Channels of water

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever he wishes. (Proverbs 21:1, NASB)

Have you ever gotten frustrated at the brick wall? You know, the brick wall. The seemingly unbreakable tide of public opinion that goes against what's right. 

Racism.

Sexual permissiveness.

Materialism.

Approval of all lifestyles as equally valid.

Double standards.

Abortion.

It seems that the momentum is squarely in the court of evil these days. We lambast those who have sinned and turned to Jesus for redemption and a new start, while praising those who have the "courage" to set their own standards for happiness. We shout down anyone who expresses that there is an objective standard of truth...all in the name of tolerance. Which ironically is not very tolerant.

So should we fight these battles on Facebook? Twitter? Should we try to outnumber those whom we see are having strayed from the path? Is the answer in the court of public opinion? Or even in court?

That's where the Scripture at the top of this post comes into play. In his book A Hunger for God, John Piper talks about standing up for the little ones who have no voice. His particular issue is abortion, but it could be one of many other current hot buttons. So in the book, is he hanging his hopes on our ability to argue? Our ability to change things by voting for the right politicians? 

No. It's all about prayer. Prayer and fasting. The fact is, we serve a sovereign God. He is there only one who can turn the hearts of our leaders. Proverbs 21:1 says he does just that. He has done it before (read the book of Ezra and note what it says about kings Cyrus (1.1), Darius (6:22), and Artaxerxes (7:27)), and he will do it again. We can't change our culture, but God can. Here is how Piper put it:

I appeal to you to seek the Lord with me concerning the place of fasting and prayer in breaking through the darkened mind that engulfs the modern world...This is not a call for a collective tantrum that screams at the bad people, "Give me back my country." It is a call to aliens and exiles in the earth, whose citizenship is in heaven and who await the appearance of their King, to "do business" until he comes. And the great business of the Christian is to "do all to the glory of God," and to pray that God's name be hallowed and his kingdom come and his will be done on earth.

Prayer. Appealing to God to change hearts. For him to direct the "channels of water." This is our hope. Let's get to it. 

The mark of evil

You, LORD, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked,

who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.

- Psalm 12:7-8

I came across this verse in my reading Sunday. It falls at the end of a Psalm where the writer is praying about his frustration with the wickedness he sees around him. What struck me about the verse was this:

It is call for YHWH to protect the needy. Like so much of the Scriptures, it emphasizes the importance of being on the side of the poor and the oppressed, while calling on God to protect them. But then, who do they need the protection from?

The wicked. And who are the wicked?

According to this passage and others like Romans 1:32, the wicked are those who honor what is vile. The mark of wickedness is a lack of understanding of what is good and what is evil. When a person or world system gets mixed up and can't recognize the difference, that's when there's real trouble.

There are so many issues today where God's standard for good and evil is being replaced by the logic of man. When it comes to those things, I think Psalm 12 would give us this warning: Be absolutely sure that you are not honoring what is vile. That you are not calling evil good and vice versa.

Feed the poor. Proclaim the good news to the lost. Love the unloveable. Love your enemy. These are all marks of good.

But…

Ignore the fact that the lost have something to be rescued from. Ignore that repentance is necessary. Treat all points of view as equally valid. I would be careful there. Because the mark of evil - honoring wheat is vile - is lurking.

Prisoners

[Note: When you are done reading this post, please click here to read an addendum. Thanks!]

Last week I went with a friend to see the movie Prisoners. It's a very intense movie and not exactly family fare. But a couple of things stood out that were worth sharing in this space.

For those of you who are not familiar, here is a brief plot summary:

When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?

The first thing that was striking, really disturbing, was watching the lengths to which Keller (played by Hugh Jackman) would go. I think we can understand it, and those of us with children certainly can, But as I watched the evolution of the character from a grieving father to someone who was so desperate that  nothing - and nobody - else mattered, I could see what evil does to us if we let it. The forces against which Keller Dover was fighting were as dark as they come. But evil is insidious - it wins by transforming us into itself even as we fight it.

As I watched, I was reminded of Mr. Jackman's most recent acting effort, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.  In that performance, he played a character where the opposite happened. Valjean encountered an ultimate display of grace and forgiveness shortly after being released from prison, and it changed his life. The two films released in less than a year gave Jackman a chance to show both sides of the coin - how giving in to grace or to evil can determine your path.

There was a scene about halfway through the movie that pretty much defined the theme. A priest who had encountered a notorious child murderer quoted the murderer as uttering this phrase: "I'm waging a war against God." And he was. Not just by doing evil things, but by doing things that would cause people to question God's goodness and to respond with hate. This is how evil has always waged war on God. How do we beat it? Not by responding in kind, but by putting into practice the words of Romans 12:21 (Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.)

Prisoners. The movie title referred to the children. And to the alleged perpetrator that Keller tortured. But it also, I believe referred to Keller and to all of us who allow allow evil to capture us in its web. What do I allow to imprison me?

Man of Steel

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

I have always loved the Superman myth. When I was six, my mother used to have to beg me to take off the Superman suit she got me for my birthday. I think she was scared I would jump off a roof and try to fly. Yep, I've always loved Superman.

And so I was excited to see that another Superman movie was coming out. The connection to the Dark Knight series through Christopher Nolan was encouraging. I liked the idea.

And I was not disappointed. I found it to be a movie that was exciting, fast-paced, and full of themes that made me think. Much like the Dark Knight series.

What themes? Purpose. Destiny. Power. Love. Sacrifice. Heroism. And many more.

There has been talk that Superman was a representation of Jesus and his mission, a representation of the gospel. In fact, this idea was unashamedly put forth by Warner Brothers, presumably to sell more tickets to Christians. For the record, I found this oversimplification to be a distortion, as explained very well by my friend Patrick in this blog post. (Click it. Read it.) Jesus indeed did not come to exercise power, be a hero, or to promote "truth, justice, and the American way." In fact, he turned down every opportunity to assume that role. He conquered evil by becoming a suffering servant. Patrick is exactly right.

But there are themes in the movie that serve as awesome springboards to think about why we're here, what we're facing, how to live, and yes, victory over evil. Here are some things that jumped out at me, in no particular order:

• The people of Krypton had for centuries been born only for one purpose, each baby artificially engineered to have a single life purpose. Clark, on the other hand, struggles to find his identity and purpose, and ultimately has to make a choice about his destiny. Regardless of superhero status, this is a struggle I can identify with.

• To me, this was the best part of the movie. Unlike earlier Superman stories, it was not really about a self-assured hero with no doubts. It was about a young man trying to find his way, having to make complicated choices about what's right and wrong.

• He did not always make the best choices in my opinion. This is very human. It is also yet another reason that trying to make him a picture of Christ is off base.

• I did not see the battle with evil as a representation that violence and force is the way to win. Instead, I saw the story as an allegory for the battle that is taking place in the spiritual realms, behind the scenes. Let me explain:

The Bible does teach that Jesus came to conquer evil through servanthood, humility, love, death, and his resurrection. And that we are to follow his example, giving up our rights for the sake of others. This is how God wins.

But it also teaches that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  And all through Revelation there is imagery that the Messiah has conquered through his blood. So to me, the Superman fight against the evil General Zod is a picture not of beating bad people with violence, but symbolism of the fact that fighting with love and suffering in the physical world represents real, but unseen, battles in the spiritual. In other words, to me it is "literature" of the same form as Revelation: a visual representation of things so far above us that we can't possibly understand the real thing.

Regardless, I love the fact that we are talking about these things. And whatever Warner Brothers' motivation, the discussion is being brought out into the open by a movie; and to me that's a good thing.