Tag: Pondering our Christianity

Pondering my Christianity! When I am “Called to Account.” When I “know” that only One Whopper of an Excuse will get ME through a Crisis. Exodus 32

Exodus 32:1-5Amplified Bible

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a [a]god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten [b]calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord!”

Exodus 32:21-24Amplified Bible

21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So, they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Accountability is absolutely essential for any society to function, and Christian accountability is no different. We are all held accountable in one way or another.

For example, there are laws to obey and if we fail to be obedient, we may have to be called to account and suffer the consequences set by the officials who hold us accountable. One’s accountability is simply being responsible for one’s actions.

Pathological excuse making (lying) is not a clinical diagnosis, though it can sometimes be a very definitive symptom of many other underlying issues.

Some people get so accustomed to lying they do so even when there is no clear purpose, and when their lies are easily disproven, leaves everyone scratching their heads over the point of their efforts at so easily creating the deceptions.

Over the years, I’ve experienced a large number of these people — and I have gained some insight into the ways they initially think, react and they speak.

Believe it or not, their rationales and reactions make some “obvious” sense, when you look at it through their eyes and listen to them try to explain them.

Here are some of the reasons behind their ‘rational’ reactionary excuse making.

1. The lie does matter to them. The number one reason people make excuses when it just doesn’t matter is because they actually do think it does matter.

While everyone around them thinks it’s an inconsequential issue, the liar believes it is critically important. They may be putting undeserved emphasis or pressure on themselves, or on the issue, but you won’t know unless you ask something like, “It seems like this issue is really important to you — why?”

2. Telling the truth feels like giving up control.

Often, people tell make excuses because they are trying to control a situation and exert influence toward getting the decisions or reactions they want. The truth can be “inconvenient” because it might not conform to their narrative.

3. They make their excuses because they don’t want to disappoint or harm you.

It may not feel like it to you, but people who tell one excuse after the other are often worried about their losing the respect of those around them. They want you to like them, be impressed, believe and value them. And they’re worried that the truth might lead you to rejecting or shaming them.

4. Lies lead to more lies.

I am sure we all saw the movie Pinocchio where his nose grew every time he lied. We tell a little bitty lie, but then to cover that lie, we have to tell another one, then another, and another — each gets bigger and bigger.

Finally, we’re arguing about senseless points because to admit anything correct creates the real (but unwanted) potential of the entire house of cards tumbling.

If a chronic liar admits to any single lie, they feel like they’re admitting to being a liar, and then you’ll have reason to distrust them and just cast them aside.

5. it’s not a lie to them.

When under pressure, our thinking about the big picture can be challenged.

Our memory of things is actually quite unreliable.

Our memories are influenced by many things, that they change over time, and that they are essentially reconstructed each time we think about them.

Often, repetitive liars feel so much pressure in the moment that their memory becomes simply unreliable. When they say something, it’s often because they genuinely believe, at that moment, that it is the truth.

Their memory has been overwhelmed by stress, current events, and their desire to find a way, find any way, to make this particularly stressful situation work.

Sometimes, this can become so severe that the person almost seems to have created, generated and then fully manifested, a complete alternate world in their head, one that conforms to their moment-by-moment beliefs and needs.

6. They desperately need and want it to be true.

Finally, the excuse maker might want their excuse to be true so badly that their desire and needs again compel and overwhelm their instinct to tell the truth.

Sometimes, excuse makers hope that they can make something come true by “sheer will” saying it over and over, and by believing it as hard as they can.

In today’s environment of “alternative facts and weaponized narratives,” it’s hard particularly hard not to see this as somewhat justified.

Please remember this – People, by and large, are accountable, honest by default.

Most people tell the truth most of the time.

Our very capacity for language is built on an assumption of honesty — we agree the words we use mean the very same thing consistently, and we do not seek to deliberately use words deceptively because this would render language and the very communication of ideas would become “weaponized” and implausible.

Some people lie more than others, but even frequent liars are actually honest most of the time. But it stands out dramatically when their deceptions are so blatant, so easily disproven, and seemingly implausible and unimportant.

As frustrating as it is when people tell whoppers, we can begin to understand the motivations behind them.

Asking the person, “Why is this situation so important to you?” or,

“Why do you need me to see this the same way you do?” can be a useful, non-threatening way to get at the foundations of stress and desperation that often underlie deceptions.

Don’t ask, “Why are you lying?”

We need to remember that the person is often motivated by not being seen as a liar, and this question paints them into a corner they are going to fight against.

Of course, understanding a “Whopper of an Excuse” makers motivations and having empathy in such situations is valuable.

But to function effectively in the real world, we also need people to learn to be more honest and accountable to their actions and ever apparent dishonesty.

Communicating empathy for a person’s desperation can be a valuable tool to give them permission to tell the truth.

And then, recognizing and reinforcing when a person does tell the truth is a powerful way to get more truth-telling. It shows people that the truth is not actually scary, and that the world won’t end when the real truth comes out.

Exodus 32:21-24Amplified Bible

21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So, they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

Today we are going to learn how Moses’ brother Aaron when confronted for making a molten calf communicates to Moses that “Whopper of an Excuse.”

Let’s jump into today’s scripture to find out all the details.

We have in this chapter an interesting contrast between man’s way of worship and God’s way of worship.

Moses was in the Mount receiving from God careful instruction as to how future worship was to be conducted.

Its aim was in order to prevent any misconception of God.

But here at ground level, the people, assisted by Aaron, worked out their own way of worshipping God.

A way that could only have led them back into idolatry and rejection of all that was good and right in what the only living true God Yahweh had given them.

The chapter begins with the people being fearful of what has happened to Moses and rebelling against Yahweh.

Moses was in the Mount for forty days and forty nights receiving his written instructions from Father God Yahweh.

The people waiting in the plain below became restless, uneasy to worship.

They had somewhat fearfully seen him ascend and disappear into the cloud and then they had waited and waited, and he had not returned.

After that a whole moon period had passed and he had still not returned.

They knew personally the fearful nature of this God Who was in the Mountain and the warning of what would happen to any who approached the Mountain (Exodus chapter 32 verses 19.21).

Thus, they began to feel certain that they would not see Moses anymore.

By now they were most likely not sure whether they wanted to have anything more to do with this terrible God Who revealed Himself in the way that He had and had made such terrible threats against their lives if they dare approached.

They had agreed a covenant with Him out of a combination of gratitude and fear, but now they were not so sure that that was what they wanted.

They preferred gods with whom they could be more familiar, like the gods they had known in Egypt whom others worshipped.

Exodus 32:1 Amplified

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a [a]god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

It is understandable that the people would become alarmed.

In their minds, their very nerves had reached a breaking point at some of the revelations from the mountain. And Moses had now been gone for a long time.

Yes, the God Yahweh had delivered them, but they decided they wanted nothing to do with this God of the mountains whom unseen and who frightened them.

Does this “worship” sound like something straight out of our 21st century?

Worshipping a “God who was threatening and punitive versus all about “love?”

If one feels they have to choose between an always “threatening” and an always “punitive” versus an always “loving” and always “empathetic” God, which pew do you believe people will feel more compelled towards ‘visibly’ worshipping?

Rather would the Israelites like to approach Yahweh through the kind of images they were familiar with in Egypt, awe inspiring, but without causing trouble?

They wanted a god which was created by human hands to human standards and made to their socio-cultural, their own working socio-economic requirements.

As you know up to this point it was Yahweh Who had gone before them in the pillar of cloud and fire.

But that pillar had disappeared onto the mountain along with Moses.

Now they wanted visible representations of Yahweh instead, so that He could go before them in a way that was controllable.

They wanted Yahweh’s power on their behalf, they wanted to feel comfortable with Him.

