Posts

Posted on

What God sees.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭36‬-‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Matthew gives us a front row seat to understand the character of Jesus – which IS the character of God. He writes, “when he saw the crowds.” When Jesus sees, it lets me know what God sees. When Jesus is moved with compassion, it lets me know that God is moved with compassion. Is God still moved as He sees the crowd? Matthew tells us that Jesus saw the crowds as confused and helpless.

He used a couple of Greek words that may help us understand just how Jesus/God saw their pain. He uses a word that comes from “skulló” which means to skin, or figuratively to trouble. That’s right, the root word is “skylon” which is the word for skinning an animal pelt – properly, skin alive, mangle (flay)! Figuratively, to harass, or extremely annoy. The New Living Translation couldn’t possibly capture being “skinned alive” with the word “helpless.” Life with all its turmoil of political, societal and personal struggles gets EXHAUSTING! People felt it then and we all feel it now.

Matthew also used the word, “rhiptó,” to throw or cast off. This word is often used to describe throwing something down, like Judas throwing the silver coins down at the chief priests in the temple. Or, the demon throwing the man to the ground as Christ cast it out. Jesus saw the crowd and felt the gut wrenching pain of compassion (splagchnizomai).

The crowds were made up of more than just physically sick, blind, crippled or deaf – they all had the weight of this broken world on their shoulders. Jesus says this is what the harvest field looks like! This is where the seeds of sin and selfishness, loneliness and sufferings have come to fruition and are ready to be harvested to heaven or let to rot, falling to the field of death and destruction. Jesus saw humanity’s grief as opportunity to disperse mercy and grace. But it would require more of his followers to see what he saw. And, more of his disciples to feel what he felt so that more would be saved from being flayed and tossed down. Jesus obviously wants believers, his followers, to look at crowds and see differently. To see protesters, rioters, concert-goers, stadium sports fanatics at a much deeper level. I drive my city streets and see the crazed, naked, ranting madness and feel so helpless to do anything. What would Jesus see? What would he have me do? What does sending “workers” into our modern fields of ripe-chaos look like today? I do not know, but I am curiously challenged to figure it out.

Prayer

Dad,
I feel like such a chicken when I see the overwhelming craziness of our streets, our looters, our protesters. When I saw the woman screaming and ranting while I was at lunch with a Pastor friend, I did not know what to do. She was completely out of her mind! I would like to just say she was mentally ill, but it looked and sounded so much more demonic than just being sick! I do not think you would have hesitated to go and heal her of whatever it was that caused such torment in her. I could only muster enough compassion to feel sorry for her! Why can’t I be one of those workers you look for? Fear? Not wanting to look stupid or like some kind of religious freak myself? Oh, how I need your boldness beyond my compassion! If I were you, I would not have hesitated at all. However, even though I see…I am still just me!

Posted on

The view on the road back home.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.” Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” Psalms‬ ‭126‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What’s it like coming back home or reconciling with family and friends after you’ve left, drifted or stormed off in anger. It’s tough. I have no understanding of Israel’s forced captivity in a foreign country as a disciplinary action from God. They were marched out of their land and into Babylon where they were immigrants for 70 years – that’s a long time! And while they were gone, their beloved homes, city and temple were all ransacked and destroyed.

They only small comparison I have is being given up for adoption at four years old. My world, my home, my toys, my neighborhood friends all gone. I was placed with a new family, in an unfamiliar apartment and never did returned home. All that was left for me was fragments of memories, like an assortment of puzzle pieces that do not fit together to make a picture.

For Israel, the journey back was humbling and difficult. Everything they remembered had to be rebuilt – their homes, their city wall and their temple. Ezra, the priest, convinced them to rebuild God’s house before doing anything else! And, it made sense because it was the neglect of God’s house and His commandments that put them in the generational time-out to begin with.

When things go wrong, it’s hard to figure out this concept still today. Am I being disciplined by God? Is this just life in a broken world? Or, am I being targeted and harassed by the devil? Oh, you didn’t know that God still disciplines either putting us into timeout or allowing it to happen? Sorry to break it to you. God loves us enough to come after us, even if it means putting us into situations that require us to look up and reevaluate our decisions!

