PRACTICING CHRISTIAN DARK ARTS

CHRISTIAN DARK ARTS

He made darkness His covering,
His canopy around Him,
thick clouds dark with water.
Psalm 18:11

There is something mysterious about the dark. It plays with our minds. It can shake our confidence. Some of you know I’ve had a rough few weeks. As I stated at last Sunday night’s leadership training, all of my trials have been what I referred to as “First World” problems. It started while in worship a few Sundays ago when someone accidentally threw my camera on the floor and smashed its professional (A.K.A. ‘expensive’) lens. I experienced a small anxiety attack but remembered how to practice Christian dark arts. A few days later, on a particularly freezing cold day, I was mid-sentence counselling a married couple in trouble when I noticed my recent eternity ring (A.K.A. ‘expensive’) was missing off of my pinky finger. In that moment of discovery I froze but then composed myself as I remembered how to practice Christian dark arts. Later that night when I returned to the church to look for it, I cracked a rib (A.K.A. ‘hurty’) while reaching into one of the large bins in a vain search for it. And to top it all off, I am now immobile with a spine and its complicit thoracolumbar facia (A.K.A. “ouchy”). Fortunately though, I am countering these assaults with Christian dark arts. 

¶ I love you, O LORD, my strength.
 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
 my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2

THE ART OF WORSHIP

When I saw my beloved camera and its interchangeable lens hit the floor and fall apart, moments before Karen and I commenced our annual Q & A, I told myself, “The worship God in good times and hard times is not just a theory!” In that moment, I lifted my hands to focus on worshiping God and giving Him my attention. My worship in that moment was not dependent on who else was worshiping; how good the music was; who was worship leading; or whether I liked the song or not. 

Perhaps the most profound picture of the dark art of worship is seen in King David when his child to Bathsheba was very sickly. He pleaded to God in prayer and fasting with deeply emotive petitions to spare the life of the child. This went on for quite a while. Eventually, when the child died, palace servants came to his room and discussed among themselves how they could tell David – fearing that if he was this emotional while child at least lived, how distraught would he become if he knew that the child had died? Sensing that something was amiss, David called out to them asking whether the child had died. “Yes” came the reply. David then got up, washed his face, and went to the place of worship and there worshiped God. This is the dark art of worship when true worship of God is seen in those times when it is very dark for us. 

Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate.
Second Samuel 12:20

THE ART OF WORSHIPING IN THE DARK

David’s checkered career was punctuated by worship. Psalm 18 is a profound account of how David had learned to worship in dark times. In this Psalm he expresses how he trusted God in the midst of deeply dark times. It was often in these times, he tells us in this song, that he came to learn that God was powerful, good, and awesome. He worshiped God because he knew who God was, and, he came to know who God was because he worshiped him – especially in the dark. 

¶ For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
Psalm 18:31-32

If we are to become the church God has called us to be, we must each practice the art of worshiping when it seems dark. Rather than prioritising our hurt, painful memory, disappointment, or offence, above our commitment to worship God in God’s House, we must learn to come together to worship God in these dark times. As we do, we may learn more about the God we are worshiping – just as David did.

Pastor Andrew. 

THE SECRET ALLIANCE AND MISSION OF PATIENCE, HEAT, AND PRESSURE

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THE SECRET ALLIANCE AND MISSION OF PATIENCE, HEAT, AND PRESSURE

UNVEILING THE INGREDIENTS AND PROCESS
OF TURNING ORDINARY TO PRECIOUS

In a matter of weeks Kim and I will celebrate another wedding anniversary. But this will not just be another another wedding anniversary for us. This one will be special. After months of contemplating our options, this morning we bought each other our mementos to be exchanged in mid-June. These mementos are precious. Like all things precious such as these mementos and our upcoming anniversary, they take a long time to prepare. That long time is needed in order to make the regular investments of time and effort. Our mementos have each had dozens of people in their chains of custody including miners, drivers, dealers, buyers, jewellers, sales people. So has our marriage. Our parents, our families, our friends, our pastors, our teachers, our mentors, our children, have all made an investment in our marriage - most without even realising it. All precious things require patience. But patience alone can not make anything precious, including who you are.

