Tag: promises

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DIVORCE: Permits or puts up with?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Of course the religious legal department for the Jews would be trying to trap or trick Jesus into saying something they could use against him. The overarching irony is that they did not know who Jesus was, or what his purpose was for being on the planet. Jesus is the messiah, sent by God the Father, fully human and fully God. The religious did not, could not recognize their own boss!

These sects of the seventy (Sanhedrin) had piled up so much grief, pain and spiritual entanglements, it had super-hardened their stoney hearts. They were so bitter towards God that they couldn’t see him standing right in front of them. When they point-blank asked Jesus about divorce, Jesus just asked what Moses said about it in one of the books of the of the law. Moses had a section in Deuteronomy about miscellaneous laws. This particular one is hard for us to even fathom today. It’s found in Deut 24:1, “If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, a hand it to her, and send her away from his house.” Of course this rather deeply cultural and communal guideline is in a group of fringe laws that maintain order and integrity for a tribal, desert wandering, community of over million people. This is right alongside a command in the previous chapter, “No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.” Huh?

Jesus asked the experts to quote Moses so he could hear the summary of what they believed was God’s truth about marriage. To the Pharisees, it was as simple as our “no fault” divorce laws today. The man needs no reason to break a covenant, a social contract, it’s as simple as declaring it and handing his wife a cease and desist letter and it’s done. Jesus wasn’t just correcting their understanding of the law, he was correcting their view of God himself!

Speaking as though he personally knew Moses and Moses’ motives, Jesus says, “He wrote the commandment as a concession.” Moses “permitted” it, he allowed it because of their dried-out, shriveled up hearts! Jesus pressed further, “But do you want to know what God really thinks about divorce?” Jesus takes the lawyers back to the original intent of marriage and the contractual reasoning for why it exists. It is God that instituted the Holy Estate of marriage! It was a template, a model for how male and female humans are to understand the bond, the mystery and the strength of both the physical union and spiritual union of two like but not like individuals. It was a singular, earthbound, permanent contract meant for health, wealth and happiness in producing more humans and learning about true love! A marriage should not be entered into flippantly. It is not easy to build, nor certainly should not be easy to tear apart. It is sacred because it is the foundation of family and a type of the covenant that God makes with us! God will not decide to wake up one day and announce three times, “I am done with you… divorce, divorce, divorce.” Go and find another god, find another lover, for I no longer am pleased with you. I am so thankful He keeps His promises!

Prayer

​Dad,
I find it frustrating that you are so often blamed for things that we get wrong. We have strong wills and strange, wayward wanderings, then we wonder why everything has gone wacky! It is so amazing that there is purpose behind everything you do. Even in ancient laws there was divine reasoning. We look at so many of the Old Testament laws, viewing them through modern lenses and have a difficult time seeing the why behind the what! For me, it’s all about trust and faith that you have always known what you are doing and what is best for humanity and for me. That is where I place my questions and thoughts when I do not understand things. I trust that your will, your wisdom, your way is right, true and just so I can park my doubts under the banner of faith. Amen.

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Biblical standards in a secular culture.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.“ ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭7‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Relationships are hard to come by, hard to foster and even harder to keep fresh and alive. The Apostle Paul emphatically writes to the Corinth believers, this is a “command of the Lord,” stay in your marriage! Stick with it. A wife nor a husband must not leave. And, with exceptions under specific circumstances (adultery, abandonment, abuse), let them remain single or be reconciled.

This aligns with Jesus re-affirming the Genesis covenant, “What God has joined together, let no one tear apart.” Whether things are going peachy or putrid, a covenant is a solid promise to see this highly cherished relationship through until death. This promise, this contract, is only valid here on earth and becomes null and void in eternity, for there is no married couples in heaven. This makes marriage a very earth-bound, coveted covenant designed for our health, wealth and happiness.

