Stepping in the Light

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” Job 1:8

Satan is our enemy. He is called “the accuser of the brethren” in Revelation 12:10. I Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Here in the book of Job, when God asked Satan where he had been, he said that he had been going to and fro in the earth. If Satan is constantly looking for things to accuse people of before God, it is important to recognize the fact that God brought Job up to Satan as an example of someone he should take note of. There really is a spiritual battle that has been going on since the beginning of time. We are the focus of this great conflict between good and evil. Of course, we understand from scripture that God is going to win the war in the end, but in the meantime, He gives us the opportunity to fight for the cause of righteousness on a personal level. Day by day and moment by moment, God is watching us to see whether we will obey Him or live for ourselves. Satan wants to discourage us and ultimately defeat us. He did everything he could to cause Job to turn against God in his heart, but Job remained faithful to God. The Bible does not give us a great deal of detail, but we know that this spiritual struggle is still going on. Could God use you as an example of someone who is upright? Can He count on you to please Him?

“And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.” Acts 7:2-5

Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemous things and trying to change the customs and religious practices of the Jewish people. As he appeared before the council and asked him about these very serious charges which were leveled against him, he answered by reciting a brief summary of the history of the nation of Israel and God’s dealings with His people. He showed them that the nation began with one man, Abraham, when God promised to make a great nation of him and give him a land for a possession. Stephen displayed clear understanding of scripture as he spoke before the council and declared that the Israelites had repeatedly rejected the leaders and prophets that God had sent to them. Stephen’s knowledge of the Word of God and his proper use and interpretation of scripture is an excellent example for believers today. “Be ready always to give an answer to every man” (I Peter 3:15).

“So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.” Esther 6:6-10

As Haman was coming to ask the king for permission to hang Mordecai, the king had just heard about how Mordecai had saved his life and that nothing had been done to thank or honor him. The king saw Haman and asked him what would be the best way to honor someone. In his pride, Haman assumed that the king was going to honor him, so he suggested the most royal treatment that he could imagine. How embarrassed he must have been when the king directed him to personally do all of those things for the man he wanted to kill.

“In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name. And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.” Esther 2:21-23

Mordecai was a Jew who was living in captivity. Because they were strangers in a foreign land, the Jews were subject to the oppression of the Medes, Persians, and Chaldeans who had held them captive for many years. Mordecai had risen to a position of relative prominence for a person of his heritage. He sat in the king’s gate, which would have been a place where important business was transacted and matters of lesser importance were judged. It was because of his position there that Mordecai overheard two of the king’s chamberlains plotting against the king’s life. Mordecai reported what he had heard to Esther the queen (whom he had raised as his own daughter), and she sent a message of warning to the king in Mordecai’s name. God later used the record of Mordecai’s loyal and courageous act in part to spare Mordecai’s life, advance his career, and save the Jews from the ethnic cleansing that was set in motion by wicked Haman. God wants to use every one of our right actions to accomplish His purpose.

“And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:29-31

You can learn a lot about a person by listening to them pray. Peter and John were arrested and interrogated by the council of Jewish religious leaders. The men in the council wanted to punish them, but they were hesitant to do so because of the lame man that had been healed. So they threatened Peter and John and commanded them not to preach any more in the name of Jesus. After they were released, Peter and John met with the other disciples and held a prayer meeting. Their primary request was that God would give them boldness to continue preaching the Gospel. They were charting new territory. This was the first persecution the church experienced after Jesus ascended to heaven. In our society, our first response when we experience persecution is to fight back. We want to write letters, send emails, lobby our representatives, organize protests, and even take legal action. While these means may be warranted in some cases, when they are our first response, they reflect a great deal of difference between our thinking and theirs. They prayed for boldness and perhaps we should, too.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13 

