Aiming in the Dark

  

Recently, to celebrate our five-month wedding anniversary, my husband and I went to a local archery range. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the sport - but I wasn't anticipating the biggest lesson that has been working its way deep into my bones ever since. 

The photo on the left represents my best effort; the one on the right, my husband's. Not that surprising - unless you know that my husband is legally blind, and was shooting  from the same distance as me. While he could generally see the target area and the colors, he was unable to "take aim" by sighting along the arrow as I did. He's also not significantly more experienced than me. While he did do archery at the academy for the blind he attended in middle school, he hasn't fired an arrow since. I shot with my brother during his Boy Scout years. We were both essentially newbies. 

Yet I watched in amazement, hearing his solid "thuds" piercing the target while many of mine landed on the floor. I soon realized the difference: While I was focusing on lining up with the target, he was of necessity focusing on the fundamentals. He had absorbed quickly every lesson on how to hold the bow, align the arrow, position his hands, and fire. I had to be reminded multiple times of each basic lesson. 

As I processed this, a spiritual truth began to emerge: When we have times of darkness, of uncertainty, of a lack of clarity about what to do, we will have much better aim when we are solid in our fundamentals. Not every problem we face will have a "chapter and verse" answer from Scripture. Sometimes we have to take what we know to do, line up the "shot", take aim, pull back, and make the decision. Sometimes we will go in a direction and realize we are off target; the fundamentals will help us line up and try again. 

So what are these fundamentals? Certainly, they include the basic doctrines of our faith. Settling questions in times of clarity can help us hold firmly to truth in times of struggle. Those who know me know I don't shy away from these questions - and I don't think you should either. Long ago, I dealt with basic questions about the authority and inerrancy of Scripture; from there I delved into the deity and humanity of Jesus, the Trinity, the attributes of God. To be clear, I didn't have all these questions answered when I started walking with the Lord. The moment of salvation for me was the beginning of a process of knowing and understanding Him. But I did spend several years digging into these questions to settle the fundamentals. If you haven't done so, I urge you to ask the questions. My Bible 101 series is designed to help you gain confidence in God's Word so you can dig in to deeper questions like these. 

Beyond doctrine, however, there are fundamentals that should be part of our Christian walk. Daily communion with the Lord through prayer, worship, and Scripture helps to orient me. I can't even attempt to aim in the dark if I'm not facing the right direction! The dailyness of my relationship with Him keeps me heading in the right general direction, and positions me to receive from His Word general principles or specific truths relevant to my situation. Regular gathering with other believers, sitting under the preaching of a Gospel-centered pastor, keeps me from veering off to one side or the other. Those deeper relationships that develop within the body act like the instructor at our class, reminding me of the fundamentals, encouraging or correcting me as needed, and celebrating my successful aim. They can't pull the bow for me, but they can do everything possible to help me aim well. They help me know truth by which I can better discern error. 

As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, the times we feel we are "aiming in the dark" may actually increase. I am convinced this is one way that He helps us understand we are progressing with Him. Just as a parent provides a toddler much more explicit guidelines in decision-making ("you can pick this shirt or that one") than they do a teenager ("what electives do you plan to take?"), so God grows us in our ability to discern and sense His guidance. However, no matter how mature we become, we will never lose our need for the fundamentals. In fact, as our archery class taught me, the dimmer my view of the target, the more important the fundamentals become.

Worse than Persecution #5: A famine of God's Word

"Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land-- not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12 ESV)

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18 ESV)

There's a reason why believers imprisoned for their faith throughout the world are typically denied a Bible.

There's a reason why they treasure every word they recall or every portion of Scripture that is slipped to them.

There's a reason new believers in lands where persecution is prominent are taught to memorize Scripture.

• It is the means He uses to impart faith to our souls so we can believe and increase our faith as believers. (Romans 10:17)
• It teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains us for righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
• It's living, active, and pierces the deepest parts of our soul. (Hebrews 4:12).
• It gives us encouragement and hope. (Romans 15:4).
• It is eternally written in the heavenly places, so it can never be eradicated by man. (Psalm 119:89). This means it withstands every effort to destroy it, minimize it, or doubt it.
• When it is taught by pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet, or apostle, it builds up the church. (Ephesians 4:11-16). Embraced by enough people, it has the power to transform a society.
• Wherever it is proclaimed, it goes forth with power - even if the proclaimer utters the verses with disbelief, sarcasm, or wrong interpretations. It never returns empty. (Isaiah 55:11).

Scripture contains everything God knew we needed to know until His return. It points us to Jesus so we can have a relationship with Him to guide us in those areas that aren't specifically spelled out in Scripture (which job to take, whom to marry, etc.).

Even when we don't realize it, we have an underlying hunger for God's Word. A famine of His Word would leave us searching, even if we didn't realize specifically what was missing. The absence of God's Word, therefore, is more devastating to a believer than persecution could ever be. We absolutely do not want to know where we would be without Word of God as revealed in the Bible.

We have to hear from Him through His Word.

Let us pray to be people immersed in Scripture. Let us commit to read every word God has revealed in the Bible - not in any certain time frame, but in an ongoing way, consistently reading through the Bible and being reminded of passages we had forgotten were in there.

And let us pray that those who are being persecuted will recall passages they have read or heard even one time. Let's pray for all those without Scripture in their language, so that when they find themselves facing persecution they will have been infused with its faith-giving words.

http://youtu.be/BYu8ZyETnKo