Reflective Bible Study

In today’s hypersensitive society and culture, it’s hard to imagine Jesus being intentionally offensive towards someone. After all, since God is love, and Jesus came to represent God, shouldn’t Jesus love everyone equally?

In my mind, the answer to this question is a yes, but with this answer, we find several examples where Jesus simply is not overly interested in being kind or nice to everyone. When reading the gospels, we quickly discover that Jesus reserved some harsh comments for the religious leaders. I can understand challenging those who claimed to represent God on earth when they were doing a bad job, however, the passage we will be focusing on in this episode is not about Jesus insulting the religious leaders.

Instead, against all politically correct, hypersensitive advice, our passage focuses in on Jesus insulting a gentile woman who came asking for His help. While this sounds very un-Christlike, I wonder if this insult and the conversation that surrounded it, can teach us something about God’s character.

Our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read it using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 24, we learn that:

²⁴ Jesus went from there to a place near Tyre. He entered a house. He did not want anyone to know where he was. But he could not keep it a secret. ²⁵ Soon a woman heard about him. An evil spirit controlled her little daughter. The woman came to Jesus and fell at his feet. ²⁶ She was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Pausing our reading briefly, so far, this event is normal. Jesus goes to a place, wants to keep a low profile, but was unsuccessful. When word spreads that He was in the area, people came requesting help. It would not be logical to think that only Jews would come if Jesus is capable and willing to help everyone, so here we have a Greek mother coming to ask for help for her daughter.

So far, this event is pretty straight forward. But in the next verse, Jesus shocks everyone present, and His response should shock us living over 2000 years later. In verse 27, Jesus replied saying:

²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

This might just be the most offensive statement Jesus ever made in His entire ministry. In just a few words, Jesus lowers the status of all non-Jews to be equal to dogs – at least that is how our hypersensitive world today would interpret this statement.

Part of me wonders if this is not Jesus’ analogy. While it certainly seems as though Jesus is validating this prejudice by repeating it, I wonder if the Jews, as an unwritten national rule, believed themselves to be God’s only children, and every gentile person was equal to dogs. I don’t believe there is a different scripture in the Bible to support this exact idea, but we do know the Jewish leaders had a very clear “us vs. them” attitude and that they believed themselves to be superior.

I wonder if Jesus made this statement, not for the woman herself, but for those standing around witnessing this request. The implication in Jesus’ words is that this woman should wait in line till the very end – specifically after all the Jews who had come to be helped were through – and if there was time left, and perhaps a little bit of Holy Spirit left after everyone else had been helped, then maybe Jesus would help her. This interpretation of Jesus’ words doesn’t really sound like Jesus, except that Jesus might simply be speaking the thoughts of those witnessing this event.

Perhaps there was a long line of Jews needing help, and first-century culture didn’t say first come, first served, like our culture today. Instead, they had a Jews first, no exceptions mentality.

Once Jesus had everyone’s attention with His harsh response, we discover the woman’s quick reply. Continuing in verse 28, the mother responds:

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “That was a good reply. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ So she went home and found her child lying on the bed. And the demon was gone.

In this event, if we can step back from Jesus’ insult, we see some amazing themes at work. While it would be easy to focus exclusively on Jesus’ insult and ignore the rest of the event, we would miss an amazing truth that is contained within this passage.

While the woman’s response to Jesus’ insult might have had a feeling of sarcasm, her response displayed an impressive amount of faith. Her response basically says that any crumb or sliver of help will be enough. She isn’t interested in the scraps after the meal, if any “food” is left, but instead she is content with the crumbs that might fall during the meal. Pulling the idea outside of the meal metaphor, this woman tells Jesus she is fine with any help He can offer, and if one of the upcoming miracles doesn’t need all of its required elements, she is happy to have the leftovers.

This level of faith is amazing when we think about it. Looking at the faith of this woman, and the centurion that Jesus helped earlier in His ministry, I get the impression that Jesus’ gentile miracles displayed more profound faith than His miracles for those of Jewish ancestry.

