DEVASTATION CAN LEAD PEOPLE TO JESUS. Psalm 83:13-18.

Good times can cause people to reflect on God and His goodness. But those with hearts encased in stone will not be persuaded by good times, no matter how amazing.

Yet God can reach anyone. He can even reach the skeptic and the hard-hearted. How? Through suffering. There is no resistance God cannot break, if that were His goal. And that is NOT His goal in every case. He allows some to become more hard-hearted throughout life, like the Pharaoh who bounced back after every plague, unwilling to consent to the release of the nation of Israel. But God finally humbled even him through the death of his firstborn and the firstborn of every house in Egypt.

And God can reach every atheist you have ever met; sometimes that happens through suffering. Pray for that person and God may change everything.

But is using suffering cruel? Not as cruel as what Jesus went through to save the skeptic. And not as cruel as eternity in hell. Remember, our suffering—even if it lasts a lifetime—is infinitely short compared to eternity in paradise.

In Psalm 83, the Psalmist prays God will deal with Israel’s cruel enemies. He asks God to do to them what He did to Midian, Sisera, and Jabin, “when they were destroyed at Endor and became manure for the ground” v.10.

“Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like straw before the wind. As fire burns a forest, … pursue them … terrify them with Your storm. Cover their faces with shame… Let them be … terrified forever …. May they know that You alone … are the Most High over all the earth” 13-18.

God’s enemies will be made like manure for the ground, scattered like tumbleweed or straw in the wind, burned up like a forest on fire, terrified by storms, covered in shame—and then they will know “that You alone… are the Most High over all the earth.”

God, remind us that suffering points people to Jesus. Teach us how to pray, but also how to help.

ΑΩ

“Let’s kill all the lawyers.”

Who are our heroes? Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and Nolan Ryan? Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk? Celebrity actors or “influencers”? Political and military leaders?

Let’s ask the question another way. Who is most critical to the survival of our society? We do not depend on entertainers for survival. Rich businessmen are only slightly more important. And how much do politicians and generals contribute during peacetime?

Let’s ask a final question: If you were going to remove one group of people from our nation in order to destroy it, who would it be? If America were a Jenga game, which wooden block could you pull out to make the entire nation collapse?

None of the above.

When a Shakespearean character leads a rebellion against King Henry, one of the rebels says, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”[1]  Why? Because the illiterate rebels—who murder anyone who can read—know that lawyers protect not only the rights of the people but the law itself.

Similarly, when God plans to overthrow the nation of Edom, He removes one group of people before the others. However, God does not name lawyers specifically, though some of them might be included in the category. (I bet you thought this was a post about lawyers, but it’s not. And I am certainly not suggesting lawyers are the heroes of society! Ha ha ha! I crack myself up. But no, that is not the point at all. That was never the point.)

Here are God’s words about the tribe descended from Esau, brother of Jacob. In the book of Obadiah, God pronounces judgment on Israel’s cousin:

“This is the Lord’s declaration—‘Will I not eliminate the wise ones of Edom and those who understand from the hill country of Esau?” Obadiah 8. 

The first thing God will do when He judges Edom is remove people with wisdom.

The Voice translation says, “Won’t I destroy all the wise men of Edom and MAKE ALL INSIGHT VANISH from Mount Esau?” 

You and I may never be famous athletes, celebrities, rich entrepreneurs, political leaders, or generals. But we can all be among the most important citizens in the nation, the wooden block on which the entire Jenga-like structure depends: people of wisdom.

How? Fear the Lord and study His word:

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

“For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” Proverbs 2:6.

“Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Psalm 119:105.

May we be like the men of Issachar, “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” 1 Chronicles 12:32.

God, grant us the wisdom to understand the times and know what our nation should do.

ΑΩ

[1] William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2.

You Can Only Harvest What You Plant. Jeremiah 44:22; Galatians 6:7.

You can’t plant seeds of nights and weekends surfing social media and harvest a crop of good grades. You can’t plant seeds of promiscuity and harvest a long and happy marriage. You can’t plant lazy seeds and harvest riches. You can’t plant smoking seeds and harvest healthy lungs. You can’t plant seeds of gluttony and harvest a healthy figure.

