Some of you read this story in one of our recent family updates. But, for those of you who don't get our updates, I wanted to post it to the blog for your reading enjoyment:
Crystelle (our 6 year-old) and I planted strawberries in a planter box on our balcony back in April. For nearly two months, nothing happened. Then, sometime in early June, a little sprout popped its head up out of the soil. A few weeks later, a second sprout popped out. Although we were excited to have some evidence of life, we didn't have much hope that we'd actually have strawberries by the end of the summer.
As the summer weeks passed by, we watched these little guys grow into small plants, and our hopes started to grow along with them. Then, in August, one of the plants flowered, and by the end of August, we could see the evidence of our first little strawberry beginning to emerge. We couldn't believe it! We were so excited! As the strawberry grew, two other buds appeared and gave way to two little green strawberry babies.
The first week of September, our first strawberry began to turn red. We were ecstatic! We might actually get to eat a strawberry from our own strawberry plant. For those of you who know anything about Annie and my gardening skills, you will understand why this seemed like such a phenomenon to us. We have never planted anything that has ever lived long enough to yield an edible product!
One week later, we were having breakfast and Crystelle said, "Look dad! The strawberry looks ready to eat!" I took a closer look and, sure enough, that strawberry was plump and ripe and tempting. Still, I could see one little spot where it was a tad bit pink, and so I said, "Let's give it one more day. We'll divide it up tomorrow morning at breakfast." Everyone was excited about the idea of dividing this tiny strawberry among the 5 of us!
That afternoon, we were coming home from school and one of the neighbor boys who is in Micah's class, Théo, asked if he could come over to play. I told his dad that we could keep Théo at our place until about 6 P.M. So, we headed for our apartment and the boys immediately got into superhero dress-ups. I sat down at my desk to go through some mail, and everything seemed to be going fine until Micah came running into my room shouting, "Théo ate the strawberry!"
My initial shock turned to a brief moment of internal rage, which then yielded itself to a helpless and profound sadness. As I made my way through the apartment to the balcony, I could see Théo with a big grin on his face and a bit of strawberry juice streaming down his chin. Crystelle came running. She took one look at the strawberry plant that was now void of its treasure (Théo had also picked the next largest strawberry on the plant leaving only one little green strawberry clinging for dear life) and she burst into tears.
I didn't know what to do or what to say. I wanted to strangle him. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry with Crystelle. Instead I just held her in my arms for awhile as my body temperature cooled back down to normal, and as the violent thunder storm in my head dissipated. I gently explained to Théo, who was very confused about what the problem was, why Crystelle was crying. He shrugged his shoulders and ran off to find a nerf sword with which to attack Micah, who was dressed up as Mr. Incredible.
A few hours later, as I recounted the story to Annie, we had a good laugh together over how much that little strawberry meant to our family. The loss of that little strawberry was like the death of a family pet. It was tragic in a way that, to some, might seem absurd. But it had been a little object of hope for us through the summer months. We had talked about it, dreamed about it, watched its birth and growth with great interest, and anticipated its ripening as much as we might anticipate the coming of a birthday or the visit of a dear family member.
In a split second, this little treasure had been violently picked and popped into the mouth of a 4 year-old boy that had no idea of its immense value and importance. Our family would not have simply eaten that little strawberry. We would have ceremoniously partaken of it as the achievement of a once-thought unachievable goal.
Fortunately, in the wake of this mindless and heinous act, one surviving strawberry was left. Even as I type, it is ripening on the vine. It should only be a matter of days now before we painstakingly remove it from its housing, carefully divide it into tiny morcels, and consume it together in celebration of our accomplishment. And this week, we are receiving no visitors!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
God told me . . .
I learned a hard but important lesson this week that I wanted to pass on.
I have always been bugged by the phrase, “God told me . . .” Some Christians use this phrase quite often, and I have found myself wondering what makes them so sure that they are hearing from God. The vast majority of the time, when people say that God told them something, they do not mean that God spoke audibly to them. Neither do they mean that God’s written Word communicated some important truth or message. Rather, they are usually referring to an impression or feeling, a thought or idea; some sense that a message has come to them from God by way of their sentiments or their intellect, often providing specific guidance relating to some decision or problem or life experience.
