DEFINITELY A LAW AND ORDER GUY. 1 Samuel 21:6.

Pictured: Actors portray Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath.

In law school one of my colleagues asked me whether I was going to be a prosecutor.

“Because I figure, you’re definitely a law and order guy.”

I had never been called that before. As a hyperactive child, I spent most of my time on the wrong side of the law and OUT of order. As an English major, I became convinced the best stories elicit sympathy for imperfect heroes whose allegiance to rules is questionable. Jean Valjean spends nineteen years in prison because he steals a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children. Where is the justice in that?

But I knew it was true: I was a law and order guy. I overcame my childish shenanigans in part by devoting myself to better choices. I went around saying things like, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” I embraced the law long ago; today I want to embrace compassion and grace in the way law is applied.

When David was on the run from King Saul, he and the men with him were hungry. When they came across Ahimelech the priest, David asked him to give David the sacred bread—bread that the law reserved for priests alone, Leviticus 24:5-9. The priest asked David if the men had kept themselves from women. David said they had. Thus the men were ceremonially clean–but that did not make the men Levites.

“So the priest gave him hallowed bread, for there was no bread there but the shewbread that was taken from before the Lord” 1 Samuel 21:6.

In this case, David both lied to the priest, and ate bread he and his men were not supposed to eat, being from the tribe of Judah. More importantly, the priest GAVE David the bread. He could have said no. But he acted with compassion.

Would David and his men have survived without the sacred bread? Probably. Was the priest wrong to give the bread to them? I don’t know, but it would be hard to build a case against the priest considering what Jesus said about him to the Pharisees in Luke 6:1-5 and in Matthew 12.

“Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests? … If you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” Matthew 12:3-8.

This is a difficult passage to apply. When are we to follow rules and when can we break them? Or when SHOULD we break rules? Because we live under a new covenant, we are not bound by the law, but we live under God’s grace. “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable,” 1 Corinthians 10:23.

So when is it profitable or wise to ignore a rule, a policy, a personal goal or daily commitment, whatever it is—when is it best to err on the side of compassion? I cannot answer that for you: You will need wisdom and grace to address such questions on a case-by-case basis.

But the key is this:

Let’s remember the simple fact that there ARE times when we should set the rules aside and give holy bread to unholy men. There are times when we must set aside rules and err on the side of grace, compassion, and love.

Some of the strictest rules in Israel were the rules of the Sabbath. But Jesus said it over and over: “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath,” Matthew 12:8.

God, give us wisdom. Show us how to balance holiness and high expectations with mercy, grace, forgiveness, and compassion. May we love people the way YOU love people.

ΑΩ

P.S. SEVEN TIMES JESUS PERFORMED MIRACLES ON THE SABBATH:

On the Sabbath Jesus healed Simon Peter’s Mother-in-Law, Mark 1:29-31.

On the Sabbath Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, Mark 3:1-6.

On the Sabbath Jesus healed a man born blind, John 9:1-16.

On the Sabbath Jesus healed a crippled woman, Luke 13:10-17.

On the Sabbath Jesus healed a man with dropsy (water retention/edema due to congestive heart failure), Luke 14:1-6.

On the Sabbath Jesus drove out an evil spirit, Mark 1:21-28.

On the Sabbath Jesus healed a lame man by the pool of Bethesda, John 5:1-18.

–From https://teachingsofthebible.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/jesus-7-miracles-he-performed-on-the-sabbath/

See also– https://dadsdailydevotionals.com/2024/04/16/jesus-picks-a-fight-seven-times-luke-1310-17/

When Miracle Workers Cannot Be Trusted. 1 Samuel 19:20-24.

When the glories of David the giant-killer began to eclipse those of King Saul, Saul was filled with murderous rage. The king made several attempts on David’s life. The first attempt was thwarted by his son, Jonathan, who warned David, then talked Saul out of it, 1 Samuel 19:6. The second was thwarted by David himself, who dodged a javelin Saul threw at him while he played the harp for the king, 1 Samuel 19:10. A third attempt was thwarted by Saul’s daughter, David’s wife, Michal, who lowered David from a window, 1 Samuel 19:12. Following Saul’s repeated attempts to kill him, David fled to Ramah to be with Samuel. Then Saul sent men to seize David.

“When Saul’s agents saw the prophets prophesying with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s agents, and they too began prophesying. When this was reported to Saul, he sent other agents and they also began prophesying. Saul tried again and sent a third group of agents and even they began prophesying. Then Saul himself went to Ramah … The Spirit of God also came on Saul, and as he walked along, he began prophesying … Saul then removed his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He collapsed and lay naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, ‘Is Saul also among the prophets?’” 1 Samuel 19:20-24.

