MASTERY AND ITS COSTS

We are born with the needful urge to master our environment. It is what propels a child to take his first steps and to continue even after the falls and bruises. It is what motivates us to observe and to learn.

Even mice have this urge. Experiments have shown that mice in a maze quickly find the right door to the food. In an article, “The Age of Anxiety,” Donald Barnhouse reported that the experimenter then locks the door to the food and unlocks a different door to the food, causing the rat noticeable anxiety. However, eventually, he finds the right door. Barnhouse wrote that the same frustrating and confusing circumstances were repeated with a third door:

·       …until the rat became a nervous wreck; he became thin with bad color in his hair, dilated pupils, quickened pulse, and finally, all the symptoms of insanity.

This seems to also be the plight of modern humanity. We strive for mastery but also encounter very frustrating and stress-producing circumstances that can lead to many forms of disability.

What can be done? The Roman emperor and philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, advised a stiff-upper-lip:

·       Thou must be like a promontory of the sea, against which, though the waves beat continually, yet it both stands, and about it are those swelling waves stilled and quieted.

More easily said than done! After a bit, we find that we are also like these mice in a maze. The waves of frustration and stress wear us down to the breaking point. In fact, Scripture warns us against adorning ourselves with Aurelius’ self-confidence:

·       Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13 ESV)

Mastery and self-confidence have their limits, and, for good reason, they tend to be costly. Barnhouse explained his remedy:

·       We have sought the will of God…We do not dash against [closed] doors [as the mice in the experiments] but expect God to open them for us. If we do press hard against a door that does not open, we recognize that our Lord wants us to go in another direction, and we wait upon Him. If there come great testings, we consider it pure joy (James 1:2). When we are insulted and despised, we can count it as part of our suffering for Christ Who said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad” (Matthew 5:11-12).

When we don’t have our Lord upon whom to cast our cares, hurts, and fears, we become mice in a frustrating maze, and life becomes oppressive.

HOPE WITHOUT SCRIPTURE?

My hope used to be in myself. I told myself that “whatever life threw at me, I’d be able to endure and that nothing could stop me,” and I believed it. However, life began to show me that there were things that I couldn’t endure. This, of course, sent me in a tailspin, a downward spiral.

We all need hope, even to get out of bed in the morning, but where does it come from? The Apostle Paul claimed that it comes from what has been written:

·       For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Some claim that we should trust in God without resorting to Scripture - its teaching and promises. However, this isn’t possible. How can we hope in a doctrine-less, amorphous god? Instead, we need to know that when we confess our sins, He will forgive and cleanse us (1 John 1:9), that He will return for us, and that we’ll rise from the dead to receive an everlasting kingdom of joy.

Without these Scriptural assurances, a belief in God is an empty room that can only be filled with the objects of our imagination. However, it is evident that some prefer such an undemanding “god.”

Paul also claimed that “WHATEVER was written” is for our benefit so that “we might have hope.” We cannot pick-and-choose from among the verses. They are all the Word of God, as Jesus also affirmed when He was being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness:

·       “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

Life was a matter of submitting to each word as God’s Word. This was how we were to love Him:

·       Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

How else can Scripture provide the basis for our hope unless we regard it ALL as God’s Words? If we don’t respect Scripture enough to receive it as God’s message to us in its entirety, we will also not respect those verses we have chosen to suit our lifestyle. We cannot play fast-and-loose with Scripture. When we do this, we play fast-and-loose with God.

I KNOW MY LORD, AND MY LORD KNOWS ME

Psalm 34:4-6

“I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears…

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

I am that “poor man.” I am facing problems that are bigger than I am, and I fear, but the Lord has guaranteed to save me out of all my troubles. I haven’t see this deliverance yet, but I am looking towards it. I have no choice but to trust in my Lord. My eyes are upon Him.

I don‘t KNOW how others face life without this Hope. Do they close down their heart? Their mind?

