Take The Medicine While It Works

“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Pr 29:1 AV)

 

Do you have those verses in the bible that scare you?  For me, this is one of them.  This verse is the final verdict on the unrepentant.  This speaks more of failed corrective measures than it does direct punishment for rebellion.  Solomon is saying what we all already know.  That is, there comes a time when correction does not good.  No matter the circumstances which we reap, there seems to be nothing that works.  Eventually, the consequences of our choices are our undoing.  What is really troublesome to me are the last four words.  There is no more hope.  No matter what consequences may come, it will never change behavior.  This is an awful state in which to be.

Over the years, I have served others with failing health who could have reversed their situation, or at the least, extended their lives.  One soul comes to mind.  A man whose life was full of stress decided the way to manage it was to take up smoking.  As we all know, smoking isn’t the healthiest of all habits.  One way or another, it was going to take his life.  And that it did.  Already struggling with respiratory issues, nonetheless, he would escape to take in a smoke or two.  Surviving on oxygen for the last five years of his life or so, he never gave up his cancer sticks.  Whenever he felt life was a bit too much to bear, he would light up.  His family begged him to quit.  He tried a couple of times but never was successful.  It was difficult visiting him because he struggled to breathe.  It was a challenge to carry on a conversation because he got winded just talking.  This went on for years.  Finally, the smoking and breathing issues got the better of him and he passed away.  There came a time when even if he did quit, it wouldn’t have mattered.  The damage was too extensive.

This is what repetitive sin does.  No matter what we choose to believe, sin is not done in a vacuum.  There are consequences for our choices.  These consequences are designed by God to change our actions.  If we drink, we get a disease.  If we are immoral, we are publicly shamed.  If we are bitter or angry, it causes harmful toxins to build up.  Whatever the sin, there are consequences.  Sometimes they are subtle.  However, left unheeded, they turn into significant problems.  When we are on the outside looking in, we think the individual has some kind of disconnect to reality.  How could he continue in his sin and suffer as he is for so long, and choose not to change?  Yet was are the same.  We have an abiding sin that will exact a great price, yet we ignore the warning signs and headlong into disaster.  This is why the verse is so scary to me.  I wonder if I have gone down a path of no remedy.  It is a good check against habitual sin.  Knowing there may come a time of irreversible consequences should stop and cause a pause in life.  How about you?  Are you heading for disaster?  Seek the pill of truth and discipline before there is no more remedy.

Sweet Dreams

“For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.” (Jer 31:25-26 AV)

 

Verse twenty-five is the LORD speaking.  Verse twenty-six is the prophet speaking.  Have you ever thought how much sleeping is a waste of time?  I have.  Aside from my own need for rest, I see others sleeping and think there are eight to ten hours wasted doing nothing but laying there.  It really hits home when I watch a show that depicts someone sleeping.  They are getting ready for bed and I think, “now they have to wait a third of a day until they can begin anew to fix whatever situation needs fixing.  Being totally shut off from the world around you for a third of your life seems so inefficient.  Even my dog, who sleeps away far more than a third of his life, has things he could be doing.  One would even consider it a productive eight hours if we could use our minds the whole time.  Sort of like a half-comatose state where our bodies would not function, but our minds could use the time to process information and either problem solve, or create.  Perhaps there is something else going on in the wee hours of the night.

Exactly what happens when we sleep is often a mystery.  No doubt science has a biological explanation for everything that transpires.  It can explain the chemical operations of the brain, the cleansing of the body, and even the replenishment of the bloodstream.  Psychology can explain the substance of our dreams.  It can tell us what hidden fears or stresses our minds are dealing with as we sleep and dream the oddest of all events.  With all that man can explain, there is something which they cannot.  According to our passage, the LORD satiates the soul and replenishes the emotions.  To understand this a bit better, let us think for a moment about the word ‘satiate’.  Think of a sponge.  To satiate is to fill to capacity.  While a sponge is submerged in a pail of water, it is satiated.  It can hold no more water.  However, if brought out of the pail and wrung out, it is no longer satiated.  It must be drenched in order to be once again, satiated.  The Hebrew word means just that.   To be filled to capacity.  What a wonderful picture of what the LORD does as we sleep.  Something of which we are unaware until we awaken.

We need rest if for no other reason that the LORD can recharge our batteries.  This may seem like an odd devotion, but sleep is one-third of our lives.  Sleeping takes more time out of our life than eating, worshipping, or working.  Sleep is a major component of our lives and often, it is neglected.  I am reminded how important sleep is because of the handicap with which I was born.  I was born with narrow veins and capillaries in my brain.  This means it does not clean or toxins nearly as quickly or efficiently as a normal brain.  This happens during sleep.  Fatigue is my worst enemy.  If I do not get enough quality sleep, then I am severely disoriented, find it hard to communicate, and have balance issues.  As I age, seizures and strokes are very possible.  I need sleep!  What I can tell you is because of my situation, the results of rest are super pronounced.  There is a significant difference between seven to eight hours of deep sleep compared to five to six hours.  It is like night and day.  It is the difference between a few sips of cold water and gulping down as much ice water as one can take.  When the LORD satiates the soul and replenishes the emotions, He does so in the middle of the night that we might be refreshed to face a new day.  It is one of the many wonders of the hand of God of which we are hardly aware.  Praise be to God for His wonderful works to the children of men.

