Cry Uncle Already

“And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?” (Ex 8:9 AV)

Moses’ way of asking Pharaoh to cry Uncle.  “when have you had enough?”  “how much more are you going to put up with?”  “are you done, yet?”  We know this was the tone because of the little phrase, “Glory over me.”  Moses is telling Pharaoh to pay him the proper respect.  Through Moses, the LORD is asserting His authority to chastise, inflicting hardship for the purpose of repentance.

The LORD is often seen as a God of grace who would never do such a thing.  However, the God of grace whom we worship is also a God of authority and justice!  This was the kind of preaching we had a generation ago.  It was abandoned because we felt it was too much of a turnoff.  So, we emphasized the grace of God to the neglect of the judgment of God.  God does not compromise.  It is His way or the highway.  Or, should we say, it is His way or the hell way.  Yet, in these questions we do see the grace of God.  How? You might ask.  Simple.  By asking the questions, the LORD is opening the door of repentance to the errant sinner.

When my father spanked us, he sometimes used the same tactic.  He would ask us if we had had enough.  His intent was to break the will so that when confronted with the same opportunity to rebel, we would not.  This was grace on his part.  Rebellion is always destructive.  In asking the question, the penitent can cry uncle.  In essence, he surrenders.  He gives in to the one inflicting the harm and surrenders to whatever is demanded of him.  He repents and surrenders!  This is God’s grace.  Not the absence of affliction.  Rather, the use of affliction to change the destructive pattern the sinner has chosen for himself.

A God who Pays Respect

“And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.” (Ex 2:25 AV)

It is a blessing to know that no matter what it might seem like, God does not forget about us!  The word ‘respect’ here means a little different that we tend to us it.  We tend to use it as showing honor towards one that is higher in authority or status.  But the word can also mean to treat something with kid gloves.  It can mean to show extra care towards something that is weaker and needs to be helped along the way.

My later hunting years are now fraught with adventures.  When I was younger, I could go into the woods and not fear whatever mishap might befall me.  I could shoot a deer three miles from camp and make it back, dragging the kill behind me.  Now, it is foolish to go hunting alone and get too adventurous without another alongside.  Such was the case this year.  While tracking a wounded deer into a shallow draw, not finding it, I had to climb out.  Not necessarily a big deal.  However, instead of zig-zagging my way of a steep incline, I went directly uphill.  I heard a pop and felt like I had been shot in the back of the leg.  It turned out I had torn my calf muscle.  Now I was in a fix.  Still severely downhill, I was minus one leg.  It took fifteen minutes to go twenty feet.  The truck was a mile away.  But my partner was there with a 4-wheeler and helped me get out.  For the next six weeks, I respected that injured leg.  I only out as much weight on it as it could handle and still heal.  This is the understanding of respect here.

God will not allow us to go through more than we can handle.  He will respect our frail frame and intervene in times of distress.  He will not forget our situation.  He will always bear in mind our trials of life and that we need Him to make it through.  This is the respect a might God pays to a helpless creature like me!

More Good Days than Bad

“And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Ge 47:9 AV)

Time goes by fast and we tend to remember the good times more than the bad!  Jacob had some bad days.  He had to flee from Esau.  He was defrauded by his father-in-law.  He returned only to feel threatened by Esau all over again.  His two sons, Simeon and Levi, wiped out a neighbor because his daughter had been raped.  Reuben slept with his concubine.  Rachel died in childbirth.  So on and so on.  There is never a perfect life no matter what the commercials try to tell us.  As Job said, “A man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.”  How we choose to remember those days is how we will experience those days.

I have been to many funerals.  There is one thing that is common to them all.  The collage of pictures which is shown at the viewing and prior to the funeral service are pictures of the good times the deceased had had in life.  Pictures of their marriage.  Kids and grand-kids.  Family trips or times of family fellowships.  A picnic here.  A camping trip there.  Playing corn hole or horseshoes.  There are pictures of sports teams.  Pictures of meals shared.  What one doesn’t see are pictures of layoffs, food stamps, empty cupboards.  They don’t see pictures of car wrecks, shut off utilities, divorce proceedings.  We don’t see pictures of a wayward child in the midst of his or her frivolity.  We don’t see the pictures of an argument that was so heated a spouse left for a few days.  We don’t see those pictures because the evil days are few.

