Our Part; His Part

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.” (Ps 31:24 AV)

Note here our part and His part.  To have courage means to be resolved.  To have courage is possible without the ability to act.  One can have courage as the boat is sinking, meeting the end with hope and joy.  Courage does not necessarily require the means to realize that which we hope.  This is where God comes it.  It is our part to have courage.  It is His part to strengthen.

A familiar scenario plays out from time to time.  There are people, usually lined up and facing a leader.  Then the leader asks for one volunteer.  He has a mission that is high risk and needs someone to take that risk. He instructs the one brave soldier to take one step forward.  Invariably, all but one take one step back.  Reluctantly, he goes off on his mission and is successful.  He comes back a hero.  Never intending to be one, the circumstances demanded resolve.  The leader equipped his ‘forced volunteer’ with sufficient intelligence, ordnance, and a plan that led to victory.  All our poor volunteer needed to do is to not say no.  Everyone else said no.  The volunteer, by standing there and not stepping back didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no, either.  He may not have had the strength to go into battle, but by standing his ground the leader provided him with the strength for the battle.

God never asks of us anything too difficult for us to endure.  He will never require us to fight a pointless and unwinnable battle.  Search the scriptures.  Not once did God ever ask a saint to do something where he never supplied the means to accomplish it.  We love to quote 1Cor 10:13. What we often miss is the truth of God’s participation in our task.  God will never leave nor forsake us.  Faith is a funny thing.  It is an impossibility sometimes.  Faith is a choice to take God at His word, resulting in ordering our choices and actions in light of His word.  Faith is not mere belief.  Faith is accepting truth as it stands and modifying our thinking and behavior accordingly.  David is stating a truth that is dear to a soldier.  He knows of what he speaks.  No doubt there were times when God told him to order a battle and it seemed unwinnable.  Yet the LORD told him to, and he was resolved to go ahead.  The odds did not seem in his favor.  But that is a God thing.  If we could handle everything in our own strength, what need do we have of God?  If God only gave us that which we could handle in our own strength, there would be no opportunity to trust and glorify God.

What we need to see is our part and God’s part.  It is our part to resolve our commitment.  It is not our part to bring everything needed to the battle in order to win the battle.  That is God’s part.  All He is looking for are those who are willing to trust Him, resolving in their hearts to go into battle and leave the bulk of the fighting to Him.  We place too much on our shoulders and failing in the process.  What we need to do is make our shoulders available no matter what and let God be the one who shoulders the vast majority of provision for assured victory.

Short And Simple Can Be Effective

“Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.” (Ps 30:10 AV)

Sometimes the simplest, shortest, and most succinct prayers are the best ones of all.  This is not complicated.  The context refers to trouble with the enemies of God.  But it just as well could be any type of need.  Especially those overwhelming needs.  Sometimes we think that praying a long and detailed prayer is more impressive to the LORD.  It is the heart that matters most.  Sure, I teach our people to pray detailed prayers.  Don’t just pray that a loved one might come to Christ.  Rather, pray for specific events that might work to that end.  Don’t pray for healing, pray for the specific needs that would result in a healing.  The reason I teach our people to do that is that it is easier to see the hand of God if you are looking for details rather than an overall direction.  But often, the greatest of God’s miracles is at the end of a very short, concise, and desperate prayer.

I think of Peter as he began to slip into the troubles water.  “Lord, save me,” was all he needed to blurt out.  I think of Moses’ prayer when told to go into battle.  Or Elijah’s prayer in calling down fire from heaven.  Then there is the sinner’s prayer of Luke.  “Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner.”  Jesus said that he went away justified, and the Pharisee whose prayer was long and self-exalting did not.  There was the prophet’s prayer for rain, Daniel’s prayer in the lion’s den, and David’s prayer as he fled Absalom.  John’s prayer in Revelation chapter one is another.  The list goes on and on.  In fact, if one were to research all the prayers recorded in the bible, the student would be sore pressed to find any prayer longer than a single chapter.  Does that mean that God is against long prayers?  Absolutely not.  Prayer is a conversation with God.  Paul said to pray without ceasing.  Now that is a long prayer.

What strikes me is that David’s words, although few, were effective.  Prayer is not complicated.  It is often misunderstood.  Prayer is simply having a conversation with our Creator God who listens and responds by His Spirit.  Productive prayer, above all else, is transparent prayer.  It is not presumptuous.  It is not evasive.  Prayer is not a duty.  It is not something to be checked off as those it is a task among many.  Prayer is not an event.  It is a way of life.  Imagine if we treated all our relationships that way.  My wife would divorce me.  If I told her she only gets ten minutes a day and all I am going to do is talk to her and she doesn’t get to respond, she would have my head.  I don’t think my marriage would have lasted too long.  God wants our hearts.  He wants our fellowship.  He wants to be our Father, and we, His children.  Prayer does not have to be an official act of the day.  Prayer, whether short or long, simply needs to be all in.  The whole heart.  David got right to the point.  Please be merciful and help.  That was it.  And God heard it.

Lowly Goodness

“A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” (Pr 29:23 AV)

The first part of this proverb is a bit concerning.  Very truthful.  And a great warning for us all.  Not only is a warning, but it is a good thing.  It is a good thing to be brought low.  Being low is far more peaceful than being full of pride.  Failure is not comfortable.  But failure is necessary.  Failure brings us back to reality.  Failure shows us our limits.  Failure is where we come to the end of ourselves.  Humility that follows is the correction for the sin of pride.  It is a good thing to know we are prone to failure.  It is a good thing to learn what we are not and what we cannot do.  Failure is a good thing.   Being brought to our lowest Self is cleansing.  It is a reboot.  It is truth, raw and unfiltered, that cries out for a merciful God to forgive, reconcile, and regenerate the broken will.  Being brought low is the only way to new heights.

As much as we don’t like to admit it, there were times we were brought to the end of ourselves.  We thought we could handle something, and we could not.  We had dreams of great conquest only to find we could not accomplish those goals as we thought.  There were times we tried to do something physical only to realize we were mortal.  The pain medications were not too far away.  There were times when we thought we knew what we were doing, only to cause more harm than good.  Those times were hard lessons.  They were humbling lessons.  What gives me pause is thinking that we can live above that.  We think that there will come a time when we ‘arrive’.  But that will never be the case.  At least not on this side of glory.  Bruised knees, scars, and less than perfect x-rays all testify to those times we thought we were something that we were not.  Childhood teaches us we are not invincible.  This is a lesson we never truly grasp.  Not even in adulthood.

Being brought low is not comfortable.  But when we are, it is almost liberating.  When we are brought to the end of ourselves, it is there that God becomes very real.  We cannot do what we thought we could do.  We cannot solve what we thought we could solve.  Being brought low means we are completely and totally dependent on a gracious God.  We are in the pit and cannot climb out.  Pride will keep us there.  Pride will try to find a foothold where we can climb out ourselves.  Even if there isn’t one, we will look and hope.  Humility looks at the rim and knows there is no way out but by the grace of God.  Being brought low is a good thing.  It is cleansing.  It is where honesty meets ability.  It is where dependability meets hope.  Being brought low is the best place for the saint to be.  It is not a bad thing.  It is a perfect thing.

No Third Option

“Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.” (Ps 28:5 AV)

There is a prevailing idea that is completely false.  The idea of neutrality with God does not exist.  In other words, if I leave Him alone, He will leave me alone.  I meet people like this all the time.  They believe that accountability to God is contingent on belief in Him.  If the sinner does not believe in the existence of God, then he is not accountable to Him.  Only those who have faith in God, so they think, are required to live according to His law.  According to our passage, this is a false and dangerous idea.  God is not neutral.  Although He has created us with the ability of self-determination, He has not abdicated consequences to us.  We do not get the right to determine our destiny without any regard to the wishes of our Creator and expect Him to ignore us.  That will never happen.  To press the point, note that there are only two divine responses.  There is either destruction or building up.  There is no in-between.

