2 Kings 1:6: “Is it because there is no God in [this place]?”

Presented to the Nipawin Corps 31 May 2009
by Captain Michael Ramsay

Click here to read the Scripture.

Today’s passage is very much about the reality and the authority of God but it is also about who we trust and how we make our decisions. As such I have a little quiz for us about the logical way we tend to make decisions in our society:

1) How do we choose an important employee, manager, CEO, etc.?
(resume, ability)

2) How do we choose the Head of State?
(heredity: intense job-training programme from the moment they are born)

3) How do we choose the Canadian Idol talent show winners or politicians in this country?
(a popularity contest, an election)

4) What is the traditional way that one decides whether the one they fancy truly loves them or not: ‘she loves me, she loves me not’?
(with a flower)

5) How does one decide which team is going to start with the ball in Canadian football or in a soccer game?
(with a coin toss)

6) How does one decide what college to go to?
(with a dartboard) *note: this is a joke (-;

King Ahaziah, in our text today (1 Kings 22:41- 2 Kings 1:18), has an important decision to make. I guess it isn’t actually so much of a decision that he has to make as that he needs help. He needs help for a medical emergency. He has fallen and can’t get up (presumably) on his own. He had fallen in his home and he is injured and he really wants to know if he will be okay (1 Kings 1:2).

This is a serious event that affects a lot of seniors. I know that when my parents were visiting here previously. They were staying at the Green Groves Motel. My dad was sure that he heard someone faintly calling for help but he couldn’t tell from where so he called John (the owner) who searched every room until -sure enough- he found an elderly gentleman staying by himself who had fallen and couldn’t get up. Praise the Lord someone heard his cries and he was able to be helped.

King Ahaziah, back in our story, has had such a fall. I imagine that his fall in his royal palace was probably even more dramatic than the one at the Green Groves because Ahaziah, the king, isn’t that old. Ahaziah is in the second year of his reign (2 Kings 2:17) and Ahaziah has probably fallen from a great height as he comes crashing through the lattice work[1] above and lands himself so securely in the sickbed that he doesn’t know if he is going to recover or not. He is worried. He doesn’t know what to do so, like many people today send for the doctor in such situations, Ahaziah sends for a prophet of his father’s god Baal-Zebub.

There are two interesting asides here. The first one is the name Baal-Zebub. We know this name from John Milton’s Paradise Lost[2] as well as from the New Testament, where Jesus heals a demon-possessed man. Milton’s character Beelzebub is the devil’s right hand man and in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Beelzebub is even used as a title for the devil, the prince of demons (Cf. Mark 3, Matt 9:32-34, 12:22-37).

We know that Ahaziah, like his parents King Ahab and Jezebel worshipped Baal (cf. 1 Kings 18-19). Baal-Zebub in this context is probably a derogatory name (unfavourable nick-name) for Baal. Like some people during the present inquiry are calling the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, ‘Lyin’ Brian’ or other such names.

One of the titles that Baal worshippers used to call Baal was Baal-Zebul - - which means ‘Baal the prince’ (Cf. in the NT Matt 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19).[3] So the Israelites who didn’t support Baal called him Baal-Zebub, which sounds like 'Baal the Prince' but can mean Baal, Lord of the flies; Baal the pest; or Baal, Lord of the dung heap.[4] It wasn’t a favourable name, Baal-Zebub.

There is another interesting aside too: this one is about Ekron. It is interesting that Ahaziah sends for a prophet of his father’s god who is in Ekron. Ekron is fairly nearby but Ekron is not in Israel.[5] Israel – you remember from reading about Ahab and Jezebel recently (if you have been reading through the Bible with us as a congregation) – Israel has lots of prophets of Baal running around. Why would the king send for one who was out of town? He wasn’t necessarily more famous than any of the local prophets of Baal. Why wouldn’t he just summon one who is nearby – if he is so concerned about his health?

Now I don’t know if many of you have not been following the NHL play-offs as I confess that I have been this year (even now that the Vancouver Canucks, the last Canadian team, are eliminated). I have been following the play-offs and what the King did here is the same manoeuvre that many of the pro-hockey teams do this time of year. Whenever a star player gets injured – for example if his knee has been crushed between an opponent and the boards and everyone sees him being carried off the ice reeling in pain - and the media asks the coach how bad he’s hurt and what exactly is wrong, the coach will inevitably answer, ‘it’s nothing, it’s just a lower body injury’. He won’t tell the press what is wrong or how bad it is because if the opposing team knows that he will be out of the line-up or that his knee is sore, they just might try to use that information for their own benefit. They can adapt their game to take advantage of that.