They had had enough of this fierce God of the mountains, who fortunately for them and their personal security and physical safety, seemed to remain in the Mountain. They wanted to be on their way, and quickly, so that they could get away from Him. Thus, they demanded of Aaron to make their man-made God.

Now to see this in 2022, in a way, you have to consider the pressure on Aaron.

The people gathered together and sought him out. They were in an ugly mood and Aaron felt threatened. – Does this sound .1% familiar to our 2022 church?

Their confrontation with Aaron was a serious mixture of contempt and anger.

And here is where all the vitriolic excuses start flying in every which direction.

…. “After all he and Moses were the ones who “brought all this upon them.””

But their resentment is loud and clear, filled with high potential for violence.

No sympathy with Moses, only enmity.

Yes, he had delivered them from Egypt, but what had happened to him now?

He had trusted this mountain God, who surely was not the Yahweh Who had delivered them out of Egypt.

And look what good it had done him.

Where was he?

He had disappeared and they did not know where he was.

Indeed, in their minds he was most probably dead – never to be seen again.

And he deserved it. What they wanted was immediate help and assurance from someone they knew and relied on, and to return to the old compromising ways.

32:2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

It is clear from this that both men (‘your sons’) and women in Israel wore earrings.

And Genesis 35.4, where their earrings are closely connected to their false gods and have to be disposed of, makes clear these had strong religious significance.

They were thus very suitable for the making of ‘their standardized gods’ and would automatically give maximum credence to all the gods which were made.

32:3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

The people responded willingly.

This demonstrates how concerned they were and how urgently they felt the need to escape. After the extraordinary events of a month previously they felt a religious need, and that they had been deserted, and so they were willing to offer their valuables if it meant that they could have a god whom they could see.

32:4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

Aaron received the earrings from them, melted them down and fashioned a golden calf.

Notice how specific this is.

Later he will make the excuse that it just somehow happened.

Please take note that it is never described as ‘the golden calf’. It is a ‘molted calf’.

One fashioned and shaped.

The use of ‘calf’ rather than ‘bull’ is probably deliberate in order to put it in proper perspective. Before God this great bull was but an infant.

The significance of this raises complicated questions which are linked to today.

We demand immediate results from our politicians when we feel we are being threatened by highly stressful, “catastrophic events” and as radical changes are being “thrust” into our psyche’s, we react highly emotionally, highly irrational.

We want our “ordered way” – the way we ourselves believe we should have our lives ordered – according to our biblical view versus our worldview standards.

We highly demand of our ‘leadership” a suitable way that immediately moves us forward toward the future where we alone believe our God wants us to go.

No other way is acceptable to us. No other view of the future becomes tolerable.

It is no bother whatsoever to us to leave “Moses” behind – on the Mountain top.

Along the way, we leave YAHWEH behind to – “deal with a dead, dying Moses.”

“Find us our ‘Aaron!’ We will gladly turn over our ‘riches’ to fashion our “God!”

“We’ll gladly “worship” the “God” which is fashioned by Aaron’s great skills!”

“Moses had his chance, clearly he was never truly strong enough for the task!”

“YAHWEH had His chance too – but, seriously folks, He was just too harsh, too judgmental, much too threatening to our physical and spiritual well-beings!”

So, we the Christians of these times of crisis and seasons of great adversity of this, the 21st century we must minister and unto, fashion our “Golden Calves!”

“Our Golden Calves” according to our “worshipful” standards of our ‘future’ in our living, our moving, ministering to our neighbors in “God’s neighborhood.”

Our 2022 “Christian” response to the enormous spiritual pressure Aaron felt?

We fervently hope, we thrice fervently pray our YAHWEH sees “it our way!”

We fervently hope, we thrice fervently pray YAHWEH won’t get ‘too mad’?

Our “”Way?” – through our “we versus them” uncompromisingly divided eyes?

1 Corinthians 1:10-15Amplified Bible

10 But I urge you, believers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in full agreement in what you say, and that there be no divisions or factions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your way of thinking and in your judgment [about matters of the faith]. 11 For I have been informed about you, my brothers and sisters, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels and factions among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I am [a disciple] of Paul,” or “I am [a disciple] of Apollos,” or “I am [a disciple] of Cephas (Peter),” or “I am [a disciple] of Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided [into different parts]? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? [Certainly not!] 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,15 so that no one would say that you were baptized into my name.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9Amplified Bible

Foundations for Living

3 However, brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as to spiritual people, but [only] as to [a]worldly people [dominated by human nature], mere infants [in the new life] in Christ! 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Even now you are still not ready. 3 You are still [b]worldly [controlled by ordinary impulses, the sinful capacity]. For as long as there is jealousy and strife and discord among you, are you not [c]unspiritual, and are you not walking like ordinary men [unchanged by faith]? 4 For when one of you says, “I am [a disciple] of Paul,” and another, “I am [a disciple] of Apollos,” are you not [proving yourselves unchanged, just] ordinary people?

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Just servants through whom you believed [in Christ], even as the Lord appointed to each his task. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was causing the growth. 7 So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth. 8 He who plants, and he who waters are one [in importance and esteem, working toward the same purpose]; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers [His servants working together]; you are God’s cultivated field [His garden, His vineyard], God’s building.

Struggling mightily and vitriolically against the constant prodding of the Holy Spirit to remember a central tenet of our living, moving and being, ministering to our “neighbors” for the sake of God’s Kingdom in God’s own neighborhood:

By Jesus’ own Words spoken to us – as He confronted His own eternal destiny:

John 10:11-18Amplified Bible

11 [a]I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd [b]lays down His [own] life for the sheep. 12 But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. 13  the man runs because he is a hired hand [who serves only for wages] and is not concerned about the [safety of the] sheep. 14 I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]— 15 even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father—and I lay down My [very own] life [sacrificing it] for the benefit of the sheep. 16 I have [c]other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they will listen to My voice and pay attention to My call, and they will become [d]one flock with one Shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life so that I may take it back. 18 No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down voluntarily. I am authorized and have power to lay it down and to give it up, and I am authorized and have power to take it back. This command I have received from My Father.”

We have “our ways” and YAHWEH has His and Moses and Aaron are long dead.

The Apostle Paul is also long since dead as are all of the Apostles ….

But JESUS IS 100% STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE AND SITTING WITH HIS FATHER!

So, what about pondering our accountability to God & 21st Century Christianity?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us dare to Pray,

God of all truth, Author of all Wisdom, Author of my Life, sometimes I not so sure if I’m actually hearing your voice, or if it’s just my own thoughts or even another spirit. Please Sharpen my spiritual hearing, Lord, so I can recognize your words when you are speaking to me. Help me know it’s really you, with no doubt or second-guessing. When I’m asking for your guidance in important decisions, give me your peace that surpasses understanding with your answer. Help me remember that your words to me will never go against your written word in the Bible. Give me a clear mind and push out all my confusion. Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Pondering our Christianity? Excuses! Excuses! All My Excuses! Genesis 3:8-13

A friend of mine told me her son just could not take any tests. He excels in his classwork, but when it comes to test-taking, his mind goes blank, and he fails.

That was the reason he failed his classes. That was the reason he would do so poorly in his academic classes. As hard as he tried, he could not take any tests.

Discouraged, he moved from one menial job after another until he latched onto a mechanic friend of his who took him under his tutelage for several long years.

He never became a success as he had always hoped he would be. He always seemed to fall short of where he knew he could be and indeed, should be. It always became for him a long litany of one “same old” excuse after another

His mom told me he never developed the self-confidence or self-esteem. It discouraged her enormously because she knew her son could always be more.

Somewhere along the line, her son decided to believe this lie. Over the years, defeat became etched into his mind like a river carves itself through a mountain base. Deeper and deeper, it flows. Then it became a Bonafide reality gripping itself to his leg like a ball and chain, and eventually, become an excuse to fail.