This Psalm captures the hope, the joy of not just returning, but the giddiness of rebuilding. Rebuilding a life, a home, a church or a city is certainly difficult, but it beats captivity! It’s a wake up call to remember what freedom is really all about – freedom to do right, not do whatever we want. The Psalmist, Ezra, declares “YES! The Lord as done amazing things for us! What joy!” It’s honest and real after being gone for so long.

Prayer

Dad,
Oh my heart just breaks for those who knew you, loved you and then for so many different reasons, decided to walk out. Whether is was some awful experience in life or the church or just wandering off, looking for something else. It’s still painful for me to watch. So many friends, so many family members who walked away from you. I don’t plan on leaving your presence, even when I’ve been exiled in a holy timeout for my own good. Where would I go? You are the author of life. You have given me so much. I cannot deny nor turn away from that. However, I ask that I do not become the “elder brother” in the prodigal story, comparing my life to others and thinking I need a big party celebrating the fact that I never left. No, help me to always be the father in that story. The one who daily goes out waiting, watching for those who’ve decided to come home!

Posted on

The smell of life.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’m really a smell fanatic, or maybe a smellunatic. Most normal things don’t bother me at all. I’m not a big fragrance person with colognes or perfumes, but I’m really sensitive (annoyed) by certain smells. I can smell mechanical or electrical dangers long before most. I don’t mind the smell of Skunks. Tuna doesn’t bother me, but old fishy smells do. Robin can smell the effects of garlic and asparagus after someone eats it, I cannot. I love nature smells like ocean, mountain, rain, redwoods and desert.

The Apostle Paul has used the idea of scent before. Someone blogged that there are 52 aroma references in the Bible, Paul wrote about all 5 in the New Testament. I like the word aroma instead of odor, it feels more majestic. Paul believes that there is a Christ-like fragrance that believers carry on themselves. He uses the word “euódia” a good smell.

If life itself had a smell, emitting a fragrance, it would smell like Jesus? That’s a wild thought! I mean, He is God, the creator of all things – life itself. I’ve been a part of the “Church,” all of my adult life. I don’t mean as an attender or a congregant. I’ve been a part of the leadership in local churches as a career. I work for God. I work in His Church. I have come to believe that I want to be part of a life-giving church, not a life-sucking church. I want to BE a church that gives off the aromatic scents of LIFE. Paul says that’s what we are supposed to smell like, especially to believers.

To the world, to a dying, self-determined culture that wants to cast off all constraints of moral sensibility, the smell of Jesus presents itself as death. Do I stink to those who are rebellious towards God? Maybe! But to those are searching, hurting, and desperate, my prayer is that I smell like the ocean breeze, the mountain air, the summer rain – life itself! Paul uniquely writes, these contrasting phrases to those who are in process of being saved and those in process of being condemned. We are either “life to life” or “death-to-death.” Same Jesus, but Him in us, smells very different to folks, depending on their heart and eternal determination. Back to church folk… I not only want to be a church that is life-giving, I also want the foyer aroma of our lives to smell like life itself – like Jesus on resurrection morning!

Prayer

Dad,
Oh my goodness! I do not want to stink. I certainly don’t want to be or live a stinky life, smelling like death around those heading towards heaven! And, as much as I do not want to stink as a “in your nose” reminder to those destined to harden their heart towards you, I get it. When I smell like Jesus around people who are genuinely offended by Him, I guess that’s going to happen. Please, wash me, clean me and let me smell like Christ!

Posted on

The longest feud in history.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and paid the amount he had suggested—400 pieces of silver, weighed according to the market standard. The Hittite elders witnessed the transaction. So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all the surrounding trees. It was transferred to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron). So the field and the cave were transferred from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭23‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Some of these Biblical references hold the deep secrets to thousands of years of conflict between modern nations and people groups. Within the long love story between Abram and Sarai (now Abraham and Sarah) we find the ending of Abraham’s dear wife, Sarah. Abraham wants to purchase and secure a proper burial place in the massive, expanse of desert between the Mediterranean Sea and the country of Jordan. There was basically just miles of land filled with sand with a few alcoves or caves that popped up on the desert floor. Hebron.

