A Proverb for Bloggers

Proverbs 10:19

"In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise."

I started thinking about this rich little proverb today. I am, by nature, a person who hardly ever lacks a multitude of words. Believe me, I'm much better at letting the other guy get a word in edgewise than I used to be. But still, if I don't consciously restrain myself, I will fill up all the air in a room with my own words. So, naturally, this blunt little proverb is one that I need to remember. Pretty much all the time. (And for any of you who happen to be in my Sunday School class, I should probably have read this proverb to myself 10 times last week. Sheesh. Sorry about that.)

But it has relevence for all of you, my fellow bloggers, as well. You see, as delightful and amazing as this whole blogging thing is, it is also rife with potential pitfalls. It is far too easy to get online and spout off about something or someone without fully appreciating the consequences our little catharsis might have.

Perhaps you are disgrutled with a friend or family member and it motivates you to blog. Naturally, you change the names and personal details so that your subject can't identify herself in your post. Or so you think...

Or, you hear a cautionary tale about a friend of a friend and you think it would make a great post. You can't imagine that this friend of a friend might ever stumble upon your blog, say, two years later, and find their story advertised to the entire world. Never mind that your friend probably didn't authorize you to spill the beans to begin with.

Maybe you write a funny story about your spouse. It sure does crack up all of your friends! But your spouse isn't nearly as amused, and 3 of your friends have already read it by the time you delete the post. There is no taking it back.

And perhaps the worst offense of all is blogging about a matter that is best dealt with quietly, and only between the two people involved. Why share the details of your dispute with cyberspace?

We would all be wise, my blogging friends, to use great caution when we participate in this amazing blogging technology. Because, where there is a multitude of words, sin is present. And more than likely, were there is a multitude of blog posts, sin is hanging around someplace close by.

I share this caution as one who has been bitten by blogging indiscretion. I've had to go back and delete some old posts myself.

Lying Hearts

You have all heard the stories. Or maybe you know some people that it has happened to personally. Dedicated Christians, servants of the LORD, caught in horrible, shocking and devastating sin. I got one of those phone calls this week. I sat down and cried, and tried my best to encourage my sister in Christ on the other end of the line. But what can you say in such situations except, "I am so sorry. I love you and will pray for you?"

You don't need to know the details. I'm guessing that most of you have heard a similar tale and can fill in the details of your choice. We all know that Christians are still sinners, but for some reason it is harder to process when a fellow believer falls into blatant, public sin. It just hurts in a different way.

And in this particular situation, there was some serious self-deception happening. When the Bible gives a clear command, and a person chooses to believe that something contrary must be what God would want them to do, you can bet there is a whole lot of self deceiving going on.

The scary thing is that we are ALL capable of self-deception. Even those of us that know the truth and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Our hearts really are that wicked, and our natural desires really are that corrupt. That is why, again and again, we MUST study God's Word. We must constantly go back to the living and active Word of God and drown our sinful man in its purifying waters. There is no substitute for constant exposure to God's Holy, revealed Scripture.

If we wander around, oblivious to what the Bible actually says, relying on our inner sense of right and wrong to guide us, we will get it wrong almost every time. Consider Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Or better yet, Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

How about this:

"She said WHAT about me??? Well, let me tell you something about her..."

Matthew 5:44

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."

Or this:

"Well, I know I shouldn't tell you this, but you won't repeat it, right?"

Proverbs 16:28

"A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer seperates the best of friends."

Or even this:

"I'm not going to let myself get taken advantage of like that!"

Matthew 5:39

"But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also."

You get the idea. Our natural inclinations are often at odds with the commands of God.

I just needed to get this one out of my system. Read your Bibles, girls. Otherwise you may find yourself subject to the deceitful whims of a lying heart. And that much I do understand.

Judge Not Part Two

(For first part of Judge Not, see the post below)

For all of the things that Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged," doesn't mean, there are surely some things that it does mean.

And the context in which it should be understood is stated in the verses immediately following.

Matthew 7:2-3

"For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"

So what does that mean anyway? Well, I touched on the meaning of the plank/speck comparison in my last post. And basically, it means that you should only approach others about their sin with a great awareness of, and conviction over, your OWN sin. In other words, there is no room for self-righteous condemnation. We all have sin. We all fall short. And only when you take on the mindset of a "fellow-sinner" do you have the right framework for humbly and gently correcting your brother.

Not only is this likely to be a more effective approach anyway, but there is a strong caution given to us against approaching our brother and his speck in any other manner. Jesus says that we will be judged using the same criteria we use to judge others. In one sense, we are condemning ourselves if we don't use mercy and humility in our dealings with others.

This concept is stated again in Romans 2:1

"Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."

In other words, use caution when you gear up to judge someone. You are probably guilty of the same thing. And by standing in judgment of another, you are condemning yourself. Because in order to declare him guilty, you have to first knowingly consent to the fact that his actions are a violation of some kind. And like I just said, chances are you have that same sin, in one form or another, lurking about in your own closet. Kind of like, "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." You incriminate yourself when you apply the law to others. Because you've just proved that you are aware of the law. And you are therefore without excuse when it comes to your own defense.

But, if you want mercy and compassion applied to you, apply them to those you judge. If you use mercy, you will be given mercy. If you harshly condemn, you will be harshly condemned.

As a side note here, let me add that these cautions are given to each of us as individual brothers and sisters. The church is given very specific instructions for dealing with its members who are in sin. I'm not talking about those things here. I'm only talking about our dealings, as individuals, with individuals.

And lest you think that somehow I am giving the green light to blatant sinners, and a yellow light to righteous standards, think again. Just because we are cautioned about the way we apply judgment does not mean that we are to relax our standards as Christians. Part of the reason that we don't have to judge our neighbor is because God has already done it. God has given us His law. And God's law has already explicitly condemned sin in all of its shapes, forms and fashions. It is not up to us to decide what is a sin and what isn't. The law of God has taken plenty of care of that, thank you very much. You either accept it or you reject it.

Just because some people want to make the law do handstands and backflips in order to justify their fleshly desires, doesn't change the fact that they will stand condemned before the law. Their tricksy reasoning and human wisdom will be meaningless before the Judge of all the universe. He has access to the thoughts of their hearts and minds. We don't. And that is why ultimate judgment can only be left up to Him.

In the meantime, practice mercy and compassion. And mourn over your sin alongside the sins of others. In doing so, you will be equipped to help your brother out when a speck appears in his eye. Otherwise, beware of your measuring stick being turned around and held up against you.

Judge Not

If there was ever a verse that the non-Christian loved to beat over the head of the Christian, it must be Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged."

And, sadly, many a Christian is so easily duped and befuddled over the meaning of this verse that they lay down, roll over and play dead in the face of obvious sin and violation of God's standards.

Even, I, who know better, have totally blown it when confronted with this verse being horribly misapplied and taken out of context. So, in order to (hopefully) spare you some of the confusion and conviction that I experienced after I DID blow it, I thought that a little bit of expounding might be in order.

Keeping in mind, of course, that I will only handle this topic lightly, and can't possibly cover all of the nuances of such a complicated topic in one blog post. But I'd like to give you a jumping off point to think about or study this topic further.

First of all, that verse, Matthew 7:1, is part of the Sermon on the Mount, one of those sections of the Bible that is somewhat well known even among non-Christians. For that reason, we, who are Christians, ought to be very familiar with it and able to talk about it with our friends and neighbors.

And, yes, clearly, Jesus says those words "Judge not, that you be not judged." But you can't just stop reading there. Like all of Scripture, this verse must be taken as part of a whole. You should never ever take one verse, isolate it from the context in which it was given, isolate it from the whole teaching of Scripture, and build a truth on it. That, my friends, is how heresy is born.

So, let's look at some of the other things that Jesus has to say about how we judge others in the Sermon on the Mount, and a few of the other directions that Scripture gives us on this topic.