Corinth was a crazy, “free” culture. In Corinth, men and women were quite equal in wealth and power. There were a few women Paul specifically mentioned as part of his missionary team and critical to the establishing the church in Corinth. One prominent woman, Priscilla, was a wealthy businesswoman, making and repairing tents similar to Paul’s trade. She and her husband, Aquila, were not only one of the leaders in the local church, she was a big donor to Paul’s missionary endeavors. The couple’s house was likely THE biggest church gathering in town – up to 100 people attending each week. Paul was indeed aware of the cultural implications that prominent cities like Corinth had on the churches.

“Marriage in ancient Greece had less of a basis in personal relationships and more in social responsibility.” The goal and focus of all marriages was intended to be reproduction, making marriage an issue of public interest. Marriages were intended to be monogamous. In keeping with this idea, the heroes of Homer never have more than one wife by law, though they may be depicted with living with concubines, or having sexual relationships with one or more women. In Plato’s Laws, the would-be lawgiver suggests that any man who was not married by age 35 should be punished with a loss of civil rights and with financial consequences.

According to scholars, divorce did not seem to be looked down upon in ancient Greece. Any negative reputation attributed to divorce would have been due to related scandals rather than the divorce itself. In ancient Athens, both husband and wife had the power to initiate a divorce. The husband simply had to send his wife back to her father to end the marriage. For the wife to obtain a divorce, she had to appear before the archon, [Wikipedia].

Paul may have used these cultural influences to drive the counter-cultural idea of a life-long, covenant marriages. One where marital fidelity and commitment honored Jesus and set believers apart from others during that time. In our “modern” culture today, I believe several decades of easy, no-fault divorce (first legalized in California in 1969) eventually eroded the loyalty and beauty of the marriage covenant.

Future couples reacted by either shacking up with no real commitment or abandoning the wedding idea altogether. Oddly enough, now many couples sign “pre-nup” contracts protecting their individual assets. Believers today would be committing to a counter-cultural position in marrying young, having children and staying together for the rest of their lives! I love that Paul maintained Biblical standards of love, covenant-commitment, loyalty and guidelines to follow even in a very popular, secular environment.

Prayer

​Dad,
I have always believed that You are truth and Your word is right, true and just. I have also believed you are not just right, you are also practical! Your way works, my way does not work. So obedience has some privileges that come with honoring your Word and its boundaries for living. I am so thankful for the gift of marriage and the security of a covenant contract that binds two “like but opposite” humans, male and female, together. It is good for me, good for my wife, good for our children and now good for our grandchildren! Thank you for breaking generational curses to make this happen and thank you for new generational blessings for our future. Amen.

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Remember Meribah & Massah.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭95‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David writes this Psalm and it is put into the book of Psalms towards the end of his life. The Psalm starts with a burst of praise, a crescendo of thanksgiving, ”Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.” Yet, it ends with this warning, to remember Meribah & Massah.

What happened in these places that was so egregious, that God took an oath to not allow the eldest into the promised land. Maybe there’s a hint in the phrase, “Rock of our salvation?” Meribah was the final straw of hard-hearted, contentiousness with the elders who were freed from Egypt, but their souls were still enslaved with bitterness. Gotquestions.org writes, “The incident at the waters of Meribah Kadesh is recorded in Numbers 20. Nearing the end of their forty years of wandering, the Israelites came to the Desert of Zin. There was no water, and the community turned against Moses and Aaron.”

The people held Moses & Aaron responsible for their lack of water in the desert. And, once again Moses & Aaron went to the Lord with the complaint/request. God told Moses & Aaron to gather the people at a rock in Meribah (which means strife or contention). God told Moses to speak to the rock, but apparently Moses had reached his limit of patience. The anger of his youth rallied and raised its ugly head. Moses took the staff of God and smacked the rock saying, “Listen, you rebels, must WE bring you water out of this rock?” (Numbers‬ ‭20‬:‭10‬). Uh oh. You can hear the exasperation in Moses’ words.