All through High School, I took art classes.  It was my release from all the stress of the high school experience.  For those forty-five minutes every other day, I was with students who respected me and did not care who I was or what I was.  It was my safe space, so to speak.  This freedom from stress allowed self-expression to blossom.  To this day, almost fifty years later, I can remember some projects we worked on.  We worked with various materials and in various ways.  I can remember a wire sculpture I made of a horse and rider in the middle of a steeplechase.  I can remember a clay sculpture only because I had to go to the hospital when I impaled a toll into my thumb.  There were many drawings.  A few watercolors.  The list goes on an on.  But one thing about artwork is that a true artist will come to the end of his work and know that perfection is impossible.  He or she will strive for it.  But because we are human, we know that there is always room for improvement.  Along the way, we start over a time or two.  The clay doesn’t cooperate, so we reduce it to lump and rework it to our masterpiece.  The scale or perception of the painting is a bit off, so we paint over it.  I’ve worn out an eraser or two.  In other words, we destroy the work of our hands so that we can improve on it.  At some point, we have to live with the fact that our work is the best we can do.  Although not perfect, it is the best that our hands and minds can produce.  This is what a creator of art does.

God is no different.  He creates for His glory and pleasure.  I know that mankind, as self-determined individuals, doesn’t like that fact.  But it is the truth, nonetheless.  We did not get here on our own, and we are not the captain of our circumstances.  As Creator, God has the right to do with us as He pleases.  Besides, if we're created, then we were created for a purpose.  The Creator determines what that purpose is.  If the Creator determines we are no longer serving His purposes, then He has every right to destroy.  We started this entry with an observation.  That observation was the absence of a neutral option or position for those refusing the works of our Creator.  There simply isn’t one.  As was once famously said, ignorance is not an option.  Neutrality does not exist.  We are either for God or against God.  We either believe He exists and thus submit, or we refuse to believe and rebel.  There are no other choices.  Therefore, the Creator will either destroy or build up.  But He will not let us alone.

Clean Hands, Clean Heart

“I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.” (Ps 26:6-7 AV)

It is difficult to speak of God in glowing fashion when there is a serious sin in the heart.  Note that David cannot separate innocency from approaching the altar.  For David to approach the place upon which his offerings are given, there must be  cleansing.  The old testament explains this process.  Prior to offering the animal for sacrifice, the penitent would place his hands upon the animal and confess his sins.  It was the confession and forsaking that prepared the heart to sacrifice.  The sacrifice is what covered the sin.  But the sin must be confessed first.  Sin is that thing that separates us from God.  Even as children of God, our relationship to Him is strained because we are in disobedience or anxiety.  Cleansing must come first.

As I muse on this principle, I wondered what would become of our churches if we took sin more seriously.  Our worship services are as deep as a wading pool.  I am playing a little game of ‘what if?’.  What would become of our churches if we opened the doors 30 minutes prior to the start of our service for people to pray at the altar?  This prayer time would be restricted solely for the confession and forsaking of sin.  It is too bad that much of that work is done at the end of the service.  What if people met thirty minutes before service to pray together for our nation and our rulers?  In that prayer time, we would stress the spiritual and moral condition of our fellow countrymen and seek God’s face for revival.  This prayer time would not be organized.  It would not be led.  It would be the Spirit of God meeting with the people of God as they seek a deeper and more holy walk with Him.  I wonder how different our church services would be if the people of God came with praise on their lips.  Not that praise of today which is man-centered and entertaining.  Rather, the lips of God’s people prepared to offer glory to the God who loves and cares for them.

The psalm limits David’s praise to the temple.  That is not the only place to offer such praise.  In other passages, he speaks of offering praise and thanksgiving as part of a national celebration.  He speaks of praising God in his home before his family.  Praise is anywhere and anytime.  It begins in the house of God.  David was a godly man.  He may have had his issues.  He may have had his faults.  But you cannot condemn him for lack of love and devotion toward God.  David loved his God.  And he was not ashamed to publish it.  It was because he made a practice of cleansing the heart and soul.  I wonder what would be of our homes, churches, and nation if we made a practice of innocency before worship.

Teaching Sinners Is Merciful

“Good and upright [is] the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.” (Ps 25:8 AV)

Good and upright are not purely dispassionate.  They are not attributes of God devoid of any feeling.  There are two sides of God reflected in His nature here.  If the sinner is a willing student, there is mercy and grace.  If the student is not a humble learner, then judgment and justice are His motive.  I choose to look at this in the former light this morning.  The law and commands of God are not rules handed down by a tyrant who simply wants to govern His created world for one colossal ego trip.  Rather, He is a God who desires all men to love Him and trust Him, expressing that love by obedience to His word and faith in His presence.  When the LORD teaches this sinner in the way, it is not to make my life miserable.  It is not to prove a point that He is God and I am not.  Rather, when God teaches this sinner in the way, it is an extension of His mercy toward me.  His love for me is manifested by instruction of right and wrong with the ability by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to do right.

To me, the word ‘teach’ reveals the love and mercy of God.  If God had no mercy nor grace, He wouldn’t bother to teach.  It would simply be “thus saith the LORD or else”.  We are guilty of that.  “Just do what I told you to do” is a suitable response to a child’s question regarding a rule, standard, or task.  But not as a single ‘go-to’ to achieve compliance.  At some point, obedience has to be rewarded with an explanation.  The ‘why’ of a truth is a stronger way to gain obedience than constant threat.  When I see the word ‘teach’ above, it reminds me that the things God teaches, expects, and conforms me to is out of His love.  He doesn’t have to.  He is God.  He can lay down the law, demand compliance, and punish or destroy if we fail.  But He doesn’t.  How do I know?  Because I have His word.  His word, the Bible, is a book of law.  But it is also a book of principles that teaches the ‘why’ of the law.  His word is an instruction manual of step-by-step instructions so that we might have the most blessed life possible.

I don’t see a tyrannical God.  I see a loving Father who wants us to have a great life.  There will be hardships.  These hardships are part of being human.  Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world, and we have been suffering sense then.  It continues because of our sin.  God allows freedom of choice.  He does not do so cruelly.  If God allowed for freedom of choice but then kept us ignorant of how to make better ones, that would be cruel.  But He doesn’t.  Because God is merciful and gracious, He teaches sinners in the way.  He sends us truth by which we might live and enjoy the blessings of God.  He opens our minds to greater truths.  He has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we might understand.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit empowers us to follow what we have been taught.  Our God is a wonderful God!  He is a loving God.  Why?  Because he teaches me in ‘the way’.  He shows me the right way.  His patience allows for a learning curve.  He is my loving Father.  Patient and longsuffering is He.

Fear Needs an Object

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.” (Ex 20:20 AV)

Moses is at the foot of Mount Sinai.  The people gathered at the mountain and were terrified at the glory of God.  Fire ascended from heaven.  The earth quaked at the voice of God.  There was thundering and lightning.  To say they were deeply concerned would be an understatement.  They feared.  They feared for their lives.  This chapter is about the giving of the law.  When the law is the topic, fear is part of the discussion as well.  Law has no force if there is no fear.  So, to instruct the people not to fear seems a bit strange.  If I saw the glory of God as they did, fear would be my overwhelming emotion.  The word ‘prove’ means to mature by testing.  Note that Moses told them not to fear, but then he turns around and tells them to purpose for this experience is that the fear of the LORD might be before their eyes.  Fear needs context.  Do not fear the glory of God if the law and His command for holiness are not part of it.  It is right to fear.  Fearing for the right reason is what Moses and the LORD are driving at.

A relationship with a father is an interesting one.  Dad takes on many different roles.  He is the mentor.  He is the encourager.  He is the protector and provider.  Dad is the teacher, the coach, and the cheering section.  Dad also sets boundaries and demands conformity.  He is the lawgiver.  He is the judge.  Dad is the security of the children.  He is the rock upon which they feel safe.  He wears many hats.  When we say we respect our fathers, we are saying we fear them.  Their rules were never made simply to please Self.  At least my father’s rules were not.  He had definite opinions regarding the nature of life.  There were certain things that were always true.  Only rarely did we get the sense that a rule was made merely to make his own life easier.  For the most part, we knew why the rule existed, and respecting his judgment was a part of our relationship.  Fear was not terror.  Fear was a healthy respect for my father’s judgment and humbly accepting the consequences when we failed.  There was order and structure to his home.  What was will always be.  There was no confusion.  That was the rule of the home, and it would always be that way.