This is similar to our situation in the text today. Ahaziah has not been king that long and nowhere near everyone in Israel serves the LORD. Israel is divided and many are probably waiting to see who will win the Israel Cup as it were (cf. 1 Kings 18-19). Will team Baal win or will the people serve the LORD? King Ahaziah and his family do not serve YHWH. They play for the other team as it were. His dad, former king and captain of the Baal team, has been killed (1 Kings 22:29-40); his mother will be assassinated (Queen Jezebel was pushed out a window by her servants, thus fulfilling prophecy, 1 Kings 21:23, 2 Kings 9), and there are many players on the YHWH team that are probably ready and able to take advantage of the new captain’s incapacity to gain an advantage as they play for the heart and soul of the nation. Ahaziah does not want people to know he is injured.[6]

God knows. This is important. God knows. You see Baal, Baal-Zebub, Baal worship is just a religion. It is a worldview much like Buddhism, Hinduism, Commercialism, Secularism, Atheism, and the like. They are all religions and/or worldviews. Baalism, like the other worldviews, is an attempt to make sense of the world around. What Baal-worshipers don’t acknowledge however - like what Secular-Atheists and others don’t understand - is that God, YHWH, is a real entity. He is not just a code or a way of doing things. The LORD is a real God who cares about His people and this real God knows what that Ahaziah is injured and there is more than that.

Israel, at its foundation, was chosen by God for a purpose (that all the nations of the earth be blessed, as they are through Jesus Christ who fulfilled God’s promise to Abram; Genesis 12:3). Israel was dedicated to God. It was set apart for the LORD as was (arguably) our own Country (Our motto derives from Psalm 72). Many of our own traditions, institutions, activities, and organisation in this country were originally based on or dedicated to the LORD. We used to pray all over this country – like we do still in this part of the country – at our public events. Scriptures used to be taught in schools. Our leaders used to have a healthy deference, a Yir’ah, a real fear of this LORD that leads to wisdom.[7] Like all of us, the Lord does not necessarily appreciate someone coming along, taking what is His and misusing it.

This is what has been happening to Israel: people, in the name of Baal, have started to take away from God this country and this people who have been dedicated to Him. He is less and less a part of their official ceremonies and no longer a part of how their rulers make their decisions. He is no longer their lord.

Is he ours? I met our Premier the other week when I was in Swift Current; he is a believer. Swift Current is his riding and he attends one of the churches there. I know our previous Premier is an ordained minister and I believe that he is going back into full-time ministry now that he is retiring from politics. Saskatchewan has a great past and present of Premiers who serve the Lord.

I know however that this country and many provinces contained within it have been steadily moving away from the worship of the LORD. Even some of our public media outlets seem to reflect a religious dedication to secularism. (I don’t know if anyone noticed the official ruling this week about the serious ethics violations that CTV was involved in around the previous election?) Is it any wonder that broken households, pornography use, violence, drugs and crime are at all-time hight rates? As we societally turn from trying to make our decisions based on prayer and the Bible and the Lord, as we in our society turn to secularism and capitalism instead of Christianity, we must be breaking the Lord’s heart the same way Israel did as it turned to Baalism. It is sad.

In our text today, Ahaziah, the leader of the country is in a serious political and life-threatening position and he doesn’t inquire of the Lord. This is a big part of Ahaziah’s apostasy. He seeks to solve his problems some other way and in the process he rejects the help that is available to him from the Lord.

In our own lives how do we solve our problems? If we find ourselves in the hospital, do we pray? If a doctor tells us that we have a long-term illness that she doesn’t know how to cure, do we pray? If we find ourselves possibly nearing the unemployment line, do we pray? If we find that the prices for our crops are insufficient and getting worse, do we pray? If we find that that our life savings are at risk of being gambled away on the stock market, do we pray and read the Bible? If we have a test at school coming up, do we pray? If we find ourselves in front of the judge for some reason, do we pray? If we find that our own future is uncertain, do we approach the Lord?

Do we believe in the God of the Bible? Do we actually seek His will through praying and reading the Bible? Or do we – like Ahaziah – ignore the Lord and try to solve life’s problems some other way.

When Ahaziah was in a difficult situation and failed to consult God, God knew and God sent word through His messenger (2 Kings 1:3) and His prophet (2 Kings 1) to Ahaziah with this message – 2 Kings 1:3 “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub…?”

God is the one who has the real answer for Ahaziah and for us all so why would we go somewhere else for the answer instead? I don’t know but we do. These comics illustrate some of the ways that I think we try to solve our problems instead of turning to the Lord…

Just relying on others…

or money… or legal loopholes…
or cheating…
or –worst of all, sometimes- just relying on our own judgement…

These are all ways that sometimes we try to solve a problem or face a crisis other than relying on God and as the cartoonist (Bill Watterson) points out, the results of this can be quite amusing.[8]

In reality though when we turn our backs on God the results can be quite devastating. Ahaziah turned away from God. He rejected Him in a time of crisis and, 1 Kings 1:4 (and cf. 1:6), “Now therefore thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.’”