  then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
Job 22:25-26

PATIENCE

¶ Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
James 5:7

I ponder these things today as I consider the momento I will give Kim. It is a precious momento apt for a precious occasion. Its components, according to Wikipedia, took tens of millions of years to form. That's patience. There are some things in life that can only be attained or achieved by being patient. Patience is one of the hallmarks of the Spirit-filled life.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

Patience is sometimes God's means of making us into who He has called us to be. Patience is always God's test of who we will trust and whether He can entrust us. Patience is a necessary step in the process of something being made precious. 

so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
First Peter 1:7

I have had a keen interest in the progress of someone whom I felt from the earliest days showed remarkable potential at virtually anything they put their hand to. They seemed to be gifted academically, on the sporting field, with music, and a few other interests they developed. However, as I observed them, I noticed a pattern emerge in their life. They always seemed to be in a hurry. Perhaps it was due to their natural giftedness that they felt that they didn't need to study/train/practice like everyone else. Such patient preparation seemed to them as if it was a waste of time. As they aged I noticed that their impatience and reluctance to do what boxers call their "work in the dark" (all of the early morning distance running and before dawn gym work) left them behind in the areas in which they once excelled. That was when that dreadful character flaw of excuse-making/blaming-others became so virulent within them. To this day, although they love God and are faithful in their church, they are still blighted - and dare I say - their soul has been retarded, because they are so impatient and so upset with everyone and quick to blame someone else for their failings. They have gone from job to job never being able to get along with their boss. Hopefully one day they will learn that being still is markedly different from doing nothing.

to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life;
Romans 2:7

But patience alone will never transform the ordinary into the extraordinarily precious. People say, "Time heals all wounds." But it doesn't. It needs something else.  

HEAT

The Apostle Peter stated that our relationship with God, which he called our faith, was more precious than gold - but that this precious faith would be made so by the fire of testing. The process of making something or someone precious requires patience and intense heat. 

so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
First Peter 1:7

Heat is used in metallurgy to refine a metal such as gold or silver. As the metal becomes molten and is then poured into a casting, the impurities (dross) are drawn to the surface. While the precious metal is still in its molten state this dross is scraped off. The prophet Malachi, writing at the time when the prophets declaration of Israel being restored to their land was fulfilled after their return from the Exile, stated that God wanted to further refine His people as a silversmith refines silver.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
Malachi 3:3-4

Silver refining is tedious. Unlike gold, if the silver is exposed to too much heat for too long it can turn to a gas. The silver refiner must patiently heat the precious metal, then patiently wait for the dross to surface. As he removes the dross this process is repeated until all the dross has been removed. The refiner must continually bring the molten silver out of the furnace and look straight into it during this process. Only when their own face is perfectly reflected back to them has the process been completed. In a similar way, God puts those He wants to transform into the heat or refining. His eye is ever on them during this process and He always removes them before it harms them. And with each stage of His refining in their life, His likeness is becoming clearer to all.

And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”
Zechariah 13:9

Patience and heat are essential for the process of precious-making. But there is one more ingredient or step in the process which must be fused along with them.

PRESSURE

More precious than the most precious metal, are diamonds. These highly prized jewels are among the hardest substances known to man. When cut by a skilled jeweller diamonds can display the spectrum of light's colours. A diamond was once a piece of organic matter (carbon) that over several million years of heat and great pressure (from being buried way beneath the earth's crust) was eventually transformed into coal which several tens of millions of years later after more heat and pressure, was then spewed out in various volcanic explosions having been transformed into diamonds, to await the day when a miner would unearth them, a jeweller would beautify them, and a radiant bride would wear it as a momento to her thirtieth wedding anniversary

This process of taking a piece of carbon and putting it through a long process of enormous heat and pressure is a metaphor for how God transforms an ordinary lost soul into a precious child of God whom He adopts and grants full and equal inheritance rights to. When the one who has trusted God through this transformation process finally breathes their last, He calls their transition into their real home - precious.  