This is to what Moses is referring.  Fear is good as long as it is focused on the right object.  In our text, fear is focused on the law and God’s nature.  They feared the glory of God to where the law and His judgment were secondary.  Yet in the person of God, His glory and judgment cannot be separated.  Both are infinite characteristics of God.  I think the takeaway here is that fear is good as long as it is experienced in the correct context and in the right priority.  To make another application, most of contemporary Christianity fears the glory of God.  They sing about it all the time.  Yet the law is not a priority.  They fear the person of God, but they do not fear the character of God.  I would even go so far as to say this is not a strictly contemporary Christian problem.  It is endemic to a culture that is self-centered and sees God as their servant rather than their Holy God.  God is to be feared.  Not in the way we fear a tyrant.  Rather, He is to be respected, obeyed, and humbly surrendered to.  We are captivated by the glory of God, yet we ignore His commands.  This was the point at Mount Sinai.  God did not show them His glory so they would only fear that.  He showed them His glory, so they were fear His holiness and law.

All Day Fear is All Day Protection

“Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long.” (Pr 23:17 AV)

I am curious as to why being in the fear of the LORD every waking moment of the day is a defense against envy.  It would be a defense against all sins.  Why did Solomon word it this way?  I think there is a great lesson here on the nature of some sins.  Some sins are premeditated.  They take thought and planning.  Some sins are habitual.  They are part of our character.  Then there are sins like envy.  Envy enters as an impulsive response to something observed.  Once entered, it can fester.  I think this is why Solomon instructs his children to be in the fear of the LORD all day long.  No one plans to be envious.  No one seeks circumstances to create envy.  For the most part, it just happens.  But envy is not the only sin that is an impulsive response to outward stimulation.  Lust is another of those sins.  Envy and lust often go together.  There is impulsive anger.  We are driving and someone cuts us off.  There are many emotions that are not planned.  They simply happen.  For this reason, being in the fear of the LORD all day long is the first and most important defense against ungodly emotional responses.

We cannot avoid every temptation.  We live in a world full of it.  It’s like going to our state fair and avoiding the midway.  I avoid the games of the midway because they are designed so that the player never wins.  All one has to do is to do a bit of research and note the odds of winning any one game.  Impossible.  So, I avoid the midway.  Then there are the vendors.  Very few are fair and honest.  Most are there to make big money on small-value offerings.  Some are downright scams.  We always go to the booths or buildings that host competitions.  We particularly like the horses.  I can sit there half a day and watch the horse judging competition.  We go to the building with all the arts and crafts.  The things people can do are amazing.  But as soon as you go out of those buildings, the smell of food and fun hit you in the face.  When they do, thoughts of the midway and craftsmen or the sound of a merry-go-round or hawkers bring the mind right back to parts of the fair we do not visit.  This is the world in which we live.  It cannot be avoided.  There is always one more car better than your own.  There are those homes that you would give anything to own.  There is that customer who is worth seven figures but worries about every penny.  The list goes on and on.

Envy, and any other sinful and impulsive emotion, can occur at any moment.  One can sit at a restaurant eating what one can afford and someone next to you gets the most expensive item on the menu.  Envy, lust, anger, etc. can happen at the drop of the hat.  The first guard against it is to fear the LORD.  The LORD has a plan for you.  It is your plan.  It is not someone else’s plan, nor did God accidentally give to someone else your plan.  You are what you are by the grace of God.  You have what you have by God’s providence and provision.  Your life, aside from the wrong choices you make, is part of God’s perfect plan for you.  Desiring something else questions God’s sovereignty and shows no fear toward the one who created you.   This is why Solomon instructs his children to be on guard for envy by being in the fear of the LORD all the day long.  What is even more pertinent is Solomon, being the greatest king at the time, could acquire by force anything of which he was envious.  This makes it even more dangerous.  But being in the fear of the LORD will halt such violent acquisitions. 

Inherited Hope

“But thou [art] he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope [when I was] upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou [art] my God from my mother’s belly.” (Ps 22:9-10 AV)

How interesting.  David says that the day he was born and took nourishment from his mother, God gave him the ability to hope.  This makes sense.  The moment a baby is born and suffers hunger pain, he instinctively knows that sucking upon the breast is the way the pain diminishes.  One does not have to teach a baby to suck.  He knows this as part of his being.  All one has to do is stick a fingertip into the mouth of a baby, and he instinctively sucks, looking for food and comfort.  This natural and intuitive act is referred to as hope.  If there were no hope, the baby would not seek it, cry for it, and attain it.  The baby may not understand the spiritual principles involved.  All he knows is that his belly aches.  All he knows is the only way to make that go away is the seek the breast.  This is an important truth here.  God made mankind to hope.  Not only to hope but to seek out that which one hopes for.  The ability to hope is in our nature.  If we lose hope, that is not of the LORD.  He created us with the natural ability and desire to hope.  The devil and the world want you to lose it.  But they have no power to take it.  If we lose hope, we do so because we choose to do so.

Our world is not a great source of hope.  All one has to do is watch the news, the weather, or any drug commercial that might be running.  If you listen to it all, the apocalypse is right on our heels.  If we listen to them, the best we can do is to barely survive.  Every event, forecast, or disease is the end of mankind.  There was an interesting study done decades ago.  This study compared the music teens decided to listen to and their reaction to it.  They found that those who listened to dark music or music with hopeless lyrics were far more apt to make very bad decisions.  Including suicide.  Even today, one of the warnings of AI is the grooming aspect of it.  AI is being used by nefarious sources to poison the minds of teens to the point of giving up hope.  The world hates God.  It always will.  The Devil hates God.  He always will.  The Devil is known as the destroyer.  What he cannot have, he will destroy.  He knows he cannot win.  So, like a bully at the beach, he wants to kick over our sandcastle.  The way the world and the Devil do this is to remove hope.  If there is no hope, then there is no purpose.  If there is no purpose, nothing matters and existence is futile.  Therefore, the despondent take drastic measures to cure the hopelessness.

We were not created with a natural tendency to hopelessness.  Just the opposite.  The desire and pursuit of life prove this.  That is why David uses the example for his first day of breath.  He was created to hope.  God made him that way.  God made you that way.  Losing hope is contrary to the very definition of what it means to be human.  Hope requires the ability to see a future not realized yet.  Hope requires seeing a God in control of it all.  Hope requires that we understand God as our benevolent and all-powerful God.  Hope is in our DNA.  Losing it is our fault.  Losing hope is not what God designed us to do.  Like a child reaching forth and making sucking motions with his lips testifies that we were created to hope.  When we cease to hope, we cease to be human.  That is what the Devil wants.  Don’t let him have it!

Deliverance Over Failure

“It [is] a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this [is] that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” (Ex 12:42 AV)

You have probably guessed, but this verse regards the establishment of the feast of Passover.  It was a night to remember.  It is a night to remember in a particular manner.  The more removed from the bondage of Egypt this nation became, the less the actual bondage could be remembered.  It is a matter of historical fact.  But there would come a generation that never experienced that bondage.  The great-grandchildren of the slave-generation that came out would never know what bondage was like.  What they could always experience and remember is the deliverance.  Because God brought their ancestors out of bondage, they were free.  Other than to read the account in the word of God, future generations would never have known the hardship from which their forefathers were delivered.  But they could know and experience the deliverance that followed.  They were free and delivered because their forefathers were.  Therefore, Passover should emphasize deliverance and not bondage.  What does that mean for us?

There is a politician who came out recently and threatened her opponents with their past.  She stated that if her colleagues ever got control of their government, they would do a deep-dive search into the lives of those contrary to her beliefs and find or manufacture crimes for which they could be put away for life.  She threatened to ignore her country’s statute of limitations.  She promised to help pass laws that made non-criminal behavior criminal, and prosecute retroactively any and all manufacture crimes to completely dismantle and opposition to her and her ideology.  In short, a person’s past, to her, is never gone, and no matter how innocent they had been, there would be something which she could manufacture to make innocence a punishable crime.  This takes a sick person!  To hate your opposition to the point of destroying them over thoughts and opinions, no matter what, is not a good thing.  It is a sickness of hatred.

Yet we do the same thing when we remember our past and forget the deliverance.  When the failures of the past are more pressing that the elation we should experience at deliverance is a sick kind of self-loathing.  Yes, one I was a enemy of God and did things that I would never mention.  Yes, there were times as a child of God that I miserably failed Him.  I have brought shame to my LORD and Savior by some of the choices I have made.  As remorseful and full of regret I might be over those things, joy at deliverance should be greater.  When they celebrated the Passover meal, there were bitter herbs added to remind the Hebrew his ancestors served with bitterness.  But the psalms that followed spoke of God as a great deliverer who brought them out with a mighty hand.  The book of Exodus spends only a few chapters describing the bitter bondage.  The rest of the Exodus is about deliverance.  At some point, the reality of our deliverance must be greater than the bitterness of our sin.  Then and only then can we truly understand the spirit of the Passover.

