As I was strolling in the Gastown section of Vancouver, British Columbia, I came across a storefront with a t-shirt on display that read: “I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry.” I posted a photo on both Instagram and Facebook and received quite a number of likes. I deduced two conclusions from this: 1) many of my friends know what it’s like to be “hungry;” and 2) our appetites have a lot more control over us than we care to admit.

I’ll illustrate my point with a headline I read in The New York Times in mid-July: “Amazon, a Friendly Giant as Long as It’s Fed.” You could replace “Amazon” with “Kevin” and the statement would be no less accurate. Perhaps this is true for you, too.

1 Chronicles 21:1-2 says: “Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count [the people of] Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, ‘Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring [a report] to me so I can know their number.” After God has caused David to become successful in the eyes of both his enemies as well as the nation of Israel, Satan then comes and tempts David to take ownership of something that is not rightfully his. In other words, just as Satan tempted Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, he also successfully tempts David to distrust God by putting down the mantle of stewardship and putting on the mantle of ownership.

Nevertheless, notice God’s mercy through Joab in 1 Chronicles 21:3: “Joab replied, ‘May the Lord multiply the number of His people a hundred times over! My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” and verse 4 continues with the heavy and sobering words: “Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab…” This is a solemn reminder that although God’s desire is to extend grace and mercy into our lives, we often forsake His mercy in order to satisfy our own desires; this is why repentance is needed. Repentance is not just to restore a right relationship with God, but it is the means by which we humbly admit our sins before God, much like David in Psalm 51:4: “Against You - You alone - I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You passed sentence; You are blameless when You judge…”

Hebrews 10:32-11:3

The Word of God is full of paradoxical statements, such as: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35); “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35); “….whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did come to be served, but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45). Many of the aforementioned teachings of Jesus are commonly referred to as paradoxical teachings. According to the Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a paradox is “something that is made up of two opposite things that seem impossible but is actually possible.” In other words, a paradox is a seemingly self-contradictory statement containing truth that joins two opposites.

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live…I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” -Deuteronomy 30:6,19-20

Every morning I face a real choice.  Do I spring out of my bed at 6 am when the alarm goes off to meet with the Lord in His Word and prayer before work, or do I hit ‘snooze,’ enjoy the weight of my down comforter and drift back into sweet slumber for another hour?  This has been no small matter for me over the past year, and sleep has regretfully won out more times than I would like to admit.  But when I immediately throw off the covers at the sound of the alarm, I have the sense that “today I win!”

Matthew 9:1-8 reads:

“And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.  And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”  And he rose and went home.  When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

I have been thinking a lot about what must have been going through the mind of John the Baptist when he was in prison and sent a messenger to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah:  “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3).

I’m imagining the feelings of deep loneliness, despair, and fear in his heart as he sat in prison with his death sentence approaching.  It’s fascinating that he, the greatest prophet, the forerunner of the long-anticipated Messiah, the one who stood at the dawn of the inaugurated Kingdom, had heavy doubts about Christ skipping frantically through his mind.

I recently returned to Princeton, New Jersey, from a trip to Nepal where I spent one week serving in Kathmandu and one week sharing the Gospel in a region called Sarlahi with a team of native Christians.  I returned home with tears in my eyes, as I had to say goodbye to a group of people that I came to love so deeply. Even now, I find tears running down my cheeks when I think about how long it might be until I get to visit that beautiful land once again.  Regardless of the attachment I formed with the people and the nation, my experience there was marked far more by discomfort and unease than it was by enjoyment and excitement.

It didn’t take much more than a day for me to recognize my deep desire for familiarity and to be in a place where I could predict the cultural, social, political, and religious climate.  Nepal definitely is not a place where safety is a guarantee or where Western norms are particularly welcome, and for these reasons, fear crept increasingly into my heart as the days progressed.

There are no atheists in foxholes.

This common adage speaks to one of the clearest misconceptions of life, especially life in the modern world. That is the misconception of security. We fancy ourselves the masters of our futures, the controllers of our fate. We think that modern medicine promises us long lives, that the American economy promises us comfort and prosperity, that the moral scruples of the educated elite promises us freedom from consequences. Reality begs to differ.

