Ecclesiastes is the Book for Those Overwhelmed With Life’s Disappointments. Psalm 137.

What do you do when life overwhelms you?

Even the happiest people can be overwhelmed with grief. Things happen. Circumstances can blindside you. You may be the most hopeful, optimistic person, and suddenly you wake up with only darkness in your soul. It is awful.

When the children of Israel were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and dragged away to Babylon, they were stricken with grief. They had lost their homeland. What did they have to live for? Most would never see Israel again. They spoke a foreign language, worshipped a foreign God, and were treated like second-class, foreign people. They had lost their homes, their jobs, and their land. They had lost their status. Someone wrote a song about it, and it is one of the darkest things in scripture. In fact, when someone calls Ecclesiastes a “dismal book,”[1] I wonder what they think of Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows … we hung our harps.
For there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
If I do not remember you …

O daughter of Babylon, …
How blessed will be the one who repays you …
How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock. Psalm 137:1-9.

This song is simple.

Verse one: We were too depressed to sing when we got to Babylon. We hung up our instruments and gave up music.

Verse two: We are loyal to Jerusalem. We would rather have a mute tongue and fingers that can’t play a note than sing songs for the Babylonians. 

Verse three: In fact, the thing that would make us happy would be to grab the children of the Babylonians by the ankles and smash their skulls on the rocks. Then maybe we would have something to sing about.

Is this a dark song? Yes. God is using the Babylonians to punish Israel’s idolatry—and it is working. The people are miserable. But revenge is not the answer (nor is it an option, considering how badly the captives are outnumbered). The Babylonian captivity was God’s will, and those who even half-listen to the prophets recognize that.

But what can they do about their overwhelming, music-killing grief?

Ecclesiastes has the answer. Solomon’s book—written about 400 years before the Babylonian Captivity—begins by admitting that life can be extremely hard. Here are just a few of those hard truths: Life is not fair, random chance hurts even good people, everyone sins, governments are corrupt, education and wisdom can actually increase your sorrow, money never satisfies, nothing you achieve will ever be remembered, and when you die you will be forgotten.

Those are hard truths.

But Solomonic Wisdom includes the answer: CHOOSE JOY. Rejoice even in your circumstances. Even if you are overwhelmed. Even if you have lost your loved ones, your homeland, and your dreams. Though your dream may never come true, you can choose joy. You can remain miserable there in Babylon, living out your days as a foreigner, a suffering second-class citizen. Or you can choose hope. Solomon encourages gratitude and making the choice to enjoy life. I agree. (Do you want to stay miserable?)

  1. Enjoy your work! (Ecclesiastes 2:24).
  2. Enjoy your spouse and family! (9:9).
  3. Enjoy your food and drink! (8:15).
  4. Enjoy your youth! (11:9).
  5. Enjoy your old age! (11:8).
  6. Enjoy your prosperity! (7:14).
  7. Enjoy your struggles! (2:10).

Dear God, sometimes it hurts so much. Life can be so hard. So discouraging. There are hard days. Give us the wisdom and obedience to choose joy, to pray prayers of gratitude, to see the good you do for us each day. We know there is selfishness in us that can enjoy wallowing in grief. Help us choose the selflessness of joy and gratitude.

AΩ.

[1] The Awe of God: The Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life, by John Bevere. This is an excellent book about the fear of God—a message we need now more than ever. I hope you will read it. But I disagree with Bevere’s reading of Ecclesiastes on page 5. It is not a “dismal book” but one bursting with hope, though a hope that may appeal most strongly to readers who have wrestled with the darkest truths of life.  

Don’t Jump the Gun. Genesis 23:16.

One Thanksgiving Day, a single man with nowhere to celebrate the holiday was invited to eat with Debbie’s family. During the meal, the Holy Spirit spoke to him: This is the woman you are going to marry. Mark barely knew Debbie—they had never dated. The voice he heard stunned him, like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky. Did Mark immediately tell Debbie what he had heard? Or did he ask for her hand that evening? Of course not. Mark did not jump the gun.

Instead, he followed the customary protocol, saying to himself, Well, if I’m going to marry her, I guess I better start dating her. And he did. Today the two have been married almost thirty years.

Jump the Gun refers to a runner who begins a race before the starter pistol is fired. We call it a “false start.”

If someone says “Don’t jump the gun,” what they mean is don’t begin things in such a hurry that you make mistakes.

God promised to give Abraham the Promised Land, or what would become known as Israel. God repeated that promise five times, in Genesis chapters 12, 13, 15, 17, and 26. For years, Abraham lived in the Land of Canaan, land he knew God had promised to give to him and his descendants. But Abraham lived as nomad, a migrant who, though fantastically wealthy, actually owned no real estate of his own.

Then Sarah died. Suddenly Abraham needed a piece of land for a burial. What should he do? Should he attack the locals? He had proven that he had the men and the strength to win battles. But Abraham did not attack anyone.

