The Charisms: 6 - The Gift of Prophecy

The prophet Amos declared: "Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Moses expressed the desire: "Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!" (Numbers 11:29). Paul encouraged the Corinthian Christians to seek spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. "Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy" (1 Corinthians 14:1).

Our God is a God of revelation. Regular people do not get access to God’s secrets but his secrets are revealed to his servants, the prophets. A prophet utters words inspired by God, a message to a person or the Christian Community. He speaks on God’s behalf, communicating the mind of God and what God thinks of a current situation or His intention for the future.

The purpose of prophecy is to encourage and build up the church. This is done when words of comfort are spoken from the mouth of God. "On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their building up and encouragement and consolation. Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church" (1 Corinthians 14:3-4). In the book of Ezekiel, we see the prophet prophesying and when he does so, it brings life to the dead bones. In a similar fashion when a prophet speaks words of God he gives life to the spiritually dead.

Here are some of the facets of the gift of prophecy:

It requires no interpretation.

It must be used in proportion to ones faith (cf. Romans 12:6).

The person operating the gift is responsible to maintain both order and submission to the Church’s shepherds (CCC801). "And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32).

Prophets can make mistakes so each prophecy must be weighed carefully (1 Corinthians 14:29).

Prophecy convinces the unbeliever of the presence of God (1 Corinthians 14:24-25).

Prophecy should be comforting and not distressing or uncertain to the one who is receiving it.

If the prophecy has to do with the future, it must come to pass, if it doesn’t come to pass it means the prophet is a false prophet.

The Charisms: 5 - The Gift of Miracles

The Christian faith is based on the miracles of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. The gift of working of miracles reinforces the authenticity of this gospel truth. Jesus life was filled with signs and wonders from heaven above. He walked on water (Matthew 14:25), multiplied bread and fed thousands (Matthew 15:32-38), calmed the storm (Mark 4:39), disappeared (Luke 24:31), passed through walls (John 20:19), caught 153 fish at one time (John 21:11), and raised the dead (John 11:44, Luke 7:11-15, Matthew 9:23-25) in addition to several other miracles. In each of these miracles we see that God changed the course of nature and thus proved to be God of all gods.

Many Christians have this gift but it is largely ignored due to humanistic thinking. We tend to come up with practical ways of solving problems. We must expect God to work miracles in our lives and in the lives of others through us. Here are some examples of what men did through the power of God:

While the Apostles prayed that God stretch out His hand "to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus ... the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness" (cf Acts 4:30-33).

While Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, "there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened" (cf Acts 16:25-26).

Peter brought Tabitha (Dorcas) back to life after she had died (cf Acts 9:36-41).

Paul brought Eutychus back to life after he went to sleep while Paul was preaching, fell out of the window and died (cf Acts 20:9-12).

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them (Acts 19-11).

The Charisms: 4 - The Gift of Healing

Jesus ministry involved preaching, teaching and healing. Jesus healed the sick, cured lepers and gave sight to the blind. He passed on this same authority to his disciples. "Cure the sick," he told them. "Raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment" (Matthew 10:8).

The purpose of this gift is manifold. It shows God’s mercy and compassion on the sick and the suffering (Acts 10:38, Luke 13:16), demonstrates that Christ is the Son of God (John 10:36-38), confirms the Word (Mark 16:15-18, Acts 4:29-30), helps attract people to the Gospel (Luke 4:40-43), and brings glory to God (Mark 2:12, Luke 13:13, Luke 18:42-43, John 9:2-3).

The gift of healing is a special gift granted to someone whereby when they pray over someone, the process of healing takes place quickly, sometimes instantly. This gift operates on three levels: mental, physical and spiritual. Catholics accept this gift in the lives of the saints, but find it difficult to accept in the lives of ordinary Christians, especially themselves.

The person with the gift, however, cannot heal everybody. Who is healed and who isn’t is, of course, decided by God, who sometimes decide to withhold healing. As the Catechism states: "The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord. But even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses. Thus St. Paul must learn from the Lord that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness," and that the sufferings to be endured can mean that "in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church" (CCC 1508).

Here are some examples of Christians healing the sick.

Peter healed Aneneas, who had been bedridden for eight years with paralysis (cf. Acts 9:33-34).

Peter heals a crippled beggar by the gates of the temple (cf. Acts 3:1-8).

Peter’s shadow was sufficient to heal many. "Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured" (Acts 5:14-16)

Paul healed a crippled man in Lystra who was lame from birth (cf. Acts 14:8-10).

The Charisms: 3 - The Gift of Faith

This gift inspires a person to pray with God given confidence, knowing that what is asked for will be granted. In the beginning of Acts 3, we find Peter and John going up to the temple to pray and finding a man sitting by the gates. He had been crippled from birth. When he saw Peter and John, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, "I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

What Peter had was faith, and with this faith, the crippled man was dramatically healed. Faith is a powerful gift. Jesus said, "For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). On another occasion, he said, "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

The gift of faith is a supernatural gift given to a person whom the Lord wants to use to make the impossible possible. As we just saw, Peter and John went against natural laws to heal the crippled man in the name of Jesus. We must not confuse this gift of faith with the virtue of faith that every Christian is called to have. Regular faith, as the Catechism puts it, "is man’s response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life" (CCC 26).

If we lack faith, we can ask the Lord to help us, as the apostles once did. They came to Jesus one day and said to Him: "Increase our faith" (Luke 17:5). Other spiritual gifts depend on faith. For instance, Paul tells us that prophecy should be used only in proportion to our faith (cf Romans 12:6). At various times through His ministry Jesus spoke about how people are healed in proportion to their faith. "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith," he told the Centurion, who asked Jesus to heal his servant in complete faith. The servant was instantly healed (cf. Matthew 8:5-13). On another occasion he touched the eyes of two blind men who sought healing, saying, "According to your faith let it be done to you." They, too, were instantly healed (cf. Matthew 9:27-30).