Water came out and the people were once again satisfied, but God took notice that Moses and Aaron (God held Aaron responsible as well) were disobedient to God’s command. “…the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them. The other place at the rock of Horeb, is found in Exodus 17:1-7, this time God had told Moses to strike the rock. Both times, the people were grumbling, and threatening towards Moses. In Horeb, God called the place, Massah (nasah), to test or quarrel with God. Is there a proper way to wrestle with the Almighty? Jacob did so and God displaced his hip so his limp would remind Jacob of a moment in the ring with His creator.

Here, the people also struggled with God with contempt, blame and bitterness. What strikes me is that David in this Psalm writes about these specific, named places where humans contentiously strived with God and clearly lost! God was also angry at them! They wandered in the desert, going in circles for forty years. And they never made it to the promised land. But neither did Moses, nor Aaron, their leaders.

The people who start with you on a faith journey, may not end with you. And if leaders aren’t careful, we might not see the promise of God fulfilled either! Remember your own places like Meribah & Massah, where we strived with God. Remember to be patient, humble and most of all obedient if we want to see the promises of God come to pass.

Prayer

Dad,
Is grumbling and complaining just a byproduct of aging? I used to think it was funny to see an old man or old woman just muttering muffled rants as they went about their life. Now, I don’t think it’s so funny. I don’t want to be a whiner, a complainer or finish my life spewing bitterness! Help me God to fight the disease of Meribah & Massah! Help me watch my attitude and my words. Help me hold my tongue and slow my witty words that are not godly. Deliver me from the bitter-soul syndrome that seems to come with seeing too much, experiencing too much pain and suffering around me. Help me have the necessary faith to see Your promises fulfilled. Amen.

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The crowd’s response.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel… ‭‭Acts ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Luke, recording the Day of Pentecost activities, writes that the crowd didn’t know what was happening with the people that gathered. They assumed the group displayed drunk and disorderly conduct! There was a lot of supernatural activity happening – whirlwind, some semblance of fire resting on individuals, and the loud speaking in other languages. Those are signs of drunkenness? Wow. When God does a miraculous thing among us, that’s when we assume the worst?

Have you ever witnessed a mob, mosh-pit, brawl, rave, or riot? Sadly, these are common images on the news or during spring break and we think nothing of it. And, although they are overwhelming to experience, these public displays are somehow normalized, captured and celebrated. But oh, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit with supernatural phenomenon – that’s weird?

Someone needs to speak up when bad human behaviors are normalized, expected and sometimes celebrated compared to a God moment that is dismissed or scrutinized. Peter did so, he spoke up saying, “these people are not drunk,” as they were assuming. What they were witnessing was yet another promise that God had predicted would happen! Joel 2:28-32 records what WILL happen and DID happen, in the last days. And the morning of the Pentecost Sunday – it did happen! Peter brilliantly uses the moment to share the gospel. Basically telling the crowd, they got it wrong. Seeing the supposed mayhem they assumed the WORST in human behavior, yet they were actually witnesses to another one of God’s fulfillment of His promises.

We get it so wrong when we dismiss miracles as drunkenness. I’ll admit, being in the room when something supernatural happens is a little disconcerting, but believe me, it is far better than being in the middle of a drunken brawl between family or friends. I’ve been in both and prefer God’s revival over human revelry.

Prayer

Dad,
Far too often I have seen people dismiss your miraculous moving among us and readily accept a drunken display of stupidity. It’s frustrating to explain that one is real and life changing, the other is destructive, especially in our relationships with each other. I get upset when folks confusingly trade out truth when one is rejected and the other is accepted. How in the world can we be so drawn to the supernatural when it comes to things of darkness and be repelled by Your Spirit doing a miraculous work among us? We’ve got some serious misconceptions of how the spiritual realm works. Yet you still desire to do the miraculous in us! Thank you for your grace even when we’ve mistakenly misplaced our faith in the wrong place.

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The search for answers.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. Gather the nations together! Assemble the peoples of the world! Which of their idols has ever foretold such things? Which can predict what will happen tomorrow? Where are the witnesses of such predictions? Who can verify that they spoke the truth? Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

People search with eyes that do not see and listen with ears that do not hear. Sounds like a riddle, right? When it comes to looking for answers though, it’s not a joke.