Consistency

“Divers weights, [and] divers measures, both of them [are] alike abomination to the LORD.  Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work [be] pure, and whether [it be] right. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.” (Pr 20:10-12 AV)

Verse eleven, if taken by itself, could mean two things.  Either it is a warning to children that their behavior reveals who and what they are, or it is a warning to adults that as a child’s behavior cannot be hidden, neither can an adult.  Both are true and biblical.  But I think Solomon means something a bit different.  The statement of a child’s behavior is nestled between a verse that deals with consistency of standards and a verse that declares God made our ears and eyes.  I think what Solomon is trying to convey is a warning against inconsistent standards, thinking the inconsistency is not necessarily observable by others.  We may miss a lot, but inconsistency is not one of them.  All one has to do is speak with children under your charge, and you will hear very quickly how unfair certain things appear.

Being consistent before others requires respect.  By assuming our inconsistencies are minor or hidden, we show disrespect to the observational skills of those who watch us.  I think that is what Solomon meant in verse 12.  I had above average parents.  They had their flaws, and some were on the serious side.  But there was one side to them that was perhaps the strongest of all qualities.  They were consistent.  My father was relentless in this area.  If there was a rule, then it was for everyone.  If it appeared as though the rule was relaxed for one and not for another, there was a principle involved that explained that decision.  My mom has benchmarks of maturity set for us that were the same for all.  Our eleventh birthday, we got a watch.  Our 14th birthday meant we could get a ten-speed bike.  We had a bedtime based on the school class we were enrolled in.  Starting with sixth grade up to eleventh, we went to bed on the hour that reflected the number of our class.  There were chores.  There was a schedule.  The rules for behavior were the same for all.  Even when they got old and gray, these rules still set.  This did several things for us.  It gave us a sense of predictability and security.  This consistency also ended arguments before they began.  We knew the rule and the answer we would get.  There was also our opinion of Mom and Dad.  They were not perfect.  But they were fair.  Right down to the details of how they ran their home.

Consistency is not merely for our sake.  When we are consistent, the consequences for choices are predictable and can be planned.  When we are consistent, fewer things will derail us from our goals.  When we are consistent, maturity becomes easier and with less trauma.  There is personal benefit in being consistent.  More so, consistency is for the sake of others.  The above example is in weights and measures.  If someone was changing them for personal gain, it would not take long for word to get out and business to drop off.  Knowing where someone stands and how they process life goes a long way in determining just how committed we can be to them.  Inconsistency is the death of deep relationships.  Being a person of your word and being predictable ministers to the need for trust for others.  The misnomer Solomon is trying to convey here is that if we live an inconsistent life, it will be just as evident as a immature child trying to be someone he is not.  They don’t have the sophistication yet.  They don’t have the savvy yet.  We think a child is obvious, but we can hide.  According to Solomon, not so.  Living inconsistently is as obvious as the motive of a child.

Worse Before Better

“And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou [so] evil entreated this people? why [is] it [that] thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.” (Ex 5:22-23 AV)

Sometimes, things have to get worse before they get better.  What strikes my attention are two things.  First, Moses questions God’s judgment.  He questions God’s judgment in sending him.  He does so under the illusion that ministry is nothing but positive growth experiences.  The second is Moses’ emotional state as he asks these questions.  I don’t think it is nefarious.  I just think his approach to ministry is naïve.  Or better yet, his approach is altruistic.  He expected his ministry to immediately alleviate the suffering of his people.  This is a good desire.  We would never wish more harm than good when we are trying to help others.  I can certainly identify with Moses.  All he wanted to do was to deliver his people from horrible slavery, and he had just made things worse.  Now they had to gather their own building materials, yet the tally of bricks could not diminish.  More work, not less.  His remarks cannot be seen as rebellion or bitterness.  They are not.  The words of Moses are words of honest remorse that he couldn’t help more than he did.  What Moses cannot see is that things might have to get worse before they get better.

You have to admire the love Moses has for his people.  You can hear it in his argument.  This is the heart of the pastor.  He will defend his people even if it means questioning God’s plan.  You can hear the pain he is experiencing as he sees the depth of the suffering.  You can understand his consternation at the increase of their trial.  This is the man God chooses.  By his own admission, Moses was not the most articulate man God could have chosen.  Aaron was the better choice of oratory was the main qualification.  Military acuity was not the primary qualification for the deliverer.  Otherwise, Joshua would have been His first choice.  God chose a man who would love His people.  Moses loved Israel to the point he was willing to sacrifice his own eternal life for the survival of the nation. Moses wasn’t a politician.  Moses lost patience with managing the nation.  He had an issue with anger.  Yet with all his faults, there wasn’t a man on earth that loved the Jewish people as much as Moses did.  This was why God chose him.  This gives life to the words above.

It is a heartbreak for a father, pastor, or leader to be an instrument that inflicts short-term pain for long-term gain.  A really compassionate and wise coach will require his team to go through hard times.  There is pain to be experienced.  There are emotions to feel.  It is all in preparation to gaining the victory.  But the coach does not like having to do it.  A leader must anticipate the natural response to his leadership.  Those who are following will not like the fact that their lives just got more difficult.  They will not enjoy more work, or preparation, or more hardship.  This is even more evident by what Moses was called to do.  He was called to deliver them.  It appears his leadership was headed in the opposite direction.  How Moses felt is completely understandable.  Some leaders cannot stomach this part of leading.  They cannot bring themselves to lead knowing their decisions we cause short-term negative effects.  They cannot live with the complaints and suffering their leadership might bring.  If they cannot, they are not fit to lead.  Moses is learning here.  He is learning to balance his love for his people with the necessary and uncomfortable steps that will eventually work to their deliverance.   If he reacts purely out of emotion, the people will never be free.  If he does what is best even if it means short-term pain, then he is a leader God can use.

Prayer is a Two-way Conversation

“Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited [me] in the night; thou hast tried me, [and] shalt find nothing; I am purposed [that] my mouth shall not transgress.” (Ps 17:3 AV)

I don’t think David is speaking of perfection here.  Surely, as a depraved and sinful man, there was still sin in his heart.  I am sure he had to confess and forsake, seeking God’s forgiveness before his prayer could continue.  David is not claiming sinlessness.  Rather, I think what David is claiming is sincerity, truth, and purity in his prayer.  He is not claiming the purity of the substance of his heart.  This proving and visiting are what I am most interested in.  Finding nothing is also important.  What I see here is honesty in prayer.  This statement is a great illustration of the give and take that happens in genuine prayer.  Sometimes we approach prayer as a one-sided conversation.  We see it as a project or task.  We have our list. We have our sins to confess.  We have many things on our minds that have to be brought to the throne of God.  And that might be the case.  However, prayer is not one-sided.  I think if we stopped and paused long enough to listen to the Spirit’s input, our prayer life might just blossom into something far more intimate.

Who hasn’t had times of vulnerability with a parent or other mentor?  A time when patience and concern were the key elements in the conversation.  A time when there was give and take.  A time when honesty and openness were the character of the words you used.  A time like this requires trust.  When the heart is laid open, there has to be a trust that the one to whom it is opened will not take advantage of your vulnerability.  I remember a few conversations with a baseball coach, a scoutmaster, and a schoolteacher.  One of my most memorable ones was with my high school photography teacher.  My dad had a darkroom, so I was very familiar with the process.  It made photography class rather easy.  The teacher asked me to be the student who took the lead in managing the classroom.  It was my job to clean the room and set up the darkroom.  It also had the privilege of working with equipment that other students were not.  There were several afternoons I spent in the darkroom and with my teacher learning new skills or talking about life.  It was my senior year, and I had just moved from my hometown.  I lived there all my life, and my senior year was a very lonely one.  This teacher and I spent many hours talking about life.  He was an elderly man and was retiring after my senior year.  You could say that I was his last class pet.  There were things I could tell him that I could never tell my father.  But he never used that information to manipulate or misguide me.  He spent those hours listening and asking questions.  If it weren’t for the give and take of those darkroom sessions, I may not have made it my senior year.  In some way, he may have contributed to my finding Jesus and saving my life.