Here are a few examples of what humans can do through God when faith is strong.

Elijah declared to King Ahab that there would be no rain until he said the word. His gift of faith, along with prayer, produced the desired effect (see 1 Kings 17; James 5:17-18).

Joshua used the gift of faith to command the sun to stand still and the moon to stop for about a whole day until they won the war against the Amorites (see Joshua 10:1-13).

Paul saw through the deceit of Elymas and struck him blind (see Acts 13:8-11).

Peter rebuked Ananias and Sapphira and proclaimed God’s judgment on them (see Acts 5:1-10).

The Charisms: 2 - The Gift of Knowledge

The gift of knowledge (different from the Isaiah gift of knowledge), is a gift by which the Spirit gives a person a deeper understanding of a mystery of faith, or specific knowledge about a person or situation that could not be known, unless God revealed it.

We see Jesus using this gift often. On one occasion, Jesus stopped by in Samaria for a drink of water and engaged in a conversation with a woman who had come to draw water from the well. He knew that she had five husbands (cf. John 4:18-19) without her having spoken of it. One another occasion, Jesus told a man named Nathaniel that He had seen him sitting under the fig tree a little while earlier, even though Jesus had not even been near the area at the time (cf. John 1:47-48).

The gift of knowledge operates by faith and is received in one’s spirit, not intellect or emotions. It may be shared with the person to whom it is related and is an invaluable asset in the ministry of counseling. The gift can be used for a variety of other purposes too. It helps to reveal sin as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (cf. Acts 5:1-10), and in the case of King David (cf. 2 Samuel 12:1-10). The gift can be used to encourage as it encouraged Elijah when he heard God’s voice in the mountain (1 King 19:9-18). It can be used to impart knowledge of future events, as Agabus came to know about a great famine that would sweet over the entire world (Acts 11:28). It can also be used to reveal hidden things—or hidden people—as Samuel located Saul who had tried to conceal himself among baggage! (cf. 1 Samuel 10:22).

This gift very often operates hand in hand with the gift of wisdom. Here are a few other examples of the gift of knowledge in operation, and how the gift of wisdom comes into simultaneous play:

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream concerning the coming years of plenty and drought and then, with the gift of wisdom, advised Pharaoh of the steps that needed to be taken (cf. Genesis 41:1-36).

Elijah knew that Gehazi had run after Naaman claiming a reward for healing the army general. He then pronounced the judgment of God upon Gehazi through the gift of Wisdom (cf. 2 Kings 5:20-27).

Daniel discovered Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which the king had refused to reveal, and then interpreted it using the gift of Wisdom (cf Daniel 2:1-47).

God told Ananias of Paul’s conversion through the gift of Knowledge and, using the gift of wisdom, the steps he needed to take (cf. Acts 9:10-16).

The Charisms: 1 - The Gift of Wisdom

The Pharisees were out to get Jesus and constantly laid plans to trap him in his words. "Teacher," they said to him one day, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar’s," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s" (Matthew 22:15-21).

This was an example of the gift of wisdom in action. The gift of wisdom—or word of wisdom—is a divine revelation of the mind, will, purpose, plan, or counsel of God that directs a person to make the right response, decision or judgment in a particular situation. This revelation could be related to things of the past, present, or future. It is a fragment of the Isaiah gift of wisdom, imparted by the Holy Spirit, at a particular time, for a specific need or situation.

The gift of wisdom is the application of the gift of knowledge which we will look at next, knowing what to say or how to act with the natural or supernatural knowledge that God gives the person. It cannot be attained academically, nor can it be gained by experience. It stands first in the list in terms of its importance, because it enables us to speak and act with divine wisdom. This gift ensures the correct use and application of other gifts. When wisdom is absent, the other gifts can be used wrongly.

The gift of wisdom can come through various forms, like an inner impression or an image. When we see these impressions or images, we need to ask God for its meaning, otherwise the image serves no purpose. The prophet Jeremiah saw a series of visions including the branch of an almond tree and a boiling pot that was tilted that God had to interpret to him (Jeremiah 1:11-14).

The gift of wisdom can come in the form of a revelation of Scripture like that which came to the mind of Peter when he went about preaching his first sermon (cf. Acts 2:14-21), or a dream like Joseph saw when God wanted him to flee to Egypt (cf. Matthew 2:13). Sometimes, God reveals things in the form of a vision, as Peter experienced when he saw a sheet of clean and unclean animals being let down to earth by its four corners (cf. Acts 10: 11-16). Sometimes, He reveals things through an angelic visitation, as Joshua experienced when he met an angel who told him how to conquer Jericho (cf. Joshua 5:13-15). Sometimes, God speaks through an audible voice, like He did during Jesus’s baptism in the river Jordan (cf. Matthew 3:16-17).

The gifts of prophecy or tongues are modes of revealing the gift of wisdom.

Here are some more examples of the gift of wisdom in operation:

Moses received a word of wisdom on how to sweeten the bitter water in Marah and make it drinkable during the Israelite exodus (cf. Exodus 15:23-25).

Moses received a revelation of how to share the load of judging people by appointing seventy elders (cf. Numbers 11:16-17).

Moses received a revelation of how to save the people from poisonous snakebites by raising a bronze serpent (cf. Numbers 21:6-9).