When we separate ourselves from the Lord that too will be the consequence. There is no other name under heaven through which men can be saved (Acts 4:12). The only way to the Father is through the Son. Salvation comes from no other.

As this is the case when we are faced with uncertainties in this life; when it seems like we are on our deathbed, when we come face-to-face with the reality that is the power of the Lord, instead of rejecting the Lord’s authority like the King, let us rather be like the King’s third captain and fall upon our knees (1 Kings 1:13) in full deference of the LORD, so that -like him- we too can be saved.

Let us pray.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1]R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:2 Kings/ Second Kings Note 1:2, Book Version: 4.0.2: The typical Syrian upper balcony was enclosed with a jointed wood lattice-work that, while suitable for privacy, could easily be broken. For legislation concerning protective parapets to minimize the danger of someone falling from domestic houses, see Deut 22:8.
[2] John Milton featured Beelzebub as seemingly the second-ranking of the many fallen cherubim in the epic poem Paradise Lost, first published in 1667. Wrote Milton of Beelzebub "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat." Beelzebub is also a character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678. See Absoluteastronomy.com, Beelzebub: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Beelzebub
[3] Cf. Choon-Leong Seow. The First and Second Book of Kings. (NIB III: Abigdon Press, Nashville, 1999), p. 170 and R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: 2 Kings/ Second Kings Note 1:3, Book Version: 4.0.2
[4] Cf. R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:2 Kings/Notes to Second Kings/Second Kings 1 Notes/Second Kings Note 1:2, Book Version: 4.0.2: Although Hebrew scribes may have deliberately perpetuated the inherent confusion in the names with pejorative intent so that "Prince Baal" became Baal Zebel ("lord of dung") and Baal Zebub ("lord of flies"), the present of the form Baal Zebub here, reflected fully in the Syrian and the Vulgate traditions, may indicate some more originally positive designation. The existence in Ugaritic of the cognate term il dbb (ANET, p. 137) may, as J.J.M. Roberts (The Earliest Semitic Pantheon [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1972], p. 119) suggests, make it "impossible to simply dismiss zebub as a vulgarization for zebul." Moreover the uncertainties inherent in Ugaritic d (see UT, pp. 26f.) complicate the entire picture so that perhaps the original signification will never be known. Indeed since the term is uniquely associated with a Philistine setting, conceivably a non-Semitic origin may well be demanded.
[5] Cf. R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: 2 Kings/ Second Kings Note 1:3, Book Version: 4.0.2 and cf. Choon-Leong Seow. The First and Second Book of Kings. (NIB III: Abigdon Press, Nashville, 1999), p. 171 and for a map of the area see http://bibleatlas.org/ekron.htm
[6] R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:2 Kings/Notes to Second Kings/Second Kings 1 Notes/Second Kings Note 1:2, Book Version: 4.0.2: The question naturally arises as to Why Ahaziah should send away to foreign soil to inquire of Baal, since Baalism permeated the Israelite kingdom. The answer may be threefold. 1. Politically, as was so often true in Israel and the ancient Near East, the young king may well have had his political rivals and enemies. Ahaziah may have wished to keep the knowledge of his true condition secret from them. 2. Religiously, Baal seems to have been particularly the cult-god of Ekron (e.g., as opposed to Dagon at Ashdod). Moreover the Philistines and possibly the Baal of Ekron had a well-known reputation for divination and soothsaying (1 Sam 6:2; Isa 2:6). 3. Geographically, Ekron lay near at hand, being located just a few miles from the confluence of Israel's southwestern border with Judah and Philistia.
[7] Allen P. Ross, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Proverbs/Exposition of Proverbs/I. Introduction to the Book of Proverbs (1:1-7)/C. Motto: The Fear of the Lord (1:7), Book Version: 4.0.2 and Yirah, in The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words. (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1966), p. 395. Cf. also Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘5374: yir’ah’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.59.
[8] Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes cited from: http://www.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/ . Disclaimer: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Proverbs 1:7, 9:10: Yir’ah, The Fear of the LORD.