Although I do believe that impressions like these are one of the many ways that God may communicate with His children, the fact that they are entirely subjective makes me cautious about placing much weight upon them if they are not confirmed and reinforced through other more solid sources of wisdom (God’s Word, godly counselors, etc.). In other words, I don’t think that an idea or feeling that may have come from the Lord should ever be the primary basis for decisions that I make or for advice that I give.
With that being said, I must confess that I recently made the mistake of placing too much weight on an impression that I believed had come from the Lord. Here’s what happened:
For several weeks I had been praying about what next steps to take with a friend that I am discipling. Spiritually, he has been stuck in a rut for a very long time, unable to make much progress or experience much victory. One particular morning, I had spent an extended period of time praying over him and his family. During this prayer time, I felt that the Lord gave me a clear idea of what I should do next with this friend. The plan included several very concrete elements that seemed to have been simply laid out before me as I prayed. This doesn’t happen very often for me, and I was really excited at what seemed to be the Lord’s obvious leading in response to my prayers.
Several days later, I met with my friend and his wife to tell them about what had happened. With a great deal of enthusiasm, I described how I had been praying for them, and how I sensed that the Lord had given me insight regarding our next steps. I clearly expressed the fact that this could simply be my own active imagination, and I asked them to pray about the project that I had presented in order to determine whether or not they felt it was from the Lord. At the same time, in describing the project, I talked about my own “conviction” that this was from God and that He had responded to my prayers.
Within two days, I received a phone call from my friend confirming that he wanted to move forward with the plan. Over the next few weeks, as we followed through on what we had decided to do, I could sense an increasing unease in my friend regarding one particular aspect of the project: a fast that we had committed to do once a week for three months. When he started to express uncertainty about whether the fast was a good idea, I confidently referred back to the “clear” guidance that “we” had received at the outset, and encouraged him to persevere in “obedience” to the Lord’s “leading.”
He started to seek out counsel from several leaders in the church to see what they thought about the fast we were doing. All of them expressed some hesitations about it, given my friend’s instability and his psychological condition (he is bipolar). My initial response to this was a rather prideful frustration over the fact that these men were clearly not being sensitive to the Spirit and were simply basing their responses on worldly logic.
It wasn’t until several mornings ago, when I met with my friend for a time of prayer, that I started to realize what I had actually been doing. As we talked through our perspectives on what was happening, he took me back to the initial meeting when I presented the “vision” that I felt I had received. He reminded me of certain words that I used, and of the enthusiasm with which I spoke. It was convincing. It was hard to disagree with. He didn’t have any better ideas, so, why not?
Without realizing it at the time, what I had communicated to my friend in that initial presentation was: God told me! What choice did he have but to go along with it? How do you disagree with someone who has heard from God?
And there, I think, is the major danger with that phrase . . . with that concept, whether overtly stated or merely implied. The only rock solid source of divine inspiration that we have today is God’s written Word. The words of the Bible are the only words that I can communicate to someone else with absolute certainty of their divine origin. Outside of God’s written Word, all other messages, impressions, sentiments, feelings, ideas, revelations, visions and dreams must be treated with a healthy skepticism given the reality of our sinful nature, the subtle influence of worldly thinking, and the interference of spiritual enemies.
When we do feel convinced that we have “heard from God” in a way that does not flow directly from His written Word, I think it is important to avoid communicating that which we have received to others in a way that suggests it carries some exceptional spiritual weight or authority. Rather, I think it should be submitted with great humility and caution to godly brothers and sisters who may either help confirm or reject the validity of the message in accordance with the clear teaching of God’s Word.
Unfortunately today, the excesses of certain branches of the charismatic and pentecostal movement with regard to the role of the Spirit and the use of what some refer to as “prophetic words” has caused more conservative branches of the Church to completely reject the idea that God’s Spirit might speak to His children in any way other than directly through the written Word. Although, as I mentioned above, I do believe that the Spirit of God does speak to and guide us in a wide variety of ways that are always consistent with His written Word, it is because of such excesses that I think we need to be particularly vigilant and cautious in our handling of any source of guidance that does not directly flow from the inspired Word of God.
I have always been bugged by the phrase, “God told me . . .” Some Christians use this phrase quite often, and I have found myself wondering what makes them so sure that they are hearing from God. The vast majority of the time, when people say that God told them something, they do not mean that God spoke audibly to them. Neither do they mean that God’s written Word communicated some important truth or message. Rather, they are usually referring to an impression or feeling, a thought or idea; some sense that a message has come to them from God by way of their sentiments or their intellect, often providing specific guidance relating to some decision or problem or life experience.