The prophet Amos saw the judgment of God revealed through images of locusts, fire and a plumb line (cf. Amos 7:1-9), and later, a basket of summer fruit (cf. Amos 8:1-3).

God warned the wise men not to return to Herod (cf, Matthew 2:12).

Paul received instruction not to go into Asia and Bithynia (cf. Acts 16:6,7), and later, to go into Macedonia (cf. Acts 16:9-10).

James received wisdom when confronted with the serious issue of circumcision at the first church council (cf. Acts 15:1-29).

Paul received instruction on how to survive the storm he encountered at sea (cf. Acts 27).

The Charisms: Intro

Spiritual gifts (or charismata) are gifts that are bestowed on Christians, each having his or her own proper gift (or gifts) to strengthen the church. They are described in the New Testament, primarily in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses" (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

These gifts are granted to every Christian to perform his/her task in the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: "Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world. Charisms are to be accepted with gratitude by the person who receives them and by all members of the Church as well. They are a wonderfully rich grace for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ, provided they really are genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit and are used in full conformity with authentic prompting of this same Spirit, that is, in keeping with charity, the true measure of all charisms" (CCC 799-800).

There are nine gifts in all that can be grouped in three categories:

1. Gifts of Discernment (or mind gifts), which comprise Knowledge, Wisdom, and Discernment of Spirits;

2. Gifts of Power (or action gifts), which comprise Faith, Miracles, and Healing; and

3. Gifts of Proclamation (or gifts of the tongue), which comprise Prophecy, Tongues, and the Interpretation of Tongues.

We will look at the gifts in the order they are mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

Tomorrow: The Gift of Wisdom

The Power of the Blood of Christ

There is immense power in the blood of Christ, but many among us don't have a complete understanding of the significance of this power and its application in our lives. To be able to gain this understanding, however, we first need to understand the two ways in which Scripture speaks of blood. There is blood that has been shed and blood that has been sprinkled.

Christians participating in the Holy Eucharist will be familiar with the former. When the priest raises the chalice, he speaks for Jesus as he quotes him in Luke 22:20, saying, "Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you ...." But many are unfamiliar with the latter. We need to go into the Old Testament to discover the power of blood being sprinkled.

Protection (see Exodus 12)
The first reference we come across about sprinking of blood can be found in Exodus 11. God has struck Egypt with 9 plagues, one after another, but a hard hearted Pharoah refuses to give the Israelites their freedom. God is about to unleash the 10th and final plague, this one striking down the first born of all in Egypt, both men and animals. He would, however, spare the Israelites provided they did what he told them to do, which was to take the blood of a lamb and sprinkle it on the doorposts of their houses. That night the angel of death moved through Egypt. Every firstborn child of the Egyptians died, but the Israelite children were spared because the blood of the lamb had been sprinkled on their doorframes.

Covenant (see Exodus 24)
After redeeming Israel with the blood of the Passover Lamb, God initiates a covenant with the newborn nation through Moses, saying, "If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, I will be your God and you will be my people" (cf. Exodus 19:4; see also Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4). Moses takes a bowl containing the blood of a bull and sprinkles half of it on an altar he has built at the foot of the mountain. He then takes the other half to the people. He reads the laws of the covenant to the people and asks them what they have to say about it. In unison, they respond, "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey." Moses then took the blood, and sealed the covenant by sprinkling on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you."

Communion (see Exodus 24)
Immediately after this, "Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, along with seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God the Israel". In Exodus 3, we see Moses going up the mountain but turning his face away from God because he was afraid of looking upon the face of God, because it meant death (cf. Exodus 33:20), "but God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank". Moses and 73 others not only looked upon the face of God, but they ate and drank with him, because they had been sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificial offering and made clean.

Forgiveness (see Leviticus 16)
And finally we come to sprinking of blood that had the most significance. The Day of Atonement was the greatest day of the year for Israel. On this day, the people confessed their sins as a nation, and the high priest went into the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, to make atonement for their sins. He would take with him a censer full of burning coals, two handfuls of incence, and a basin containing the blood of a bull. Within the Holy of Holies was a piece of furniture comprising two parts: the Ark of the Convenant and the atonement cover which rested on top of it. The atonement cover, or the mercy seat, was God's dwelling place in the tabernacle. (cf. Exodus 25.22). The high prest would put the incense on the burning coals and as the smoke ascended upwards, he would dip his finger into the basin of blood and with his finger, sprinkle it on the mercy seat seven times. When he came out, the people would rejoice because they all believed, without a shadow of doubt, that their sins had been forgiven.

Jesus, the Lamb of God
2,000 years ago, a new sacrifice was offered: God's own son, Jesus. His blood was shed for us on the cross of Calvary. Let these words from Hebrews 9:11-15 sum up all the conclusions I wish to make:

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle ... He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Let us sprinkle the blood of Christ upon ourselves every day, and be secure and confident in the knowledge that we are forgiven (cf. Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7), we are protected (cf. Revelation 12:11), we are under a new and everlasting covenant of love that nothing can separate us from (cf. Romans 8:35-39), and that we can dare approach the great throne room and not only stand face to face with God, but also dare to call him Father (cf. Ephesians 2:13-14, 1 John 3:1, Hebrews 10:19).

The Luck of Roaring Camp

I was looking for illustrations for a Christmas sermon and I came across a lot of little jewels. This is one of the best of them.

Did you ever read Bret Harte's story The Luck of Roaring Camp? Roaring Camp was supposed to be, according to the story, the meanest, toughest mining town in all of the West. More murders, more thefts--it was a terrible place inhabited entirely by men, and one woman who tried to serve them all. Her name was Cherokee Sal. She died while giving birth to a baby.