First, if you will look at Matthew 7:5-6, you will immediately see two situations which do require that we make a judgment of some kind:

Matthew 7:5-6

"Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

I realize that in verse 5, which refers to the plank and the speck, Jesus is primarily chastising people who are blind to their own sins while at the same time happy to self-righteously condemn every minor infraction of those around them. But, still, clearly, you have to admit that person number two does have a speck in his eye that needs to be addressed. Jesus doesn't say to remove the plank from your eye, and then pat your brother on the back and lie to him that there is nothing wrong with his peepers. That wouldn't be helping the poor guy out at all. He still has a speck to deal with.

What Jesus is saying, is first, see your own sin. And really, see how huge and gross it is. C'mon, you have a PLANK sticking out of your face! Deal with that first! Presumably, once you have, you will be able to approach your brother and his problematic speck with humility, compassion and gentleness. Much like the attitude described in 2 Timothy 2:24-25:

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." (emphasis mine)

And secondly, getting back to Matthew 7:6, the Christian is commanded not to throw their pearls before swine, or give what is holy to the dogs. I'll admit, that verse seems harsh. I've heard people explain it all kinds of ways that seem to strip the plain meaning right out of it. But, the best explanation I have heard, and the one that I ascribe to is this: Don't keep preaching the gospel to those who have overtly and consciously rejected it.

In order to follow that command, you must be able to judge, or discern, who should be considered a swine or a dog. (Hey, I know those are strong, insulting words, but Jesus used them, not me.) I really like the word discern better than the word judge. Because while we are explicitly commanded NOT to judge, we are elsewhere told that we must use discernment. And in verses 15-20, we are told what the criteria should be when we practice this discernment.

Matthew 7:15-20

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, not can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

By their fruits you will know them. By their fruits you will be able to discern who is a sheep and who is a wolf in disguise. That, my friends, in our language, is referred to as making a judgment. And that kind of judgment is necessary so that the sheeps don't get eated by the wolfs.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we are told that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Right before that, in Galatians 5:19-21, we are given another list. This one lists the works of the flesh, the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. And those works are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness and revelries.

Usually, in my experience, when people pull out the "judge not" card, it is for one of two reasons. Either they are blatantly sinning, and resent the idea that another person finds fault with their sin, or they are scared to call a spade a spade. Saying, "but you know, the most important thing is that we don't judge other people," is often a cop out for saying something unpopular, like, "the Bible calls that a sin."

I know that from experience. Because I've pulled out the "judge not" card in the past. And pretty much, my motivation was that I was being a yellow bellied chicken. In other words, I was not willing to deal with the truth, because it might have been uncomfortable to do so. I (think) I'm over that.

Well, let me put it to you this way...by the grace of God, I will do better next time. I will speak the truth in love, with gentleness and humility. But I'll speak it nonetheless. If there are no swine or dogs involved, of course.

The Sword of the Spirit

After Jesus was baptized, Scripture tells us, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (Matthew 4:1)

There are a few things in just that one sentence that are pretty interesting. Did you notice that Jesus temptation was not outside of God's plan, but seems to actually be part of it? After all, it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus out there into the wilderness. He wasn't tempted to journey out there by Satan. God planned that it would happen exactly as it did happen.

We know from James 1:13, which says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He Himself tempt anyone", that obviously God was not the one who tempted Jesus. And in fact, God never tempts anyone. But is seems pretty clear that God allows us to be tempted, just as here He allowed Jesus to be tempted. I find that comforting. God is sovereign even over my temptations. They don't catch him by surprise.

But what happens next, in the account of Jesus temptation in the wilderness, is equally fascinating.

First of all, let me just say, that sometimes the Bible understates things to the point of humor. I don't mean to be irreverent about God's Word, but when I read Matthew 4:2, I just had to grin.

"And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry."

You think? I'd say something more like, "He was starving to death" or "He was famished." But, still, we get the point; Jesus was feeling real, physical, (probably) overwhelming, hunger.

I'm trying really hard to stay on my message here, and I haven't even gotten to it yet. But this section of Scripture is just full of interesting things, and I can't help but point some of them out. Like, for instance, did you notice that Jesus fast lasted for 40 days? Does that number sound familiar for some reason? How about the length of time that it rained in the days of Noah? Or, how about the number of years that Israel wandered in the wilderness before entering the promised land?

But here is the what I really wanted to point out. Satan tempts Jesus three times and with three different sins. But each and every time, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, refutes Satan by quoting Scripture. He uses the same defense against temptation that is available to every single one of His children: Scripture.

When Satan tempts Jesus to exhibit a lack of faith in God's physical provision for Him, by turning stones into bread, Jesus says:

"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4) This is a quote of Deuteronomy 8:3.

When Satan tempts Jesus to pridefully prove that He has the power of God to call angels at His whim, by telling Him to throw himself off of the temple wall, Jesus says:

"It is written, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:16.

And finally, when Satan tempts Jesus with an offer of kingship, a way to rule the earth without suffering on the cross, if only Jesus will bow down and worship Satan, Jesus replies:

"Away with you Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD you God, and Him only you shall serve.'" This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20.

Now, if that is not sufficient motivation for all of us to get to know and understand Scripture, let me point out one more thing. And this last bit kind of gives me chill bumps when I think about the potential damage it can cause.

In this encounter between Satan and Jesus, Jesus is not the only one who quotes Scripture. Satan does the same thing. Only when Satan quotes Scripture, He does it out of context and twists its intended meaning.

When Satan tempts Jesus the second time, by suggesting that He throw Himself off of the temple wall and call on angels to rescue Him, He adds this little barb:

Matthew 4:5-6

"If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over You,'

and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Satan is quoting Psalm 91 to Jesus. The problem is, Satan is quoting it in exactly the opposite way it was intended. Psalm 91 is a declaration of trust in the care and provision of the LORD. It contains that famous verse, "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, In Him I will trust." (Psalm 91:2)

When Satan tempts Jesus to throw Himself off of the temple wall, He is tempting Jesus to test God, instead of have faith in God. Testing God is a result of little faith, not a result of great faith.

I don't know about you, but I find it startling and disturbing that Satan quotes Scripture. And if Satan can know and quote Scripture, twisting the truth right out of it, then we can be sure that Satan's servants can as well.

Let me counter that statement by saying that Jesus is already declared victorious. The battle has been won, and Satan has been defeated. He is still our enemy, and he can still cause us harm, and we need to be wary of him, and his servants.

But we have God on our side. And we shouldn't forget that. And, we shouldn't forget that God has provided us with an extremely powerful weapon against evil: the sword of the Spirit: God's Word.

But the sharpest, most lethal sword in the world isn't going to do you any good sitting up on a shelf collecting dust. The more time you spend with your sword, the more precise you will become in defeating the enemy.

Ephesians 6:17

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"

Got Guilt?

Got guilt? Oh, of course you do. And if you haven't done anything lately to feel guilty over, I bet it doesn't take much effort to think back to some occasion that brings that unwelcome sinking sensation in your gut.

So what are we supposed to do with guilt?

To start with, I think we should recognize that not all guilt is a bad. Sometimes we are so eager to get rid of the unpleasantness of guilt that we fail to deal with the problem that is causing us to feel guilty to begin with. This is a bad thing. If you feel guilty, ask yourself why. It might be that you actually need to repent of something. Often, we are reluctant to repent, and guilt is the byproduct.

But there are plenty of times when guilt is just self-condemnation.

The Bible teaches clearly, and in so many places, that those who are found in Christ have absolutely no reason to feel condemned. This truth is so startling and revolutionary that I think we sometimes gloss over the profoundness of it. I mean, come on, God can't really mean that we are totally washed clean and forgiven can He? Surely there is going to be some cosmic extraction of penance or sudden onslaught of punishment, isn't there?

No. There isn't.

It has already been taken care of. Yes, all of it. Yes, really, even THAT thing.

When Jesus came to this world in the flesh, and died on the cross, every bit of it was paid for. The big word for this is "propitiation" and the Greek for propitiation is hilasmos. The literal definition of hilasmos is atonement. Jesus atoned for our sins. He made them right by paying the price for them.

1 John 4:10

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

We, who have faith in Christ, are declared pure, because Christ has made us pure.