God is in the Restoration Business

“They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.” (Jer 27:22 AV)

 

The ‘they’ and ‘them’ are the vessels and other items of the temple.  When Nebby and his armies conquered Judah, they carried away all the precious metals to Babylon.  This included all the gold used to plate everything in the temple.  Once stripped, the temple was then destroyed.  While reading this passage, the mind went to efficiency and logistics.  Wouldn’t it be easier to simply start with new?  The wagons that must have been employed to carry all that pertained to the temple from Babylon to Jerusalem were not insignificant.  It must have been an undertaking.  Wouldn’t it have been easier to simply raise a levy on the occupants of Palestine?  The levy could be used to craft new materials for the repaired temple.  Why bring the old back and restore them?  Why not start fresh.  After all, the items of the temple have spent years in the halls of conquest erected by the Babylonians.  The pagans had drooled over them for decades in a belief their god was greater than the God of Israel.  They were compromised.  They were sullied.  They were no longer holy.  Why bring them back?

I have hanging on my wall a restoration project.  Years ago, when Lisa and I visited Berea, Kentucky, we visited a luthier’s shop who fabricated Appalachian dulcimers.  This wonderful fella gave me a brief music lesson and watching him play this instrument, decided I could handle the challenge.  However, his hand-made works of art were out of my price range.  Arriving home, I began my search for a used piece.  The LORD provided one rather cheaply and off I went.  It was wonderful.  However, not content to stop with the basic instrument, I began looking at six-string concert size instruments.  These were out of the price range of Rockefeller himself.  So, the LORD lead me to find a used and rather beat up one on eBay.  Bidding on it, I won it for only twenty dollars.  The problem was, it was truly a barn find.  Hand-made by an average luthier at best, this instrument was a mixture of different types of wood and a finish that would make a journeyman sick.  It has so much old lacquer on it, it was peeling off like sunburnt skin from a beach comer.  With an investment of less than forty more dollars, we restored this piece to better than new condition.  A new fretboard, fret bars, tuners, strings, and finish, and it looks like a museum piece hanging on my wall.  Restoring the old was far more satisfying than buying new.

God created everything new in six full days.  Brand new everything.  Since then, He has been in the restoration business.  Although the LORD creates individual human souls, the LORD is primarily in the restoration business.  These items restored to their rightful place are a good picture of what the LORD does with the saint.  We were created in our parent’s nature.  We came to the age of accountability and were dead in our sins.  When Jesus saved our souls, it began a restoration project with His created beings to bring them again into a condition of Christlikeness.  Adam and Eve threw away perfection.  We participate in the same by our choices to sin.  Yet, the LORD doesn’t care to destroy the entire human race and start over.  Rather, He desires to redeem all who wish to be and restore them to the place He had always intended.  This restoration project is bathed in the blood of Christ.  Sometimes we get impatient or we seem to be cast down at the failures that we fail to see the restoration project underway.  When I applied the finish to my dulcimer, I had to wait days in between coats.  Not minutes or hours.  Days.  Multiple thin coats over weeks until it was the way I wanted it.  Before that, sanding, sanding, and more sanding.  Here a little, there a little.  The whole project of restoration took almost six months.  But it got done.  The LORD requires our lifetime for restoration.  But I am glad He is in the restoration business.  If He wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here nor would I ever have the privilege to know Him!

He's Coming Back

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” (Jer 23:5 AV)

 

We live in a world that is controlled by leadership we would not have.  I believe this is the case almost everywhere.  Here, in the U.S., we have the leaders which the majority of people have chosen.  Either directly, through elections, or indirectly, by not requiring accountability.  Either way, passively or actively, we have the leaders with which we are content.  However, this is not true for the rest of the world.  Most non-western style nations have leaders with whom they are stuck.  These leaders ascended to power by nefarious means.  They rule their nations for their own profit and interests.  The world is clamoring for righteous rulers who will lead for the welfare of the people and not the interests of self-serving profit.  What mankind cannot grasp is the only leader qualified to lead them in the manner in which they wish to be led is God Himself.  All human leadership will disappoint.  Jeremiah gives us the promise of a coming King who is God Himself and will rule from love and not from self-aggrandizement.

