Studying Exodus 32-34 recently (the record of the golden calf incident and its aftermath), it became clear to me how un-God-like God is at times. He is strikingly changeable, emotional, and downright human on occasions. — Jamie Kiley

Something struck me as horribly wrong as I read those words from Jamie Kiley the other day. I saw what she was saying. She mentioned that in the story of the golden calf that God burns with anger and wants to destroy the Israelites, but four verses later he supposedly “changes His mind” in response to the pleas of Moses.

Jamie mentions that in chapter 33 God tells Moses to go into the promised land, “but says he will not go along, ‘because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.’” In 33:5, “God indicates His uncertainty about what to do with his people, telling them to ‘put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’”

She concludes that “God appears strikingly mutable.” Jamie believes that God “changes his mind, regrets past actions, is subject to anger, and argues with his people.” Obviously, her statement that “these might not fit neatly into our western conceptions of God” is dead on. From the looks of things, God doesn’t always have it all together.

But in one paragraph of Jamie’s post, I believe she dismisses a very important hermeneutical error. When we read passages of Scripture, such as these in Exodus, we have to understand the big picture. We really need a bird’s eye view to properly interpret the text. Jamie says that “we should not dismiss it on the basis of what we ‘know’ God to be like.”

I disagree. It’s true that we should not dismiss it, but we must understand that Scripture does not contradict itself. If Scripture has said that God is immutable (unchanging), then he cannot be mutable (changing) in another passage.

I believe in this context that God is sovereign. He is not changing his mind. He knows all along what he is doing. Notice in 32:14 that God is only threatening, not making a sworn decree. Gotquestions.org answered the question “does God change his mind” by answering that:

“The Scriptures that describe God apparently “changing His mind” are human attempts to explain the actions of God. God was going to do something, but instead did something else. To us, that sounds like a change. But to God, who is omniscient and sovereign, it is not a change. God always knew what He was going to do.”

So when Jamie quotes Terry Muck as saying “Too often, it seems to me, despite our biblical literacy, we think of how God ought to be rather than how he has actually portrayed himself,” we can answer very clearly: God does not change. We must think of God how he has portrayed himself - not how man portrays him.

It’s dangerous to simply stop and “consider” these things by just reading one blog post and not evaluating the context. I want to put this out there: we need to know how to read our Bibles and not stop with reading a blog post or article. Otherwise, we’ll come across a passage and believe that God is somehow changeable and very human-like. Before we know it we’re crossing the line for bad hermeneutics to heresy. We cannot allow that to happen. Learn how to properly interpret the text.

Update: Things went great on my first day. Thank you all for your prayers. Also, I received news yesterday that a scholarship I applied for came through.

Each of us have seasons in our lives. Some are seasons of preparation, some are seasons of change, and in my case I am in a season of study and learning.

In other words: Monday morning I have my first college course ever.

I’m pretty excited, yet at the same time I have doubts and fears about how well I will do in college, and whether or not I’m academically prepared for college level courses. I’m asking for your prayers this week - I want you to pray that I will be given a peace that passes understanding, that God will be glorified through my life and my example here on campus, that I will have faith to trust God in the area of finances, that I can continue to blog, and that I will continue to stay in God’s Word on a daily basis.

You don’t have to leave a comment to tell me that you’ve prayed - but I would be honored if you took just a moment as you read this to stop and pray.

I think we need to start getting in the habit of doing this - just stopping and praying. Thanks in advance for your prayers and may God bless.

I feel small. No, not short. Small.

I scan the news and the campus and see people who are making an impact. They’re culture shifters, trendsetters, attention-getters. I notice them when they come into a room; we all want to meet them. My sinful inclination is to desire what those people have: a following, influence, impact.

But I’m small, and my impact, influence, and following seem insignificant.

It’s not that I yearn for the kind of fame here on earth that a politician or musician might get. I just want to be known as the guy who changed lives (thousands, preferably), who saved souls (again, thousands), or who started a revival in my country. I want to be a “big person.” I don’t want to be small and unused.