1Jn 3:3

"And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

What right in the world do I have to accuse and condemn what God has declared pure, including myself?

Romans 8:33,34

"Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."

Have you ever thought about it that way? When you point a finger of self-condemnation at yourself, you are disagreeing with God. You are claiming that what Jesus did on the cross wasn't really sufficient for you and your sins. Do you really think you are that significant? Do I?

Listen, I need to be reminded of this just as much as anyone. Lately, in particular, I feel like Satan has been making quite an effort to remind me of who I used to be.

But God, through Scripture, tells me who I am in Christ. And that is the opinion that not only counts, but is perfect truth.

Rom 8:1

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Against You, You Only, Have I Sinned

I've been in a weird place the last few weeks. You can see that my blog posts have been less than frequent lately. And I can't seem to get anything significant done on the Ruth study I am working on. I had a big breakthrough in that area a few weeks ago, and it was thrilling: I finished the first speaking session and discussion outline. But since then, nothing. I literally feel a deep resistance to working on it any further. I keep writing outlines in my head, and thinking of scripture that would be good to bring into the discussion, but I can't make myself sit down and write anything.

Last night I prayed for some clarity, and I think I got some this morning. I read Psalm 51, David's prayer of repentance after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan over his affair with Bathsheba. I was struck by David's astounding statement in Psalm 51:4,

"Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in your sight--"

How is it possible that David can qualify his sin as being only against God? Um, what about poor Uriah? Or Bathsheba for that matter? Or David's many other wives whom he dishonored by committing adultery with Bathsheba? How about the entire nation of Israel? Didn't they get cheated by a king who acted so deceitfully and treacherously?

Yet despite all of that, it is God (only!) who David says he sinned against. Have you ever really thought about that and its implications? We think about sinning against other people all the time; gossiping or lying or cheating or stealing from someone. Or even just treating people disrespectfully or without love. Aren't all of those things sins? Aren't they sins against our neighbor? I've always assumed that they were. But the longer I think about it, the more convinced I am that David's words in Psalm 51:4 are more profound than I originally gave them credit for.

God is the one to whom we owe obedience. Every time we sin against our fellow man, we are ultimately sinning against the commands of a holy and righteous God. Our neighbor may get caught in the crossfire of our sinful actions. But come judgement day, it is not our sinned-against-neighbor who will sit in jugement of our actions. It is God. And all of our sin will be counted as offenses against His holiness and His commands.

Which brings me back around to the spiritual slump I find myself in. I've tried to think of all the reasons that I find myself in this situation. I could lay the blame on any number of things, and believe me, I've tried. But this morning, as I was reading Psalm 51, I saw something very clearly. If there is anything to blame for this thickness I am struggling to cut through, it is my sin, specifically, my sin against God.

I can't blame it on this, that or the other. I have to look straight inside at my own heart. It is a disheartening prospect (slight pun slightly intended.) I've been on the spiritual high. I've been to the peak. I've been dedicated and motivated and everything you associate with a woman who is "on fire" for God. But I don't think any of us get to stay there forever. We have, and will always have, too much natural sin remaining in us in this present flesh. There is no final escape from it until we leave this life for the better life that comes next.

Not to say that I won't get back to the peak. In fact, I'm determined to push past my natural inclinations and get back up there again. But it's hard. I have to fight myself in the process.

I don't want to stand out as strange. I don't want people to think of me as bizarre. I don't want women to walk the other way when they see me coming, because I might want to talk about something spiritual. I don't want to be constantly vigilant against pride or anger or idols or apathy creeping up on me. I'd rather just float through life, enjoying the luxurious and self-absorbed modern American lifestyle, and worry about eternity, well, right before I get there. Those are the things that I want.

Thank goodness its not all up to me. Thank goodness that God has sent me a Helper, the Holy Spirit, who lives in me and constantly transforms me from glory unto glory.

But the path to the peak has a crucial first step that you can't hop over if you ever want to get up there. Its the all-important step of repentance. And if I want to get past stalled and start moving forward again, I need to get on my face and repent.

Against You, You only, have I sinned, O God. Against you have I withheld my heart, my mind, my soul and my strength. Forgive me.

Psalm 51:1,2,12

"Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin."

"Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit."

Apocalypto

Several weeks ago, I did something that I normally avoid. I sat and watched about 20 minutes of a very gory, violent movie. I have never particularly enjoyed violent movies of any kind. But the older I have gotten, the more averse I have become to them. So when I walked through the living room and realized that my husband was watching the Mel Gibson movie, Apocalypto, I have no explanation for why I sat down to watch with him.

Warning: this post is about to get somewhat graphic. If you dislike violent descriptions, you should skip this post.

As far as violent movies go, this one ranks pretty high. The scenes that I watched mostly involved human sacrifice. Men were slit open, had their hearts (still beating) cut out of their chests, decapitated, and then had their lifeless heads and bodies thrown down the temple steps. There were people at the bottom of the step dancing and waving big baskets around to catch the corpses and heads. Thick blood slicked over the steps. A sizable pile of dead bodies was heaped up near the bottom of the temple. All of the onlookers were cheering and dancing while the slaughter took place.

As the doomed captives were led to the sacrificial altar, wide-eyed and terrified, the priests, royal family and young princes looked on mercilessly. A fat young prince (I assume he was a prince) even smirked at the helpless victims.

The whole thing was beyond disgusting. I hated it.

But it did bring something into sharp focus for me.

There are parts of the Old Testament that are kind of hard to swallow. In particular, when the Israelites are in the process of conquering Canaan and the surrounding territories, they were often commanded by God to utterly destroy the native populations. This destruction even included women and children. In at least one case, even the animals were to be wiped out.

1Samuel 15:3

"Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."

Even though I have some understanding of why this slaughter was necessary, I still have a hard time accepting it. I mean, we New Testament believers understand God as LOVE. We don't really like to think of our loving God commanding that people be killed, babies especially. But it is in the Bible, and because it is, we have to deal with it.

I think part of the reason we struggle to understand why God commanded the Israelites to destroy the Amelkites, and other populations, is because we tend to think of those peoples as if they were just like us. And to be sure, in many basic ways they were. But by contrast, we live in a culture that has been affected by two thousand plus years of Christian morality. Obviously, you can't include every culture in the world in that generalization, but I am thinking of America and most of Europe specifically.

Back in the days of Apocalypto, and Amelek, no such Christian influence existed. Human sacrifice, and even child sacrifice, was common practice. It was so widespread that God specifically command the Israelites NOT to practice human and child sacrifice. (Deut 12:29-31)

And even with those prohibitions, the Israelites still on occassion did sacrifice their children to pagan gods.

2Ki 17:17

"And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger."

The thought of human sacrifice is utterly repulsive to me. But realizing that it was common practice, and actually visualizing what it may have looked like, by watching Apocalypto, has helped me to understand just how evil the native populations of Canaan probably were. They were not gentle farmers going about their business when the Israelites swooped in for the attack. They were some bad dudes. And dudettes. And they indulged in some terribly evil and revolting practices.

I still don't quite know how to reconcile the destruction of the babies and animals with God's lovingkindness. Well, that is not entirely true. I think that God's holiness has something to do with it. But that topic deserves a post all its own. In the meantime, I accept that God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. Even when He commanded the Israelites to kill those babies. I may not be able to explain it in a way that you (or I) find completely satisfying. But it is true nonetheless.

Job 40:2

"Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it."

A Thought

To tide you over until my next real post:

Sin is a lot like laundry. If you don't deal with it, it piles up. And it gets to stinking. And then, when you do look, you have 18 loads to wash instead of just a basket of whites.

Its much better to deal with sin and laundry on a regular basis. Like, daily. Can you tell I've been sick and let my house get out of control?

I'm feeling better, by the way.

Jas 5:16

"Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much."

The Big Deal

I haven't been ignoring this blog all week. I've just been sick. Still am. It's terribly annoying. I've hardly been able to string two thoughts together, which makes articulating a meaningful post rather difficult. So this is going to be brief.