Instead, he went to the locals, told them he needed to bury his wife, and paid the asking price. Abraham followed the local customs and protocol. Though God promised him the land around him as far as the eye could see, Abraham did not jump the gun.

Abraham first asked for a place to bury his dead. The locals answered that he was a prince among them, a great man, and they would give him any property he wanted. Abraham bowed down and asked for the Cave of Machpelah, currently owned by a man named Ephron—and Abraham insisted he would pay the full price.

Ephron then told Abraham “I will give you the cave and the field that surrounds it. Let me give it to you right now in front of these witnesses” Genesis 23:11.

Abraham insisted that he would pay for the field.

Ephron answered “My lord, listen to me. The land is worth 400 shekels of silver. But what is that between me and thee? Bury your dead” Genesis 23:15.

Ephron says take the field for free; why quibble about the price. But commentators say Ephron actually named a high price, probably double what the field and cave were worth, because as is customary even today, he expected Abraham to reply with a counteroffer of perhaps 100 shekels, and the two might then settle on 200 shekels. However, Abraham went off script when he took the “high-ball” offer.

“And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named … four hundred shekels of silver … And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah” Genesis 23:16,19.

Even when God has promised you something, you must follow the rules, the customs, the protocol. Or, to be more precise, you must follow the leading of the Holy Spirit—and in my opinion, the Holy Spirit will usually guide you to follow the customs and protocol of the world around you.

Just as there is a right tool for every job, so also there is a right way to approach every goal.

When God gives us a goal or destination, he will also give us a plan to get there. That plan will often mean following the commonly accepted path. For example, if God leads you into the law, that path will require law school and a passing score on the bar exam. If God leads you into medicine, that goal will require medical training and passing scores on various state licensing exams. If God calls you to preach, he will also call you to education, training, and ordination. There are customs, protocols, and proper ways to achieve goals.

Don’t look for shortcuts.

Put in the work.

AΩ.

The ‘Good Enough’ Work Ethic. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.

Image: the cockpit of an airbus.

The World War Two generation understood how to fight to the death. They knew what it was to live through a world at war, and to fear how things would end up, should the Allies lose. Life for the WWII generation (often called “The Greatest Generation”) must have been almost unbearably serious.

But when the war ended, the children of the returning soldiers embraced the opposite: relaxation. Young people in the postwar period, ‘Hippies’ many called themselves, wanted to “Turn on, Tune In, and Drop Out,” to use Timothy Leary’s 1966 phrase. That is, they wanted to avoid responsibilities, work as little as possible, make their own decisions, and relax. Everything was groovy. Until it wasn’t. Their approach left many of them angry, hurting, and broke. The women, particularly, suffered from the way the era’s so-called ‘free love’ benefitted only the men.[1]

The drug-enhanced Hippie attempt at peace, love, and happiness through different (usually much lower) expectations, was an act of naked rebellion against the brutally hard work many of their parents had done to win the war. Young people of the 1960s revolted against the high expectations thrust upon them by their parents.

What ethic did they embrace instead of hard working excellence? “Do Your Own Thing.” The trouble with a Do-Your-Own-Thing ethic is that you usually do a lot less. No one achieves as much alone as with a coach. And doing your own thing means coaching yourself into mediocrity.

Thus, everyone does everything halfway. Show up late. Leave early. Do almost all of a task. When the boss asks if you finished, you answer, “pretty much.”

Do you do that? Do you look at a task that is a bit more than half complete, shrug, and say, “Good enough!” If so, you might have been right at home as a young person in the 60s and 70s.

The problem, of course, is that all tasks should be done well, and some tasks require perfection. Can a fire fighter say, “that’s good enough,” when a housefire is mostly extinguished? Can a surgeon say, “that’s good enough” when he knows he left part of an infected appendix inside the patient? What if the pilots on a passenger jet decided there was no need to run through the pre-flight checks the day you boarded the plane? After all, they ran those checks yesterday?

The Bible does not advise us to ‘do our own thing.’ Instead, the Bible offers two bits of counsel in our approach to work.

First, scripture counsels us to do our best, to do excellent work.

Second, scripture counsels us to react with grace toward ourselves and others when we fail in our pursuit of excellence.

I want to counsel you to go far beyond “Do Your Own Thing” or the “it’s Good Enough” ethic. Consider these people in the Bible who thought “Close Enough” would be acceptable:

Adam and Eve obeyed God for a while, perhaps hundreds of years. But then one day they did not, and were banished from the garden, Genesis 3:24.

Moses was told to speak to a rock for water, which he did, but he also struck the rock in anger and God punished him, Numbers 20:11.

Saul knew to eliminate the Amalekites, and he did—mostly—but he spared the king and some plunder and God promised to end his reign, 1 Samuel 15:8-26.

Good Enough is often not.

We must pursue excellence.