Prayer with God is not a rote exercise of naming off things we think we need.  Prayer with God is not merely speaking so we can be heard.  It is a conversation between two beings.  It is a two-way conversation.  To our detriment, we often speak of the word of God as the voice of God by which He speaks.  That certainly is absolutely true.  But His word is not the only way by which He communicates.  The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.  How does He do that?  Only through the written word?  The psalmist says that God knows there is no sin in his prayer.  How does David know that God knows that?  How does this searching happen?  The Spirit must bear witness with our spirit.  This means there is communication that goes on.  Not an audible voice.  It is not something someone else hears with us.  Rather, it is the opening of the heart and conscience to divine input.  It is the thinking and meditating on what the divine voice would tell us.  I have to say, when the Spirit does this, often there are chuckles that ebb forth.  Sometimes in the process of prayer, I have words, but I know the words are not accurate or truthful.  So, I stop and ask the Spirit to frame them better.  Prayer is not one-sided.  It is a dual conversation between two beings.  Our prayer lives would be vastly different if exercised our prayer lives in just that way.

Elephants and People May Never Forget

“And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, [are] mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.” (Ge 48:5 AV)

Reuben and Simeon fell out of grace with their father.  Reuben slept with Jacob’s concubine, and Simeon slaughtered the men of Shechem without his father’s permission.  Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn and would normally take the place as the head of the family.  Because of his sin, he lost that to Joseph.  Now, Joseph’s son Ephraim would assume that role.  Jacob’s words are intended to replace Reuben and Simeon with Ephraim and Manasseh.  Reuben and Simeon were not replaced as tribes in Israel.  The twelve tribes that inherited land did not include Levi.  When Jacob states that Ephraim and Manasseh would be as Reuben and Simeon, he was not disinheriting the latter two.  Rather, in function, Ephraim and Manasseh would replace Simeon and Reuben.  Ephraim, who replaces Reuben, would be that tribe from which the majority of judges were taken.  Reuben lost the privilege as the firstborn because of his sin, and another took his place.

Something to consider here is that Judah was blessed by his father, Jacob, as the lawgiver.  It would be through Judah that David and his descendants would rule.  It is through Judah that Jesus Christ was born.  So, the judgment on Reuben and Ephraim’s consequence rise was the doing of Jacob.  God may have honored it in the short term, but the transference of leadership from Reuben to Ephraim was temporary at best.  In fact, in doing so, Jacob occasioned the underpinnings of civil unrest within the nation for hundreds of generations.  There was never complete unity between Ephraim and Judah.  The ten northern tribes and the two southern tribes were never completely on the same page.  We see this from the book of judges until the carrying away of Israel to Assyria and Babylon.  Jacob’s reaction to his eldest son’s sin inadvertently led to the separation of the north from the south.  We have to be careful in assuming that Jacob’s actions regarding the history of Israel were the perfect and trouble-free will of a sovereign God.  God may have used the decisions of Jacob, but using his actions and endorsing them as purely holy are two separate things.

People hold grudges.  And those grudges can result in equally poor decisions.  Jacob may have chosen Ephraim and Manasseh as replacements for Reuben and Simeon, but that doesn’t mean God approved of it.  Simeon and Levi avenged their sister Dinah.  The prince of Shechem laid with Dinah without marrying her.  They were offended and killed all the adult males among them.  As they should have.  But Jacob was too scared of the repercussions upon his family and rebuked his two sons.  They did the right thing, and Jacob never forgot it.  Holding a grudge against his two sons who showed initiative in defending his daughter, should have been lauded and not resented.  What we learn from Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh is that people do not forget.  God may forgive, but people may not.  Unfortunately, this also means consequences from poor decisions may not be God’s judgement upon them, but man’s opinion of them.  Yes, Reuben should have been replaced as the leader.  He could not control his flesh.  So, why would he be allowed to control a nation?  Simeon, on the other hand, was a man of passion and justice.  There was no cause for his loss of importance.

Love Beyond Death

“And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for [if] he should leave his father, [his father] would die.” (Ge 44:22 AV)

These words are spoken by Judah to Joseph as they barter for Benjamin.  I don’t think this is an exaggeration.  Joseph and Benjamin are full brothers.  As far as Jacob knows, Joseph is dead.  The only son he has by Rachel is Benjamin.  Having lost one son, Judah’s argument is that Jacob would not survive the news that Benjamin had been taken as well.  As I read this, I could help but be moved by the depth of love Jacob had for Benjamin.  For a father to lose his son and it affect him so deeply as to wish to die is not shallow love by any means.  This love is a depth of love experienced by few.

This brings me back to the deepest sorrow I would ever feel.  I have lost both parents, a brother, and many friends.  But the deepest sense of loss I ever felt was when my son left for the foreign mission field.  It had come when my mother and my organ player (who was a dear friend and confidant) both passed away.  So, the sense of loss was rather raw and deep.  Three months after my mother passed and two months after my organist and good friend died, my son left the country for a new life.  I had never wept as deep and hard as I did that night.  It never occurred to me that we could video call and that he and my grandkids would be back in about four years.  I wept as if I had buried the entire family.  It was so deep and raw that muscle aches continued for days.  I saw how much it affected my father when my brother was killed.  I had never seen him weep so deeply before or since then.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a child.  Life is not supposed to work that way.  When I think of Jacob and Benjamin, this is what I think of.  Jacob would have missed Benjamin so much that it would literally kill him.

Then the Spirit reminded me of the love of the Father toward us.  Jacob could only love Joseph and Benjamin inasmuch as his life was within him.  He had limits.  If he tried more than he could possibly give, it would kill him.  Yet the Father is eternal and infinite.  If Jacob could love his son unto death, God can and does love us infinitely more.  Because we are finite beings with a beginning and a measured existence, we cannot possibly fathom eternity or infinity.  Therefore, the love by which God loves us is far deeper than any human love could ever be.  As much as it would pain Jacob to lose his son, so much the more for an infinite being.  God cannot die.  But He can feel.  To lose even one human soul would be indescribably painful.  To lose the fellowship of a backsliding child would be excruciating.  God loves us infinitely.  Which means He also feels loss equally deeply.  That is how much God loves you.  He loves you with an infinite love, which cannot be measured or understood.  Oh, what love!

Attitude of the Mind

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,” (Eph 4:17 AV)

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;” (Eph 4:23 AV)

The vanity of the mind and the spirit of your mind.  The first requires the second.  Vanity of the mind is easy to define and understand.  When something is vain is it profitless.  It is pointless.  Being so often leads to harm.  Therefore, using the mind or being entertained in the mind to no constructive purpose would be a vanity of mind.  But what of the spirit of your mind?  Looking at Strong’s numbers for the word ‘spirit’ is not exactly helpful.  The word used for ‘spirit’ has wide variety of meanings.  It means everything from the Holy Spirit to that which gives animation to the body.  And everything in between.  However, Strong’s Numbers dictionary gives a few of which one has a particular application here.  It means the disposition of the mind.  Strong’s Dictionary runs the whole phrase together to define the word ‘spirit’.  This would agree with, “For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.” (Ro 8:6 AV) Although Paul gives one example of renewing the spirit of the mind, it gives us a general sense of what it means to renew the spirit of the mind as opposed to merely the mind.

When we think of the mind, often we limit it to the ideas or the information that the mind entertains.  Facts, images, ideas, etc are usually what we associate with our minds.  What we do not tend to associate with our minds is our disposition or attitude.  Bias and the condition of the heart have a lot to do with what we choose to think on.  Vanity, spirit, and spiritually are adjectives describing the condition of the mind, or for what one is using it.  Or both.  But it is the spirit of the mind that intrigues me.

I had a great annual physical.  Diabetes runs in my family, so I have been watching my sugar and carbohydrate intake.  At first, I was strictly Keto.  Then came the holidays.  I thought my A1Cs were going to be unacceptable.  However, they dropped from a year ago.  GLORY!  All good news except for one number.  My cholesterol was trending in the wrong direction.  Too many eggs for breakfast, I guess.  One thing that helps good cholesterol is exercise.  Approaching my senior years, that is not a simple thing to do.  When your joints ache and your feet hurt, the last thing you want to do is walk two miles a day.  The disposition of my body was to stay still and enjoy very little pain.  However, if my doctor is watching those numbers and will give me a hard time because of it, then I had better change the spirit of my body and push on through.  The body does what the heart desires.

