{"id":29,"date":"2018-11-06T16:09:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=29"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:41:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:41:33","slug":"signs-of-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/signs-of-insecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of Insecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"
Signs of Insecurity<\/span><\/div>\n

\".\"
\nBy David B. Smith<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Photo: Jiri Hodecek<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Have you ever noticed how some Bible expressions have crept into the secular vocabulary?\u00a0\u201cI can see the handwriting on the wall.\u201d\u00a0I imagine people at Enron used that sad expression\u2014and never heard of a Babylonian king named Belshazzar or read about the drunken feast where Daniel was called in to read the mysterious encryption:\u00a0Mene, Mene, Tekel, Peres<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cThe end is upon us.\u201d Today we use it for such mundane things as noticing when the Dodgers no longer have any chance in the NL West, which sometimes happens as early as mid-June.<\/p>\n

This biblical line is equally well-known:\u00a0Putting out a fleece.<\/em>\u00a0You\u2019ll hear someone say: \u201cI don\u2019t know what God wants me to do here, so I\u2019m going to put out a fleece.\u201d The original wad of wool comes from Judges 6 where Gideon was afraid to attack Midian until heaven \u201cproved\u201d its support, not once but twice. A wet fleece, then dry. But is this good faith when we ask God to buttress His promises with magic tricks?<\/p>\n

Larry Spargimino tells a cute story about a farmer who saw two clouds in the sky one day. They spelled out perfectly the letters \u201cP\u201d and \u201cC.\u201d He didn\u2019t immediately go out and buy a new computer, but he couldn\u2019t get those incredible cloud formations out of his mind.\u00a0\u201cPC.\u00a0PC.\u201d Did God want him to be more \u201cpolitically correct\u201d in his dealings with the ducks and chickens? No, very clearly heaven was giving him a new directive: \u201cPreach Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the guy sold his farm. He auctioned off the cows. He enrolled in a faraway Bible college and, speaking of fleeces and sheepskins, got a degree in theology to hang on his wall. First thing out of the box, he began to do like the clouds said: \u201cPreach Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within ten minutes it was clear that the cows were better at preaching Christ than this guy.\u00a0He was terrible!\u00a0\u00a0 People were going out to the parking lot shaking their heads.\u00a0Those who had put offerings in the collection plate began to feel like they had been \u201cfleeced,\u201d to torture a metaphor.\u00a0It was really bad.<\/p>\n

And the ex-farmer-soon-to-be-ex-preacher was baffled and discouraged. \u201cI don\u2019t understand it,\u201d he said to a friend (maybe his last one). \u201cThe Lord showed me the letters \u2018PC,\u2019 and I thought He was telling me to preach Christ, but things just aren\u2019t working out.\u201d<\/p>\n

His friend swallowed hard before delivering the bad news.\u00a0\u201cUh, do you think it might be possible God was trying to tell you to \u2018Plant Corn\u2019? Or cucumbers or cauliflower? Because one thing\u2019s for sure, Fred; the \u2018P\u2019 in your \u2018PC\u2019 doesn\u2019t stand for \u2018preach\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

For sure, it\u2019s a mistake to ask God for a sign in an area where His Word already plainly reveals His will to us.\u00a0It\u2019s all right to \u201cput out a fleece\u201d or carefully study the providential clues that might reveal what specifically God might have you do about some looming decision, but not where there\u2019s already a plain \u201cThus saith the Lord\u201d recorded in Scripture.\u00a0For sure there\u2019s no clearer sign than what\u2019s legibly printed on an inspired black book with a two-word title on it.\u00a0And just case that farmer\u2019s still out there, \u201cHB\u201d doesn\u2019t stand for \u201charvest barley.\u201d
\n______________________________<\/p>\n

David B. Smith pastored the Upper Rom Fellowship in Temple City,\u00a0California when this article was written.\u00a0<\/span>Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2007. Click here for\u00a0<\/span>usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Signs of Insecurity By David B. Smith Photo: Jiri Hodecek Have you ever noticed how some Bible expressions have crept into the secular vocabulary?\u00a0\u201cI can see the handwriting on the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/30"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}