Excuses in our lives give us permission to settle for less than God’s best and justify our shortcomings. We blame something or someone else for our less-than-stellar lot in life. It is never our fault. Sadly, we brand our insecurities.

We declare this is how it always is and always must be for us, for our families.

We inhale the status quo and exhale the mundane.

Most failures come from a history of old excuses and a lack of perseverance.

Closed doors don’t always mean NO. Most of the time they mean that God has a bigger and better door. No more excuses! Move forward and keep knocking.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7 ESV)

Do we get so fully and completely immersed inside our past we can’t see hope staring at us through the dirty windows of our own self-appointed limitations?

We construct imaginary walls with bricks labeled “excuses,” confine ourselves.

We can get so stuck in the rut of excuses we even make excuses for our excuses.

Genesis 3:8-13Amplified Bible

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool [afternoon breeze] of the day, so the man and his wife hid and kept themselves hidden from the [a]presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to Adam, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid myself.” 11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten [fruit] from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  12 And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Lord God called out to Adam – “Where are You?”

Adam’s response: 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid myself.”

When Mom and Dad called out to me and asked; “Where am I? ….”

When my Mom or Dad asked me that question of me, if I said anything at all except; “Here I am, I am right here.” I got into enormous trouble because they expected me to account for myself exactly in that moment – out of my respect.

By Adam’s response, God could easily discern something was seriously amiss.

Verse 10: Bibles very first excuse – Adam’s excuse for not being accountable.

The Lord God pushed the conversation:

verse 11: 11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten [fruit] from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Adam’s response – verse 12: 12 And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it.”

The Bibles second excuse: “Blame the Woman whom YOU gave to be with me.”

Can we sense a raising crescendo here on the Lord God’s part?

The Lord God turned His attention to Eve, pushed her for truth in the matter.

Verse 13a: Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”

Eve responds with the Bibles third excuse –

Verse 13b: And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].”

Eve responds not with words of “accountability and responsibility” but with ….

Her Excuse – “the devil made me do it.” ergo, God, “Blame the Other Guy!”

Do we think or believe or maybe actually know the Lord God had heard enough from both of them in that moment?

Do we think or believe or maybe actually know the Lord God had heard enough dishonesty and disrespect for those brief moments the conversation took place?

As we read these passages for ourselves, and try to insert our own rationales for why those very first words from the mouths of Adam and Eve were “excuses?”

Are we now rationalizing with our own 21st century vernacular – saying -?

“Oh, they did not know any better? How could they have known better?”

“Oh, being unaware or unknowledgeable of the truth ….” “Expectations …?”

“Oh, never having been introduced to what honesty and integrity were …?”

“Oh. never having been taught the difference between telling a lie or the truth?

“Oh, being inexperienced in telling the truth ….”

“Oh, they were just young and immature and naive.”

“Oh, just give them a chance … they will learn, they will do better next time?”

And whatever other rationale(s) we can derive from our own “Life’s efforts ….

“It is not, it was not, it never will be my fault because …. someone else failed.

Ergo, blame the devil – “the devil made me do it.”

Ergo – blame God for being the bad parent – not teaching His Children.

Excuses! Excuses! Excuses!

We make excuses because we do not want to take on responsibilities or face consequences. Similarly, afraid of punishment, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve in quick response then blamed the serpent after they disobeyed God’s command.

What are our excuses?

Are they the same or different or more naive or more simple or complex?

What has God NOT heard us say when he “asked” us: “Where are you?”

Do we think or believe or rationalize our relationship with God might change, but then again, it may not or even won’t because we have confessed Christ as our personal Savior and therefore, we will automatically be forgiven 100%?

Our accountability to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit ends when we make our most sincere, most heartfelt confessions of faith to God? (Romans 10:9-13)

We now have all the rationale we need to “take the grace of God for granted?”

Personal accountability to God therefore becomes immaterial and irrelevant?

Do not our Honesty, Integrity, Personal Accountability come naturally to us?

For Adam, Eve, by excusing, their relationship with God changed completely.

The formerly close relationship of walking with God changed into one of hiding and deceiving then to divine punishment for all (Genesis 3:14-19, Isaiah 59:2).

Whether dealing with God or with people, the best and only way to live is to come clean, not hide behind excuses, no matter how carefully crafted they are.

Excuses don’t fool anyone.

Excuses do not fool God, our Creator!

Excuses do not fool Jesus our Savior!

Excuses do not fool God the Holy Spirit, our Guide, our Guardian, our Teacher.

Will you, or I ask our God for a session or two of personal accountability today?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

If our “Christianity” is all about true and genuine Accountability to God,

Let us Pray,

My Savior Jesus, Giver of peace, I so easily get distracted when I’m trying to focus and hear your Holy Spirit. Help me quiet my mind in the middle of my busy life. Help me to pause and to make space to listen to the most important voice of all. Empower me to be a good listener to the gentle whispers of your Spirit. Help me follow the example of Jesus, who would slip away in the evening or the early morning to be alone with you. Teach me to abide in you. Amen.

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Weaponized Narratives. Romans 3:5-8

An old proverb states that truth is the best advertising, propaganda and public relations tool.

Fact-supported truth is a powerful narrative.

Unfortunately, the truth can be hidden, ignored, obscured or inundated by error, creating what is identified as a weaponized narrative.

The concept of a narrative has become increasingly popular in contemporary society.

One American President popularized the idea of the narrative in political and social discussions. 

This concept of “the narrative” has been trumpeted by talk-show hosts and politicians of various stripes during the past decade.

Promoting the idea of a narrative implies manipulation of perception to ensure a particular outcome during any debate between proponents of opposing views.

Narratives as currently employed have a tangential relationship to truth, at the best.

Increasingly, the idea of a narrative is being weaponized in contemporary society.

I suppose this movement to weaponize the narrative was inevitable since the concept has been aggressively promoted by the media in support of favored political views.

Narrative warfare embraces more than Public Relations and propaganda campaigns.

Narrative warfare employs “weaponized narratives” which are spun from “highly selective truth,” outright lies, false accusations, distorted and altered quotations, emotional appeals, sensational outrage, fear mongering, blame-shifting, intimidating threats, victim posturing, virtue signaling and fabricated imagery. These are all facets of contemporary argument.

Indeed, these disruptive and often destructive techniques have been in the human political and psychological warfare tool kit since our first parents first appeared in the Garden of Eden.

Tragically, modern mass media and digital communications can quickly and pervasively spread the weaponized narrative, often without challenge.

Emotional arguments tend to overwhelm logic and reason.

Narrative warfare advocates argue that a powerful psychological weapon is capable of many things, including influencing national and international opinion. Worse still, weaponized narratives are employed among the faithful.

The inevitable result is devastating to the Faith.

When I speak of weaponized narratives, I am speaking of the creation and employment of a narrative driving the activity of those who hear the narrative.

Among the faithful, we witness an increasing appeal to narratives rather than the truth.

The narratives sound reasonable, though they are false; they have the ring of truthiness, though they lack either evidence or logic.

Ofttimes, the narratives have the ring of veracity, though they do not tell the whole story; they are partial truths.

Remember, a half-truth is a total lie.

That is what makes them so dangerous!

The unwary are susceptible to succumbing to the error promoted by these false narratives.

Romans 3:5-8Amplified Bible

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God is not wrong to inflict His wrath [on us], is He? (I am speaking in purely human terms.) 6 Certainly not! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But [as you might say] if through my lie God’s truth was magnified and abounded to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, (as some slanderously report and claim that we teach) “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? Their condemnation [by God] is just.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The devotional message I am bringing today is intended to challenge us to think Christianly.