Consider Solomon’s construction of the temple. He obeyed the Lord in every point. This is a case of not only solid construction, but beautiful, artistic design. The large basin “stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east” 2 Chronicles 4:4. The record goes on to describe numerous items built of gold and brass, arranged in all kinds of beautiful designs, including two wreaths bearing 400 carved pomegranates, 2 Chronicles 4:13.

“Thus the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished, and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated … and sacrificed sheep, and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude” 2 Chronicles 5:1,6.

And God showed his approval by filling the new temple with his glory:

“Then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God” 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.

Solomon did excellent work and God approved it.

But what if you fail? If you fail, there is grace.

Christians should strive for excellence. But we must forgive ourselves and others when we do not achieve excellence. We must extend grace to both ourselves and others. We are imperfect.

“Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you” Ephesians 4:32.

“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” Hebrews 4:16.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” Romans 8:1.

Don’t be a slacker. Don’t do things half-way. Don’t adopt a ‘Good Enough’ or ‘Do Your Own Thing’ ethic. Instead, strive for excellence. Work hard and achieve something great.

When you fail as you will, forgive yourself, as you must.  

AΩ.

[1] “Men’s freedom was often at the cost of women’s” –from https://www.museumofyouthculture.com/hippies/

Dust in the Wind. Jeremiah 47:6.

Image: The 1951 Golden Anniversary photo of Carl and Gertie Stadtlander, my wife’s great-grandparents who lived so recently, historically speaking, yet about whom we know so little–and our children or grandchildren will know nothing according to Ecclesiastes 1:11.

The rock band KANSAS recorded a perfect little song in 1977. “Dust in the Wind” is slow and quiet, evoking just the right mood for the bleak, nearly hopeless words. Here are a few of the lyrics:

Dust in the wind

Everything is dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind.

Same old song

Just a drop of water in an endless sea.

All we do

Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.

Now don’t hang on.

Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.

It slips away

And all your money won’t another minute buy …

All we are is dust in the wind.

Dust in the wind

Everything is dust in the wind

In the wind.

These lyrics are Biblical. There is truth in the notion that our lives are small, as insignificant as a single grain of sand on an eternal beach, a drop of water in an endless sea.[1] The Bible says that one generation passes away and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever, Ecclesiastes 1:4.

The Bible says no one will remember you (Ecclesiastes 1:11), and your life is meaningless.

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” Ecclesiastes 1:2.

You are infinitely small and all the greatest ups and downs of your entire life—the whole dramatic saga—is nothing. Totally meaningless. A dewdrop on a spiderweb. A vapor, a puff of smoke that disappears in an instant, James 4:14.

…But there is more to the story!

Consider this record of Israel and its perennial foe, the Philistines. After centuries of war, God pronounced judgment on the Philistines. Floods will come. Waters will rise. The Philistine men shall cry and the people howl. The Lord will spoil the Philistines. Baldness will come upon Gaza, Jeremiah 47:2-5.

Jeremiah then directly addresses the sword of God’s judgment:

“O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard. Rest and be still” Jeremiah 47:6.

There is something amazing going on here. God—the God who created the entire universe, who put so many stars in space that they outnumber the grains of sand on the earth—is paying attention. To Israel.

But we expect that. Israel is God’s chosen people. And specific people in Israel—Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon, Daniel and Jeremiah—we expect God to take a special interest in them. But is God interested in everyone? Is he interested in you and me, people who will never be famous, not even in our own generation, much less in generations to come? Does God pay attention to “the little people”? To those of us whose lives are as small and forgettable as dust in the wind?

Yes. First, the family trees in the Bible prove how deep God’s interest is in the little people. Look at all the seemingly insignificant people listed. And there are over two dozen of these lengthy, difficult-to-read genealogies in the Bible. They rarely interest modern readers. If we read them, it is usually out of a sense of duty. But these names interest God. These are actual people, people like you and me. Regular folks whose lives will be forgotten for the most part. But God has not forgotten them or the role they played.

The Bible also indicates God’s interest in groups of people, or ‘corporate persons.’

That is, throughout the Bible God speaks directly to and about hundreds of cities, states, nations, churches, families, and people groups. For example, in Revelation, Jesus dictates letters to each of seven key churches in modern-day Turkey. He knows their strengths and weaknesses, their past and their future, and he gives them instructions about what to do next. These letters in Revelation come directly from the Mind of God—who has been paying attention.

And messages like that are peppered throughout the entire Bible. God is clearly paying attention to EVERYONE, not just to Israel. Often God speaks to cities, nations, and kingdoms with messages of judgment. Some repent, such as the hundreds of thousands in Nineveh who responded to Jonah’s reluctant preaching. Others do not repent, such as the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. But the point is, God is watching, paying attention to the short lives of people on earth—people whose existence amounts to no more than dust in the wind.

At other times God speaks not of judgment but of blessing. “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession” Isaiah 19:25. Again, God is paying attention.

