Tag: Judgment

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The human experiment.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled. A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end. The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape. There was a form before my eyes. In the silence I heard a voice say, ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’ ‭‭Job‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Job, the oldest book written in the Bible is full of mystery and presents moral, theological dilemmas that are still wrestled with, even in modern times. Job was written 400 years before the Torah, the first five books of the Law. Job predates the law, and mentions nothing about the eventual covenant with God, the laws of God nor the sacrificial system that God directs Israel to live by.

It is interesting that the first verses in Job chapter one set the stage for us to know that Job was a good guy, a righteous guy. He even offered sacrifices to God for his children, “just in case they sinned against God.” He feared God, loved God and lived a good life! Then, seemingly out nowhere there is a meeting, a checkin with the angels. What follows is a conversation with God and the fallen angel, called the adversary.

God asks Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth.“ Satan replies, yeah, he’s only good because God has blessed him and protected him. Satan challenges God by saying, “take away his stuff and he’ll curse you.” God takes Satan up on the challenge and allows Satan to take Job’s “belongings” away from him. Belongings include his family! The scene repeats, but this time Satan challenges God by asking for permission to make Job’s physical life miserable – horrible diseases, but not allowing to take his life. Job knows nothing about the test, nor God’s faith in him to endure suffering without blaming God.

Job’s friends heard about Job’s suffering and made their way to him. At first the friends do the right thing by Job, they just sit with him and say nothing! “Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.“ But soon, they just could not take. Not understanding WHY this is happening to Job, they offer their advice.

Eliphaz, possibly the eldest in the group, appears as the representative of the wisdom of the Edomites. Trying to be helpful, he shares about a vision he had. And from this vision, he concludes that there is a good and godly reason for Job’s suffering. Job has obviously sinned! Here’s the creepy part. Eliphaz gives his advice, his wisdom from a “whispering spirit,” that gave him chills in the night asking an accusatory question! Just a well placed question created a logical conclusion for this wise man. The question, “Can a mortal be innocent before God?” I don’t know about you, but this whole “truth” given in “secret” coming in a vision in the night sounds just like SATAN! Whispers, secrets and accusations? Come on. Eliphaz isn’t getting his answers from God, nor whatever experience he has had by walking with God on this fallen planet. His advice has been supplanted in his heart by the sneaky spirit of the dark!

All three of Job’s friends want to help Job, want to console him, and comfort him, but they all go down the same thought- path. Obviously Job has sinned and must repent. Obviously God is judging him and swift justice comes to those who do wrong. In their minds there is no other reason for a human being to suffer! Job’s friends seem unaware that as humans we live on a fallen planet, Satan’s domain.

Let’s answer the spirit-whispered accusation presented to Eliphaz. Can we be innocent before God? No, we’ve sinned, we are not innocent. But does that mean that we face the immediate judgement, the wrath and justice of God by being stripped of all possessions and daily physically tortured for our sin? No, we do not. Who is the one who brought the calamity and destruction into Job’s life? Satan! The good suffer, the bad succeed. The good succeed, the bad suffer. We cannot determine judgement nor eternity based on our comparison of possessions, position or power! Satan challenged God’s wisdom by trying to prove that humans are only capable of loving God back because of blessing! The experiment, give humans free will, a choice, give them autonomy and self determination – they will not choose God, they will always choose evil. The ancient challenge was that humans would not be able to love God in a world filled with evil and the ability to chase after their own lusts and desires leading to their demise and eventual destruction.

The human experience on the dark planet would seem to be a doomed experiment. Job was not perfect. Yet, without knowing anything about the test he was participating in, he passed. He did not blame God nor curse God for his suffering! God believes in us. God risks that love, mercy, grace and forgiveness will save our lives. God’s plan of redemption from our sin through the sacrifice of His own Son proves that we can and will be capable of loving Him in spite of an adversary and accuser. That we are able to love Him in spite of our brokenness and disordered desires. Our faith, like Job’s, like Abraham’s, is counted as righteousness! We are saved by grace, not of our works. We love because we know God’s goodness. We fear God out of honor and respect, not just because He can obliterate us back to the dust from which we came.