When the priests and the Sadducees heard Peter and John preaching at the temple about how Jesus had risen from the dead, they arrested them and threw them in jail. The next day, after all of the religious leaders were gathered together, they brought out Peter and John and began to question them about what had happened to the lame man and what they had been preaching about Jesus the day before. The religious leaders did not know Peter and John, but there were several things about these two men that stood out to them. They judged them to be simple and uneducated men. This does not mean that Peter and John were illiterate, but rather that they had not had what we would consider to be university training. But after seeing what they had done and hearing their answers to the council, it was obvious that they had been with Jesus. They had studied Jesus for over three years. They knew that His words, His actions, and His attitudes were unique. No other teacher taught as Jesus did. After hearing Peter and John speak, it was obvious to them that Peter and John knew Jesus better than they did. They could see that Jesus’ teachings had shaped their thinking, their values, and their approach to life. The Lord wants to have the same kind of impact on our lives today. As we spend time in His Word, people will begin to see that we have been with Him.

“Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.” Acts 3:6-10

The people who came to the temple on a regular basis were accustomed to seeing this lame man at the gate asking for financial assistance. He had never been able to walk and had no other means of supporting himself than begging for the help of others. Imagine their surprise to see this man walking around the temple grounds, jumping up and down, and praising God that he had been healed. They certainly recognized this man, and they were amazed to see such a difference in him. They wanted to know what had happened and why. When Peter began to explain, they were eager to listen, and thousands of them were saved. The effectiveness of the testimony of a changed life is not limited to the miracle of physical healing. When people see an obvious, positive change in the life of someone that they know who has professed faith in Christ, they are drawn to the Saviour because of that person’s testimony.

“So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.” Nehemiah 4:6

Without modern machinery and construction materials, rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem was an enormous task. Nehemiah had a relatively small group of people, a work area strewn with debris, and a constant stream of resistance from outsiders; but he and his helpers somehow completed the wall encircling the city in just 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). At the halfway point in the project, Nehemiah wrote about what may have been the ingredient that enabled them to accomplish such a great feat in such a short span of time. The people had a mind to work. They were not only willing to work, but they also wanted to be involved. What was their motivation? It seems that they would have been interested in enhancing their own personal safety and the security of their community. With a wall around Jerusalem, they would feel much better about building the homes they needed for shelter and planting the crops that would provide sustenance for their families. Perhaps they hoped that the wall would bring financial strength because of increased trade with people from the surrounding area. There was certainly a spiritual significance to their work because Jerusalem was the place where people came to worship God at the temple. Nehemiah and his followers had a unique opportunity to accomplish something great for God, and they were successful because they had a mind to work.

“And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.” Ezra 9:5-8

The people had broken God’s law, and Ezra was deeply moved when he heard about it. When he began to pray and confess the sin of the people, he included himself in asking for God’s forgiveness. Ezra was taking responsibility upon himself for the failures of his fellow countrymen. His attitude was not one of piousness or self-righteousness. He genuinely wept before God and asked for God’s forgiveness. Ezra’s prayer sparked a revival of obedience among his people.

As Christians, we understand that God wants everyone to obey Him. When the people around us fail to follow the Lord, do we point our fingers in blame or do we go to God in prayer?

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:24-25

We know him as doubting Thomas, but Thomas was depending on his skills of observation and reasoning. What the other disciples were telling Thomas didn’t make sense to him. He thought it was much more probable that the other disciples had seen some sort of vision or were trying to trick him. Thomas declared that he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw and felt Jesus’ wounds for himself. Thomas was with the other disciples eight days later when Jesus appeared to them, and Jesus invited Thomas to see and touch His wounds. Jesus said to Thomas, “Be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered Him, “My Lord, and my God.” Jesus said to Thomas, “Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” While none of us have ever had the opportunity to see Jesus in person, He still wants us to believe in Him. Jesus implied here that it requires greater faith to believe in Him without having seen Him, and He pronounced a special blessing on those who would believe without seeing. Are you depending on your skills of observation and reasoning when it comes to spiritual things? It is better to believe without seeing.