I've been reading through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and now I'm in Ezekiel. All four books deal primarily with Israel's great sin and coming destruction. But do you know what their big sin was? It is mentioned time and time again, so much so that you could easily start to skip over it when you read. You know, like you skip over the stuff you already know, in an effort to get to the interesting part of an article? Well, this great sin might not be what you think. There was plenty of sin being committed by Israel. The rich were oppressing the poor. Innocent people were being slain unjustly. Child sacrifice had become common. Foreign alliances were the norm. The Sabbath was being ignored. The list goes on and on. But the sin that God blames over and over for the judgment that He would no longer withhold was this: God's people were worshiping other gods.

And that was the greatest offense of all. More vile than sexual promiscuity, murder, child sacrifice or any kind of ritual impurity. God was getting cheated of His due. He deserved all of the glory and honor and worship from His chosen people. And they were throwing it away on images made of stone and wood. And that, dear reader, is why He brought down massive judgment on them.

I wanted to point it out because I think that we tend to focus too much on the things we "do" that are wrong: stealing, lying, cheating, gossiping, bad attitudes, sexual sins. But you can refrain from every single one of those and be committing sin every day of your life, simply by worshiping things other than God. Or to put it in common language, to place anything in your life above God.

I'm betting that you don't have a secret closet full of wooden idols that you bow down and pray to. But I'm also betting that you do have a life full of distractions and ambitions that don't involve giving God His due: all your heart, mind, soul and strength. This requirement, of utmost importance, is found in the Old Testament and the New.

Deuteronomy 6:4

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD you God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

Matthew 22:37-38

"Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment."

Israel was failing miserably. I know that I have as well.

Jeremiah 2:32

"Can a virgin forget her ornaments
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number."

There is hope, though, there always is. God didn't make a total end of His people. He preserved a remnant to bring back and reestablish. He makes a very similar offer to us, even if we have been chasing after other gods.

Jeremiah 3:1

"They say, 'If a man divorces his wife,
And she goes from him
And becomes another man's,
May he return to her again?'
Would not the land be greatly polluted?
But you have played the harlot with many lovers;
Yet return to Me, says the LORD."

God says, "Yet return to Me" no matter how thin we have spread our charms, no matter how many lovers we have chased apart from Him. A man cannot return to a wife he has divorced, but God will allow us to return to Him. No matter what.

Lamentations (Updated, Yes, Again)

I can only bear to do one post about the book of Lamentations. So here it is. But, just so you know, reading this post has the potential to ruin your day.

Lamentations is a short book, only 5 chapters long, which details the grief, anguish, indignities and horrors that the people in Jerusalem experienced while their city was under siege and then eventually destroyed. There are parts of it that are so horrible that they are hard to even read, much less think about.

Before the city was totally destroyed, the Babylonian army put it under siege for several months. This came at the same time as a famine, and the people who were trapped inside the city literally starved to death. There are verses that describe death by the sword as a fortunate fate compared to this slow starvation that the Israelites are experiencing. As a mother myself, the verses that talk about women literally eating their own children are really too much to bear.

Lamentations 4:10

"The hands of the compassionate women
Have cooked their own children;
They became food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people."

As horrid as that is, God warned the Israelites that this would happen. In Deuteronomy 28:57 God specifically lists this very thing as part of the curses He would bring down on Israel if they disobeyed Him. But we all know that Israel didn't pay any attention. Even with such wretched threats clearly laid out, the children of God disregarded His commands and did whatever they wanted.

Part of me just thinks, "What is wrong with these people? Its not like God hasn't explicitly told them what to do and not do! And not only that, but He keeps sending them prophets who warn that disaster is coming if they continue to disobey!"

Then I think about my own life. And the culture that I live in. And I stop casting stones at these people who lived thousands of years ago, but were still humans just like we are. Sigh.

I guess if you want to take a lesson from all of this destruction and heartache, it should be this: Sin is horrible. It causes terrible things to happen. The cost of it is always higher than we think it will be. And the cost of sin is very very real, for us, just as for those who came before us. No matter what small consequences we may face in this lifetime, for those who do not call upon Jesus Christ as their Savior, the full cost will be extracted after death.

I will say one surprising thing about the book of Lamentations. It contains at least one bright little gem gleaming from amidst the pain and death. There are a few verses about halfway through the book that must have served as the inspiration for one of my favorite hymns. I just never knew that these verses, so filled with hope and mercy, were to be found right here, in the middle of weeping and lament.

Lamentations 3:22-24

"Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul.
'Therefore I hope in Him!'"

Great is Your faithfulness, O God our Father
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not,
As thou hast been thou forever will be.

Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand has provided
Great is Your faithfulness
Lord unto me.


**OK, I can't stand to leave this post as is. After you've read the verses about mothers cooking and eating their babies, you are probably so horrified that you don't even know what to think. "Who is this God?" you might be thinking. "Can this possibly be the same God who we call Abba, Father?"

Well, yes it is exactly the same God. And I don't mean for this postscript to negate anything I said earlier about the consequences of sin. But, just so you don't walk around feeling sick for the rest of the day, read these verses, which also come from Lamentations.

Lamentations 3:31-33

"For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
For He does not afflict willingly,
Nor grieve the children of man.

I should probably have made this a separate post, but since I'm not going to, here are three points to consider, very quickly:

1. God does not afflict willingly. The Israelites were many many generations into horrid sin and disgusting practices by the time God brought down this judgment on them.

2. God did bring about the famine and the siege. But He didn't make those women resort to cannibalism. They did that abomination on their own.

3. He had their ultimate good in mind even during this very painful time. He was purging His children of their sin, so that they could eventually be healed, restored, and blessed by Him again. He still does exactly this in our lives today. And I don't think it has gotten any easier.

The Children in the City

If you have been reading my most recent posts, you will know that I have found myself in a time of intense healing and freedom from past sins. And since I'm going to be talking about that same subject yet again, I thought I might need to clarify some things, particularly for those of you who know me personally.

You might be tempted to let you imagination run wild and begin speculating about all of the horrendous things that must be lurking in my past. Don't do that. You'd be terribly disappointed anyway. Not that my sins, and the specific sins I have been dealing with, aren't terrible enough. But, the average run of the mill sinner has enough darkness in their heart, and enough bondage and slavery to sin, to scandalize all of us.

The thing is, I spent many, many years quite aware of my sin, but unwilling to treat it as harshly as it deserved to be treated. I took it lightly. I saw it through the lenses of our culture, which is exceedingly tolerant and encouraging of sin. I made excuses. I rationalized. Most of the time, I just plain ol' didn't think about my sin very much.

But when I began to, I was broken hearted. I saw and felt my sinfulness so clearly, it mourned me. It caused me deep grief. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." What I experienced is exactly the kind of mourning that Jesus was referring to. Mourning over the wretchedness of personal sin. The comforting is what comes after you have mourned properly.

So this is what brought me to tears yesterday. The comforting that God gives to us is so abundant, so full and consumingly rich, that we don't really believe it can happen until we've experienced it. We sort of think that, yeah, God can take away our sins, and forgive us of our sins, and then we can look forward to Heaven where we won't suffer from our sins anymore. What I have personally discovered is that God can not only forgive, and take away, and heal, but He can also make us completely whole again in spite of our sin. Praise the LORD. He can literally change us and make us a new creation. It happened to me. It has happened to me. It has really happened to me.

So, in Isaiah 49, in verses 15-21, there is a long description of the way that God is going to restore Israel after she has been devastated because of her sins. You have to read the following verses with a few things in mind to even begin to get a sense of the joy I have experienced. Just so you know, I read every commentary I could find to see if my personal application was somehow universally recognized. It's not, and you should know that. I'm not trying to press any kind of theological point here. I am just trying to express to you the way that these verses spoke to my heart and overwhelmed me with joy.

What you will read is an account of a city that has been devastated by destroyers and "swallowers up." If those two words aren't poetic descriptions of sin, I don't know what are. The children in this devastated city have all been taken away. Think of that as the real, practical consequences of sin. The LORD is then going to reestablish this destroyed city (me!) and fill it with so many children (abundant blessings) that the city is confused and stunned by the amount of children found within its walls.

