day no. 16,784: the mess of blessing is the best problem to have

Proverbs 14:4

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:

but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

Plowing with oxen makes for larger harvests. The livestock barns are messier, but the harvest barns are bursting.

The mess of blessing is the best problem to have.

Everything has problems. The clean crib is an empty crib. The occupied crib comes with dirty diapers. While problems are inescapable, some problems are better than others. In other words, everything costs something, but somethings cost too much. Barrenness is too much to pay for cleanliness. Sterility is not worth paying for peace and quiet. Self-imposed infertility is too much to give up to gain self-actualization. Emptiness is too high a price to pay for hygiene. A man without teeth has no cavities, but he also can't eat steak. A house without children has less milk on the floor, but it also has less birthday cakes on the table. A life without work has less pulled muscles, but if also has more weeds in the garden.

Everything costs something. Some things are worth it.

Everything has problems. Some problems are better than others.

The Bible tells us which problems to have. It commands us to pursue certain problems. It isn't enough to merely accept the fact of problems, it is the willingness to pursue MORE of the right kind of problems.

Mo' talents, mo' problems, but the servants who multiply their problems by multiplying their talents end up receiving rewards and commendation for their faith and faithfulness while the ones who attempt to reduce or eliminate their problems by burying the problems they have end up receiving a tongue-lashing from their Benefactor. They have their small problems taken away and inherit a Hell of a lot bigger problems for all their trouble.

day no. 16,783: pharaoh feared a family (FLF edition)

Fight Laugh Feast Magazine

Issue 4.2: American Marriage Sodomized

Written/Edited: May 8/June 27, 2023

Published: Summer 2023

…

Pharaoh Feared a Family

By: Todd H. Van Voorst

A NATION OF GENERATIONS

“‘Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us.’” – Exodus 1:9b-10

One family can make a difference. Before Israel was the bane of a nation, it was just Abraham and his one, true son. That one grew to two after he had twins and one of those two then turned into twelve. That dozen became seventy and several centuries later, scads became scores putting points on the board. One household had become a harbinger… Pharaoh feared a family.

NATIONS ARE BUILT ONE FAMILY AT A TIME

“Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.” – Deuteronomy 10:22

As one family began flooding his phonebook, Pharaoh began to ask, “What can be done about all these Bar-Jacobs?” Imagine the White House losing sleep over your surname or worrying about the number of your nephews. Imagine legislation being drafted to address the growing problem of your people growing. That was the scene in Egypt. The king was anxious about one man’s family reunion and their prospective role in an upcoming election.

COVENANTAL CONTINUITY

"The people gathered themselves together as one man.” – Nehemiah 8:1

Concentration of force, however, is not a given. A lot of descendants does not necessarily a lot of panic produceth. A man can have a gaggle of grandkids without getting name-dropped in his governor’s group chats. That kind of racket only comes with a consensus of the census – many generations, under God, and indivisible. Covenantal continuity is concentration of force.

Covenantal continuity is more than merely keeping the customs of your father’s God, it is loving the God of your father’s customs. Tyrants take notice of that kind of buy-in because, as Chesterton once observed, the first rule of fight club is “you cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.”

COVENANTAL SUCCESSION

“Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” – Nehemiah 4:14

A man must fight for his God before he fights for anything else (cf. Matt 6:33). When he does so, however, one of the first things God commands him to do is fight for his wife and children. In fact, the man who fails to do so is said to have no love for God. (1 Tim. 5:8)

A father is charged with bringing up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and one of the first instructions a son should receive is his duty to one day teach his own children (Deut 6:7, Eph. 6:4). In this way, God commands a man to preach to his great grandchildren by teaching his children to teach their children to teach their children.

RAISING GODLY SEED

“Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

Raising godly seed is not sitting the battle out; it is the battlefield. A father training his children is not forsaking the frontlines; he’s refusing to abandon them. He is in the trenches, not on the sidelines. He begins by fighting for his children, transitions to fighting alongside them, and ends by fighting through them for generations.

"Men who raise families that remain in fidelity to tradition will end up with descendants ruling the world.” – E.H. Looney (cf. Psalm 112:1-2)

Pharaoh feared a family because their last name and their first priorities were inseparable. A family tree with firm roots is formidable. While a house divided cannot stand, a house united can. It withstands outside forces. Israel was a threat because Israel was one.

ONENESS AS A WEAPON

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” – Matthew 13:33

When leaven refuses to get lumpy, it will always leave an impression. To remain leaven, however, it must differentiate itself from the rest of the lump, and that does not happen by accident. Yeast mode is not a factory default. Oneness comes on purpose by purpose.

“All good things come to a point, swords for instance.” – G.K. Chesterton

Oneness is a weapon. Covenantal continuity can curb the ferocities of Pharaoh’s cities, but cognitive dissonance cannot do that; it cannot change anything except its mind. Disparate notions do not build nations. A common worldview, widely and intentionally held, however, can change the world.

COVENANTAL CUSSEDNESS

“Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.” – Exodus 23:32

Israel did not conform to the customs of Cairo. They kept their vows and their kids by remembering the Lord and their responsibilities. They did not walk like an Egyptian despite all the signage and songs that suggested it. They kept their covenants by avoiding other ones. It was this angularity that bent Egypt out of shape. If Israel had simply settled into Egyptian molds, Pharaoh would not have batted a mascaraed eye; but their covenantal cussedness required a response.

NUPTIAL NATIONALISM 

“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.” – Isaiah 60:22

One marriage can make a world of difference; in fact, it can make a world. The histories of nations can be altered at one altar and the geopolitical landscape of an entire continent can be compelled to curtsy before the covenant children of one faithful family. Ceremonies can be the seeds of civilizations. Nuptials can build nations.