Don’t laugh, but one of the YouTube video types I enjoy watching is in-cab train journeys.  The poster simply mounts a camera on the windshield of the engine and shoots the entire trip.  There is no narration or music.  The only sounds one hears are the sounds of the train.  I watch videos that are hours long.  No plot.  No storyline.  I watch these while I am studying or working.  Every once in a while I will look up from my computer monitor to enjoy the scenery going by.  It is a way to escape the cruel and sin-sick world without leaving your own home.  When I watch these videos, the handiwork of God’s creation impresses me more than words can say.  In particular, the train rides through mountains is what floats my boat.  I also like the open prairies.  The wilder the terrain and the less evidence of mankind, the more enjoyable it seems to me.  I know it sounds weird, but in a virtual way, I can escape that which the sin of mankind has marred.  There are no cities of sin to see.  There are no governments to oppress.  There is no tarnish of evil to avoid.  It is the finger of God’s work on the canvas of earth that speaks of God’s wonderous omnipotence far and above what man can do.  The tracks upon which the trains rides are a good metaphor for mankind’s effect on God’s decree.  Minimal at best.

This is how we need to see our present human governments.  In the whole scope of God’s eternal plan, their impact is minimal, at best.  Jeremiah encourages Judah as they are about to go into captivity.  No doubt, this change would be radical and permanent for some.  Their world would be turned upside down because they were disobedient to the LORD.  However, the correcting hand of God is not without encouragement.  As cruel as Babylon would be, the Messiah is coming.  As cruel and the Medes and Persians might have been, the Messiah is coming.  As cruel and Egypt, Greece, and Rome would be, the Messiah is coming.  As cruel and Germany was and the Antichrist will be, the Messiah is coming.  The same promise is given for all the people of the earth.  As unjust as rulers might be, the Messiah is coming.  All this will come to an end because the impact they will have on the plan of God is negligible at best.  Jesus is coming!  No force on earth can stop Him!  He is coming and He will set up His kingdom in righteousness and holiness.  However, to enjoy this blessing, it requires the sinner first to make Jesus the King in one’s heart by accepting His free gift of salvation.  I am on a train ride.  The train must conform to the terrain which it travels and not the other way around.  If the train tries to make the terrain conform, it will wreck.  And wreck it will.  Jesus is coming and the train will ride as it should!

Hope In the Evil Day

“Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.” (Jer 17:17 AV)

 

As Old Testament prophets go, Jeremiah had his share of troubles.  He was the weeping prophet that warned Judah of the coming invasion from the East.  As one can imagine, the message was not a welcomed one.  This poor prophet spent a few nights bound in the prison.  He endured persecution from those who professed to represent God.  When Babylon did invade, they pulled this faithful prophet out of a pit.  The disobedience of his native land caused him distress.  All that befell Jeremiah was allowed by the LORD for a means as a testimony against them.  When Babylon invaded, those who mistreated Jeremiah were severely punished.  Our faithful prophet above, utters a prayer that the LORD does not break him.  That is what the word for ‘terror’ means here.  Jeremiah can be pushed to his limits.  He is asking the LORD to know those limits and keep the prophet from losing hope.

Life can be disheartening due to no cause of our own.  Such was the case with Jeremiah.  We can have hard times that are not of our making.  The prophet can attest to this.  We can be pushed to our limit and wonder if we can make it through to the end.  We pray.  We fast.  We seek encouragement.  We ask others to pray.  We read our Bibles, go to church, and listen to Christian music.  We do all that we can do to get through the present circumstances, but in the back of our minds, we do not think we are going to last.  We hope the LORD does not allow circumstances to become so overwhelming that we lose our spirit.  Something that always gets the better of me is a daunting task.  I grew up in one of the snowiest parts of the continental United States.  We measure snow by the feet and not the inches.  When we got snow, it was always a lot.  When I was a young father, added to snow removal was the urgency to do so because I had a wife and three small sons who needed things.  When the snow came, it had to be removed or my family might go without food.  So, when I see snow, I see a daunting task that can soon become disheartening.  When I saw a double car driveway stretching sixty or seventy feet and the snow is three feet high, daunting doesn’t even begin to tell you how I felt.  No snow blower in the shed garage meant it all had to be done by hand.  It makes one want to quit even before he starts.

It is at times like these when the promise of 1Cor 10:13 truly rings loudly.  Yet, it is our discipline to trust what God says.  Paul states,  “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1Co 10:13 AV)  This is for what the prophet prayed.  He prays the LORD will not allow him to reach the point of the dissolving away of his spirit.  He does not want his spirit to be broken.  Some evidence of life must remain.  He is asking the LORD no matter how gray the clouds might be, that God becomes his hope.  He is asking the LORD to be brighter than the dimness around him.  If he has to remain in a pit, then may the light of God’s life reside there with him.  What Jeremiah asked for, he received more than enough.  Sure, Jeremiah quit. ONCE.  But he didn’t remain down for very long.  He may have been broken.  ONCE.  But he got right back up again.  This is for what Jeremiah prayed and the LORD heard him.