Although I do believe that impressions like these are one of the many ways that God may communicate with His children, the fact that they are entirely subjective makes me cautious about placing much weight upon them if they are not confirmed and reinforced through other more solid sources of wisdom (God’s Word, godly counselors, etc.). In other words, I don’t think that an idea or feeling that may have come from the Lord should ever be the primary basis for decisions that I make or for advice that I give.
With that being said, I must confess that I recently made the mistake of placing too much weight on an impression that I believed had come from the Lord. Here’s what happened:
For several weeks I had been praying about what next steps to take with a friend that I am discipling. Spiritually, he has been stuck in a rut for a very long time, unable to make much progress or experience much victory. One particular morning, I had spent an extended period of time praying over him and his family. During this prayer time, I felt that the Lord gave me a clear idea of what I should do next with this friend. The plan included several very concrete elements that seemed to have been simply laid out before me as I prayed. This doesn’t happen very often for me, and I was really excited at what seemed to be the Lord’s obvious leading in response to my prayers.
Several days later, I met with my friend and his wife to tell them about what had happened. With a great deal of enthusiasm, I described how I had been praying for them, and how I sensed that the Lord had given me insight regarding our next steps. I clearly expressed the fact that this could simply be my own active imagination, and I asked them to pray about the project that I had presented in order to determine whether or not they felt it was from the Lord. At the same time, in describing the project, I talked about my own “conviction” that this was from God and that He had responded to my prayers.
Within two days, I received a phone call from my friend confirming that he wanted to move forward with the plan. Over the next few weeks, as we followed through on what we had decided to do, I could sense an increasing unease in my friend regarding one particular aspect of the project: a fast that we had committed to do once a week for three months. When he started to express uncertainty about whether the fast was a good idea, I confidently referred back to the “clear” guidance that “we” had received at the outset, and encouraged him to persevere in “obedience” to the Lord’s “leading.”
He started to seek out counsel from several leaders in the church to see what they thought about the fast we were doing. All of them expressed some hesitations about it, given my friend’s instability and his psychological condition (he is bipolar). My initial response to this was a rather prideful frustration over the fact that these men were clearly not being sensitive to the Spirit and were simply basing their responses on worldly logic.
It wasn’t until several mornings ago, when I met with my friend for a time of prayer, that I started to realize what I had actually been doing. As we talked through our perspectives on what was happening, he took me back to the initial meeting when I presented the “vision” that I felt I had received. He reminded me of certain words that I used, and of the enthusiasm with which I spoke. It was convincing. It was hard to disagree with. He didn’t have any better ideas, so, why not?
Without realizing it at the time, what I had communicated to my friend in that initial presentation was: God told me! What choice did he have but to go along with it? How do you disagree with someone who has heard from God?
And there, I think, is the major danger with that phrase . . . with that concept, whether overtly stated or merely implied. The only rock solid source of divine inspiration that we have today is God’s written Word. The words of the Bible are the only words that I can communicate to someone else with absolute certainty of their divine origin. Outside of God’s written Word, all other messages, impressions, sentiments, feelings, ideas, revelations, visions and dreams must be treated with a healthy skepticism given the reality of our sinful nature, the subtle influence of worldly thinking, and the interference of spiritual enemies.
When we do feel convinced that we have “heard from God” in a way that does not flow directly from His written Word, I think it is important to avoid communicating that which we have received to others in a way that suggests it carries some exceptional spiritual weight or authority. Rather, I think it should be submitted with great humility and caution to godly brothers and sisters who may either help confirm or reject the validity of the message in accordance with the clear teaching of God’s Word.
Unfortunately today, the excesses of certain branches of the charismatic and pentecostal movement with regard to the role of the Spirit and the use of what some refer to as “prophetic words” has caused more conservative branches of the Church to completely reject the idea that God’s Spirit might speak to His children in any way other than directly through the written Word. Although, as I mentioned above, I do believe that the Spirit of God does speak to and guide us in a wide variety of ways that are always consistent with His written Word, it is because of such excesses that I think we need to be particularly vigilant and cautious in our handling of any source of guidance that does not directly flow from the inspired Word of God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)