Love Sends You To Your Room

“And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.” (Eze 17:20 AV)

Call me crazy, but I see the tenderness and compassion of God in this verse.  Ezekiel, the prophet of God to Judah, is sharing the reason for the Babylonian captivity.  The net of God will draw all of Judah and Benjamin together.  He will place them in servitude to a pagan king far away from home.  They will cease temple worship.  Their liberty will be severely restricted.  They will be surrounded by those who hate Jehovah.  They will be treated as a conquered people.  This doesn’t sound compassionate or tender, does it?  But note one small phrase: “and will plead with him there.”  I find this very tender.  I find in this pleading a loving Father who wants the best for His child, but the only way to provide it is to reduce that child to nothing so he will quiet himself long enough to listen.  I find in this verse tough love.  But I also find in this verse the patience of God.  I find a God who wants a sit-down with His children in a situation where there is nothing else to do but to listen.

When we think of the chastening of God, unfortunately, we use our childhood experiences as a comparison.  Far too many times our fathers chastened us for their own pleasure.  That is what the book of Hebrews calls it.  Too many times, chastening was more about assuaging anger or feeding an ego.  Too many times, it was inflicted by an impatient heart.  We experienced chastening as an outburst of angry parent.  My dear mother, the patron saint of patience, would rarely explode.  In fact, in my entire childhood this only happened to me once.  My brother and I were messing around at the breakfast table and my Mom’s last nerve snapped.  She had a serving spoon in her hand and threw it at me.  It hit me right above my right eye.  From that day forward, she never lost her temper with me.  Not once!  My father, however, was not nearly as patient.  Serious beating came at his hand.  Did I deserve them?  Most of them.  The thing is, we can misunderstand God’s chastening if we compare our experience against His actions.  God doesn’t easy lose His patience.  If He does, it is planned.  It is not spontaneous.  Therefore, the phrase mentioned above is the norm.  Not the exception.

One can imaging a father who removes his child from everything.  He sends him to his room.  He lets him stew a bit over what is coming.  Dad is wise enough to know that if he goes up too quickly, emotion will be the major influence in any conversation.  The child is removed from his toys.  The child is removed from his siblings.  He is removed from to comfort of his mother.  Everything that could distract or minimize the infraction is removed.  When dad does go to the room, he is going to try to reason with his child.  Sending him to his room is not the punishment.  Sending him to his room isolates him from everything and anything that would get in the way of instruction and correction.  When dad does reason with his erring child, it is not to make himself feel better.  Ego is put aside.  He reasons with his child and tries to help him see why his choices were wrong and the consequences that could come as a result.  The word pleading is more than reasoning.  It is reasoning with a heart of compassion and understanding.  It is reasoning with the knowledge of what will come if the arguments are not heeded.  Pleading is reasoning with the deepest of concerns.  So, when God sent Judah and Benjamin to Babylon, He was sending them there so He could have their ear.  He wanted their ear because He foresaw what would become of them if they didn’t heed His commandments.  There is compassion here.  There is understanding.  There is love.

Above The Murmur

“Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (Ps 59:15-16 AV)

We have a choice.  We have a choice in how we will go through life.  I think it ironic that the degree of adversity is greater for the grateful than the ungrateful.  Those who grudge are doing so over a meal.  The grateful sing of mercy in the midst of trouble.  Our thought for the day is the first two words.  “Let them”.  David refuses to allow those who are complaining to dampen his grateful heart.  His eyes are focused on the right things.  He is not obsessing over his troubles.  Rather, he chooses to see God’s intervention in the midst of his trouble.  Mercy is valued much higher than resentment infiltrates.  It is all about perspective.  David has purposed in his heart that the complainers will not sully his joy-filled heart.  He has purposed in his heart that God has done for him far more than he deserves.  It is not a naïve attitude regarding his troubles.  He is not ignoring them.  Rather, David knows how blessed he is.  Not because of the absence of trouble.  Rather, because of God’s mercy in the midst thereof.