Well, the men took the baby, and they put her in a box with some old rags under her. When they looked at her, they decided that didn't look right, so they sent one of the men eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. He brought it back, and they put the rags and the baby in the rosewood cradle. And the rags didn't look right there. So they sent another of their number to Sacramento, and he came back with some beautiful silk and lace blankets. And they put the baby, wrapped around with those blankets, in the rosewood cradle.

It looked fine until someone happened to notice that the floor was so filthy. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees, and with their hardened and horny hands they scrubbed that floor until it was very clean. Of course, what that did was to make the walls and the ceiling and the dirty windows without curtains look absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling, and they put curtains at the windows. And now things were beginning to look as they thought they should look. But of course, they had to give up a lot of their fighting, because the baby slept a lot, and babies can't sleep during a brawl.

So the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down. They used to take her out and set her by the entrance to the mine in her rosewood cradle so they could see her when they came up. Then somebody noticed what a dirty place that was, so they planted flowers, and they made a very nice garden there. It looked quite beautiful. And they would bring her, oh, shiny little stones and things that they would find in the mine. But when they would put their hands down next to hers, their hands looked so dirty. Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear and perfume and those kinds ...

... the baby changed everything.

With Eyes Fixed on God: 2. Facing Huge Difficulties

Jehoshaphat was one of the kings who ruled Judah, and from all accounts (see 2 Chronicles 17-21), he was one of the better rulers the country had. There came a time during his reign that his nation faced a disaster. Three huge armies set out to make war on him. Not surprisingly, Jehoshapat was alarmed, but in a notable departure from the regular, he sought the counsel of God in the matter. His prayer ended with these words: "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2 Chronicles 20:12).

God told him not to worry: "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s" (2 Chr 20:15). Jehoshaphat took the advice to heart, as well as other advice that he received to do nothing but praise God. So while the invading armies prepared to annihilate Jehoshaphat, the king sent his own army with instructions to "sing to the Lord and to praise him ... as they went out at the head or the army, saying: "Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever.""

A sure recipe for disaster you might think, but think again. As they began to sing and praise, the Lord sowed confusion and discord among the invading armies who, instead of attacking and destroying Judah, attacked and destroyed each other leaving the battlefield empty. The battle was, indeed, the Lord's.

We, too, in our lives, are sometimes faced with mighty adversities that seem overwhelming. And overwhelm us, they will, unless we turn to God in faith and prayer like this king did. It might seem silly what this king did, but the victory he achieved is an indication of how powerful prayer and faith in tandem can be.

A lady came to me a me a week ago telling me she was half a million dirhams in debt. That's about US$ 136,000. That was a staggering debt to pay off for any salaried person. She told me that she was praying, but God was not doing anything to clear her debt. I had to explain that God wasn't going to send somebody with a check for half a million — we have to suffer the consequences of our folly — but what God would do was to help her repay the debt IF she focussed on him. If she kept her eyes on him. Otherwise, she would drive her car into a brick wall, like she told me she wanted to.

I have had people facing similar situations in the past testifying as to how God took them through when they relied on him. He did this in far less time and with much greater ease than they had ever imagined. So I know that this is not just a story in the Bible to give people hope; it works! And it's not only with looming financial catastophes that God helps us, but he's there to assist us in every difficult situation we face in our lives. It takes humility, however, and a certain amount of courage to be able to go to God and say to him, just as Jehoshaphat did: "Lord, I have no power to combat the obstacles in my life. I don't know what to do. But I got my eyes upon you!"

Get your eyes fixed on him for the victory that you seek, the deliverance that you need, the freedom that you desire. It's all it really takes.

Next: With Eyes Fixed on God: 3. In the Middle of a Storm

With Eyes Fixed on God: 1. Snakes in the Desert

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I've always loved the movies and among the many movies I have watched, I have really enjoyed the Indiana Jones series. I guess it appeals to the child in me. There is one scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark that was memorable. Indy falls into a dark pit and it seems to him that the ground under his feet is moving. He strikes a match and to his horror he finds the floor crawling with hundreds of snakes. "I hate snakes," he says, his fear of them very evident in his eyes.

I suspect that most of us hate them as well, and it isn't very surprising when we think of the painful death they can cause when they bite us. This is what the Israelites suffered during their travels through the desert. Scripture says that "the Lord sent venomous snakes among them" but as we are learning, we can't take everything in the Bible literally. What the writers probably meant is that the Lord withdrew his hand of protection over the Israelites and let the snakes bite them. But why would he do this? To teach them a lesson perhaps. Let's see what happened just prior to this.

One, the Israelites grew impatient along the way. We may be inclined to feel a little sympathetic towards them considering that they were on the road for a long time until we understand that it is this impatience that kept them on the road for so long. The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was barely a few weeks, but it took them forty years to make it!!!

God puts us through situations in our lives to teach us patience, to teach us to wait upon him, and the quicker we learn these lessons, the quicker we get out of the situations. Unfortunately, like the Israelites we too get impatient, and then we too wander around, sometimes for years, until we get to where we want to be.

Two, they spoke against God and against Moses, which is never a good idea, because when you speak against someone you are, in effect, rebelling against them. What do you want God to make of rebellion?

I know of people who are constantly speaking against God, sometimes even cursing him because they aren't happy with the way he is working in their lives. I'm no Moses, but they speak against me too, sometimes for the strangest possible reasons.

Three, they whined and moaned, asking God why he brought them up out of Egypt? Obviously, they had forgotten that they had begged and pleaded with him to get them out, fed up with the years of suffering they had underwent at the hands of the Egyptians.

