You Can Recover

We often think of recovery in terms of the husband struggling with alcohol addiction and maxed out by the news his job is being eliminated. I'm going to a meeting! Or we think of the drug addict picked up by a hopeful, but skeptical sibling from under the portico of a familiar rehab facility. Would you like me to drop you at a meeting? But recovery is the story of every Christian. We are recovering from a life lived exclusively for self and by self, and turning ever more fully toward a life lived in sacrifice of self and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In 1 Samuel 8, the people gathered. Despite having been the bearer of bad news to Eli about his wicked sons (1 Samuel 3), Samuel, it is possible, hadn't done much better with regard to his own progeny. His sons, judges over Israel, were corrupt. The complaint of the people, however justified, left Samuel feeling some kind of way. Unappreciated. Used. Disrespected. But God comforted His prophet with these words:

Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them. (v. 7-9)

In short, If they hate Me, they will hate you (John 15:18). After all God had done for His people, they rejected Him and His system of government. So, benevolent Father that He is, He warns them of the consequences, the behavior of kings: 

This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. (v. 11-18)

Nevertheless, the people chose to have a king rule over them. And this is where the struggle of recovery resides. The heart of the people was heard in their cry, Even so, this is what we want. Despite the consequences, regardless of the cost, put aside the best decision, forget the long-term effects... The FLESH cries out for instant gratification. PRIDE says, I can handle it. FAITHLESSNESS looks for the immediate and effortless. COWARDICE chooses to ignore reality and hide behind false hope. These competing voices in our journey toward holiness have been heard throughout the ages. They are not any newer to God than they are to mankind. He is not shocked or intimidated by them. He is greater. And He is waiting for His people to cry out, to turn their hearts toward their true King, and walk in the new life He gives to all who would be disciples. Jesus was the Way of salvation for the people mired in flesh, pride, faithlessness, and cowardice all those years ago; He is our Way of salvation today. We can recover from our old ways through the sacrifice of self, in imitation of the selfless sacrifice of our Savior, and by the power of His Holy Spirit alive in us. 

Midweek: Progressing in Discipline

At one time, my former employer practiced "progressive discipline." This form of training was largely dependent on the detailed documentation of frontline supervisors. Supervisors were to document in each of their employees' files three discussion each week --positive or negative --establishing a history that traveled with the employee as they developed (or declined) throughout their career. When an employee was being considered for a transfer, promotion, recognition, or formal discipline, good documentation made assessment pretty straightforward. One could quickly see, for instance, an employee's poor performance had been addressed multiple times, accommodations had been made, and the employee still failed to work as instructed. Further discipline would be required; more consequential discipline.  

Throughout the Book of Judges, we see the Wash-Rinse-Repeat repentance of humanity. Of course, this is the history of God's people, Israel, but are any of us not the same? We receive correction, maybe are spared some of the pain of our poor decisions; we toe the line for a bit of time and slowly slide right on back to our old ways. In Judges 10, things take a bit of a turn. Israel had returned to its previous sins (v. 6). God chose to get their attention with a line of enemies stacked up against them: troubled relationships, financial difficulties, noisy neighbors, sickness. Okay, not exactly in Israel's case; but has God ever used those things to grab your attention? Did you find yourself nearer your Redeemer as you prayed all through the night for a resolution, or when all was well? 

So, the wolves were at the door, and Israel cried out to the Lord for help. Did He answer? Yes, but not in the way He had before. This time He sent them packing: Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress (v. 14). And this time His people repented: 

And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. (v. 15, 16)

Not under the leadership of God's appointed rescuer, not even under the promise of salvation, but under the torment of their enemies Israel turned their hearts toward God. Progressive discipline. As the discipline God allowed (or inflicted) increased in its severity, the structure and stringency of Israel's behavior improved. As God withdrew His blessing, the people began to worship His character. 

And God could no longer endure the misery of His children; He sent a deliverer (Judges 11). 

SPOILER ALERT: The children of Israel returned to their wicked ways (13:1). Does that mean they somehow "got over" on God? that He didn't know they would rebel? No. Just as with my former employer, progressive discipline was designed to correct behavior using the least amount of force possible. If folks complied after a simple talking-to, that was progress: as a supervisor, I wanted employees to progress, not consequences. Progressive discipline favored justice. By correcting behavior patiently, in a self-controlled manner, consistently, and progressively, justice was done. Everyone was given a fair chance. Progressive discipline was structured around the willingness of a person to comply and designed to encourage progress among the entire group. When administered properly and accepted willingly, it is better than progressive discipline: it is progressing in discipline.

The Book of Naomi

If the Holy Spirit had been so inclined to have written a Book of Naomi, what would be the theme? 

I cannot forget experiencing a shocking loss and going through some reeeeaaally dark days. I would have never thought I could feel that heartbroken and yet, so numb and out of touch. Months later, I spoke to a great man of faith who'd lost his child. He had experienced a black uncertainty that caused my experience to pale. And in the Book of Ruth, we meet Naomi. A woman who, with her husband and sons, leaves her homeland to escape famine. However, her husband dies, her sons take wives but then die also, and this Israelite woman is left far from home and grieving with her two daughters-in-law. I imagine her staring blankly at them, unable to offer any comfort or explanation. She decides to head home. 

Well, it's not the Book of Naomi, it's the Book of Ruth, and chances are, you probably know what happens next. Ruth, one of her daughters-in-law refuses to let her go alone; she insists on living with Naomi in Judah (Ruth 1:16, 17): 

For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.

Beautiful, isn't it? Such love, such devotion. What would be the Moabitess Ruth's prospects of finding a husband among God's people? And what sort of life would this young woman have hanging around her mother-in-law's friends and working day after day to support the two of them? If anyone had cause to be bitter... But in verse 19, as Naomi arrives in Bethlehem, her family greets her with excitement. Is this Naomi? Naomi responds (v. 20, 21):

Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

Some extract from this that Naomi was grieved over the decision she and her husband had made years before to escape famine: this was God's judgment, since all she had experienced since leaving Judah was loss. I wouldn't say that was wrong, and I can't say that in the midst of her grief that wouldn't have come to her mind. (Lord knows, as I was grieving LOTS of things I could have done better occurred to me.) We left God's land and God's people and placed ourselves outside His blessing. What did I expect? But, perhaps, this was simply grief talking. Her insistence that Ruth stay in Moab, find a husband: selflessness or misery? My life is over; you still have your youth. Call me Mara: a self-imposed sentence or the inability to remember life as Naomi without that crushing ache? Don't remind me of the hope I once had, the life I thought would never end.  

I think it's important Naomi does not equate her situation with the enemy or some vague sense of misfortune. She says this is God's doing. In order to claim God has dealt bitterly with her and yet, has brought her home, she must have faith she is still His own. In order to place all of her grief within His purview, she must believe He is at work, He is sovereign, and that He has some sort of role in her life. Even if it is to bring grief for the sake of judgment or testing or greater blessing or testimony. It is in her grief, in her pain which is so keenly described for us here, that we see her faith. One does not blame anything they refuse to acknowledge or give thought to anyone they believe is not present.        

And God shows her great mercy through her daughter-in-law, Ruth. The Book of Ruth. Ruth ministers to her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law pours into Ruth. They build a life together; Ruth's hope and energy, Naomi's faith and wisdom, and a kinsman redeemer. The blessing the women of Judah spoke over Naomi and her new grandson celebrates the new life and the sustenance restored to her --in fact, not restored, but multiplied! to her --despite the sorrow she had known. 

Grief does not mean we have lost our faith or doubt our God; it simply reminds us how much we need Him.