God is good to us.  He truly is.  Even those who reject Him have good days.  Not all the days are bad days.  What the world wants us to do is be focused on those bad days.  It wants us to seek drugs, material things, vacations, a new pill, etc that will make are life a virtual utopia.  In reality, those who know Christ shall suffer, but few and evil will our days be!  It all depends upon that which we choose to dwell!  The good, the bad, or the ugly!

Find the Undo Button

“Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?” (Ge 37:28-30 AV)

My question is: why didn’t Reuban, or anyone else for that matter, repent and go after Joseph?  Why didn’t they try to buy him back?  Even if it was a few days later, why not try to redeem their brother and admit to their mistake?  That Midianite caravan couldn’t have gotten that far away.  Surely a couple of the siblings could have pursued and tried to purchase their brother’s freedom.  The point is, there is never a point of no return where something cannot be fixed.  There is always opportunity to undo a wrong.  Things may not return to exactly the way they were before, but that is no reason to let it go and get worse.

I work with graphics on my computer.  My favorite button is the “undo” button.  Or, the “back one step” button.  These features are great!  If I am working with a photograph I can adjust one feature at a time and undo it if I don’t like it, keeping the previous adjustments in place.  Sometimes, while preparing a sermon outline, the ‘undo’ button works great as well.  When pasting formatted text into my outline, I am really particular that it looks just like the typed text.  Sometimes, I have to undo a paste and redo with the correct formatting.  The undo button is awesome.  Working in Photoshop, one can undo on style while keeping others.  One can even go back to the original image negating all the changed which were made.  However, when the user clicks ‘save’, the undo feature goes away until more modifications are made.  Once ‘saved’ is clicked, you are stuck with the changes.

There is rarely a ‘save’ button in life.  Errors can be reversed.  One can ‘undo’ a choice even though the code is still hidden in the background.  Yes, there may be residual effects left behind.  And it may not return exactly as it once was.  I have some scars to prove it.  But we are not necessarily stuck with it as it is. Doing wrong is bad enough.  But avoid undoing the wrong is worse.  The eleven brothers could have taken a tongue lashing and returned Joseph.  Instead, they were in for major humiliation and fear.  Better to fix something early then reap additional problems because we ignored the consequences of our choices.

A Strength is not Always a Strength

“And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” (Ge 34:30 AV)

Just a few chapters earlier, the angel of the LORD said to Jacob that he was a prince with God and man.  His name was changed from Jacob to Israel.  Jacob had the gift of diplomacy.  Since leaving for his life from Esau, he learned that not every deal has to be made in subtlety.  He used Esau to his advantage to gain his birthright.  He used the blindness of his father to gain a blessing.  Now, 14 years later and having been ‘had’ twice by his wife’s father, he has learned a little humility.  When fleeing from Laban and being in the wrong because Rachel had stolen idols belonging to Laban, Jacob strikes a deal at Mizpah.  On the way to Isaac, Jacob is confronted by Esau who is greater in number and resources.  He appeases his older twin brother.  Jacob has learned some skills.  And he has become very successful.  Even to the point of dwelling in peace among other people.

Yet, there are times when one’s strengths can also be a weakness.  Jacob’s skill of appeasement does not apply well in the arena of justice.  I believe Dinah as partly to blame for her predicament.  I do not think Dinah was forced.  Yet, the sons of Jacob felt what was done was not right.  Motive means everything.  The people of the Hivites, Shechem and Hamor, saw intermarriage as a means to attain the wealth of Jacob.  Not a means of merely dwelling together.  When Simeon and Levi took to the sword, it wasn’t just for Dinah’s honor.  They realized these people had no real intention of co-inhabiting the land.  These people wanted to assimilate Israel into their culture and in so doing, defeat by assimilation.  They were out maneuvering by diplomacy the prince of God’s people and he could not even see it.

