7/15/06 – Imagination

Hi all,

I've been thinking about the word "imagination" as used by David in his final prayer for the nation of Israel, just before his death.

"O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of your people, and prepare their heart unto you."

I Chronicles 29:18

David was asking the Lord to keep "this" in the imaginations of the people. What was "this"?

The context is that David and the people have brought offerings and gathered material for the building of the temple, which the Lord had said would be built by Solomon after David's death. So this prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving at it's heart. That's an important element, because I think the attitude of thanksgiving was part of what David wanted kept in the imagination of the people.

Here are some other elements of what David was asking (29:14-18)

1)    "But who am I, and what are my people...?"

        a.    A basic humility and acknowledgement of God's goodness.

 

2)    "For all things come from You, and out of Your own hand we have given (back) to You."

        a.    Acknowledging God as the Source of all they had and all they are.

 

3)    "For we are strangers before You, and sojourners, as all our fathers were;

        our days on the earth are like a shadow...".

        a.    Acknowledging the fact that God is God and we are mere humans.

 

4)    "I know also, my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness."

        a.    Acknowledging that God knows all and delights in goodness in thoughts

              and actions.

 

5)    "In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things

       (and so have the people)"

        a.    A statement that his motive is pure and his heart is right in his love of God.

At this point David continues and this is where we started: "...keep this for ever in the imaginations of the people..."

David is asking that the Lord keep the people thinking on humility before the Lord, that all things come from him and that our lives are mere shadows on the earth, and that the Lord delights in an upright and good heart. Additionally, as evidenced by his last words of this verse (and prepare/establish their heart to you), the above elements lay the groundwork for a person to prepare their heart to know God and serve him.

Today there is a battle for the imaginations of people, but David prayed that these simple, basic truths would be kept in the imaginations of his people even after his death. Earlier in this chapter, in verse 9, David tells Solomon that "the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts..."

David is clearly concerned that after his passing the people he loved and served for 40 years would have other things occupy their imaginations. We can look to Israel's history to see his concern, and perhaps foremost in his mind would be the danger of idolatry.

I don't think David's words are irrelevant to our culture today...Hollywood, MTV, sports, pop culture...and much more are vying for our imaginations in what is really updated forms of idolatry.

What is an imagination? The word translated as such is Strong's #3336 and means: "A form, thing framed (mentally), conception (in the mind). David asked that humility and a sense that God is God and we are not would be formed and framed in the people's minds.

It's interesting that "imagination" is used in Genesis 6:5 where it states: "God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Notice the two elements...wickedness and imagination. One is action, the other is the thought that preceded it.

Because Jesus stated that the days in which he returned would be like the days of Noah, we need to look around and see if we've reached the stage in this world where the imagination of mankind's thoughts are evil and if his actions are wickedness (as a result).

I would say we are close, wouldn't you?

There is a continual battle on what is being framed and conceptualized and formed in the minds of mankind.

Jesus, speaking of the battle for control of the imagination in Matthew 5:27-30, said to look on (imagine) an adulterous affair was as bad as doing it. And to think about putting your hand out to do any sin (represented by his 'if your hand offends you' statement) is equal to the action.

Jesus wasn't talking about literally plucking out one's eye or cutting off one's hand to keep from committing sin, he was talking about plucking out and cutting off the imagination that could lead to sin.

This is evidenced by his own temptation in Luke 4. Luke lists the representations of the 3 categories of sin Jesus was tempted with; body, soul, and spirit: Turn rocks to bread, prove you are the Son of God, and worship me and I'll give you the earth.

Jesus was tempted, yet without sin. That means in his imagination he could imagine the flesh indulging itself fully in every area. In his imagination he could picture himself jumping off the tower and not being hurt and how good it would be to reveal who he really was. He could have the world if only he would worship the devil, and he could imagine all the good things he could do if he had it...yet he didn't follow up on those thoughts.

Instead, he 'plucked them out' and 'cut them off'. He rebuked the devil and turned his thoughts to other things, and won the victory.

It's not a sin to think the thought if the thought is dealt with immediately. When Cain's offering was not received the Lord immediately stepped in to try to stop Cain's imagination running to murder:

"...And Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? (no answer from Cain) Why do you look sad and depressed and dejected? (no answer from Cain) If you do well (what's right) will you not be accepted? (no answer from Cain) And if you do not do well (right) sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." Gen 4:4-7

The Lord tried to stop the imagination process in Cain, but Cain rejected God's thoughts and ways, and rose up to murder Abel. The Lord is still trying to arrest our imaginations today, but we must do the work of it. The Lord told Cain to do right, and if not sin was crouching at the door ready to pounce, BUT YOU MUST MASTER IT.

As Paul would later say, there is no temptation that comes against you but that which is common to everyone (I Cor 10:13)

You CAN overcome wrong thoughts and imaginations...whether they be temptations of the flesh or visions of doom and gloom, you can overcome them.

When I teach on spiritual warfare I bring out the fact that we don't really even need the power of God to overcome the devil, in terms of basic Godly upright living.

Your free will all by itself is more powerful than either the devil or God for that matter. This world is full of men and women who don't know God but have overcome smoking, drinking, eating and other addictions, self image issues, forgiveness issues, issues of being hurt or abused or other relationship issues...all by themselves.

Yet so many Christians act so weak and like they can't do anything without God's help and a ton of spiritual warfare backing them up!

Just stand up and make that hard decision and then develop the discipline and backbone to stop whatever it is you need to stop or rise up and overcome your issues. When the Lord talked to Cain he didn't offer help from heaven...he told Cain that HE would have to master his thoughts.

It's no coincidence that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament said very, very little about Christians standing against the devil. Their writings were all about Christians standing up strongly in their mind and will and actions for the things of God, and that is how the devil is defeated.

There is a basic principle of exchange, though it's not talked about much. When John the Baptist preached repentance he didn't just tell them to stop sinning, he told them to replace the old ways with new ones.

When a person stops smoking (for instance) they often gain weight. Why? Because you can't just stop doing something, you have to replace one with the other.

The same is true of the thought processes. David didn't pray for the people to stop imagining, just that their imaginations would be filled with knowing God, who he is and what he has given them.

Of the 36 times the word "imagination" is used in the KJV, it is only used in a positive way that time in David's prayer. There are a couple neutral uses, like when David told Solomon that God knows all the imaginations of the thoughts, but the rest are negative.

Jeremiah in particular speaks of the imaginations of the people being wicked...and what did they do? Refuse to hear the Word of the Lord through Jeremiah, but instead went their own way.

I like the simplicity of David's prayer...let the people keep in their imaginations the fact that God is God, our lives are as a shadow, all we have comes from God, and give thanks. These elements lay the foundation for being able to serve the Lord...to be established in Him.

I think it's such a good prayer I've wondered why I haven't been praying that for those unsaved family and friends I know...why can't I pray that the Lord would turn the imaginations of those I love from the things of this world to the simplicity that God is God and they are not?

I've always prayed that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened, that they would be filled with spiritual wisdom and knowledge, but now I think I'm going to add a prayer along the lines of David...that you would put in their imagination to be humble, to acknowledge that you Lord are the source of life and all we have, and that they would not be able to dismiss such thoughts from their minds, and this would pave the way for them to prepare their hearts to seek you of Father.

Sounds like a good prayer for ourselves as well.

My thoughts for this week,

John Fenn
cwowi.org