Tag: promises

Posted on

Last laugh.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees. “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked. “She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied. Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Genesis‬ ‭18‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Just another normal hot day on the plains of Canaan. By this time, Abraham had not only built up a sizable wealth with hundreds, maybe thousands of herds of cattle, sheep and possibly camels, he also had a good size army of warriors totaling over 300. Even though he was still a nomad, not owning his own land, he was a respected chief of a large community of families.

As you know, Eastern ancients on the plains or in the cities were extremely hospitable. Strangers were not only welcomed, but fed, housed and protected while they visited. Moses, who wrote Genesis, tells us that three visitors just happened to walk through Abraham’s very large compound. Moses, also identifies one of the visitors with a special title. The story begins with “three men,” then Abraham addresses one as “my Lord,” as a sign of respect. But then one of them is soon addressed as “The Lord.” “Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘why did Sarah laugh?”

This was no normal day, and no regular visitor. This was a visitation of Jesus, known as a “theophany.” Jesus and two other angels were on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah to check out the rumors of the city’s sin – “So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.” Gen. ‭18‬:‭20‬. Am I to understand that Jesus showed up in the Old Testament to randomly stop by Abraham’s large community to tell him that his 90 year wife was soon to be pregnant? And Jesus does so while on the way to personally, physically checkout sin city? Yep!

This was not, is not normal at all. Sarah, overhearing what the men were talking about, gets an earful when the Lord says to Abraham, “I’ll be back next year and will get to meet your son, your bio-son.” Ya know, the one God promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:4, where his descendants will be more numerable than the stars in the night sky. Remember that? “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” Gen. 15‬:‭6‬.

So laugh all you want to Sarah, doubt all you want old men and women. God keeps His word! God has big plans, unstoppable plans for the entire planet. Those who believe in Jesus, should start adjusting to the fact that God knows what He is doing. We should, as Abraham originally did, “believe the Lord,” which is seen as righteousness to God. Faith is necessary and pleasing to God. Just for the record, God may in fact get a giggle when we snicker at the impossible. God’s like, look and learn who gets the last laugh!

Prayer

Dad,
You see how fragile our faith is and how weak our belief and trust in you can be. I take it that the lack of faith in all of us came with the whole sin package? It’s frustrating for us too! I want to, we all want to believe, but it is hard to trust. It’s hard to see what cannot be seen and believe what is not apparent. Even when you do miracles and speak your Word, literal truth into us, we forget! Jesus even said, THAT is the world’s sin – we don’t believe in you. We so quickly forget your miracles, forget your promises. We go back to leaning on and living by our own understanding! This is what makes this human journey so frustrating. I identify with the father who’s son had a demon in him. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Help me not to forget your Word nor your promises!

Posted on

I promise on my mother’s grave.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This section in Matthew where Jesus digs into some deep Jewish history and culture is fascinating. Matthew really loves bringing out the rich, but controversial nuances of Jesus’ teachings on Old Testament values and behaviors. This one goes into the loose but socially accepted use of promises or vows.

There was a hierarchy of worthiness when one would attach a vow to a physical or conceptual object. A few are mentioned specifically in this teaching, heaven, earth, the beloved city of Jerusalem and one’s own head. At first I thought the whole “promises backed by – whatever” was kinda silly. The closer to personhood, for example my own head (hair or lack thereof), would be the least trustworthy. Moving on to the city or the earth would promise a more robust, reliable promise. Oh, but heaven, ah that was very serious, very dependable. Funny, right? You may have heard this phrase and ask why the Jewish people would never “swear to G*d?” Remember, a few years back, when that was super common to flippantly profane God’s name with such disrespect! I think the atheists and agnostics finally realized the hypocrisy in swearing to a God they didn’t believe in. The Jewish people would NEVER have gone that far. Using God’s name like that would mean instant and total judgment, you would be stoned on the spot. And if the crowd didn’t kill you for it, God would likely strike you with lightning himself – so it was thought. Even as a non believing, non church kid, I would have been smacked in the mouth if I said those words.

