Tag: Justice

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What does God want?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals. Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, ‘We are ruined! We are completely humiliated! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.’” Jeremiah‬ ‭9:17-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Learning from discipline.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a child being properly disciplined, but it is quite a difficult scene to endure. I’m not talking about abuse or harsh corporal punishment from parent to child. I’m just talking about the extraordinary patience as a toddler melts down in public! Of course the child is crying, but often I’ve seen the child’s mother break down in exhaustive tears in complete frustration. There is wailing for sure.

As I read through the God-spokesperson’s words, His prophets, warning, imploring God’s own people to stop their temper-tantrum, destructive behavior. I understand why God would…. discipline them – severely! God does so as the most loving, merciful acts ever. Israel (and ALL of humanity) just won’t listen and stubbornly, even defiantly CHOOSE to go their own way, choose their own path. Even if it’s right off the cliff to their own death and destruction. They don’t, we don’t care – we want what we want when we want it and we won’t let anyone tell us any different!

What’s God to do with that total toddler behavior showing up constantly in grownup adults? Back then, God said, enough is enough! He has plans and God will have His way and nothing, NOTHING is going to stop Him from getting what He wants.

What does God want? YOU. He wants you back. He wants what is best for you, for me. He wants everything and everyone to be made right, whole, at peace, and back in the family. What if humans don’t want that? Well there’s the rub, right? There’s the struggle, the WAR, the problem. What if humans WANT to go their own way? Sure, God will eventually let them, but not without a fight.

What does it take to get it through our thick skulls – there is NOTHING else out there but chaos, death and destruction! And that world, that existence has its own ruler with his own ways of doing a life without God – that’s Satan’s realm and his plan to take as many as possible away from God and drag them to the eternal pits of despair!

For those humans who “live” it up here and just hope for annihilation, a eternal state of nothingness, it’s a lie.

For those promised some kind of union with “all” things and experience karma (with is nothingness) being “one” with all matter, it’s a lie.

For those who think they get to do life here, then come back, reincarnated to try again, hopefully as a higher life-being, it’s also a lie.

ALL those paths are shams leading to the same place, death and destruction away from God for all eternity. When God comes across harsh in His discipline methods, like stripping Israel of everything they knew and everything they owned – He does so out love! Because the alternative is eternally worse. So when you see people angry at God, or bitter because they believe God isn’t fair (which He is definitely not fair, but He is just), or they struggle and fight to run into the street like a wild, willful toddler – yeah, you’ll see some serious tears and tantrums going on.

Prayer

Dad,
Even though I completely acknowledge my sins, I have no intention of trying to get away from you to do “my own thing.” My life was a wreck before you got ahold of me. I remember your discipline in my youth. I remember how stubborn and feisty I was towards the things of God and how hard it was for me to just be obedient. Honestly, from my chaotic past, a lot of what you were teaching me did not make sense. If felt extremely counterintuitive from everything I had learned on my own. If it were not for your grace and persistent patience, I would not have made it this far. So, thank you for your steadfast hand of love.

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Gotta Serve Somebody.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’” But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.” Jeremiah‬ ‭18:11-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Whoa, this ain’t no Jeremiah 29:11! You know that verse that is highly quoted and controversial among millennials that are sick of the positive toxicity postured in so many pulpits today. I’ve used it, I’ve quoted it and have given it away to inspire hope.

The context of that verse should ALWAYS be taken into consideration. Judgment had been pronounced and God put Israel in a 70 year timeout! So, from within captivity, within the punishment, yes, there is a promise of hope. However, it has a contingency trigger… “IF,” – IF you look for me! “This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29:10-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

But here, in the face of arrogance, brash attitudes, God says the complete opposite! You just can’t get any clearer than, “I am planning disaster for you.” Who are these “people” who continue to ruin it for the whole nation? Who are the “but the people replied.” Are they national leaders? Are they spiritual leaders? At one point, later in the text it says, “Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.” Is this group of people civic or business leaders?