Prayer

Dad,
We were created out of dust, and to dust our bodies will return. But you infused Your Spirit within us. It is that spirit that will choose to love you. That spirit that will live forever. Thank you for loving us first. Thank you for this amazing life in this beautiful world. It is filled with wonder and wickedness, yet I know your plans for me and they are good. I choose you because you first chose me.

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Why does God seem silent?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Help us, O God of our salvation! Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name. Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff, asking, “Where is their God?” Show us your vengeance against the nations, for they have spilled the blood of your servants. Listen to the moaning of the prisoners. Demonstrate your great power by saving those condemned to die.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭79‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This Psalm was written as a record of repentance, as Jerusalem was being destroyed – here’s what was happening: “Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned Jerusalem, including the royal palace and the houses of the people, and they tore down the walls of the city. Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had defected to him, and everyone else who remained. But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in the land of Judah, and he assigned them to care for the vineyards and fields.” Jeremiah‬ ‭39‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬.

In a strange turn of events Nebuchadnezzar told Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, to find Jeremiah. “See that he isn’t hurt,” he said. “Look after him well, and give him anything he wants.”” Jeremiah writes, Nebuzaradan “sent messengers to bring Jeremiah out of the prison. They put him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who took him back to his home. So Jeremiah stayed in Judah among his own people.” Jeremiah had been thrown in prison for telling King Zedekiah what God was going to do to Israel. God then tells Jeremiah to write this about their beloved city, “‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will do to this city everything I have threatened. I will send disaster, not prosperity. You will see its destruction, but I will rescue you from those you fear so much. Because you trusted me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe. I, the Lord, have spoken!’””

God did keep His promise. The city was destroyed, Jeremiah’s life was spared for a few more years. The Psalmist, recording the most grievous moments, begs for God’s help and vengeance upon Babylon. We know that God did not answer this prayer for 70 years and we know that the final answer to this prayer would not come for several thousand years – at the end of all things.

Interestingly enough, people are still asking this question when looking at the current sufferings throughout the world, “Where is their God?” Tough question, right? God is well aware that evil has been playing out its hand for eons. God is well aware of the grief and suffering humanity has endured. However, God gave us the choice and the free will to “do as we please.” God allowed Israel to be completely unfaithful and turn to worshipping idols and behave unjustly. God punished Israel, He disciplines those He loves, yet still, Israel would not be faithful to Him, to the promise they made to God.

Of course wickedness and evil will be judged, but the delay is for ALL to come to God, restored, reconnected to Himself through Jesus’ sacrifice. The final judgment is coming for those who still refuse to see their own sin and the hope of their own salvation. The Psalmist captures the truth, “demonstrate your great power by saving those condemned to die.” That truth is more profound and powerful today than it ever was!

Prayer

Dad,
Even in my sin you have displayed the power to save me! Even though you get mocked and blamed for evil and wickedness, your judgement is held and tempered by your mercy. The delay of finality is for the benefit of all who would come, all who would see you, know you, love you. I pray for those who have believed the lies of the enemy by trying to secure their own goodness, their own salvation. Help us Oh Lord, save us Oh God!

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Who moved the truth?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭21‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Justice, like truth, seems to be a matter of opinion, a perspective. The wisdom writers didn’t have an “open source,” public opinion, social media slant on justice. Wrong was wrong, right was right. Cheating the poor – wrong. Lying for gain – wrong. Bullying and beating the oppressed – wrong. Murder, theft, rape – wrong, wrong, wrong.

The only reason that justice and truth have been blurred or distorted are because some in our culture refuse to acknowledge the God behind such realities. No God – anything goes. No God – no one is right and no one is wrong. There’s only noise, violence and protests. Loud and proud do not equate to justice or truth.

Justice is joy to the godly because there is a judge, an arbitrator who is perfect – always, right, true and yes, JUST. It is terrifying to evil because it strips away the thin veneer of selfishness and ill-gotten gain. Of course, every human wants what we want and do not want anyone or anything to tell us NO, or cross us with the reality that we are wrong!