¶ Precious in the sight of the LORDis the death of his saints.
Psalm 116:15

 

Gold and silver are repeatedly refined in order to be purified and made precious. Diamonds are the result of millions of years of pressure, and heat. They are then sought after. When found, they are not yet what they will be. A Master Jeweller takes them, cuts them, and then features them within clasps of gold. The precious jewel and the precious metal form a lifelong partnership. The seller then presents them in a showcase with appropriate spotlights directed at them. Then the day arrives when the one destined to take up the precious metal and jewel combination walks into the showroom and is connected with their memento.

God is the orchestrator of a like process when it comes to making His children precious. The next time you feel that things aren't happening quick enough for you, or that life is really hard at the moment, or that you're under a lot of pressure, or that you're copping a lot of heat, or that it feels like there are parts of your life being cut away, or that spotlight is being turned on you - remember that this is probably God's precious process at work in your life.

Since you are precious and special in my sight,
  and I love you,
I will hand over people in place of you,
  nations in place of your life.
Isaiah 43:4 NET

Pastor Andrew

The Urge To Quit Always Comes Just Before Your Greatest Triumph

IF YOU’RE GOING TO GIVE-IN, AT LEAST DO IT PROPERLY!

What has God put you on this planet for? Chances are you don’t have to stress too much about discovering it. You have probably already found that God has placed within you certain abilities, certain passions, which cause you to continually see the same need. Chances are also that when you apply yourself to meeting those needs you have gained a tremendous sense of satisfaction and fulfilment in the process. Yet, despite this, there will occasionally be times of discouragement when all you want to do is give-up. But it’s at these times when you must especially be careful to do it properly!

Joseph was given a dream from God that he would one day become a powerful governor. After spending more than ten years in an Egyptian prison, we would have forgiven him for giving up and for thinking that God had abandoned him. But if he had, he would have missed his moment! Joseph remained faithful to God, day in, and day out. 

Moses was called to be the deliverer of Israel from Egypt. But he made a mistake and failed. This led him to flee into the desert. I wonder if he thought that God would rescue him from his woes in a short time. But he didn’t hear from God again for another 40 years! He never completely gave-up!

It seems to me that the most successful people are those who have learned to hang-in when the temptation to give-in is nearly overwhelming. They are prepared to give to take one more step, have one more go, knock on one more door, write one more song, play one more tournament, do one more day. 

I recently spoke with a successful businessman who had gone four months without making a dollar in his new business. He had exhausted his reserves and had lay off each of his staff. Despondent but not despairing he gave it one more shot. “I was ready to throw it all in and stack shelves in a supermarket” he said. “But then God gave me a break. I met someone I could help. That led to another person I could help, and then another who referred me to another. In the first three months of this year I’ve done $17,000,000 worth of transactions and am on track to generate over a million dollars in profits this year!” 

Not all of us are in business, but we should all be in God’s business of helping others in Jesus’ Name. Yet when you’re trying to do good by others and help them, it can get quite discouraging when they don’t appreciate it or are even rude in return. I recently heard Jossy Chacko tell his story of having a Christian Grandmother who prayed fervently for young Jossy to come to know Christ. Jossy ridiculed such praying. He told his ageing Grandmother not to waste her time on him. But she kept going – month after month, year after year. She died never seeing the answer to her prayers for her Grandson. Today though, Jossy is an in-demand preacher and conference speaker who heads up the Empart Church Planting organisation which helps to facilitate over 9,000 churches across northern India.

We should not easily lose heart in our pursuit of doing the will of God.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9

This admonition not only applies to each of us, it also especially applies to us as a church. Too many churches are set back because someone gives up after taking offence at something someone said or did (or didn’t say or didn’t do). It’s too easy to give up on each other or those who are trying to reach. The cousin of not giving up is patience. There will be some people we will reach who will take years and years to see won to the Lover Of Their Soul. Whenever I get frustrated with some of the things that our non-Christian politicians say, I have to remind myself to pray for their salvation and be patient. When the story of our church is told to generations to come – long after you and I have gone onto our true Home – I trust we will be remembered for our faithful prayer and proclamation to our generation and that we didn’t give up. The proper way to give-up is to at least give it one more shot.  

