Life Under Construction

Not only does one need to know the meaning of various ancient words, one must also know the cultures and the circumstances of the readers in which the words were intended for! Even though history is often a hypothetical, imaginative reconstruction of events based on probabilities; modern advances in lexicography and archaeology allow the modern interpreter access to ancient worldviews, geographic, economic, political, social patterns of behavior and religious practices that influenced the perceptive and mindset of both the author and reader as they interacted with the text. If Job is considered the oldest book of the Bible then one would have to know the various cultures of each book of the Bible for a time period of about 7,000 years! Wow, it is no wonder so many Christians find understanding God’s instruction manual to be a momentous task!

The good news is that to help us understand the various linguistic and cultural differences we have the ultimate guide living inside of us … the Holy Spirit. Through the outpouring of the Spirit by Jesus that Scripture was formed as the “divinely inspired linguistic medium” of God’s revelation. It is only through the illumination, admonition and consolation of the Spirit that the we are led into all truth. The Spirit who inspired the words of Scripture and knows the mind of God because He is God (1 Corinthians 2:11-13), is more than able to translate Scripture into words that we can understand regardless of our intellectual capabilities. This of course, does not absolve us from our responsibility to meditate on God’s word day and night (Psalms 1:2). As we allow His word to interfere/guide our personal decision making, we are to have faith that His way not only leads to living a holy life but also one that can stand with unspeakable joy in the face of the harshest of life’s tribulations.

SEEKING ADVICE

After having thrown out the instruction manual I then proceeded to seek advice on how to build the shelf from a trusted source. You think building a shelf can be complicated, what about making the right choices in life? While God has given us the right to do anything that we want, Apostle Paul states there are many choices that are neither beneficial or constructive (1 Corinthians 10:23-24). While most would accept this statement as being fundamentally true, being near to so many different cultures makes it difficult to know which choice is the right one! So, we ask advice from others. Unfortunately, the advice we seek often comes from the wicked, sinners and mockers of this world (Psalms 1:1). Does not the Bible clearly teach that the world’s wisdom is foolishness in God’s sight (1 Corinthians 3:19)? Remember the show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Seeking the advice from the world is like calling a friend only to find out they don’t have the right answer! And if we are not satisfied with worldly advice then, like I did in the skit, we simply make life choices on our own; as if we know better than God how to find unspeakable joy!