Here’s a couple of interesting facts about this transaction, which was clearly documented among two people groups, later to become nations. Abraham legitimately bought the land from one of the prominent Hittite leaders. Their descendants of the Hittites eventually merged into Turkey. However, Abraham had two bloodlines, remember? One was Ishmael, the other Isaac. Ishmael (although he was a Canaanite, went on to eventually become the cultural father of Islam, but not directly the Arabic patriarch everyone assumed. It turns out that Ishmael’s mother, was an Egyptian, and believed to be one of the Pharaoh’s daughters herself! When God saved mother and son in the desert, Ishmael went on to get married and have children. Those children became princes and princesses of the royal lineage of Egypt itself.

I always wondered where the bitter, rage-filled turmoil came from between Israel and the Muslim cultures. They both share the same ancient patriarch/father – Abraham! It is well known that Islam believes that their beloved prophet was a direct descendant of Ishmael, who was Abraham’s first born son. Making matters even more complicated, the city of Hebron, where Abraham and Sarah are buried would be considered “co-owned” by both “heirs,” Ishmael and Isaac. If you think that’s wild, do a little study on the Pharaoh’s daughter who ended up becoming the maidservant of two powerful bedouins in the desert – that’s right, Abram and Sarai. You don’t think that forcing Hagar out into the desert would create a historical tension between Israel and Egypt as well? What’s the point? When we make human choices out of our own free will to take shortcuts to accomplish something God had already promised, like Abram and Sarai impregnating Hagar to force and heir. Look at the massive, historical, cultural turmoil that ensued because of that one decision! Just look at where we’re at today, Judaism and thus Christianity, is still locked in bitter, religious, even political and social division because of that decision. Yet God clearly wants redemption of ALL people. And Jesus alone is the one and only true reconciliation for all nations, cultures and people! The longest feud is between God and humans, but history tells us there is still bad blood between the Jewish people and Muslims. Only Jesus blood can reconcile both us to God and brother back to brother.

Prayer

Dad,
I’ve long realized that a lack of faith also has awful consequences. When I am impatient or unwilling to wait for your will to be done and I make selfish, short-cut decisions, I must realize that those decisions have repercussions and ramifications for my future, but also the future of others in my family and close friends. Help me trust. Help me be patient and obey. Give me wisdom to see and have faith to believe. Amen.

Posted on

Advice to the arrogant.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.” Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have come across Proverbs that are clear, but I can’t stand them. I didn’t want to face the facts of this radical candor saying.

Confession: I only want to hear or take advice from folks who know MORE than I do or those who have MORE experience than myself, in the advice they are giving.

Proverbs nails my hollow heart issue as I type this – that is soooo arrogant. I understand I shouldn’t be taking advice from proverbial fools. But I have this emotionally triggered response when someone tells me how to do my job or run my life when I don’t think they are doing so well themselves! Doesn’t that just reek with pride? I mean, it causes a full on physical reaction in me. It’s ridiculous.

I believe the wisdom writers are pointing out the fact that pride is the numero uno reason for many conflicts. But in this case, the conflict is INSIDE of me! Why in the world can I NOT listen and look for wisdom from conversations with just about anyone? Why do I get all judgey? The truth of this proverb picks at some origin story wound that I just can’t seem to remember. Why do I get defensive? Why does it ruin my day? And, more importantly, what can I do about it? It’s a recurring theme that I am so tired of struggling with.

Through a process of humility and listening to the Holy Spirit, I want help in deconstructing some childhood defense that is no longer necessary nor helpful. Isn’t this is so apropos that God’s word would get in cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, exposing my innermost thoughts and desires? (Hebrews 4:12). Cut away God, do your work in me!

Prayer

Dad,
This proverb hurts. It hurts because it pinpoints a blindspot, a wound, an irritation that I just can’t seem to see clearly, and allow healing to take place in my heart. Now that your word has pierced me, what do I do now? I’m confessing my arrogance and asking for help here. Show me, lead me and be patient as I take the time to figure why this is a reoccurring issue and time to work it out with your Holy Spirit. Thank you in advance for the upcoming outpatient surgery I am sure to be experiencing soon!