Pastor Andrew Corbett

Portends, iPads, Spines, & Sovereignty

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 
First Corinthians 15:46

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians 'first comes the natural then the spiritual'. This is the essence of a portend. This brief explanation is of course unnecessary for those familiar with Lord of The Rings. The word, 'Portend' was used several times in The Hobbit and each time it was used it added an eerie unease about what was about to happen. I recently experienced a portend and it involved my trusty iPad.

I was packing up my things from my office to head home and uncustomarily I had my iPad under my arm with some Board document folders for a meeting I was off to later that night. (I generally insert my iPad into a special compartment in my backpack. But not this time.) As I reached to turn off the lights in my office the iPad slipped from under my arm and landed on the carpet of my office. "No harm" I thought as I checked it fearing the worse. It turned on and seemed fine and importantly there was no damage to the screen. But then over the coming days my iPad began turning itself off randomly and performing woefully slowly. This was my portend.

I'm not the only pastor who finds it emotionally difficult to take holidays. But I mustered up the where-with-all to request the month of November off. As I approached the first day off my leave I began to notice that two weeks before it kicked in I was stiffening up and my pesky back spasms were flaring up, my sore knees were sorer and my occasional leg cramps were intensifying both in intensity and frequency. "Having a bit of a bad run" I thought to myself. Almost exactly a year earlier I succumbed glandular fever again and about a year before that I experienced another bout of shingles. And around the middle of this year the paroxysmal hemicraniums started. I began signing off my weekly pastoral emails to my church as, "From your frail and flawed Pastor". No one really knew why and I didn't really elaborate that much either.

The day my leave commenced I had to do one more thing to ensure that I could take my leave with all the necessary boxes ticked. As I left that mentoring breakfast meeting I hobbled to my car in pain and feeling intense back spasms. These had started over 5 years ago and my doctor had told me not to worry about them as it was probably just a torn Gluteus Medius muscle. But every few months after that initial diagnosis it seemed I was once again tearing my now pesky Gluteus Medius muscle. I drove to my office to collect some final things from there so I could switch off and commence my leave. As I hobbled into my office I received an acute jabbing pain near my right kidney region and collapsed to the floor. Nothing I could do relieved the pain or even made it comfortable. I lay on the floor in agony for about half an hour both grateful that it was a Saturday and the offices were closed (because then no one could see me or hear me screaming in pain) but at the same time concerned that I couldn't move. "I must have really torn it bad this time" I thought. I rang Kim and she came, brought some Voltaren for me and somehow managed to get me into the back of my car after half an hour or so.

For the next week I was involuntarily bed-ridden. Muscles generally take 3-4 days to come good. After 4 days I was still in intense pain and began to wonder whether this was just soft-tissue damage. On Day 6 my 9 year-old daughter rang the doctor and booked me in. He did some tests and said that my troubles were indeed not coming from damaged Gluteus Medius muscles. More than likely, he said, it was my spine. He arranged for me to have a CAT scan straight away. In the meantime he prescribed Movalis and Tramal SR. If I ever meet the industrial chemists who invented these two gifts to mankind I will shake their hands and buy them a decaf skinny latte to show my eternal appreciation to them.

I rang to get the result of my CAT scan a few days later. It's always a bit of a concern when the nurse says I can't discuss this over the phone, you need to meet with your GP. She made an appointment for me to see him immediately. "I'm sorry to tell you, I only have bad news for you" was one of his initial comments. He then shared some of the main points from two page CAT scan report. None of it was good. "You have the back of a 90 year-old former professional rugby player who has been in a traumatic motor-vehicle accident" he said. "At some point, you have broken your back and your back has made several attempts to repair itself, and in the process it has made things worse." And starting with double scoliosis, Baarstrup's Syndrome, extensive facet joint damage, several herniated discs, nerve entanglement, a compressed neural cortex, he began to go through the list of some of the things which the CAT Scan had detected. He then finished with, "And it's only going to get worse."