We, too, make prayers of God, sometimes perhaps not realizing that God does answer prayers, but in his own fashion. Unable to deal with this, we question God in a similar manner, presuming we know better than he does.

Four, they exhibited a tragic lack of faith when they spoke of dying in the desert, indicating that they had also forgotten everything that God had done to ensure they were safe. He got them out of Egypt without so much as a scar, gave them safe passage through the Red Sea when a blood thirsty army chased after them, kept their clothes, foot wear and health intact over the years, and they implied, by this question, that he was now incapable of keeping them alive.

I am sure that this, too, is familiar to us. We receive blessing after blessing — and we only have to take a cursory glance at our lives to see how true this is — but the moment we face something that is a little difficult, we believe God has abandoned us and we're headed for defeat and destruction.

Five, they complained that there was no bread or water, and in a shocking display of ingratitude, whinged about how they detested the manna God was giving them — given at no cost, without toil or labor!

Again, they didn't do anything we don't do.

I figure God must have decided if they really wanted to complain, he'd give them reason to, and when they came across a patch of desert sand infested with snakes, he withdrew his hand of protection, leaving them to ponder the consequence of a life without him to help them.

They began to get bitten and die painfully and not knowing what to do they turned to the same person they spoke against — Moses — to ask for help from the same God they spoke against — the mighty I AM. Fortunately for them, Moses was not one to hold grudges and he interceded with God, who also didn't hold grudges. He told Moses to "make a snake and put it up on a pole and get the people who were bitten to look at it for healing."

It seems here that God is breaking one of his own commandments about not fashioning any graven images (Exodus 20:4-5, 32:31), something that he appears to do again when he gives instructions on building the ark of the convenant (1 Chronicles 28:18-19), orders the carving of statues of angels (Exodus 25:18-20), and commanding that Aaron's priestly robes have pomegranates on them! (Exodus 28:31-34), but obviously there are circumstances in which God is okay with such things. (We are not going to talk about idol worship here; to understand more about this may I refer you to an article by Patrick Madrid).

So why is God doing this? To point people the way to salvation by making them aware of their sins and its consequences! What would the people who were bitten by the snake see when they saw an image of it nailed to the cross? They would see how their sins were causing them a painful death and repent of whatever they had done. This repentance would bring healing.

Do you recollect another instance when something was nailed to a cross? Of course you do. Many years later Jesus would say, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14).

The serpent is not a representation of Jesus, but of the sin that Jesus took upon himself when he was crucified on the cross. If we want to stop sinning all we really need to do is to look at Jesus on the cross, understanding how much he suffered because of the things that we did. Most of us have looked at the cross and found forgiveness of our sins, but we tend to treat this as an event that took place two thousand years ago in another time and place, not realizing that it is a lifetime process of looking, and repenting.

I have reproduced a still from Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ here. It is a particularly bloody picture of Jesus on the cross. Take a good look at it. Everytime we give into temptation, giving into thoughts that are sinful, it is as though we are piercing a new thorn into Christ's head. Everytime we give into temptation, doing things that are wrong, it is as though we are piercing a nail anew into his hands and feet. I don't know about you, but it makes me never wanna sin again.

What else do we find when we look at Jesus on the cross? Freedom! Romans 6:1-14 says this. It is a little long, but worth reading carefully.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

With eyes fixed on God, we get victory over sin and temptation, but that's not the only thing looking at God does to us. It gives us victory over overwhelming odds! Coming up next.

Interpreting Scripture - 2: Moses and the Burning Bush

As we saw in my introductory article on the subject of interpreting Scripture, there are four senses of Scripture that we can use to get a better understanding of what God is trying to say to us: the literal sense, the allegorical sense, the moral sense and the anagogical sense. To see how these senses are used, let us look at the story of Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3).

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:1-14)

The best way to begin trying to understand what is happening in this passage is by asking a series of questions: Where? Who? Why? What? When?

Where is this passage from? The Book of Exodus. It's the second book of the Bible following Genesis. The two books, together with Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, form the Pentateuch (Torah to the Jews).

Who wrote it? A great deal of it has been written by Moses, but it cannot have been written entirely by him, as often suggested, because many portions tell the story of his life in the third person. It also describes his death. The literary form also varies considerably through the text.

Why was it written? To record the events of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and development as a nation.

What was the setting? Egypt. God's people who were once favored in the land were now slaves. God is about to set them free.

When was it written? Modern biblical scholarship places its final textual form in the mid 5th century. When did the events that are described in it happen? From about 1700 BC to 1280 BC.

Once these questions are answered, we need to see how the passage fits into the overall story. The book of Genesis ends with the death of Joseph. The book of Exodus begins about four hundred years later. Things have dramatically changed. The Israelites no longer enjoy the favor that Joseph enjoyed with the Egyptians. On the contrary, they have been made slaves for fear that their rapidly increasing numbers might make them a threat to the Egyptians. Seeing that this scheme of keeping their numbers down didn't work, Pharoah decrees that the midwives kill every baby boy at birth, but when his doesn't work either, he orders that "every boy that is born must be thrown into the Nile" (Exodus 1:22).

One mother decides to save her son but putting him in a basket and floating it on the Nile. When Pharoah's daughter went to bathe she discovered the baby and decided to adopt him for her own. The boy, named Moses, thus grew up as prince of Egypt. As he grew up, however, he began to identify with the Israelites, getting angry at the way they were treated.