All of a sudden, the city is so full of children that there isn't even enough room for all of them. That is exactly how I feel. I look around sometimes and think, where did all of this come from LORD? I was such a sinner, I offended you in so many ways. I did every wrong thing in the book. How is it that You could ever bless me like this?

OK, are you ready to read it now? Are you ready to try and understand what got me all worked up (in a good way) yesterday? It's kind of long, but worth the attention.

Isaiah 49: 15-21

"'Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
Your sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,' says the LORD,
'You shall surely clothe yourself with them all as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.

For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children you will have,
After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
'The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.'
Then you will say in your heart,
'Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?'"

I suppose I always believed abstractly that God could rebuild people, other people. You know, the ones that needed rebuilding. Not me.

When I finally opened my eyes and did an honest survey of the walls around my city, I saw the devastation. It was there all along. But somehow, I had been skipping around and having picnics in a bomb crater without even realizing it. That honest appraisal was the beginning of the rebuilding process. And it took a while, several years I would say. But one day I looked around again. And there were children stumbling over each other in my streets. Children I didn't deserve, but had anyway. And that, is bringing me to tears all over again.

White As Snow

Isaiah 1:18

"Come now, and let us reason together,
Says the LORD,
Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool."

Have you ever gotten a line from an annoying song stuck in your head, and you just couldn't make it go away? Well, that kind of happened to me last night, except it was this verse from Isaiah that I couldn't get out of my head. Today, I'm pretty sure that I understand why.

I've had an interesting couple of weeks. In 1 Peter 5:8, Satan is described as a roaring lion stalking about, seeking a victim to devour. I think that lion has been hot on my heels of late.

It all has to do with sin, my sin, and my past sin to be exact. If I was still writing this blog in total anonymity, I would give you all the ugly details. But since some of you happen to know me, I think I'll try to stay general here. Besides, all of us struggle with sin of one kind or another, and I think my experience can be applied to all kinds of sin, not just the specific one I happened to declare victory over.

I alluded in an earlier post to some sinful thought patterns that used to plague me. God has really brought about serious change in my thought life. It was not an easy battle. There were a whole bunch of lies that I had to overcome before I could really keep my mind stayed on the truth. And let me tell you, truthful thinking brings more peace to my life than you could possibly imagine. So I am not at all interested in revisiting those untruthful thought patterns. I want to steer as clear of them as possible.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a situation that challenged me in this specific area. I was faced with something that just begged me to indulge in sinful thoughts. I did manage to quiet those thoughts down, but the whole experience served to show me that I still have some work to do.

Now fast forward about a week, and I hit round two of a similar situation. Only a much more intense version of the first go round. I mean, the minute I realized what was going on, the first thing that popped into my head was, "I am under Satanic attack."

If you happen to know me, you will know that I do not typically use dramatic phrases like that. I know some people see spiritual battles every where they turn, and they might in fact be right about that, but I am not someone who spends a lot of time thinking or speaking in terms of spiritual warfare. So in other words, it was some serious testing that I faced. And I knew it.

But about half a second later, I realized that I was getting worked up over nothing. I don't know how else to say this, so I'll just say it the best I can. God threw a situation at me that I have been dreading for a very long time. I used to spend time thinking through a "plan of resistance" in case it ever did happen. And I guess I have been living in victory long enough that God felt like I was ready to face it head on...and come out shining.

Which totally turned the situation on its head. Because as it turned out, it wasn't an attack at all. It was an opportunity for me to celebrate and praise God for how far I have come. I saw up close and in vivid detail that my sin, and the grip it had on me, has indeed been washed as white as snow. What was once a scarlet stain that I carried around in my heart, has become as white as wool.

Not only has my sin been forgiven, but all of the power that it ever had on me has been destroyed.

There is a victory song that King David wrote in 2 Samuel. Several years ago, I took a section of that scripture and read it as a personal declaration of victory over sin. I want you to read the following verses thinking of "enemies" as sin; and of the battle that is described as the very real battle that each of us must face as we deal with our sinful nature. (The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, right?)

2 Samuel 22: 38-43

"I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
And I have destroyed them and wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
For You have armed me with strength for the battle
You have subdued under me those who rose against me.
You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
They looked, but there was none to save;
Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.
Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I trod them like dirt in the streets,
And I spread them out."

Notice all of the hard work that the warrior (me) has to do in those first verses. Sin, our sin, does not just lie down and go away when we become a Christian. Rather, it is a constant battle that we struggle against, as long as we live. But God is more powerful than our sin: He will give us strength, He will arm us for the battle, He will subdue our enemies under us. And when it is all over, our enemies, our sin, will be as insignificant as dust spread out in the street. I love it. And today, I really understand it in a new way.

Isaiah 43:18-19

"Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?"

I know it LORD, I really know it. Sins like scarlet. White as snow.

Other Masters

Isaiah 26:12-14

"LORD, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works in us.
O LORD our God, masters besides You
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.
They are dead, they will not live;
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore you have punished and destroyed them.
And made all their memory to perish."



I am currently experiencing a fairly peaceful time in my life. I don't have any major crisis looming on the horizon at the moment. More important than my current peaceful circumstances, however, is the state of my heart. My heart is at peace. I have not always been able to say that. In fact, I spent many years of my life with no peace at all.

You might think the reason my heart is at peace is because my current circumstances are peaceful. But I know that's not true, because I know my heart well enough to realize that it would FIND something to be disturbed over if I gave it free reign. But you see, that is the secret. I don't let my heart go off on wild tangents anymore, wishing and seeking and desiring things that God has not given to me.

I can only accomplish that control of my heart because God has come in and established his authority over my life, thus removing my responsibility to satisfy myself. I know that whatever comes to me in this life, is God's perfect plan. And I also know that he only purposes good toward me. Now, God's good purposes don't always feel very good at the time I'm experiencing them, but I know that they are all for my good and for God's glory.


Verse 12 in the above Scripture passage says, "You will establish peace for us." God will do it! Thankfully, because I'm pretty sure we are inept at establishing peace for ourselves. The verse goes on to say, "You have also done all our works in us." An alternate translation offers, "You have also done all our works for us." God can and will do it, all of it, Himself. But there is another part of the equation that has to balance out first. That is the issue of authority, or masters, if you will.

You can see the confession in verse 13, "O LORD our God, other masters besides You Have had dominion over us." Umm Hmm. You all know what Isaiah is talking about. Ever had another master? How about wealth, or popularity, or physical beauty, or control, or relationships, or fear, or pride, or anger, or unforgiveness. I could go on. You get the idea.

There are countless things that we chase after and worship besides God. Or, that we cling to tightly and refuse to let go of, even though we know that we should. We can't help ourselves really, it is part of our nature apart from God's redeeming work in us. See for yourself in the next verse, "But by You only we make mention of Your name." Only by God's power do we even know enough to make mention of His name, much less cast of the oppression of other masters. How humbling is that!

And what about these other masters? When God gets to work establishing Himself as our authority and our master, what becomes of them? We can see clearly in verse 14, "They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore you have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish." That sounds like a total victory to me.

So what do you do if you find yourself unable to stay in the place of victory? What if you find yourself creeping back under the authority of another master? Well, this very issue is fresh on my mind right now. One of the biggest victories God has ever given to me is control of my thought life. There are literally dozens of lies that I have overthrown in the battle to reclaim my thoughts, and it took several years for it to happen.

But this past weekend I found myself slipping back into a pit I thought I had sealed off for good. It wasn't a fun realization. I was so tempted to indulge it. Because in the short term, those other masters aside from God can seem like great fun. But in the end you always find yourself back in a pit, far away from the joy and peace that God promises.

What did I do? Several things. First, I pinpointed the lie that was masquerading as truth. Then I followed my sinful train of thought through to the ultimate conclusion it would bring. I prayed (many times) that God would take control of my thoughts again. I repeated the truth that spoke against the lie over and over in my mind. And, as a very practical matter, I spent time listening to Christian music, instead of indulging my thought life, even singing out loud if needed. So far it is working. I can't promise the thoughts won't creep in again. But when they do, God has armed me with the weapons to fight them.