Years past we had similar, weird, promise-keeping associations as well, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Or, “on my mother’s grave.” Or, “on all that is holy.” So, yes, our modern culture has done similar when trying to beef up a promise to make it sound ominously secure. All of these attachments are just begging the listener to just trust us at our word.

Jesus cut through years and layers of nonsense and silly wordplay to help us understand a couple things: let your word and your behavior BE your bond! If you say you’re going to do it – then DO it. If you vow or promise you won’t do it… uh… then DON’T do it. Stacking well respected places, things or people (heaven, Mom or our own death demise) just WEAKENS our word, our promise. Keeping it simple, keeps it effective – if you follow through with it. Is it yes? – then do it. Is it no? – then don’t do it. Jesus caps the conversation with a critical reminder. Anything beyond our simple “yes” or “no” is ponéros: evil or malicious. So quit stepping on the crack and breaking your mother’s back – or using her grave to boisterously boost your credibility!

Prayer

Dad,
How did we get so weird? We were created in perfection and I completely understand that our own sin, not just broken DNA from Adam & Eve, has really messed us up. But, we are such a strange bunch! And why is it that we are so socially susceptible to each other’s absurd proclivities that we willingly adopt them and start using them in our own life. I believe that much of our bizarre beliefs and behaviors are spread to each other in some kind of social virus! I see, I hear, I do and repeat. I see one person’s behavior or strange choice and I may be shocked or offended. I may even loath the sight of it. Then I see two and I am less put off, but still bewildered. Oh, but three, four or more and suddenly I’m intrigued, curious and feel the pull of peer pressure – even if they are not my peers! Next thing you know I’ve got a piercing or pair of retro bell bottom pants. How is this even possible? Are we, as humans, bound to each other by mimicking good and bad? Is this how thought and behavior is transmitted to take over my own self will? I don’t like it. Not at all. I just want to be a cultural contrarian. Help us Jesus. Help us see and model your ways above and beyond our culture, our influences of friends or strangers.

Posted on

Is God a prude?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Only God would go where mortal men fear. This is Jesus, the revolutionary, speaking out on issues that were never spoken about in public. Jesus, being the light of the world, drags the deeds only done in darkness, only whispered behind closed doors, out into the open. No one exposes sin better than God. Is God a prude? Hardly.

He not only created us, but he also gave humans the free will to be and explore everything on the planet as well as everything about our own human body, soul and spirit. However, freedom doesn’t mean exploitation. Freedom doesn’t mean satisfying oneself at the expense and destruction of another. God is far more like a parent than he is catholic school teacher. He loves us.

Jesus dives into the most destructive side of our free will, exposing the dark and callous desires of our unbridled souls. Jesus just finished talking about adultery and put a hard stop on the issue of “thoughts verses physical deeds.” We all know that thoughts, good or bad, lead to behaviors. We do as we think about doing.

Here’s a thought Jesus pulled from our secret souls, “we don’t get to fantasize about destroying relationships by ‘having your way’ with whatever we set our eyes on!” Boom. That’s right. There are selfish sins against God and there’s a bunch of them against each other. The big TEN commandments were boundaries to PROTECT and preserve our relationship with God and one another. In fact four of the rules are about God, six are about each other.

These discussions in Matthew about relationship in sexual desire and covenant commitments in marriage are both about boundaries and behaviors. Yes, men were primarily called out and held responsible because, at that time, they were in power and the main offenders of these rules. God seriously and deeply cares about relationships, and Jesus highlights a couple of our major missteps in how we handle each other. No, a man or woman does not get to mentally strip, invade and exploit another human being just for fun! Neither do we get to make cheap promises.