One day, when he was about forty years old, he witnessed an Egyptian striking an Israelite. He lost his temper and struck down the Egyptian, killing him. (Here's a question to ask yourself: How do we know Moses was forty years old when this happened? There is no reference to this in the book of Exodus. Or in the Pentateuch. Or in the entire Old Testament for that matter! Answer: Stephen mentions his age in his speech to the Sanhedrin where he was on trial for his life - see Acts 7:23. But how did Stephen know this if it wasn't mentioned anywhere else in Scripture? That's a question for you to chew on. I'll provide the answer another time, but here is a clue to get you going. Is Sola Scriptura truly legit?)

After slaying the Egyptian, Moses now "thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not" (Acts 7:25). They had different ideas. "Who made you ruler and judge over us?" they asked (Ex 2:14). (What do you learn from this? Moses was trying to exercise authority that hadn't been given to him).

Rejected by the Israelites and on the run from the Egyptians — Pharoah discovered his crime — Moses fled to Midian. There he meets Zipporah to whom he gets married. He soon becomes a daddy (good thing that; if he stayed on to rule in Egypt he would have become a mummy). He also becomes a shepherd, tending flocks for his father-in-law Jethro. And he continues doing this for forty years, until one day he sees a bush burning .... which brings us to our story here.

The Allegorical Sense

We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ. In this passage, the God of the Burning Bush is generally considered to be a preconfiguration of Jesus, who would, himself, use the words I AM to describe himself many times, especially in the Gospel of John. Consider these statements:

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35)

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." (John 10:9)

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." (John 11:25)

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener." (John 15:1)

But perhaps most telling was his remark to the Pharisees who sneered at him when he told them that Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing him.

“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:57-58)

The Moral Sense

The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".

Here we see God commissioning Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God gives us a similar commission. In Matthew 28:18-20 we see him saying:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

(Notice what Jesus says at the end. Just as God said to Moses, "I will be with you," Jesus says the same.) Like Moses, we make excuses, but we need to fulfill this commission to make disciples of all nations. We can't do that, however, unless we become disciples ourselves. And that takes some doing!

The Anagogical Sense

We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland, which is heaven.

From this passage (and subsequent chapters in Exodus) we see how important obedience is to fulfill God's plan in our lives. We often don't realize how important this obedience is when it comes to our eternal salvation. Jesus was particularly stern when he told the people:

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"

All the "Hallelujas" we say, and all the mighty deeds we do for God, are no substitute for obedience. which is a prime requisite for entry into heaven. Faith in Christ Jesus gets the gates open, but we still need to walk through them.

Next: Interpreting Scripture - 3: Abraham and the Sacrifice of Isaac

Interpreting Scripture

Soon after my conversion, I started reading the Bible with fresh earnestness, eager to find out more about the Lord whom I had given my life to. I remember going through the gospel of Matthew, utterly fascinated by what I was reading, but coming to a shocked stop when I reached the end of Chapter 12 where it spoke about Jesus's mother and brothers.

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” (Matthew 12:46-47)

Brothers? Even though I had been an atheist for most of my life, I had been born a Catholic and the influence of my early years remained with me as did the memories of some of the things I had learned back then, including the virgin birth and Mary's perpetual virginity. What was this, then, about Jesus having brothers?

My confusion increased as I found more refences to the "brothers" of Jesus is the gospels of Mark and John (Mark 6:3, John 7:5) and also in the Book of Acts (Acts 1:14), and my first reaction was that the Church had fed everybody with a lot of fiction about Mary.

But then I thought a little more about it and I wondered how the Church could have possibly fooled millions of people for 2,000 years. Surely there would have been at least a few intelligent men through the years who would have questioned this. The Church must have its reasons to claim what they did.

I figured it might be wise to find out what theose reasons were and what I discovered quite astonished me. In the original text of the Gospel, we find the Greek word adelphos, meaning "brother," used. However, adelphos does not just mean blood brothers born of the same parents, but used to describe a variety of relationships including half-brothers, step-brothers, cousins and even uncles!

While this did not prove that Jesus didn't have brothers, it certainly threw the door wide open for more questions. Like: Why wasn't there any reference to Jesus's brothers in Luke 2:41-42 when Jesus was lost at the temple? Surely, if there was any place where they would have been mentioned it was here. But this was still not very conclusive. I dug deeper and discovered a lot of other things indicating that Jesus may not have brothers, but what sealed it for me was John's narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)

If Jesus had brothers, he would have left his mother with them, not with John, regardless of how favored a disciple he was. Besides, if they existed, they would have been there while Jesus was being crucified, wouldn't they?

Now that I realized the Church was not as manipulative as I had briefly imagined, I began to look to it for answers to the more difficult questions that I had, not surprised any more than not only did they have them, but in almost every single instance they were very rational, very logical, and very Scriptural!

Take this for an example. After reading the New Testament, I began reading the Old Testament and I had a lot of questions crop up in my mind as I read the book of Genesis. One of them was this: Adam and Eve had a number of children including Cain, Abel and Seth (cf. Genesis 4:1-2; 5:3-4). For these children to have reproduced, they would have had to marry each other. Is this what happened? Might there be another explanation? I thought I got the answer one evening when a preacher I was listening to suggested that after God created Adam and Eve, he may have created other people around the world. It seemed a reasonable explanation that would also account for the different races we find on the earth. There was also nothing in Genesis to contradict this viewpoint, but I decided to check what the Church taught on the subject. A little digging uncovered this from Pope Pius XII's encyclical Humani Generis:

... the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own (HG37).

And what did Scripture (the "sources of revealed truth" mentioned above) have to say? I took encouragement from Luke's words in Acts 17:11 where he said that "the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" to verify what the Holy Father said. Here is what is in the Bible:

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. (Acts 17:26)
 
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— (Romans 5:12)
 
Wow! Theories may be interesting, but they need not necessarily be the truth!