Whoever they are, they are loud and proud ignoring Jeremiah and the warnings he had given. And, they had a significant influence and sway over the general public. Isn’t that how life really goes? The hard working, simple, average folk just trying to live their lives start listening to the loud, brash activists, who are normally such a small group. Why are we so swayed, so influenced by these “people?”

I can tell you this, if someone doesn’t stand up for themselves, their community and their nation, it’s the bullies and blowhards that will lead us right into trouble. What do these folks care about community, they just selfishly want to tear things down and blame it on everyone else!

Surprisingly, the rest of the “people” just went along with ignoring God and His warnings and off they go into Babylonian captivity. It’s a sad message to digest, “you want to be free from me,” God says, “well, let’s just put you back into captivity to see if you remember how well you do on your own.”

What a paradox of life – being human is all about serving UNDER someone or something! If it’s not God, then it’s a maniacal dictator or a suffocating religion or a destructive ideology. It’s Bob Dylan’s hit song, released on my birthday, August 20, 1979 Gotta Serve Somebody – “But you’re going to have to serve somebody.”

Dylan faked his way into Christianity for a short time, just to win over the Jesus’ movement hot christian music market. His words are true though, “You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage. You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage. You may be a business man or some high-degree thief. They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief… but you’re going to have to serve somebody!

After warning and pleading with Israel to stop lusting after wooden poles and racing towards an evil, independent stupidity, God declares, ENOUGH! They had sunk into depravity, and they are seriously messing with God’s plans to redeem the whole world through Israel. Time after time, God let’s us go our own way. Let’s us plummet to the depths of our desires. Waits until we hit the bottom and start looking around for help and someone to rescue us. Then we recognize our failures, confess and repent and make our way back to God’s grace. Then start the cycle all over again. Oh, come quickly Lord Jesus! Not to escape this broken planet, but to end this cycle once and for all.

Prayer

Dad,
Help us, continue to have mercy and grace on us. Even in our sin.

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Is justice only a young man’s game?

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly? No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land. These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.” Psalms‬ ‭58:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​David’s gritty tune. The caption for Psalm 58 is “sung to the tune of Do Not Destroy.” Come on, you know that old song, Do Not Destroy 😂😂😂. The words, Al taschet (Hebrew: אַל-תַּשְׁחֵת, do not destroy. Catchy huh?

This Psalm was written when David was a younger man, for sure under 30 years old. Younger men are pretty angsty and far more black and white in their views of justice.

Saul and/or Abner was in constant and hot pursuit of David. He was running for his life, hiding in caves and scrounging for food. Saul had made David out to be an outlaw, a traitor. People risked their lives to provide food and shelter for him.

It’s ironic that David is so clear minded about justice when he’s being hunted, contrasted to how foggy he was on justice when he raped his neighbor’s wife and murdered Uriah later in his life and kingship. Late in the afternoon after his kingly nap, King David is wandering on his rooftop and feeling, you know, frisky. He sees, he PLOTS, he takes. Once a man of principle and character while in the caves, later he’s a power hungry pervert. He wasn’t singing “Do Not Destroy” as he aged and climbed the social ladder to the throne.

Should only young men be concerned and vocal about injustice? Do old men have more skeletons in the closet, more risk of losing what they had worked so hard to obtain? You see these patterns in many of our social structures today. Men of power having to hide more dirt as they climb in politics, business, and even the Church. Maybe old men should be more active in cleaning and clearing out our own dirt, our own injustices – confessing and repenting of our sins before God. David could clearly see injustice when young, but his heart became so clouded as he aged.

Prayer

Dad,
Is this why men become so less engaged as we age? Men not only lose heart, they also lose energy and clarity as we make our way through life. I would hope that wisdom brings both a sense of perspective and a renewed voice to speak out, live out a sense of justice for those who are weak and alone. Help us, as men, to continue to walk humbly and see clearly, constantly purging our hearts and minds of plans and plots to selfishly satisfy our own souls.

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Am I a fungus infected sin activist?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!” Luke‬ ‭12:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Crowds as thick as a rock concert in Central Park. Did I ever notice that Jesus was looking over the throngs of people when he delivered this famous passage? No. He sees thousands out there and says, watch out for “leaven infection.” Sure, leaven is yeast as New Living Translation says, but I can’t use that word coupled with infection!