Presented to the Nipawin Corps 17 May 2009
the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 27 May 2012

and The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 15 May 2022
by Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the original version. To view the 2022 version, please click here:  https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/05/proverbs-17-910-yirah-fear-of-lord.html
 
 This week – for those of us who have been reading through the Bible together as a community – we started on the book of Proverbs. As I was considering these readings, I ran across a number of more or less contemporary proverbs about optimists and pessimists:

– In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip. ~Daniel L. Reardon

– Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both. ~Oscar Wilde

– Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern

– An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan

– Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn't expect to be paid back. ~Author Unknown[1]

My favourite: This is more of a definition than a proverb actually but both Susan and Rebecca read this quote to me in the past couple of weeks so I thought that I would share this from Lemony Snicket:

– An Optimist is a word which here refers to a person…who thinks hopeful and pleasant thoughts about nearly everything. If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, "Well, this isn't too bad. I don't have my left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed," but most of us would say something more along the lines of "Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!" ~Lemony Snicket[2]

A proverb is a wise saying with instructions for living an effective life. The book of Proverbs – along with Job, Psalms, and some apocryphal books (Wisdom, Sirach) – are classified as wisdom literature. Wisdom literature offers insights for living while pondering the difficulties of life. Proverbs are characterized by short, memorable statements that reflect the world as we know it, as well as the relationship between God and people.[3]

It is significant that proverbs use the divine of God (YHWH), the tetragrammaton, or other such names (ie. Elohim) which specify the LORD, the maker of the heavens and earth.[4] The writer of these proverbs and the writers of all the wisdom literature have no doubt that indeed, as Doctrine 2 of TSA affirms, ‘there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.’[5] And the compiler, the teacher of proverbs often contrasts the wisdom of following God to the folly of following our own will or of following generally bad counsel that does not display reverence for our Lord.

Proverbs do not pretend to represent a systematic theology; a proverb rather ‘imagines the moral life as presenting two ways, each with an intrinsic dynamism.’[6] There is no separation of Church and State. No matter what we tell ourselves, in reality there is no separation between the sacred and the secular realm.[7] Proverbs champions the truth, with many different examples, that people have very real choices in life but they all boil down to this: either we follow God and live or we can follow ourselves or anyone else for that matter and die (Cf. also Deut. 30:11-20, Judges 21:25, Ps 56:13, Prov 11:19, 13:14, 14:27, 18:21, Jer 21:8, John 5:24, Rom 2:1-16, 6:13, 1 John 3:14).[8]

The theme of Proverbs can be summed up in Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 (Cf. Job 28:28, Ps 111:10, Eccl 12:13).[9] Proverbs 1:7: ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.’

Before we can be wise (Prov 9:10), before we can have any real knowledge (Prov 1:7) about the way the world works we need to fear the Lord.[10] The beginning of any understanding in this world is a fear of God. Well what does that mean? What does it mean to have the fear of the LORD’?

Does it mean to panic? Does it mean to be timid? No. It is different. To be timid is to cower. To be timid is like…have you ever seen an abused animal who has been terrorized? She pulls back as soon as you reach out your arm. Like the battered spouse, the timid person is walking on eggshells at all times. This concept shows up in scriptures in the book of Timothy, where Paul tells us that this timidity (Greek: deilia) is not from God. Timidity is not the beginning of wisdom. [11]

The timid person is like the person in the parable of the talents that the servants were given. Remember that parable that Jesus tells (Matt. 25, cf. Luke 19)? The king gives three people talents (money). The third one is so afraid (Greek: phobeo) that he does not even invest his talents. He is paralyzed with fear. This timidity creates what the Apostle Paul calls in Romans 8:15, ‘a spirit of bondage’, like a phobia. In Romans 8:15 (like Matt 25:35), the Greek word Paul uses is actually ‘phobos’ – from which we derive the word ‘phobia’, and this as we know refers to an irrational fear.[12] This kind of irrational fear is not the beginning of wisdom. It is not from God: phobia. A spirit of timidity (deilia) Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, God has not given us; He instead gives us power and love and a sound mind. Sometimes even we Christians forget this.

Many –but not all- Christians believe in the so-called ‘rapture’. (The word is not mentioned in the Bible at all actually.) The idea behind the rapture is that at some point in time, God will snatch up either those He loves (the more popular belief) or those He hates (a less popular belief) and leave the rest behind. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have a popular book series entitled, ‘Left Behind’[13] that I believe follows the fictional lives of characters who were indeed left behind. Now there may be merit to the idea of the rapture and I am certainly not arguing against it here[14] but I have heard of people and denominations that concentrate so much on the rapture that they actually paralyze people with fear, creating phobias and timidity.

We had a professor at College (William and Catherine Booth College) who was raised in that phobia-producing kind of church environment and he tells us that one night (I think when he was a young adult) he heard a car horn or a train whistle and he woke up in absolute terror. He was so frightened that that sound was the trumpet of the Lord and that he had missed the rapture: he wasn’t chosen. He was left behind. He was terrified that he might have been left behind.

Last week I met a friend when I was walking to church. He told me a similar story. He was raised in a similar type of phobia-producing environment. He told me that as a child often he would wake up in the middle of the night and walk or run to his parents’ room, dread-filled, terrified that maybe they were raptured and he was left behind. Phobias, timidity and this panic: these are not representative of the fear of the Lord that Proverbs is talking about. This is a terror that people, often well-meaning people (sometimes unintentionally) put into the minds of innocent souls.