Preachers call this the “Principle of Sowing and Reaping.”

1) We reap WHAT we sow.

2) We reap MORE than we sow.

3) We reap LATER than we sow—(plant in spring and harvest in fall).

4) This principle applies to BOTH good seeds and bad.

5) If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly (GO ALL IN).

“Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7.

This principle operates around us all the time in ways we do not see. For example, the man who drives too fast will suffer more than just traffic tickets—his car will wear out faster. The man who uses his phone to sin (porn, gambling, fraud, sexting), may find his phone falls apart faster than everyone else’s.

I know of a man who used his car to commit adultery. One day God showed him a vision of a sword piercing the hood of the car and destroying the engine. He begged God to let him make it to the family event to which he was headed. But when he left that event for his illicit rendezvous, the car would not start. The repair cost him a fortune. The seeds he had been planting with the car were harvested with the car. (Isn’t God creative?) Today I read “the Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds… so your land has become a desolate ruin.” Jeremiah 44:22.

But let’s focus on the positive. Do you need improvements? Better grades? Better friends? Better health habits? To read more books? PLANT GOOD SEEDS. And KEEP PLANTING—the harvest comes later.

In my life, TWICE—I changed the seeds I was planting and the harvest came six months later—ON THE DOT.

Plant good seeds and be patient.

ΑΩ

HOW DO YOU KNOW GOD’S VOICE? Jeremiah 42:3,6.

Dancers and athletes work from their “core,” actors from their “center,” singers from the “diaphragm,” and golfers talk about swinging from the “thoracic spine,” or the “chest.” Hearing from God is like that: He speaks to a place deep down and it boils up from there, filling your whole body. God speaks in your bones, your soul, your cells, your blood—not just in your heart. In the best cases, He makes His voice so clear that to doubt it is sin—you simply KNOW that you cannot entertain doubt, that doing so would be wrong.

But when does God speak that clearly? Not often. He does not speak to me that clearly even once a year. And when He does, it comes as a surprise. God speaks at times I do not expect and about SUBJECTS I do not expect (I’ve lost count of the times I prayed about one thing and God spoke to me about another). He speaks the message He wants to speak at the time He chooses to speak. I always find the experience fresh and unexpected and raw and amazing. God is NEVER predictable.

I can never predict when God WILL speak. But I can predict when God will NOT speak…

He will not speak when my heart is unsettled and distracted, or when I am not open to every possibility. If I faced three job opportunities, for example, but was only willing to consider two of them, God may withhold His direction. He only speaks when I am ready to obey.

“Pray … that the Lord your God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do…. Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God” Jeremiah 42:3,6.

If you need to hear from God, check your heart. Are you ready to accept the answer—”whether it is pleasant or unpleasant”? If not, He will probably remain silent, waiting until your heart is ready to obey.

God, we trust You. Make us willing to obey, and help us to listen.

ΑΩ

BE READY FOR ANYTHING.

The worst thing that happened to the Israelites was the Babylonian captivity. Long after they were rescued from the Pharaoh and brought to the Promised Land, after David killed Goliath and God established David’s kingdom and Solomon’s temple—generations passed and the people got worse and worse. Remember how they left Egypt and built a golden calf? A thousand years later, they were still struggling with idol worship!

(Isn’t that just like us?)

Finally, the nation becomes so evil that God sends Babylonians to conquer them, destroy Solomon’s temple, burn Jerusalem, and cart the people off to Babylon as captives. That got their attention, and they asked Jeremiah to pray for them. They wanted some answers from God.

“Pray to the Lord your God on our behalf… that God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do…. WHETHER IT IS PLEASANT OR UNPLEASANT, WE WILL OBEY the voice of the Lord our God… so that it may go well with us. We will certainly obey!” Jeremiah 42:2-3,6.

These people are tired of fighting God, tired of running, tired of being captives, and desperate for some help from God. And notice verse 6: “Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey.”

That is the key. When I need answers from God, He never speaks until I am truly willing to obey—no matter what, whether pleasant or unpleasant. If I am secretly, stubbornly clinging to something I want, somewhere deep down inside, then God is silent. But when He and I both know I have released that and am ready to do anything for Him, THAT is when He speaks. Never before. (And even in this case, Jeremiah had to pray for ten days before God spoke.) NEVER GIVE UP IN PRAYER.