Yeasts are single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom! YIKES 🤢. Let’s just stick to its properties in food.

Yeast is used in baking as a leavening agent, where it converts the food/fermentable sugars present in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as gas forms pockets or bubbles. When the dough is baked, the yeast dies and the air pockets “set”, giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture. Yeast also rapidly reproduces, effectively permeating every cell of the dough.

Why was yeast (leaven) associated with sin? First, on a practical level, the Israelites had to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment’s notice and thus they couldn’t wait for the dough to rise. Second, leaven in the Bible is symbolic of sin and deceit. Leaven, a picture of sin, makes the bread inflate. The visual is that sin makes one prideful and puffed-up. Plus, it only takes a very small amount of fermented dough to make new dough rise (Gal 5:9), thus the idea that fermentation implies a process of corruption. Yeast or leaven is NOT sin! It’s just an object lesson.

Jesus looks over this massive crowd and finds a few Pharisees among them. Effectively saying, “it only takes one” bad 🍎 to infect this entire crowd. The Pharisees message of weaponizing the Law of God to keep people from God is a deadly fungus that kills! Plus the fact that people that say they believe one thing but practice another are a hypocritical joke.

Yes, everyone at some point is a hypocrite, but no one should be an activist about it. Jesus warns – ALL SECRETS will be known! God will pull back the cover of darkness over all humankind and expose everything. I can’t, you can’t hide sin forever 😬. So what’s Jesus point? Well, the biggest one is don’t be a SIN ACTIVIST, publicly parading about proudly mocking God himself. You’d just be behaving like a fungus, socially infecting everyone around you. Two, the light of world, Jesus, will shine on every human heart and expose everything.

Prayer

Dad,
Whoa, I see what you did here with the Pharisees, religious leaders of the day. I understand that I could easily see you exposes their thoughts and deeds and just be happy for a bit of justice for all the misery they (and those like them today) have caused. But I know how this works. I also need to see myself. My heart. My deeds. And when I think of all the times I try to get away with sin by being sneaky, or covering up, leaving no bodies to be found – that I’ve “gotten away with it,” the Holy Spirit arrests me on the spot! I then confess, repent, and turn from my sin. I WANT my sin covered, not by darkness but by the blood of Jesus that cleans me and makes me whole!

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The wicked play a dangerous game

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“The wicked conceive evil; they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies. They dig a deep pit to trap others, then fall into it themselves. The trouble they make for others backfires on them. The violence they plan falls on their own heads. I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.” Psalms‬ ‭7:14-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The wicked just play a different game, a dangerous one. I’m convinced that David is correct in how he feels. He views the wicked that not only come after him but just desire to cause havoc and chaos everywhere. The wicked just don’t seem to be happy unless they are making the world miserable. Oh, the endless schemes that are constantly being conceived! David says they are pregnant with trouble! His cry is to God to deal with the never ending hunger of those whose bent minds and broken hearts towards selfish and evil ends. This is the game that the wicked play! And, sadly, they play it well. The righteous, not of themselves, but of a yearning to do right, and obey God just want to live in peace. They don’t lie awake at night planning and scheming to greedily make more money or posses more power or to crush the poor and disenfranchised. They just want to do what’s right, live in peace and help others on the fringe to have a better life. The wicked don’t play fair, they play dirty! The godly can be as wise as possible, but should not, will not behave immoral with tactics that are wrong. The means to an end must be lived out with right behavior. The godly believe that God will not only honor behavior that reflects His character, but that God himself will bring about justice and judgment in his perfect timing. Our trust, our hope is in God almighty and His ultimate plans for us and this world.

Prayer

Dad,
Every day I see and hear lies, deceit and manipulation in every sector of our culture. I feel powerless to do anything about it. If I shout out the truth or speak of the evils going out on TV media, entertainment or social media I am called out with horrible, hurtful words. It all seems to have been reversed to what was the norm just forty years ago. Now Christianity is deemed evil and the most insidious lies and self-destructive behavior is now called good, even calling it kindness. It appears, at least in our country, you have let people live anyway they desire even when it will be their own demise. I ask, as the psalmist did, let your justice rise and your mercy save us from ourselves.