Sometimes, though, I wonder if I can do anything at all, much less change the world.

I think we’ve all done it. We’re sitting at some conference and we’re not thinking about one word that is being spoken or sung. Instead, we’re wrapped up in being that person on stage. Oh, if only I were him. If only I were her. That would be so awesome. So…cool. And then we decide to throw in the spiritual application just to make it sound better. What a great opportunity to serve the Lord!

Yeah right.

Many young Christians long for Christian “stardom,” desiring to do “big things” for God, and are often in sin when pride is the catalyst for the desire within them to be on that stage, literal or figurative.

I am continually discouraged by doing my “small things.“ I am constantly wishing that I was an intern for a Supreme Court Justice or traveling around the country on a speaking tour. Sometimes in my pride I believe that I would give anything to struggle through the hard thing of getting a book published. In my mind, that’s a “big hard thing.” All my “small hard things” – well, they’re just that – small.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy Independence Day. Today, let’s remember a greater freedom than that we enjoy here in the United States. It is for freedom Christ has set us free.

Is the cross truly the center of our lives?

It’s a question I have been wrestling with ever since I began to study 1 Corinthians. From the very beginning, as Paul addresses the church of Corinth, strikingly similar to the “church of America,” we see his emphasis on one thing — the cross. The Corinthians had been filled with pride, envy, factions, and immorality only a short time after Paul had left them. They believed that even as young Christians they had reached the peak of their Christian experience. Their pride led them to focus on things of this world, their own opinions and tastes, and begin to rebel against Paul’s teaching. But Paul tells them plainly and simply that what is important is the cross — the gospel that saved them.

What struck me when I first began studying was something D.A. Carson mentions in his book The Cross and Christian Ministry.

What would you think if a woman came to work wearing earrings stamped with an image of the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima?

What would you think of a church building adorned with a fresco of the massed graves at Auschwitz?

Both visions are grotesque. They are not only intrinsically abhorrent, but they are shocking because of powerful cultural associations. The same sort of shocked horror was associated with “cross” and “crucifixion” in the first century. Apart from the emperor’s explicit sanction, no Roman citizen could be put to death by this means. Crucifixion was reserved for slaves, aliens, barbarians. Many thought it was not something to be talked about in polite company. Quite apart from the wretched torture inflicted on those who were executed by hanging from a cross, the cultural associations conjured up images of evil, corruption, abysmal rejection.

That quote seems to make the statement that God chose the “foolish things of this world to shame the wise” even stronger. I like the new perspective it gives us into what Paul is saying right in the very beginning of 1 Corinthians. It is clear that the cross is not, in the world’s eyes, full of wisdom, nor of strength. It was even more so in the first century.

We run to the cross. It must be the center of our lives, our speech, our actions, and our minds. The cross- the gospel - must guide our daily actions. Many do not understand this teaching, but it is so evident through God’s Word. It saves us, and when we look at the cross and its suffering, we flee from sin. It is the center, it is the story.

From the FRC email June 6th. For those who have read Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, the following news is of great importance.

One of America’s greatest stories came to an end yesterday as Jack Lucas, the youngest Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor, died of cancer. After forging his mother’s signature so he could enlist at age 14, Jack begged his superiors to let him fight. He even “stowed away aboard a Navy ship headed for combat in the Pacific Ocean.” When he explained his situation to the officers on board, they granted his wish of fighting the Japanese. It turned out to be one of the best decisions they could have made. In a trench at Iwo Jima, Jack threw himself on two grenades to protect his squad. When one detonated, he was nearly killed. With hundreds of pieces of shrapnel lodged in every major organ, Jack underwent more than two dozen surgeries–and lived to tell about it. His Medal of Honor notes that his “inspiring action… not only protected his comrades from certain injury or possible death but also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue the advance.” He died on Thursday after losing his battle with cancer. We remember Jack, as we remember so many soldiers from World War II–with humble gratefulness. President Reagan said it best when he looked out over Omaha Beach and told our veterans, “Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.”