Take your questions to God—and ask Him to make your heart truly willing to do ANYTHING for Him, whether pleasant or unpleasant. THEN keep praying, and He will speak.

ΑΩ

NO HARD HEARTS. NO STIFF NECKS. 2 Chronicles 36:16.

Hebrews 3:15 says, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts….” Do you know what a hard heart is?

Similarly, Isaiah says the people have necks of iron and foreheads of brass. Isaiah 43:3-5. Imagine a mule with a neck of iron. His owner will have to beat him all day. The two phrases, hard hearts and stiff necks refer to the same thing—you must BE TEACHABLE. 

When God speaks, make up your mind to submit, to listen, and learn. Be ready to CHANGE.

Today I read a summary in 2 Chronicles. God kept speaking to Israel, sending prophet after prophet. 

“But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.” 2 Chronicles 36:16.

When Israel was stubborn and stiff necked, with hard hearts that could not be touched or moved by God, His PATIENCE RAN OUT.

Ask God to be patient. Confess those times you meant to change but forgot and went back… Repent of being distracted and failing to listen. Thank God for His patience and ask for more mercy.

Dear God, help me have a tender heart and a bent neck. Help me listen to you, remember what you say, and change my actions. I’m sorry for my failures. Thank you for your patience and your amazing grace. I know you love me! Please keep working on me, keep speaking to me, keep helping me to be more like you. I love you so much! Keep my heart right. Never let me be stubborn. Make me more humble and more teachable, every day. I love you!

ΑΩ

THE SABBATH AND THE QUARANTINE. 2 Chronicles 36:21.

As a baseball dad, I wrestle with the Sabbath.

How many times did we have a game scheduled at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday? Because we made a commitment to the teams, I encouraged Marshall to play, but he understood (and I explained it to him all over again each Sunday that it came up) that Mom would drive him, but his sister and I would not be going if going to the game required us to miss church.

Marshall could not have been sweeter about it. But it pricked my conscience so much that I’ve been reading a book about the relationship between baseball and the Sabbath: BAT, BALL & BIBLE: BASEBALL AND SUNDAY OBSERVANCE IN NEW YORK, by Professor Charles DeMotte.

The admittedly dull book contains interesting nuggets about the evolution of rules over time: (1)in the beginning, youths playing baseball on Sundays in Brooklyn could be arrested under a noise ordinance; (2)later professional teams could play, but not charge for tickets on Sunday; (3)then it was no pro baseball before noon on Sunday; (4)then no liquor sales at Sunday games; (5)professional women’s teams were allowed to play and were accompanied by uniformed brass bands—but again, no games on Sunday; (6)the fledgling National League prohibited Sunday games, although the American League had no such scruples, etc.

DuMotte explains that New York, particularly Brooklyn (nicknamed the “City of Churches”), observed the strict “Puritan Sabbath”—no opera, no theater, no movies, no blood sports, no ball sports, no fishing, no hunting, no horseracing, no gambling, no drinking, and certainly no work.

But a growing influx of European immigrants, chief among them the Germans, brought with it the more relaxed “Continental Sunday.” The people began doing more things on Sunday, and, as is the way with government, the laws began to change to better reflect the wishes of the people. Sabbath restrictions loosened across New York—and with it, the nation—until finally one clergyman complained no one was sure what to do about the Sabbath anymore: “Now the law is so confused, that one’s conscience does not know what to do.”

That is where I find myself. What is this fourth commandment, and how am I supposed to uphold it?

Yesterday I posed the question on Facebook “which commandment is broken the most?” and no one mentioned #4. Could the oversight be a blind spot—are we so accustomed to it, we don’t give it any thought?

To this day, Orthodox Jews won’t turn on a light or start a car engine on the Sabbath, because they are forbidden to light a fire. I’ve never considered such a strict application of the rule. But I do sometimes wonder how God would have me “remember the Sabbath day,” and how exactly I should “keep it holy.”