The Church also had guidelines to interpreting Scripture that I found remarkably useful and this article hopes to pass on some of what I learnt. Although it cannot possibly be as comprehensive as I might like it to be, I hope the few pointers I share will help you in your own study of Scripture. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) offers some sterling advice in paragraphs 112-114..

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.

1. Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover (cf. Luke 24:25-27, 44-46).

2. Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church". According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church").

3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith. By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation (cf. Romans 12:6).

The Senses of Scripture

The CCC also suggests we take into account the two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual. The spiritual sense is further divided into the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses. Don't let the words throw you; it's all simpler than you may think and a few examples will make it all clear. But let me first quote the definitions from the CCC itself.

The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal." (Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text).

The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

- The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.

- The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".

- The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.

As I said before, this may sound intimidating, but it isn't really. A couple of illustrations will help us to understand how to interpret Scripture using these four senses.

Next: Interpreting "The Sacrifice of Isaac" and "The Burning Bush"

The Truth Teller

I have a weighing scale in my bathroom that I’ve been deliberately avoiding for the past couple of months because I was sure I wouldn’t like what I saw if I stood on it. On the first of June, I finally did, and although I wasn’t really surprised by what I saw, it still shocked me. The display read 89 kilos, the most I have ever weighed, putting me at least 15 kilos over what my weight should be. It triggered all kinds of bells in my head.

The reason I got on that scale, however, was because of a little note I received from a young girl the previous evening. A Filipino, she is part of one of our communities. Her note said: "Brother Aneel, you need to watch what you eat and look after your health because we need you around for a lot longer." What I read between the lines was this: You’re getting fat! Watch your weight!

I think of this young girl as a Truth Teller.

We all need Truth Tellers to point out things that might be going wrong in our lives, or make us aware of blind spots in them that we can’t see unless they are told to us, or neglecting things that we should be paying more attention to. The Bible has many stories of Truth Tellers, one of the most famous being Nathan who spoke the truth to King David (see 2 Samuel 11-12). Here is the story in brief.

King David was the second king of Israel. He followed Saul to the throne and was a much admired, much respected ruler. He, however, had one weakness: women. Despite the number of wives and concubines he had, his lust was insatiable, and one day, when he spied a woman bathing from his terrace, his desire was stirred again.

He sent a servant to find out about the woman. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” (2 Sam 11:3). Rarely in Scripture, is the geneology of a woman mentioned, and it is highly relevant that in this case, not only is mention made of her father, but also of her husband. The servant, a Truth Teller if anything, was gently pointing out to the king: this girl is somebody’s daughter and somebody’s husband. Think about what you are doing.

Lust is blinding and the king ignored the warning. He sent for Bathsheba and consummated his desire for her. Satisfied, temporarily anyway, he sent her away, believing it to be the end of yet another little adventure, but this was to turn into a misadventure, because the woman became pregnant with his child.

Worried about the reaction of her husband, Uriah, a popular soldier in David’s army, the king immediately became to think of ways to cover up the discovery. Finally, he sent for Uriah, who was currently fighting a war, ostensibly on the excuse of finding out what was happening on the battlefield, and once the conversation was over, he sent the husband home, thinking he would sleep with his wife and believe the baby born was his.

Uriah, however, did not think it was right to go home to his wife when his fellow soldiers were out fighting a war so he went and spent the night in the barracks.

Alarmed, but undaunted that his first Cover Up Plan didn’t work, David sets Plan #2 in motion. He sends for the soldier again, this time plying him with alcohol, believing that drunk, Uriah would go home to his wife. Yet again, however, Uriah showed that he had more morals than this now dissolute king and spent the night in the barracks.

Unnerved, but determined that Uriah should never discover the truth, the king thinks up Plan #3, and what a plan it is. He sends for Uriah once more and this time gives him a letter to take to his army commander Joab. In the letter is written this: “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” (2 Sam 11:15)

Uriah died in battle.

David waited for what he thought was a decent time, then made Bathsheba his wife and now, with everything satisfactorily resolved, undoubtedly believed that life would continue as usual. Fortunately, for him, it didn’t.

I want us to pause here for a moment and look at the state of David’s soul at this moment in time. Anybody who has experienced the passions of lust, knows how self destructive it is. And how consuming it is. I had told a story in an article I had written about lust some time ago of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, but it offers an insight into the all consuming, self-destructive nature of lust. "First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood.

Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night.

So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more—until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!"

Though the Bible doesn’t say so, I’m pretty sure that David had become like this wolf who had tasted frozen blood, with murder, after the initial guilt pangs, only whetting his appetite. He was heading for certain destruction until God decides to send a prophet called Nathan to tell the king some hard truths.

It isn’t an easy job. The king has already murdered once. What was there to stop him murdering again? Nathan decides not to confront the king directly. He tells him a story of two men, one a rich man with a large number of sheet and cattle; the other a poor man with nothing by a small little ewe lamb that he loved like a child. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. One day a traveler came to the rich man. Rather than take an animal from his huge flock to prepare a meal for the traveler, the rich man took the poor man’s ewe and slaughtered it.

David burned with anger and said to Nathan, "The man who did this deserves to die."

Nathan says to David, "You are the man.”

This scene would be a movie director’s delight, I imagine. Two men, frozen, eyes fixed on each other. Both trembling. One out of rage. The other out of fear.

I can almost hear the thoughts running through both men’s minds. David thinking, “How dare you come before your king with a story like that?” Nathan thinking, “Please Lord, let this not end with my death.”