Posted on

God sees and hears you.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭40‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is really powerful and supportive when someone not only knows you are in hard times, but reaches out with a simple text or phone call just to say they are with you. Oh, to be seen and to be heard is actually comforting. It’s mysterious and welcomed. This was a Psalm David wrote himself. We don’t know when he wrote it, but it was placed among the poetry prayers in the collection towards the end of his life.

He writes about waiting for God’s help. Waiting while in physical or mental distress is extremely exhausting. They tell us that pain causes our mind to lie to us and tell us that the present circumstances will be permanent, like there will be no end to it. We just want out of it. We want to get back to normal, back to easy, back to joys of living and loving.

This Psalm is so powerful because David most likely remembers a moment when he was just a shepherd boy, tending his family’s sheep. As a shepherd, it was common for sheep to wander into these mud holes after a rainstorm in the open pasture. These holes looked shallow, but they could be deceptively, dangerously deep. The sheep would step in and sink down, deep into a mud so thick it was like wet cement. The shepherd would hear the cries of the sheep, immobilized in the muck. These holes could also be large enough that the shepherd could not reach the sheep with the crook of his staff. The shepherd would have to climb into the hole, wading in to the depths to wrap his arms around the muddy, scared sheep. He would have to pull the sheep out slowly while the sheep struggled by kicking, even biting at the shepherd. The shepherd’s rescue meant the sheep would be saved!

David sees his own life, filled with his own deep muddy holes and rejoices that God, the great shepherd heard him, turned to him, climbed into the muck and mire, wrapped his arms around him and lifted him out – saving his life. David sees his life as a series of rescues when God continued to set him on the rock of solid ground. David, then in response, lifts his own song of praise to God, thankful that God sees, hears, turns and lifts him out to safety. This is what God does in our life. He sees, hears, turns and rescues us.

Prayer

Dad,
How many times have I found myself in a muddy hole of life? How many times did I wander off? How many times was I trapped? How many times did I feel that I could do nothing to set myself free, rescuing myself? Many times! I also waited. I also cried out. You saw me, heard me, turned to me and lifted me out of the muck! Thank you! I remember and give you praise!

Posted on

Plowing different paths.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul strongly, boldly tells the Corinthian believers not to be love entangled with non-believers because they would be trying to pull the “one” life in two different directions. I heard this phrase often as a young believer myself, “no missionary dating.” The idea was that casually dating someone who is outright opposed to Christ would lead to “falling in love,” and not being able to call it off when it got more serious.

Falling in love is serious and once emotions kick in and bonding takes place it becomes difficult to see the dangers of becoming one with an unbeliever. I’ve seen all kinds of relationships end in tragedy when a believer wants to lovingly lead their “friend” into a decision for Christ by marrying them. Isn’t it already a struggle to get this truth through our heads, “we cannot change another person’s heart.” One of the big challenges is thinking someone can fix a guy or gal by marriage! So many believe that love will win over an addiction or a character flaw or an unbelief in God. We don’t have that kind of power to change another person’s life! I’ve seen women date, fall in love and marry a non-believing man and the man never changes his heart towards God. I’ve seen the same with men hoping for the best in a woman. Of course, there have been miracles in the relationship, but it’s rare. Each person just thinks following Jesus or not following Jesus is some kind of phase or fad and that it will eventually change. Faith isn’t a fad. These are really dangerous situations for both individuals. Both thinking they can fix or change the other!

This phrase Paul uses, “unequally yoked,” is only found here in Corinthians. Bible commentaries tell us Paul is referring to a little known verse out of Leviticus 19:19 where God warns the Jewish farmers not to try to use two completely different animals to pull the field-plow. Leviticus uses the word, “mate” as in don’t crossbreed your livestock, but it was also commonly used to refer to “hitching up to the same yoke” when plowing a field together. So not only does God forbid trying to force an ox to mate with a donkey, but also don’t “yoke” them together either. A yoke is a tool or device that pairs animals together making it easier on both but also keeping them focused on working together. The humor is the picture of a ox just plodding through the field while the donkey is bucking and kicking trying to get away from his field partner.