Our Deepest Source of Rejoicing

“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Jer 15:16 AV)

 

The circumstances of this verse are the power behind it.  Jeremiah makes this statement in rather difficult times.  The exact timing of this verse escapes the mind.  Either Judah is in the process of being carried away by Babylon, or they already have been.  It really matters not because, from Jeremiah’s perspective, the carrying away is only a matter of time.  Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, has run out the patience of God.  Jehovah has had enough of Judah’s unfaithfulness and has passed judgment.  Jeremiah knows this.  He also knows no matter how hard he preaches, the nation as a whole will not respond.  He sees the dark clouds rising.  He sees the hard times ahead.  The disobedience of Judah will affect him in some small or great way.  The prophet’s life will never be the same again.  Jeremiah may have been given liberty from the government of Babylon, but the life he knew will never be the life he will have.  In the light of all this truth, Jeremiah still testifies to the power of the written word.  Regardless of what may happen, the word of God is the prophet's joy and rejoicing.

Sometimes, we are so used to the word of God that we forget what impact it truly has on us.  Streaming is the new cable TV.  What is great about streaming is you can find entertainment that is worth watching.  Especially the really old stuff.  The stuff I grew up on.  Today’s entertainment is so full of wickedness it is discouraging.  The golden age of television merely put in video form the art of storytelling for a purpose.  When stories are told, they are usually told to teach a principle in the venue of being interesting.  The golden age of television was when things were black and white.  The days, way back when, wherein a night shot was done by merely diming the lens.  Every once in a while clouds and even the sun can be seen when it is supposed to be nighttime.  Those were the days.  The thing is until streaming came along, we had forgotten what it was we were missing.  We missed the programming that reinforced morality.  In watching some of the old black and white westerns, I am reminded of a time when there was appropriateness among the genders.  When there were only two genders.  These shows, and others like them, help to escape the evil and wicked nature of today’s world.

How much more the word of God!  Joy and rejoicing are strong words.  Especially considering what it was Jeremiah and Judah faced.  When Jeremiah stated the words were found, this could be referencing the discovery of the word of God in the temple when Josiah the boy king ordered the temple to be cleansed.  The word of God had taken a back seat for several generations to the point it was lost in the house of God.  Imagine that!  Going to church and not finding a bible anywhere.  Those were the dire conditions under which Jeremiah served.  When the word of God was found, it became the source of Jeremiah’s survival and more so.  Even his spiritual thriving!  When we are going through the mill, it is so important to have our eyes and minds in the word of God.  It will feed us when no other can.  The power of the word of God is beyond our comprehension and it is the source of all joy even when things are not all that good.

Growth Requires Correction

“Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.” (Pr 23:12 AV)

 

The word for ‘apply’ means to open up.  Solomon is encouraging his children to open their hearts to instruction.  The word for ‘instruction’ means correction.  One cannot be instructed without being corrected.  The two go hand in hand.  If the heart is not open to correction, then the ears are closed to the gaining of knowledge.  Wisdom and success are a matter of the heart.  If we have no desire to learn what it is we are doing wrong, then there will be no interest in how to do it right.  If we are not willing to be corrected, then any knowledge in that area will fall on deaf ears.  The more we are willing to correct an error, the more we gather more knowledge.  It is a shame there comes a time in the lives of some people where they stop growing.  They do not like to be corrected and therefore, shut their ears to any new knowledge.  Solomon would say this is unwise.

There is a learning curve in whatever we endeavor to learn.  Initially, we learn a lot.  Once we become proficient, then correction becomes harder to endure.  The hardest pupils to teach are those who have a working knowledge but are not at the professional level.  They have a working knowledge of a skill to get by, but not enough to be termed an expert.  The multitude of knowledge does not make an expert, either.  One can be book smart but not truly wise.  Wisdom takes correction.  Wisdom requires someone with a more thorough working knowledge of the skill set we have oversees our growth and makes observations for our betterment.  The further we advance, the more detailed those corrections become.  When we started, there were major corrections made that were obvious and resulted in dramatic changes.  The further we go into that skill set, the finer the corrections become and the less dramatic our results.  There comes a time when we have to seek the guidance of someone who may have less knowledge, but more skill.  We may think we know more simply because we have more head knowledge, but in reality, our growth is stunted because no one took the time to correct it.  Head knowledge alone can become counterproductive and even harmful if a correction does not accompany it.

In the information age, this is exactly where our churches are today.  We have a plethora of knowledge available at the click of a mouse.  We have the printed page filling our bookshelves.  There is so much data on any giving subject, anyone reading or watch videos can immediately feel as though they are an expert.  The problem is, too much knowledge with mentoring makes for a prideful theologian.  It has become an alarming trend to see the spiritual offices of the church diminished because of increased knowledge without hearts being applied to instruction.  Whatever theological bent we desire can find a guru who pushes it.  It used to be the spiritual offices of the church were where the saints would go first.  Now, they are the last.  And often they are approaches as though under trial for their profession of faith.  The correctors have become the corrected.  There is a danger in self-sufficiency.  Too much knowledge without the humility to be corrected makes for stunted spiritual growth.  Like my guitar lessons of decades past, I hit a wall with the ‘B’ family of chords was on the list.  I could see how they were formed, but I didn’t care for the discipline to make it happen.  There was knowledge, but the instruction wasn’t fun anymore.  In our walk with God, refusing correction means we cease to grow.  And that is where a good number of saints reside today.

