I am only joking!

Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!"

Proverbs 26: 18-19

I read Proverbs 26: 18-19 last week and had thought of posting on it. I was finally prompted to when I saw Abraham Piper blog on it too. This was the comment I posted in reply:

"I just read this verse in my yearly Bible reading plan yesterday. I was tickled to find today that you had written a post about it recently too. When I read this verse, I was reminded about two cases I studied in tort law class recently:

One is the case of Scott v Shepherd (1773), where the defendant was held liable for throwing a light squib (like a firebrand!) into a crowded market, which ended up blinding the plaintiff.

The other is the case of Wilkinson v Downton (1897) where the defendant was held liable for telling the plaintiff that her husband had been seriously injured in an accident resulting in her suffering nervous shock. He was really fine, and the defendant had been deliberately playing a very nasty prank.

This verse jumped out at me when I saw how it seems to match the facts of these cases so well. I’m sure that this verse does not preclude harmless, lighthearted jokes. However, it does warn against malicious mischief, which is illustrated in real-life by these two law cases.

The Bible speaks so perceptively of human nature. We are so predictably sinful. Thank God that he saved us from our degenerate state!"

I will carry and will save

Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;

even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.

Isaiah 46:3-4 (ESV)

What spectacular promises! Even before we were born, God knew who we were, and destined that we should be carried by Him (echoing the words of Psalm 139:15-16). Three times these verses says that God carries us. His faithfulness is perfect and unchanging. He bears us through life and to the grave. And not only will He carry us, but He will save us. He will enact His mighty, perfectly powerful salvation (Isaiah 63:1). What more can we ask for? In fact, what more should we desire?

Are we able to trust his vast, amazing promise to protect and bear us through life? Or will we content ourselves with our petty anxieties and measly pursuits of worldly gain?

Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him

It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

Isaiah 25:9 (ESV)

The word "waited" is translated, in the NIV and other versions of the Bible, as "trusted". "Waited" is closer to the literal original meaning, but this can help explain what it means, as Isaiah 40:31 says, to "wait for the Lord". As we face troubles and trials in our day-to-day lives, to wait is to trust. Waiting demands bearing with uncertainty, yet believing that He who said He is faithful will give us what is best for us. What then is that? What is best for us is God himself, and the salvation he brings. 

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ... If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 11: 9-10, 13 (ESV)

This verses are so easily misconstrued to mean that God will gives us anything and everything that we ask for. Scripture and life experience tells us that this is simply not true. However, look closer: God promises, in the parallel comparison with a human father, to give us "good gifts". Yet, Jesus does not say, that the heavenly Father give even better or greater gifts than an earthly father, rather He says that the heavenly Father will give us the Holy Spirit! That then is what we should desire and wait for: God Himself, the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. That is the greatest gift of all.

So will you wait for Him today? Will you wait for His plan, his timing in your life? Know that He has already satisfied your deepest need, the need for Him. The thing most worth waiting for has already been given to us. Wait for him, as He continues to make us perfect till the glorious day of the new earth. 

The coming of the Son of Man

25 “And t there will be signs in sun and moon u and stars, and on the earth v distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For w the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see x the Son of Man coming in a cloud y with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and z raise your heads, because a your redemption is drawing near.”

...

34 “But watch yourselves f lest g your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness andh cares of this life, and i that day come upon you suddenly j like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But k stay awake at all times, l praying that you maym have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and n to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 21:25-28,34-36 (Taken from the ESV Online Study Bible)

In Luke 21, Jesus predicts the signs of the end of the times and his return. Verses 25-28 paint a glorious, yet terrifying, and magnificent picture of Jesus' second coming. Jesus tells us to watch for his coming and to be prepared: "Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Will be able to face Christ standing tall? Look at His exhortation to us: "But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Jesus goes on to warn us in verses 34-36, to beware the seductions and anxieties of our age. Even in the absence of sinful temptation, we must not be distracted by "cares of this life". What may these be? Our jobs, our studies, our relationships? What are the thoughts and affairs that seize our attention, time and energy away from God? Let us pray daily for the divine grace and strength to stay faithful, that we may be blameless and confident on the day we meet Him.

No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel

can avail against the Lord.
The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but the victory belongs to the Lord 

Proverbs 21:30-31

Like the last post I wrote, the exaltation of God's sovereign willing and acting in this verse jumped out at me. Whatever we do to pose and prepare, God has his own plan, which will always come to fruition. Human wisdom is infinitesimally puny and futile next to his. As he drove away the Syrians (2 Kings 7:6) and smote the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35), victories in our lives are his, not ours. Thank God that he is fighting for us, and we are not fighting for ourselves.