I want us to give some consideration of the narratives which are mistakenly treated as valid in the realm of the Faith.

I am challenging each of us to weigh what is promoted through such narratives in light of what is revealed in the Word of God.

I am asking and indeed, challenging, God’s people to lay a foundation for solid Christian service that equips us for honorable and truthful service to the cause of Christ the Lord, the Son of God. I do want to encourage believers to think, to act with discretion, and then to serve as God would have His people serve.

NARRATIVES THAT MARGINALISE REVEALED TRUTH —

“If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way)” [Romans 3:5].

The Apostle Paul has presented a solemn truth.

We are unrighteous.

However, our unrighteousness reveals the righteousness of God.

If we are recognizing our condition, it means there is a standard by which we ourselves are able to gauge our actions. If there is a standard, and we recognise that standard, we are accountable to the One who judges by that standard.

Breaking this down, the particular point the Apostle makes in this verse is sobering for anyone who actually grapples with the thought we must give an accounting to the One who is qualified by His inherent righteousness to judge.

It means there is a judgement.

It means that we are held to a standard outside of our own condition.

It means that judgement is pending for all mankind.

Thus, it should not be surprising that almost all the narratives constructed for millennia revolves around our vain attempt to evade responsibility for our own character. The narratives constructed by us, humankind, seek to reduce God to a mere caricature, easily dismissing the wickedness of man’s fallen character.

Ultimately, all narratives attempt to avoid facing our pending, well deserved and well-justified, judgement by God who is our ultimate Judge.

Since time immemorial, sinful people have endeavored to marginalize God.

No doubt, well-meaning individuals are just as guilty of constructing narratives to fit their particular point of view.

Nevertheless, a favorite effort of sinful people is to construct a narrative that sounds reasonable, so long as the narrative is not examined too closely.

The narrative we construct presents a god who is pleasant and nice; this god is inclined to grant mankind’s desires rather than being holy and righteous.

What people want is “good;” holiness and righteousness are “bad.”

This newly constructed god is a fantasy of mankind, a fabrication of minds enamored of this dying world without commitment to the True and Living God.

However, the construct is dangerous precisely because it is attractive.

What are some of these narratives?

The first narrative to be considered was popularized some years ago, having been pushed hard by one major campus organization:

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”

This particular narrative is popular; it is undoubtedly loved by many who have repeated it during past years.

The narrative certainly has an appeal, beginning as it does with the love of God.

In Scripture, we are taught,

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So, we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 John 4:13-21].

None of us would ever argue against the truth that God loves mankind.

After all, God created mankind; He gave us life.

God does love the creature He made.

The evidence for this affirmation is that He sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world. Everyone has heard JOHN 3:16:

“This is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God’s love is not that icky, treacle-sweet sort of emotion that supposedly gives people a warm, fuzzy feeling from the top of their head to the soles of their feet.

God’s love is real, practical, tangible.

God’s love is muscular.

Above all else, God’s love is transformative. Those who receive the love of God cannot remain as they were, for the Spirit of God will take up residence in the life of those who have received that love, and HE will change the individual!

One great problem with this particular narrative is the revelation of God’s hatred. Perhaps you will recall this statement from the Prophecy of Malachi.

“‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the LORD. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert’” [Malachi 1:2-3].

Later, the Apostle Paul would cite this passage when teaching of God’s election of the righteous. Paul would write,

“As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” [Romans 9:13].

As an example that the LORD is capable of hatred, the Wise Man informs us,

“There are six things that the LORD hates,

seven that are an abomination to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

a false witness who breathes out lies,

and one who sows discord among brothers.”

[Proverbs 6:16-19]

The Psalmist gives us startling insight into God’s character when he writes,

“God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.”

[Psalm 7:11-13]

Indeed, God is love; but we must never forget that God is holy, and His holiness excludes unrighteousness from His presence.

Any who fail to receive the grace of God, that one who has never been made righteous through faith in the Son of God, must face God’s wrath.

Jesus warns, “I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” [Luke 12:5]!

Let me be very clear on this. I do not want anyone to conclude from the knowledge that God does hate that He is some sort of cosmic killjoy, a celestial ogre constantly glaring down at mankind while seeking opportunity to strike down anyone who expresses joy or who happens to engage in pleasant acts.

God seeks the best for mankind, and that includes our joy.

We so easily confuse happiness with joy; we constantly and fruitlessly pursue “happiness.”

But happiness is never promised in the Word of God;

joy is the heritage of the children of the Living God.

Jesus promised His disciples,

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” [John 15:10-11].

Jesus is concerned that His followers possess joy, and He intends for that joy to be full, overflowing.

OVERFLOWING JOY IS THE HERITAGE OF THOSE WHO LOVE THE MASTER.

Again, preparing those who followed Him for His departure, Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” [John 16:20-24].

The Master promised to pour out His goodness so that His followers may overflow with an abundance of joy! That is genuine joy!

Yet another narrative which has been weaponized states, “God is too good to judge a person.”

This narrative is an expression of the philosophy that we have come to know as universalism.

Though you may not have heard the term universalism, you will no doubt recognise it as a variant of the Apostle’s statement in the fifth verse of the text.

There, the Apostle has written, “If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)” [Romans 3:5].

The instruction is crafted in such a way that we must answer in the affirmative concerning God’s judgement.

Throughout the New Testament are warnings concerning “the wrath of God.”

Here are just a few examples to illustrate the point.

As he opens the Letter to the Saints in Rome, Paul warns,

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse” [Romans 1:18-20].

After listing a dark catalogue of wicked acts (sexual immorality, all impurity, greed, filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking), the Word of God solemnly warns,

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” [Ephesians 5:6].

Those who engage in such practices or who tolerate them are identified as “the sons of disobedience.” Clearly, God means to punish those so identified.

A similar passage warning against such acts is found in the Letter to Christians in Colossae.

There, Paul has written, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” [Colossians 3:5-6].

Clearly, if Scripture is held to be authoritative, the Lord not only disapproves of such acts, but He holds those who engage in these acts 100% responsible for all of their own actions. His wrath will be poured out on sinful people.

Let’s come right out and everyone admit we are fearful of a God who is holy.

Intuitively, we prefer a god characterized by what we might call “benevolent neglect.”

We want a god who delights to give us what we want, a god who doesn’t interfere with our mad pursuit of getting what we want, a god who keeps his hands off our lives, allowing us to do whatever it is that we want.

Because our desires dictate the sort of god, we imagine we want, we choose to focus on God’s goodness to the exclusion of recognizing His holiness.

By exalting our own desires over the character of God, we craft a narrative that shields us from the harsh reality that our holy God demands of us our holiness.

I freely acknowledge and confess that I am speaking in sweeping generalities when I make such a statement.

Nevertheless, the most of mankind is greatly and heavily and mightily angered at the mere thought we are not in control of our lives, we should need to give an account to anyone, especially unto the Living God! We want a “genial god” who smilingly approves of our choices, doting upon us, giving us what we all want.

Peter’s words have proven to be a source of consternation for every single one of us in this modern world.

You will remember that Peter instructed Christ’s followers,

“Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” [1 Peter 1:13-21].

Among one prominent group of cultists, and tragically even among a surprising number of allegedly “professed Christians,” who are obviously untaught, we will often hear the vehement protests,

“Why, I wouldn’t I throw firebombs at police cars – they are the enemy.”

“If my “cause is just” I know God won’t condemn sinners to eternal flames.”

Undoubtedly, none of us would throw firebombs at police cars.

Such an action betrays a sick mind to even contemplate such a thing.

Police are not the ultimate enemy. I don’t want to see anyone come to harm.

You will recognise this narrative as a variant of the previous narrative.