I have read the above passage several times, and verse fifteen makes me chuckle.  This is not a ‘let them eat cake’ type of comment.  For those who don’t know, those words are traditionally attributed to Marie Antoinette in response to a famine in France.  It is traditionally said that she uttered those words as a nine-year-old princess in response to the complaining of the poor that there was no bread to eat.  If there were no bread, then there was no cake, either.  These words are used to show the indifference of a privileged class had toward a peasant class.  This is not what David is sharing.   Rather, he has his own set of troubles.  Perhaps he had food on his table, but as the king of a nation, he had much bigger problems.  It was not that he was calloused toward those who were begrudging their need for a meal.  Rather, he would not allow their constant complaining to cause him to lose focus on the mercy of God.

Putting it another way, we can allow the ‘downers’ to bring us to a place where we cannot see the mercy of God.  We can see the clouds and not the rain.  A few days ago, we had severe storms.  We received in one afternoon what we would normally get in a month.  When that happens, I have to go to the church and make sure we didn’t get water into the basement.  Every time there is a north-driven storm, there is a real possibility of spending a few hours cleaning up a water spill.  Praise the LORD we were dry.  The ground was so parched that three inches of rain barely watered the lawns.  We can look at the downed trees, the flooded basements, or the mud-covered sidewalks and lament the storm.  Or, we could be grateful that our farmers might have a good yield this fall.  It is all about perspective.  David decided he could do nothing about their complaining.  So, let them complain.  No sense in trying to stop it.  You can’t.  No sense in confronting it.  It won’t change a thing.  Rather, he will focus on the mercy of God.  He chooses to see God’s faithfulness.  He would rather see the goodness of God as his primary focus than adversity and the definition of life.

Revealing The Obvious

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have mercy.” (Pr 28:13 AV)

I saw this a bit differently this morning. The first question that popped into my head is from whom are we hiding our sins?  From whom are we covering up our transgressions?  If from other people, does that mean that each time we sin we have to go to a human confessor and spill the beans?  If that be the case, then those religions that have human intercessors as a necessary office for God’s mercy are correct.  The above verse states that confession and forsaking result in mercy.  It is implied that to whom the sinner confesses is the same who grants mercy.  That would rule out a human agent for the granting of general mercy.  No, Solomon might be implying that the sins committed are against another person and only be confessing and forsaking them can the sinner receive mercy from his victim.  Yet I don’t think this is what he is implying.  Rather, I think the wise king is saying that he who covers his sin from God is walking in the wrath of God, and only be confessing and forsaking can he receive mercy from God.

This begs another question.  If God can see all things, how can we cover our sins from Him?  How can we possibly keep anything from a God who sees all things and knows all things?  My mind went to Adam and Eve.  When they partook of the forbidden fruit, their first instinct was to pervert what God had made good and cover it up.  I also noticed that our wise sage did not say to uncover sin.  He simply stated to confess and forsake.  Adam and Eve continued to be clothed.  They did not forsake the necessary actions required because of their sin.  Therefore, uncovering our sin is not for God’s sake.  He already knows about it.  Uncovering our sin is for our sakes.  The pretense must come down.  Humility and honesty must rule.  It makes no sense to attempt to hide something from God who knows all things.  It makes no sense to cover up what God already knows.  Mercy can only be attained through transparency.  A brutal examination of our hearts is needed.  The act itself is just the beginning.  Knowing why we did what we did and why it is so wrong is the point.  Examination is more than skin deep.  Examination goes to the heart of sin itself.

Lastly, let us also notice that the attainment of mercy is ongoing.  The phrase ‘shall have’ is a continuous state.  In other words, if our habit of life is to go to God confessing and forsaking, then mercy is a constant reality.  Confessing and forsaking are not one-time actions.  Our sin is far greater than that.  Rather, confession and forsaking should be a habit of life.  A word of advice, however, is that the LORD’s prayer (as a model) involves far more than confession and forsaking.  It involves praise for God, requests for our basic needs, and the welfare of others.  If all we do is go to God for confession and forsaking so that we can attain mercy, our motive may not be as pure as it should be.  Praise be to God who gives us continuing mercy as we seek forgiveness of sin and victory over sin!  Praise God for His mercy!  It endures forever!

