How to Stay on Track

Psalm 17:3–5

Commentary

Determine to stay on God’s tracks

David says, ‘My steps have held closely to Your paths [to the tracks of the One Who has gone on before]’ (v.5a, AMP). The Hebrew word for paths literally means ‘wheel-tracks’. David is absolutely determined to stay on God’s tracks. In order to stay on God’s tracks, you need to watch:

1. Your heart (what you think about)

   ‘Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil’ (v.3a).

2. Your words (what you say)

   ‘I have resolved that my mouth will not sin’ (v.3c).

3. Your feet (the places that you go)

   ‘My feet have not slipped’ (v.5b).

Prayer

Matthew 19:1–15

Commentary

Stay on God’s tracks in your relationships

Jesus’ teaching on relationships is of vital importance for your own life and for society. In this passage, he sets out God’s tracks for family life.

1. Importance of marriage

   The Pharisees ask Jesus about divorce, but he replies by speaking about marriage. He goes back to the creation account. Jesus quotes from Genesis 2:24, stating, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ (Matthew 19:5). This verse from Genesis is seen as the blueprint verse for marriage – not only in the Old Testament and by Paul (Ephesians 5:31) but also by Jesus himself.

   Marriage involves the public act of leaving – making a lifelong commitment to your partner that takes priority even over your parental relationships. It involves being ‘united’ with one’s partner – the Hebrew word means literally ‘glued’ together – not just physically and biologically but emotionally, psychologically, socially and spiritually. This is the Christian context of the ‘one-flesh’ union. The biblical doctrine of marriage is the most exciting and positive one that exists. It is also the most romantic view. It sets before us God’s perfect plan.

2. Concession of divorce¹

   The Pharisees persist with their questions about divorce. They speak of Moses’ command (Matthew 19:7). Jesus replies by saying Moses permitted it ‘because your hearts were hard’ (v.8) and robustly confronts those men who (in a society in which women had far fewer rights) used the provision of the law to walk away from their wives (v.9).

   Moses’ provision for divorce reminds us of God’s grace and compassion in situations where we fall short of his ideals. But Jesus is saying that divorce is never ideal.

   Many of those who have experienced the pain of a broken marriage will identify with Job’s description of his suffering in today’s Old Testament passage. We need to do all we can to guard marriages (ours and others – I strongly encourage every couple in our church to do The Marriage Course) and do all we can to comfort those who have been divorced (not by casting blame like Eliphaz).

3. Calling to singleness

   Jesus speaks of three types of singleness. First, some ‘were born that way’ (v.12a) and ‘never give marriage a thought’ (MSG). Second, there is involuntary singleness (v.12b) – those who ‘never get asked – or accepted’ (MSG). Third, there is voluntary singleness – those who ‘decide not to get married for kingdom reasons’ (v.12c, MSG). Singleness can be temporary or permanent, but it is never regarded in the New Testament as second best. Both marriage and singleness are high callings and, according to the New Testament, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

4. Priority of children

   The words of Jesus challenged the attitude of many of his contemporaries towards children. In ancient societies children were often kept on the periphery of society – to use an old-fashioned British saying, they were to be ‘seen but not heard’.

   God’s tracks are very different. Jesus places his hands on the little children and prays for them (v.13a). When the disciples feel that Jesus should not be distracted by them, Jesus replies, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’ (v.14). He demonstrates the high priority children should have in our lives.

   As parents, it is very important to prioritise our children and not to see them as distracting us from our work or ministry. As a church, we need to see that our children and youth have priority in terms of resources and facilities because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them as much as anyone else. They are not only the future of the church, they are the church.

Prayer

Job 4:1–8,6:21–25

Commentary

Help others stay on God’s tracks

I am so thankful for my friends who have helped me stay on track. However, sometimes it is possible even for our friends to misunderstand or get things wrong. In this passage we see a contrast between Job who helped others stay on God’s tracks (4:3–4) and Eliphaz who was ‘no help’ to Job (6:21).

Sometimes people ask, ‘Is every word in the Bible true?’ I reply, ‘Yes, but like every other book it needs to be interpreted.’ One of the rules of interpretation is that we have to interpret according to the context.

We have to read the words of Eliphaz in the light of the fact that, in the end, the Lord says to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has’ (42:7). The words that we read in this passage are not all true. Job’s friends give far too simplistic an answer to the issue of suffering. Their diagnosis is often naïve, pious and unrealistic.

Job, on the other hand, is realistic and honest as he struggles with pain, sleepless nights, grief and suffering. His suffering is not as a result of his own sin, as Eliphaz and his friends suggest. Job rightly asks, ‘Show me where I have been wrong’ (6:24). God’s Spirit will always convict us of specific sins whereas Eliphaz and his friends say to him in effect, ‘You must have done something wrong to be suffering like this.’ Those who are suffering have not necessarily caused their suffering by their own sin. If we have, then God will show us the specific sin.

Eliphaz and his friends give advice that is a mixture of truth and falsehood and their words need to be interpreted as such. One thing Eliphaz says that is probably true is that Job was a man who helped people stay on God’s tracks: ‘Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees’ (4:3–4).

Your task is not just to stay on track yourself but, like Job, to help others as well by your actions and by your words.

Prayer