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A God ordained and sanctioned coo!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Meanwhile, Elisha the prophet had summoned a member of the group of prophets. “Get ready to travel,” he told him, “and take this flask of olive oil with you. Go to Ramoth-gilead, and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Call him into a private room away from his friends, and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run for your life!” 2 Kings‬ ‭9:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This chapter reads like some CIA operation – Codename: Righteous Justice.

Elisha calls out one of the students in the school of the prophets and in a very clandestinely manner, gives him the assignment. Basically this young prophet was going to instigate a takeover of the country. This prophet would secretly anoint an new king, Jehu. The prophet does as Elisha says and gets Jehu alone. He doesn’t just anoint him King, he tells him that he is going to bring justice to the nation by eliminating Ahab and his wife Jezebel. And the young prophet tells Jehu how Jezebel would meet her demise! “Dogs will eat Ahab’s wife Jezebel at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Whoa. Then the young prophet did exactly what Elisha had instructed him, he opened the door and ran. Secrecy doesn’t last long and word travels fast, so this was a quick “in & out” job.

When God moves on something he does so quickly. This whole timing thing is real. It can feel like you’re waiting forever for an answer or opportunity or for justice to kick in, but it’s all about the perfect timing of God who is control of every tiny detail. Crazy thing – it all happened just as God had said it would. Jehu pulls into the palace court where flashy, trashy Jezebel is sitting in the palace window, high above the ground. After throwing some serious verbal shade on Jehu, things turn very dark for the wicked woman who had been so cruel to so many.

“When Jezebel, the queen mother, heard that Jehu had come to Jezreel, she painted her eyelids and fixed her hair and sat at a window. When Jehu entered the gate of the palace, she shouted at him, “Have you come in peace, you murderer? You’re just like Zimri, who murdered his master!” Jehu looked up and saw her at the window and shouted, “Who is on my side?” And two or three eunuchs looked out at him. “Throw her down!” Jehu yelled. So they threw her out the window, and her blood spattered against the wall and on the horses. And Jehu trampled her body under his horses’ hooves. Then Jehu went into the palace and ate and drank. Afterward he said, “Someone go and bury this cursed woman, for she is the daughter of a king.” But when they went out to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet, and her hands.” 2 Kings‬ ‭9:30-35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Prayer:

​Dad,
Personally, I am glad this is included both in the Bible and in your storyline of how humans can really screw things up. I’m just a huge fan of justice, especially when it comes to flagrant disregard for others and their worth. These characters, Ahab and Jezebel, are a wicked duo that represents thousands of local and global leaders who so arrogantly rule over their change and do so out of a complete and utter sense of self. At any point, these two could have turned from their wickedness and repented, but there was no way they were going to break or bow. Jezebel’s last words bellowing out her perched window was proof that she believed she was untouchable and no one could do anything about it. Wow, her own bodyguards pushed her out the window.

As a leader in such a small venue of family and church, I just want to serve. I just want to do right. I don’t need to store up power, fame or fortune – I just need wisdom and mercy to lead and do my best.

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That hour.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him. Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine. The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” John‬ ‭12:27-32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Up until last year I had no real sense of the timing of all that surrounds Holy Week. As a church we decided to focus on “The Way of the Cross” or the stations of the cross. I did a sermon series called, “Talk about it” because I had a feeling that although the majority of the world knew much more about Holy Week and Jesus journey from the Garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha because of Catholicism, that many protestants and pentecostals knew virtually nothing. I confess, that was me. I had no idea of the intensity of the last twelve hours of Jesus life before the cross, from 3 am to 3 pm.