But this isn’t the only theme we see hidden within this short conversation. Within this conversation is the idea that God came to bless the Jews, but that the Jews were to bless others with their blessings. The woman’s response challenges this ideal, saying that this bless-it-forward attitude is not happening. If anything, the Jews give them – the gentiles – crumbs, but generally nothing at all.

This gentile woman exposes the failures of the Jewish people in her response. While Jesus alludes to how God intended for the Jews to model God’s attitude and bless others, the woman’s response shows how this original plan was failing. I wonder if Jesus used this event as a teaching point later in His ministry with the disciples, telling them that they were to help and bless those that God brings their way, regardless of the person’s nationality or ethnicity, or even their race, gender, or beliefs.

The big truth for us living today is to not mess up this plan like the Jewish people did. God loves all people, and He has called His people to love others and bless others. In God’s eyes, His people will not display an “us vs. them” attitude, but instead God’s people will display an “us blessing, helping, and loving them” attitude. This is God’s ideal for His people, and as followers of Christ, it is our challenge living 2,000 years later.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Be sure to intentionally love and bless those who God brings into your life. Believe that God wants you to be a blessing to others like He has blessed you, and intentionally choose to be loving, kind, and compassionate to those in the world around you because God has been loving, kind, and compassionate towards you.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God and your connection to the Holy Spirit. We grow closer to God through praying and studying His Word, and while a pastor or podcaster can give you ideas, and things to think about, only through prayer and personal study will you grow your personal relationship.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

If you have ever felt that following Jesus is hard, or perhaps even a little unrealistic at times, then you may be surprised to find out that you are not alone. It may also surprise you that this isn’t just a feeling people have in today’s modern, busy, technology-filled, Internet-connected world. On multiple occasions within the gospel narrative, large crowds abandoned following Jesus because He said something challenging or something they didn’t agree with.

I don’t claim to know or understand why Jesus pushed the crowds away, but periodically, perhaps if the crowd was getting a little too big, Jesus would go deeper and more challenging in what He was teaching – and almost always, He would say something that would ultimately push the crowd away. While I doubt Jesus was interested in pushing people away, I suspect Jesus would rather have devoted disciples over casual followers. I wonder if Jesus could sense the commitment level of the crowds that followed Him, and if a crowd had a shallow level of commitment, Jesus pushed them to either deepen their commitment, or to find someone else to follow.

Our passage for this episode comes immediately after Jesus has just pushed the crowd following Him in this way. Leading up to the verses we are focusing in on, Jesus has just finished talking about how people must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to gain eternal life. While we can understand that these two ideas are metaphors that echo the sacrificial system the Jewish religious culture was built on, either the crowd did not understand this connection or they believed this challenge was too difficult to apply into their lives.

Let’s read about what happened following Jesus sharing this teaching from the gospel of John, chapter 6, using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 60, John tells us that:

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

In this passage, both Jesus’ response to the disciples grumbling about what He was saying, and Simon Peter’s final response stand out as significant in my mind.

In Jesus’ response, which sounded weird to the disciples like it sounds weird to us living over 2,000 years later, we learn something interesting about human nature and about God. Jesus knew that His ministry on earth would end, but that would not stop His ministry at a whole. While some people might have pictured Jesus’ ministry ending when He ascended to heaven following the resurrection, several places in the New Testament frame Jesus’ ministry as not stopping. Instead, Jesus’ ministry shifted, or we could say that it changed focus slightly.

Perhaps some of Jesus’ followers at that time chose to follow simply because of the miracles He was doing, and/or perhaps it was because Jesus was a popular celebrity. These people followed the man Jesus, but they didn’t believe Him to be One with God – and One sent from God. These people would have been the first to be offended by Jesus’ claims and among the first to leave when Jesus shared something that challenged their viewpoint.

When we align our lives around believing in Jesus, this means that we must accept His sacrifice on our behalf. The flesh side of the discussion Jesus shared centers around Jesus’ death on the cross – which was foreshadowed for centuries in the sacrificing of an innocent lamb – and by “eating his flesh”, we are internalizing what He did for us on the cross.