Is Isaiah’s point that we, as human beings, have physical eyes and ears, but what we lack is a solid spiritual perception? God confidently puts out the universal challenge. Get the world together and ask them about their “gods!” Which one predicts the future? Which one sticks around long enough to witness their future, let alone verify that they are true and came to pass? Lies get buried in a myriad of time. The more time, the less likely anyone was around or will be around to prove their “truth.”

Take the fake-god/religion of evolution. The lies just keep adding a few million or billion of years hoping that our limited understanding just believes that anything might be possible given enough time. Time doesn’t verify truth! There were no single cell organisms proclaiming truth or making promises of the future of humankind. Who was there? Were there witnesses to this impossible unscientific “fact?” Even with eyes to see and ears to hear, we are blind and deaf to truth.

What about all the other fake-gods peddling their “truth.” They demand obedience, sacrifices of time, money and belief. What do they promise? What do they really know or give back – NOTHING. Their hucksters promise knowledge, enlightenment and strange glories of an afterlife, but who can verify that it’s true? None of them can fulfill on their fake promises, because it’s all based on lie. Name one prophecy, one prediction that has come true. And, who was there to record such promises? And who will be the one to validate that those promises have come true?

God speaks to Isaiah who captures and records God’s words. The promises from the beginning of the earth and creation of human beings are well known. And the fulfillment of those promises have been verified to be true. The promises God had John write down and recorded in Revelation will be the same – it will all happen just as God said it would.

In all the searching for answers, I pray that people take a hard look at what God has promised. A hard look at what has already come true. And, a really hard look at how it all ends. God has and always will be trustworthy and true.

Prayer

Dad,
It’s all been written and recorded. It’s all there. The answers we seek as humans are all found in You through your Word. We’ve done some amazing mental gymnastics to avoid the truth. We’ve believed in fake gods, fantasy theories of our beginning, all while seeing and hearing what we want just to get answers that will never be true. Answers that will never satisfy, never fulfill, never save us. We are such an interesting bunch! Thank you for your enduring patience and mercy for those who look, but have yet to find You. Let your undeniable love penetrate our selfish theories and moral avoidance of truth. Amen.

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The Prophetic Puzzle.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you look at all the pieces of prophecy spoken about the Messiah, hundreds of years earlier, you begin to understand the amazingly complicated movement it took to get all the key figures in place to fulfill every single promise made by God.

Jesus was from Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, but came out of Egypt? How was this all supposed to work? At one point, Jesus was just a baby in womb, a newborn in Bethlehem and a toddler in Egypt, how did the God-child get around? Jesus even made a quick trip to Jerusalem at 8 days old, to fulfill that prophecy as well and meet two very special people that God promised would see the messiah, Simeon and Anna.

It is a wonder to behold that God carefully orchestrated Joseph, Mary and Jesus to be exactly where they should be, exactly when they were supposed to be there! These are just a small grouping of miracles that took place. I have already commented about Jesus coming from a sordid family in the past. And, I’ve already commented about how difficult it was on Mary and his foster dad, Joseph, who were already poor and from a small village known as Pitville (Nazareth was strangely known for lots of holes in the ground). Jesus was born into a brand new loving environment, but it was not comfortable and certainly not what would be expected for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! But remember the extraordinary places Jesus had to be at, timed perfectly!

“Flee to Egypt,” the angel told Joseph! And they did. After Herod died, the family would return to Nazareth, where Jesus’ journey would lead him to fulfill every single prophecy, many say at least 300 of them! What are the odds of that? I read that just fulfilling 8 of them is 1 in 10 to the 17th power or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000! I don’t get super excited about the incredible odds, I get excited about God telling us what He will do to save us and Him following through with every single one of those promises! He is faithful and true! I can absolutely trust Him because He has proven His trustworthiness.