Essentially, this narrative argues that because I am kind (at least according to my own standards), God is at least as good as me! I don’t believe that I would torment anyone; and those holding to this particular narrative take this to mean that God won’t pronounce judgement that causes eternal pain to anyone.

What is not so immediately apparent is those who are advancing this “cause – effect” argument have, without any authority whatsoever, brought God down to the level of a mere human rather than raising people up to God’s level of living.

I must reiterate—I would never throw any firebombs anywhere at any time.

The implication is that eternal judgment is somehow gratuitous torture, and no one will accuse God of delighting in torture!

The Lord God has no pleasure in the death of sinners.

God, speaking through Ezekiel, declares,

“Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so, turn, and live” [Ezekiel 18:31-32].

We know that the immediate focus of God’s pleading was Israel, however, the overarching emphasis is applicable to anyone.

Again, God pleads with lost people when He appeals through the same prophet,

“As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die” [Ezekiel 33:11]

What is missed, or ignored, when people appeal to this narrative is that God does not send anyone to hell.

Let me iterate: GOD CASTS NO ONE INTO THE FIRES OF HELL.

People who have rejected the grace of God have positioned themselves with the devil and the demons who are opposed to God and under sentence of eternal condemnation.

The fact is that people do choose to pursue their own desires, knowing that the consequences of what is chosen leads to eternal death.

Is that not the warning presented in the Word?

We read, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23].

Because this is true, the warning must be announced, “The wages of sin is death” [Romans 6:23a].

I am so grateful there is a corollary to that warning when God promises,

“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 6:23b].

Should an individual stumble into hell, that person will stumble into eternal damnation having stepped over the grace of God, having ignored the pleas of the godly and the warnings of those who are saved.

The lost will have decided, if only through deliberate neglect, they prefer the prospect of eternity without the mercy of God to the glory that flows from the grace of God.

Therefore, lost people choose, they receive, the consequences of their choice.

Yet another narrative says, When you’re dead, that’s it—you’re finished, you’re done.

Again, this is a variant of an earlier narrative already considered.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to address the narrative, if for no other reason than that the unthinking imagine it is unanswerable.

This narrative is wishful thinking, a case of people whistling past the graveyard.

It is assuredly not a matter of conviction growing out of what is written in the Word.

Does death end it all?

However much an individual may wish that was the case, every expectation leads us to reject that view.

We demand accountability of those who do evil.

Since we are incapable of exacting retribution on the wicked of this world after death, we expect justice beyond this existence.

Sometime past, we watched a situation illustrating the danger of adopting a narrative rather than seeking truth.

A native activist supposedly advocating for native rights accused a group of youth from a Catholic School of “stealing his narrative.”

This is the language of the social justice warrior and not the language of reason, it is not the language of logic.

There was scant logic in his complaint and no logic whatsoever. This activist felt the youths had “stolen his narrative,” so, he refused to sit down with them to seek a peaceful resolution to the situation his own actions had precipitated.

It soon became apparent that this man was only casually acquainted with the truth. This illustrates one major tragedy of a narrative—those holding the narrative become wed to what they have created rather than seeking the truth.

As though such narratives are the “hot as hell-button” stuff of our modern journalism, we have also witnessed an actor who fabricated a story of being assaulted simply because he is black and/or because he is a homosexual.

He claimed he was assaulted by two men whom he identified as “far right thugs.” However, the Chicago police demonstrated that this man was lying.

Here is the narrative that is so hurtful!

The story became the means for news outlets, for politicians and for Hollywood stars and starlets to very publicly and very verbally attack and threaten those whom they fervently considered to be politically right of their own positions.

The narrative became the story. Even after it was demonstrated that the actor had lied, apologists continue to argue for the necessity of the story. Thus, a lie enters into the “stinking” thinking of the populace as though it was the truth.

Narratives almost always mask reality, deceiving those who buy into the narrative. Grave as that situation is for us, the adoption of narratives among the people of God creates a real and present danger that threatens righteousness.

GOD’S TRUTH — The real danger of narratives is that they so easily become substitutes for facts.

When narratives are substituted for facts, those individuals that have become wedded to a narrative tend to deny what they are hearing because it doesn’t fit exactly, politically and precisely into their ever so carefully crafted narrative.

What I happen to believe is ultimately immaterial—what matters is the truth, and truth is, by absolute necessity, completely independent of my assessment.

What God has written in His Word is truth. As a young Christian, a saying often heard among the saints stated, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it for me.”

Undoubtedly, those reciting this couplet thought it sounded impressive—at first glance it was impressive.

Nevertheless, my own analytical mind forced me to correct the couplet to say, “God said it. THAT SETTLES IT!”

It does not matter what I believe about a given issue. What matters is what God has said. I need to know what God says, and not what others wish He had said.

The smallest words recorded in the Bible, words that some might argue are insignificant, are given for our sake by God who seeks what’s best for us.

You may recall Jesus’ affirmation concerning the Word.

The Master said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” [Matthew 5:17-18].

Elsewhere, the Saviour is recorded as saying,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” [Matthew 24:35].

I believe all that has been recorded as the Word of God for the Children of God is morally essential toward a fuller understanding of the mind of the Living God.

God has provided a perfect revelation of His character and of His will in His Holy Word.

The seemingly least significant words are essential for a complete revelation of the Person of God.

This is apparent in multiple instances, but at one point when the Apostle is presenting an argument in his Letter to the Christians in Rome this truth is emphasized in dramatic fashion.

Paul had just made the argument that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. Then, ensuring that we grasp the correct application of what he had presented, the Apostle wrote,

“The words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” [Romans 4:23-25].

Paul’s point is that we must not pass over seemingly insignificant words such as these, “it was counted to him.”

God carefully guided the writers as they penned the words we now read in the Bible.

Peter emphasized this precise truth when he wrote,

“We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” [2 PETER 1:16-19].

More germane to the issue now before us, the Big Fisherman informed readers,

“No prophecy of Scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” [2 Peter 1:20b-21 Net BIBLE].

“Men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

We are informed that the Holy Spirit of God was both the motivator and the divine guide ensuring what God wanted to be recorded was what was written.

God did this for our benefit, so that we would have a firm foundation on which to base our faith.

In the Letter to Roman Christians, we are taught that Abraham’s faith was sufficient for salvation.

The point of this information is that if Abraham’s faith sufficed for salvation, then our own faith in God’s promise is enough for salvation.

God was showing by this means that He is not attempting to mask what He has done for fallen people.

The Living God has acted openly so that no one need feel that God somehow was unfair or unjust.

All people alike are invited to come to life in the Beloved Son of God.

In other words, we are instructed by God with the very thoughts of God because the Spirit of God was overseeing Paul, directing Him as he wrote, to ensure that what was written would be precisely what God wanted to be written.

This was done to ensure what is written would be beneficial for His redeemed people. God did this so we would not fall into the trap of crafting a narrative, but that we would reflect His perfect will.

Therefore, we are not attempting to construct a narrative, we are carefully presenting what God has revealed through His Word.

This is the truth expressed through the Apostle’s plea,

“Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision” [2 Timothy 2:15 ISV].

Our responsibility as witnesses is not to make the teaching of the Word “more” palatable or acceptable to those who hear us, our responsibility is to strive for accuracy in declaring what God has already revealed.

The Spirit of God will work in the hearts of those who hear us as we teach.

He will “prov[e] the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgement” [John 16:8 Net BIBLE].

It is instructive to observe how the arch-deceiver of mankind operates.

We have an example of Satan’s methods revealed when he approached Eve.

Satan did not begin by calling God a liar; he raised doubt in Eve’s mind. Satan approached Eve with the seemingly innocuous question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’” [Genesis 3:1b]?

This was not a direct attack against God’s warning—it was tangential, asymptotic, it was Satan’s sidling up to the woman in an attempt to disarm her.