There will never come a time in my life when I have it so together that I can stop guarding against sin. In fact, I have often heard it said that Satan will step up attacks when we are becoming a threat to him. Well, whatever, I don't know if that is actually true or not. But I do know that in the book of Job, we clearly see that even Satan must ask permission from God before He does anything. (Booooo Satan!!!)


Isaiah 9: 4

"You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian."

Look, God has already done the defeating. There is no other master that can force you to stay under its control. God has broken the power of sin to hold you captive. There is only one Master, one Authority that you cannot escape, and that is Adonai, Lord and Master.

True peace apart from God is a lie. But true freedom, and peace, are found resting under the shadow of God's authority.

The "S" Word

No, not that "S" word! The one that is genuinely nasty and foul--sin.

Now that I think about it, I probably hear the four letter "S" word more often than I ever hear the word sin mentioned. I have a great story, by the way, of coming home from school in the second grade and announcing the four letter "S" word at the dinner table. I had literally never head the word before, and had no idea what it meant. But I knew that it was against the rules to say that word at school for some reason. (As a very helpful and newly made friend informed me in the bathroom.) And I wanted to be sure that my grandmother knew what all the rules at school were. I'm pretty sure she didn't appreciate my explicit detailing of said rules.

But anyway, back to that sin word. I didn't notice until very recently how rare it is to hear anyone, Christians included, talk about sin. You hear a great deal of talk about "poor decisions" and "bad choices." Girls, a bad decision is wearing a sleeveless t-shirt to the park when it is 40 degrees and windy outside. And a poor choice is eating that 5th piece of birthday cake.

Sin is a weighty issue. Its seriousness can't even compare to weak phrases like "poor decision." But we seem intent on downplaying sin. Maybe this does not apply to you personally. Maybe you have a real understanding of what sin is and the consequences of it. I hope so. In my experience, seeing the vastness of my sin was the starting point of massive spiritual growth. I'm not talking about making a list of every bad thing I ever did and then feeling really guilty about it. No, I am talking about understanding my total unworthiness to be forgiven and accepted by God. Only when I "got" that, did I begin to comprehend the awesome grace that God extended to me. And only when that reality sunk into my bones did I find myself truly free in Christ.

Psalm 130: 3

"If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?"

"But wait!" you are thinking. "Aren't we supposed to be jewels and treasures and precious possessions and brides and all that? And aren't we supposed to relate to God on those terms?" Well, yes and no. Scripture does compare us to all of those things. Here are two examples.


Malachi 3:17

"They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts,
"On the day that I make them My jewels."

Isaiah 62:3

"You shall be a crown of glory
In the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem
In the hand of your God."

Heady stuff, I know. Who doesn't want to be a jewel or a royal diadem in the hand of God? But here is the thing: you are nothing like a jewel or a diadem in and of yourself. You require transformation and redeeming by the blood of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. If you spend all of your time trying to "believe" that you are a jewel, you will find yourself very frustrated. You know yourself too well. You can see all of your own imperfections and flaws. And somehow all of that knowledge doesn't quite square with being a jewel of God.

You can't skip ahead to the jewel part. You have to KNOW and ACCEPT that you are a sinner deserving the wrath of God. You have to SEE it and BELIEVE it. Calling your sins poor choices is not going to bring about that kind of understanding.

You are not a royal diadem in the hand of your God because of who you are. You get to be a royal diadem in the hand of God because of what Jesus did on the cross. One view is all about pumping up that all-important self esteem (please note heavy sarcasm intended here.) The other view is the truth. Truth is real, you can really believe truth. You can relish being a jewel and a royal diadem if you understand those things in light of God's amazing grace. If, on the other hand, you spend your energy trying to conjure up feeling like a jewel without focusing on God's total responsibility for it, you have a big recipe for confusion on your hands.

Because girls, there are days when being a jewel seems like the farthest thing from reality imaginable. I had one of those days recently. But instead of wondering where all of my sparkling jewelness had gone, I got to praise God that I am indeed a shiny treasure because of HIM. Not because of ME.

So, that is why the real "S" word is so vital. Our sin is what makes God's grace so unbelievably amazing. I don't know how else to say it. All of my words are failing me right now. If you find yourself constantly frustrated and confused, and wonder why you just can't seem to accept that you are God's treasured possession, I'd like to suggest that you might not have a clear understanding of your sin. That seems backwards, I know. But how can your socks be blown off by the reality of forgiveness if you don't see how badly you need it? How can you be stunned and awed by the grace God extends to you if you haven't seen how little you deserve it? And how can any of that happen until you see your sin for what it is?

Isaiah 54:11-12

"O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacle of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And your walls of precious stones."

Did you see it? Did you see WHO did all of this magnificent crafting? That's right-- God. Not you. Amen.

It Shall Not Come Near You

Psalm 91:7

"A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you."

This verse immediately sprung to mind a few weeks ago while I was watching the movie Letters From Iwo Jima with my Dad. Normally, I avoid war movies like the plague, but I love my Dad, and I will usually watch whatever he is watching. I was visiting my parents with the kids, and he said it was a good movie, which it was, but much, much, much too gory and tragic for my usual taste.

There are a few scenes in which soldiers must run across open areas that are being riddled with bullets and explosives. Most of them never get to the other side, but are struck and killed as they attempt to make the crossing. Really, with all of those bullets flying around, it's almost impossible to imagine that any of them would make it across. The scenes were very similar to that scene at the beginning of the movie Saving Private Ryan. Again, a movie I did not particularly want to watch, but this time it was my husband who did.

Look at that verse at the beginning again, "it shall not come near you." What exactly is it that won't come near us? In verses 3-6 it is described this way:

"Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday."

According to those trusty footnotes in my Bible, this Psalm was probably written to describe the realities of life for a soldier at war, who would be in fear of literal arrows and pestilence that might sweep through the camp. But most of us are not in a literal, physical war. We are however, faced with a very real war every day of our lives. A spiritual war.

We are constantly surrounded by arrows and threats of destruction and pestilence. Some of the wars we deal with might seem quite harmless on the surface. That television show that glorifies adultery. That magazine that worships beauty. The music that romanticizes things we should view as evil and corrupt. There are also the threats that we know are dangerous, the kind of thing that catches us off guard and threatens our safety and well being. An unexpected attack of some kind, a loss of job, an illness, the threat of financial ruin. You get the idea.

All of those arrows carry the threat of danger to our spiritual well-being, and in some cases our physical well-being. They are very real.

I Peter 5:8

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

But again, back to my original question. What does the scripture mean when it says that "it will not come near you?" This is just my opinion, but I think that scripture taken as a whole bears me out. It does NOT mean that bad things won't happen to you. I know there are people who believe that and even preach that. But, don't they live in the same world that I do? Don't they see very real tragedy and pain in the lives of people around them? Don't they read verses like James 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,?" What about verses like 1 Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;?"

So, I don't think that "it shall not come near you" means we will have a pain and trial-free life. But there are some things that it does mean. In the midst of our spiritual warfare, we are assured of very real help and comfort. God is described as a refuge and fortress in verses 2 and 9. We are told that He will be with us, deliver us and honor us in verse 15. In verse 11 we are told that He will give His angels charge over us, that these angels will keep us and bear us up. All of it is a very descriptive way of saying: We are not alone! God goes with us! He will take care of us! We do not need to be afraid!

The very best of all these victorious promises comes in the last verse, verse 16:

"With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation."

The greatest hope of all, eternal salvation. I believe that is ultimately what is meant when verse 7 says, "it shall not come near you." Eternal death and destruction will not come near us. It won't even get close.

So picture with me that battlefield full of flying bullets and bombs. In a sense, our lives are like a dash across that open field so full of peril. There are trials to endure, temptations to avoid, and even a roaring lion stalking about. (Interestingly, in verse 13, we are told that we will tread upon and trample underfoot the lion. How cool is that little tidbit?) But we can walk through it all with a head held high and a confident stride. We have no doubt about getting safely to the other side. We know that despite the dangers, it will not come near to us who have known the name of the LORD.