Prayer

​Dad,
Honestly, I trusted you well before I knew any of these stories. I believed before I knew you had a perfect track record since the beginning of time. I committed my life, ALL OF IT, to you because you offered me something no one else could give. A life! A life different from the one I saw played out in my broken family connections. One different than the chaos, fear and sadness that surrounded me as a child. You offered me hope – and I believed You. My life is a miracle of your grace. The odds of me being anything other than what my family origin story would have predicted are outrageous. But You changed all that. All these promises you’ve kept are amazing, but I only needed one promise kept – that you would be my Father and I would be adopted into Your family. The promise You kept. Thank You.

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Word Keepers.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.” Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

RANT WARNING!

Leave it to Proverbs to give us the raw, straight-up truth about relationships and the struggles we have maintaining them. This might seem like a common sense, a “no-duh,” concept. Believe me, we try to apply grace and allow ourselves to give them just “one more chance,” but we end up chewing food with a broken tooth, when it comes to trusting a friend to come through for us. Why do we do it? We want to give the benefit of the doubt, assume positive intent, but deep down we know – they won’t come through. Wisdom must snicker at us with this reminder – “sure, give it another go,” if you enjoy chewing your food with a broken tooth! Or, you just love waking around on a sprained ankle! Ouch!

Honestly, when I read this Proverb, I don’t review a list of friends that are unreliable. When I read this, I see MYSELF! I ask myself, am I unreliable? Over the last decade I have been working hard, committing to a difficult principle – “say what I’m going to do, then do it!” I think it’s one of the most important leadership qualities one could possess. If you say it, then do it! Quit making grand promises that are never fulfilled, grand ideas that may start but never finish. Say it, do it. That’s it. If I say I will be there, then I should be there! If I say I will help, then I help. It’s a matter of keeping our word and following through with our promises. What about emergencies, or unforeseen circumstances? Sure, that happens and there are some things beyond our control. But people can accommodate those when they are real and rare. It’s the always late with lame excuses or promises made but something always “happens” to come up. I don’t want to be the person, the friend, that makes OTHERS chew food with broken teeth or limp with a sprained ankle! I want to be a person that keeps their word – that says it and does it!

I can see how this trustworthiness reflects on how God works with us. He makes promises and keeps them. God says something will happen, and it absolutely happens! God is true to His word, and we should be doing the same. I want to be a word keeper not a promise breaker.

Prayer

Dad,
I know it is hard to commit and to keep our word when life is so fast. We just get exhausted when constantly saying “yes” to too many things. I need a lot of help when it comes to keeping my word. I think it builds character, I know it builds trust from others. We seem to be short on both these days. I can be thankful that you are always trustworthy to keep your word and follow through with your promises! Great is your faithfulness Lord unto me.

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Our craving for the supernatural.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I no longer think miracles are the epitome of necessary proof needed to believe. I know, we would think that an undeniable miracle happening to us or a family member would just be THE thing, the moment that sweeps away our doubts about the reality of God and His desire and ability to intervene in our human affairs. Jesus seems to suggest otherwise!

The guys supposedly working FOR God demand a show of proof to settle the open case of “by who’s authority do you do or say these things.” Remember, one group tried to accuse Jesus of working for Beelzebub! Jesus pulled some lessons from history using some famous people as an object lesson. He used the Prophet Jonah, but really drew a verbal picture of a court scene where the people of Nineveh were called to judge the generation Jesus lived in at the time. Nineveh, that vile, cruel people group who took pleasure in torturing their enemies. Jesus mentioned that even they recognized their sin and at one point, repented! Those folks would testify that the current generation was WORSE than they were! It would be like Hitler getting up on the stand and saying, “and you thought I was evil…” check your own hearts! Then Jesus name-drops another very famous name out of history – Queen Sheba. This powerful, beautiful, smart and accomplished woman came to test Solomon’s wisdom, where she found him the most wise person person on the planet (1 Kings 10:1-13 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. “She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true!” Jesus personifies Sheba getting on the stand and testifying that Solomon’s wisdom cannot even come close to the Son of God’s wisdom.

