Promises Bring Trials. Or Do They?

It’s a commonly held belief, and one that isn’t spoken out loud all that often:

“People that get awesome prophecies get the worst trials!”

I think of the apostle Peter, back in the day. He’d just received a heckuva prophetic word: "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. [Matthew 16:18] Dang. That’s a pretty big promise.

And not long after that, Jesus warns him of his impending failure: “And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."” [Luke 22:31-34]

I was reflecting on this story recently, particularly in the context of “Lead us not into temptation” [Matthew 6:16, Luke 11:4], and I realized that there are three parts to this conversation.  
 
Part 1: Jesus warns Peter of the upcoming trial. There is no failure discussed yet, though recovery is.

Part 2: Peter boasts that he can take anything, that he won’t actually fail.

Part 3: Jesus warns Peter of his impending failure.

It seems to me that Peter didn’t take Jesus’ warning all that seriously. I’m embarrassed that I recognize Peter’s hubris.

It seems to me that inherent in Jesus’ warning is an invitation. “I’ve prayed for you. You probably need to pray about this as well.” He emphasized this a little later, when he told the boys, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [Matthew 26:41]

I probably need to note at this point: I have a strong belief that when God gives a warning prophetically, he’s very seldom saying, “This is inevitable, brace yourself.” Since his goal is our maturity in him, I figure that a prophetic warning, like what Jesus said to Pete here, is more along the lines of, “This is what’s coming down the track; you can face it, or you can change what happens to that track.”

I believe that Peter was not destined to fail, until he responded in the flesh a couple of times:

First, he boasted that he could take it. Then he slept instead of watching and praying. And because of that, he tried to stand on his own strength when faced with the reality of the unexpected trial [Matthew 26:69f]

And as a result, he did fail [Matthew 26:75]. And then in his grief and shame, he gave up and went back to his old life (of fishing), from before Jesus had called him [John 21:3]

Fortunately, Jesus followed up, fulfilling the “when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” part of the prophecy [around the campfire in John 21].

The place that my meditation has taken me is this: I think I don’t accept the curse (and yeah, it kind of works like a curse) that says that any time I get a good prophecy, a good promise, that I therefore need to go through hell, that I must be thoroughly (and painfully) tested.

In place of that, I want to substitute the truth that I need to stay snuggled up with Jesus, I need to stay up-to-date in my intimate communion with him, I need to stay humble.

Maybe I’ll get sifted by hell. More likely I have the option to short-cut that trial by staying plugged in with my King. But in the end, I need to stay with him, rather than stand on my own in the face of the trial, rather than run off to the old life when I do fail.

Stay close to Jesus. That seems like pretty good advice for pretty much all the time.

Balaam’s Presumption

I’ve been reflecting on Baalam son of Beor recently (Numbers 22 – 24, I believe).

Balaam was known as a prophet whose words carried power (“...For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”).

A local king (Balak, king of Moab) saw the horde of people on their way from Egypt, heading to the Promised Land, and he was afraid for his life. He had reason to be. This mob of former slaves had just wiped out the neighboring kingdom (21:25).

So he decides to hire the local prophet, and here is where things get interesting. This is what stuck out to me this morning:

• Balak tries to hire Balaam to curse the invading army (22:6). Balaam answers, “I’ll check with God.” (22:8)

• God tells Balaam “Do not go with them.” Balaam tells the recruiters, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” (22:13)

So far so good.

• But Balak is determined. He offers more cash, more status. Balaam knows God has already said no. That should have been the end of it. But he goes back to check with God again.

It occurs to me that an awful lot of prophets I know (NOT all of them!) have some measure of insecurity in them, and with reason. People who speak for God are not often welcome into polite society: prophets encounter rejection more than some folks. This seems to be a tender spot for Balaam.

• And this is where things go haywire. God defers to Balaam’s free will, lets him go with them, but says, “...but do only what I tell you.”

• Balaam saddles up his donkey and heads to Moab with the royal recruiters.

• And along the way, an angel tries to kill him three times. His talking donkey saved his life. (22:28) 

Interpreting this Old Covenant story through the newer, more complete revelation (Hebrews 1:3), it’s clear that it’s not God trying to kill the rebellious prophet. I suspect that rather his rebellion against God’s clear instruction (22:13) gave fallen angels (or demons) the right to go after him. A digression.

That’s what sin does, of course: it gives hell permission to beat on us. God says, “Be holy” for a reason. (Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2, & 1Peter 1:16) (Fortunately, his command to be holy also releases his power for us to choose holiness successfully.)

I come away from this thinking that free will really is a big deal. Our free will is so powerful, it will let us defy the will of God. Of course, there are some formidable consequences to that choice, but it is still a choice.

It’s not that hard to talk yourself into doing what God said not to do. And God will let us do it. There have been times that I’ve asked him not to, but free will seems to be a big deal to him: he generally insists that we make our own choices.

Note that in the end, Balaam did attempt to curse Israel, but God turned it into a blessing (Deuteronomy 23:5), but he ended badly (2Peter 2:15 & Revelation 2:14).

I don’t want to be like Balaam. His words carried power. His prophecies all came to pass. But he was damned fool about it: he disappointed God and nearly got killed by an angel. (But he got to hear a donkey talk! That’s kind of cool. An ass talking to an ass, I guess.)