Simeon and Levi understood there is a time to use your strength.  But clearly there are other times when that strength isn’t the strongest tool in the tool box.  There was a time for diplomacy.  Then there is a time of force.  Knowing when our strength is no longer a strength, shifting to other ways of accomplishing God’s will is essential.  Knowing that just because we are good at something doesn’t always mean we must stick with it.

The Root of Blessing is God!

“And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes.” (Ge 30:14-15 AV)

For years, I have read this and wondered what the big deal was over these mandrakes!  Why was Reuben harvesting them?  Why was he harvesting them for his mom?  What did Rachel think they were so valuable she was willing to trade a night with Jacob for the harvest?  Then I began to research this root.  Very interesting!  It is no wonder the wife that had and issue with idol worship also was the one preoccupied with mandrakes!  They have a heavy history with the underworld.  Not that Rachel was a devil worshipper, but, the root did and does have wide medicinal and recreational drug use applications.  One of them is a treatment for infertility.  Some of the lore surrounding this root comes from its appearance.  It is not out of the ordinary for the root to take on the appearance of a screaming human.  Lore stated these roots would scream when pulled from the ground and kill the one harvesting them.  People believed this so deeply, they would tie a dog to the root and run, hoping the dog would follow and pull up the root.  Really weird.  None of that has anything to do with this event though.  I don’t see Jacob’s family involved in witchcraft or superstition.

What we can learn, though, is Rachel decided to put up her chances of pregnancy with a medical treatment rather then seeking opportunity and leaving the results up to the LORD.  As a result of this trade, Leah was found with child and after he was born, another came along.  At least two years later, Rachel (with or without the root) was still without child.  It would have been one thing if she was using the mandrake for her own health (which it often was).  But it appears she was using it to improve her chances of receiving a blessing from the LORD.

One cannot manipulate God’s will for oneself.  It was obvious God’s will for Rachel was to be a mother.  Not just of Joseph, but also of Benjamin.  Yet, Benjamin came along two years after the whole mandrake trade.  No credit was given to the supplement.  Only to the LORD!  God is the one who bestows blessings and purpose.  Sometimes He may choose to use a root.  Other times, perhaps not.  The point is, if it is not God’s will, then manipulation is not going to work.  If it is, He will either cause it or allow it.  Whatever the case, God is always in control.

Greater than the Cost

“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Ge 15:1 AV)

At first glance, the fact the LORD is a reward doesn’t seem so right.  The Hebrew word for ‘…reward…’ here means a wage.  Something that is earned.  Not a prize to be bestowed out of mere luck.  So, the question arises; what was it that Abram did that caused God to give Himself to Abram and just compensation?  The answer is in the previous chapter. 

Lot was taken captive by five kings of the near east.  Abram joined with other five kings that he might assist in conquering the enemy and rescuing Lot.  The LORD blessed the effort for Abram’s sake.  Particularly for the covenant and what it would mean to the other five kings to see the LORD bless Abram.  When the king of Sodom offered a portion of the spoils of war, Abram turned him down.  His concern is the unbelievers would credit themselves for making Abram rich and not the LORD.  So, Abram turned down certain wealth for the sake of the LORD’s testimony and as a result, God because very real and close to him!

One thing is for certain, the exceeding great reward is far greater than the cost Abram paid!  If only God’s people could realize the same.  The LORD doesn’t ask us to give up things of this life without receiving hundred-fold in return.  He doesn’t ask a man to surrender to full-time Christian service without giving him blessings that far exceed the cost.  The LORD doesn’t ask a saint to leave the acquaintances of the old life without giving him new relationships in return.   The LORD doesn’t ask His people to expend a little time and resources to build His church without giving something far greater in return.  He doesn’t have to.  But He deeply desires to bless those who love Him!