Are You Marked?

“And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Eze 9:4 AV)

Ezekiel was tasked with examining the hearts and actions of people prepared for judgment.  If there were people who were bothered by the sins of the nation, they were marked.  Those who were not were destined for destruction.  Those who went to temple, offered their sacrifices, and wept for the sad condition of Israel were marked.  Those who did little to nothing were left.  Those who prayed for their nation that revival might come were marked.  Those who showed no concern for the pending judgment of God were left.  God does care about those who care about Him!  God does notice the saints who weep for their nation.  God does mark those who care that their fellow citizens hate God and pray for them with passion and deep sorrow.  God does notice those of His people who care enough to do all they can for a wicked nation even if it is prayer and fasting alone.  The question is, are we thy type of saint who cares enough to sigh and cry for our nation?

Never in a million years did I ever think I would see what is happening today.  But I imagine almost every generation has said the same thing.  My generation is the generation that made murdering babies in the womb legal.  We normalized a brutal choice to end to life of the innocent.  Labeled as health care, it is not.  It is selfishness couched at the end of a surgical table.  However, my generation still shunned homosexuality.  If they were part of our culture, they were seen as an outlier not to be taken seriously.  In most forms of entertainment, their lifestyle was seen as a mockery of normal life.  Today, homosexuality is celebrated.  The very thought of permanently mutilating a child for the sake of rebellion by adults was seen as sick and disturbed.  Today, if you do not affirm the right of a parent to mutilate their confused child, you are seen as the mentally unstable individual.  Words have no meaning.  A person can be created female yet with a straight face, call themselves a man.  An individual can be created as one person, yet demand they be addressed in the plural.  Our nation is sick!  Substance abuse, pornography, and broken homes are normal.  Our churches are closing only to be replaced by instant gratification.  There is no ability to think beyond an eight-inch screen.  Eternity is a word.  It is no longer a concept of eventual reality.  There is no concern for death because we cannot internalize the reality of it.  Salvation is so far from the mind because the mind is destroyed by the inability to think.  If Jesus does not come back soon, there will be no human race to save.  We will be like mindless zombies with no spiritual identity.  Fantasy becomes reality, and reality ceases to exist.

God is looking down.  He is wondering if the people of God are sighing and in tears for the condition of the human race.  Our great nation, once the beacon of spiritual light to a dark and dying world, has long past extinguished the light of truth.  We have become the purveyor of all that is evil.  Hollywood, Silicon Valley, stadiums, and sound studios have supplied the world with everything it needs to escape the reality of God.  No doubt the world has always been evil.  But with the industrial age evolving into the electronic age, evil has multiplied.  Our great nation that sent out missionaries and transformed the world is not sending forth disciples of Satan to corrupt the same world.  Our nation was founded upon Judeo/Christian principles, values, and ethos.  Now that has all been replaced by secular perversion.  Where is the sighing?  Where is the crying?  Where are the intense prayer meetings that could change a nation?  It has happened before.  It can happen again.  Are we marked in the mind of God as a saint who is disturbed by what one sees rather than thinking it is all as it has always been? 

Possessing is Praising

“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy [endureth] for ever.” (2Ch 20:21 AV)

Four times the Bible uses the phrase ‘beauty of holiness’.  The other three instruct to worship therein.  This is the only one that instructs to praise the beauty of holiness.  This is significant.  The other three regard the condition of the one who offers worship.  Beauty of holiness is the condition of the saint as well as the condition in which he finds himself.  More than likely, the temple or tabernacle.  Yet above, we see the instruction to admire and praise the condition of holiness.  The first has to do with our preparation toward and appreciation of the holiness of God.  The latter is more of an observance of the quality of holiness.  It is this idea that we would like to consider.