Kingdoms are built around common tables: families sitting down for dinner and congregations communing around the Lord’s Table. As these work their way through the rest of the lump, family trees become forests, local churches become city centers, and communities become kingdoms.

THE END OF THE WORLD

“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” – Ephesians 5:32

One marriage can make a difference. Church history is the bride of Christ walking down the aisle. That one marriage is moving the world, and our marriages should march in step.

"So fight the good fight. Go home, build a house, and if you do it in the right way, you will give the world a glimpse of things to come. There is nothing more terrifying to the principalities than this. Because in the end, the principalities will bow and confess the Lordship of Christ, and if your house is ordered well, it is a reminder of that glorious day.” – C.R. Wiley

MAKE PHARAOH FEAR AGAIN

“Be ye mindful always of His covenant; the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.” – 1 Chronicles 16:15

Imagine if those who bore your last name were someday such a large constituency of common belief and committed practice that they could move magistrates to madness. Imagine your descendants dancing in time to the glory of God and the good of their neighbors. A family like that could do serious damage to the darkness. That family tree would be a battering ram against the gates of hell.

Pharaoh once feared a family. Let’s make Pharaoh fear again.

day no. 16,782: every inch a king

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” — Abraham Kuyper

Every inch includes every inch of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

“Have an ambition to be remembered, not as a great lawyer, doctor, merchant, scientist, manufacturer, or scholar, but as a great man, every inch a king." — Charles Sumner

No area of life is permitted to live in rebellion. Every inch is called to crucifixion and resurrection in Christ’s name.

Revelation 1:5-6

From Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Christ has called men to be kings in His name. We are to rule and reign by His grace in His place over every single inch of our lives and land.

Revelation 5:9-10

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Christlikeness is required in all things: meditation, habitation, and reputation.

Luke 2:52

Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Maturity is our modus operandi. 

Colossians 1:28

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Push it to the corners. All of Christ for all of life. No neglected nooks or crannies. Assiduity is the aim. 

Every inch a king.

day no. 16,781: family is the government given jurisdiction over raising up governors

“The family is the primary social ordinance. When sin wreaks its havoc here, when the sanctities that guard and ennoble family life are desecrated and when family honor is laid in the dust, then all social order is out of joint and degradation reigns supreme in every realm.” — John Murray, The Christian World Order

The building blocks of society are self-governed citizens. Citizens, however, are not born with self-discipline or self-control, but neither are they born alone or into a vacuum. People are not purchased off the rack or manufactured in a factory. They are born into a family. People are the kind of thing that comes from other people. People are made and placed into a family.

Family is the place where people are born and raised. It is the classroom in which self-control, discipline, and instruction are received. Family is the government that God has assigned the duty of raising up governors. In other words, God has given the governing of children to the family. The family teaches its members to self-govern. These children then grow up into adults who start families of their own teaching their offspring to self-govern. And some of those men also become become governors of cities, counties, states, or nations. The Joneses have jurisdiction over the disposition of future judges. Every magistrate has a mother; every federal agent has a father. Every senator is the child of someone else's son. Every district court judge is the offspring of someone else's daughter.

Family is inescapable. Father hunger sits at the head of each table where dad is absent. Mother comfort is missed in every nursery where a stranger's hand rocks the cradle.

The state of a society is a reflection of the state of its families. The nightly news tattles on the previous generation's parenting fails. Degradation reigns where individuals lack restraint.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision,

the people cast off restraint.

day no. 16,780: the trial of blessing and the blessing of trials

James 1:2-4

Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Problems are inescapable and inevitable. Everything has problems and you have the problems you have, not the problems you don't. Envy is simply desiring someone else's problems. Covetousness is wanting to add someone else's troubles to your own.

There is a real blessing that comes with trails. Character grows where faith is sown and God does not provide the trials where He does not offer the blessing to endure them.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

While seeing the blessing of the trial may be difficult, seeing the trail of blessings is nearly impossible. This is not to imply that blessings are bad or to add to the misery of those already heavy laden by throwing on them the additional weight of imagining how hard it must be for those sitting under umbrellas on the beach somewhere. Yes, everything has its own problems, but every problem is not  yours to have. You do not need to feel sorry for someone else anymore than you need to feel sorry for yourself. Every blessing comes with its own temptations and trials. The temptation of those being heavily tempted is to think that that those not under as much fire at the moment are free from temptation altogether. Our self-interest keeps us from seeing that discontent can happen anywhere, not just where we are. God's Word does tells us, however, which trials to pray for more of and which to pray away.

You can have the problem of empty barns and the blessing of easy clean up or you can have the problem of a barns bursting with harvest and the trial and pressure of being responsible for knowing what to do with all of it. Of course the trials of blessings are to be picked over the blessing of trials in some respects. We do not pray for trials simply for the blessing that may come with them, but we do pray for blessings and forget that new trials will come with them. 

Proverbs 27:21

The crucible is for silver,

and the furnace is for gold,

and a man is tested by his praise.

Character is never not being formed. The Christian life is top to bottom, front to back, and side to side. There is no area in which we are not being conformed to Christ. In the praise we receive, in the hate mail that comes in, in the hard times, on vacation, in our feasting, in our fasting, in our speaking, in our silence, in our abundance, in our want, in our satisfaction, in our need, in our excitement, in our disinterest, in our interactions, in our isolation, in our hopes, in our fears, in our trials, and in our blessings. We are never not being made into something. Everything is going somewhere and someday it is going to get there. Being conformed to Christ is to know the power of His sufferings and the glory of His resurrection (Php 3:10-12).

All that to say, God is so good that even trials have a silver lining and pure gold is so heavy that only arms strengthened by faith can carry its weight... especially when it comes in abundance.