God is watching. In fact, God seems to be fascinated by our otherwise tiny, insignificant lives.

And if the God of the universe—the only One whose opinion matters—finds our lives worthy of his attention, then our lives matter. We matter very much. If we matter to God, then we matter absolutely. We are not insignificant. You are not merely dust in the wind. You are a unique manifestation of God’s creativity. He made you special and he is more interested in you than you will ever comprehend. His love for you is infinite.

The first time I played the role of Jesus on stage, I would await my entrance while standing off stage in costume holding my infant daughter, thinking more about the years of her future than the next few minutes of my own. My entrance would then happen during a large crowd scene. The people would greet Jesus shouting “Hosanna!” and I remember embracing some of them and saying (in a voice the audience could not hear), “God is excited about you!”

I said that because I knew God looked at them the way I had just been looking at my own child—how could he be anything other than excited about them?

God pays attention to you. He is fascinated with every detail of you!

“He numbers the hairs on your head” Luke 12:7.

“He sees your ways and counts every step” Job 31:4.

“He holds your right hand” Psalm 73:23.

He does not take his eyes off of you, Job 36:7.

“He saves your tears in a bottle” Psalm 56:8.

“He examines you every morning” Job 7:18.

“He longs for the creation his hands have made” Job 14:15.

He cheers, sings, shouts, and rejoices over you. He calms you. Zephaniah 3:17.

You are not merely dust in the wind. You are dust in the wind, but Christ died for you. He loves you. He thinks of you. He is excited about you.

God is excited about you!

AΩ.

[1] One writer compares the “Dust in the Wind” lyrics to specific passages from Ecclesiastes here: https://www.bigspringsurc.com/dust-in-the-wind-and-ecclesiastes/

Diminish Not a Word. Jeremiah 26:2.

It is easy to imagine the prophets as charismatic heroes, as if they were celebrities or movie stars. I picture them something like Charlton Heston playing Moses in the old TEN COMMANDMENTS movie. In my mind’s eye, each prophet—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others—is a great orator, a handsome, bearded man standing on a rock, robes and hair blowing in the wind, preaching some powerful message to the cowering crowds, before going home to enjoy a nice meal and put his feet up.

But it was not that way. These men lived the hardest of lives. Not unlike most preachers today–what may look like fame and good times is actually extremely stressful and filled with heartbreak, both your own and that of the people around you. (Imagine the hospital visits, the deaths, and the parade of funeral after funeral.)

Jeremiah was called the “Weeping Prophet,” a fitting name for the author of a book entitled “Lamentations.” Jeremiah’s life was extremely hard and the unwavering message of judgment he delivered over and over for forty years would have taken its toll on any man. God told Jeremiah to pronounce judgment on the cities of Judah:

“Speak unto all the cities of Judah … all the words that I command thee to speak to them. Diminish not a word” Jeremiah 26:2.

Diminish not a word. That means, leave nothing out. Omit nothing. Speak every hard word, no matter how much it will upset your audience. Speak it.

That is a hard command. But Jeremiah obeyed. And as soon as Jeremiah began prophesying, the people turned on him, ready to kill him. “All the people took him, saying, ‘Thou shalt surely die!’” Jeremiah 26:8. But before they could put him to death, Jeremiah bravely defended himself:

“As for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me as seems good and meet to you. But know for certain, if you put me to death, you shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof” Jeremiah 26:14-15.

Can you imagine how difficult it was for Jeremiah? How hard would it be to always be hated, to always be given unpleasant messages to speak? Jeremiah obeyed God. He lived courageously. More importantly, Jeremiah lived SELFLESSLY. He did what God told him to do. He did not try to please himself, or make things easier for himself. He spoke the hard truth just as God gave it to him.

May we do the same.

Dear God, give us the courage to speak the truth. May we be deeply committed to the truths of your word. May we love you more than the applause or approval of men. Remind us that we serve an AUDIENCE OF ONE. We want to please you, honor you, glorify you. Nothing else matters. Use us. May we speak your truth, and “diminish not a word.”

AΩ.

The Awe of God. 1 Samuel 6:19-20.

Israel disobeyed God by bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield. Israel lost the battle to the Philistines, and they lost the Ark of the Covenant too.

The idol-worshipping enemies of God then brought the Ark to their own temple. The next morning their idol, Dagon, had fallen down. They stood him up. On the second day, Dagon had fallen and his head and hands had broken off. The Philistines wisely left the Ark where it was. But God struck the Philistines with illnesses and death. So they moved the Ark to a different city—and the illnesses came with it. “They had emerods in their secret parts” 1 Samuel 5:9. God struck the Philistines with hemorrhoids. Can you imagine?  

Eventually, the Philistines moved the Ark again and again, from Ashdod to Gath to Ekron. And the Lord struck the people of each city, “the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction, and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts” 1 Samuel 5:9.