That being said, the word for fear here in Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 is not totally absent of the concept of a terror of sorts. The Hebrew word is yir'ah – Allen P. Ross tells us that, “The term yir'ah can describe dread (Deut 1:29), being terrified (Jonah 1:10), standing in awe (1 Kings 3:28), or having reverence (Lev 19:3). With the Lord as the object, yir'ah captures both aspects of shrinking back in fear and of drawing close in awe. It is not a trembling dread that paralyzes action, but neither is it a polite reverence (Plaut, p. 32).”[15]

Strong’s dictionary and concordance both define yir'ah as this ‘fear’ or ‘moral reverence’ acknowledging that yir'ah encompasses more than that – it can refer to a sense of moral dread or even of an exceeding moral fearfulness.[16] What does this mean? What is the difference between this reverent, moral fearfulness that leads to knowledge or wisdom and the fearful, panic-stricken, timid phobia that leads to cowering?

We are all familiar with the word ‘deference’, right? Deference means respect. People often have a certain amount of deference (respect) for our uniforms. I have had many people alter their language and try not to swear in my presence because of my uniform that represents my office as a representative of God. Even non-believers tend to offer this token of deference to The Salvation Army uniform.

In many other countries or in private or still in some public schools here, students generally have a certain amount of deference for their teachers. They respect their authority. They seem to be a little less likely to speak out than children in most North American public school systems. I remember once when I was working at an international private school, there was this joke among the staff. It went like this: ‘How do you get a visiting private school student to be quiet?’ The answer: ‘You ask them to be quiet… please.’ This is respect.

I have witnessed deference firsthand in courtrooms too. You would be surprised at how quickly a person removes his hat or turns off her cell phone with just one sideways glance from that judge. I have seen people talking big outside the courtroom and then a moment later I have seen them inside bowing quickly to the authority and power of the courts. I have seen even your most law-abiding citizens who are not in the court on charges but simply there to assist someone else – I have seen people who know the judge quite well – when they are addressed by the judge, immediately defer to her position. This deference is not entirely without fear. Our courtrooms are probably one of the best parallels to the emotions that accompany yir'ah in contemporary western society.

I have a personal example of that same idea too. I have mentioned from this pulpit before that I regularly attend an AA group here in town. The Lord has ministered greatly to me through that. Now like most participants in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, I have a past that involves alcohol and not just a little alcohol.

I remember my late teens. I was at a party at a friend’s apartment and I was drinking quite a bit. It was late. Most of the people had gone home but a few of us remained. Things went bad. (This is actually a long story but I will give you the Coles Notes version.) A friend and her boyfriend started fighting and when I say fighting, I don’t mean that they were just yelling at each other. She was hitting him quite hard and repeatedly and then he struck her with a violent punch. He gave her a black eye. Other than them, I was the only one there who wasn’t passed out. I pushed him out on the tenth storey balcony with me and I locked the door behind us so that she would be separated from him. I did not want to be in the middle of this. Well, I thought that I had locked the sliding balcony door but next thing I know she comes through the door and attacks him and in the ensuing scuffle, I am knocked off the tenth floor balcony. Literally, I am dangling by my fingertips. I am just hanging there as they are fighting, trying to kill each other. Now I am a believer. I have been a Christian since I was a child. But I have had way too much to drink and I am dangling from this balcony. I remember. I pray. I pray ‘God, please don’t let me meet you like this’ – what I mean is ‘God, please don’t let me die in this state;’ ‘God, please don’t let my last act at this time on earth be something so unglorifying to you.’ He answered my prayer obviously and saved my life as I climbed back onto the balcony and into the apartment with my friends and I sobered up and He used even me in that time and place to minister to my friends and I still pray for them whenever I recall this event.

In that moment when I am dangling over the edge of the balcony and coming before the LORD in prayer, I have the fear of the Lord. I have a moral, dreadful fear of the LORD. I am not afraid that He is going to punish me because I was bad. I am not afraid that I am going to go to hell. (I am after all in a real relationship with the Lord.) I do have that moral dreadful fear of the LORD though that I – in this moment, in this state – am letting my saviour down. I am not living up to my heavenly potential. I am not holy as I could have been holy. I am in the process of falling short. When the Lord saves me, He lets me hold onto not only the memory of these events but also the real memory of the moral, dreadful fear of the Lord. From that experience, I am able to learn so much. I no longer find myself drinking too much and dangling from balconies nor am I committing other such errors. I have grown in knowledge and wisdom from the fear of the LORD. This experience of the fear of the Lord has been with me before and since in my life but this moment is probably my most intense. It is one example of the fear of the Lord that I may always remember.

