Chapter 3: God Has More In Store!
Rebuttal
Chapter 3 is unique in that it is one of the two chapters in which Joel uses no scripture to back up his claim. On the plus side, he doesn’t use any verses out of context or butcher the original meaning of the text.
What he does do is tell the story of Todd. Todd dreams of starting his own business, but his dreams are shelved when he gets married and has a baby, and priorities shift. However, when he is offered an opportunity that is exactly what he dreamed of, he turns it down. His rationale is that it’s too good to be true, that he can’t afford to take the chance.
Joel explains this by saying that “many people miss pivotal opportunities in their lives every day because they’ve grown accustomed to the status quo. They expect nothing better.” He bemoans the fact that “God is opening a new door for them; all they have to do is step through it, yet regrettably they back away from God’s blessings.” The reason for this, Joel writes, is that people don’t make “room in their own thinking for the new things God wants to do in their lives.” In the next paragraph he says that “what you will receive is directly connected to how you believe and what you expect”. He says that God is capable of anything and everything, as long as he is not limited by our thinking. We’ve heard this before, haven’t we? He’s claiming that God is capable only of what we can imagine him capable of. I’ve used the below verse before, and I probably will again, but that’s only because it’s so applicable.
Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
Joel tells us about a woman who wrote to him, telling him about a relative she had never heard of whom had bequeathed in his will a large amount of money to her. Like in the last chapter, we have a problem of post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Just because you read a book and a distant relative dies and leaves you money does not mean that the reason that the relative died and left you money was because you read the book.
Joel uses the example of his dad, who was a cotton farmer who lost everything in the Great Depression. In Joel’s own words, “nobody in our family had amounted to much”. Joel paints the picture of the American dream; a young man pulling himself up by the bootstraps. He explains that God is not “limited by environment, family background, or present circumstances.” So far so good; according to Joel, God is only limited “by our lack of faith.” Now that sounds like something you might hear come out of Benny Hinn’s mouth.
Ecclesiastes 5:19-20 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
Zechariah 10:1 Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone.
Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
John 14:13-14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
Back on topic, Joel, tells how his dad picked himself up out of poverty by becoming a pastor. Last time I checked, being a pastor wasn’t a lucrative career path. Have you ever heard the term “wealthy pastor” before, or even “decently well off pastor”? Probably not. In fact, the very opposite of what Joel is saying is true.
Acts 9:16 I will show him how much he [Paul] must suffer for my name."
1 Corinthians 4:9-13 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
2 Corinthians 1:7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
2 Corinthians 11:23-33 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest in me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,
Joel urges us to break patterns of negative thinking passed down to us from generations past, and not pass them on to our progeny. While any psychologist will tell you this is only healthy, Joel has ulterior motives. If we break lines of negative thinking, this will cease to limit God and make room for all the things he couldn’t do otherwise.
Once again, Joel makes all of the above claims without a single word of scriptural support, and I believe the reason is very simple: there isn’t any. See you next week, and, as always, comments are appreciated.
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