There are several ways in which we can admire the beauty of something.  We can go to an art museum and admire the work of very talented people.  We can gaze upon the masterpieces and stand in wonder how any human being could create such a thing.  Being an artist in my high school years, I certainly appreciated the talent it took to be very good at it.  I am reminded of the Museum of Science and Industry in the city of Chicago.  The clock exhibit is one of my favorite exhibits.  Hanging on the walls and standing on the floor are clocks of all sorts.  From clocks so small that looking at every part requires magnification to clocks so large they take up a room.  There are clocks that are so accurate, the inaccuracy of them cannot be discerned without serious computing.  There are clocks that run on all sorts of types of power.  There are spring-run clocks, electric clocks, clocks that run on moving water, and there are even clocks run by gravity.  There is one that is run by the rotation of the earth.  We can admire their beauty.  We can praise their master’s hand that made them.  Yet, what we cannot do is take them home with us.  The master’s artwork stays in the museum.  The engineer’s timepiece remains on display.  This is not the type of praise to which our writer is speaking.

The praise of which he is speaking is admiration of the holiness of God to the point that one seeks to possess it.  It is not merely admirable because of its quality.  It is praised because it can be attained.  The desire for it can be met with a striving after it.  Praise is mere lip service if we don’t also see the advantage of owning it.  The highest form of praise it attaining that which we find admirable.  This is the point here.  We don’t praise the holiness of God because we really don’t want it.  Sin is far more attractive.  This is not what God intended.  He intended for us to see the beauty of holiness and strive after it.  If we walked into an art museum and the curator told is, we may walk out with one work, it would take us a while to choose the one we liked the best.  We would examine them all.  We would list the advantages of each.  We would narrow it down to a few.  We would think about it.  We would weigh our options.  When the choice was made, we would be assured it was the best available.  The holiness of God should hold an even greater place in our minds.  The holiness of God cannot be compared to anything else.  If it were an artwork on display, it would stand alone, and apart; far and above anything else in the halls.  To praise the holiness of God is to possess the holiness of God at any cost!

Unfruitful In Obedience

“For thou [art] not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, [but] to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.” (Eze 3:5-6 AV)

What I found odd here is that people who spoke a different language and who could not initially understand the prophet would harken more to what he said than those who grew up with the word of God.  The language barrier alone would have complicated any attempt to reach those who needed the truth the most.  I have found it generally true that ministry to the lost tends to be easier than ministry to the saved.  By that I mean that when a saint sows the seed, it is easier to minister to those who respond than it is to those who are around it all the time.  Yet God did not send the prophet to where he would be accepted.  He sent His prophet to where he was needed!  Ezekiel could not lament the place to which he could have been sent because he was sent to another place that would produce little to no discernable fruit.  He was sent to the rebellious house of Israel.  He was sent to an adversarial group.  Obedience is measured by our willingness to follow, not by the results that come of it.

Ministry can be discouraging if we are too focused on results.  Sometimes we pass over ministry because we do not think anything will come of it.  Today, we followed up with a few contacts.  It was in a part of town that most people would avoid.  When traversing the streets of the inner city, one would think there would be little to no fruit that would come from ministry there.  We see poverty and horrible conditions, and some would think ministry in such a place would be destined to fail.  How sad.  These are people.  They are no less human beings than those living in much better homes with well-manicured grounds.  Christ died for everyone.  Not just for those who can help the church grow, give to its ministries, and build a kingdom for the glory of God.  I saw much today.  I spoke to someone whose voice was partially paralyzed.  We went to a group home of those recovering from drug abuse or worse.  They had cats all over the place to keep the mouse population under control.  I saw a lady vomiting at a telephone pole.  Such human suffering and much to do.  Yet, who will do it?