I think back to my life before Christ, before 40 years ago. How did I make it from one day to the next? I told myself lies. I believed them. They were my drugs. I told myself that I had the strength to endure anything, that I had the courage to face any threat; that I had the character to find a way out.

These were lies, but I believed them. They blinded me, but they also sustained me. They were costly, but they paid the bills.

I can now face life without my blinders. How? Because my Savior is near:

·       When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:17-18)

I am that “brokenhearted” man, but I know my Savior and He knows me.

WHEN UNDERSTANDING FAILS US

What can we do when it seems that God has failed us? When our loved ones are afflicted and die long before their time? When God could easily heal a faithful servant and doesn’t? Even when he allows them to commit suicide? When we these kinds of things happening, we feel betrayed and wonder whether we can really trust this God.

It might surprise you to learn that even the Saints of Israel had a problem with God. The Psalmist complained that God had betrayed the covenant He had made with David:

• But you [God] have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one [David]. You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins… O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? (Psalm 89:38-40)

Another Psalmist complained that it was useless to serve God, seeing that the unrighteous thrived better than the righteous:

• Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. (Psalm 73:13) 

Of course, Job, after losing everything, had his own complaints against God:

• "Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. It is all the same; that is why I say, 'He [God] destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' When a scourge brings sudden death, he [God] mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he [God] blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?” (Job 9:21-24)

From the narrow vantage point of his experience, it seemed that God acts unjustly in every way:

• All was well with me, but he [God] shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; his archers surround me. Without pity, he [God] pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior…yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. (Job 16:12-17)

From Job’s limited perspective, he was sure that he didn’t deserve the way that God had treated him. Instead, he was sure that God was guilty of unfaithfulness. However, Job placed too much trust in his own thinking. This became clear to him after God had revealed Himself and asked Job a long series of questions that Job couldn’t even begin to answer.

Job got the point. If he couldn’t answer one of these easy questions, how could he bring charges against God! Consequently, Job repented:

• "I am unworthy (“vile” NKJV)--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more." (Job 40:4-5)

• “You [God] asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:3-6) 

The Psalmist had placed too much trust in his understanding, in the limited spectrum of life that he was able to observe. However, God had given him a revelation that changed all that:

• But when I thought how to understand this [the flourishing of the unrighteous], it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Psalm 73:16-17)

God had enabled the Psalmist to see the big picture, and he was mightily blessed:

• When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.  Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:21-26)

However, the Psalmist of Psalm 89, who had accused God of renouncing His covenant with David, didn’t receive an answer, at least as far as we know. After unloading on God, he nevertheless concludes the Psalm:

• Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?... Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen. (Psalm 89:49, 52)
  

Although sorely disappointed, the Psalmist’s only hope remained with the Lord. He therefore blessed Him, refusing to place his trust in his own understanding.

Discouragement is the lot of God’s servants. There are going to be times when His ways do not make any sense to us. However, the wise servant will not place too much trust in what he sees and understands. Perhaps we trust too much in our wisdom, and perhaps our trust in misplaced. Perhaps we just need to reaffirm our trust in a God who alone is our hope, knowing that there will be times when understanding will surely fail us.

DOES GOD KNOW THE ENTIRE FUTURE?

There are many verses that suggest that God was blindsided by events. However, there are many verses that explicitly inform us that God is perfect in His knowledge:

• You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. (Psalm 139:3-4)

• Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)

But are future events “hidden from God’s sight?” Evidently not!

• Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. (Psalm 147:5)

If His understanding has no limit, then His knowledge of the future would also have no limit.

• “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." (Isaiah 42:9)

To declare them, He must know them. But does He know all future events?

• Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come-- yes, let him foretell what will come. (Isaiah 44:7) 

He declares that none are like Him able to declare “what is still to come”:

• “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” (Isaiah 46:10)

When He claims that He makes “known the end,” it doesn’t seem that there are any details left out:

• “For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.'” (Isaiah 48:4-5 (NIV) 

God wouldn’t leave any room for the idols to fill in the missing blanks, because God had no missing blanks of foreknowledge to leave out.