Satan couldn’t topple God with one question, though toppling God was the ultimate goal.

Satan sought only to generate doubt in Eve’s mind.

The devil seldom will come to the child of God and say, “God is a liar!”

No! He will seek to create lingering doubt, which leads to dishonoring God in our mind. The ultimate goal of Satan is to cause us to cease worshipping God; but the immediate act will always seem quite completely innocuous.

Having raised the question of what God said, or what He might have meant, Satan then dismissed God’s warning, saying

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” [Genesis 3:4b-5].

Eve sinned.

The text makes it apparent that she walked into sin knowingly; nevertheless, she was deceived, just as people continue to be deceived.

John warns believers,

“All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” [1 John 2:16-17].

The world can offer “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life,” but the world cannot offer life.

The world can promise complete satisfaction, but the world can never deliver.

Perhaps you will recall the proverb that states:

“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

and never satisfied are the eyes of man.”

[Proverbs 27:20]

How many ways to our Sunday Worship does that proverb condemns us?

Nothing ever satisfies the desires that bubble up from within!

The human condition seems to create a thirst for more.

Whatever acquisition we believe will satisfy the longing that drives us, it is certain that obtaining that thing will not satisfy.

What we believe will satisfy can never quench the thirst driving us in our mad pursuit to acquire more.

Later in this same collection of sayings of the wise, we read,

“The leech has two daughters:

‘Give! Give!’

There are three things that are never satisfied,

four that never say, ‘Enough’—

the grave, the barren womb,

land that is not satisfied with water,

and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’”

[Proverbs 30:15-16 NET BIBLE]

Eve sinned in the areas that plague us to this day.

Therefore, Scripture reveals, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” [Genesis 3:6a].

We are told that Eve saw “that the tree was good for food.”

What is described is nothing less than the desire of the flesh.

She also saw that “[the fruit of the tree] was a delight to the eyes.”

What can this be other than the desire of the eyes?

Then, Eve saw “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.”

She succumbed to “the pride of life.”

What is described are the same elements that cause us to stumble to this day.

The great need for each one who follows the Risen Son of God is to ensure that he or she is conversant with the truth.

This means that we must know the Word, we must know what the Lord has caused to be written, especially since it was given for our benefit.

We know the Word when we are familiar with the Word; and this means that we have actually read the Word.

We are not to be content with reading about the Word, we are to read the Word.

We allow the Spirit of God to guide us as we read so that we are instructed by Him.

Then, having more than a passing familiarity with the Word, we must invest time speaking with the Author of the Word.

This is nothing less than getting back to basics!

THE CONCLUSION OF MAN’S PUERILE EFFORTS

— Followers of the Christ are responsible to know the Word He has given.

We are susceptible to being put off stride primarily because we are ignorant of what the Master has said.

We fail to have a viable theology, and that is the most dangerous theology of all.

The theology we espouse too often consists or a few trite phrases divorced from daily life.

Our theology is most often stale and flaccid at best, or utterly detrimental and dangerous at the worst.

We want a theology that makes our life easy now, with Heaven thrown in as a bonus. We want to live as though our reward for our obedience was given now!

Much as was true for the Corinthians, so it is true for too many of the saints in this day.

Paul confronted these saints with their discordant attitude that dishonored the Spirit of Christ when he wrote,

“Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:8]!

They seemingly held the attitude that being a Christian was all about fulfilling their desires. Perhaps they saw Jesus Christ as some sort of genie in a bottle. Certainly, that attitude is not unheard of among professed saints in this day.

Paul concludes the passage that serves as our devotional text today by observing of those who rely on narratives,

“Their condemnation is just” [Romans 3:8b].

That is significantly more than a dismissive remark, it is an acknowledgement that God holds us accountable for what we teach by His word and by our lives.

When we distort the Word of God, whatever the reason, we place ourselves in conflict with the Lord who is holy.

Should we turn others away from pursuing righteousness, we must answer God.

If we fail to receive the grace that He offers, we will have ensured that our soul is in eternal danger.

There is no recovery from the disaster of presumptuous sin.

David pleaded with God,

“Who can discern his errors?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.”

[Psalm 19:12-13]

The Psalmist realized how easy it is to drift into error, which is bad enough in its own right; however, he truly feared presuming against the LORD.

To act in such a manner is to exalt oneself against God; and there is scant chance that one can recover from such sin.

Do you recall the pronouncement against Saul that Samuel voiced when the king had spared the life of Agag, king of Amalek?

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the LORD?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.”

[1 Samuel 15:22-23a]

That is a frightful thought.

A choice that fails to consider the will of the Lord, a choice which exalts our own self-interest above the will of the Savior, means we’ve all positioned ourselves as inviting divine judgement.

The Apostle Paul wrote of his fear that after preaching to others, he himself could be disqualified [see 1 CORINTHIANS 9:27].

I confess that I have the same fear.

I constantly check what I am writing, investing time in prayer as I seek God’s guidance.

I do not want to lapse into delivering narratives. Rather, my concern is that together we may know the truth and thus honor the Lord who redeems us.

I struggle for the redeemed to walk in holiness, to pursue a life that honors the Lord. I am convinced that God redeems us, giving us eternal life.

We cannot be cast away when we sin, but we can dishonor Him.

We can lose rewards and cease to be effective in our service to His cause.

Few thoughts distress me more than the thought that I may act in a manner that dishonors the Lord who redeems me.

Therefore, I seek what pleases Him.

I want to know what His will is and how I can glorify Him.

And that is what I want for His holy people.

I want you to walk in holiness, to learn to choose and speak wisely how to respond to the challenges of life.

Paul voiced his concern for the saints in Corinth, just as I have concerns for you, for your walk with the Master.

The Apostle revealed his heart when he wrote these saints,

“I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” [2 Corinthians 11:2-3].

I want you, for whom Christ gave me charge, to walk in purity before the Lord, to avoid adopting your own narratives, choosing rather to pursue truth through knowledge of the Word and through talking and walking with the Risen Savior.

My desire is to so live that I need not be ashamed and so that you will not be ashamed of me. Above all, I want to honors Christ the Lord by a holy life.

To the lost, this is the call of God: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” [Acts 16:31].

Here is life.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [Romans 10:9-10].

Salvation is this simple:

“Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:13].

Here is life, if you are willing to receive it.

In Christ, you will find hope and the forgiveness of sin.

Do this now. Believe Him and be saved. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, my Guide and Guardian, illuminate my mind so I can understand how you want me to live. Your word tells me that people of integrity who follow your instructions are joyful. You have said that those who obey your laws and search for you with all their hearts are blessed and happy. I want that joy! Holy Spirit, please guard me against allowing evil to influence what I believe and do. Help me walk only in your paths. May my actions consistently reflect what you have said is right and good. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Our Rejection of God: How Dare We Call Ourselves Christians? Jeremiah 7:16-26.

It is so endearing at times to see little children in a big supermarket or shopping mall. They come in crying with mom or dad, but as soon as they see something interesting—toys, candies, pets, or anything else that moves—their moods are in change mode, they go their own way and forget everything else around them.

And then at some point, suddenly, they look up and look around and realize that their mom or dad are not there anymore. They look mystified, turn around, first carefully walking, then running and checking out places. and then when they cannot find their parents, they start shouting, crying, “Mommy!!! Daddy!!!”

And when even that doesn’t help, you see their faces change from hope to fear and then to a sense of rejection. They think that they will never see mommy or daddy again. The result is a heart-rending crying that won’t stop until their parents have found them, or someone from the store comes to comfort them.

Eventually, there will be a message over the store’s call system asking the mom and dad to return to the customer service area – “that someone very special is waiting for them there.”