The same is true of the mind.  To renew the spirit of the mind means to reset the mind to a disposition that pleases God and helps us grow.  What we choose to take in, dwell on, or meditate upon must change.  Even if at first it is boring or a lot of work.  As many of you know, I have taken up German.  I am of German descent, and I have a son who is a missionary in a place where many speak the language.  I wanted to learn to surprise him and to know that I care about his mission field.  We visited this past spring, and the likelihood of returning there becomes slimmer as time passes, but I still hack away at German.  Why?  I need my mind to exercise it in constructive things.  Learning something new is a way to keep the mind young, elastic, and interested.  The spirit of the mind is renewed.  The same is true of reading good Christian material.  At my age, there isn’t much I haven’t heard or learned.  Generally speaking, that is.  So, I read more inspirational material or historical material to keep the mind alive.  Renewing the spirit of the mind is not merely taking in more information.  Renewing the spirit of the mind is readjusting and refocusing the mind on what pleases God and edifies the soul.  Our minds are the gateway into the rest of life.  If we do not care for it, we will lose it.  Perhaps changing the disposition of the mind will help the mind think on edifying things.

The Law of the Wise

“The law of the wise [is] a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” (Pr 13:14 AV)

Isn’t that interesting?  The law is called ‘the law of the wise’ and not merely the law.  Several ideas here.  The law, as coming only from God, would be wise in nature.  The wise of heart would seek out the law of God.  Therefore, the law is not arbitrary.  It is not subjective.  The law is not a living idea.  It is concrete and absolute.  It becomes the law of the wise because the wise desire to know and follow it.  That is why they are wise.  Note the motive for the wise internalizing the law.  It is to depart from the snares of death.  This brings me to the point for this morning.  The law is ineffective unless the wise live by it.  The law existed before God created anything.  Over time, It was revealed to mankind.  But the word of God is eternal.  God does not need the law.  He is the law.  He does not need the law to discipline His choices or be judged if He fails to apply them.  He cannot sin.  He has no nature that can break His law because His law is Him.  It would be a contradiction.  Therefore, the law is for those who need it.  That would be created beings.  The angels, mankind, and even the animal and plant kingdoms need law.  The wise are those who take the law of God and make it their own.

The phrase ‘law of the wise’ reminds me of a phrase that would occur in some story involving a mystic source of knowledge that is reserved for the most learned or noble of seekers.  Perhaps a knight on a quest or a riddle that needs solving before passage is granted; the phrase reminds me of something that would evade most.  The ‘law of the wise’ sounds like something Hollywood would use to indicate some source knowledge existing beyond the reach of all but one.  There have been plenty of storylines around that theme.  From The Raiders of the Lost Ark to Star Trek, it seems there is one puzzle-solving hero who can figure out all the clues and solve a grand mystery the world has never solved.  The phrase does not seem like something available to all.  But the law of God is not so.  It is available to all who wish it.  It is not a mystery inside of an enigma.  It is not some series of nonsensical source code that needs a cipher.  The law of the wise is the law of the wise because the wise are wise.

The law remains dormant and unprofitable if it is not learned and applied.  A stop sign at an intersection is pointless if there are no vehicles that use it.  Thou shalt not kill would not apply if God had not created mankind.  The law exists.  The law is ineffective unless there are wise creatures willing to make it their own.  We often look at law as a bad thing.  But according to Solomon, we have two choices.  We can either chose the fountain of life or the snare of death.  There is no middle ground.  We can either stop at the stop sign and proceed safely.  Or we can ignore it and suffer an accident.  We are traveling down the road of life.  We have no choice in that matter.  The sign exists.  We have no power to remove it.  We either stop and live, or we ignore it and die.  The law remains.  Therefore, the wise will make the law their own law.  It will be a part of who they are and what they do.  It will be the defining trait of their character.  The law of the wise is from eternity, and it is the law of the wise because the wise have accepted it as their law.

The Way We Go Matters

“The righteous [is] more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.” (Pr 12:26 AV)

This proverb can be taken slightly different in two ways.  First, the righteous, with the intention of teaching and guiding the wicked, is more excellent in his choices than the wicked neighbors by which he dwells.  The first way in which it could be understood is the general futility of trying to affect the world around you because the world around you is naturally bent toward sin.  The second manner is which it is understood is a matter of simple observation.  The righteous are righteous because they are not wicked.  They walk excellently as compared to the wicked.  The wicked are so because they walk in such a way that their way is a seduction into wickedness.  Either way, Solomon intends to make a distinction between those who walk excellently and those who do not.  Those who do not are seduced into sin because of their pattern of life.  Those who are righteous are so because they are habitually excellent.  It is ‘the way’ that is the problem.  Because they are neighbors, both the excellent way and ‘the way’ that seduces are equally available to either the righteous or the wicked.  The righteous are in close proximity to the way of the wicked and vice versa.  ‘The way’ in which they choose to go determines righteousness or wickedness.

My wife and I have visited come interesting and quaint places over the years.  I don’t remember everything, but I remember little things.  Many years ago, we were in a mall that had cobblestone floors.  The theme was an olde world theme.  The storefronts looked like they could be in a centuries old European village.  We were doing some window shopping, and an aroma caught our senses.  Not knowing exactly what it was, we decided we would make our way to where it was coming from.  Along the way, we went into several stores and browsed around.  As we worked our way through the ‘streets’, the aroma was getting stronger and stronger.  It was also becoming more refined.  We could pick out distinct aromas that didn’t normally go together. We could smell cooking beef, pizza, and funnel cakes.  Because we were on a tight budget, we knew that eating at this mall was not going to happen, but the smells were alluring.  Even though we could smell these distinct aromas, there was still one that was overpowering and attracting.  We could smell coffee.  But that wasn’t it.  We could smell the roasting nuts, but that wasn’t it either.  Not in a rush to find out what it was, we continued to inch our way toward that delectable smell.  We ducked into a purse store.  Then, a stationery store.  Eventually we found the source and nature of the aroma.  It was coming from a confectionary store of high-end chocolates.  Knowing the sugar high would give me a headache, I should have passed.  But alas, I was seduced.  Why?  Because I was in a place to be seduced.

I think a good portion of sin could be avoided if we simply chose to be in a different place or doing something different.  Where we allow ourselves to be or what we allow ourselves to be doing plays a large part in whether we make righteous choices or wicked ones.  If we know that a particular type of entertainment is more likely to contain images or ideas that will lead us to sinful thoughts or actions, we should probably forego watching it in the first place.  If we know that an app or website may contain advertisements that might stir in us wrong thoughts or desires, it is probably wise to avoid it.  The word excellent doesn’t mean merely better than an alternative.  Excellent means without error or even the potential of it.  Excellent means containing no impurities.  The righteous choose to avoid the common, profane, or potentially impure.  The way is excellent because they choose the best.  So, too, should the child of God.  He should choose the excellent way.  Not the acceptable way.

Unfaithful in Word, Unfaithful in Much

“A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.” (Pr 11:13 AV)

It would seem Solomon is telling us that a gossip cannot be trusted with much.  If he is unfaithful in keeping secrets, then he will be unfaithful is other areas.  If he has little discretion with the facts or details of the lives of others, where would his wisdom lie?  Those who have tamed the tongue, so says James, have tamed the whole body.  If confidentiality is honored, then the discipline to perform other duties is present.  Keeping in trust the private lives of others is a character trait for those who do all things well.

If someone is busy talebearing, they are probably not busy doing more constructive things.  If secrets are his industry, other tasks will go undone.  Have you ever watched nature?  It is fascinating.  Squirrels are interesting.  They often busy themselves in verbal jousting.  They sit in the crock of a tree, or hanging upside down on a trunk, or on a eave of a rooftop chirping away.  Their little tails will twitch with each chirp.  When they are sparring, little verbal input is offered.  However, once they stop sparring, a conversation can ensue.  Squirrels are known for gathering and burying food for the winter.  They will often take an acorn or walnut and bury it on the forest floor.  They have nests in trees, and they gather food for the winter.  They are very busy animals.  Yet when they chirp, all that industry stops.  There are no gathering of nuts.  There is no building of nests.  There is no burying food for the winter.  All they need to do to survive ceases for a moment.  They are too busy verbalizing to tend to more important duties.

So it is with the talebearer.  He cannot be trusted because he is not faithful.  He cannot be given important tasks because he is too busy sharing information to no end.  The talebearer cannot be entrusted with information.  So why trust him with anything more?  Being a gossip is more harmful than the words used to inflict harm on another.  It harms the one sharing the news.  He or she will be seen as someone who is unreliable.  He or she cannot be trusted.  They cannot put aside their own agendas for the sake of something much bigger.  If a person is unfaithful in information, he will be unfaithful in duties of life.