There is that one creepy story in 1 Kings 3, where Solomon has to judge a difficult decision. Two women, one living child and one dead child. Two stories, both claiming the living child is theirs. No other witnesses, no DNA test – just two plausible stories of what happened on the night in question. Truth seemed to favor BOTH stories, both women. How can that be? Both women are yelling – the living child is mine! Are both telling the truth? The woman whose child died in the night certainly is in pain and now her truth becomes a boldfaced lie. If the living child is going to be raised by one or the other, should it be the real mother or the liar? You know the story. Solomon asks for a sword and tells both women, he will equally give them half a dead child! Done, settled. Both lose a life, but it’s fair, right? Of course the real mother wants her child to live over the other mother’s perceived truth. The real mother speaks first, “please don’t kill my son, give him to her!” The other mother then speaks, “go ahead cut the child in half, that way we both lose.” Solomon gives the child to the real mother and justice is served. Along with it, the godly, those who do right, want to live right rejoice at the decision. Evil would probably rather have seen the child divided to satisfy the “fairness” of the situation. Life is cheap and worthless to evil! If I want to see who believes in justice all I have to do is see who is loud about ideals not caring about the loss of life. True justice should terrify evildoers, because it exposes their lies.

Prayer

Dad,
It is difficult to discuss right and wrong and justice in a world where people have decided that truth is an opinion, a perspective. I ache for your final judgment only for the sake of seeing absolute justice and for all our lies to be exposed. There will be joy and terror in those days. Help us O’ Lord, pour out your Spirit of Truth and give us the chance to make things right with you before that day comes.

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Solving human dilemmas.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Some time later two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled. “Please, my Lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house. Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house. “But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Most often, when I think about wisdom, I imagine the problems and situations regarding finances, major life decisions and discerning God’s purpose for my life. You’ll notice that all of those are self focused. Of course we need wisdom to make decisions on who we might marry or stepping up to rent a more accommodating and expensive living situation. Or, even major health decisions over us or our children. These decisions alone are hard and we feel a sense of desperation. I recently spoke with a couple facing a major medical decision. The doctor only presented two options: stop taking these life saving medications or lose a major organ! Both were horrible options. They needed wisdom!

Here in Kings, this story follows the supernatural interaction between God and Solomon. Kings records that Solomon loved the Lord and kept all his father’s (David’s) decrees – plus Solomon gave offerings to the Lord… 1,000 of them! God was pleased with Solomon and offered him anything he wanted. Fame, riches, long life or death to his enemies – just name it and God would give it to him. Solomon asked for wisdom. Can I pause and tell you, every parent wants their child to do better, be better than themselves. Great parents want their child to seek good things, not selfish pursuits. God gave Solomon what he asked for PLUS all the things he didn’t ask for.

This story here is the first recorded story of the results of that wisdom. I see two amazing things in these verses. One: the first cases Solomon would hear as a judge would be from a woman (really both) who was an outlier, a sex worker in ancient times! This tells me that everyone rich or poor, good or bad reputations, had access to justice in this new court. Two: the case tells me that wisdom is not only for personal insight, but can and should be applied when helping others solve their most difficult decisions or resolve their conflicts.

Only one woman was telling the truth, but with no other witnesses available, it would be impossible to know which one. The point that leaps out at me, as a leader and dealing with people problems.; I need Godly wisdom to help resolve human dilemmas! This sad and messy issue would not resolve itself, it required someone outside of the two women’s lives and situation to bring a judgment and allow justice to be served. One child has died and the two mothers are fighting to keep the living one! I also notice there is no mention of a father in this child’s life! So, whatever happens, one woman will be raising the child alone.

As a pastor, I come across these kinds of modern human dilemmas all the time. People asking for prayer, asking for outside help on making difficult decisions. We all need wisdom, but oftentimes the situation calls for the necessity of Godly wisdom. The New Testament is helpful when James writes in 1:5, “If anyone lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously!”

Prayer

Dad,
We get ourselves into such a mess! And, yes, sometimes messes, conflicts and issues just come our way. We find ourselves so desperate to want to make the right decision, even if we have caused our own pain. That’s when we call out to you to ask for wisdom. I have total confidence that you will answer because you have done so in my life many times over. It becomes a really tricky part of faith! Faith to ask, faith to listen and faith to be patience and still while you work things out on our behalf. I am so very grateful for your wisdom. And, that you give it freely to those who ask.