Mom and Dad are also likewise in a high state of fear because they cannot find their child. Of course, we know they would not ever reject their child just like that – the child not rejecting mom and dad, “wanders off” after some candy!

Eventually, Mom and Dad and Child are re-united, and everything is all “hugs and kisses, smiles and “don’t worry (_____), Mommy and Daddy love You!”

All is as it should be! The store is happy! Family is back together again!

And life in the “big city” “small town” neighborhood can go on as before.

All is bliss and blessed ……

The Good News is Mommy and Daddy did not reject their child after all.

Perhaps the Better News is their child did not reject their Mommy and Daddy when they were reunited.

Parents will give the best years of their lives to their children.

They give whatever they can, sacrifice their time, their strength, their resources—everything—in order to give all of their children all the best possible in life.

But then, when they in turn start being in need of their children, they may just find a stunning lack of gratitude, a stunning lack of a “return” commitment.

They are just expected to understand that the children have a life of their own.

They need their privacy. They need time and energy to develop their careers. They now have children of their own that take up so many of their resources.

And the parents try to understand, I am sure.

They explain to others with an air of pride how their kids are so busy, because they have such a responsible job and are taking so good care of their own kids.

But deep down inside, there may just be the maturing, searing pain of rejection, too great and too deep to describe, too shameful to freely share with any others.

It is certainly not true in all families –

But it is true is many families and too often goes un-noticed – except by God.

but here also lies an injustice – the rejection of our God, who is our Father!

We can call ourselves Christians, go to church, give our tithes, etc. and yet have rejected God effectively.

The picture God’s Prophet Jeremiah gives of life in Judah comes close to our life in the Christian West, with several gods competing for our loyalty.

Jeremiah 7:16-26Amplified Bible

16 “Therefore, do not pray for this people [of Judah] or lift up a cry or entreaty for them or make intercession to Me, for I do not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the [a]queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods that they may offend and provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they offend and provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Is it not themselves [they offend], to their own shame?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and [the fire will] not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this thing I did command them: ‘Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have [persistently] sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, early [and late]. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me] but stiffened their neck; they did more evil and behaved worse than their fathers.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God is like a rejected parent.

Jeremiah 7 reveals to our souls the “anger” which “burns inside” a God who has been repeatedly rejected by his people—their Father in heaven whose children have repeatedly let him down, repeatedly turned their backs on him.

There are some seriously dramatic words in Jeremiah 7—even shocking—when God speaks to Jeremiah:

“Don’t pray for this people! Don’t offer any plea or petition for them! Don’t plead with me, for I will not listen!”

Wow! That’s tough language, isn’t it? Jeremiah is told that he is no longer allowed to pray for the people of God. And if he does, God will simply put his fingers in his ears, so to say, and make sure he does not hear a single word.

Have you ever seen parents doing that to their children? I have.

My father did that to me several times – he just turned off his hearing aids. If I tried to carry on our conversation or our arguments – he reached up to his ears and he simply, one by one, removed both of his hearing aids from his ears.

Again, we need not go further than the supermarket to see it happening all the time. Kids find their way to the candy department and start begging for candies.

Mom and dad will answer with a firm “no”.

“Today is not candy day. Some other time.”

But kids are not good at taking “no” for an answer.

So, they keep on asking, they insist, they become stubborn and impossible to handle. Everyone is now at a place where they all need to have “their space!”

And that is where many parents lose their patience.

It doesn’t mean that they stop loving their kids.

It doesn’t mean that they stop caring for them.

It doesn’t mean that they don’t want to give their very best to their children.

It only means at that point they come to the conclusion that their kids now need a firm foundational teaching on the need to hear, listen, respect their parents.

They need to understand that sometimes “no” really, truly, fully means “no”. They need to “straighten up,” obey their parents and accept their authority.

Jeremiah lived in a time when the people of Israel had turned away from God.

They did not think of him any longer as “the” God of Israel. At best, he was “a” god—one among a lot of colleagues and competitors.

For Israel, God’s law and parental authority had become “highly negotiable.”

People felt they were no longer dependent on him.

After all, they could always turn to other gods who were more amendable, more apt to condescend, to compromise, simply adjust to their needs and demands.

Look, for example, at how Jeremiah 7 describes life in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem:

(Verse 18) “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.”

What we see here is this: The people of Judah had broken faith with God.

They had committed spiritual adultery with other gods, which they had adopted from the cultures around them.

They still went to the temple to bring petty sacrifices.

They had a little time set apart for God. But it was not quality time. Their offerings did not come from the heart. They were just a routine ritual.

They thought by going through the motions of ritual, they could make God happy; They could make God believe they still loved and respected him.

But when the duties in the temple were done with, the families gathered together for quality time—a sort of barbeque party, you could say.

The kids went to pick twigs and branches for the fire. Dad lit the fire—after all, that was the man’s job. And mom was in the kitchen baking delicacies.

The cakes she made had the form of a woman.

It was the goddess Asherah, the “Queen of Heaven”.

You may have read that after the reign of king Solomon, the Jewish nation had been divided into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah.

By the time that God called Jeremiah, the northern kingdom of Israel had already ceased to exist.

Almost a century earlier, the Assyrian army had come and conquered the nation.

Many of the people had been killed or taken into exile, and groups of Assyrians came and settled in Samaria.

That should have been a clear warning sign for Judah in the south.

But everything shows that Judah had not learned its lesson. How come?

Why was it so hard for the Jews to stay faithful to the God who—as they firmly believed—had led them out of slavery in Egypt, given them the Promised Land?

Why did they ever so eagerly embrace other gods—the Queen of Heaven, the Assyrian goddess of the family; or Mammon, the Aramaic god of wealth and trade; or Baal, the Canaanite god of agriculture?

Why did they reject their own God Yahweh, the Creator of heaven and earth?

When I look at the life of Israel, from the moment they left Egypt to the time of Jeremiah and even beyond, I can come up with two answers.

First, their God was “too limited.”

And second, he was “too demanding.”

Let me try to spell that out for you.

Throughout the history of Israel, God appears as a very patriarchal God.

He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not the God of Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel. He was the God of Moses and Aaron, not the God of Miriam.

The creation story depicts God as inherently both male and female.

But in the history and tradition of his people, he seemed to communicate primarily from man to man, and take sides with the men.

He assigned all worship duties to male Levites and priests.

God seemed to endorse a strongly patriarchal society, where women were owned by their father or husband.

In the law he gave to Moses, women were given lesser rights than the men, even though, we must admit, in Israel women were treated with far, far more respect and equality than anywhere else in the Middle East.

But of course, they did not know, nor would they ever come to acknowledge it.

At times, God threatened to abandon his people in the desert.

At other times he threatened to wipe them from the face of the earth altogether.

He was distant.

They couldn’t see him; He would not allow to have pictures or statues made of him.

They couldn’t hear him, because he would only “speak through his prophets.”

To make things worse, he put a lot of demands on the people.

I don’t mean the ritual worship and sacrifices.

I mean the demands for moral integrity, for love and respect for one another and even for the foreigners living among them or traveling through their land.

God demanded that they take care of the needy, especially the widows and orphans, since there were no institutional social services.

God demanded at regular intervals debts were cancelled and slaves set free.

In short: God demanded the highest form of personal integrity and social justice.

But for those in power—the kings and tribal chiefs, the landowners and those who had made a fortune in trade—these demands were appalling.

The idea one day out of seven they were not allowed to do business or make their slaves and hired hands work on the land felt like a terrible waste of time and resources.

No wonder, then, that the people grew tired of God.

No wonder, then, that they looked for alternatives.

There was an obvious demand for a woman god—a goddess—who was more empathetic, easier to approach, and closer to the life of the family—a goddess with whom particularly the women could identify.

There was an obvious demand for a god who blessed business and trade and allowed a great measure of moral freedom, as long as you made money.

