephone conversation here) to cause Paul to respond to the Judaizer’s argument for silence with the case he lays out in the entirety of chapters 12 and 14 to argue for the unity of the Body and orderly participation for all members of the church.  (In this case verses 34 and 35 would be what is called a “gloss” –look up “Biblical gloss”).  Or, it is a quote that Paul is using in a rhetorical debate strategy called procatalepsis (quotation/refutation). Paul was a master rhetorician, which in the first century had become the preferred form of debate for Greeks, and had developed into an artform.  One of the strategies was to state the opponent’s argument in the body of your own argument and then denigrate it, mock it, refute it.  Paul was very good at rhetoric and he does this in other places in his letters to the Corinthians (2 Cor 10:1-11, he quotes the argument made about him being meek when face to face with them but bold when absent—that is what the Corinthians were saying behind his back at verse 1, then again at verse 10, and refutes their argument at verse 11;  at 1 Cor 4:7-10, he mocks their arrogance and then quotes their insults about he and the other Apostles being fools, weak, and without honor at verse 10, and uses irony to mock them)   

[ *side note here: Parenthetical notations are insertions into Scripture by others who copied the texts to give the reader a better understanding of the context.  For example, parenthetical notations in the Gospels are at Luke 17:36, John 7:53-8:11, Matthew 17:21.  Early manuscripts do not include Luke 17:36, and later manuscripts do, therefore it is seen as a parenthetical insertion taken from Matthew 24:40 to give clarity.  Likewise, Matthew 17:21 is not in the early manuscripts, therefore it is seen as a parenthetical insertion taken from Mark 9:29.  John 7:53-8:11 is absent from almost all early manuscripts and those that do have it, insert it after Luke 21:38.  Therefore it is seen as an extended parenthetical notation, much in the same vein as the end of the Gospel of Mark is viewed.  The Gospel of Mark actually ends at 16:8, and everything from verse 9 through 20 is only found in later manuscripts.  This is not to say that what is in our Bibles today is uninspired or additions that God didn’t want.  I believe all contributors to the Bible, up to the point of when the canon was formally closed, were inspired by the Holy Spirit.  God is either sovereign over His own word or He is not.  So when we learn that there were things added to the original texts, we shouldn’t freak out and think that the Bible is untrustworthy, because it is, because God is indeed sovereign.  ]

So, back to 1 Cor 14:34,35, either way we look at these two verses--whether they are a gloss or whether they are being used as a quotation/refutation strategy by Paul-- the fact still remains:  these two verses are a quote, and not Paul’s own words because Paul wouldn’t contradict himself.  So let’s look at the quote and see if we can pick up some clues as to who may have said something like this.  Verses 34 & 35 say, “The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.  If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the congregation.”  What “Law” would this verse be referring to here? We know that there is nothing in the Mosaic Law that instructs women to be silent, and there is nothing in the Mosaic Law that instructs women to submit to men, and there is nothing in the Old Testament instruction that implies that it is improper for a woman to speak in public.    So that is not and cannot be the “Law” which is referred to here, nor any custom instructed to us by God.  So this verse is either referring to a law that would be a traditional Gentile law or custom, or in the Jewish oral law (Talmud), and this is exactly what we find.  This sort of statement is found in both Gentile writings and Jewish oral law. 

Plutarch states that a woman’s speech should not be for the public and “a woman ought to do her talking either to her husband or through her husband [because] they must subordinate themselves to their husbands” (Advice to the Bride and Groom, precept 31).  Sophocles wrote, “Silence adorns a woman” (Ajax 293).  Democritus states, “Let a woman not practice speech; for that is terrible” (Saying 110).  Likewise, the Jewish oral law that Christ regularly condemned the Pharisees for following, forbade women from participating in public religious activities.  The Babylonian Talmud (BT) states that “women are a separate people” (Shabbat 62a); women earn merit by sending their husbands to study with the rabbis and waiting until they return from the schools of the rabbis (Berakhot 17a); “the voice of a woman is indecent” (Berekhot 24a). “The words of the Torah should be burned rather than entrusted to women” (JT Sotah 3:4)  “Gather the men, women and children- since the men come to learn Torah and the women come to hear” (JT Sotah 3:4, 19a).  Jewish tradition in the synagogues was for there to be a physical barrier called a mehitzah between men and women in the synagogue, and women were not even considered as a legal individual person, they were considered property and on the same societal level as a child or a slave, which is why they didn’t even qualify to be counted when numbering the synagogue congregation:  “Women or slaves or minors may not be included [to make up the number needed] for the Common Grace” (the required congregation number to form a synagogue, which was 10 or more people)(Berakot 7:2). 

Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 about the unity of the Body of Christ, and in Chapter 14 for everyone in the Body to participate without restriction in the Christian assembly would have both offended and infuriated the religious Jews, especially those who taught the oral Talmudic law.  Especially those who were trying to bring Jewish synagogal traditions into Christ’s church, which was to operate according to the laws of unity, rather than the Talmudic laws of separation. It would have also been an offense and a stumbling block to Romans and Greeks who held to a view of women as lesser persons. That is one of the reasons Paul makes such a damning and mocking condemnation at verse 36:  “Was it from you that the word of God went forth? Or has it come to you only?  If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you about are the Lord’s commandment.”  And the things Paul wrote to them about in the previous chapters was for everyone to participate in the church. That is the Lord’s commandment. Paul is shaming those who think that their traditions and oral laws are greater than Christ’s instructions about everyone having a place to participate in His church, without segregation, and on equal footing.   That is why Paul’s next statement is, “If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized” and he goes on to encourage the congregation to “therefore…desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues.”  He is reiterating that no one is to be forbidden from speaking, everyone may speak and participate, “but all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.”

We know that the Bible cannot contradict itself, and to understand 1 Cor 14:34,35 as Paul’s own words, is to bring contradiction.  Paul would not contradict his own teaching in the previous chapters, he would not falsely attribute something to Mosaic law that wasn’t taught, and he would not contradict what we are told of Priscilla teaching with authority, nor of Jesus’ instructions to Mary Magdalene to go to her brethren (who were essentially the first church congregation) and tell them Christ’s instructions.  The Spirit of the Lord, the heart of the Father, is for all His children to make disciples and teach the ways of Christ.  Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor 3:17).  And there would have been many in the early church who would have tried to rob the fledgling Christian congregations of their freedom, whether it be by telling them they must be circumcised, or adhere to Mosaic dietary law, or in this case, continue a segregated gathering that gave women believers no voice, no unity, and no freedom.  Sadly, there are many today who continue try to do this very same thing.

Entering His Presence

 

I went out to the barn today for the first time in quite a while. 

I went out there because I needed to pray undisturbed, which is very hard to do in my house full of daughters and a husband who thinks of a million things he needs to get out of our bedroom the minute he realizes that I need to be alone in there. That’s just the way it goes, I suppose. So today, I trekked out to the barn so I could spend time with the Lord without the hovering anxiousness of potential interruption. 

As soon as I got out there, I wanted to enter His presence, but the barn was a colossal mess. The horse was hungry, doors and windows were open that needed to be shut. Lead ropes and harnesses were all over the floor, which was  covered in a year’s worth of barn dust and stray hay. I thought to myself, “I’ll tidy up this little thing and then I’ll pray.” But one little task led to another. The horse was adamant about being fed. The back pasture gates needed to be closed and the side gates opened. The stairs where I sit needed to be swept. Once I finished it all, I sat on the steps, my heart content that I was prepared to meet with the Lord. 

And there’s a lesson in that for us. Quite often, we just want to immediately enter God’s presence and get down to business. We tend to forego any preparation to enter His presence. The ancient Israelites were given instructions by God Himself that consisted of elaborate preparations to just to enter His presence. He taught them the need to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically prepared to meet with Him. He taught them the need for consideration and reverence when entering His presence. And today, I was reminded of that. 

Through Christ, we have been given access to God in such a way that we may confidently approach the throne of grace to find help in time of need. We may meet with Him anywhere and at any time. He is ever present to hear our cries and consider our prayers. But we seem to have lost sight of our need for preparation to be able to hear His response. We seem to have lost sight of the conditions of the place where we truly meet God, which is somewhere between our personal accountability towards His holiness and our being perpetual recipients of His grace. 

Today, may we remember, consider, and reflect upon His holiness and our need for preparation to enter that holiness. 

(Ex 19:9-11) The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in you.” And Moses relayed to the LORD what the people had said. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

(Rev 7:13-15) Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.

(Rev 22:14) Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.

A God Who Forgives

“If you do not forgive others’ their παράπτωμα [Greek ‘paraptoma’: errors, slip-ups, wrong doings, offenses, transgressions, faults], neither will your Father forgive yours.” 

During my morning meditations with the Lord, I thought of my dad. He’s been on my mind a lot lately, wondering if he’s okay. As I thought about him, the words entered my mind: “Curse him.” I immediately recognized it as the voice of the enemy and I responded, “I will not.” As soon as I rejected that thought-harassment from the enemy, the Holy Spirit began to minister to me through Jesus’ words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

When I pray for those who are wayward, I usually pray for the Lord to give them understanding. I pray for them to be given sight so they may see. Those are good things to pray for those who are spiritually ignorant and blind. But in that moment, the Spirit pointed out that our Lord did not ask the Father to give sight and understanding to the men who drove the nails into His hands and gambled for His clothing. Jesus didn’t say, “Father help them see. Help them understand.” He just asked for mercy and forgiveness in the midst of their gross “not knowing what they are doing.”

After the Spirit pointed that out, I whispered to myself, “Do I really forgive my dad?” As far as I am able to discern, I have consciously forgiven him for a lifetime of hurts. I have consciously forgiven him for his final act of indignity to me of not calling me or taking my calls when my mother died. But as I pondered my hurt, I wondered, “I have forgiven him in my mind, but have I forgiven him in my heart? Have I cried out to the Father to give him mercy? For his slate to be wiped clean?” Because that’s the forgiveness Jesus asked for on behalf of the soldiers while they not only nailed Him to the cross, but also committed the final indignity of gambling for His clothing as He hung and watched. Can I forgive like that?