Once Saul arrived in Ramah—joining the numerous agents he had sent to capture David—David was able to escape safely.

But is that not the strangest way to escape from a murderer? God overwhelms the would-be killer with Spirit-filled ecstatic expression and the victim is free to slip away unharmed?

A note in my study Bible provides insight:

“This seems to be a group of people in Spirit-filled ecstasy. It was very powerful and contagious to anyone who found them. We do not know if they were speaking messages from God or merely joining in ecstatic expression … Although Saul was receptive to the Spirit of God and was caught up in prophesying, his heart and mind were far from loving God and thinking God’s thoughts.”[1]

Picture in modern terms what is happening here: a powerful man, the godfather at the head of an organized crime syndicate, if you will, has sent a dozen men to kill David. They walked into a charismatic service somewhere and were overcome. Six of them began speaking in tongues while the other six were slain in the Spirit. The godfather sends twelve more men. They too are overwhelmed by the Spirit of God and unable to pay any attention to David. So the mob boss sends twelve more men, and they too are either speaking in tongues or slain in the Spirit. Finally, he says, “If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself,” and he marches through the double doors and the moment he does, he begins speaking in tongues and prophesying—and he remains in a Spirit-filled state for several days.

If you saw this, what would you think? What do most people think when they see miracles? Many Christians immediately assume the best about a person who speaks in tongues. And why not?

After all, God used the gift of tongues throughout the book of Acts specifically to bolster the credibility of one group of Christians in the eyes of another, see, e.g., Acts 10:44-48. “Sign gifts” were a sign that God was with a person. Sign gifts were a sign of credibility.

But this story about King Saul proves there are EXCEPTIONS. Bad people with bad motives—motives as bad as murder—may also possess miraculous gifts.

Have you seen someone do amazing things only to discover they had evil in their heart? I have. It is important to remember that no matter how God may appear to be working in or through another person’s life, that person may remain selfish, bitter, unbelieving, or even murderous, like Saul.

I was once quite impressed with the spiritual life of a friend with amazing gifts. My wife, who has the gift of discernment, was not impressed. She said he gave her “the heebee-jeebies.” The Holy Spirit made her uncomfortable around this man and she was proven right … when he went to prison.

Do you know a man or woman with amazing gifts that might not be as trustworthy as they appear? This is a particular risk with people on television. There is nothing wrong with a TV ministry per se, but it is difficult to discern the heart of a person that you cannot talk to in person. We must be vigilant with those who show us only the carefully controlled moments of a television performance.

Never forget that during one of the most murderous times in Saul’s life, he fell down and prophesied for days. And afterward, he picked up where he left off, again plotting to kill David.

When it comes to evaluating the credibility of the Christians around you, “be shrewd as serpents, but innocent as doves” Matthew 10:16.

ΑΩ

“Ecstatic expression” is not part of my life nor the life of the church I attend. However, I know too many people who engage in these experiences to believe they are never genuine. Nor do I hold with the view that ecstatic gifts ceased when the New Testament was canonized (I do not believe 1 Corinthians 13 supports such a view). I believe the gifts of tongues and others named in scripture are real. But God has not given me ecstatic gifts, and I believe the Holy Spirit leads believers and their families to churches that best fit their gifts. I know He has led me to my church.

[1] Chronological Life Application Study Bible, King James Version. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois. 2013, note on 1 Samuel 19:20-24.

DON’T DOUBLE DOWN! 1 Samuel 14:44.

In 2023, New York attorney Steven A. Schwartz represented an airline passenger allegedly injured after being struck by a beverage cart. In March of 2023, Schwartz filed a brief that cited the following case:

Varghese v. China Southern Airlines Co Ltd., 925 F.3d 1339 (11th Cir. 2019).

The problem? There is no Varghese v. China Southern Airlines Co Ltd. The lawyer had used A.I. to generate his brief, and the Varghese case—and five more like it—was invented by the Artificial Intelligence program Chat GPT. All six cases are fake.

(Did you know ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MAKES THINGS UP? Generative A.I. is programmed to always answer questions. If it cannot find an answer online, it will invent things.)

Instead of spending hours in the law library, Schwartz simply created a detailed prompt and ChatGPT generated the entire brief. Schwartz then filed the brief without looking the cases up. Schwartz further failed to discover that the fake cases were attributed to real judges. That is, the A.I. program not only invented cases, but also invented quotations that it then attributed to ACTUAL judges currently on the bench. Thus, the machine said these real judges had made statements that they never made. That is slanderous at best, a breach worthy of disbarment at worst.