Finally, the Philistines were finished playing with Israel’s good luck charm. They sent the Ark home on a cart pulled by two cows—and the cows, who left behind their nursing calves, miraculously pulled the Ark back to Israel.

So God rescued the holy Ark and brought it home to Israel. What did his people do with this sacred box that belonged in the tabernacle? Well, they opened it up and looked inside, what else?

Did they treat the Ark with the respect it deserved? No.

Did they treat the things of God with the appropriate fear of God? No.

“And God smote the men of Beth-Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-Shemesh said, ‘Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?” 1 Samuel 6:19-20.

How many men died because they failed to respect the Ark of the Lord? Fifty thousand, 50,070. (That is, 50,000 Hebrews died. We don’t know how many Philistines died of severe hemorrhoids and whatever other pestilence they may have suffered.)

But to lose over 50,000 Israelites because they wanted a peek into the sacred things of God? That seems ridiculous. When will these people learn? As a matter of fact, Israel lost only 30,000 men in the battle in which the Philistines captured the Ark. So they lost almost twice as many men when the Ark was miraculously returned as they had lost when they fumbled the Ark in the first place.

But why did fifty thousand, three score and ten men die? What is so wrong about looking into the Ark?

They failed to have the proper fear of God. They failed to reverence God. Even after the miracles in Egypt and countless other lessons about God’s holiness, the men of Israel once again began to take everything about God too casually.

We must take God seriously. We must fear him. Revere him. Honor him.

We should come to God. We should love him. We should “Come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy” (Hebrews 4:16), but we must come to God with reverence.

I think of a cliff. It is exciting to stand on the edge of a cliff. You do not need to be afraid of the cliff. You can walk up to the edge and look over. But you absolutely better respect that cliff and the danger that it represents. To fear God is to maintain both the excitement about the astounding view—you are drawn to him and all that knowing him represents—but you are also careful, respectful, and cautious. God is holy and other and higher than we are, and we must remember that and fear that.

“When we see Him face-to-face in all His awesome holiness and blazing glory, it will seem incredible to us that we ever had a casual thought in relation to him” Joy Dawson.[1]

Dear God, teach us to love you more and to fear you appropriately! Startle us and fill us with the AWE of God.

AΩ.

[1] As quoted in The Awe of God: the Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life, by John Bevere.

Heroes and Villains. Jeremiah 42:19-22.

Old western movies employed the hat-color device: good guys wore white hats and bad guys wore black hats. There is even a Wikipedia page discussing the trope.[1] But the reality is not always so simple, particularly in the Bible. These are real people, not fictional characters, and the heroes seem to let us down at least as often as the villains surprise us by doing something good.

Let’s dig into this story from Jeremiah and see where it takes us.

When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered the land of Israel, he installed Zedekiah as a puppet king to run things in his absence. Later Zedekiah was blinded and thrown in a Babylonian dungeon, and Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah his new vassal, giving him the title of ‘governor.’ Soon someone discovered the existence of a secret plot, and brought the intel to Governor Gedaliah.

“‘Dost thou know … the Ammonites have sent Ishmael … to slay thee? But Gedaliah … believed them not” Jeremiah 40:14.

Gedaliah felt safe. It’ll never happen to me, he thought. Then Johanon (we’ll call him Joe) offered to quietly assassinate Ishmael before he could hurt the governor. But the governor said no.

Several months later, Ishmael, encouraged by the Ammonites and possibly motivated by his royal blood (he was from the line of David), “arose and smote Gedaliah … with the sword, and slew him” Jeremiah 41:2.

Ishmael also killed everyone with Gedaliah. The next day, the black-hat wearing Ishmael took his bloodlust even further, killing 70 men traveling to Jerusalem for worship. The Bible does not record why Ishmael killed them. He seems to have committed another seventy murders for no reason other than to steal the money and food the men were carrying. Israel under Babylon was the Wild West—complete lawlessness. Total anarchy. Exactly what happens when a society lacks an executive to enforce its laws.

At this point, Joe returns to the narrative. He wants to kill Ishmael even more than he did before. He rounds up a posse (probably wearing white hats) and they pursue Ishmael. But Ishmael escaped to the Ammonites.

Joe failed to prevent the murder of Gedaliah, and then he failed to avenge it. Now Joe and those with him are afraid they will be punished by Nebuchadnezzar, “because Ishmael had slain Gedaliah … whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land” Jeremiah 41:18.

Fearing for their lives, Joe and those with him seek out the prophet Jeremiah, begging him to pray and ask God what they should do:

“We beseech thee … pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant … that the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do” Jeremiah 42:2-3.

Jeremiah says he will pray for them and he will tell the people exactly what God says. In response, they assure Jeremiah they will obey God.

“Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee” Jeremiah 42:6.