Check Yourself In

“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (Jer 8:22 AV)

 

Judah lay sin-sick.  She had rejected the God whom they served for so many generations.  The leadership of Judah was enticed by neighboring potentates. They no longer desired to be the testimony to God’s holiness, for that would set them apart from their neighbors.  This separation caused grief upon Judah.  This separation invited unwarranted persecution.  Believing compromise would end the trouble, they welcomed heathen practices and gods into their nation.  They drifted away from the one true God and towards the gods of their neighbors.  They also allowed lax moral standards into their nation.  They abandon the Sabbath.  Judah was sin-sick and there was a cure.  The balm of Gilead was still there.  The physicians were still making house calls.  All they had to do was to ask.  All they had to do was to welcome the healing influence of the prophets and word of God and the consequences of their compromise would dissolve.  It was there, on the shelf, waiting to be accessed.  Yet, Judah was happy in their infirmity even though the consequences were painful.

To get better, there has to be a will to get better.  Men are horrible at seeking medical attention when they need it.  We want to toughen it out until the problem is unbearable.  If our employer didn’t require a yearly physical, we probably wouldn’t go.  We avoid the doctors like the plague.  Which is silly when one considers how awful the plague is.  For me, it is the dentist.  I cannot take going to the dentist.  I can count on two fingers where I allowed my teeth to get so bad, I was forced to go to the dentist.  One such time I remember distinctly because I learned I could not handle Vicodin very well.  It made me absolutely sick.  The first trip to the dentist revealed an infected tooth.  It needed a root canal but the infection was so bad, the dentist prescribed Vicodin and an antibiotic two weeks before the procedure.  I can remember laying on the sofa, sicker than a dog, as I was waiting for this medicine to work its magic.  It took several days, but eventually the infection cleared up and off I went to get a root canal.  It would be my first one and from what I heard from others, it was second only to medieval torture.  The other reason I can remember this particular root canal above all other dental work was how quick and painless it was.  I was astounded!  The dentist was so fast that I barely wrapped my head around what he was doing before I heard, “All set.  You are free to go.”  What made this silly was my tooth did not have to get that bad.  This dentist was the most popular in the county.  He was the best at pain management.  He had a waiting list a mile long.  Yet, I had an in.  There was balm at Gilead and the physicians were standing by.

Judah was sin-sick.  They needed healing.  Gilead was the birthplace of Elijah.  Gilead also possessed a school of prophets.  There was sufficient cure for what ailed a nation.  Today, the balm is in our churches.  The physicians are behind the pulpit.  Yet our nation stands as sin-sick as any nation has ever been.  We have allowed the perverted thinking of the world to destroy what was once a Biblically minded nation.  Our laws have changed over the last hundred years to reflect a more secular and godless culture.  We kill the unborn.  We promote sodomy.  We are entertained by the immoral.  We are lulled by the necromancer.  Our nation, if it continues much more, will not be able to defend itself.  She has gone the way of Rome and there lies at the door the Goths, ready to take what is not theirs.  Pleasure and prosperity have been our undoing.  We have not gone to the physician.  We have not applied the balm.  Now our teeth are rooting out and we may get to the point we cannot even save what has been repaired.  Time to seek healing in the only place it can be found.  That is, in a personal relationship with Christ.

The State of the Later Day Prophet

“My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” (Jer 4:19 AV)

 

Jeremiah is a special kind of prophet.  He is tasked by the divine hand of God to preach to a people who are about to lose everything.  There will be no repentance.  There will be no revival.  Judah was heading towards military defeat at the hands of Babylon.  The ten northern tribes had already been in captivity for several generations.  God’s people refused to turn back to the God who brought them out of Egypt and not sit in jeopardy of their liberty and lives.  No matter what messages Jeremiah preaches, there will be no change.  Much like the preaching of Noah and his three sons.  While they were preparing the ark, they preached repentance and judgment.  Noah and his three sons did not have one single convert.  Only eight souls went into that ark.  Lot was another.  He lived righteously, yet vexed his righteous soul at the influence of the cities in which he dwelt.  He was God’s man and he couldn’t even save his own wife.  These men were asked to do the impossible.  They were asked to preach with no hope of souls from their efforts.  Jeremiah, called the weeping prophet, preached his heart out and Judah completely ignored him.  He saw what was coming and that was why his bowels moved as they did.  He could see the train wreck, but no one was willing to move.