When the cases could not be located, opposing counsel immediately raised questions, then brought the matter to the judge along with a motion for sanctions. By this time an attorney senior to Schwartz was also involved. But when the judge began asking questions, the lawyers did not admit that Schwartz had used ChatGPT. Instead, the two actually said they had read the non-existent cases. Like gamblers about to lose everything, when they should have given up, they doubled-down!

As they sank deeper, the men filed affidavits explaining they had taken their problem back to A.I., asking ChatGPT if the Varghese case was real. It said yes. They asked if the other cases were real. ChatGPT said yes and that the cases “can be found in reputable legal databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw.” [1]  Of course, the cases could not be found. They do not exist.

The judge—a jurist to be lauded for his patience—fined the attorneys $5,000 each, then took the matter one step further, ordering the lawyers to mail copies of their fraudulent brief to each of the judges named therein, along with an apology for smearing the judges’ names in such a reckless manner.[2]

King Saul also had a habit of doubling down. When Saul made a rash vow that would have required the death of his son Jonathan, Saul could not admit error and showed no mercy: “May God punish me, and do so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan!” 1 Samuel 14:44. But the men convinced Saul to let Jonathan live. Later, when Saul failed to wipe out the spoils of the Amalekites, Samuel said, “What is this sound of sheep and cattle that I hear?” 1 Samuel 15:14. Saul did not confess; he made excuses.

Do we do that? How do you respond to your own failures? Do you double-down, trying to hide the mistake under lies and excuses? Do you blame others? Or do you own your decisions?

Here is a truth, an ABSOLUTE FACT that you should take to heart from this day forward: You WILL make mistakes. You will misjudge people, hurt people, say the wrong things, and wound those you love. You just will. You will get facts wrong, memories confused, and you will mis-read circumstances. You are human. We are all human. (Do you know anyone who is perfect? No? Then don’t assume you are.)

You WILL make mistakes. The important thing is how you respond to them.

Confess. Admit the problem. Own your mistakes. Humble yourself, accept that you are imperfect, and be teachable.

“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” James 5:16.

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” Proverbs 28:13.

God, teach us to be honest when we are wrong. Show us how to make a true confession—and bless us also with the grace to know what to keep quiet about, as some lack the maturity or discretion to hear what might be confessed. Most importantly, draw us into complete honesty with YOU. Reveal to us secrets we do not even realize we are holding.

ΑΩ

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/nyregion/avianca-airline-lawsuit-chatgpt.html

[2] https://www.legaldive.com/news/lawyer-fake-chatgpt-cases-sanctions-fines-lawyers-chatgpt-fake-cases/653741/

Prayer, Fasting, and Generational Blessings. 1 Samuel 2:31-33.

“The child Samuel grew in favor both with the Lord and also with men” 1 Samuel 2:26.

How can we have children like that? Is there a way to guarantee your children will walk with God?

The short answer is “No, but…” That is, there is probably nothing godly parents can do to ensure their children never go astray. Some will rebel no matter what—and sometimes God will use that rebellion, as he did with Samson.

But in the Bible, God-fearing parents who pray and fast and wrestle deeply with God over their children, even unborn children, seem to see the best results. Abraham navigated an odyssey waiting until he was 100 to see Isaiah’s birth—and Isaiah was faithful. Jacob literally wrestled with God (Genesis 32:24-29) and fathered the twelve tribes. The parents of Moses allowed him to be raised in the Pharaoh’s palace, and their sacrifice paid off when their son delivered the Hebrews from slavery. Ruth lost her husband, father-in-law, and homeland, but God gave her a son Obed, grandfather of David.

And then comes Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Hannah was crushed over her barrenness, and begged God for a child. In a statement that makes me think of fasting, scripture reports, “she wept and could not eat” 1 Samuel 1:7. (God seems to particularly honor the prayers of a fasting parent.) Eventually Hannah vowed to dedicate to the Lord any son God might give her by bringing him to serve in the temple. And when God gave her a son, she fulfilled her vow. How many people do you know that would follow through? Most would say, “Oh, God knows I didn’t mean it.” But God takes vows seriously. So did Hannah—and he rewarded her for it, giving her three more sons and two daughters.

