Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, fellow disciples.

I trust we are related in that way.

I hope I’m not overwhelming you. I realize we can’t process everything that comes along and get on everyone’s little bandwagon. And some could respond, “No—you’re not overwhelming me. It’s really quite simple—just select, delete—done!” But however we slice up our time-management, I hope we will all agree to the importance of being students of the Word. That’s what disciples are. After all, God still speaks to people via the Word—and people still speak to God via prayer.

Wow!...the clock is yelling at me. A guy is coming soon to have me mill up a little pile of logs that he dropped off here over a month ago—and I’m not ready.

Blessings on your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Our main objective here is to process these Biblical passages for meaning and identify some devotional application. But allow me to begin with a funny story that sort of relates—a story told me years ago by a prolific story teller—my friend Jim Davis. It goes something like this: A traveler stops in at a small town café and takes a seat available on a bar stool next to a fellow that is already eating his lunch. The traveler notices the guy has one leg missing. He orders his lunch and, while waiting for it, is overcome with curiosity and finally asks, “Excuse me, sir—but would you mind telling me how you lost your leg?” The fellow responds with a measure of irritation, “If I give you one answer, do you promise to not ask any more questions?” The traveler answers, “Fair enough.” The one-legged guy gives an answer designed to torment: “I got it bit off!”

In relating this to our Bible reading, I see more evidence here of a pattern in God’s dispersal of revelation to men. He doesn’t tell us everything—nor do we have the capacity—just enough to prompt more inquiry—but not for the purpose of tantalizing and tormenting us so as to feed our lust for curiosity over non-essentials, but to inspire responsibility for what we know, and trust for what we don’t.

The FOCUS VERSE offers another small window of spiritual exposure—with just enough insight into the spirit world beyond the veil of the physical to drive me nuts with curiosity—if I allowed it. “Prince of the Persian Kingdom?”—a high-ranking demon? “Michael?”—a high-ranking angel? Unseen (by humans) spiritual warfare? If these super-beings are engaged in conflict, how do they fight? What weapons do they use? Well, suffice it to say, there IS a spirit world. There ARE two spiritual kingdoms—the lesser existing by the permissive will of the greater. There IS permissible conflict and tension between them. Both ARE organized with ranks, chains of command, and assignments for influence. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:10-12). What more do I really need to know about spiritual warfare? Since we are allowed to know so little about the whole dimension, I think it safest to leave most of it to THE ONE WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!