• A single clause jarred me awake as I was reading in Leviticus this morning, but a couple important items before I get to that.
• First, Sunday School begins this week and we encourage you to support this ministry of the church. There is an unspoken assumption among American believers that the Church will always be around, doing what she does, regardless of whether we support her or not. I think we’re all smart enough to realize that day is passed. Any health in the U.S. Church going forward will involve the intentional support of her people. The Church does not consist in her pastoral and administrative staff, but in her people as a whole. Removing yourself from her activities is an incremental death. Same with worship, of course. We look forward to seeing you.
• Second, please pray for a friend, Dan Dillard, an Orthodox Presbyterian pastor in Bend, Oregon. A driver turned left in front of Dan as he was riding his motorcycle and he is now in grave danger, mostly due to an infection in his badly fractured pelvis. The doctors don’t think there is much they can do. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Many, many are praying. Let’s join them. Please pray his body would fight the infection and that he would live. Thank you.
• A few thoughts on Leviticus. The passage that caught my eye was 19:26 “You shall not interpret omens.” There’s a form of this that is common among Christians who go through life trying to read the will of God out of daily circumstances or events. You hear it in Christian jargon. We describe what appear to be favorable circumstances as “open doors” and try to feel at ease moving forward, assuring ourselves that the easier or clearer path must be what God intends for us. In fact, there’s nothing in Scripture that encourages us to do this. And besides, we’re never 100% sure we’re doing the right thing and often have the lingering fear that we are “out of God’s will” (which again is more jargon than theology).
• Take heart: the Lord rests his favor on you by virtue of your faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. And if God gave us his own son, “will he not graciously with him give us all things?” (Rom 8:32). We cannot increase or decrease his favor by reading the circumstances of our lives because his favor is not grounded in our ability to discern the omens, but in Christ’s loving you and giving himself for you.
• So, what should you do? Make the best decision possible, given what you know, and move on. God does not hold you accountable for what he hasn’t revealed to you. This is the reasoning of James 4:17, “whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” Sure, you must examine your motives honestly. What’s driving you? What are you so worried about? You should be careful to bring Scripture to bear on your decision to the greatest extent possible. Scripture is God’s plainly revealed will. You should be constant in prayer. But at some point, with only partial knowledge, you will have to pull the trigger. You are safe because you are the child of God, not because you successfully interpreted the omens. Augustine used to say, with precisely this sort of dilemma in mind, “Love God and do what you please.” Good counsel.
• So be careful of reading the circumstances and announcing that God endorses your plan. Although I’m sure your intent is good, I think you can see it borders on blasphemy. God does not require us to tell our friends what is in his mind regarding some event in our lives. All we can say is, “we weighed things, sought counsel from Scripture and friends, prayed and moved forward.” Then hold in your heart Php 4:6-7 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”