The parallel metaphor of drinking Jesus’ blood, which is even more disturbing when stopping to think about it, means that we must accept Jesus’ life into ours. The blood of a living creature is one key that holds the creature’s life, and perhaps one reason why Jesus’ words here are so appalling to those in the crowd is because the Jews were commanded in Moses’ law to not eat any animal before first draining that animal’s blood.

Since Jesus appears to directly contradict what Moses commanded the nation of Israel to avoid, I suspect that there is a bigger truth Jesus wants His followers to learn.

In my opinion, Jesus challenges us through Moses’ law to not internalize any life that is based in a sin-filled world. Jesus came from Heaven to live a sinless life – so His life is the only life we should look to for getting strength for our own lives.

In some of the pagan cultures, they believed that if one drank the blood of an animal or an enemy, they would gain that animal or enemy’s strength and life essence. While I don’t think Jesus is trying to redeem and validate a very pagan practice, He may be alluding to it in a figurative sense. Jesus might simply be telling us that internalizing His life is the only way we will be able to have true life ourselves – and true life that leads to eternal life.

In Jesus words, we find the statement at the end of verse 63, “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.”

I suspect that in this passage, Jesus is not speaking here of His physical body or physical blood. Instead, I suspect that Jesus wants to point us to the very real work of the Holy Spirit working through His life. Jesus’ words have creative, restorative, and life-giving power, and they are the essence of His ministry. The miracles and healing then become significant because they point us to pay attention to the message and the Messenger. The miracles lead us to the Messenger and His message, while the Messenger and His message bring us eternal life.

If one believes Jesus’ miracles to be the devil working or the result of a series of cleaver and deceptive tricks, then they can easily discount His entire ministry and message. But if God’s power is the only possible source behind a miracle, then that validates the message and the Messenger – even if it is challenging or difficult to believe. Through our belief in Jesus and what we think about Him, God is able to “enable” us to come to Jesus.

“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (v. 66)

In the minds of this crowd of followers, Jesus had stepped over the line. He might be from God, and God might support His ministry, but in their eyes, Jesus’ words at the conclusion of this sermon were too difficult to accept.

On seeing the crowd beginning to disperse, Jesus asks His twelve core followers in verse 67, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”

Perhaps Jesus believed everyone would leave, or maybe He saw some confused or torn looks in the eyes of His closest followers. However, before too much silence had settled in the air, Simon Peter speaks up with one of His bold statements about Jesus in verses 68 and 69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

In Peter’s mind, Jesus is It. Jesus is the One that God had promised. Jesus is the One that gives eternal life. Why look for anyone else? Peter’s track-record of faith was far from perfect, both in his past and in his future, but Peter has a clear head about the simple truth that Jesus is the Holy One of God, and regardless of what anyone else says or does, He is staying.

With this in mind as our episode is coming to a close, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to believe with Peter that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Be sure to study out this truth, from both the gospels as well as the rest of the Bible.

Also, as you pray and study the Bible for yourself, purposefully look for evidence of a God who created and loves each of us personally. While there is no shortage of opinions in the world about who God is, what He is like, and who Jesus is in relation to God, choose to base your opinion on what is shared in the Bible. The Bible has stood the test of time, and it is a reliable guide for understanding who God is and why Jesus came to this earth.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

After one of the most famous miracles in Jesus’ ministry, we discover a second miracle that happened that night. While the famous miracle where Jesus fed a crowd of over 5,000 people prompted the disciples to believe more fully that Jesus was the Messiah, the miracle that happened that night challenged their impression of Jesus even more.

Immediately following having the disciples collect the leftover bread from the feeding of the 5,000, we come to our passage for this episode. While this event is included in all 4 gospels, let’s read what happened from Mark’s gospel to discover some things Mark chose to focus on. With that said, our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Jumping into the event in verse 45, we read that:

⁴⁵ Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him while he sent the people away. ⁴⁶ After saying goodbye to them, he went up a mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸ Jesus saw that they were in a lot of trouble as they rowed, because they were going against the wind. Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. He wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹ When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought, “It’s a ghost!” and they began to scream. ⁵⁰ All of them saw him and were terrified.