Since they only scanned half of my spine, I now have to have an MRI to determine how badly the rest of it might be damaged. This information will be analysed by a specialist neurologist in a few weeks to see if there's any point to attempting treatment or whether I am just given a management plan.

Like my iPad, my damage was not immediately evident. Like my iPad, I now occasionally 'shut down'. Very much like my iPad, everything I now do is much slower. And possibly like my iPad, there may be little to nothing that can be done to rectify my situation. Yet I rest securely in the sovereignty of God. When I came out from the doctor's surgery, I sat in my car stunned for several minutes. I've always considered myself relatively fit and able - and with a strong back! When I read Andre Agassi's book, "Open", I discovered that he too had developed a seriously worn back from playing tennis. The game which I love, and was committed to playing professionally, may have also prematurely worn out my back.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

While all this caught me off-guard, none of it has surprised God. He is sovereign and beautifully so. I don't just preach Romans 8:28, I believe it and worship God with my life because of it! But my challenges are pathetic and utterly inconsequential compared with those of some of my brothers and sisters - especially in those parts of the world where being a follower of Christ comes at an incredibly high price. I conclude elaboration on my recent portend with a beautiful YouTube clip from an Egyptian church in Minya to illustrate my conclusion.

Ps. Andrew

ENTRUST.

ENTRUST. EVEN WHEN IT HURTS

¶ Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
First Peter 4:19

I was recently invited into a Public Secondary College to give a talk on Cosmology - more precisely, the Cosmological Argument For The Existence of God. When it came time to the Q&A I was expecting some pseudo-intellectual objections to my presentation. But what they all asked surprised me.  

And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.
Malachi 3:15

Now that I think about it, this class of teens listened intently to what I had to say. As much as I'd like to tell you I have a way of captivating teenagers and holding their attention to 90 minutes, I can't. Their attentiveness was flattering but unusual. Then the teacher threw it open for questions. I had prepped up on as much astronomical data as I could muster, so I was armed, ready, and dare I say it, dangerous. But then came their questions.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?" "But why would God allow suffering?" "How come life sucks sometimes?" Each time I deferred to the teacher, because this wasn't why I was invited into her class, but then she relented. As I began to answer this series of questions, it got really quiet in the classroom. I doodled this on the whiteboard-

Most people think of life as merely limited to the time between the cradle and the grave. That is, from birth to death. Little wonder then that when someone's life is cut short from their expected time of death, it seems like an utter travesty, a tragedy, a gross injustice. But what if our lives do not merely consist of the time between the cradle and the grave? What if it is, as I continued on the whiteboard, that our lives never end. The grave is not the end. It is merely a change.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison 
Second Corinthians 4:17

The reason we sense such great loss when someone's life seems to be cut short is that there is an intuitive sense within each of us that life is not supposed to end. As I began to explain this, several of the students teared up, and one began to quietly weep. I could tell that this was not merely theory to them. I further explained that our ultimate eternal destiny lay in either of two directions. One of those directions was to defy God's authority over our lives and choose independence and its consequence for eternity, or to choose the other direction which involves humbling ourselves and accepting God's offer of forgiveness and adoption and reaping the gracious consequences of that choice.

After I explained this I summarised the students' questions with a more confronting question about human suffering: Why me!?When someone we don't know suffers, we may feel some sympathy for them but it doesn't affect us deeply. However, when someone we love suffers, we are very sympathetic and even empathetic as we begin to feel something of their pain. But when we suffer, it's not just our pain that we feel, it's also the ache of injustice that is added which we feel deeply. All of this reinforces that we intuitively know something is very wrong with the way the world is.

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."
John 8:24

When we experience pain, suffering, tragedy or injustice and do not have hope beyond this life, we despair. But when we have the confidence that God holds not only the Universe in His hands, but our lives as well, we can trust that He has everything in control for a good purpose. Even when such suffering, crime, pain seems utterly futile, we know that the God-Who-Is-Only-Good is also the God-Who-Can-Only-Do-Good. Therefore, we have a positive expectation for our future (which, by the way, is the definition of "hope").

