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Pushy people of the Bible
I have noticed that God likes people who don’t take no for an answer. Remember the Syrophoenician woman? She asked Jesus to drive a demon from her daughter. Jesus said “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). That kind of remark effectively weeded out the “mildly interested” from the “desperate for God.” God likes the second kind.
The angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob through the night and then said, “Let me go, for the day has broken” (Exodus 32:26). Jacob replied, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” Where did he get the nerve? Why wasn’t he struck dead?
Elisha told King Joash to smite the ground a few swift smacks with his arrows to ensure victory against the Syrians. (God was testing him to see how badly he wanted it.) That wimpy monarch struck the earth three times and then quit; the prophet was upset. Middling desire yields middling deliverance, and Joash would receive from the Lord partial but not total victory.
Abraham got feisty when God said he was headed down to destroy Sodom. The Patriarch got the Lord to grant concessions (Genesis 18). Moses also pushed back when God said He was going to destroy Israel because they were a worthless bunch of complainers (Numbers 14). He got the Lord to relent. He also said he wouldn’t take one step toward the Promised Land unless the Lord went with him (Exodus 32). Request granted.
There is disrespectful talk-back and then there is the talk-back God loves. Like anybody else, He just wants to know you really mean it when you say you love Him.
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God likes people who don’t take “no” for an answer?
I thought the meek will inherit the earth.
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it creates confusion when writers replace biblical terminology with their own words. That is what has happened with this article. Instead of being called Pushy People, it should be “People of faith” or “Acts of Faith”
Then, we wouldn’t have to waste time off-track arguing…unity would be created
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He hates lukewarm people. We need to know the truth and then stick with it boldly. When people cling to what God has said or remember his very character, they can pray boldly. Both Abraham and Moses reminded God of His own character and statements. When we pray in Jesus’ name, it is praying in his character among other things. Meekness is not false humility or wishy-washy character. Jesus was meek, not a wimp.
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Nice insight here … I’d always thought it seemed a little rude for Jesus to insist He was (at least then) for Jews-only. I never realized he was just seeing how interested she was ….
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Kimberly,
Jesus wasn’t being rude towards the Gentile woman. His mission was to bring in His kingdom on earth through Israel, and through Israel, the rest of the world. There was little faith in Israel, however. For the most part, the nation Israel rejected His gospel, even after His resurrection.
It was only through compassion when he saw how much this Gentile woman wanted deliverance from sin and sorrow that Jesus deviated from His mission and gave the woman what she asked.
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Mr. Peters,
I looked up “meek” in my Hebrew/Greek Key Word Study Bible (AMG Publishing, TN). The Greek for “Meekness” is “Prautes”.
The Lexical aid for Prautes is on page 1751:
“Meekness, expressed not in a man’s outward behavior only nor in his relations to his fellow man or his mere natural disposition, but expressed rather as an inwrought grace of the soul, first and chiefly directed toward God (James 1:21). That attitude of spirit in which we accept God’s dealings with us as good and do not dispute or resist. Prautes according to Aristotle, is the middle course in being angry, standing between two extremes, getting angry without reason (orgulotes), and not getting angry at all (aorgesia). Therefore, prautes is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure,and for the right reason. Prautes is not readily expressied in Eng. since the term “meekness” suggests weakness, but prautes is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness not in weakness but power. It is a virtue born in strength of character.”
Meekness is submitting (ultimately and finally) to God’s will. Are those who are talking back to God, asking Him to grant their bold petitions, rebelling against his will? Aren’t they asking God BECAUSE they wish to stay within His will?
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Your post is very helpful, A.P.. Thank you!
The “gentleness in power” comment reminds me of the scene in “Schindler’s List” when the murderous villain (I forget the characters’ names) is convinced by Liam Neeson’s character (Mr. Schindler, I think) that it is actually more admirable to REFRAIN from exercising your power/authority to kill/murder another human being, than it is use that power.
The beauty of mercy: deserved punishment is with-held. And the beauty of grace: undeserved favor is bestowed.
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Well done, Andrée. I am reminded also of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4. She told Elisha, “I will not leave you.”
And let’s not forget Ruth. She wouldn’t leave Naomi — which is to say, she wouldn’t leave “the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
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