But Hannah had to surrender young Samuel into the care of Eli the priest, a man whose own child-rearing skills were deeply suspect. In fact, his sons were an abomination, disobeying God’s rules about the tithe by helping themselves to uncooked sacrificial meats, and by sleeping with women of ill repute.

“Therefore, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord” 1 Samuel 2:17.  

On top of the struggle of giving up a tiny son, I would have been deeply concerned about the influence of these much older sons of Eli. But God heard Hannah’s prayers, and I believe he rewarded her. And Samuel grew in favor with the Lord and with men. Samuel was nothing like Eli’s sons.

Finally, a word about genealogies. I recently noted that Ruth’s son Obed becomes an ancestor of the Messiah, because as God views it, the birth of a child is not the birth of a single man or woman, but the beginning of a line of men and women, a lineage that could last a thousand generations. In other words, God does not bless a single child, but he blesses the line of children to follow, the LINEAGE.

Similarly, sometimes God does not punish a single child, but he punishes the line of children to follow.

In the most obvious example, if a bad person dies before having children, an entire line is over before it begins. Or, as in the case of the permissive father Eli (see 1 Samuel 3:13) and his evil sons, God may not punish a single child, but the line of children to follow. “Behold, I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house … all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age” 1 Samuel 2:31,33.

The legacy of blessings for the line of obedient descendants and the legacy of punishments for the line of disobedient descendants indicate that God looks at our lives not as individual “singletons,” (the only acceptable view to independent-minded Americans) but as part of a line of ancestors and descendants. Your life is not just about you, but about the line of people who follow you.*

May God make us more like Hannah and Ruth: parents who pray, fast, and sacrifice for our children.

ΑΩ

  • Some will rightly object that God expressly stated, “it will no longer be said, ‘the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’ Instead, each will die for his own iniquity.” Jeremiah 31:29-30. This is but one of many such verses: Ezekiel 18:2-4, Deuteronomy 24:16, 2 Kings 14:6, and Ezekiel 18:19-20. It is true that God promises that “each will die for his own sin.” But many verses also indicate God deals with us as part of a family line. The key is grace. We live under a New Covenant, we walk in God’s grace, and we should not spend much time thinking about the sins of our ancestors–most of whom we cannot name and whose sins we do not know. I am speaking of God’s view of his children. God does not seem to view of us exactly the way we do–as detached individuals. He does not see us as disconnected “singletons,” but as members of families, tribes, and even a lineage. Even the body of Christ is described as “one body with many members.” We are always connected: to parents, to children, to a lineage, and to fellow believers. It is a beautiful mystery of love and grace and connection. But with that connection, I believe there remains some truth to this: obedience results in blessings for the generations that follow. And if that is true, the opposite is probably not false: disobedience may result in consequences for the generations that follow. As an example, consider the story of the descendants of Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards and notorious criminal Max Jukes. https://dadsdailydevotionals.com/2023/08/23/sowing-and-reaping-across-generations/

Entreat Me Not to Leave Thee. Ruth 4:17.

“Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried” Ruth 1:16-17.

I think Ruth would be shocked to know her words are now routinely spoken during weddings. The words were originally spoken in a moment of grief, crushing loss, and hopelessness. Naomi was Ruth’s mother-in-law. Naomi’s husband had died, and Naomi’s son, Ruth’s husband, had also died. The two were facing lives of not only grief but desperate poverty. There was no fate worse than being a widow. A contemporary re-enactment might go something like this:

Naomi:   “Go back to Moab!”

Ruth:         “No. I love you, Mom! Stop backing away from me.”

Naomi:      “I’m not your mom! Don’t try to hug me! I’m an old woman God forgot about! Go home to your real mom! Stop following me.”

Ruth:          “But you’re my real mom now! You know how I feel about you!”

Naomi:      “Wipe your tears and let me go. Stop holding on to me. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. If God has abandoned me, you should too!”

Ruth:          “I’ll never abandon—”

Naomi:      “Let go of my knees and leave me alone! I’m gonna’ lose my voice screaming at you!”

Ruth stops suddenly. She takes a deep breath and a long pause. Wipes tears from her face. Stands and holds Naomi’s frail shoulders in her hands. She speaks slowly, deliberately.

Ruth: “Never again ask me to leave you. Wherever you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. For the rest of my life, your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. And where you die, I will die. I will never turn my back on you.”

While listening to these words, Naomi tries to twist free from the grip of her daughter-in-law. But finally she stops fighting, burying her face in Ruth’s embrace. The two women sob together, shaking in grief before the lights slowly go down on the scene.   