When we love someone we don’t want to fail him or her. When we serve someone we don’t want to let him or her down. When we love and serve someone we want to do everything we can for them because we love them. It is this fear of the Lord that keeps us holy. It is this fear of the Lord that causes us to follow the rest of the wisdom put forth in the book of Proverbs and the other wisdom books in the Bible. It is this love, this respect, this fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom for only when we have this real love for the Lord, this real intense desire to serve Him, it is only from this real love for and deference to the loving and the only real God, that we can possibly be wise enough to serve Him. If we want to be wise it must begin here. It must begin with an intense love for the Lord. Deference and, Prov 9:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, …”

What is wisdom then? What is this knowledge that is contrasted with a lack of wisdom? What is it? It is this. It is how to survive in this world. It is an understanding of how the world works. The Bible and Proverbs are not books of do’s and don’ts randomly generated to organise a society or to earn our way into heaven. The ‘Scriptures… were given by inspiration of God, and…they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.’[17] The Scriptures explain to us the mystery of how and why the world works. The more we read them the more we know about God, just like the more time we spend with God, praying and reading His Word, the more we know Him.

As we read through Proverbs, we will notice that indeed each proverb is a brief glimpse into the reality that is our life. These are words to live by as is the whole canon of Scripture but we can only understand that when we really do love the LORD with all our heart, mind, body, and soul, when we love our neighbour as ourselves (Lk. 10:17; cf. Dt. 6:5, 11:13, 30:16, 30:20) and when we honestly do have a healthy deference, yir'ah, a fear of the LORD, because the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

Amen.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

 

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[1] The Quote Garden! Quotations about Optimism and Pessimism: http://www.quotegarden.com/optimism.html Cited 03 May 2009.
[2] Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill. (New York, NY: Scholastic, 2000), 26-27.
[3] Cf. DA Hubbard, ‘Wisdom Literature’, NDB, p. 1334
[4] Richard J. Clifford, NIB V: Proverbs-Sirach, ‘Introduction to Wisdom Literature’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1997), p. 9.
[5] Doctrine 2 of The Salvation Army.
[6] Richard J. Clifford, NIB V: Proverbs-Sirach, ‘Introduction to Wisdom Literature’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1997), p.12.
[7] Raymond C. Van Leeuwen, NIB V: Proverbs-Sirach, ‘The Book of Proverbs’, (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1997), p.34.
[8] Cf. also. Michael Ramsay, ‘Paul and the Human Condition as reflected in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16’. Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Human%20Condition
[9] Derek Kidner. An Introduction to Wisdom Literature: The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job & Ecclesiastes, (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1985), p. 17.
[10]Warren E. Berkley, Expository Files 4.9 (September 1997), available on-line: http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-proverbs-1-7.htm: You must carefully consider the context in order to assign the proper meaning to the word. It is one of those words that is context sensitive. So, the "fear" we are concerned with in Prov. 1:7 is not identical to the "fear" of Rom. 8:15 or 2 Tim. 1:7.
[11] Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘1167: deilia’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.20.
[12] Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘5401: phobos’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.96.
[13] Tim F. Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind (Cambridge, UK: Tyndale House Publishing, 1996).
[14] But I will argue against it here: Michael Ramsay, The Sheepspeak Commentary. Farewell to the Rapture! March 19, 2009. Available on-line: http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html#1407993155574202234 Cf. also N.T. Wright, Farewell to the Rapture! Bible Review, August 2001. Available on-line at: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_BR_Farewell_Rapture.htm
[15] Allen P. Ross, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Proverbs/Exposition of Proverbs/I. Introduction to the Book of Proverbs (1:1-7)/C. Motto: The Fear of the Lord (1:7), Book Version: 4.0.2
[16] Yirah, in The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words. (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1966), p. 395. Cf. also Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘5374: yir’ah’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.59.
[17] Doctrine 1 of The Salvation Army

Mark 10:46-52: Open our Eyes Lord

Presented to the Nipawin Corps 03 May 2009
by Captain Michael Ramsay

This past little while we have done a lot of things and been a lot of places. You know I was in Calgary and we just returned from Winnipeg and before going to Winnipeg we were in Jackson’s Point, Ontario, which is about an hour out of Toronto – maybe more.

We were there for something called Captains’ Institute. Captains’ Institute is where you get together for a few days with people that you went to CFOT (seminary) with. It is a good chance to talk, listen, pray, and find out the sort of things that God is doing in the lives of people that we used to spend so much time with, people with whom the Lord has already allowed us to enter into this sort of spiritual interconnectedness through to Him. Collectively, we can always come to know God more and this time was a time to really share so that we might apply that knowledge individually and in our new ministry contexts. It is a lot of fun.

We had the opportunity to share stories about our ministries and offer assistance to our colleagues. I have this one session mate – a friend – Captain Stephen Holland who is currently posted in Nova Scotia. He is a great man with some sage advice that I would like to share with us today.