Immediately, he said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!” ⁵¹ He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were astounded. ⁵² (They didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread. Instead, their minds were closed.)

⁵³ They crossed the sea, came to shore at Gennesaret, and anchored there.

This miracle is amazing in my mind. We read that as soon as Jesus steps into the boat, the wind, which had been blowing against them, simply stopped. While other gospel writers include Peter’s big water walk during this event, Mark’s gospel ignores this detail while instead adding some details about what happens after they landed the following morning.

However, I paused reading our passage here because Mark’s gospel also chose to include the side-note about the disciples’ minds being closed. With the amazing miracle of the loaves of bread, and the astonishing miracle of the calm sea, we discover that the disciples’ minds were closed to understanding the significance of these miracles.

This detail challenges me to wonder if my mind is ever closed to what God wants to teach me. If those who were the closest to Jesus while He was alive on earth had their minds closed, who am I to believe that my mind could not fall into a similar trap.

While I read these two miracles, I cannot escape the detail that each miracle points to Jesus being the promised Messiah, and that Jesus is God. In the Old Testament, we find one of the prophets, Elisha, feeding 100 people in a miraculous way. For those of you who are curious, this relatively unknown event happens at the end of 2 Kings, chapter 4.

While I don’t know if the minds of the disciples were closed to seeing this connection, or if their minds were closed to seeing anything but this connection, the connections are mind-boggling. When looking at 2 Kings, chapter 4, we discover a miracle where oil is multiplied and it allows a widow to pay her debts. This miracle in some ways echoes Jesus turning water into wine, which was Jesus’ first miracle.

Also in chapter 4 of 2 Kings, we find a miracle where the prophet Elisha raises a child back to life. In Jesus’ life and ministry, there are several instances where Jesus raised a child back to life, and I imagine that many of those present saw this connection between Jesus’ ministry and Elisha’s.

Another notable miracle in Elisha’s ministry is making an axe head float. This miracle happens a couple chapters later in 2 Kings chapter 6. In Jesus’ ministry, we just read about Him making Himself “float” as He walked on the water. Peter even gets to experience this miracle when reading about this event in a different gospel.

I don’t know if what we see described in Mark’s gospel about the disciples minds being closed relates to them not seeing these connections to Elisha’s ministry, or if they could not see that Jesus came to fulfill more than what Elisha had accomplished. Whatever the case is, if those closest to Jesus fell into the trap of being closed-minded, we should be extra cautious about being closed-minded as well.

With all that said, Mark includes another set of details about what happens when Jesus and the disciples reach the shore. Picking back up in verse 54, we learn that:

⁵⁴ As soon as they stepped out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran all over the countryside and began to carry the sick on cots to any place where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Whenever he would go into villages, cities, or farms, people would put their sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.

The last phrase in this passage jumped off the page at me when I read this. Mark tells us that those who were sick begged Jesus to “let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about a woman who snuck up to Jesus believing that if she just touched the edge of His clothes, she would be made well. When I read this passage in Mark’s gospel, I couldn’t help but wonder if the news about the woman’s almost secret miracle had spread like wildfire, causing people to believe that they simply needed to touch Jesus’ clothing to be healed.

The way Mark’s passage concludes, we learn that even though the disciples struggled with closed minds regarding who Jesus was, those who were sick didn’t let doubt about Jesus get in the way of their faith that He could heal them. Jesus honored the faith of those present by letting them be healed simply by touching His clothing, because Jesus knew that this faith would grow into a life-saving belief in Him.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Be sure to place your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus does not worry about how or why we place our faith in Him, but simply that we place our faith in Him. While we might be tempted to over-think what it means to place our belief in Jesus, in the context of how our passage concludes, faith in Jesus simply means trusting that He will help us and/or heal us in the ways we need help and healing.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself because through it, the Holy Spirit will teach you way more than any author, pastor, or podcaster ever could.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or doubt your way out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

While the gospel record focuses on Jesus’ life and the lives of those He helped and taught, periodically, a gospel writer will insert a side-note about something else that happened during Jesus’ life that wasn’t entirely connected to Jesus. Our passage for this podcast episode includes one such side-note – or in this case we could call it a “side-story”.