Ezekiel was not sent to a people who would respond to his preaching.  He was not sent to a people who would learn to speak his language so that they could know the word of God.  He was not sent to a people who would come to the LORD in droves, build a nice building, and give him a good standard of living.  He was sent to a people who would not listen.  They never would.  He was sent to a place that would see no converts.  If Ezekiel were a modern-day missionary, he would probably be dropped from support of many churches for a lack of effective ministry.  That is too bad.  As long as he was doing what God asked him to do, results didn’t matter.  This is the lesson for us today.  We are to go where God calls us.  Even if no one hears, we are to go.  We are to go no matter how many are saved.  If all we see are closed doors, it doesn’t matter.  If all we get are rude comments and threats, it doesn’t matter.  What God is looking for are people who will do as he asks no matter the outcome.  That is a prophet whom God can use!

We Are All In The Same Fish Tank

“Our fathers have sinned, [and are] not; and we have borne their iniquities.” (La 5:7 AV)

This is an unfortunate reality of sin.  It affects more than the single sinner.  It often trickles down into future generations.  Sin also affects victims.  Directly or indirectly.  No one sins in a vacuum.  The words of Jeremiah resound with the awful truth that some Israelites will be born in captivity because of what their forefathers have done.  All one must do is use a bit of mental exercise, and the reality of this case will settle in.  There were those who died, or soon perished after Babylon’s invasion of Judah.  Those who died were far more guilty of the sins of the nation than those who were born in Persia.  It doesn’t require much imagination to see how those born in captivity might resent the many generations who preceded them and caused their current situation.  One can almost imagine some child born fifty years from the day they were carried away wondering what he has done to deserve such a fate.  Yet, that is the way of God’s plan.  We suffer individually.  But we also suffer corporately.  There is no perfect nation on Earth.  There never was, nor will there ever be.  As long as man lives on this planet, sin will abound.  Where sin abounds, consequences are sure to follow.  Understanding this goes a long way toward enduring life as it is.

We can complain all we want regarding the fairness of God, but it doesn’t change a thing.  In the mind of God, corporate responsibility is a thing.  Even if we are not directly responsible, by association, we are indirectly responsible.  One of the most annoying events of my childhood was practicing for the High School JV basketball team.  There were several unpleasant drills.  The most unpleasant were suicide drills. There were two ways our coaches administered them.  There was the single accountability way.  That was, if you were the last one to finish the drill, you did it all by yourself the next time.  Then there was the corporate drill.  It was timed.  If the entire team did not finish, then the entire team did it again and again until they completed the drill in the allotted time.  For those unfamiliar, suicide drills were sprinting drills set at different distances.  Running to the quarter-court line and back to the back-line; then to the half-court line and return to the back-line, then to the three-quarter court line and back to the back-line and so forth.  At each destination, the runners had to bend down and touch the line.  Needless to say, we were not pleased with the slowest of the team.  This taught us that failure had ramifications for the entire team.  The same is true of military drills.  There are marches, obstacle courses, etc. that are done corporately.  If one is too slow, the entire platoon does it all over again.  Why?  Because failure could mean the life of your fellow soldier.

Many years ago, I pastored a church that made rules for pastors who abused their situation.  They limited vacation time to two weeks a year.  If the pastor took more than two weeks off, he had to pay for his own pulpit supply.  This came about because one of their previous pastors was away more than he was present.  There was the requirement that the pastor pay for his own utilities.  This took over half of his salary.  But this came about because one of their previous pastors was very wasteful.  This church also required the pastor to cover his professional expenses and submit them for reimbursement.   On such a low salary, not much ministry was done.  This came about because one of their previous pastors abused the church credit card.  As the pastor, past behavior impacted my ability to do ministry.  Was it fair?  Not in the least.  Did I complain?  No, it was the hand that was dealt me.  The point is simple.  Life is full of trouble.  Just ask Job.  Some of it was caused directly by our own choices.  A lot of it was caused by someone else.  That is the way God set it up.  We can complain.  But it won’t change a thing.  We can think God is unjust, but that would be a lie.  It is what it is.  All we can do is pray for God’s presence and strength.  Eternity will take care of it all.