The king’s hand drops to his sword. He thinks, “Okay. So I gotta kill this guy too. Big deal.” And Nathan, “Oh dear, here it comes.”

But then a long pause as memories fill David’s head. Of a shepherd boy being plucked out of obscurity to be anointed as king of Israel. Of slaying a mighty giant with one smooth stone and instantly ending a war. Of dancing in joy before the Ark of the Covenant as he brings it back to Israel. Of the wonderful relationship that he used to have with God.

David's hand drops. Tears roll down his cheeks. He repents. (And Nathan, I imagine, starts breathing again.)

What if God hadn’t sent Nathan to David? I believe this story would have had a totally different ending. David needed a truth teller to understand the evil of what he had done (and was possibly still doing). All of us need a Truth Teller in our lives. Find one in your life today.

And then act upon the truth that you are told.

Ever since I realized that I needed to lose weight, I have started going out for walks again. It was a little problem finding the time for it because I wake up at 5.30 and sleep at 12.30, and other than a short nap in the afternoon, all the time is spent in work, study or prayer. (I could have skipped the nap, but with temperatures reaching 45 degrees at this time of the year, I wouldn’t be able to do much without getting a serious case of sunstroke.) I discovered, however, that if I skipped breakfast and reading the newspaper, with a few other adjustments, I could free up an entire hour in the morning. I use it to walk. And if I persist, I am sure the end of the month would see me leaner and fitter. And my dear Truth Teller can see me around for a few more years :)

Next: Other Truth Tellers in the Bible

The Restoration of Peter

Some time after Jesus rose from the dead, his apostles went fishing again. This wasn't for men, as Jesus had told them to do (Luke 5:10), but for fish. Scripture isn't clear about the reasons Peter and a few of the others did this — whether they wanted to return to their old way of life or were just providing for themselves — but they went fishing and didn't catch a thing!

When morning came, Jesus was by the shore. They didn't recognize him, which might have been understandable the first time he appeared to them, but not so easy to understand now. But never mind. Jesus asked them if they had caught anything. It's not a question fishermen like to hear when their nets are empty and I'm guessing their answer was a brusque, "No".

Jesus told them to cast their nets to the right side and this time they caught a net load. Deja vu. This has happened before (Luke 5:6) and John, comprehending, said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Peter immediately plunged into the water (after putting his clothes on, thankfully) and waded towards Jesus, who already had a fire burning with a few fish roasting on the coals. "Breakfast," he said. (Have you ever eaten fried fish for breakfast?)

After they were done eating, he turned to Peter, and in front of everybody else had a decidedly strange conversation, that impacted Peter thoroughly.

“Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17)
 
The three-fold repetition was a direct reference to Peter's three-fold denial of Jesus, and it is important that we look at some of the events that went down at the time because they are very relevant to these remarks made by Jesus and the transformational impact they had on Peter.
 
Soon after the Last Supper (Luke 22:7-30), Jesus singled Peter out and said to him, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
 
Jesus knows that Peter is going to betray him, but rather than pray that the apostle remain firm and courageous in the midst of strife, he prays instead that "his faith may not fail". Faith in what? And then Jesus goes on to tell Peter that after he has turned back, to strengthen his brothers.
 
Peter is either being dense, or not paying attention, because he says: “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:33-34).

That's exactly what happens. Jesus is arrested and beaten and seeing what is happening to his master throws Peter into a funk. He tries to hide in the crowd, but is recognized. He is challenged three times and all three times he denies knowing Jesus. Scripture describes what happens next, "The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter" (Luke 22:61)

I shudder to think of what went through Peter's mind when he looked into Jesus's eyes. Jesus's words to him must have flashed before his mind. His own brash reply. His betrayal. Utterly broken, he went out and wept bitterly. But through his tears of frustration, guilt, shame, agony and the million other feelings that went through his mind, feelings that must have made him want to die just like Judas had, one thought kept recurring to him: that Jesus still loved him.

This was the faith that Jesus prayed for Peter and it was a prayer that was answered. And now, with Jesus resurrected, it was time to help him understand what he needed to do with that faith: share the love that Jesus had for his brothers and sisters and strengthen them in turn.

We all fail. Repeatedly. Guilt often tortures us. Frustration makes many of us quit. But we need to remember what Peter remembered. That Jesus still loves us and is waiting to restore us. The only thing required is to go to him and confess our love for him.

It might help us to remember that not once did Jesus ask Peter if he was sorry. He didn't ask for any explanations. He didn't make him promise that he wouldn't do it again. He merely asked Peter if he loved him. That was all Jesus really wanted from Peter.

It is all he really wants from us.

But merely admitting that we love him isn't the end of the story. We need to serve him. And the best way is to tend the sheep that Jesus has left behind in the world. To care about them. To care for them. To love them.

A few additional notes before I conclude. It may help us to make note of some of the mistakes that Peter made that may have led to his betrayal of his Lord, so that we, in turn, can prevent making them ourselves.

One, he was overconfident. Overconfidence is always a result of pride. He might have very well intended to follow Jesus to jail and to death, but he didn't take into account his weakness.

Two, he wasn't in prayer. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked him to pray but sleep took precedence over prayer. Without the support of God through prayer we operate in our own strength.

Three, he didn't have Paul around to tell him that his struggle was not against flesh and blood but against forces in the heavenly realms (cf. Ephesias 6:12). A big mistake.

Four, he wasn't close to Jesus. In Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ we see Peter following Jesus from afar, almost as an observer. We need to be in Jesus and have him in us.

Five, when trying to hide, he chose the wrong company to hide with. If he had been with his fellow apostles, even though they too ran for their lives in the face of danger, he might have had a little support.