What Comes After Your Conjunction?
This might not seem like the manliest of topics to bring up on a men’s ministry blog, but let’s talk about conjunctions.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a grammar lesson about the merits of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. Trust me, I’m not the one to teach anyone about grammar. But harken back, if you will, to your Schoolhouse Rock days. Remember “Conjunction Junction What’s Your Function?”
The answer: Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
With that in mind, let’s reflect on the way some of the smallest words used in the Bible – words like and, but, or, for, yet, nor, so, therefore, and because – connect us to God’s plan and provision.
I find myself pausing when I encounter such words, circling them in my Bible, and thinking about what comes right before and right after them. They are short but powerful words, because…
They connect our pain to God’s healing.
They connect our sorrow to God’s hope.
They connect our weakness to God’s strength.
They connect our confusion to God’s clarity.
They connect our ignorance to God’s insights.
They connect our despair to God’s love.
And they connect our gratitude to God’s heart.
Conjunctions hook whatever we’re experiencing, to what God has to say about it, often by addressing two big questions:
Why should I take this (whatever the issue) to God and why can I trust in God’s response?
Perhaps the most famous biblical conjunction is therefore, because, as preachers love to tell us, it reminds us to stop and ask, “What’s it there for?” Usually, it’s there to bridge a theological truth with a practical application. AI tells me that Paul uses the Greek word hemen (therefore, then, or so) more than 180 times in his epistles! (See Philippians 2:12 if you want an example.)
My favorite biblical conjunction junction, however, is “But God.” It’s a two-word phrase that typically tells us to get ready because God is about to shake things up and save the day, sometimes in a disruptive way.
In Genesis, for example, the king of Gerar was ready to take Sarah into his bedroom. “But God came to Abimelech in a dream” and warned him that Sarah was Abraham’s wife and that he would die if he slept with her. (See Genesis 20:1-3)
Luke, writing in Acts, reminds us that Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, “But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles.” (See Acts 7:9-10)
And, more personally, you and I were hopeless and helpless sinners, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)
When God commands us to do things, Satan would love for us to feel constricted, but God (there’s that phrase) wants us to live in freedom. So the Holy Spirit often drops in a conjunction when explaining why obedience to God’s commands is the key to living free.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
Why does God lead us along the paths of righteousness? For his name’s sake. (See Psalm 23:3)
Why should we enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise? “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (See Psalm 100)
The psalms are filled with examples of these powerful little parts of speech, but perhaps no chapter has more of them than Psalm 86, a prayer written by David. Take a look and think about how we can apply this prayer to our lives.
Verse 1: Hear me, Lord, and answer me, (… why? …) for I am poor and needy.
Verse 2: Guard my life, (… why? …) for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God;
Verse 3: Have mercy on me, Lord, (… why? …) for I call to you all day long.
Verse 4: Bring joy to your servant, Lord, (… why? …) for I put my trust in you.
Verse 7: When I am in distress, I call to you, (… why? …) because you answer me.
Verse 9-10: All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. (… why? …) For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
Verse 12-13: I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. (… why? …) For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.
Verse 14-15: Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God; ruthless people are trying to kill me — they have no regard for you. (… so where’s my hope? …) But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Verse 16: Turn to me and have mercy on me; show your strength in behalf of your servant; save me, (… why? …) because I serve you just as my mother did.
Verse 17: Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, (… why? …) for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
The point of all of this is that our spiritual health and growth often is reflected in the words that surround the conjunctions that describe our lives. Our daily prayers are like the psalms – opportunities for us to tell God exactly what we’re going through in life. We can express our gratitude, our doubts, our praise, our pain, our worship, and anything else that’s on our hearts.
Our prayers can describe us as men of faith who are poor and needy but who call out all day long and put our faith in the Lord because we know He is a God who will answer us, a God who does great and marvelous deeds, and a God who loves us and is compassionate and gracious.
The bottom line is we don’t have to be a grammar nerd to connect our lives to God’s promises and provision. That’s the function of a conjunction junction.
So, pick up the Word and make some connections.