Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part II

So, we began with a dirty little secret in the last post – the dirty little secret that many of us use, from time to time, a wind and finger approach to Bible reading. I call it Bible Bingo. I have heard from many folks in regard to that particular post and their humble admissions that they too have occasionally grunted out a prayer, threw their Bible open and a verse has leapt out at them which seemed to fit the circumstances. But, they have also admitted that sometimes the verse seemed nonsensical and unrelated to their circumstance and they were left pondering some obscure passage about so and so’s lineage, a talking animal, a fierce judgment, how to cure mold, and such. The truly brave admitted to sometimes going for the best of three!

Now, many systematic theologians would be horrified at the prospect of wind and finger methods. They would say that it strikes of magic or gambling with God’s Holy Word. I suppose that if one wanted to be all self-righteous and stuff, those would indeed be some arguments that one could make. But, I take a different approach. I feel that hard-wired within each believer (and perhaps every unbeliever) is a deep desire to experience the miraculous & supernatural power of God at work in the midst of our not so miraculous and supernatural lives. Not only do I believe that this is a healthy desire, I believe that the Lord has made us for nothing less than to be both recipients and conduits of His great power.

The early church prayed to God – with intentionality – this prayer: “Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of Your Holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 4:30) And God did just that. So evidently, the desire to see God’s hand at work is not a bad thing. It is a prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit. Bible Bingo is perhaps a very low expression of this desire – being so random and all – but it speaks to a higher virtue, a higher prayer that the Lord God Himself has placed within us.

Simply put, if you had a choice between a life infused with the supernatural and spontaneous acts of God and a life devoid of such, which would you choose? The question is absurd. Were I to ask this in a roomful of people, I believe I would get both hands and even feet in the air for choice number one. I can think of only a very few, dry, crusty theologians who would actually want the latter. Bless them, but let not their narrow view of Scripture or their anemic view of faith determine the flow or frequency of God intervening in your circumstances. For way too long our own low level of faith has determined both our theology and our view of Scripture. It is time to leave that behind.

Why? Because the average person knocking about in the post-modern world isn’t so much concerned with the question of whether or not there is a God, or a higher power. There are really very few true atheists. No, the question on their lips is akin to that asked of Elijah the prophet in his showdown with the prophets of Baal: namely; is YOUR God the real one. We can try to answer to that question with knowledge and with well-thought through apologetic arguments. But to be honest, more information given in this age of information seems to have little effect. Information overload is a real syndrome. But know this, one supernatural, custom-made touch from God has the innate ability to obliterate all false systems of thought. One cannot seriously read the gospels without appreciating this as a modus operandi of Jesus’ ministry. The Apostle John defined the ministry of Jesus in this way: “The reason the Son of Man appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (I John 3:8b). (The word “destroy”, LOO-OH, in the Greek - literally means to dissolve or demolish. I like the word dissolve. It reminds me of the wicked witch of the west melting away in the Wizard of Oz. “I’m melting! I’m melllllttttinnngggg!”). How did Jesus go about “dissolving” the works of the devil? Let’s hear from Jesus: “But I have a greater witness than John – my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that He sent me.” (John 5:36).

So, you have the devil’s work – which Jesus was sent to dissolve through supernatural works (miracles) that the Father sent Him to do. And here’s the deal – this methodology did not end with Jesus. Please hear this: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) To be continued…

Bible Bingo and Other Stuff, Part One

When I am being spiritually lazy, I sometimes practice the wind & finger method of Scripture Study, i.e., say a quick prayer and see where the Bible opens and take what I read as a sign from God. There is an old joke about the dangers inherent in such a hapless approach to Scripture reading. One day, this guy opens his Bible and places his finger on the text: “Judas went out and hung himself.” A bit troubled, he tries again. The next passage reads: “Go therefore and do likewise.” Stubborn to the core, the man tries once again and comes upon this passage: “What ye do, do quickly!”

Har! Har! This joke is probably all the more poignant to each one of us because we have all tried, at one time or another, the wind and finger method. You see, it only takes me hearing that John Wesley – one of my spiritual heroes – practiced this method rather frequently, to lure me into this sort of Scripture lottery/divination/Christian horoscope/Bible Bingo. Yes, if it was good enough for the father of Wesleyanism, it is good enough for me. “Gimmee that old time religion!”

Just for fun, even as I type this out, I’ll give it a go and tell you the verse my finger lands on. Here we go…(Little prayer, flip, flip, flip, right index finger swirling high in the air and now…..DOWN). And what do we have? It looks like I Corinthians 16:24 “My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.” Hmmm. Not bad. Yes, that works for me. It is harmless AND encouraging. It is exactly how I feel. Amazing. G00000 God! My love to all who read these rants…..Amen.

So, why do we do things like this? Is it a demonstration of faith or of presumption? My guess is that it has something to do with the desire of us humans to experience the supernatural attendance of God to our daily hum-drum life. We seek encouragement, a special word from God for the particular circumstance in which we find ourselves. If we get lucky, we sometimes hit upon a verse that strikes right at the heart of our need and our circumstance. One can read miles and miles of Scripture and never experience the rush of landing on a Philippians 4: 19 “And my God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.”, especially if in the midst of a financial difficulty.

The desire to experience the supernatural presence and attendance of God is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a very good thing. Who would want a merely factual Christianity? (Wait a minute…Even though that was a rhetorical question, it just struck me that a “facts only” Christianity is exactly what some people want. In “fact”, there are whole denominations, Bible colleges, churches, preachers and seminaries that pride themselves on giving the supernatural the heave-ho. But, I digress…). Who wouldn’t want to experience God in their midst doing mighty works? The early church prayed a prayer along those lines: “Stretch out Your hand to heal and to perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your Holy Servant, Jesus.” So, unless the early church was a bunch of raging, needy heretics, the desire for a touch from God wasn’t and isn’t a bad thing. And, I believe that wind and finger Scripture reading - as suspect as it might be – is, at its essence, a humble attempt on our parts to see if God is going to pick up the phone when we call. In hoping against hope that something good will leap out at us speaks of our neediness and a type of faith; although admittedly, one that could be a bit stronger with a more intentional and systematic approach.

I plan to “weave about a bit” in the few posts on this blog. We’ll be talking about the miraculous, the Bible and judgment day. Believe it or not, it will all come together nicely…Stay tuned.

Wait, one more try before I go…(Little prayer, flip, flip, flip, right index finger swirling high in the air and now…..DOWN) And…”The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh – an oracle: This man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal…” Proverbs 30:1 Hmm….deep. Must have been for someone else because the next verse reads, “I am too stupid to be human…” (NLT)

(P.S. Just in case you were curious, these verses that I did the “wind & finger” with in this post were the real deal).