However, there are a number of verses that seem to suggest that God is not perfect in foreknowledge. God had given Moses a song to teach to Israel which prophesied her future rebellion, but this song includes a curious detail:

• "I will hide my face from them," he said, "AND SEE what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.” (Deuteronomy 32:20) 

This verse seems to suggest that God does not know what will happen to Israel, and that He will have to play “wait and see.” However, when we read the rest of the song. We find that God does know precisely:

• "I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them. I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.” (Deuteronomy 32:23-24)

• Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people. (Deuteronomy 32:43)

How then do we explain “and see?” Perhaps God is merely using language as a human might, as if to say: “Then my words will be vindicated in the seeing.”

Some verses even seem to suggest that God had changed His mind. For instance, God informed Samuel that

• It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. (1 Samuel 15:11; KJV; All other verses in the NIV) 

The KJV makes it seem that God has changed His mind based upon new information about Saul. However, in the same account, the Prophet Samuel confidently claims that God does not change His mind and that there is no reason for God to change His mind:

• Samuel said to him [Saul], "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors--to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does NOT LIE OR CHANGE HIS MIND [“repent” in the KJV]; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind." (1 Samuel 15:28-29)

The same Hebrew word is used in both sets of verses. In 15:11 it says that God does repent, but then Samuel says that He doesn’t repent. How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction?

Words are often used differently. In regards to the first verse, the NIV translates the Hebrew as “It grieved God,” not that He changed His mind but only His course of action according to His plan. In fact, He had always planned that the kingly lineage would be of Judah and not Saul’s tribe of Benjamin:

• The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. (Genesis 49:10)

God’s perfect omniscience is not an academic matter. It is a matter of our food - our peace and trust. If God is not omniscient and therefore might change His mind in our regards, we have no basis for peace. He might later change any of His promises. He might even decide that He doesn’t want me. We cannot have a joyful confidence about such a God or any assurance about our salvation or place in heaven.

The laws of physics are another indication that God will not learn some new facts and change things around. Instead, as far as we can tell, the laws are immutable, elegant, and universal. God gives us no hint at all that He is monkeying with the laws as new information comes into His lab.

It is also alleged that God didn’t know how Abraham would respond and whether or not He would be able to fulfill His covenant through him. As Abraham was ready to plunge his knife into Isaac, the sacrifice that the Lord had required of Abraham, the Angel of the Lord intervened:

• "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. NOW I KNOW that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Genesis 22:12) 

The Angel of the Lord then renewed the covenant with Abraham. However, it seems unlikely that the Lord didn’t know the outcome of this trial. For one thing, He had earlier unconditionally promised Abraham that he would be a blessing to the world (Gen. 12:1-3). Later, He indicated that Abraham’s obedience was a foregone conclusion:

• Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will SURELY become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth WILL be blessed through him. For I have chosen [“known” in the Hebrew] him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him." (Genesis 18:17-19)

Abraham’s future obedience was clearly foreknown by the Lord and so too the fulfillment of His covenant. How then are we to understand “NOW I know” in light of God’s apparent foreknowledge? Perhaps in this manner: “Now I know with my eyes.”

In any event, God’s foreknowledge is inseparable from the entire biblical revelation. Everything that He has promised us depends upon His perfect knowledge and ordaining of the future.

Jesus assures His followers that they need not worry about our needs as do the unbelievers because of God’s foreknowledge:

• Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:8)

We can only rest assured in Him because He knows ALL things.

Also, the Bible assures us that the “Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim. 2:19), and that we are His solid and unmovable foundation. In order to give us the assurance that nothing will ever separate us from Him (Romans 8:38-39), He must have perfect foreknowledge. In fact, to give us any assurances, He must have perfect foreknowledge. Without this, He would always be learning new things, and with this new knowledge, there would always be a likelihood that He would have to revise His plans. Heaven forbid!