For ten days God was silent. Finally, he spoke to Jeremiah, and the prophet returned to Joe and all the people with God’s answer:

“Thus sayeth the Lord, ‘If you will abide in this land, then I will build you up, and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up … Be not afraid of the king of Babylon … be not afraid of him … for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. And I will shew mercies unto you” Jeremiah 42:9-12.

(Sounds good so far, right? Stay in Israel, don’t be afraid of the Babylonians, and God will protect you.)  There’s more:

God says if the people do not obey, and if they insist on running off to Egypt to escape the Babylonians, they will be punished. “So shall it be with the men who set their faces to go into Egypt and sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them” Jeremiah 42:17.

This seems simple enough. Joe and the others asked Jeremiah to pray and give them an honest answer from God, which they promised to obey. But God has revealed the hidden things to his prophet. Jeremiah knows that Joe and all the rest of the people never had any intention of obeying God. They came to Jeremiah hoping God would approve plans they had already made. Their minds were made up. We are going to Egypt, and we are taking Jeremiah with us. (Surely God won’t kill us if we hold his prophet hostage!)

Knowing their hearts, Jeremiah continues:

“Go ye not into Egypt! Know that I have admonished you this day. For you dissembled [lied] in your hearts when ye sent me to the Lord saying ‘pray for us’ … Now therefore, know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by famine, and by the pestilence’” Jeremiah 42:19-22.

When Jeremiah finished, Joe and others responded, accusing the prophet of lying! “Thou speakest falsely. The Lord our God hath not sent thee to say ‘Do not go to Egypt’”  And they rounded up every Israelite they could find, including Jeremiah, and took them forcibly to Egypt, Jeremiah 43:2-7.

None would ever return.

But what happened to this Joe character? He tried to protect the governor from an assassin, but the governor would not listen to him. Then he tried to execute justice on the governor’s behalf, but the assassin got away. Then he led a group to beseech the prophet, asking him to pray for guidance and promising to obey whatever God said.

Then when Jeremiah provided God’s answer, Joe turns on him and accuses him of lying, takes him captive, and marches down to Egypt—the place where God promised they would all die by the sword, famine, and pestilence.

I thought Johanan was one of the good guys! I thought he was wearing a white hat.

But people will let you down, won’t they? The truth is, Joe was not about following God. When Gedaliah was threatened, Joe was ready to go to war. But when God said stay in Israel, Joe refused. Joe was doing whatever was best for Joe. This man was not following God at all—but he sure knew how to talk the talk, didn’t he?

Don’t we all know people like that, people who sound so deeply devout, like they absolutely love God with all their hearts … until something happens that reveals how selfish and godless they really are?

Look again at the convincing religious words of Johanan: “Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord” Jeremiah 42:6.

This man is not wearing a white hat. Not even a grey hat. His hat is black, as is his heart.

“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” Matthew 24:24.

“For such men are … disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

Sadly, in the real world bad guys do not warn you by wearing black hats. Sometimes they disguise themselves by wearing white hats. What can you do? Whom can you trust?

Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruits” Matthew 7:16.

Dear God, teach us to discern the fruit. Protect us from the con-men and liars and hypocrites. Help us discern among the spirits and to know whom to trust and of whom to be skeptical. Guide us by your Holy Spirit and protect us from wolves in sheep’s clothing.

AΩ.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_white_hat_symbolism_in_film

The Captain of the Guard Comes for Jeremiah. Jeremiah 39:4-6.

Image. Corrie Ten Boom being released from Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. (This is a still from the 1975 film the HIDING PLACE starring Jeannette Clift as Corrie Ten Boom.)

Jeremiah had reason to be scared. The pagan king Nebuchadnezzar had no regard for Jeremiah or Jeremiah’s God. The Captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s Guard “came … unto Jerusalem and he burnt the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem, every great man’s house burnt he with fire” 2 Kings 25:8-9.

The Captain of the Guard led the Babylonians in burning down Solomon’s Temple! Then he burned down the palace of King Zedekiah, all the houses of the best and brightest, and then began tearing down the walls of the city. The Captain of the Guard was destroying everything.

Then the Captain of the Guard went after the royal family:

“And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon” 2 Kings 25:7.

This story is recorded three times, once in 2 Kings and twice in Jeremiah.[1] “Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes … slew all the nobles of Judah … and put out Zedekiah’s eyes” Jeremiah 39:6-7.

The Babylonians were known for their cruelty, and this was no exception. They killed the sons of the king, made him watch, then immediately blinded him so the corpses of his sons would be the last things he ever saw. Then the grieving, blinded king was taken away to a Babylonian dungeon. “They carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death” Jeremiah 52:11.

Judah’s leaders had tried to kill Jeremiah previously, throwing him into the muddy bottom of a cistern during a famine. Now he is languishing in prison, when he learns that the Captain of the Guard has arrived and wants to talk to him.

Jeremiah must have been concerned–the man who burned the palace and the temple and attacked the king and his princes has now come asking for Jeremiah.

