What Context?
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV Woman’s Day
Leave you nor forsake you – Feeling discouraged today? Some persistent problems? Some new stress? The usual ups and downs of life? I turned to the internet and searched “Bible verses for times of crisis.” One of the sites that popped up was Woman’s Day. The second verse provided was Deuteronomy 31:8. Woman’s Day offers the following conclusion about this verse:
“The Good News: Trust that the lord will guide you out of any difficult situation.”[1]
Things like this drive me crazy. Oh, I am sure many believers are comforted, but all I see is complete disregard of the context. Let’s just rip this verse out of its historical circumstances and pretend that God was actually speaking to you! Forget the fact that this is about Israel in the wilderness! Forget that ex-slave mentality of the audience. In fact, forget everything about this verse except what we want to hear—comfort for us!
Why does this bother me so much? Simple! It’s incredibly naïve. It’s the simpleton’s faith. Just believe whatever you want. The Bible doesn’t have a context, a history, a people, a culture. It’s the universally applicable divine Boy Scout’s handbook to feel good living! Frankly, you might as well read Frances Burnett’s The Secret Garden or maybe Charlotte’s Web. If you’re going to remove all the context of the Bible, then you’ll end up with great fiction. What else can I say? There are plenty (way too many) uses of the Bible just like this. Fiction! As if “Jesus” had no ethnicity, no parents, no mother tongue, no Jewish friends, no history, no worship rituals, and (for sure) no Hebrew Bible! Forget all about translation problems, textual considerations, theological agendas. Just read what makes you feel better and then claim it’s God’s word for you!
I recently received an email from a distressed husband asking me for help regarding the teaching of his church. You see, he was a widower and he had married a divorced woman. The church condemned him telling him to repent of his sin and abandon the woman immediately since marrying her was adultery (divorce not allowed except to initiate a life of celibacy). He was miserable, pleading for understanding of Jesus’ words because “I don’t want to go to Hell.” The other side of stupid exegesis! All the feel-good nonsense non-contextual bull on one side; threats and punishment on the other side of the non-contextual nonsense. Have we learned nothing? Why would anyone follow religion like this? Oh, I forgot; of course you’d believe because you don’t want to go to Hell.
Woman’s Day might think they’re offering God’s comfort in times of stress. All they’re really doing is providing platitudes. I’m pretty sure God has nothing to do with it.
Topical Index: exegesis, context, comfort, Woman’s Day, Deuteronomy 31:8
[1] https://www.womansday.com/life/g28172697/comforting-bible-verses/
Thank you for sharing some of your frustrations in these regards.
I see it happening all the time and it reminds me of what happened during Covid. So many people went out and got dogs and now that Covid is over(?) they want to and are getting rid of their family pets because really all they were looking for was a little comfort and something to preoccupy their minds. It is so similar to what we tend to do in the middle of crises of any kind. Divorce, health problems, death, losing jobs etc. it’s like trying to pull magic out of a hat or using a vending machine. We all do it to 1° or another I guess I would call it substitution. We don’t want to pay the price of actually following Christ especially when he doesn’t remove all of our difficulties and change things the way we want them changed. So often, he is in the storm, if he actually isn’t the storm itself? How sad that relationship with God must be. Can you imagine a marriage like that? I think this is where the word repentance should come in…. I think, the body of Christ needs to grow up and that includes each one of us. God have mercy.
I think if persecution came to the church in the United States today it would be the best thing that ever happened to us. (James tells the 12 tribes scattered abroad, to count it all joy….). God achieved what couldn’t be achieved in any other way when those 12 tribes were scattered all over the place. God uses that persecution to achieve his plans, basically to spread the gospel!
One last thing. I have a friend who recently purchased a great big grill/smoker to use for outdoor barbecues. He sent me a picture of himself standing next to it with a big grin on his face. Now, he is always complaining about not having enough money and telling me that God is after him in regards to his spending but here he stands with $1000 or more grill. I know he didn’t have the money to pay for it. But he got it anyhow. This picture spoke volumes to me. It actually convicted me of those places where I substitute. I guess now I’ve gone from preaching to meddling….. once again, God help us!
Agreed, Larry. Love the line that he might actually be the storm. In my upcoming book study (to start in about 3 weeks) we will deal a lot with this suffering idea
Points like these are often seen as ‘negativity’, and hence, counter to the good news of the gospel. We are only supposed to ‘build people up’, after all? Everyone knows that unconditional-positive-regard is The Way, right?