Joab's Fire, Chapter 17 - We Can't Change God

I have been delinquent in posting our Bible study notes for over a month, and I hope you can forgive me. With the Christmas season now past, I will be getting back on my feet.

So let's pick up where we left off, Joab's Fire chapter 17.

We are not so great that we can change God. However, God is so great that He can change us.

1. Have you ever closely examined your motivations for serving God? Consider Malachi 1:6-7:

A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.

Hoo. Note, they did not ask about whether the bread was polluted, rather they asked how did they had polluted God.

The priests were to offer the bread of God (see Leviticus 21-22). Catch the significance of this. Jesus is the bread of life. They knew what God was saying. The physical bread wasn't the issue. What they thought, their attitude toward serving God, was. "In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible."

In the following verses of Malachi 1, God lays out how they have fallen short of the service to which they were called. They had offered imperfect sacrifices.

2. In what ways can we offer polluted and imperfect worship and service to God?

• impure or selfish motivations
• pride
• complaining about how things are done
• questioning authority

We can be complex creatures having multiple motivations for what we do, sometimes deceiving ourselves into believing we are serving for the right reason. Sometimes we serve God in order to receive an answer to our prayers. We start attending church more faithfully, start reading our Bible, start praying more frequently. These are good things, but we can't change God. We aren't to bargain with Him.

However, God can change us. He can strip away the wrong desires: the pride, the selfishness, and so on. And if we are willing, He can help us love Him more, thereby changing us to become rightly motivated to serve Him.

NOTE: Serving Him boils down to pleasing Him and giving Him glory. It's not about how many souls we lead to the LORD--that's the Holy Spirit's work. It's not about tasks performed and accomplished. IT IS about simply loving Him enough to sacrifice everything for Him. Even our deepest desires.

3. Can 0ur motivations ever be 100% pure and holy? When we recognize that we are easily deceived and tempted, we can humble ourselves before God.

In James 4, James tells us how imperfect motivations come from the lusts that war within us. Consider verse 6:

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Notice He doesn't respond to his accusation of our being ruled by lusts with a number of laws. Rather, He wants us to submit to Him, our Holy Father. Let's look at verses 7-10:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The list God does give us:

• Resist the devil
• Draw near to God
• Cleanse our hands
• Purify our hearts
• Sorrow over our sin
• Humble ourselves

Then God will lift you up.

Let's look at David. He's been confronted by the prophet Nathan about his sin with Bathesheba.

Psalm 51:4 shows us how he submits to God.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Psalm 51:11 shows us how he desires to draw near to God.

Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

David saw God remove His spirit from King Saul. No doubt, he's considering what happened to the former king.

We see David desiring to be cleaned and purified in Psalm 51: 2, 7 and 10 (take your Bible and look them up). We know that he sorrowed over his sin (verses 1 and 17). And this psalm reveals to us his humbled state. Oh, that we would learn to do the same.

In Job 1:5, we see Job's reason for sacrificing for his sons.

It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.

Interesting to note that Job's wife told him to curse God and die, yet Job saw the importance of offering sacrifices to cover their sins. He knew their relationship with God could be restored even if they sinned.

We see no indication God despised Job's offerings. In fact, God sees him as a perfect and upright man.

However, Job himself expressed his fear in Job 3:26, thereby revealing a crack in his faith. A crack that needed to be restored.

There is nothing wrong with performing good deeds. We must do these.

However, we must also be careful not to put trust in our good deeds as a way to keep from experiencing trouble, as though by our works we can make God bless us and keep us from harm.

Our reaction to trouble, whether a result of our own sin or an attack of Satan, reveals to the world the depth of our faith. In the eyes of the world, our reaction is a reflection of God--distorted or otherwise.

If trouble comes from our sin, then our humility, shown by our willingness to accept the consequences, and a fervent repentance shown by our passion now turned to pleasing God through our worship and love for Him will cause some to consider how great our God is.

If trouble comes by some other way (an attack of Satan on our lives, perhaps) then our humble acceptance and faith in God's presence in our lives will cause some to be in awe of God--especially if we give Him glory for any good, and continue with a heart of gratitude and thankfulness.

While God does bless those who walk with Him, those who seek to live a righteous life before Him, we mustn't presume that God owes us those blessings just because we perform certain rituals or work good deeds. Then we are treating Him like a good luck charm.

No, we shouldn't try to bargain with God. We can't change God by our good deeds, but God can change us.