Paul’s words are more than just a “marriage” warning. How close is too close, how intimate is too intimate in a friendship? When friends begin to share deeper experiences with each other the bond of love increases substantially. And, I’m not talking about a physical/sexual relationship, I am talking about a merging of values, hopes and dreams. Paul’s warning is that any relationship that pulls us away from or cools our affections from Christ is dangerous and wrong. These deep friendships, not even marital unions, are red flags to avoid.

In Paul’s day, the church folk saw nothing wrong with doing temple one day and going with a friend to a “idol sacrifice” party the next day. These Greek parties were often far more than just huge barbecues with lots of music and dancing. They were full on ancient raves filled with alcohol, drugs, sexual orgies with “temple prostitutes” along with lots of fruits, veggies and animals being offered to greek demigods.

The warning to the church was… this has gone on too long and TOO FAR for a friend! Stop it. We become a version of the people we hangout with. At some point either in a dating relationship or deep friendships, there will be a moment we will have to make a decision – will it be Christ or someone else? God is jealous over us and our relationship with him. He certainly does not want to share us with the devil, the slander, the liar.

Prayer

Dad,
I do not plan on sharing my life or wearing a faith-yoke with anyone or anything that takes me away from you. Help us stay vigilant in these last days. Help us stay faithful and focused. Keep us, hold us in your grace. Amen.

Posted on

Sin can’t get me satisfaction.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!” Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭16‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God had brought Abram through some extraordinary faith exercises. Leaving the land of his father and continuing on to the place God had promised. A conversation about Abram’s heir and God demonstrating his blood contract with Abram in Genesis 15. Each one of these encounters were a gift of grace extended to a man who would choose to lie instead of trusting God (saying, Sarai is my sister!).

Yet, Hebrews tells us that Abraham had faith. And that faith was accounted to him as righteousness. Faith came way before the law and will go on long after the fulfillment of the law by Christ’s death on the cross. Faith still moves God’s heart, it still pleases God!

Genesis 16 opens with a huge faith test – Sarai is not happy and doesn’t want to wait to see if God will come through for her. Oh, I get it. This kind of “against all odds, never been done before,” kind of faith is extraordinarily tough. Did Abram share his faith building stories with Sarai? Or the promises God made to him? Did he talk about hearing from God and reassure Sarai that God would keep his promise? We don’t know. What we do know is that Abram was just as desperate to a have child as Sarai! Abram is thinking legacy, having an heir lined up in his old age. Sarai is bearing the shame that often comes with perceived infertility. Both were well past childbearing years, even back then when people lived much longer than today.

Abram loved Sarai. Abram did not want to see his wife suffer the shame associated with not having any children. Sarai was extremely persistent. Abram conceded and Hagar conceived. Forget about all the moral and cultural legalities at that time for a moment. Yes, multiple wives was a thing and I don’t see that God judged it nor sanctioned it. I can’t pretend I understand all that. The fact is, the son, produced by Hagar was considered to be the legal, firstborn heir of Abram. But, as we know with Esau and Jacob, things don’t always go according to plan.

As soon as Sarai, who so desperately wanted a child, found out that Hagar was pregnant with Abram’s heir, she began to treat the woman with contempt and immediately blames Abram! Real or not Sarai sees Hagar very differently after making the deal, “Now that she’s pregnant, she gives me that look of pride and pity!” The reality of taking a shortcut to fulfill God’s promise hits her hard.

There are shortcuts to making God’s will happen, forcing a promise to come sooner rather than later. The results are always the same – bitterness, brokenness and fractured relationships. Is the sin the action, the decision to get what we want without waiting for God to come through? Or, is our sin the lack of faith to believe God at his word, trusting his will, his way and certainly his promises? Maybe every sin is some kind of skewed decision to get our own way rather than believing God?

Hagar became a constant reminder of a failed attempt to self-fulfill a promise made by God. Interesting side note, God protected and blessed Hagar and her son Ishmael, a rightful heir to Abram’s lineage. Hagar had a beautiful, enduring faith in God herself, saying to God, “You are the God who sees me.” Abram and Sarai’s shortcut did not get them satisfaction. Our shortcuts of sin will never fully satisfy either.