Peace Is a Choice

“Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul [is] even as a weaned child.” (Ps 131:2 AV)

Is that even possible?  How is it possible to be completely at peace and contented of heart?  A weaned child with a dry diaper is the most peaceful creature you will ever see.  When he or she decides to stop fussing, they are beyond beautiful.  The writer of the psalms tells us this is something he has chosen to do.  It is not an unavoidable reaction to circumstances about him.  He has chosen to behave and quiet himself.  To stress the point, this is a choice.  Not a reaction.

I have had my share of weaning children.  Bottle feeding gives a dad the experience of bonding with his son or daughter.  What I do know is that having a full tummy is not the only reason a child behaves himself and becomes quiet.  Even a burped tummy alone does not to it.  It is common for a baby to fuss even after his diaper is changed and he is no longer hungry.  There are times when he fights the need to sleep.  They are miserable because they are tired, but will not surrender themselves to sleep.  They are more overwhelmed by the feeling of exhaustion than they are getting the sleep that fixes it.  So, they are agitated.  Often, they have to cry themselves to sleep.  It is amazing how much we do not learn this lesson.  We look at a baby who is fussing because they need a nap and envy them for the liberty they have to sleep as much as they want.  If they only knew how blessed they were to sleep anytime and anyplace their heart desired.  We almost chuckle at the fuss they are making, knowing that if they would settle down and close their eyes, they would feel better.  As toddlers age, they still fight the sleepy bug.  They want to stay up.  They want to be grown up.  They sleep only when they no longer can fight it.  The picture above is of a child who chooses to settle down and slow down so that sleep overtakes him. 

Rest and contentment are something to which we surrender.  They are not forces that come against our will.  Generally speaking, that is.  Rest can come at the end of an accident.  Contentment can come by way of a coma.  But for the most part, rest and contentment come because we choose to behave and quiet ourselves.  We choose to rest in the person and provision of God.  We choose to let God be God.  Like a child who hugs his parent as they limp off to sleep, they resign to the care and love of another.  Exhaustion may not be comfortable.  It may not be something we enjoy.  But resting in the presence of Almighty God is the answer to a discontented and exhausted spirit.  Like a child who becomes quiet and still at the sound of his mother’s voice or lullaby, we need to rest in prayer and the hymns, reminding ourselves of the promises of His word, while praying ourselves back to peace.  There will always be trouble.  There were always be trials.  The diaper does get messy.  Hunger will come again.  But life doesn’t always have to be about the negative.  It can and should be about the LORD.

Never Too Little to Make a Difference

“And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, [purposing] to kill thee.” (Ge 27:42 AV)

Who told Rebekah?  We will never know.  It impresses me how many times the course of human history turns on the obedience or faith of someone who we will never know.  Like the midwife who attended the birth of Jesus and verified it was a virgin birth.  She is never mentioned as even being there.  Yet, someone had to verify the virgin birth in order that Isaiah’s prophecy could be published.  Above, we have someone telling Rebekah that Esau intended to kill Jacob.  If Jacob dies without children, the promise to Abraham and Isaac never comes to pass.  God becomes a liar.  So, whoever it was that let Rebekah know of Esau’s intention saved the nation of Israel before it even began.  I am sure there are countless people like this who changed the world, and they never had any inclination their life amounted to much.  Perhaps the above individual was a simple house servant.  Perhaps an attendant to Esau and his wives overheard a rant of Esau to his spouses and this simple servant, who was partial to Jacob’s life, let Rebekah know.  Whoever it was made a simple decision that kept God’s eternal plan in force.

We may think our life is not significant, but every part is important in the overall plan of God.  One of our favorite Christmas movies is It’s a Wonderful Life.  It is a story of a man brought to the brink and wishes he was never born.  He gets that wish and can see how much different to world would be if he didn’t exist.  The world would be a much different place.  In the same vein, our life matters.  It doesn’t matter if we are a world-changer or a simple servant who attends to the needs of God’s principal actors.  To name a few more, there is the servant girl who tells Naaman the leper where he can go for cleansing by the man of God.  There is the butler who remembers Joseph.  There is the scribe who hid away the book of Jeremiah that we might have it today.  What of the two young men who risked their lives to inform David of Absalom’s plans?  The Bible tells of many facts of God’s sovereign hand that could not have happened without unsung heroes serving faithfully in the duties to which they were called.

Had this unnamed individual above remained quiet, he or she would have occasioned the death of a father of Israel before he met his wives and had twelve sons.  Had he or she thought it not his or her place to say something, then Israel never comes into being.  Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob are the center of the event.  To that there is no dispute.  But for them to be used of God, there was a support system of others who did their part.  As a pastor, I appreciate all the little things people do for the success of God’s work.  Often overlooked, these people are the backbone of God’s hand.  They ensure the pieces are in place for the plan of God to go forward.  They often go unnoticed until they fail to do what they have always done.  A sidewalk is covered in ice because someone didn’t spread salt.  But if that salt was sown and the walkway clear, little notice was given.  So, thank you for your faithfulness.  The work of God cannot go on without your silent and hidden contribution to it.  Thank you.  You mean more to the plan of God than you might ever realize.

Never Destitute

“And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I [being] in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” (Ge 24:27 AV)

Usually, sermons are written around being in the way.  But the servant says something very profound immediately proceeding that statement.  No child of God is ever completely destitute.  Never.  Mercy and truth are abundant for God’s children.  We may lack health.  We may suffer for material wants or comforts.  We may need human companionship.  Our house or car might need repair.  But no matter how long the list of earthly needs may grow, we are never destitute.  As long as we have God’s mercy and truth, we have more than we need!

I have to brag on a fellow believer.  This dear saint is facing the end of life.  He has had failing health for a long time.  Having once served his country as a US Marine, he loves his country and he loves his God.  Now laying in a bed waiting for the inevitable, he has suffered several strokes.  An artist by hobby, he has painted and sculpted many works.  However, if there is one thing most people know about him, it is his quirky sense of humor.  Every day he sends me a joke or two.  Even in his miserable condition, he seeks to make other people laugh.  I went to visit him in the hospital, and the last time I saw him, he wasn’t doing so well.  Mostly out of it, all he wanted to do was sleep.  It was difficult having a discussion with him.  All he wanted was to graduate to heaven.  He wanted to see his LORD and Savior, face to face.  My most recent visit was met with a bit of improvement.  He still lay in bed in the same position he has been for two weeks.  This time, however, I was met with a laugh and a smile.  When I think of a destitute person, this man comes to mind.  He owns nothing.  He has no family to speak of.  He has few friends.  Some good friends.  But compared to most of us, he has nothing.  What he does have is a deep belief in the mercy and truth of God.  He may be worldly destitute.  By far, he is not spiritually so.

The servant makes related observation.  He states that God had not left Abraham in the state of destitution.  This could mean that because Isaac did not have a wife and the promise of a seed through Isaac seemed unlikely, Abraham felt destitute.  Time and the hand of God proved him wrong.  God will not leave us destitute of His mercy and His truth.  In context, the truth is the promise God made to Abraham.  It may seem like God is not providing, comforting, leading, edifying, etc.  What we observe is not reflective of reality.  It was all in God’s timing.  God will not leave His children destitute of His mercy and His truth.  They will abound.  The love of God can do no less.

Consider the Possibility

“And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father [is] old, and [there is] not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” (Ge 19:31-32 AV)

The words above are from one of the two remaining daughters of Lot.  They witnessed four of the five cities of the plain destroyed by the fire of God.  They left Zoar to flee to the mountains.  It is there the two daughters fear there will be no man left by whom they might bear children.  Where did they get that idea?  It occurred to me that Lot had two daughters and Abraham had two sons.  The reason for their separation no longer existed.  Lot abandoned shepherding for the city life.  He no longer had herds or manservants.  Why not return to Abraham?  Or, at the very least, why not seek God’s permission to do so?  Lot left the protection of God’s people.  He went to the plain of Jordan and eventually became a dweller in Sodom.  It was there that his family began to intermarry with the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot has so compromised himself that he was willing to offer his two daughters to the perverted desires of the homosexual citizenry.  I thought, what a shame.  One cannot know for sure, but it has to be asked, what would have happened if Lot returned to Abraham?  Would repentance and reconciliation have halted the fearful act of incest?  Would the enemies of Israel never been born?  It is not a coincidence that Abraham had two sons and Lot had two daughters.  Lot was so far removed from knowing right from wrong that he never saw it.