“When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

What is power? In our world, a world of corporate takeovers, multi-million dollar political campaigns, and relational manipulation, we are no strangers to the quest for, and the procurement of, what we perceive to be power. As participants in this world, we feel the temptation to pursue authority in various forms and numerous guises; God’s Word confronts all of these quests for power.

In his book, The Revival and its Lessons, Dr. James W. Alexander is careful to point out that every work of revival has its own “peculiarities…arising from acknowledged diversities in the sovereign dispensation of the Spirit.”  In the case of the revival which took place in New York, it “was not the result of human project, concerted arrangement, or prescribed plan.  It was not an excitement foreseen, predicted, and made to order.”

“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”  - Psalm 85:6

Between 1857-1858, one of the great revivals to take place on American soil occurred in the city of New York.  Revival soon spread to countless locations throughout the United States. A number of eyewitness accounts of the revival were published.  One of the earliest came from the pen of Dr. James W. Alexander, Pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.  A graduate of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), Alexander had served his alma mater as a tutor in mathematics and classical languages and subsequently as Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres.  Having taught at Princeton Theological Seminary for a brief time, most of Alexander’s public life was spent in pastoral ministry.  At the time of the New York revival, Alexander was considered one of the great preachers of the nineteenth century.

Fasting is often used, both in the Bible and today, as a way to cultivate humility. Today, we will consider one of Scripture’s best examples of humility: Mary.  Her song to the Lord in Luke 1:46-55 (the “Magnificat”) starts like this:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

“When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit.  ‘You deaf and mute spirit,’ he said, ‘I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’. . .  After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why couldn't we drive it out?’ He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer.’” -Mark 9:25, 28-29

In this passage, the disciples are faced with a situation that proves to be too difficult for them.  Jesus tells them that prayer is the solution. Surely the disciples had prayed as they tried to cast out the evil spirit. So what was the problem? John Piper suggests that the disciples had probably “been caught in a prayerless period of life or a prayerless frame of mind.” Their prayerlessness impeded their ability to be used by God against the forces of evil that confronted them that day. How often have we regretted our own prayerlessness?

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.” - Matthew 27:51-53

We often encounter “Do Not’s” in our daily lives. “Do not Enter.” “Do Not Touch.” “Do Not Pass.” When you go to a museum, you won’t be able to get within four feet of a famous painting or an ancient artifact because of the velvet rope that stands in your way. You’ve probably been in buildings that have signs on the doors that say, “Do Not Enter. Official Personnel Only.” Or maybe you’ve been to a concert where your favorite band is playing, and you can’t help but covet those wearing the VIP Backstage Passes hanging around their necks. Whether the purpose is to keep us out of danger, to protect something that’s valuable, or to give access only to important people, our lives are filled with yellow tape that we are not allowed to cross. 

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” - Mark 1:35

We’re all busy people with days filled with places to go and people to see. Taking time to get away with God to pray likely gets pushed to the bottom of the schedule for the day. We see in the Gospels that Jesus was a very busy man with a full and demanding schedule. Yet, this did not stop him from praying, for though He was the God of the Universe, He still required prayer to be in relationship with the Father. We find Him praying in every step of His ministry, from His baptism through His death.  If we are struggling with knowing how to cultivate a consistent life of prayer, we need only look at Jesus who is the best demonstration of how we are to pursue a life of intimate prayer with the Father.

Recently during a Bible study I am in with men in my community, I made the happy “discovery” of a verse I‘ve read a hundred times but never really noticed. Sometimes when we read Scripture, it passes through our mind like water runs through a pipe, leaving no trace. How much better when we slow down to savor and meditate on God’s precious Word. Here’s the passage that arrested me:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” -Romans 15:13

In Andrew Murray’s wonderful book, Humility, he observes that there are three great motivations to seek humility. They are our status as a creature, as a sinner, and as a saint.  Which is to say, humble dependence is the proper posture for creatures before a Creator, sinners before an offended God, and the redeemed before a Savior.

He goes on to observe that one of these three gets a disproportionate amount of teaching and focus in most discussions about humility.  Can you guess which one?