I feel sorry for my doctor.  I don’t know how he does it.  He cares for many patients, myself included, who don’t live a perfectly healthy lifestyle.  We are getting better.  We are starting to watch what we eat and exercise a bit more.  However, a healthier lifestyle and the maintenance medications we are on are not going to stave off the inevitable.  Sometime in the future, distant or near, this earthly tabernacle will cease to function.  When the clock is slowly ticking down, my poor doctor warns me of habits that may hasten that day.  He is a top-notch clinician.  He watches my blood draws like a hawk.  He is the best doctor in the whole Milwaukee area.  I can assure you!  He looks at all the labs and when he diagnoses a problem, it is not merely by symptom.  He wants to know the lab numbers.  He orders specific tests and narrows down the issue.  In the end, whatever treatment is followed, another problem will crop up.  I don’t know how he can treat patients like me who don’t always follow his educated advice.  He has to go home every night knowing the vast majority of his patients will disregard what he knows is best for them and return months later with a different problem.  It has to be truly disheartening.

This is what every messenger of God faces no matter the generation.  The overwhelming majority of souls one shares the love of Christ with will reject what they deeply and desperately need.  This doesn’t stop with the lost.  When the preacher mounts the pulpit, at any given time, he may be addressing a largely deaf audience.  What is worse is he can see what is on the horizon.  He knows the great falling away which precedes the coming of the Antichrist is upon us.  He can see the overall condition of the world and the church at large.  He knows things will not get better until they get worse.  Yet, like Jeremiah and Noah, he still declares the word of God with compassion and concern.  His bowels are moved at the condition of mankind and knows there is very little he can do about it.  He is looking for that one drowning swimmer who will scream for help so he can rescue the perishing.  The task in front of us is daunting and emotionally draining.  Only by our love for Christ, the lost and the sheep, and the power of the Holy Spirit can we continue in the valiant effort.  We need to pray for the Jeremiahs.  He quite.  He gave up.  That is until the message of God’s plan burned in his bones like a fire.  Pray for one another.  Prayer for you preacher.  Pray the Spirit to keep alive the flame of the gospel lest he burns out with the reality of the situation.

Disrespect Only Hurts Self

“Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.” (Pr 20:20 AV)

 

How we treat our parents is the only commandment with promise.  The Bible teaches if we treat our parents with respect, then God promises a long life.  This is the meaning above.  Literally speaking, if a child cursed his parents, it meant the death penalty.  There is an example in scripture of just that.  A young man was ill-treating his parents and blaspheming the name of the LORD.  They took this lad out of the camp and stoned him to death.  Solomon's wisdom here is not only for the Old Testament saint.  We would not institute the death penalty for disrespect.  However, the truth still stands.  If we disrespect our parents, he may no cost us our physical life, but it may cost us the blessing of a contented and fulfilled life.  Either way, disrespecting our parents has severe consequences regardless of the character of our parents.  God does not stipulate disrespect is warranted if our parents were not perfect.   Respect was commanded regardless of a parent’s quality of character.  It was commanded; with promise.

I have known many families who are made up of ungrateful children.  They make it a habit of complaining about their parents.  Particularly their fathers.  It seems to be an epidemic in separated Christian circles.  These children complain the rules in their houses were too strict.  They reach their teenage years and they can reason abstractly.  Yet, without an absolute point of reference.  Their musing is based solely on their own values.  They see Dad as a flawed being who makes rules but is not a perfect ruler.  They put on him something even they are incapable of.  Perfection.  When Dad fails, the disrespect comes.  I have watched these children grow up into adulthood.  These same children, unless they grow out of that disrespect, are not happy adults.  They are miserable and complaining adults who pass on to their children the habit of disrespect.  Dad never claimed to be perfect.  He never said that.  Perhaps he wasn’t transparent enough.  But he never claimed absolute perfection.

Paul stated the truth above this way:  “Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)” (Eph 6:2 KJB)  The promise is the light of life will not diminish.  Those who come to terms with the imperfections of their fathers and respect him regardless of those imperfections have learned the hard truth they are no better.  This humility goes a long way in the enjoyment and blessings of life.  The heart is content.  The mind is at ease.  Showing appreciation and respect for parents isn’t just for minors.  It is for adult children as well.  How we hold up our parents is directly associated with our quality of life.  If our lives stink, maybe it is time to evaluate our attitude towards our parents.  My father recently passed.  My mother passed three years ago.  I have no one to call on father’s day.  No one to send flowers to on Mother’s Day.  Time is short.  The opportunity to show respect is not eternal.  Take the time to do just that before all opportunity is gone.  It is the key to a blessed and contented life.

Beware of Bitterness

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” (Heb 12:15 AV)

 

Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines bitterness as, “A bitter taste; or rather a quality in things which excites a biting disagreeable sensation in the tongue.  In a figurative sense, extreme enmity, grudge, hatred; or rather an excessive degree or implacableness of passions and emotions; as the bitterness of anger.”  If we take many cases of bitterness we see in the scriptures, some were understandable while others were not.  Hannah was in bitterness of soul because she was tormented for having no children.  Job was in bitterness of soul over his great loss.  Yet, Simon was in the gall of bitterness.  Sometimes, God takes pity on those bitter of soul.  Sometimes, He does not.  Bitterness, if we are not careful, can be a powerful emotion that defines one’s life.  Something these cases have in common is their attitude towards their circumstances.  Either they think it unfair or unjustified.  Job could not figure out why the LORD allowed his circumstances.  He became bitter.  Hannah could not understand why she was not blessed with children while her nemesis was.  She became bitter.  Simon wanted fame without humility.  He was trapped in bitterness.