Even when the fighting is fierce, when the shrapnel is flying and bullets seem to be grazing our ears, we have the shield of God's truth. We know truth! We do not need to be vulnerable to lies about God, that He doesn't love us, that He won't take care of us, that He will let us slip away from Him in the heat of battle. No, the truth is that we are tucked up under the downy feathers of His all-powerful wing. (verse 4)

Psalm 91:2

"I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.""

Weeping at His feet

Luke 7: 37-38

"And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil."

This passage is amazing in several ways. But before I get into that, let me help you to picture this scene a little better. Jesus has been invited to dine at the home of a Pharisee. Yes, that would mean that his host belongs to the group of people that Jesus at one point compared to whitewashed graves, beautiful and clean on the outside, but full of filth and death on the inside (Matthew 23:27--its a pretty brutal description, nothing sweet or nice about it at all.) It was the custom of the day that people be allowed to enter the home and watch a meal like this take place. But this woman who came to see Jesus would not have been welcomed into such polite company AT ALL. She is described as a sinner, and it is pretty safe to assume that she was a prostitute. No righteous man would have had anything to do with her, even to touch her would have been a disgrace.

The guests would have been reclining on couches, so you can picture how she could be standing behind Him and weeping at His feet, and wiping His feet with her hair, kissing them and then anointing them with oil.

Let's take a look at her for a moment, I want you to really try to imagine this encounter. Imagine the guts it would have taken for her to enter a house where she KNEW nobody wanted her. The host apparently knows what kind of woman she is, because as he is witnessing her weeping, he thinks that Jesus must be a fraud to let her touch Him. The Pharisee reasons that if Jesus were aware that she was a prostitute, He would never let the woman touch Him, and because He is allowing her to touch Him, He must be ignorant of her circumstances and thus a fraud. Don't think for a moment that the Pharisee and the other guests would have felt compelled to hide their disgust at her presence. I'm sure there were plenty of meaningful looks and rude comments spoken just loud enough for her to overhear.

Not only does she ignore the fact that she is unwelcome, she goes right up to the table and stands behind Jesus, weeping, wiping His feet with her hair, and anointing His feet with a very expensive fragrant oil. Talk about making a spectacle of yourself! There is nothing subtle about this encounter at all. This woman was obviously overcome with powerful emotion. The Greek word used to describe her kissing Jesus feet is kataphileo, it means to "kiss earnestly." This was no polite peck or two, this was a passionate display. She wept so openly and so hard that she had to use her hair to dry off His feet for goodness sake! This wasn't a stray tear that she could pretend wasn't there by discreetly rubbing her eye! (Come on, you know you've done it.)

Think about that fragrant oil for a moment. It would have been a very rare, and very expensive oil. Even the alabaster jar that held the oil would have been luxurious and costly. So how do you suppose this woman paid for such expensive oil? Imagine for a moment what she had to do to earn the money that bought it. Remember, she is a prostitute. Do you think that Jesus was unaware of what she had done to pay for this oil? No way. He was acutely aware of every humiliation, every dashed expectation, every cruel rebuke, every haughty glare, every snide remark, every dismissive gesture, ever degradation, every shameful and disgusting experience this woman had ever encountered. And He let her weep at His feet, and pour out her anguish and shame with her tears. Can you imagine? Right on the feet of Jesus, the Holy of Holies, the High Priest, the Perfect Lamb. What a moment that must have been for her. What a moment it would be for any of us.

Why was this woman so moved? Because she got it. She saw who Jesus was, she realized what his love and approval meant for her, and nothing else in all the world mattered. I don't think anything could have kept her away. There is more to this encounter between Jesus, the Pharisee and the sinful woman that I haven't even covered. I encourage you to look it up and read it for yourself. But right now, I just want you to think about one thing. Do you have the guts she did? Are you willing to risk the disapproval of those around you in order to "weep at Jesus feet?"

I'm not trying to make you feel guilty here, I actually think guilt is a cheap and ineffective tactic that is way overused--the whole making Christians feel guilty for not being better Christians bit. Rather, I want you to consider this: Jesus tells the Pharisee that the reason this woman loves Him so much is because she has been forgiven so much. In other words, she is aware of how vast her sin is, and she is in awe that it has been forgiven. So here's the question for all of us--Do we realize how vast our sin is? Are we in awe that it has been forgiven?

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This is a postscript--My husband wanted me to be sure and emphasize that we SUSPECT this woman was a prostitute. We don't know that with 100% certainty. But according to the footnotes in my Bible, and the fact that a prostitute would have been referred to as a "sinner," I think it is a pretty safe assumption. But, just in case, I don't want to mislead anyone!

Heavy Stuff

I've had a question running around in my head for well over a year now. It's one of those things that I think about from time to time, but I don't have a good answer for, so eventually I just give up and think about something else. I always figured that I would eventually run across a scripture that would clarify it for me. Well, I did find a scripture that clarified things, some, but it still makes my head hurt to think about it too long.

Here is the question--Does God use our sin to accomplish His plan? The question seems deceptively simple, but it isn't a simple idea at all!

First, consider that God is sovereign, completely sovereign. There is nothing that happens which God does not allow. To accept this idea, you have to accept that God allows sin. But why in the world would God allow sin if He is holy? Well, the answer is that somehow it all works together for the glory of God. That is the correct answer anyway, but it still leaves me wondering sometimes. This is a great example of a question that I don't think humanity has the ability to understand. What I mean is, not only could we fail to understand the entire answer, if we had access to it, but I don't even think we can understand the question well enough to really ask it. Try not to think about that last sentence too long. I guarantee you will get a headache.

So, back to my original question, does God use our sin to accomplish His plan? I think, tentatively, that I must answer with a "Yes!"

I found my answer in the book of Judges. Now, if you have not read the book of Judges recently, I highly recommend it. I've had my heart broken several times in the past week reading the book of Judges. Not boring at all.

Let me set this up for you. Samson is regarded as one of the greatest judges of Israel. For more on him, consult your Bible, I can't even begin to tell his whole story here. (By the way, I always thought that the judges of Israel were, like, judges. But no, they were warriors, not men who wore long robes and handed down legal opinions--one of those facts I don't remember hearing about in Sunday School!)

So, being the great judge, you would expect that he led a pretty upstanding and moral life. Well, you would be expecting wrong. One of the first instances we hear about regarding Samson is that he sought to marry a Philistine. Yes, that is right, a foreign woman who worshiped idols. Specifically, the god Dagon. Marrying foreign women was explicitly against God's expressed law.

But, nonetheless, Samson had taken a fancy to a Philistine woman, and he determined to marry her. He went to his parents (who by all accounts seemed to be righteous people) and asked that they obtain this Philistine woman as a wife for him. His parents try to talk him out of it.

OK, now here is the verse that blew me out of the water:

Judges 14:4

"But his mother and father did not know that it was of the LORD--that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines."

Well, put that in your pipe and smoke on it for a minute. Did I read that right? God was using Samson's sinful and wrong desire to marry a foreign wife to accomplish His plan? The implications of that are mind-numbing. What does that mean for you and me and our sin?

I'm not sure I can fully answer that question. What I can say is this--God is holy, and God is sovereign. If those two things don't seem to go together to you, join the club. I can't wrap my mind around it either. But, I do believe both things. I hope to someday understand fully, but I don't have any expectation of it happening in this lifetime.

Ephesians 1:11

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,"


The italics added is mine, for emphasis. He works all things according to the counsel of His will. I believe that even includes my sin, and yours too. But as a caution, consider Romans 6:1

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!"

Oh, this post is already too long. I think a whole book could be written about this topic, and probably several already have. But in a nutshell what does all of this mean? Here is my opinion. (Note the word opinion, by the way)

God is gracious to allow even our sins to become part of His ultimate design. The only reason this can happen is because God Himself, as Jesus, paid for the burden of our sin. Otherwise, we would all be doomed. On a personal level, this means that my sins--even the really big, ugly ones, have some greater good that can come out of them. Now, how is that for a gracious God? Pretty gracious if you ask me.