When the Captain of the Guard comes to Jeremiah, he begins by defending Babylon’s actions, arguing Israel’s sins caused all this destruction.

“The Lord thy God pronounced this evil upon this place. Because ye have sinned and not obeyed the voice of the Lord, therefore this thing has come upon you…” Jeremiah 40:2-3.

Jeremiah must have been thinking ‘And why are you telling me this?…’ And then he got his answer:

“‘And now behold, I loose thee this day from the chains that were upon thy hand. You can come with me to Babylon or you can stay here in Jerusalem—whatever seems best to you’ … So the captain of the guard gave him food and a reward and let him go. Then went Jeremiah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam … and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land” Jeremiah 40:4-6.

Jeremiah was thrown in the quicksand of a cistern. Then he was abandoned in a prison. Finally, the Captain of the Guard comes to the prison. I can imagine Jeremiah thinking, ‘well, this can’t be good.’ But it was. The Captain of the Guard said a few diplomatic words, then told Jeremiah he was free to go. What an odd, anticlimactic moment that was. No angel choirs. No dramatic rescue. Just a few kind words, a sack lunch, and a handful of money, and “Okay. You’re free to go.”

This account reminds me of the release of Corrie Ten Boom at the end of her story THE HIDING PLACE. She was suffering in Ravensbruck, having watched her beloved sister die. Then one day they called her to the office and told her she was being released. Released? No one is released! From a Nazi Death Camp? Corrie Ten Boom buttoned her coat and walked out into the snow. Later her release was attributed to a clerical error.

But of course, God was behind it. Just as God protected Jeremiah’s life and saw that he too would be released. God had promised to protect Jeremiah: “‘Do not be afraid of them. For I am with you, to deliver you,’ declares the Lord” Jeremiah 1:8.

Will everyone be released? No. Some of God’s children will suffer and die, like Corrie Ten Boom’s sister, Betsy. But God’s children will never suffer alone.

“Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20.

Keep the faith and have courage!

AΩ.

[1] These events are also recorded in the extra-Biblical record known as the Babylonian Chronicle ABC-5. The Babylonian Chronicles are a collection of some 45 ancient stone tablets that record the history of ancient Babylon. The tablet designated ABC-5 (the “Jerusalem Chronicle”) documents the activities of King Nebuchadnezzar and is one of the many ancient writings that confirm the historicity of the Bible.

King Washington? Judges 8:23.

The story goes that George Washington turned down a chance to be king—that but for his amazing self-restraint, the United States would be a monarchy today. Like so many stories of our heroes and villains, the tale of Washington refusing the crown has been oversimplified.

As the Revolutionary War neared its end, an older officer was afraid his Army pension would never be paid (because there was not yet a federal government to pay it and the various states were each hoping the others would pay the new nation’s bills). That officer, Colonel Lewis Nicola, wrote Washington urging him to become a king over a democratically elected Congress. The idea would be to form a hybrid government, an option that appealed to those struggling to understand how a nation could operate without a king at the helm.

But Washington was disgusted at the notion and upset that an officer in his army could still be enamored with the thought of any monarchy, even a hybrid monarchy. He wrote back immediately:

“Be assured Sir, [nothing that has happened in this entire war is more painful to me] than your information of there being such ideas existing in the army as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence and reprehend with severity [such a suggestion] … You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.”[1]

The oversimplification inherent in the way this story is usually told lies in this: Colonel Nicola did not possess the authority to bestow a crown on the great general. But he could have started a campaign.

Yet Washington stopped that in its tracks. The general was not tempted in the least. Why not? Was Washington a dumb farmer who did not realize how wealthy he would be as a king? Did he not understand that this was a chance to set up his entire family for life?

He understood. But he and 200,000 soldiers had fought for and some 25,000 had died for something better. The founders waged a revolution to escape the despotic, crushing fist of the British king. Would they now replace it with an American king? No. The Founding Fathers had already concluded that a system of elected executives that rotate off would be far better than the God-made-me-king-for-life arrangements so common around the world and throughout history.

All things considered, Washington deserves credit for refusing to even discuss becoming king. Not only that, when the war ended, he surrendered his commission as general of the army, ensuring that the nation would be led by civilian politicians, not bellicose generals (contrast that with Fidel Castro, who wore army fatigues for fifty years after he seized control of Cuba).

In 1789, Washington was unanimously elected the nation’s first president. He considered bowing out after one term but was encouraged to run again to provide stability to a nation in turmoil. He was again elected unanimously. When his second term ended, this man, now one of the most powerful leaders in the world, ignored talk of a third term and went home to Mount Vernon, inspiring England’s King George III to dub his old enemy, “the greatest character of the age,” or in another version, “the greatest man in the world.”[2]

Perhaps it takes a king to recognize the greatness of a truly selfless leader.

Gideon was a similar leader.