Both of these examples showing the disparity in what Jesus called, “this generation.” When the wicked testify against the mindset and attitudes of the Pharisee’s wickedness and the queen of Sheba testifies how little their knowledge has translated into wisdom – it is supposed to be crystal clear! We are not better, we are worse.

We have not gotten better with the knowledge of good, we’ve gotten worse with practicing evil. We’ve not increased in wisdom, as philosophers and atheists have predicted, we’ve increased in foolishness. Why? Because we may know more about our world, our history and even ourselves, but we have used that knowledge to consume things unto ourselves.

Teacher, show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority? So we can mock it, criticize it and get back to our own will and own way? Jesus says, a miracle will not fix us! “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign…” Jesus closes this thought with a haunting illustration of what happens if we should happen to figure out how to “clean ourselves up.” An evil spirit comes back to find the place clean and invites his friends 😱. What should we ask for…? Jesus, we want you to forgive us and show us mercy!

Prayer

Dad,
When I was younger, I really thought that people just needed to see you working in supernatural ways, performing a miracle to convince them that you are real. I know better now. After multiple times of hearing the promises to believe based on a miracles and not a simple faith, I’ve seen too many folks forget and go back to life as usual. The supernatural is just not sticky enough to hold our hearts in place! Faith and a relationship with you is what keeps us. I am impressed by the miracles of mercy, but more impressed by your faithfulness through the highs and lows of this life.

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Shocker! Not every miracle leads to heart-change.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Wait, what? Matthew writes a hard truth, rarely talked about in Christendom. Not all miracles, not all kindnesses of mercy lead to change. Ok, this is wild as well. Jesus fully did miracles just for the sake of compassion. What people did after that was totally up to them! Jesus didn’t take back the miracle if they didn’t follow him, didn’t repent or even turn their hearts to God.

I came across a few, very few examples of this in the gospels. One was the man by the pools of Bethsaida. Jesus healed him, restoring 38 years of lost use of his legs. What did the guy do? He turned Jesus in to the religious police because Jesus had the audacity to point out the fact that his legs weren’t the real problem at all – his heart was bitter and hard! The other story is the nine lepers (skin diseased) guys that didn’t come back to even thank Jesus for giving them their life back.

Matthew, being Matthew, wasn’t going to let this sad fact slide. There were complete cities that experienced miracles, but no life change! I always thought that miracles had to be a key reason people turned to God. God heals, they are grateful and recognize who He is and boom – they believe and CHANGE. But no! Here, Matthew tells us that these cities had plenty of healings, demons cast out and miracles, but they happily took the blessing and just continued to live their lives ignoring their creator.

Here’s the cities listed: Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. I’m not sure what had happened in Tyre and Sidon, but everyone knows what happened in Sodom. At judgment day, Sodom would look like the Vatican comparatively. And, believe me, the papal city is nauseously, religiously evil.

Jesus speaks to the cities and asks, “will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead.” Whoa! This blows my mind. For one, I thought miracles were right up there with the desperate “promise-pleas.” You know, the ones where we say, “if you… save me… rescue me… get me out of this jamb… I promise to serve you forever.” I figured that miracles are what people SEEK to prove God’s existence! Not so much, maybe?

This is heartbreaking to know that God is willing to do the miracle, rescue the near-dead, and save someone from devastating consequences and still see no heart-change. I am fully aware that God, having foreknowledge of everything, sees when the miracle is spurned, the promise won’t be kept – and He still pours out His mercy!!! Should I conclude that miracles are NOT “THE” key to salvation and a changed life? I am just sadly frustrated with all of this. Our humanity is a puzzle that cannot be solved!

Prayer

Dad,
Wow. I never want to find myself spurning your grace and mercy. I know that my sin is blatant and ever before you, but I recognize the miracles and the patience you extend to me because of your love. I cannot take you or any blessing for granted. I am so very thankful. Apparently miracles are not the only means for people to turn their heart towards you. It still takes humility and repentance – which is so very hard for our stubborn human heart.

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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.