There was nothing remotely romantic about this–nothing to make anyone think wedding thoughts. It was a scene of grief and wailing and desperation, one of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Yet Ruth found direction during this moment. I am convinced the Holy Spirit led her as she gathered her thoughts and spoke words God put in her heart. In the midst of desperate hysteria, Ruth managed to state things in words both wise and persuasive.

And her powerful words changed everything, as good words often do. Ruth, a Moabite, committed her life to Naomi, a Hebrew, and God blessed them both for it. Ruth was an outsider, an undocumented worker from a foreign nation, a widow without a son—Ruth was disadvantaged in every way that mattered. Yet God would soon reward her with a son, Obed. And in a symbolic way, Obed was also Naomi’s son. “And the neighbor women gave the child a name, saying, ‘There is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David” Ruth 4:17.

God did not simply give Ruth Obed. As indicated by the Bible’s numerous and lengthy genealogies, the birth of a child is not the birth of a single man or woman, but the beginning of a line of men and women, a lineage that could last a thousand generations. Obed fathered a line of children—a line blessed by God like no other. Following Obed, God gave Ruth a grandson, Jesse, and a great-grandson, David. That’s right, KING David.

An interesting website “curated by Messianic Jews” adds that this is about more than just the ancestral line. It’s about the kind of courage and character that can be passed down in families: “Can we not see a reflection of Ruth’s character in David’s courage, daring spirit, and commitment to God? … Ruth and Naomi shaped and influenced the character of the man who would rule the nation, thus leaving a lasting legacy on their peoples’ history.”[1]

Thus, Ruth the Moabitess is an ancestor of Jesus, Matthew 1:5. Why would God choose her? The question is, why WOULDN’T God choose her! She selflessly gave up all her choices to take care of Naomi. This was a woman of courage, commitment, and love. May God make us more like her!

ΑΩ

[1] https://inheritmag.com/articles/five-things-about-ruth-that-nobody-talks-about

“In Those Days There Was No King in Israel” Judges 17:6.

The principal who led my high school told the teachers, “If you will be nice to the students, they will be nice to you.” I’m sure that sounded great. It may have even worked in a few cases. But having survived four years in that Criminal Minds High School—where a teacher was shot, where bomb threats were a daily occurrence, where riots were not unusual—and having subbed or taught full-time in six other high schools, I have experienced it all. I can tell you from experience:

Students in American public schools behave better when leaders enforce consistent and serious consequences.

Yet, the notion of addressing criminal behavior with mercy persists. I’m all for mercy and compassion—from churches, from charitable organizations, and even from crime victims who have processed their grief and choose to offer forgiveness. But I am skeptical of those who would have the government replace criminal sanctions with mercy and compassion. Let’s have mercy on juvenile offenders and first-time offenders. Let’s be compassionate with convicted criminals who have paid their dues or show genuine evidence of having changed. But the history of Israel indicates laws must be enforced. We will always need law enforcement. Human nature requires it.

“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” Judges 17:6.

With this sentence, the author of Judges (probably Samuel) introduces a series of reports about the lawlessness that began to overwhelm the young nation of Israel.

What does it mean to have no king? It means no chief executive, no executive branch to enforce the law. No Department of Justice. No prosecuting attorneys. No police force. It means the government of the young nation was not organized enough to enforce the law or punish criminals. What happens if criminals are not punished? The same thing that happens if high school students are not punished: their behavior becomes a lot worse.

In Judges 17, a man named Micah creates his own shrine, hires a Levite to be his personal priest, and thinks God will be happy with him. Then Judges 18 begins with a familiar refrain: “In those days there was no king in Israel” Judges 18:1. The tribe of Dan was still struggling to find everyone homes in the Promised Land. When the Danites found Micah, they stole his shrine and his priest, then slaughtered the innocent Phoenician people of Laish (a city God did not order destroyed). In chapter 19, it gets worse.

“And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel” (Judges 19:1), that a crowd of men in the Benjaminite town of Gibeah attacked a woman “used her hard” until she died. Because there was no police force, her husband took it upon himself to spread word of this crime across the nation in a most provocative way: he dismembered her body and sent it out in twelve parts, one for each of the tribes of Israel. This action was so outrageous, it spawned a civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other eleven tribes. Things went from bad to worse—from badness to madness. How does Samuel sum it up? By repeating his refrain:

“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” Judges 21:25.

Thus ends the book of Judges.