Gideon was the fifth judge of the nation of Israel. He is listed in the “roll call of the faithful” in Hebrews 11:32. He tore down the altar of Baal. He put out the fleece—twice, receiving from God two incredible miracles, Judges 6:33-40. And he went into battle against 135,000 Midianites with only 300 men—and won that battle through an incredible miracle of God, Judges 7:22.

Finally, the people had seen enough. They were ready to make Gideon king! (And these men had the authority to make the offer.)

“Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, ‘Rule over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son’s son also, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.’ And Gideon said unto them, ‘I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. But the Lord shall rule over you” Judges 8:23.

Could you turn down a crown? Could you?

Remember, these were capable men. They are no longer young, no longer inexperienced, no longer plagued with self-doubt. Washington and Gideon have fought incredible battles. They have stood on battlefields rank with the smell of the decaying flesh of their enemies. They have watched their own men bleed and die. They have grown experienced, wise, and decisive. Now they are older, seasoned, and thinking about doing something for their families, providing them with the finer things in life. The proffered crown could be the key to that next step. Imagine that LinkedIn bio: a handsome photo with the simple word, “King” underneath.

But they said no. And we honor them. Think of the dollar bills, the quarters, the cities, the state, the street names: America honors Washington everywhere, every chance we get. I believe God honored him too.

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” 1 Peter 5:5-6.

Pray Psalm 131:

Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
My soul is like a weaned child within me” Psalm 131:1-2.

God, make us humble.

AΩ.

[1] https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/was-george-washington-really-offered-king-us.htm

[2] https://blogs.loc.gov/manuscripts/2022/12/george-washington-the-greatest-man-in-the-world/

The Beautiful City. Ezekiel 27:3.

Image: Santorini, Greece.

I LOVE living in the country. But few things are as amazing as a world-class city. Don’t believe it? Think of it this way—with the exception of natural wonders, every incredible thing you can think of can be found in the world’s greatest cities: London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Cairo.

Think of the art. The jewels. The buildings and bridges that are architectural wonders. The universities and libraries. The restaurants. Cities have all the money, the banks, the ports, the shipping. Cities have work for everyone: lawyers, investors, inventors, manufacturers, laborers, tradesmen and craftsmen, teachers, doctors, professors, writers, artists, and entertainers of every stripe. Cities have not just cultures, but personalities. And some cities have nicknames that fit those personalities: London is the Big Smoke. New York is the City that Never Sleeps. Paris is the City of Love. Birmingham (England) is the City of a Thousand Trades. Johannesburg is the City of Gold.

Cities are amazing reminders of both the greatest and worst of humanity. Incredible achievements in education, art, and research exist alongside some of the world’s most sophisticated and most evil crime.

Cities are filled with humble men of talent and success, and they are also filled with arrogant men who genuinely believe they are better than you and that the rules do not apply to them. This dichotomy is true nearly everywhere: most organizations include a few humble leaders and a few you might describe as “cancers” on the team.

The ancient city of Tyre or ‘Tyrus’ was just such a city. It was beautiful, with enough industries to fill a Social Studies textbook: there were shipbuilders, craftsmen, mariners, ship pilots, caulkers, soldiers, and a seemingly endless number of merchants and tradesmen, Ezekiel 27:5-25.

Like all great cities, Tyrus was built on a thriving port, and imported quality products from the farthest reaches: riches and commerce, slaves and brass, horses and mules, ebony and ivory, embroidered fabrics, oil and honey, wine and wool. Precious stones, lambs, rams, goats, spices, gold, clothing, cedar, oak, ivory, shields, dishes, vases, and vessels of every kind.

For the right price, you could acquire the ‘finer things in life’ in the great city of Tyrus.

Cities provide the same today: the wealthiest among us can have it all if they are willing to spend their money in the world’s greatest cities.

Tyrus was a beautiful city, a city of pride. The city was so prideful, in fact, that the Biblical indictment of the king of Tyrus also serves as a recitation of the sins of Lucifer for which he was banished from paradise.

“O Tyrus, thou hast said, ‘I am of perfect beauty” Ezekiel 27:3.

Have you ever seen a beautiful city? At sunset, a city skyline reflecting on the water can be truly stunning. Places like the Mall in Washington feature such carefully laid out architecture, lawns, and pools, that the city seems a masterpiece. Not all cities are beautiful—but some certainly are. Tyrus was one of those. The city reminds me of an expression girls used to describe a boy I knew in high school: he’s cute and he knows it. Tyrus was beautiful and Tyrus was arrogant.

“Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, ‘I am a God, I sit in the seat of God,’ … thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas” Ezekiel 28:2,8.

Once again, the Bible repeats the warning: God will not tolerate arrogance.

He will not tolerate it among his angels, his people, or among cities. Organizations—teams, businesses, cities, and nations—must be vigilant. Watch out for pride. Watch out for arrogance.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” Proverbs 16:18.

AΩ.