Now I must confess to you here that sometimes I have forgotten things – things I should know. I have called people on the phone before and not only forgotten why I was calling but have completely forgotten who I was calling. I remember once last year – I teach an evangelism practicum for the Nipawin Bible College – I was walking with a student of mine who I see every week and not only see but who I talk to, pray with, invest in his life and then when I had to introduce him to someone… I just couldn’t remember his name. I got to the point where I was squinting as I’m staring in his face even…nothing…it wasn’t coming.

Captain Holland, Stephen, my friend from Nova Scotia has a story: Stephen and his wife Karen are posted to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. It is a small community, not unlike our own and one day a new lady (named Karen) came to town and called up Stephen’s wife, Karen, and said that she would like to come to church. Well when she got there – Stephen told me – he asked the new lady her name. She said ‘Karen’

‘Karen, that’s my wife’s name,’ said Stephen, ‘Karen, that should be easy to remember.’ So he welcomes her, invites her to have a seat and then goes over to one of the other ladies in the church and asks her to go and introduce herself to the new lady.

‘What’s her name?’ she asks.

‘Debbie’, Stephen answers.

It appears that I am not the only one bad with names.

One of the things that we did at the retreat was a spiritual activity known as ‘Lectio Devina’[1] – It is a neat activity where we reflect on various passages of scripture and look for and listen to what the LORD is telling us and then share this in a group.

Stephen was in my group (as were Captains Ashley Bungay of Nfld and Debbie VanderHeyden who is posted in BC) and the passage that we looked at was Mark 10:46-52. We read through this a number of times each time seeking an answer – in silence – to a number of questions and then sharing those answers with each other. We were to listen for a word or phrase that struck us from the passage. We were to meditate on that word or that passage in our own life. We were to seek the Lord as to an appropriate response and then we were to pray for each other. I will read now the passage we read from earlier (Mark 10:46-52) but this time in the New Living Translation:

46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him.
But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.”
So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.

Stephen and Debbie, relating to this periscope, each had profound revelations from the Lord about how those of us in ministry relate to others. In respect for their confidence, I won’t tell you what they said but I will tell you what the Lord taught me through them.

In this story that we are reading, Jesus is busy. His disciples are busy. They are doing the work of God. They are traveling the countryside and the Judean townships spreading the work of God. They are busy.

I don’t know if any of us ever get so busy that we just don’t feel like we have time for anyone. We’ve just finished tax time: that is a busy time for some. The snow has finally melted so seedtime and harvest are right around the corner for some and, of course, Susan, the kids and I are moving to a new community with new friends and new ministry awaiting us, needing to get everything ready here for the future and preparing ourselves for the people who are waiting for us there while we are already starting to miss everyone here. It is an emotional time. It is a busy time.

When Jesus is busy with a large crowd and his disciples traveling to Jericho, there is a street person. There is this beggar. He is just sitting there and then as Jesus and this crowd come near. He just starts to shout at them. He starts to yell. He shouts! He shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”[2]

I don’t imagine that he just called this out a couple of times or in a quiet and an orderly fashion (vs. 47) at all because it says that many of the people rebuked him and told him to be quiet but he shouted all the more (vs. 48). Can you imagine if you went to a gospel jamboree (or a Nickleback concert!) or to hear a famous evangelist and he is coming near and you’ve taken time off work and camped out for days and he’s finally coming near and you are trying to see and hear what he is doing and there is this smelly, dirty street person just yelling at the top of his lungs right when the teacher is coming by? Right when you actually have a chance to hear him in person. Some marginalized person is yelling “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

It must have been quite annoying for them and not for just one of them, not for just a couple of them but many of them. Many of the people who were following Jesus told the beggar to ‘knock it off!’ as it were. They told him to ‘be quiet!’ and they rebuked him (vs. 48) all the more! He was getting in the way of their seeing and hearing Jesus! “Be quiet,’ they said. ‘Stop it!’

But Jesus heard him and Jesus stopped. Jesus is the one who stopped (vs. 49). He listens to the man. Jesus asks the noisy beggar what he wants him to do for him (vs. 51) and then Jesus does it (vs. 52). Jesus is busy. The people with Jesus are busy. Jesus takes the time to listen, to hear what the man wants and as the man comes to God in persistent, noisy, confrontational faith, Jesus gives him what he asks for.

In our lives: when someone interrupts us in our busy lives, when we see that annoying person who can just grate on everyone’s nerves, when we are in a hurry, how do we treat the people God sends to us? Do we take the time to ask the people who we come across in life how we can help them or do we just brush them aside? When we are busy and our children or grandchildren want us to read the Bible to them, when we are busy and people knock on our doors with a question or a concern do we open it to them? Are we open to them? What do we do? What do we do?