God commanded Israel to observe two kinds of Sabbaths. The people seem to have taken seriously the best-known Sabbath, the prohibition against working on the seventh day of the week. But for 490 years they ignored the other Sabbath rule: do not plant crops in the seventh year. After six years of crops, they were to let the land rest during the seventh, trusting God to provide for them as “volunteer wheat” and other crops grew from seeds that had fallen the year before. For 490 years, they disobeyed, working the land during 70 alternating years in which they should have allowed it to remain fallow. In 2 Chronicles 36, the Israelites were taken into Babylonian captivity.

“Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon…. So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord through Jeremiah.” 2 Chronicles 36:21.

“So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest.” The Hebrews in captivity may have been in turmoil, but I like that phrase: “the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest.”

We live in a culture that no longer gives much thought to keeping the Sabbath day holy. Now it’s: Sunday-Fun Day! I understand the expression. And we all have fun on our weekends.

But during 2020, I remember wondering whether one of God’s purposes during the quarantine might be that He wanted the land and the people to enjoy His Sabbath rest.

God, grant us wisdom as we seek to honor You and to keep the sabbath day holy. Show us what that means under the New Covenant, and remind us to walk in Your Grace.

ΑΩ

FIRE INSURANCE. Matthew 7:24.

In 1942, Winston Churchill made interesting remarks when the British had General Rommel’s Nazi army on the run in Egypt.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

We think the war is over when a sinner gets saved. Have you noticed that when we share stories of salvation, the stories often end when someone “asks Jesus into their heart”?

But that is not the end of the story. 

To paraphrase Churchill, giving your life to Christ is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. 

That is, giving your life to Christ is the START.  Think of it this way: when you are born again, are you born an adult? No.  You are a “babe in Christ” according to 1 Corinthians 3:1. Salvation is only the beginning.

Yet most Christians do little more. Are you reading the Word? Studying? Worshipping? Praying? Sharing? Singing? Teaching?  Are you growing in Christ? Or are you content to remain in diapers, eating strained carrots and apple sauce forever? “Solid food is for the mature,” Hebrews 5:14.

Salvation—cynically referred to as a “Get Out of Hell Free Card,” or as “Fire Insurance”—is only the BEGINNING.  In fact, it is unfortunate we make so much of it. God never called anyone to an isolated, single decision. He calls us to a WHOLE NEW LIFE.  Being a disciple is a calling to be different every day—forever. Jesus preached sermons. Do you listen to them? God gave us 66 books. Are you studying them?

“The Christian life is hard work. Christianity involves systematically striving to implement the truths of God’s Word into your life. Spiritual depth and maturity do not come without consistent effort … Jesus knew, even as He was concluding [the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7], that some of His listeners would leave and never apply a word they had heard.”[1]

Is that you? Are you too busy for the Word, or are you working to apply it to every decision you make?

“Jesus said that a man who takes the words of God and builds them into his life is like a wise man who builds his house on a rock” (Henry Blackaby paraphrasing Matthew 7:24).  Are you building your house on a solid foundation? Do you “take the words of God and build them into your life”? 

Salvation alone was never the point. Jesus does not just want your heart.  He wants your WHOLE LIFE! Giving Him your heart is only the beginning.

ΑΩ

[1] Henry and Richard Blackaby, EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, p351.

THE FINISH LINE. 2 Timothy 4:7.

Beginnings are exciting.  Even kids who hate school can sense the excitement of back-to-school time.  We used to enjoy meeting our new teachers and seeing who would be in our class.  The beginning of things can be fun. When the gun fires and you take off in a race!  Or when you show up for your first day at the new job!  Or what about young love? Those early days of dating and getting to know each other are filled with an excitement you may never experience quite the same way again.

New is exciting.  When I was a little boy running races, those early strides were effortless, absolutely EFFORTLESS. I was flying, a bird on the wind soaring with ease—for about a hundred yards.  And then effort kicked in, and maybe a touch of asthma, and suddenly it no longer felt like flying. Imagine being a jockey in a horse race: you’re riding a thousand-pound beast around the track over 40 miles an hour–RAIN OR SHINE. The horse RICH STRIKE won the Kentucky Derby–against 80-to-1 odds–by coming from the back of the pack on a rainy, muddy track. In the winner’s circle, both horse and rider were caked in brown mud. They were the muddiest pair out there, because they came from behind. And that, my friends, is how you WIN.

