Affinity 8: Psalms 139

In our days of confusion, self-doubt and blurred certainties, the first eighteen verses of Psalm 139 reminds us, God knows everything about us, is always surrounding us and makes a way for us. It is comforting to note how thoroughly the Psalmist records our Creator’s mind toward us. It is as though the truth found in II Peter 4:8 held literally, “ . . . one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,” and that the length of those years were spent preparing each day for every one of us. Not only are these verses a comfort in the aspects they teach us about God, they free us to be who we have been created to be, i.e. we aren’t surprising God by our shortcomings.

“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether” (Psalms 139:2-4).

Here we see how God permeates all of our life. He knows when we are going to stand up and when we are going to sit down. He knows when we are lying down and when we are walking, where we are walking and everything about our walk. He knows what we are going to say before we say it and knows what we don’t say. It is comforting that we don’t have to fake it with God. We can be who we are, because He knows and understands the inner workings of how we think, speak and act. Seeing how naked we are in His sight, let us lay aside all of our pretenses and be real with Him. ‘Salvation’ any other way will only lead to those dreaded words, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Psalms 139:7-12).

Here we see how God is everywhere and in all things. There is no hiding from Him. Even in Hell, God is there. He struggles with us, He holds us up and He never leaves us, no matter what we think, say or do.

“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee” (Psalms 139:13-18).

Here the Psalmist is talking about how we have been created. Notice the thorough job God does in knitting us together. He invests time in defining every one of our individual aspects. With the loving pen of our almighty author, He writes down our character, our image and our personality with great forethought and effort.

Affinity 6: Ezekiel's Four Faces

Ezekiel had a vision in the first chapter.  The vision was of four creatures and each creatures had four faces, “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle” (Ezekiel 1:10). The appearance of the number four brings to mind the four personality types.  The fact each creature had four faces indicates perhaps each creature had the ability to think in different ways, to see the world through different views, mainly four different views. 

Have you ever noticed the old testament is split up into four sections?  There is the Torah, the first five books of the bible.  Then there are the history books.  These are followed by the Literature books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. It concludes with the books of the prophets.  The New Testament is also split up into four sections: the gospels, Acts (history of the church), the Epistles and the book of Revelation (a book of prophecy, for some).  When I first thought about Ezekiel’s four faces, I thought about the four section of the Old Testament and the four sections of the New Testament.  Perhaps there is an alignment. 

I also began to wonder why God gave us these four sections in each testament.  Perhaps it was because certain sections would appeal to certain types of people.  Perhaps there were four different personalities and so, four different types of books.  When you look at the personalities, you can sort of guess at what books would appeal to what types of people:

Law, Gospels – Stabilizers

History, Acts – Analysts

Literature, Epistles – Persuaders

Prophets, Revelation – Controllers

You can think too much about these kinds of things, but it is interesting to note there are certain aspects of the four faces that may align with the sections of the Bible and personality types.  For example, the face of the man could represent intellectual thinkers like the analysts.  The face of the lion could represent the controlling personality.  The face of the ox could be the persuasive types and the eagle, who must find balance in flight could be the stabilizer. 

I like the fact all four creatures had all four faces.  It reminds me we are called to put our best face forward for any given situation.  We have the resources to be what we need to be when called to our best, however, we typically get accustomed to looking at the world in one way and therefore favor our view.  This drives our personality.

Affinity 5: A Little Bit of Crazy

I don’t know if you have heard the saying, “Everybody has a little bit of crazy in them.” More importantly, I don’t know if you realize the saying has Bibilcal roots. Ecclesiastes 9:3c says, “. . . and madness is in their heart while they live. . . .” Ah yes, Ecclesiastes! I like to think of Ecclesiastes as the book of proverbs in its purest form. In this book King Solomon lays out all he has worked out about life and its mysteries. It can seem cutting at times, but it is the perfect book for putting all things into context.

Interestingly enough, although personality theory is mostly about strengths, how to leverage what is good about you, it is also about weaknesses and where you come up short and another person fits in. It is about the crazy in all of us. While it can be a good thing to be the one who knows the big picture all of the time, you aren’t going anywhere without the necessary details for a plan to come together. In other words, all cars can take you from A to B (all functioning cars), but not all cars will take you there in the same condition, speed, comfort and safety. That is how it is with personality. Each personality type has a strength and each personality has a weakness. Let’s take a look.

The Controller. The controlling personality is really good at using conflict, making fast decisions and adapting to change. They are not so good at listening, being patient with others or working on the details. What is the need of the controller? To be in control and taken to an extreme this can be a little on the crazy side. How about when a controller is given a situation where they have no control? Someone else is in control, running things and it is inefficient. The leader criticizes on the personal level and blocks you from accomplishments? This is when the controller starts to come undone. The tendency will be to explode, blame others, dictate or take over. Worst of all, they will suppress emotions and that’s when the real problems begin. Who was a controller in Scripture? Mark, Nehemiah and Saul. The controller’s focus is on results, they are task oriented and we need them – in control of themselves most of all.

