Verse mining is a practice that is done by both sides of the coin. Both believers and unbelievers. Those who wish to prove or defend the faith and those who wish to denigrate it. It is a practice that will ALWAYS lead to a shallower (at best) or horrifically wrong representation of all things God.
We have hundreds, nay thousands of denominations, partly as a result of verse mining. What is verse mining? It is simply taking a single verse or passage, paying no mind to the rest of Scripture, either the immediate context of that verse or passage, or Scripture as a whole. One of the most egregious examples of this is what is known as the “prosperity gospel”. It is only possible to come up with this heresy as a result of taking specific verses, forming a belief system, without regard for multiple contradictory verses throughout Scripture.
I saw a post this morning that was labeled “Verse for Today, January 16, 2024, Wherever you go, whatever you do, will be blessed.” And the reference given was Deuteronomy 28:6.
Now, lest you think me to be a nit-picker, let me say up front that, knowing a little bit about the person who posted it, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind the intent here. His intent was not to distort or misrepresent God, the Faith, the Bible, in any way shape or form. Rather, to be an encouragement to anyone who would read this. Yet, this verse, standing alone IS an utter misrepresentation of God, the faith, and the Bible. It is categorically NOT true, especially to a broad audience.
A similarly misused passage is Romans 8:28; “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Most of the time this verse is completely misrepresented by a partial quoting. “All things work together for good”, or “God causes all things to work together for good”, leaving out the qualifier; “to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”.
In Deuteronomy 28:1-14 we see the Lord speak to Moses regarding the blessings that will come to Israel as a result of their obedience. This is followed by verses 15-68 listing the curses that will be the result of disobedience. It would be tempting to apply this to the individual follower of God, or to the citizens of the earth as a whole, but we must be cautious in doing that. In the context of this chapter, God is speaking directly to Israel. This is known as the Moabic Covenant. We must not assign a quid pro quo too quickly, but always allow for the context, all of Scripture, and the sovereignty of God.
As I read this, the very first thing that came to my mind was Job. The very first verse in the book of Job describes him like this; “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Certainly, as you read the next 4 verses, one would have to say that God was true to his word. Job was obedient, so much so that God Himself called him “blameless and upright”. Can there be a higher category of obedient than “blameless and upright”? And God blessed him. But, if Job’s life is to be used as an example, a reason for obedience, we have to refrain from reading the following 41 2/3 chapters.
So, why obey? We obey because God is the Almighty One. The Lord of the universe. The Creator of all things. We obey as a fulfilment of the purpose for which we were created. We obey because we recognize who God is. It is from this mindset that Job, through all of his travails, ultimately came to the right conclusion. “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”
To be continued…