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope.
Romans 8:20

As my time in the classroom came to an end, and the teacher was wrapping up, I slipped to the back of the classroom and spoke to the girl who was crying. She whispered that one of her best friends and classmates had just committed suicide. Little wonder the class was so attentive and sombre. It's sad but understandable that it sometimes takes tragedy for God to get some people's attention. Dark times are not the time to shake a fist at God. Rather, they are the times when we should open our hands to God and ask for His help to get through our dark hour. 

The Apostle Peter writing to the churches of Turkey told them to entrust their souls to their Creator during times of suffering, and not to cease doing good for others (1Peter 4:19). If we suffer and succumb to our Enemy's whispers and withdraw from the family of God and cease doing good for them, we injure ourselves. Our Enemy works tirelessly to isolate us and especially so during our moments of suffering.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
First Peter 5:8-9

One of my favourite singers is Natalie Grant. One of my favourite Natalie Grant songs is "Held". It is about a couple who were excitedly expecting their first child. After much prayer they are finally blessed by God with a bouncing bundle of joy. But just two months after he is born, he falls terribly sick and dies. Natalie Grant sings-

Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that Providence
Would take a child from his mother
While she prays, is appalling
Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
Were asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held
This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow
This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.Held, by Natalie Grant

When Peter told the Turkish Christians to entrust their souls to their Creator in the midst of their suffering, it wasn't merely a theory to him. He had seen Jesus The Christ do it. This is the foundation of our hope and the true answer to where is God when it hurts? He entered into it and experienced its worst on the Cross. And just a few short years after he wrote this, he himself showed us what entrusting our souls to God looked like when he was taken by Caesar Nero and tortured then crucified upside down resulting in days of public humiliation and agony then eventual suffocation. No matter what you're going through, entrust your soul to your Creator. No matter how angry you are, entrust your soul to your Creator. No matter what injustice you have been afflicted with, entrust your soul to your Creator. Entrust, even when it hurts.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
First Peter 5:10

Ps. Andrew

The Devil of Havoc

The Devil wreaks havoc. Jesus said the Devil came to steal, kill and destroy. The Apostle Paul said that there were occasions when his mission was hindered by the Devil. And the Apostle Peter warned believers to be on guard against the Devil who went about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. I guess these Scriptures give enough justification for some believers to blame the Devil whenever things go wrong in their lives - but I am wondering if the Devil is blamed for what seems to be quite avoidable havoc. As someone who has induced more than my fair share of havoc, I think I have grounds for my suspicions.

You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Second Corinthians 1:11

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN HAVOC

You don't always need the Devil's help to wreak havoc in your life or the lives of others! Acting unwisely, uncaringly, or inconsiderately, will almost certainly cause a havoc that the Devil would be proud to put his name to. The husband who ignores his wife; the mother who unfairly scolds her child in public; the boss who demands of his employees that they give up their lunch hour for the good of the company; the pastor who only ever dishes up guilt and condemnation on his key leaders; the person who lives on a diet of soda, chocolate and pizza, are all sowing the seeds of havoc.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:7-8

HAVOC OPTIONS

When things go wrong in your life, it could be Devil, but it may also be the consequences of our own unwise choices or the sovereignty of God! Scripture teaches that our purpose is to live to give and for God's glory, thus if we sense that the Devil is attacking us, it is always with the aim of diminishing our ability to give God glory through our worship. I know. I have, in times past, been too easily distracted from worshiping God due to some devilish distraction. But if my havoc is the result of my own unwise choices or conduct, I know that Scripture teaches me to humble myself, repent, and be reconciled with a view to me worshiping God unobstructively. But if my world is in havoc becuase of the sovereignty of God, as Job's world was, then Scripture calls me to trust God in the midst of my pain and continue to worship Him. Either of the three havoc-causes is ultimately resolved through right worship.

I must stress that I do not get, and have not always got, this right. Maybe this qualifies me to recognise when others are blaming the Devil so that they don't have to accept responsibility for their own lack of wisdom or consideration. If you sow rudeness it won't be the Devil who delivers dischord with others! If you sow neglect into your marriage the arrival of relationship strain is the natural consequence not a Satanic ploy to destroy your marriage. For pastors who only ever preach condemnation to their dwindling congregation, it is too lazy to blame the Devil for dwindling the church (or even worse, claiming that 'God is clearing out the dead wood').