In the garden Jesus asked God if there was a way around this “cup,” this “hour.” I had always understood Jesus’ arrest, illegal mock trials, torture, humiliation and eventually the absolute most inhumane way to die the reason Jesus was troubled about this last hour the cup of suffering. Jesus would experience all of that being completely innocent, doing nothing wrong. He would in fact experience the worst injustice of any human that ever lived! But none of that eleven hours was what Jesus was trying to avoid. He was fully aware of what that kind of suffering would be like.

If you’ve seen Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, you know that it was a miracle that Jesus physical body could even make it to the cross. He had been without sleep, food or water. He had been beaten so badly that his blood loss was significant. But still, none of that was the reason Christ asked to avoid THE HOUR. It’s an hour that only the Son of Man, Son of God COULD experience and feel the absolute terror of those moments. None of us, as humans, will experience that hour until after death and judgment.

The reason Jesus wanted any other way for salvation, for a fulfilled contract to be paid, for justice to be satisfied and for ultimate glory to be brought to God was a complete and total separation from God, because God cannot look upon sin. The moment that Jesus cried out “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (My God my God why have you forsaken me?) it was because Jesus BECAME, he bore, he embodied OUR sin! And the feeling he felt had never been experienced before – a complete and ultimate separation from God. God not only turned away, he withdrew his presence that Jesus had intimately been acquainted with since conception in Mary’s womb. And in the moments of that last hour he experienced an eternity of darkness. And, in those three days of being dead, he made a trip to Hades, freeing prisoners from the place of waiting. Christ was still at work even after death!

PRAYER

Dad,
After all these years of walking with you and I am still experiencing new and deeper understanding of who you are and what you have done for US! I find myself more amazed, more grateful and more excited to see how it all ends. It makes me long for the finish line, not to escape this world’s mess, or the struggles and sin in this life, but just to finally make complete sense of ALL OF IT. We still do see with dark panes of glass and try to figure out what reality looks like through dirty glasses. Soon we will see clearly and we’ll also see you face to face! I look forward to that.

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Is comparison a bad mental game to play?

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.” But as I stood there in silence— not even speaking of good things— the turmoil within me grew worse. The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words:” Psalms‬ ‭39:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David decides to play this game of comparing his life to the life of the unjust, the ungodly. From time to time, in his rise to power and running for his life, he looks around at the wicked and says out loud, “why do they get all the breaks?” “Why do the wicked always win?” In this humorous song, he decides “I’ll just keep my mouth shut and quit complaining and quit comparing my life to theirs.” Ah, but capping or stuffing the thoughts in his head only seemed to boil over and out into a hot mess of fiery words! Geez, the games we play in our head are bound to come leaking out in our words. David thinks, and we think, we can just stop, or steer those words into something useful. But the game of comparison is NOT played out in our words, it’s played in our hearts! And, if we’re going to stop the game from consuming our minds, we have to do so where it starts.

Comparison is a horrible game to play! It’s a devil’s dark game of seeing ourselves better or often worse than someone by guessing at their outcomes. We see someone’s promotion or hear someone’s accolades and seethe. We read of someone’s downfall or failure and we gloat.

When we play this game we always lose. Why? We are only seeing a completely disconnected, parenthetical moment of time. We don’t see the beginning, nor the end. We don’t even see the middle. We just see a glimpse of fame, fortune or promotion on the pedestal and think that represents a whole life. And in that fraction of feelings, we are jealous or proud.

Oh, and if we know or think they are wicked or evil it’s worse in our head because our brains just start firing justice triggers like crazy. We start screaming the same fiery words David did – “evil never deserves a reward!” I appreciate David’s honesty, but I think he should have and we should quit playing the game altogether.

Stop it before it starts. As a believer we should only be looking at our life, our walk, our splinters and gold stars in comparison to Christ and his purpose for our life. When we see others succeed we should be happy for them. When they fall or hurt, we should grieve with them. And when evil seems to triumph through a truly wicked person, we should bring them to God to judge wisely.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Far too often I’ve played this game and I always lose. Someone succeeds, does better than me, or rewarded for my idea – it happens and I have hard time with it. And, for those that are struggling, I find myself thinking, “I’m glad that’s not me…” Ouch. I am so sorry that I get sucked into these. Help me keep my eyes on you and be thankful for everything you’ve done in my life and everything you’ve given me as well. Help me not to compare to others!

