Tactic Of the Day: Pigeonholing The Text
For us as people many times we run into a position where we think that we have life figured out. We could be successful in a career field, we could have some great relationships, we could have done some super cool things in our past but the common theme for people is that we got things figured out. I was listening to a podcast the other week and I heard a really funny line by the host and he said “if my 3 pound brain could completely understand God we would not have a very big God”
The context of the gentleman saying this quote was that there just are things that in our fallen state that it’s not possible for us to fully comprehend and I believe when we are reconnected with God we will get the full download.
Now you don’t have to go very far onto the internet to find a circumstance where you have someone telling you about a story or scripture and they have the whole thing figured out. You could be listening to someone’s podcast and they tell you a verse only means a specific thing or that their theology is absolutely correct. In general when you start talking to people there is a fundamental belief that we know what we are talking about. The interesting thing about the internet is everyone has the ability to create a channel of some kind to have a voice to talk about their thoughts and beliefs. That is why in our day and age biblical discernment is so critical and that we are matching things to the written word. Not taking man’s opinion is absolutely key and always going back to what God tells us in scripture.
A place where I had this revelation was when I was studying when the apostle Paul had the thorn in his flesh. This story happens in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Apostle Paul says
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
There is so much depth in this story but there is something specifically I want to show. As we are talking about the “thorn” that is in the flesh of apostle Paul this is a figure of speech. He is not literally talking about a thorn but we read that the apostle Paul said that he was given “a messenger of Satan to buffet me”. Now when we think about that description of the messenger of Satan do we know exactly what or who that is? No this could have been a demon, power of evil, principality or even a human being that Satan had control over to make apostle Paul’s life difficult.
Now what can happen as humans is we want to know every detail of a story and this leads us to making inferences and predictions. Inferences and predictions are amazing but what is not is when people supplement their beliefs or thoughts over what the text says. If I was to read this and say that I knew who or what the thing was hindering apostle Paul I would be adding to the text because we are not told in the text what it is or who they are.
Now I’m not saying this is how we should interpret all scripture, we will look at another example that is the opposite side of the token that gives us no room to predict or infer what the text is saying. But what I do want to show is God’s wisdom.
As God has the apostle Paul writing this text, think from apostle Paul’s perspective. It is plausible that apostle Paul knew who or what the thorn was. Even if apostle Paul did not know God could have told him. But in the text the one causing the challenges is ambiguous and remains unnamed.
What is so wise about this from God’s perspective is that now it can apply to so many of us. It can apply to us in spiritual warfare with supernatural or natural, it covers both sides of the veil. If apostle Paul would have put exactly what it was there is a strong possibility that us as the readers 1000s of years later would only assume that thorn was applicable if we did not deal with the exact same situation.
Now I call this not pigeonholing the text. There are many examples in scripture like this story given to us by apostle Paul where the meaning could be multiple things and this gives our unlimited God the ability to work through us in those ways that’s easier for us to understand. But it takes us as readers not putting the limitation on the text or adding things or subtracting from the text that is or is not there. If we can keep scripture in context and then not put our own understanding but the understanding of what God wants us to see then we are open to so many more possibilities then just the text applying in one aspect.
Now to be very clear I am not saying this is the case for all text, for example one of the most famous verses in the bible is John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
This verse is an example of 1 very explicit meaning, Jesus is telling Thomas that there is no other possible way to the Father besides through Jesus the son. The point I’m showing is that there are times in the text that we get hit with the tactic of torment of thinking we understand the text perfectly or that we get locked into one way of understanding certain things and isn’t it amazing that God transcends that.
Think about being in church service. You have one pastor that speaks the word of God and every single one of the people in that room could have a different view on a way that word is applicable to them. Now does that mean they are all wrong or right? This shows that God transcends one thing and can choose to reveal things to us in so many ways we could not even imagine.
Of course there is text that is meaning one thing and we need to stick by that text that is explicit statements but on the other side of the token have the humility to understand understanding is given to us wisdom is given to us knowledge is given to us by God and not let the enemy and His army pigeonhole us into thinking our theology is perfect or that we understand something completely. We need to have humility because if God could fit inside our 3 pound brain that would not be a god worth worshiping.