Context, my friend, Context

Many people say that I am an expert at raining on their parades, that I am a person who never has anything positive to say to the church because I am always bashing the positive and motivational preachers.

Well, I choose not to defend myself. I will only ask one question to those who think like that. Are the questions I ask Biblical? Are the questions I ask supported by scripture?

You see the scriptures are not evidence we dig up to support whatever we want to teach. They are everything we need to live by. Our knowledge of scripture should guide us on how we need to live our lives. Incidentally that is the main difference between the Bible and the Koran.

Joshua 1: 8 says that the scriptures should be continually flowing out of our mouths. Deuteronomy 6 talks about the same scriptures being so prominent that it is evident to all that our lives are bathed in them. And it is impossible for that to be if it is a verse here and a portion of a verse there that we have mastered.

2 Timothy 3: 16, 17 does not say that portions of scripture are inspired, especially those we absolutely love. It says ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired and is useful to TEACH, REPROOF (rebuke), CORRECT, and TRAIN IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, that the man of God is thoroughly prepared for every good work.

And that is why I want today to focus on some of the most abused promises in the scriptures. And they are abused because they are made to stand on their own instead of resting on their Biblical context. Of course I have dealt with some at one time or the other so I will look at a few.

Touch not my anointed

This is a verse most preachers use to divert attention from their wrong doing and even sin and abuse of that anointing if it is there at all. Yet do you know that the context is Israel? Do you know that it originates from Abraham being protected from two heathen kings in regard to his wife when he said she was his sister? In fact the previous verse says that He (God) reproved kings for their sake. The Biblical context therefore may easily apply the strong (say a pastor or bishop) trying to bash someone sold out to following the call of God than on the strong being protected from a spiritually valid rebuke.

Yet I do not want you to forget for one minute that the promise is as valid now as it was then. From accidents to insecurity, God’s servants enjoy that promise. I remember one time I was accosted by three gun toting robbers whose intent was not in doubt. As I was taking out my cellphone to give them they took off like maniacs, yet I was all alone and there was nobody anywhere around and it was at night.

No weapon fashioned against me shall prevail

Again what one needs to get the context is the complete reading of that single verse. It is not your confession that blunts the weapons fashioned against you. In fact it does not even talk of us dealing with the weapons. That is simply a product of our lives. It is simply a heritage (inheritance) of the servants of the Lord. It therefore means I have no responsibility quoting that verse for myself if I am not serving God on His terms.

God shall meet all my needs

Again the background is a generous church; a church that had stood with Paul, supporting his ministry. It is completely out of context when applied to someone who thinks to bribe God with the tithe or whatever else the ‘servant of God’ advices. That verse applies to someone who is completely reliant on God and not his wealth (even salary). They therefore are not afraid to give way beyond comfort out of love for God and appreciation of His ministry. It applies to Barnabas who sold his land and went to preach and definitely does not apply to the rich young ruler who was too investment conscious to follow Christ on His terms. It applies when your faith giving dents your security because God has led you there. It is giving in obedience to the leading of God. It is a budget that is run by the King of kings.

All things work together for good

Again this is not a blank check. Continuing with the passage to the end of the chapter will give a clear context. If we were more conscious of the scripture we will find it relating more with John 16: 33 and 2 Corinthians 12.

I can do all things through Christ

Again this clearly talks about learning to adapt to whatever condition God placed in our hands as we serve Him. It is a fallacy to make it mean that God exists to make us supermen.

The purpose of this post is to show us that God has given us promises. But the clear fact is that the Bible is not a promise supermarket (mall) where we choose the promise to purchase. With most of them a simple plain reading of the whole verse gets us the context (conditions) that validate the promise

God’s promises are simply consequences of our walk of obedience or otherwise. The other side of a blessing or promise is a curse – and of course we know that nobody willfully chooses a curse. We might be attracting curses even as we claim promises from God because we are not interested to walk in the bounds of that promise. Claiming Deuteronomy 28 and overlooking verse 1 automatically gets us to the second part of the chapter.

And that is how I am accused of raining on peoples promises because I say that a life devoid of obedience will never attract a blessing. Serving God on your terms is a clear call for a curse. Ask Eli’s sons.