Psalm 103:8

"The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy."

Psalm 23

Psalm 23:4

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me"

This is a good example of a verse that most Christians, and many non-Christians are very familiar with. Kind of like John 3:16. If someone said to you, "Yea, though I walk..." You could probably finish the rest of that sentence automatically.

I get several email devotionals, and one of them spent a whole week focusing on the 23 Psalm. So naturally, I spent some time thinking about the meaning of the words in Psalm 23. Specifically, I was intrigued by the idea of a "rod" and a "staff" bringing comfort. What does that really mean?

The analogy of a staff bringing comfort made immediate sense, I can easily picture the staff as a tool that guides sheep, directing them to safety, away from danger, and thus "comforting" them. But the rod struck me as an odd tool for bringing comfort. I have always associated the rod with discipline and rebuke, not with comfort. So I decided to look up the original Hebrew and see if I could shed some light on this all too familiar verse.

Here is what I discovered.

The Hebrew word for rod used here is shebet. It can mean several things including a stick, for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc... It can also figuratively mean a clan. This word shebet is used in Proverbs 13:24:

"Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him."

I found that very interesting. Is it the discipline of the LORD that David finds comforting? That puts a different twist on things, doesn't it?

Moving on to the word "staff", I found the original Hebrew word mishenah. It means support, or sustenance. That makes sense. The support of the LORD is comforting to David.

But what does the word "comfort" really mean? This, to me, was the most interesting find of all. It left me with a few more questions than answers.

Before I say any more, let me give you this disclaimer. I don't know anything about Bible translation. I don't know how the people who translated Psalms from Hebrew to English chose which meaning to assign to each word. But now that I have started looking into the original language, I find the topic fascinating. I'll have to find someone who knows something about it and pick his or her brain.

OK, that being said, let me continue. The Hebrew word for comfort is nacham. Some of its meanings include to sigh, breathe strongly, by implication to be sorry, to pity, to console, avenge, comfort, repent. There is our word "comfort," way down there on the list of potential meanings.

But I found a lot of verses in the Old Testament that used the word nacham in a totally different way. Here is one of them:

Genesis 6:6

"And the LORD was sorry that he had made man of the earth, and it grieved him to his heart."

There the word nacham is used in one of it's more common translations "to be sorry" or "repent."

Wow, doesn't that idea mix things up for Psalm 23? Read the verse this way and see what you think:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; Your discipline and your support, they cause me to repent.

I personally think that repenting and comfort work very well together. After all, God promises to forgive us when we repent and confess. That comforts me a great deal. Because no matter what I do, I know there will never be a time in this life when I will be without sin. It's just part of living in this present flesh.

And I know from experience that sometimes the most effective way to bring repentance is with a little application of discipline. In fact, I may go so far as to say that sometimes that is the only way to bring repentance. Read the book of Judges sometime. It is pitifully clear that the rod of discipline was the only way God could keep the wayward Israelites from committing all sorts of atrocities.

But, because God is merciful and gracious, He promises to always include the staff of His comfort in the mix. The perfect combination: discipline and support. Sounds a lot like a loving Father to me.

I don't think I will ever read the 23 Psalm quite the same way again.

A little sin...

Job 37:10

"By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast."

About four days ago, as I was sitting in my kitchen, quietly reading my Bible, before the whole house was awake, I noticed that my refrigerator was making a strange, tinny sounding noise. "Strange noise," I thought. Then I ignored it. This went on for about 3 days.

Then Friday, I took what should have been a frozen waffle out of the freezer. Problem was, the waffle was not frozen. It was kind of soft. "Hmm, maybe this is related to that strange noise I have been hearing." I decided to call in an appliance repairman immediately. He showed up at about 4:15 p.m. This is on Friday, remember.

He walked straight into my kitchen, pulled my fridge away from the wall, tinkered around for a pair of minutes (as Beth Moore would say), and pronounced that my compressor was broken and my refrigerator and freezer were worthless, and in fact had not been working properly since the first time I heard that strange noise. This was not a good moment for me.

There was, however, some good news. My fridge was still under warranty (being only 3 years old). The parts and labor would be completely covered under the standard warranty. Bad news? Oh yes. The broken part would need to be ordered, and would take 3-4 days to arrive, and they couldn't order it until Monday. It took me a while to realize what that would mean.

"Oh, that means I have no refrigerator or freezer all weekend? And probably until Thursday of next week? Umm, what am I supposed to do?"

This was apparently not the problem of the appliance guy. He was ready to go and enjoy the weekend.

At first, I thought things would be relatively fine. We have a mini-fridge in our wet bar. I emptied all of the bottles (I'll let you guess what those contained!) out of the mini-fridge and managed to salvage the milk, eggs, butter, lunch meat, cheese, juice, mayo, and cream (gotta have that for coffee). That was all that would fit. My husband brought home some bags of ice, and we stuffed them in the fridge and freezer and hoped that would keep things cool enough. I did do one smart thing, and took all of my chicken and put it in my deep freezer outside.


This morning I realized that the ice-stuffing had been pointless. There was a puddle of water in front of the fridge and condensation all over all of the things left in the fridge. So, facing reality, I got out the garbage bags, and to make a story that is already too long just a little bit shorter, I cleaned that baby out. Four trash bags worth.

Then, I took a good look at what the inside of my refrigerator and freezer looked like when emptied. It was horrible. I will spare you the details. Suffice it to say that I spent a majority of what was a beautiful day, up to my elbows in a sink full of bleach. I never realized how many parts could be taken out of a fridge to be cleaned. All of you women who do this on a regular basis, well, good for you. I don't.

As I was scrubbing mystery goo off the bottom of the freezer, I started thinking that I was going to find a way to turn this into a good spiritual illustration. I may have to stretch to make it work, but I was going to turn this into a good blog post. So, here is my best attempt....

Galatians 5:9

"A little leaven leavens the whole lump."

You know, if I had paid attention to that first tinny sound the fridge was making, I could have spared myself a whole heap of trouble. Chances are, the part would have arrived on Friday, and I would now be enjoying properly cooled food items. Sin is like that, too. We always get a warning sign when there is a problem. Even if it is just a little prick of the conscience. Sometimes it is much more than a little prick, it is more like alarm bells and red flags competing for attention.

At the point of first being aware of the sin, the smart thing to do is take care of the problem immediately. Before it "leavens the lump" and starts causing all kinds of scary things. Just take your pick of sins: romantic thoughts about that guy you dated before you got married, hateful feelings towards that neighbor who lets her dog bark at all hours, gossiping about that woman in church whose children are always out of control, not paying for your Bible Study book because it's done on an honor system, I could go on, but I hope you get the idea. They all start small, but left unchecked and unresolved, could lead you straight into disaster. And you should have at least a prick of conscience if you are doing any them.

But, say you see the problem and choose to ignore it. This is a bad idea. That strange noise my fridge was making should have been enough to make me call the appliance guy. But I chose to ignore it. Really, I did. It was a conscious choice. And by choosing to look the other way and let the noise go on, I ended up with stinky shrimp and slimy goo. The same thing can happen to our hearts and minds. Even our actions. And instead of handling a relatively small sin, with few, if any, consequences, we could be left having to break out the bleach bucket and do some serious work. I would rather deal with small problems, wouldn't you?

1 John 1:9

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Acts 3:19-20

"Repent, therefore, and turn again,that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,"


(Now, go back and read the verse at the top of this post. And smile with me!)

One of my friends who read this post told me that she was a little unclear as to why I had to bleach my entire refrigerator. So, in case any of the rest of you have the same question, I thought I would elaborate. There are two reasons I had to bleach everything. First, my refrigerator had not been cooling, AT ALL, for the entire three days that it was making the noise. I guess there was enough cool air, and ambient chill to keep things from being obviously not refrigerated, but by the time I noticed the problem, defrosting, dripping and oozing had already been happening. Second, and probably more importantly, I had not given my fridge a thorough scrubbing in the entire three years I owned it. Now, you know all my dirty little secrets. I don't clean my fridge on a regular basis!