We have to be a bit careful here and not assert that God’s perfect will for Ishmael and Isaac were the two daughters of Lot.  We simply do not know, nor may ever know.  What we do want to consider is the possibility.  There was no guarantee that Lot’s daughters would become daughters-in-law to Abraham.  What we do know is that Abraham had two sons and a slew of servants.  Provision for husbands and descendants was in the camp of Abraham.  One also has to wonder if Lot knew about Abraham.  Did Lot keep in contact with him?  Was he aware that Ishmael was within just a few years of marrying and that God had promised another son?  I guess what impressed me is that Lot never considered God’s provision.  He never did his entire adult life.  He went after what was best instead of what was best for him.  He retired to wicked cities because it was more convenient.  When the LORD told him to go to the mountains, he asked to go to Zoar instead.  When fear gripped him, we went to the mountain as God first instructed.  But it wasn’t a choice of obedience or conviction.  It was a choice of fear and pragmatism. 

We saw a bit earlier how Lot chose God’s best, but it wasn’t best for him.  Now we see God sending Lot toward Abraham, and again, he fought it.  Departing to the mountains was toward Abraham.  The only mountains accessible to Lot were to the west.  Back toward Abraham.  In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was given a chance to turn around.  Rather than trust the LORD and choose wisely, Lot missed God’s best for him again and, as a result, fathered two sons by his daughters while he lay drunk in his tent.  I know.  You might be thinking I am making too much out of a coincidence.  Perhaps.  But nothing is by chance.  God directs it all.  Lot had two daughters by His divine hand.  Abraham had two sons by His divine hand.  This is not a random event in history nor the simple result of a natural world.  God told Lot to go in a specific direction.  Out of fear, he rejected.  Now, out of fear, his daughters never married.  They had one son apiece by their father.  They were doomed to live a life they feared the most.  Why?  Because they would not consider that God knows best and maybe, just maybe, there is provision for a need waiting in the wings.

Witnessing The Ugly Is Necessary

“And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;” (Ge 18:17 AV)

The LORD is referring to the destruction of the cities of the plain.  He is speaking of the fire from heaven that will burn up Sodom, Gomorrah, and two other cities.  Lot is living therein.  He left the well-watered plain of Jordan to cohabit with the wicked of the world.  He failed to raise his family in the fear of God and is now in peril.  God asks the rhetorical question of enlightening Abraham as to God’s wrath upon a people.  His contemplation is founded upon Abraham’s future as a nation.  By allowing Abraham to witness the destruction of four cities, God is showing Abraham the consequences to people groups that hate God.  This is not a matter of ignorance.  Abraham had the accounts of Noah’s flood and the tower of Babel as a reference.  In fact, it was the escape of Noah that set a precedent Abraham would use to barter for Lot and his family.  God will not judge the righteous with the wicked.  God delivered Noah prior to the flood.  Therefore, if Lot and his family were righteous, then God must ethically spare Sodom and Gomorrah.  What Abraham knew intellectually, he must now witness experientially.  He needs to see it so he can pass down to his descendants the knowledge of the severity of rejecting God.

We may not like to look at horrific things, but often they are a warning to those of us who will learn.  Seeing the end of a life-style caused disease might change the course of someone contemplating the same choices.  Many years ago, there were PSA commercials using graphic ideas to prove a point.  One of them showed an intact egg compared to an egg that was broken and frying.  The tagline said, “This is your brain (the intact egg).  This is your brain on drugs (the frying egg).”  Even today, there are PSA announcements that warn against smoking.  These ads feature a cancer patient suffering from lung cancer or throat cancer.  The warning is clear.  Make the same choices, and you might end up the same way.  Visiting many people in the hospital and serving as a chaplain, I can honestly say there have been cases that have cured me from certain behaviors.  We may not want to look at the ugly.  We may want to turn our heads away from the unsavory.  In doing so, we miss an opportunity to learn a lesson.

I am sure that as Sodom and Gomorrah burned, Abraham suffered many emotions.  The loss of human life alone had to be difficult to bear.  Knowing that his nephew was among those who were incurring the wrath of God had to make it all the worse.  I don’t know how far away he was, but he may have heard the screams of those meeting their end.  There is no indication that Abraham knew of Lot’s fate.  Even if he did, it was tragic.  Lot lost all but two daughters, and those two daughters had sons by their father.  God did not hide the ugly truth from Abraham.  Why?  Because Abraham was to be the father of a great nation, and he needed to know what happens to nations that hate God.  When I think of this, I think of our own nation.  Once a great nation that was settled in biblical values and spreading the gospel throughout the world, we have failed to learn the lessons of history.  We export filth and immorality.  As we go, so goes the world.  We failed to learn the lessons of Greece and Rome.  We failed to learn the lessons of Noah’s flood or Israel diaspora.  We believe ourselves to be immune from the wrath of God.  Not so.  As individual saints, we too lose the lessons that the lives of others teach.  If we learned, then sin would be less of a problem.

The Best May not Be For Us

“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it [was] well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, [even] as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.” (Ge 13:10 AV)

The plain to which Lot desired to go is compared to the Garden of Eden.  This is prime real estate.  Lot and his uncle, Abraham, had a falling out.  The LORD was blessing them both.  They had increase in flocks.  They needed more pasture and water than what they possessed.  This resulted in the workmen between the two households striving with one another over limited resources.  Being older and wiser, Abraham suggested they part households and Lot have first choice of where he wanted to settle.  Abraham would trust the LORD following Lot’s choice.  Whatever Lot chose, Abraham would go the opposite direction.  Lot looks over the pasture to the east and decides it is perfect land wherein he could increase his household.  The plain was lush with pasture, and there was every reason to believe they would lack for nothing if he chose it.  The plain of Jordan was compared to the Garden of Eden.  It was perfect in every way.  Except for one.  The plain of Jordan was too close to five wicked cities of the Gentiles.  Eventually, because Lot chose the best, he lost his everything.  Sometimes the best is not best for us.

Further evidence that the best may not be the best for us is the comparison of the plain of Jordan with the land of Egypt.  I have been watching a series hosted by an archeologist who travels the world looking for answers to the mysteries in history.  He has looked for evidence of myths and legends passed down through hundreds or thousands of years.  In one episode, he was looking for evidence of the Norse Vikings' presence on the North American continent that predates the voyage of Christopher Columbus.  Another episode looked into the history of henges like Stonehenge.  He is an honest host who doesn’t push way-out theories like aliens or the supernatural.  It is refreshing.  Currently, I am watching a series on three female Pharaohs of Egypt.  History records their existence, but archaeological evidence is scarce.  In particular, he is looking for their tombs.  Being Pharaohs, it is puzzling they were lost to time.  No one knows where their remains rest.  In this episode, he travels the Nile.  His words reflect the words of Genesis.  He observes the beauty of the Nile and then calls it paradise.  Four thousand years later, from Lot to present day, the Nile is considered equal to Eden.  The plain of Jordan reflects the same.  The problem with the Nile is that it became the foundation of a wicked and false religion.  What God gave to be enjoyed, man turned to sin.  God’s best was a stumbling block to wicked men.  Sometimes, the best is not the best for us.

Why didn’t the LORD allow Adam and Eve to remain in the Garden of Eden?  Why drive them from it?  It was the best possible place of them.  Why not allow them to enjoy a garden already provided and do nothing more than care for it?  Why drive them from it and require Adam to till his own land and plant his own garden?  Because sometimes God’s best is not the best of us.  Why did God drive the people from the tower of Babel?  After all, combining talents, knowledge, etc would advance the human race much quicker than if they were separated by distance and culture.  Because sometimes, God’s best is not the best for us.  Why was it that Lot was removed to a mountain rather than another city where his daughters might find husbands and he might find a wife?  Why was Leah a better wife to Jacob than Rachel?  Why call a family away from relatives to start fresh from an untamed land like Canaan?  Why have a nation cross Jordan and fight for every inch of land when they could have survived in the wilderness just fine?  Why does God without what seems to be better and ask us to settle for what seems like less?  Because God’s best may not be the best for us.  Lot did not learn that lesson.  Abraham did.  Lot lost his family and eventually his life.  Abraham gained a nation.