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The law trap.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Any casual reader would come upon this story and think to themselves, what law? The religious leaders had made themselves into the religious police. Who protected and promoted God while He was silent? They did. Who protected the sacred texts and cultural ways of God when His people all but abandoned their faith? They did. They had earned the right to speak for God because they believed they were the only ones capable and righteous enough to do so! Thank you for your service Pharisees, but you missed one BIG truth. God didn’t need nor ask you to do that.

The job, the attitude, the title and authority… were all self appointed.

And because, they maintained the persona of “experts,” they spent much of their time being religious monitors for all of what was left of Israel. The average person must have loved and feared having them around. I say loved because they knew they were not as holy or righteous as they should be, so the Pharisees set the standard (unattainable as it was). Hated because they could never be as perfect or righteous as the religious leaders. They had to always be on guard against violating the religious laws and reaping the physical and cultural consequences of their behaviors. Imagine being under the thumb of TWO oppressive systems! One, the Roman oppression, filled with horrible treatment and atrocities, alone with massive taxation. Two, the religious oppression, also filled with glaring judgment and taxation.

The Pharisees delighted in catching and judging violations of “the law.” Granted “the law” had expanded far beyond the big 10 commandments and even beyond the cultural health codes that God had given to Israel to teach them and to help them survive the wild open plains of nomadic living. The religious legal code had swelled to over 613 codes and code violations that were supposed to “help” the righteous obey the original laws and codes God prescribed.

Matthew records one of many times the Pharisees “caught” rabbi Jesus or his followers “breaking” the law. Ah, but a Jesus wasn’t an ordinary rabbi. He wasn’t just trained to know the laws (and codes) of God. He was trained to actually KNOW God Himself. Who knows when Jesus knew who he really was. But, from a very young age (12), Jesus focused his life on one thing – he must be about his Father’s business! And he wasn’t taking about being a stonemason and carpenter.

Jesus was clearly capable of not only knowing God’s law, but perfectly comfortable talking about the intent of those laws and the inevitable “loopholes” that come with them. You see the Pharisees had forever found loopholes that served themselves and those loopholes were used to their advantage and the poor’s disadvantage. You don’t think this irritated God? Jesus had also found loopholes of mercy, which served the intent and principle of the law without violating it. Smart right? Yeah, righteously brilliant!

Jesus’ killer lines to address the Pharisees’ hearts are amazing. “Haven’t you read?” Oh snap, isn’t that the coolest. Oh, my friends, you must have missed the part where God allows for special circumstances 😳. Again, principles can accommodate special circumstances without violating the intent of a law. He quoted David’s and Moses’s behaviors that clearly violated the strict reading of the religious law they had been propagating. Jesus’ name dropping of high-level and beloved leaders was no accident! I love that Jesus even admitted, David “broke the law.” And Moses, “allowed” the priests to break the law as well. Touché Jesus.

But even still, Jesus wasn’t trying to one-up the Pharisees, shaming them (even though they deserved it) or to just win a religious argument (too often done today). His intent was to soften the hardened hearts of the religious leaders who might hear the truth and be set free. He told them exactly where the law leads and why it is so ineffective. Quoting Hosea 6:6, Jesus tells them, “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.”

The law shows no mercy. The law has no capacity for mercy. In fact, the law is and was used to show the legal and moral reasoning of why judgment MUST be pronounced on all who break it! The system of justice shows no mercy because it is impervious to excuses, causes or reasons for violating it.

People say they want justice for all, but that can hardly be true. We don’t want true justice for all because that would mean true judgment and death for all. None are perfect – we know this instinctively! We just want weird forms of justice on our opinionated, loopholed, lopsided views! Jesus sets up the inescapable truth, mercy is the only way out and He is the only one to show it, live it and prove it by His death and resurrection. We can only get mercy through Christ.

Prayer

Dad,
I would not, do want, to be judge by the law! I am fine living and thriving under your mercy and grace! However, seeing my own sinfulness and inability to not just keep the Old Testament Law, but knowing that I am sadly still making sinful decisions keeps my judginess in check. Of course I glare at bad drivers and get angry at bad fathers or husbands, but I also know how much I have failed and how desperate I am for your grace. Thank your for the work of Jesus on the cross for my sin and His resurrection power in me today.