Jesus goes after the frivolous way we treat our commitments, our covenants between a man and a woman. Moses wrote about a legal way to dissolve a marriage (Deut 24‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬), although we’ve got to keep in mind, God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). He HATES everything that is destructive to our relationships! Come on, are we not smart enough to figure out the never ending cycles of pain, suffering and financial ruin of our lives that come with divorce? Have we not seen the massive, deep hurts we deposit into children’s lives by dismembering their most trusted bond between their parents? Do we not recognize an entire generation of fatherless children because our parents were so self absorbed to just do whatever they felt like doing? Why are we mad at God and blame him for being a prude when we are obviously so foolish and blind to our own destructive desires and behaviors?

I am not an expert on divorce by any means. However, I had to pick up the broken shards of fragile glass in my own soul. My family, my heritage is littered with divorce and remarriage! My own adopted mother, searching for true love, safety and belonging went shopping for a man FOUR times. With her last attempt at relationship, she just gave up on the covenant of marriage and allowed a live-in looser to suck her life and finances dry for over a decade! I believe that Jesus is not only speaking TRUTH, he is also saving us from the LIES we tell ourselves and others. Here’s the facts, adultery and divorce destroys relationships and are toxic and deadly to everyone involved.

Prayer

Dad,
Forgive us oh God for we know what we do and what harm it causes, but we want to do it anyways. Save our children from our selfish foolishness.

Posted on

God does a woodcraft object lesson with Ezekiel

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Again a message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, take a piece of wood and carve on it these words: ‘This represents Judah and its allied tribes.’ Then take another piece and carve these words on it: ‘This represents Ephraim and the northern tribes of Israel.’ Now hold them together in your hand as if they were one piece of wood. When your people ask you what your actions mean, say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take Ephraim and the northern tribes and join them to Judah. I will make them one piece of wood in my hand.’” Ezekiel‬ ‭37:15-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​I just love the physicality and practicality of God. In having a chat with one of His spokespersons, God tells him, “pick up a couple of sticks and write on them.” There is something wonderfully simple with connecting our God given senses to learn or teach a lesson. The more senses involved the better.

Ezekiel LOOKS for a couple of pieces of wood, he sees the perfect set, he puts thought into the type, length, maybe even circumference. Then Ezekiel picks up the wood, he FEELS the weight and roughness of what was once part of a tree. Maybe he HEARS the sounds as he cuts and carves into preparing the wood and as he does so takes in the aroma as pieces fall to the ground. Wood has its own unique SMELL, individual to the tree that it came from. I love the smell of fresh cut or carved wood!

God had Ezekiel participate not only in a wonderful object lesson by working with these two pieces of wood, but it is also a beautiful picture of craft time with God himself. I wonder if Ezekiel choose two different pieces of wood, different tree stock to represent the two very different tribes of Israel. Maybe one of them was dark and hard, dense and difficult to carve. Maybe the other was lighter, softer, easy to carve but also easy to make mistakes.

When I read these messages, these prophetic words, which by the way IS the point of the writing, I am delighted by the lesson, the idea and delivery behind them as well. God tells him to hold the two sticks together as if they were ONE piece of wood. Ezekiel, after selecting and preparing the woodcraft, would then practice the lesson so that he could easily share it with the people, “Then hold out the pieces of wood you have inscribed, so the people can see them.” God has Ezekiel walk around showing them this strange lesson, and it will make them curiously ask, “why are you showing us this?” Isn’t that the best teaching method ever? When the passive watcher wants to know more? Then Ezekiel told them that God himself will personally hold the two pieces of wood (representing the divided nation), just like they see before them. He tells them about God’s promise, “And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put my Temple among them forever.” Just so you know, God is speaking of Jesus as the peace covenant and we, being filled with the Holy Spirit, become the temple. God still speaks today and still gives us amazing object lessons to help us understand, even using our own senses to make the point sticky!

PRAYER:

Dad,
You’re greatness, your holiness and majesty of all might, authority and dominion does not mean you are not creatively and intimately involved with us even in the smallest details of a lesson or learning. Thank you for truly being with us, as a father and now also as a friend. Thankful for being mindful of both our weakness and our expansive wonder and curiosity.