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Don’t be like the ancients

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:6-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Here we have Paul giving us a great example of how a well trained, former Pharisee interprets an ancient passage of scripture from Exodus. I read Exodus and see lessons of Old Testament theology and practical advice for living while looking through the lens of Jesus’ saving grace.

Not so much with Paul. Paul tells the church in Corinth – it’s a WARNING. Paul gives the text the same amount of veracity that Moses gave when he wrote it! I see the Old Testament as a little outdated. Paul sees it as current. My sense of context is therefore dulled by a distorted view of grace when I do this with scripture. Paul’s high TRUTH, high LOVE compels him to admonish (warn & encourage) the modern, metropolitan church filled with a city bursting with immoral opportunity to sin!

Paul starts with our commonality with the ancient wanderers (same baptism, same food and water, same God) and writes, “Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” Paul – haven’t you read “what’s so amazing about grace?” Don’t you know that God isn’t mad at us and we live in a very long season of mercy? Oh, Paul knows alright. He wrote much, if not most of the theology on the topic of God’s grace. But it’s never an excuse to sin more! And, Paul never throws shade on God’s holiness, wrath or judgment?

Paul tells the Church, don’t be like the ancients in these areas: partying, feasting and drinking, indulging in pagan revelry. Don’t engage in sexual immorality, don’t TEST Christ [mercy], and don’t grumble. Paul suggests that these human behaviors only INCREASE as the end approaches! God’s grace covers my sin, but will never accommodate my sin!

PRAYER:

Dad,
I am thankful for your word. I am thankful for Pastor Paul who’s words still preach about holiness and godliness. I am thankful for your Holy Spirit to lead away from temptation not towards it, who leads me in confession of sin, not denial of it. I am thankful for your mercy. I am also thankful for your wrath – your pure sense of justice for all wrongs, not just the ones I agree with. I am most thankful for your grace that came at the ultimate price of death of the Son who was completely innocent and perfect.

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Prayer for Ukrainians

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Guard me as you would guard your own eyes. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Protect me from wicked people who attack me, from murderous enemies who surround me. They are without pity. Listen to their boasting! They track me down and surround me, watching for the chance to throw me to the ground. They are like hungry lions, eager to tear me apart— like young lions hiding in ambush.” Psalms‬ ‭17:8-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The whole world’s eyes are on Ukraine right now. And, as followers of Jesus, I think we should all be praying in unity. I don’t know how this works, but I’m praying Psalm 17 over the Ukrainian people.

We’ve ALWAYS had tyrants in our world history. There have always been men, obsessed with power and control and a hunger for more. Men who’s egos needing to be constantly fed. As I try to sort out what, who and why – there is a glaring sad fact no matter my understanding or opinion.

The poor, the mothers and their children always seem to pay the biggest price. We’ve had a decade of Syrians fleeing their homeland because of one man’s thirst for war and annihilation. Now we have another madman and the refuges are pouring out of their homes and land to seek safety and peace.

David writes about what he wants God to do about it with Israel’s enemies. I’d like God to do that to this pompous leader who craves for more. I ask that you “Arise, O Lord! Stand against them, and bring them to their knees! Rescue [Ukrainians] from the wicked with your sword! By the power of your hand, O Lord, destroy those who look to this world for their reward. But satisfy the hunger of your treasured ones. May their children have plenty, leaving an inheritance for their descendants.” Psalms‬ ‭17:13-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬. Bring judgment down on the tyrant and bring peace to the innocent. Intervene Oh Lord and rescue those who have no defense from the wicked.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Let your mercy flood the earth. Let your righteousness, your justice prevail to protect those who have lost everything and seek peace. You brought Syrians out of their own country, where they were betrayed by their own people to see the one true God and find Jesus. I ask for similar for Ukrainians who lost all but will find everlasting peace and joy through your salvation. Raise up your mighty hand of judgement on the wicked and with the other hand shield to protect the innocent. In all of this turmoil may your Kingdom come and your will be done. Amen.