Faith or Presumption?

There is a real difference between faith and presumption. But if it was really easy to tell the difference, a lot fewer people would make the common mistake of thinking that they are acting by faith when instead they are acting in presumption.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan to throw himself off the temple, the devil used scripture to make his point. It was certainly true that if Jesus fell off that pinnacle, the angels of God would lift him up so he wouldn’t have been hurt. But Jesus’ response was that scripture says that we are not to tempt the Lord,  even by our use of scripture. What did Jesus mean by this?

 

Just because God promised protection doesn’t give us the right to go and recklessly put ourselves in harm’s way, forcing God to back up his promise. What kind of relationship with God would that be? One of us loving God? Or one of arrogance, trying to force God’s hand?

 

There is a verse at the end of Mark that reads, Mark 16:17-18 (ESV) “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” I want to focus in on the part that reads “they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them”.

 

There have been groups of Christians, because of these verses, who have had poisonous snakes and poison in their worship services. They say something like, the Bible says it, I believe it, and it’s so. Yes, it’s so, but like Satan’s temptation of Jesus, just because it is scripture doesn’t give us the freedom to try to bully God. That would be acting presumptuously. The intent of that verse is fulfilled in situations like the one Paul found himself in in Acts 28:2-6. There Paul was putting some wood on a fire and a poisonous viper bit him on the hand. The locals thought he would die, but nothing happened. So they wondered, who could Paul be? Thus Paul was able to preach the gospel to them.

 

These promises of protection - like Psalms 91:3 (ESV) “For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence” - are there to encourage us in times like today. But to act presumptuously would be unwise. For the scripture also says, ”The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3 (ESV) Proverbs 27:12 says the same thing.

 

So let’s act in faith, trusting God for our safety and deliverance, not being fearful or panicky. This honors God. So does acting prudently in the face of danger, danger like the COVID-19 virus.

Anger

 If you watch the news, listen to your friends (or former friends!), wander around Facebook, or any social media, something is bound to give you an opportunity to be angry. Seems as if our entire social environment is purposely feeding people’s anger, flaming it into a bonfire of rage. It doesn’t matter whether you are Indigenous or non-native, democrat, independent, or republican, white or black, there’s plenty of real things happening to get the heat to rise.

 

So, what do we do with all this anger? Years ago I had severe lower back pain. The doctors could find no physical cause that would produce the level of pain I experienced. After a while, I discovered I was very angry, yet I wouldn’t admit this to myself. Why? Because I was angry with God. How could I, as a Christian, justify my being angry with God? I couldn’t, so I sublimated my anger. I hid it from myself, yet the physical effects still happened. My lower back tightened, causing real pain. Eventually I found, by admitting to myself that I was angry with God, that my pain went away. It wasn’t the anger in itself that caused my pain, it was the denial of my anger that did that deed.

 

The Bible has a lot to say about anger. Two verses come immediately to mind. One is Ephesians 4:26-27 (NIV) - “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Another is James 1:19-20 (NIV) - My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

 

Additionally, the Psalms often are concerned with anger, and much of it is about God’s anger. In the Psalms, God’s anger with evil and wicked people is explored in depth. Yet with God, anger is not about being offended or wanting to retaliate, but about justice. When God acts on his anger, justice is carried out.

 

Our anger does not make God nervous. Nor does it surprise him or cause him to reject us. We don’t need to hide our anger from God. God’s way of dealing with His anger was the cross. Jesus, God incarnate, took upon himself on the cross all the evil humanity has done. Jesus gave his life to forgive all those who angered him. So when we pray, expressing our anger to God, God has the opportunity to help us see things the way he does.

 

When the writers of the Psalms are angry, they turn to God for justice. To leave God out of the equation when we are angry is to experience anger with no hope for justice. This kind of anger progresses to bitterness, hopelessness, and violence. When you are angry, communicate to God about it in prayer. Then wait for God to help you see how to respond out of concern for the people who angered you, instead of getting revenge.