Life is like that.  It is an endurance race.  As they say, life is a marathon, not a sprint. No one cares how amazing your wedding is if you end up divorced.  It’s not getting married that matters, but STAYING MARRIED.  It’s not starting college that matters, but finishing college and earning a degree.  It’s not receiving a job offer that matters, but being able to stay there long enough to make a difference and retire one day, proud of your years of service. 

Paul said it well. In the final chapter of his final letter, he seems to have known he was near the end. Are these not the greatest of all “famous last words”?

“I am already being poured out like a drink offering. The time of my departure is near. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith” 2 Timothy 4:6-7. 

I quite deliberately chose to echo Paul’s words when I began my father’s obituary by writing, “Ernie Wales finished the race on a sweltering day…”[1].  He certainly did.  Daddy was an excellent finisher.  He simply put his head down and kept going.  In everything he did in life, he was a “grinder.” He never, ever quit. He had no quit in him. And here’s the secret: he never quit because he never thought about it. You don’t consider giving up. A good marriage never hears the word “divorce.” The thought should not enter your mind. If you want to win a race, you never take your eyes off the finish line.  

Serving the Lord well means serving Him faithfully—in the beginning, when things are exciting—and later, when things are boring, difficult, or even scary. Paul says it is a fight.  It’s a good fight, but make no mistake: it is a fight. FIGHT the laziness that tells you to skip Bible reading just this once. FIGHT the shyness that would rather not see people. FIGHT the urge to skip prayers or skip church or whatever else.  Fight … and finish the race.

ΑΩ

[1] https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/charles-wales-obituary?id=52598696#obituary

Middle Management. Jeremiah 38:20.

When a teacher wants to become a principal, she seeks a masters degree in middle management. The degree may be officially named “Educational Administration,” or something similar, but the nickname among teachers is “mid-management degree.”

The challenge of working in middle management is that you are trapped in the middle. 

You are not a top boss, like a president or chief executive officer.  And you are not on the bottom, like those employees who have no supervisory duties. Being in the middle means being battered by problems from all sides.  Consider the Assistant Principal of a high school: all day long he handles the most difficult students, he must address the problems created by any teachers who neglect their duties, he takes phone calls from angry parents, and he has the constant pressure of keeping the head principal happy.  The AP gets it from all sides. That is middle management: being trapped in the middle.

King Zedekiah was something of a middle manager—an odd thing to say about a king. But Zedekiah, had been appointed King of Judah by the much more powerful King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 

King Zedekiah had to keep Nebuchadnezzar happy.  Meanwhile, his entire nation was being forced to move 600 miles to Babylon. Zedekiah was trapped between pleasing the new boss, pleasing his advisors, pleasing his people, keeping Babylonians at bay, and pacifying the Judeans who had fled to the Chaldeans. King Zedekiah was trapped in the middle, squeezed in a way that only middle managers can understand. He was getting it from all sides. You can tell by his contradictory decisions:

When his advisors want to kill Jeremiah, King Zedekiah says “he’s in your hands” and they toss the prophet into a cistern where he will starve. When a court official questions Zedekiah about that decision, he tells the man to take 30 men and rescue the prophet. Then when Jeremiah talks to the king, the king explains his fears and how he feels pulled in different directions.  Jeremiah gives him the only advice you will ever need:

“Obey the voice of the Lord so it may go well for you and you will live” Jeremiah 38:20.

You can’t please everyone.  It is not possible. Sometimes you will find yourself trapped in the middle, as if you were a rope and everyone around you is having a tug-of-war. It is not unusual to be trapped between two, three, or even more parties, each of them pushing you to make a different choice.  What can you do?

“Obey the voice of the Lord” Jeremiah 38:20.

There is no other way to survive when you are trapped by the conflicting expectations of people who are all seeking different things. Seek God. Let Him lead you. And study His word so you will have wisdom. The Bible is so practical, with answers for every question and solutions for every problem.

ΑΩ