The Lord offered forgiveness to those soldiers in the midst of their gross “not knowing what they are doing.” He didn’t wait around for them to understand, He didn’t hold out on them until they saw, He just interceded for their forgiveness. He asked the Father for mercy. And He did that because of who He is— not because they asked for it or deserved it— but for His own sake, for the sake of His own divine, immutable character, for the sake of preserving His holy name, because He is a God Who forgives. And I think it’s worth pointing out that we are never told whether or not those soldiers ever came to a place of spiritual sight and understanding. We are only told that Jesus forgave them. He forgave, not necessarily so that they may see and understand, but so we can. So we can see that we must forgive because if we belong to Him, that’s who we are. 

We don’t necessarily forgive others for their sake, but for ours, because our Lord dwells within us and He is a God Who forgives. 

(Matt 6:14 AMP) For if you forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.

(Ps 25:11) For the sake of Your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.

The Weight Of Weariness

It is good for us to feel the weight of weariness. 

It is good for us to become weary of our many books and many voices. Even books and voices that speak of Christ. For not all who write and speak of Christ have the substance of Christ within. Many of us sit at the table of the Lord and pass around the wrappers. We pass the empty boxes and wrappers around the table. We share the outward package, but when we look inside for food, it is empty. But we just keep passing it around because it’s either the only thing we know to do, or it’s the closest thing we have to the food that’s supposed to be inside. We sit at the table of the Lord and starve because no one knows how to get food, they only know how to pass around empty wrappers and boxes. 

So, to teach us how to get food, and to keep us coming to Him alone for food, the Lord allows us to feel the crushing weight of weariness. He allows us to become weary of the packaging. He exacerbates our thirst and hunger so that we may, through our frustration, realize that packaging is not food. Secondhand relationships with Christ (knowing Christ through others’ relationships with Him), may edify and encourage, but they will not ultimately feed. Our Lord plainly told us, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.” 

And I will share with you another wise thing of the Lord. Those who are not empty wrappers and boxes may minister for a time, but then the Lord will call them away. Those who do know how to get food, and those who do pass bread and not empty wrappers around the table, will be called to step back. The Lord will do this because, while His children are called to share Him amongst themselves, they should never become the source for each other. It is a spiritually treacherous thing for one who has food to become the source of food, rather than the Lord. This is a very delicate balance one must learn to tread— to minister true food to the Lord’s children, while at the same time, not becoming their source for food. Should we ever begin to become the source and not obey Him when He says to step back, He will make us an empty wrapper. 

Jesus, seeing the hungry masses, asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?” Scripture says that Jesus asked Philip this question to test him, because Jesus already knew what He was planning to do. Philip confessed that even if they bought two hundred days wages worth of bread, what they had to offer “is not sufficient for them.” We don’t possess the amount of bread needed, Lord. Then Andrew mentioned a boy who had a few loaves and fishes. It was all they had, and they placed it into the hands of the Lord, and then the Lord Himself “distributed to those who were seated…as much as they wanted.”

In this great feeding of the hungry masses, the only two things Jesus asked His disciples to do was, “Have the people sit down,” and “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” The people were hungry, but the disciples both realized and confessed that they could not feed them, that what they had was insufficient. But they gave what little they had to the Lord. They put it in His hands, so that the Lord Himself would be both source and distributor. 

“…and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barely loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.”

When Is It Due?

“When is it due?”

My 7th Grade class just finished the book “Bruchko.” Their final project is to write a 5-paragraph essay in which they must choose three forms of conflict in the book and explain how those conflicts help to advance the plot. I have a very detailed lesson plan for this project. I have writing organizers that teach how to write a thesis statement, an introductory paragraph, topic sentences, body paragraphs, transitions, a concluding paragraph, and how to restate their thesis. I have PowerPoint presentations that we go through for each element. Once I teach an element of the paper, I review it the next day before I teach the next element. I have the lesson all planned out, step by step, everything ready to be taught and explained when it’s the right time— building my students’ understanding as each concept is learned. 

And the first thing my students wanted to know before I even began the first lesson was, “When is this due?” Followed by a barrage of panicked questions— “How do I…? What does…? What is…?” I hadn’t even begun the lesson, and the first thing they wanted to know was when it would be finished. I hadn’t even opened my mouth to begin teaching them, and their first impulse was to demand answers based on their lack of understanding. And after work that day, when I was walking out to my car thinking about the panic and fear on the faces of my sweet little 7th Graders’ faces earlier in the day, the Holy Spirit said, “You do that.”

Jesus said that everyone who hears from the Father will learn from Him. Problem is, many of us are not willing to sit through the lesson. Before the Lord even opens His mouth to speak, we ask, “When is this due? What will be accomplished?” His lesson plan is meticulously laid out, designed to build our understanding as each concept is learned, but we ask questions and demand answers before we give Him the opportunity to teach us any of it. 

We’re like Martha, “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made,” when we should be like Mary, “who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what [Jesus] said.”

(John 6:45) It is written in the Prophets: “And they will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me…

(Heb 8:10,11) For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

(1 John 2:27) And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.