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February 2, Day 33 – Resistance Is A Bad Idea

Writer's picture: Dr. Eric StrickerDr. Eric Stricker

"Little Austrian Woods" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Ink and Colored Pencil on Cardstock
"Little Austrian Woods" © by Terri L. Stricker - Original Ink and Colored Pencil on Cardstock

In recent days, we have mentioned several times that we have God’s Word in written form today, but it’s important for us to recognize that, when Job lived, he never enjoyed the blessing of possessing a copy of the written text of Scripture. How important is it that we have access to God’s Word in written form? This is clearly a resource that we take for granted – millions of homes have a copy of the Bible that sits on some shelf but is never read! In light of this truth, we should be impressed by Job’s knowledge of God, by his spiritual insight, by his godly wisdom, and by his sanctified understanding of the world in which he lived. For a man who didn’t have the Bible, Job had an amazing knowledge of God’s Word. How did he acquire that knowledge? How was he able to live a “blameless and upright life?” (cf., Job 1:1 and 1:8). Clearly, Job knew what it meant to walk moment by moment with God, but how? Today, in the face of all our own troubles – which are probably nothing like Job’s troubles were – how many of us freely avail ourselves of God’s two main Witnesses in the world – the Word of God and the Holy Spirit? Do we actually seek to lay hold of Him and the resources He has provided to enable us to live for Him? In light of these realities, Job’s confession is astounding: “If only I knew where to find Him … if I go to the east … I catch no glimpse of Him … but He knows the way that I take … He stands alone … who can oppose Him? He does whatever He pleases” (cf., Job 23:3-13) Lacking the written Scriptures and the indwelling Person of the H.S., how does Job otherwise know all this? What an incredible contrast between Job’s theology and that of his three miserable friends! Somehow, by God’s grace, Job has retained in his heart a pure understanding of his Creator’s nature. This is how God could proclaim him “blameless” (Job 1:1 and 1:8). Blameless means that Job lived rightly before God.


Today in Proverbs 3:21-35, we are instructed to “preserve sound judgment and discernment – do not let them out of your sight” (verse 21). This is consistent with the key verse of this chapter, which admonishes us to “fear the LORD and shun evil” (verse 7). Unfortunately today, many people lack discretion and have no capacity for discernment. Both discretion and discernment are the deliberate products of a Spirit-directed mind. God gave us minds for the purpose of exercising them (i.e., thinking), but like physical exercise, intellectual exercise is work, and people today don’t like to work. A correlation exists between fearing the Lord, shunning evil, preserving sound judgment, and applying thoughtful discernment and discretion – relative to health, nourishment, wealth, and all the rest of life. We are living in a declining, degenerating culture partly because the people of our culture have abandoned our work ethic in favor of laziness, entertainment, and an easy life of foolishness. Verse 35 sums it all up: “The wise inherit honor, but fools He holds up to shame.”


Matthew 21:18-32 contains three mini-sections about resistance. First, we see Jesus cursing the resistant fig tree which had leaves but no figs. The fig tree is symbolic of Israel and a picture of its hypocrisy. Ordinarily, fig trees in Israel produce leaves and fruit about the same time, but this tree only displayed leaves – no fruit. The purpose of a fruit tree is to bear fruit – not just leaves. Leaves may make the tree outwardly beautiful, but they have virtually no value. Israel’s spiritual condition at the time of Christ’s visitation was a display of outward but ineffective, unfruitful religion. Second, we see the resistant priests and elders who question Jesus’ authority. It is interesting how the priests are always trying to catch our Lord in some questionable dilemma, but here, He catches them in a humiliating dilemma – the priests and elders were supposed to be in the know, but “they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know’” (verse 27). Third, we see the parable of the two resistant sons. The first son arrogantly refused to work for the father, but then later he did work. He represents the Publicans of Israel. The second son agreed to work but did not. This son is similar to the Pharisees. Both sons were disrespectful and out of order. From this parable, Jesus points out that the tax collectors and prostitutes believed John’s report about the Messiah, but the chief priests and elders – to their discredit – did not. Resistance is a bad idea.

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