The Stabilizer. The stabilizing personality is good at maintaining harmony, working in teams and taking a systematic, thorough approach. They are dependable and build relationships. Their weaknesses are in taking things too personally, initiating a task quickly enough and trying to avoid necessary conflict that will produce results. Stabilizers taken to the extreme will give in too easily, worry emotionally and take a get even approach. Because they are good at manipulating circumstances, they can cause serious damage without seeming to be the cause. Their driving need is for security, to be trusted and to have appreciation. They are the ones to take a large project and ensure it happens with the least cost, emotionally and physically. Who was a Stabilizer in the Scriptures? John, David and Isaiah.

The Analyst. The analyzing personality is all about getting it right. They are good at using facts, data, history and logic. They know what should be the precise outcome and the rules/steps to take in order to get there. In the extreme they tend to feel overwhelmed by a driving need to get it perfect, they don’t like to take a position and will lose sight of the big picture. Pushed too far, the analyst will become overcritical, give up easily, pull away or get caught up in the need to prove they are right. They are the one you need to get a quality, accurate and precise product, the key is to support their standards and principles. Who was an Analyst in the Bible? Matthew, Solomon and the Rich Young Ruler.

The Persuader. Persuasive personalities are not necessarily concerned about being right on facts, they are right on people. Persuaders use verbal skills, combined with optimism and social initiative to bring someone around to their viewpoint. They are good at stimulating others to action and they are seldom at a loss for words. Give them the reigns and they will convince an audience of cold fusion. Taken to the extreme, the persuader is bogged down in details, will fail to follow through on commitments and can become overly emotional. They often don’t set realistic timeframes. Push a persuader too far and you will get a verbal attack, an emotional dump or a cut and run mentality. The persuader is the one who makes the journey pleasant, who cuts tension and brings the personal skills. Just don’t belittle or limit them. Who was a Persuader in the Bible? Luke, Paul and Aaron.

The crazy in us. It is why God gave us each other, and each of us with our own sets of skills and not-so-skills. Understanding strengths and weaknesses in one another is the key to getting along and building the Body of Christ.

Affinity 4: Analysts, Persuaders, Controllers and Stabilizers

Personality types are as old as the Classical time period.  Hippocrates is credited as the first to document personality types, as early as 400 BC.  Paul refers to personality types in Romans chapter 12 (90 AD) as spiritual gifts with distinct attributes separating them one from the other.  He gives instruction to each type with the overall command to work together as a single body.  We are to understand one another, and work together.  This is seen throughout the Corinthian letters also.

Modern day Psychologists have looked at the problem from multiple sides, as attested by the multitude of Personality tests and profiles.  Most go along with Hippocrates using his four categories, Choleric, Phlegmatic, Sanguine and Melancholic, though they have chosen a variety of differing names.  The name I’ll be going with align with Hippocrates as such: Choleric is a Controller, Phlegmatic is a Persuader, Sanguine is a Stabilizer and Melancholic is an Analyst. Here is a common four-quadrant layout for the Personality Types (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. Four Personality Types

In 1921, Carl Jung broke down personality types into 16.  During World War II, Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, developed a questionnaire method for determining personality in correspondence with Jung’s research.  What came out is what we know today as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI).

The MBTI are broken into four categories: Introvert/Extrovert, Sensory/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling and Judging/Perceiving.  When you take a MBTI test, you assess how you rate in each category by choosing preferred activities.  For example, if you are more introverted versus sensory you will select reading a book versus going to a party.

MBTI gives an indication of where you fit within the four quadrants. Figure 2 provides a look at how the MBTI categories work with the four personality types.  The left side of the diagram, the Analysts and Stabilizers tend to be Introverts.  The Right Side, Controllers and Persuaders are Extroverted.  The top (Analysts and Controllers) are more sensory and Judging.  The bottom (Stabilizers and Persuaders) tend to be more Intuitive and Perceiving.  Thinking and Feeling is also a split between the AS and CP sides. 

Figure 2. MBTI associated to Four Personality Types

When you find out what your MBTI is, you will have an understanding of what your primary and secondary personality traits are.  For example and INTJ will have the primary personality of a Stabilizer with the secondary drive of Controller.  An ESFP will find themselves in the Persuader/Analyzer categories of personality and so on. 

The driving need of an Analyst is to be right.  The driving need of a controller is to control things.  The driving need of a persuader is to be liked.  The driving need of a stabilizer is security and trust.  Each drive in each personality is unique and the combination of drives along with the variability of MBTI-ness within each category allows for a wide variety of personal-ness. 

Personality is a spectrum. We reflect what we value in any given situation.  You can be anything you need to be within the personality spectrum at any time. The classification reflects what you chose to be in a majority of situations.

Avoid the pitfall of the personality study. It’s okay to classify core drives, as long as you free a person to act accordingly in a given situation. We are all different from one another. Common drives do not preclude uniqueness among the kinds. It’s simply a reflection of the patterns in your brain. Three lobes – three personalities, with the fourth personality composed of the intersection of the three. If my brain favors the left lobe, I’ll be more analytical. If my brain favors the right, I’ll be more controlling. If my brain favors the lower lobe, I’ll be more feeling. Stabilizers tend to the center, the intersection of the three.