Captain Ashley Bungay, from our group, she pointed out the profound truth from the text to us that God encourages us even when times are difficult. She noticed that – Verse 49 – the people say to the man, as Jesus is calling him, “Cheer up.”[3]

There are times when life may seem difficult when we need to be offered the comforting words of ‘cheer up.’ Our new appointment[4] and Nipawin are both now in the process of saying good-bye to Officers who love them. We Officers in both places are in the process of saying good-bye to church families whom we love.

We will miss you all here. God has taught me so much from many of you. He has taught me and He has loved me through letting me study the Bible with you; He has let me share in counting kettle money with you and then re-counting it when the numbers are different. He has let us come into many of your homes and hearts and lives. He has let me get to know you over coffee or a game of cards or on the trips down to men’s camp. God has blessed me so much getting to know all of you.

God has blessed our children through their friends, Bible study, mentors and Rebecca will miss horseback riding and for the third time after two years in my daughters’ lives they are leaving their friends behind and as a parent, this hurts a little.

We love you. We love the way the LORD is blessing you all here and we love the way that there are many faces here today that were not here when we arrived a few short years ago and we pray that somehow in our time here, it is not only the four of us who are walking even closer with the LORD; we pray that many of you are as well and that you will continue to walk a little closer to the Lord. There will probably be cadets coming here this summer who will need your love and encouragement for their season here, just as we will seek the love of the Lord through our new friends in our new appointment.

This brings us to what struck me initially about the ‘Lectio Devina’ exercise and the text in Mark that we were looking at. Truthfully there were two things that struck me. One was that the Lord took mercy upon those who called upon his name and I trust that He will also take mercy on those of us here in Nipawin and in our new appointment and in the place where the Officers from there are going and I trust as well that He will have mercy on all of us who are affected by loved ones moving on.

But also faith: God calls us to step out in faith. Bartimaeus stepped out in faith. Even though Bart couldn’t see what was happening. Even though Bart couldn’t possibly see what lay ahead. Even though Bart wasn’t able to see the Lord when He was right in front of him. Even though those around him were telling him NOT to cry out to the LORD. Even though those around him – who were also seeking the Lord – were trying to prevent Bart from coming before the Lord. Even though people in the crowds following Jesus tried to stop this humble man from reaching Him. He called out. Bart called out to the Lord.

And when Bart called out – even though he could not see the Lord – when Bartimaeus called out, the Lord could, would and did see him. The Lord loves him. The Lord has mercy on him and the Lord says to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Bart’s eyes are opened and he in that moment follows the Lord down life’s road.

This message is for me and this message is for us. For now we see through not only the eternal glass darkly, but we also only have a blind man’s view of our immediate future here. We do not see right now where God is in this. We do not see what Jesus is doing. We do not see what lies ahead. We cannot possibly see that but what we can do is call upon Jesus. What we can do is call upon Jesus over and over again. What we need to do is to not take ‘no’ for an answer from any who would want to discourage us from seeking the Lord in faith. What we need to do is to call persistently on the Lord in this time of transition and in the times ahead and as we do, I have faith that He will heal us; He will open our eyes and He will make it so we too can see Jesus.

Let us pray.

Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/
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[1]Cf. http://www.meditationforchristians.com/sec2pt8.htm: Lectio Divina (divine or holy reading) is a principal practice of Benedictine spirituality. True to its biblical origins, the monastic life seeks above all a listening heart wherein God’s Word — God’s self-communication — is made manifest in Christ, in the scriptures, in the human heart and in the heart of the cosmos. Lectio Divina is a method of approaching scripture in order to listen to the depths, seeking to encounter Christ, the Word, through the power of the holy Spirit, hidden in the words of the text.
[2] Walter W. Wessel. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/Exposition of Mark/V. The Journey to Jerusalem (8:31-10:52)/O. Restoring Blind Bartimaeus's Sight (10:46-52), Book Version: 4.0.2: The title he used to address Jesus-"Son of David"-is messianic (cf. Isa 11:1, 10; Jer 23:5-6; Ezek 34:23-24). It was not an unambiguous title. In Mark's Gospel it is used only here (twice) of Jesus and in MK 12:35, where Jesus himself uses it in connection with the title "Christ."
[3] Walter W. Wessel. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/Exposition of Mark/V. The Journey to Jerusalem (8:31-10:52)/O. Restoring Blind Bartimaeus's Sight (10:46-52), Book Version: 4.0.2: “The word translated "Cheer up!" is tharsei. It occurs only seven times in the NT (Matt 9:2, 22; 14:27; Mark 6:50; 10:49; John 16:33; Acts 23:11), and six of the seven are from the lips of Jesus. The exception is here.”
[4] For various reasons, I can’t name the new location of the community we are going to on-line yet. I mentioned it in the sermon for sure and our heartfelt prayers are definitely extended to our new church family. We look forward to meeting them.