The real danger of bitterness is who or what it affects.  In our verse above, it affects others.  The context is our reaction to correction.  The bitterness that can come because we do not humbly accept God’s correction can defile many.  We can allow our reaction to God’s hand to discourage those who desire to walk with God.  They can become bitter by following our example and then the correcting hand of God does no effect.  However, the real danger in bitterness is our reaction to God Himself.  To become bitter against God is a real danger.  This is where Job began to teeter.  In struggling to find purpose in his calamity, it was suggested God would have been better served if Job was not created at all.  Job suggested the LORD perhaps made a mistake in creating him and then destroying him.  In the bitterness of his soul, he came very close to accusing God of less than divine purposes or ability.  He came right up to the edge.  Satan, in his pride, has nothing but contempt and bitterness against God.  He felt slighted that he could no be equal with his maker.  Bitterness is a dangerous emotion because it bores right down to the center of the heart and it is almost impossible to root it out. 

Helen Keller said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long in disappointment and bitterness at the closed door that we do not expectantly look for and therefore see with pleasure and gratitude the one which has been opened for us.”  Bitterness is a pause in the emotional health and growth of the soul.  When bitterness takes root, it overpowers all other positive emotions.  It steals from us the ability to be joyful, content, happy, and pleased with the fortune of others.  Bitterness is a weed that chokes off all other emotions that might produce fruit to the benefit of the heart and God.  Bitterness must be avoided at all costs.  Accepting God’s plan for our lives is the beginning.  Being grateful no matter the circumstances also helps.  Sharing in the joy of another is therapeutic.  Bitterness is a monster sitting at the door, waiting to be let in that it might consume and destroy all it finds within.  When we become bitter against God, that is the worst evil.  We are saying to God that the free gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins is insufficient.  That is a dangerous place to be.

Only God Can

“The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” (Pr 18:14 AV)

 

There is a difference between ‘infirmity’ and ‘wounded’.  ‘Infirmity’ is sickness wherein ‘wounded’ is stricken or smitten.  The other clue is the body is that which is infirmed.  The spirit is that which is smitten.  The writer acknowledges when our bodies are out of whack, it is our demeanor and attitude which usually brings us out of it.  However, when the mind and heart are smitten, this is another thing altogether.  The question has an obvious answer.  The body may be healed by medicine.  However, the mind and heart are the realms of God’s care.  The question suggests a situation wherein the afflicted are beyond helping themselves.  The body may get better as we participate in the healing process.  But if the mind and heart are smitten, God is the one who initiates that healing process.  Before we get too tangled in theology and how God and man participate together to produce an outcome, let’s look at the simple meaning here.  That is, we can often get into circumstances that seem like there is no hope.  But the rhetorical question above has an obvious answer. Who can bear the wounded spirit?  God can!

Serving as a hospital chaplain can be a stressful ministry.  Perhaps the most difficult of all circumstances is being in the room while a terminal diagnosis is shared.  The patient had all sorts of hopes they would get better.  Now, the doctor is telling the ill he or she had better get their house in order.  There are many different emotions this individual goes through. There is anger, denial, envy, depression, acceptance, peace, etc.  Through each of these stages of emotion, there is little a chaplain can do other than to affirm the emotions as real and normal.  Usually, there is little said.  Prayer seems to be the best method of ministry.  That, and simply listening.  Tragic deaths are also pretty tough.  What does one say?  Knowing to heal of the spirit takes time, there is little that can be done.  A good ear and an empathic heart is the medicine that helps.  Infant demise is probably the hardest.  A couple loses all their dreams in a moment.  The chaplain is at a loss for words.  He offers a shoulder.  He offers a prayer.  He begs God to heal their broken hearts.  But there are some things only God can bear.

The takeaway from this is simple.  If we are on the ministering end of someone with a wounded spirit, be sensitive as to the help one offers.  Realize there is no quick fix.  There are no magic words that will make it all go away.  To heal the wounded spirit, above all, takes time.  It takes time for the work of the Holy Spirit to mend and heal something that has been shattered.  If we are on the receiving end, do not be discouraged.  Man can only do so much.  Don’t get discouraged if what mankind is doing doesn’t work as well as expected.  God bears the wounded spirit.  Give Him both time and the benefit of the doubt.  When my brother tragically died in an accident, I didn’t think I would ever come out of the pit to which I descended.  I had nightmares for almost a year.  Even today, about twice a year, I have a dream that he really didn’t die, but rather, ran away to Vegas.  What I learned from this is God can heal a wounded spirit.  We simply have to be patient and yield to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Only the Great Physician can heal the wounded spirit but it is not automatic.  It takes long sessions of prayer, daily bible reading, and the fellowship of the saints.  Give Him your spirit and He will return it to perfect health.