Law enforcement officers are visible on the streets of Houston for the first time in several years, having been needed elsewhere. With no police on the highways, the driving on Houston’s fast and furious streets quickly descended to the level of criminal recklessness. The things I have seen in the last three years would take too long to report here. But here’s my point: I have greeted the growing police presence with genuine thankfulness. I find myself thanking God for them each time I see them. Yes, I will probably receive my share of citations. I have before. But I believe in law and order. We are a nation of laws. And with well-maintained, properly trained police forces, we will remain a nation of order.

God, bless us with good government, selfless and reliable executives, and law enforcement officers that are honest and strive to do their best day-in and day-out. Bless them and keep them safe.

ΑΩ

The Bible: an Epic Adventure About a Hero Who Rescues His People! Judges 15:11.

Samson Bringing Down the Temple of Dagon, by Gustave Dore, wood engraving, 1866.

Samson is the Bible’s superhero, with hair for a cape. This man can do incredible things. The Holy Spirit gave him super-human strength: “and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him” Judges 14:6. But Samson’s motives were poor. He was not so much a godly man as a vengeful man, explaining “As they did unto me, so have I done unto them” Judges 15:11. But God used Samson, even with his petty, vengeful ways: “for the Lord sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel” Judges 14:4.

And think of the things Samson did! He killed a lion by grabbing its upper and lower jaws and ripping the beast apart. He killed 30 Philistines just to steal their clothes. He killed a thousand Philistines by blunt force trauma, clubbing them to death one after another with a bone. He pulled up the huge gates and gate posts from the walled city of Gaza and carried them up the hill. He pushed over the columns of a temple and killed another three thousand Philistines. He captured 300 foxes, tied their tails together, fastened torches between the pairs, and set them loose to run through the Philistine’s fields and burn down all their crops.

–But wait! He captured 300 foxes? How? That’s not an amazing feat of strength. That is an amazing feat of hunting! What hunter could EVER locate, much less capture alive, 300 foxes? These are solitary, lonesome animals. Even people living in fox country don’t see more than one or two at a time. God must have SENT those 300 foxes to Samson, just as he sent thousands of animals to fill Noah’s Ark.

Imagine a book like this: it starts with a God who invents … well, EVERYTHING. Then we meet the first man and woman and they start a family. There is a talking snake—and later a talking donkey. Bad people, good people, and a race of giants. A flood that deletes everything and a universal do-over using only those drifting in the world’s first boat, a floating zoo. There is the Tower of Babel and the birth of languages. There is slavery in idol-worshipping Egypt, slavery that would soon be abolished through a series of outrageous plagues that pick off and destroy Egypt’s idols one by one. Rivers and seas are parted so a nation can walk through on dry land. A boy kills a giant with a slingshot. There are kings with staggering wealth. Dynasties and tragedies. Prophets who can predict the future. And a superhero that can fight a thousand men at one time.

This is an amazing work of literature. What a story! If you did not know it was non-fiction, it might sound like a Greek epic. But the Bible is different. Even if we cannot convince some people that the Bible is true, we can show it does not contain the glaring errors common in other ancient writings.

For example, professor Edward Blick of the University of Oklahoma notes that the sacred writings of the Hindus state that the moon is 50,000 leagues higher than the sun and shines by its own light, the earth is flat, triangular, and composed of seven layers, one of which is honey, another sugar, a third butter, and a fourth wine. And the layers of the flat earth balance on the heads of elephants.

All of that might have sounded plausible a thousand years ago. But technology has allowed us to observe the makeup of the earth. It is neither flat nor balanced on the heads of giant elephants. The Bible does not explain the laws of gravity or the forces that allow a moving sphere of a planet to maintain its position in orbit. But at the same time, the Bible does not contain glaring errors about astronomy, the origins of the universe, or other areas of science. This incredible, epic story—a historical record, really—reports the truth of God’s interaction with his people and the amazing miracles he has performed in order to win our love and affection.

Just as God sought a confrontation with the Philistines who were oppressing his people, God seeks an opportunity to deliver you and me. Do you need him to defeat the Philistines in your life? Cry out to him as the Hebrews did:

“Then the LORD said, ‘I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings’” Exodus 3:7.

God, the amazing author of our story, the hero who rescues his people, knows when you are suffering. He sees when you are oppressed. Beg him to rescue you and yours! And study the word he provided to set you free.

ΑΩ

HOW DO YOU RESIST TEMPTATION? Genesis 20:3-7.

My college philosophy professor had once been extremely overweight, but through a doctor’s care had shed the excess weight and has kept it off for decades. How? He would say, “just eat less!” To him, weight loss was a simple matter of willpower. If you need to lose weight, stop eating all the bad things. What could be easier? Reminds me of my dad’s simple advice:

“Weigh yourself every day. If the number goes up, eat less until it goes back down.”