ABOUT THE DEVIL

The English word, "Devil", is from the Greek word, diabolos, and means enemy. It is a virtual synonym for Satan, which means accuser, adversary. 'The Devil' is a title more than it is a name, but like many titles which become so acquainted with a particular person, it has, like the term the Christ, become identified as a name. The Scriptures give sufficient but not exhaustive information about the Devil - after all, the record of Scripture is not so that we can plumb the knowable depths about Satan! What we might ascertain from the Biblical account is that Satan was present on earth shortly after the creation of mankind's parents and either possessed a snake or took on its form. We might surmise that Satan was once an angel with some authority in heaven who rebelled. We read in Job chapters one and two an interesting (and ancient) exchange between the LORD and Satan. It seems difficult if not utterly unreasonable to deny the personhood of Satan and reduce this term to merely an impersonal opposition to the purposes of God (as some now teach). Satan personally sought to tempt Jesus at the beginning of Christ's incarnate ministry (recorded in Matthew 4). It is just not reasonable to assert that this was not a personal evil being doing the tempting. After the Christ crushed the head of Satan on the Cross and destroyed the works of the Devil (1Jn. 3:8), it appears that Satan was granted (in a rather "Job" like manner) a short time in which to wreak havoc on the fledgling Church (Rev. 12:12). The was a gloriously divine risk. If Satan could destroy the entire Christian witness, this period between the Ascension and the Parousia of Christ's judgment on Jerusalem in 70AD, was the only practical and possible time that it could be done! If all Christians could be killed or silenced, there would be no further  continuation of God's redemptive plan. But he failed! With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, the Temple was demolished; the levitical priesthood wiped out; and sacrifice and offering brought to a permanent end. When this happened, the Old Covenant officially ceased (note Hebrews 8:13 which foretold this) and Satan was then doomed to damnation which Revelation 20 metaphorically describes as being bound with a chain and was thrown into the abyss (Rev. 20:2-3, which the KJV renders as the bottomless pit). Thus, the time between the Ascension and Parousia is when Satan could roam about like "a roaring lion". While he is defeated and doomed, Revelation 20 tells us that he will be active near the time of Christ's return to culminate the plan of redemption. Understanding this makes it even more unreasonable to blame the devil and give Satan too much due for the various forms of havoc that happen in our lives.

REDEEMING HAVOC

The Scripture has good news for those acquainted with havoc: it can be redeemed. I have seen marriages on the brink of breaking-up healed and restored not because we "bound the Devil" but because the couple learned the rare art of apologizing and learning to communicate properly. I have see churches turned around and significantly grow because a pastor learned to love his people and lead them with great care and wisdom. I have seen parents and their children in relationship havoc brought together and restored because they learned to truly listen to each other. Havoc can be redeemed. Here's three things that I have found help to redeem havoc (even self-induced havoc).

WORSHIP

The next time things go wrong in your world, before you think of the Devil too quickly, or too much - consider worshiping and adoring God. This is one of he main lessons from the story of Job.

LEARN

One of my most frequent prayers in the midst of difficult and trying times is for God to teach me what I need to learn in the midst of my pain. The Psalms seem to state this over and over as well.

BLESS

All too often I have sensed God saying to me to get my focus off myself (and my problems) and onto how I can be a blessing to others - particularly to those who might be going through what I am going through, and worship Him by pressing into His Word, singing more, and serving Him more sacrificially.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7

Havoc will come and go throughout your life. Sometimes it will be devilish, but generally it will not. Even when it is, worshiping, learning and blessing will thwart the Devil's schemes. More often than not, there is a tendency to blame others for inflicting havoc upon us. The neglectful husband blames his wife's hormones; the obese blame the fast-food stores for putting too much sugar in their food; the inconsiderate boss blames his lazy staff for his business failings. Of course, there is a lot of havoc that can be avoided - even in a world where the Devil seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

Ps. Andrew