His Mercy Is Not Our Mercy

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isa 55:8 AV)

 

Here is another verse we tend to use on its own.  We use it to support God’s omniscience and wisdom of His counsels.  We assert the ways of God are above our understanding and we can never come to a full understanding of what and how God does what He does.  We also teach our ways or values that differ from God’s ways and values.  These are all proper and right uses of this verse.  However, the beauty of this verse is where it appears.  In this chapter, the LORD is promising to restore wayward Israel, forgive their sins, and give them a new heart to follow Him.  This verse is the explanation of God’s unsearchable mercy.  What really sticks out is our ways are not His ways. In other words, we cannot understand the limitless mercy of a benevolent God and would fully expect God to consume us in His wrath.  Because that is what we would do if we were in His shoes.

There is a parable told by our LORD regarding forgiveness.  As the parable goes, there is a debtor of a king who was called on his debt.  The king reckoned with all his servants and found this one man who owed him a great sum.  The king commanded all this servant possessed, including his wife and children, be sold and the debt paid.  When the servant fell upon his knees and begged for mercy, the king forgave all the debt.  It was as if the debt had never existed.  Needless to say, this servant was overjoyed.  In the course of his daily routine, he came upon a lesser servant than he who owed a smaller debt to the forgiven servant.  This forgiven servant demanded payment of which the lesser had nothing for which to pay.  The forgiven servant promptly imprisoned the lesser until the whole debt was paid.  The king heard of it and quickly threw that ungrateful servant into debtor’s prison for the rest of his life.  The point of the parable is forgiveness.  As we have been forgiven by God, we need to forgive others.  However, for the sake of our verse above, what we can notice is our ways are not His ways.  Where God would forgive, we would not.

The verse above is not one of rebuke as meant by the parable of Matthew chapter eighteen.  The point of the verse above is the amazing grace of God is not understood by a creation that shows little of it itself.  When the limitless mercy of God is expressed to a guilty soul, he should feel confused.  He should be a bit bewildered.  He should be taken aback that God would forgive him of all transgressions when it is not in the nature of the soul to do so for another.  This mercy should be a miracle to the eyes of the one receiving it.  Gratitude and amazement should be the response.  Humility should be the fruit of a heart receiving grace when grace is not deserved nor earned.  Praise the LORD His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  None of us would survive that!

Learning To Lean

“Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.” (Isa 50:10 AV)

 

This verse may seem a bit odd.  What is the prophet speaking of?  How can a servant of God who fears God and feareth Him always walk in darkness and have no light?  How can someone who knows God walk in darkness?  Doesn’t John deal with that in his epistles?  The answer, and application, are in the context of this verse.  This verse is written to those who will be born while the nation is in captivity.  They will hear of the failures of their forefathers and turn to the LORD because of it.  Some of these children will be seventy years old when they return to Palestine.  For almost their entire life, they will be in the land of the heathen serving a pagan king or two.  The darkness they will experience is the darkness of oppression.  The lack of light will be the lack of hope in their present set of circumstances.  The answer is to trust and stay. 

Note in particular there is trusting and staying.  They are not necessarily the same although trusting should result in staying.  Think of a set of crutches.  I can trust they will keep me up.  I can adjust the height for maximum comfort.  I can watch others navigate the use of crutches successfully.  I can watch YouTube videos on how they are manufactured and their proper use.  But that does not mean I am staying on them.  To stay on something, biblically speaking, is to lean on them.  One of the first things one does with crutches is to learn to lean on them.  Before we learn to navigate with them, we learn to lean on them.  First, with both crutches firmly held in the hands.  Once we get that down, we learn to swing back and forth with them.  Then we learn to lean on them without hanging on to them with the hand.  The next big step is to work those crutches as the injured learns to navigate on level ground.  The last and hardest skill to learn is steps.  Going up steps is more difficult than descending them.  Unless the patient is confident with leaning on those crutches, a fall is almost assured.  One must trust and lean.  Trusting is not enough.  Leaning is the maturation of that trust.

Every one of us has those times when light is limited.  In the example above, it was no fault of their own.  The condition of their captivity was a result of the poor choices of their forefathers.  Yet, there they were.  In the darkness of life because someone else made decisions that affected them.  No doubt the children of Israel dealt with many emotions.  The fairness of God is perhaps the greatest.  Anger that their forefathers created a life they didn’t ask for is a thought I am sure passed their minds.  Knowing the prophecy of Jeremiah, they may have become impatient.  There would be those born in captivity or who were very young when arriving, who would never see freedom.  They would die in their darkness and without light.  The only way to navigate through those times is trust and leaning.  Learning to lean takes adverse conditions.  It is not something learned when leaning is not necessary.  They learned to lean because it was their only hope amid circumstances not of their own making.  They learned to lean because there was no light.  Learning to lean made for strength and stability in their time.  Learning to lean is what the child of God in any dispensation must do.  Otherwise, those times of darkness and no light will trip us up and cause a great deal of harm.