Some people make it sound so easy. But it is not easy. For most people, willpower is the hardest thing we do. Temptation is hard, right? Saying no to French fries, ice cream, or hot donuts is hard!

Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Ain’t it the truth?

When Abraham met King Abimelech, he introduced his wife Sarah as his sister. Why? Sarah was a woman of unusual beauty. Abraham was afraid King Abimelech would kill him and take his wife. Rather than trust in God’s protection, Abraham lied and asked Sarah to lie and say she was his sister. Immediately, Sarah was recruited into the King’s harem. But months passed and the King never slept with Sarah. Then one night God came to the unbelieving king in a dream and spoke to him about Sarah:

“‘Behold, thou art a dead man because of the woman thou hast taken. For she is another man’s wife.’ But Abimelech had not come near her and he said, ‘Even she herself said, he is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this.’ And God said to him, ‘Yea, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart, for I also kept thee from sinning against me, for I would not let you touch her. Now give the man back his wife … and thou shalt live’” Genesis 20:3-7.

How do you resist temptation? One way to resist is for God to make the sin impossible.

“I also kept thee from sinning against me” Genesis 20:6.

Isn’t that amazing? If you are struggling with temptation, PRAY!  Ask God to keep you from sinning against him. He can do it.

I believe God will also train you to resist. You need to have self-control and willpower in this life. You also need to change your habits so the temptation crosses your path less often. Drive a different route. Go to different stores. Find a different hobby or a different way to spend your time. Make new friends. Steer clear of drive-thru lanes. Often you can make small changes to build fences* between you and the things that tempt you. Memorizing an applicable verse of scripture can also be a huge help. Start with 1 Corinthians 10:13.

And finally, never forget prayer: God has the power to keep you from sinning. Ask him to help you!

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*For more on the rabbinical notion of building “fences” to protect you from sin, consider https://dadsdailydevotionals.com/2023/08/10/dont-give-the-devil-a-foothold/.

One Bad Decision Can Change Your Entire Life. Genesis 13:10-11.

Image generated with A.I.

An old man rubs his eyes and looks toward the light. The sun is shining in through the rough opening of a cave. He blinks the sleep away and sits up. Somewhere a baby is crying. A second baby joins. For a minute he forgets where he is. He turns his bearded face toward the noisy children and sees his two daughters nursing babies without modesty.

“I’ve asked you to get a blanket,” he mumbles.

His oldest daughter laughs. “What do you care, he’s your son too.”

Suddenly everything comes flooding back to him, a slap in the face. The man is Lot. Once a rich cattle baron. Nephew to the great Abraham. Owner of thousands of cattle and tens of thousands of sheep and goats. Lot crawls up off the gritty floor of the cave, wipes the sand from his knees, and stumbles out into the blazing sunny morning. He talks to himself.

“I once sat in the gates of Sodom, one of the great men of the city. People respected me. Gold. Silver. Land. Power. Fame. I had it all. And now my woman’s a statue of salt in the desert and I’m raising two sons born of incest.” Lot looked to the sky. To Abraham’s God. “Why?” he asked, not even angry anymore. He no longer had the strength to rage over his fall from grace.

How had it come to this?

Lot looked toward the horizon. After smoldering for a year or two, the smoke had finally cleared where Sodom and Gomorrah once stood. Lot remembered hesitating, trying not to leave the city where he had become so wealthy. When he tried to convince his sons-in-law to flee with him, they laughed, refusing to take the old man seriously. Had he really lost his credibility? Even in his own home?

Finally, two angels took him and his wife and daughters by the hand and pulled them out of town.  But his wife kept looking back. Lot knew the look. It was the face she made when she wanted something she could not have. Suddenly she froze. God had turned her into a statue of salt, a creepy reminder of death and infertility: salt kills the grass that feeds the animals that made Lot wealthy.

Lot and his daughters had stumbled on into the mountains, making camp in a cave. They got him drunk, their own father. Blacked out. Too drunk to remember where those boys came from. Half-son, half-grandson, wholly illegitimate.

Then Lot remembered his last night in Sodom. The night he tried to protect God’s messengers by offering his daughters to sport the crowd. Those men would have killed the girls. Then the angels blinded the crowd. But it did not slow the men down. They were in a frenzy; even blind they wanted to have their way. But God confused them, and they could no longer find the door.