In a number of our episodes during this year of podcasting, we have focused in on the ministry of John the Baptist, and on how his ministry paved the way for Jesus’ ministry. However, John’s ministry was different from Jesus’ ministry, and perhaps because the gospel writers’ knew John’s ministry and Jesus’ ministries were connected, a few of them deviate from Jesus’ story to tell us what ultimately happened to John the Baptist.

Let’s read the passage and find out what happened to John the Baptist. Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 9, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because he was now well known. Some people said, “He is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet, like the prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶ When Herod heard this, he said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has risen from the dead!”

¹⁷ Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother, but then Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John’s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.

Let’s pause reading the passage because I want to point out two things I find interesting so far.

The first thing I find interesting about this passage is how Mark weaves John’s story into Jesus’ story through Herod’s statement when He hears about Jesus. Mark doesn’t break from Jesus’ story without giving us a transition to let us know a brief summary of what had prompted John the Baptist to end up in prison, and, as we will soon read, what eventually lead to John’s head being detached from his body.

The other statement that stood out to me in this section of the passage is the last portion of verse 20, where Mark tells us, “. . . though John’s preaching always bothered him [and this is king Herod], he enjoyed listening to John.”

This statement probably stands out for similar reasons as the other one, because it tells me that John’s preaching was intriguing enough to be interesting and enjoyable, but truthful enough to make the region’s leadership uncomfortable. From how Mark frames John the Baptist’s preaching, we can conclude that John was an excellent communicator who knew how to share a message in a way that taught truth while also being engaging to those who were listening.

Let’s continue reading from verse 21 and learn what happened to John the Baptist:

²¹ Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John’s death. On Herod’s birthday, he gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and the people eating with him.

So King Herod said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went to her mother and asked, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother answered, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵ At once the girl went back to the king and said to him, “I want the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.”

²⁶ Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸ and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s followers heard this, they came and got John’s body and put it in a tomb.

While King Herod disliked John, he knew that killing John was not wise politically, because John had a decent level of support still among the Jews living in his region, but Herod’s wife hated John because of John’s stance that their marriage was not acceptable or as the passage puts it in verse 18: “lawful”.

However, the queen found her opening through a somewhat blind, open-ended, blank check that Herod gave to her daughter following a dance. Before continuing further, I won’t claim to know what sort of dance this would have been to have pleased Herod so much that he would be willing to part with half his kingdom, but chances are high that he was drunk and this significantly limited his ability to reason that a promise of this nature was a bad idea.

However, Herodias and her daughter were not drunk, and the queen was very quick and calculated in her response through her girl. As I say this, I can’t help but notice that this passage makes a clear distinction that the girl who danced before Herod was Herodias’ daughter, which probably meant that this was a product of Herodias’ marriage to Herod’s brother Philip. This would make the girl who is not named in this passage Herod’s niece. This detail in part explains her loyalty to her mother that was greater than her loyalty to the king.

However, even with all the nuances within the details of this passage, we cannot help but stumble upon some big truths worth paying attention to in this passage. Through the details we know about the end of John’s life, we can discover and learn both a warning and a promise.

The warning comes from Herod’s perspective. This warning is a warning to be cautious about the words that we speak and the promises we make. We may back ourselves into a corner if we are not careful, which results in us pushing ourselves to do something we really didn’t want to do.

However, the promise we can learn in this passage comes from John’s perspective. The promise we discover is that regardless of what happens to my body in this life, God has promised full protection for my future life with Him. While nothing can happen in my present life that He has not allowed, I can understand that whatever happens to me in the present life is insignificant when compared to the future life He has promised me.

With this warning and promise stated, and as we have come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Remember the warning and the promise that we can learn from Herod and from John. Purposefully be cautious of the words you say and the promises you make, and remember that with whatever happens to you in this life, God has promised protection in your future life as a follower of Jesus.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, make prayer and personal Bible study a regular habit. Always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what being a follower of Jesus really means. Through studying the Bible, discover who Jesus is and why following Him is important! You won’t get a better answer or reason to follow Jesus than what is found when looking at His life within the Bible and the four gospels.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!