Other posts that included Jack Lucas are Great Stories…Great Lives, Freedom, Coolness Redefined.

Nothing is essential until you get it and then don’t have it. — Jake Smith

Well, the blog has risen from the dead database crash zone, where for some odd reason blogs and websites may suddenly disappear into the unknown due to the dropping of hostname for a database. Basically, what we did was to simply assign my DB to an alternate address and then edited the wp-config file to reflect that change.

In other words: I email the problem, it got fixed, and the site was back in 30 seconds. Exciting stuff. Wild things always happen to me.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks - and of course since the blog has been down, I’ve been wanting to write, but I can’t. I’ve been writing a lot of other things, and I hope you’ll pray for me as I take on some big projects, along with scholarships and more. A few things have hit me in the past few weeks.

First, we all seem to have the mindset that our name needs to be big in this world to make a difference for the kingdom of God. It simply isn’t so. You don’t have to be Billy Graham to change the world. If God has called you to a place that seems small, you need to be content in that situation - and glorify God through whatever you do. It’s not about your name, it’s about God’s fame and His name being spread through all the world.

Secondly, God’s grace is so abundant. I am constantly returning to the cross and the grace that can be freely received there. It is easy to be depressed by our failings in sin, and to stay that way. We allow our pride to take a hold, and we refuse to humble ourselves before the cross - and we refuse to humbly accept grace. B God is so patient with a sinner like me as I grow more like His son.

I’m looking forward to getting back to blogging, and I’m praying you all are as well.

I was on break, sitting in the corner of the restaurant eating my dinner. The dining room was pretty empty - quiet, calm. I looked up to see a family walking in. Dad, Mom, and three boys. I chuckled to myself as they reminded me of ducks, all in height order. Dad, the tallest. Mom next, then the three others. All in a straight line.

They ordered their food, and sat down a few booths away from me, across the aisle. Two boys on one side, mom and another son on the other. Dad at the head of the table.

I saw another family glance at them, chuckling among themselves. I wasn’t. I was watching what they did next. All of them reverently took off their hats, closed their eyes, and thanked God for their food. The other family starting whispering again. I was convicted.

I totally forgot to thank God for my food! I thought to myself. Okay, well…I just flat out didn’t do it because I just didn’t feel like it.

The family concluded their prayer, returned their hats to their heads, and began eating. I really wanted to walk over and thank them right then and there for their example to me and to others in the restaurant. People may think it’s old and cliche to talk about being a witness by praying in public. I don’t think it is at all. Something was working in my heart right there, and the Holy Spirit was working through this family.

Fast forward to the night after. I’m driving home. The sun is setting, a faint moon can be made out in the blue sky. Music plays quietly the background with the faint sound of tires on the road. I was thinking about that family. What exactly was God trying to tell me? It couldn’t simply be “Tim, you didn’t ask a blessing over your food.” I knew it was much, much deeper than that.

It became pretty obvious to me as I saw that sunset in front of me and I drove towards home. I was ungrateful for what God had given me - I wasn’t thankful to God that I was driving a car I own, I wasn’t thankful for my job, my family, a home to return to, a church family, life, salvation, or the cross. I had been moping around worrying about finishing school, whining about having to work, and complaining about the situations I found myself in. The praying family stopped me dead in my tracks.

Thank goodness God is “kind to ungrateful and evil men.” I was acting just like those evil men described in 2 Timothy 3:2, the men who are “lovers of self…arrogant…ungrateful, unholy…[and] holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.” Paul tells us to “avoid such men as these.”

I should not act like these sinful men, but instead should give thanks to God for his infinite mercy to me first of all through the gospel. The truth of the cross does not allow for ungratefulness. Secondly, I must thank God for his grace through the Holy Spirit, shown to me daily. Last, I must thank God for common grace - life, sun, rain, oxygen, etc. With these things in mind I should never stop giving thanks to God.

So, it’s not that I broke some rule about praying before my meal. The issue is much deeper than that - things like that can quickly show us a much deeper problem in our lives. My prayer is that none of us will allow ourselves to overlook that truth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.