I believe in that respect our time is not so different from the time of Jeremiah.

Our Christian Church is not so far removed from the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s time.

In the west, New Age spirituality has mixed with the faith of many Christians.

People go shopping, as it were, to fill their religious shopping cart with a nice religious mix that they feel good about.

These are the obvious forms of idolatry—the obvious ways in which God is being rejected as the one and only true God.

But there are also less obvious parallels between Jeremiah’s time and ours.

Every Christian knows the Great Commandment:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

But how many of us are really serious about this?

Oh, I know, it is easy to come to worship on Sunday and sing or pray: “Oh, Lord God! How Great thou Art! How I love you! Oh Lord Jesus! or How I adore you!”

But when it comes down to all the choices and decisions we make Monday through Saturday, to the way we deal with our family and friends,

with the people at school or at work, in the bus or the metro; with the beggars in the streets or the customers on the phone

… can everybody see that our lives are maybe not so much actually, genuinely driven by steadfast, immovable commitments to the Great Commandment?

Look at the way you spend your time and your money.

Look at the friends you choose and the friendships you neglect.

Look at your priorities. Listen to your words when you are angry or excited.

What do these tell you, others about your love for God and for your neighbor and for yourself? That is a question we should all ask ourselves—every day!

I see yet another parallel in the way we respect or disrespect the authority of God in our lives.

The simple truth is that God’s won’t necessarily always coincide with ours.

More often than not there seems to be a conflict of interests between God and us.

Just like the little kid in the supermarket, who is determined that she must have an ice cream right now.

To her great disappointment, she may find that her parents have a very different, and most disagreeable view on the matter.

God speaks with authority through the Bible, which we often call the Word of God. Luther called the Bible the supreme authority in matters of faith and living. That does not mean that everything we read in the Bible is normative.

Not everything that is normative is unambiguous and self-explanatory.

Not everything that is unambiguous and self-explanatory is independent of time, place or culture.

But it doesn’t really matter.

Isaiah 6:8-12Amplified Bible

Isaiah’s Commission

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on listening, but do not understand;
Keep on looking, but do not comprehend.’
10 
“Make the heart of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,

“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
And houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12 
The Lord has removed [His] people far away,
And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.

The question is: when we recognize God speaking to us through the Bible, do we try to “genuinely” hear Him, “actually” listen to Him, to respect his authority?

Is it our heart’s desire and our will’s determination to seek to obey him?

Or are we selective in applying only what we are comfortable with and what we feel good about?

Think of the events in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

Adam and Eve heard God loud and clear: “Don’t eat from that tree.”

But they chose to ignore him and disobey what they knew was God’s command.

First, there was doubt creeping in: “Did God really say that?”

Then, there was distortion of God’s command: “He said we cannot touch the tree.”

It all stems from a hugely distorted image of God as a stern and bossy and unreasonable God who wants to make our lives miserable by denying us the good side of life, and who demands the impossible from us day and night.

As individual believers, and as the Body of Christ—the Church in God’s own neighborhood, and, if possible, as a society built upon the foundation of the Christian faith and tradition—we should take God’s authority seriously.

We should pay heed to his voice crying out in a broken world against social injustice, various forms of abuse and exploitation, discrimination and racism.

And it is not enough that we just refrain from going along with them.

As Christians, we should echo that voice and obey it.

We should encourage one another to live our lives the way God meant our lives to be (Philippians 2:1-4).

And perhaps, the best way to do so is to be imitators of Christ: to love like he loved, to care like he cared, to heal like he healed, and to sacrifice ourselves for others the way he sacrificed his life for us. (Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 John 4:7-21)

We can call ourselves Christians, go to church, give our tithes, etc. and yet have rejected God effectively. The picture Jeremiah gives of life in Judah comes close to life in the Christian West, with several “gods” competing for our loyalty.

Psalm 2:1-3Amplified Bible

The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed.

2 Why are the [a]nations in an [b]uproar [in turmoil against God],
And why do the people devise a vain and hopeless plot?
2 
The kings of the earth take their stand;
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and His Anointed (the Davidic King, the Messiah, the Christ), saying,
3 
“Let us break apart their [divine] bands [of restraint]
And cast away their cords [of control] from us.”

Three Consequences of Rejecting God’s Authority

If you’ve ever been on a road trip with a toddler, you’ve probably experienced the struggle of trying to keep them buckled in their car seat for hours on end.

They don’t have the necessary maturity to understand that the restraints are keeping them safe, and that ultimately, you love them and know what is best.

So it is with mankind and their Maker.

From the beginning of creation until now, people have tried to cast off every restraint placed on them by the loving hand of God.

Not willing to yield to the perfect will of the Father, nations have rejected God’s authority again and again.

Though the Lord remains faithful, He also maintains justice, and there are consequences to rejecting His authority. Here are 3 of them listed in the Bible:

1. They get what they ask for.

They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:13-15 NKJV

Nations that disregard God’s counsel in favor of their own lusts eventually get what they ask for. Sadly, though their flesh is satisfied, their soul is parched like a dry and thirsty land with no water.

Let us come to the Fountain of Living Water—to the well that never runs dry—and drink to the full of God’s goodness and mercy! (John 4:10)

2. They suffer unnecessarily.

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 5:24

The horrendous aftermath of a wildfire may be an accurate word picture of the consequences that a nation without God will suffer. Consumed by their own falsehoods, those who reject the Word of the Lord will suffer unnecessarily.

However! The Lord is faithful and just to forgive. (1 John 1:9)

He longs for us to return to Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

He longs to cover us with His mighty hand and be our Protector.

Let us repent and humble our hearts before Him that He might come and heal our land! (2 Chronicles 7:14)

3. They are left to their own devices.

Of the Rock of Ages who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you. (Psalm 139:13-18, 23 and 24)

And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.

And He said:

‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. Deuteronomy 32:18-20 NKJV

Rejection of the Lord’s sovereignty and provision only leads to a desolate ending.

Without faith in the One who made us, we are empty, lacking, and ultimately left to our own devices.

Let us turn back to our Rock and remember our Maker.

Just like the father, who was waiting at the window for the return of his prodigal son, so the Lord is waiting for us to return to Him!

“In an acceptable time, I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

Psalm 34:8-11Amplified Bible

8 
O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good;
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who takes refuge in Him.
9 
O [reverently] fear the Lord, you His saints (believers, holy ones);
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10 
The young lions lack [food] and grow hungry,
But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11 
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you to fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience].

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

The Hebrew word for “fear” in this expression refers to a loving reverence and awe of God, coupled with our own actual and genuine willingness to obey him, knowing that he always wants what is best for us.

Our relationship with the Lord is built not on terror but on appropriate respect and awe for our Father.

A healthy respect and understanding of God as loving Creator, faithful Lord, and righteous Judge is the foundation of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7.)

People who lack reverence for God are like children who do not honor their parents.

They throw a tantrum to try to manipulate God into giving them what they want.

When that fails, they storm off defiantly to do their own thing, ignoring the wisdom and authority of their Father God.

Of course, we are all inclined toward such childish rebellion.

On the cross Jesus paid for our sin of dishonoring God.

And when we accept the gift of his death for our sin, we enter into a new and intimate relationship with ABBA, the Father.

But God is not our pal. He cannot be outsmarted, used, or tricked.

God is the Creator of the universe, infinite, eternal, and all knowing.

The very essence of his being, though, is love (1 John 4:8).

Are you growing to know your loving Father?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

ABBA, Father, teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. I see your faithfulness and goodness in what you have done for me throughout my life. I think about these things, and I thirst for you. Let me hear of your unfailing love every morning, for I am learning how to listen, learning the blessings of trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Keep me on firm footing for the glory of your name. Amen.

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