Prayer

Dad,
This is the sad state of our humanity! Even when we hear and understand your promises, we are so impatient in seeing them fulfilled that we disbelieve. We create another way, a quicker, more convenient shortcut to get it or do it ourselves. This is so human! It’s an embarrassing fact of our brokenness. Yet, you are still gracious to us, still making and fulfilling your promises to us even when we do not deserve it. Thank you for your patience, your long suffering and mercy. I need you, I need faith desperately more than the shortcuts.

Posted on

Random acts of criticism.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12‬:‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There was an old children’s rhyme that was supposed to project a certain self resilience from harmful words that were carelessly slung around at recess. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me.” What started as an article in a British magazine in 1857, made its circuitous way around the globe. A very old Jewish book, The Book of Sirach, had it quite opposite and far more accurate, “The blow of a whip raises a welt, but a blow of the tongue crushes the bones.”

The speed of instant words, traveling further and faster than our emotions can filter or process means that we are constantly violating the Apostle James Biblical admonition and simultaneously destroying our own civility – “be slow to speak (or write) be quick to listen.” Our words now embarrassingly live a longer life than we intended. Are we really supposed to say or write everything we think? Spewing our crass, cutting, filterless words? It’s easy to blame social media or our incessant and quite disturbing hunger for what the wisdom writers call, “dainty morsels.” Those dainty morsels, laced with dung, are exactly what wisdom warns us NOT to desire, nor digest whether it’s spoken (or written).

The “cutting” this Proverbs speaks of is a stabbing, piercing wound, conjuring a very visual thrusting of a sword. It’s a physical attack of words! The old English saying is wrong! Physical sticks and stones that break bones do have certain post traumatic stresses associated with them. If you have ever been physically attacked you know this is true. But oddly, piercing words haunt longer, seem to trigger faster and leave a wound that never quite heals. Bones heal, but nasty synapses continue to swirl through our souls!

How can we regain civility or the kindness we desire to teach our children. Stop posting piercing, wounding words! Control yourself! And quite contrary to our appetite for potty-mouth and poopy content – quit reading trash towards you or about others! Just go cold turkey on the addiction to dainty morsels. The words of the wise bring healing. With our words we can be wound closers not wound causers! We can suture not strike. Let’s shut down the cheap, cowardly crassness and move forward towards civility.

Prayer

Dad,
What drives us to WANT to hear, want to read such negative, unpleasant, unprofitable words against us or others? What exactly is the disordered desire that draws our hearts towards pain and such anger? It’s awful! It reminded me of Isaiah’s warning in 5:20, the complete reversal of taste, where bitter starts tasting sweet and sweet tastes bitter! Oh, help us God! Save us from ourselves and our foolishness.

Posted on

Voice of God.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭29‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David reflecting over his entire life, remembering the peaceful times in the pasture while tending his father’s sheep. The early entry into the limelight, becoming the giantkiller. Through the rapid rise to fame and possibility as the heir apparent to the throne of Israel. Running and hiding from Saul, Israel’s first king. To the forty years of being king. A circuitous life to notoriety, writing 73 out of the 150 Psalms. Having 8 wives and 18+ children. He lived to 70 years old.

David writes about the powerful voice of God. The voice that created all that exists. God’s voice louder than the roar of the sea. His voice making the earth itself shake and dance. And finally, God speaking in the temple, where the people respond GLORY! What a theme to think about as he reviews his own life.

When we look back on a year, or three or thirty, what do we reflect on? What memories fill our mind? Is it on our own life, family or kids? Is it on career choices or the ups and downs of decisions made in our past? Or, is it on local and global events we’ve experienced and remember the “good-ol-days” even though we know they had their own troubles? David reflected on God and His powerful voice directing the earth and human affairs. Maybe we should consider the same as we look back or better yet, look forward. May The Lord reign as king forever and give his people strength. And, may the Lord bless them with peace.

Prayer

Dad,
Every human will eventually, clearly hear your voice and either be shaken and convicted because they ignored your grace and mocked your love and mercy. Or, they will be overjoyed, comforted by the sweet and familiar sound of being welcomed home. I love your hearing your voice in the quiet sound of correction or the calm sound of peace to my soul. I want your voice to heard as you speak justice, righteousness and truth over the nations of the world. Speak Oh Lord, we need you now.