The valley stretching before Lot was desolate. It had been burned black in the beginning, but the rains had washed it a dull gray. Nothing grew. Acres and acres lost. The fertile valley where Lot’s herds once grew fat was gone, a rocky, alkali desert in its place. Nothing would grow there again, certainly not during Lot’s lifetime.

How had it come to this?

Suddenly he heard the voice of Abram all those years ago:

We have grown too wealthy, you and me. There is not room for both your herds and mine.

“‘Is not the whole land before thee? Separate yourself from me. If you will take the left hand, then I will go to the right. If you depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.’

And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere … even as the garden of the Lord … then Lot chose all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated” Genesis 13:9-11.

Lot shook his head at the memory, talking to himself:

“My uncle gave me first choice. It was his by right and by age. But he let me choose and I chose selfishly, putting riches before family. I dragged my wife and kids into a city no child should have to grow up in. I rubbed elbows with the city fathers and became one of them. Father to a city of godless animals who rape every traveler seeking shelter.”

In the distance a vulture soared on the hot, dry winds. There were too many vultures now. Too much death. Farmland where nothing would grow. A rich valley in ruins. Lot shook his head at the memory.

“I once thought this place was the garden of the Lord. As rich as the Nile Delta. As Eden. Now look at it. Rocks and rubble and sand and salt. A wasteland.”

Lot took a few steps toward the dirty cave that had become his home. In the gloomy shadows a baby cried. Suddenly the man turned back to the sun glaring off the rocky waste where his herds once grazed and sat down and wept.

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“Walk with the wise and you will become wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” Proverbs 13:20.

“Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals” 1 Corinthians 15:33.

“The righteous choose friends carefully” Proverbs 12:26.

Which is Better, to Win a War or to Prevent One? Joshua 22.

In the early morning hours of September 26, 1983, Soviet Lieutenant Stanislav Petrov received an alarm. Computers indicated the U.S. had launched five nuclear-armed missiles at Russian targets. The missiles would reach Russia in under twenty minutes—there was no time to waste. Petrov was to telephone the high command and immediately Soviet leadership would respond, probably by launching two dozen nuclear warheads at American targets and NATO targets across Europe. The U.S. would see the missiles coming and launch many, many more. In under an hour hundreds of millions would be dead and many millions more would die from radiation poisoning in the days that followed.  

But Petrov hesitated. Something did not feel right. Why would the U.S. launch only five missiles? Petrov knew Soviet intel had long ago determined a U.S. first strike would include far more than five missiles. In addition, the computer system involved was new. Petrov did not trust it. But his duty was to report the alarm. Instead, he began double-checking. Within a matter of minutes, he was able to determine it was a false alarm. Today people say that by preventing an all-out nuclear war, Petrov may have saved more lives than anyone in history.[1]

There is a similar story in the book of Joshua. When the nation of Israel began settling the Promised Land, ten and a half tribes would live east of the Jordan River, and two and a half tribes chose to remain west of the Jordan. When the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh moved into their lands west of the river, they erected an altar to serve as a sign that they were still part of Israel, in spite of being west of the Jordan.

The other tribes misunderstood, thinking the altar was for sacrifices—an egregious violation of God’s law and one likely to bring God’s wrath on all twelve tribes. Consequently, the tribes east of the Jordan assembled their soldiers and prepared for war. But first they sent a group to negotiate. Phinehas, son of the priest, and ten princes from the ten tribes approached the leaders of the western tribes:

“What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have built yourselves an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord?” Joshua 22:16.

The western tribes then explained they built the altar to ensure that the ten tribes east of the Jordan would not claim on some future date that those west of the Jordan were not a part of Israel. They built an altar not to perform their own sacrifices, “but that it may be a witness between us and you, and our generations after us … not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices, but it is a witness between us. God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the Lord our God that is before his tabernacle” Joshua 22:27-29.

How did Phinehas and the tribal leaders respond? They made peace. Cooler heads prevailed.

“And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them … and the thing pleased the children of Israel” Joshua 22:30,33.

Our books and movies glorify furious warriors, men swinging bloody swords in all directions. And some wars are must be fought: men like Hitler and Hirohito must be stopped.

But the real heroes in this world are those who can prevent war.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” Matthew 5:9.

I want to be called a son of God.

Sometimes it is better to prevent a war than to win one.

God, make us peacemakers. Calm our passions. Make us sober-minded people who hear all sides before we render judgment.

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[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/18/551792129/stanislav-petrov-the-man-who-saved-the-world-dies-at-77