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Delayed judgment gratification.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. May those who try to kill me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace. Let them be horrified by their shame, for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭70‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David wrote this Psalm while running from his own son, Absalom, who wanted to take the throne by force. Yet, in David’s fear and desperation, he writes a prophetic/messianic Psalm projecting the future moments leading up to Jesus, on trial for blasphemy, and eventual judgment of death on a cross like a common criminal.

The prayer of Jesus, in the garden, asking that this “cup” may pass. Maybe not the cup of suffering alone, but the cup of wrath, the moment God, the Father, would turn away, not able to look at His only son. The one and only time, EVER, the intimate presence of the Father, His full and complete love, would not be felt on the cross. Yes, this Psalm was most likely on the lips of Jesus in the garden and in his thoughts while hanging on the cross. “Please God, rescue me!” The rest of David’s Psalm though, would not be uttered by Jesus on the cross. All the judgment, shame and disgrace that you and I deserve would be stored up and poured upon Jesus that one very dark afternoon around 3:00 pm. The cursing of shame and disgrace would not be wished upon the crowd that jeered. All the hatred of humanity being shouted at Jesus, masking their own culpability of lies and murder, would be quietly confronted by a different prayer, a whole different ending to David’s desire for justice and revenge.

Jesus’ prayer was, “Father forgive them,” they just don’t know any better. Jesus’ rewriting Psalm 70 asked that all the retribution of judgment be redirected on him and He asked that they (all of humanity) be forgiven. Are you mad at God? He’s forgiven you. Do you hate God for something that happened to you, something you blame Him for? He’s forgiven you. Why? Because the perfection and blamelessness of Jesus, took your gripes and grief and paid the price for you to even hold those feelings of ill-will towards God and others. This Easter, drop your charges against God! He’s not who you think He is. He loves and forgives you.

Prayer

Dad,
Even with all the crummy things that happened in my life as a child and through youth, I never held you responsible for it. I didn’t carry a grudge, thinking you had cursed my family and that I was just stuck with it. I knew my moms and dads were broken. I knew the way they chose to live out their lives was not healthy nor helpful to me. But I also knew that without some kind of massive miracle and change in my own ways, I would end up just like them! You were that miracle. You reaching out to me and offering life would be my one chance to get out of generational cycles of pain, addictions and dysfunction. Yet still, I knew that I needed forgiveness for my own decisions that could never be blamed on my origin story. Thank you for permanently not just delaying judgment that I deserved, but removing it completely through Jesus death on the cross.

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Newsflash Reminder.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Once you were dead! I don’t know about you, but I remember my disobedience and MANY sins. I wasn’t born a believer. I did not surrender my life to Jesus as a child. I had a fairly high sin-rate in Junior and Senior High School. I agree with the Apostle Paul, I used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world – obeying the devil and the disordered desires of my heart. In fact, I’m not exactly sure I had a decent conscience. I had a twisted view of guilt. Not only did I rarely feel guilty for my decisions and behaviors, I was really good at masking those feelings behind massive blame of others and the crummy chaotic, dysfunctional life I was handed from my parents.

It was those decisions to ignore my conscience where I can clearly see myself being subject to God’s anger – just like everyone else. Being a sinner didn’t make me special or unique at all. In fact it was slowly stripping away the real me that I was trying to push away.

When I look around at the multiple sin-fests on constant display in entertainment, socials and curated news cycles, I must remember Paul’s words. There is a real devil and he’s commanding the powers of unseen world! My heart breaks as I see my friends, family and neighbors swallow the reverse sour-patch candy. First the lies are sweet, by a well crafted design to follow our passionate desires and inclinations, but turn bitter as they produce rotten results.

I pray that God reveals Himself and rescues them, just as He did for me. These verses lead Paul, via the Holy Spirit, to release one of the most powerful truths found in the New Testament. “For it is by grace you are saved, through faith. It is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” My path, my decisions, my sin was disrupted and redeemed by that powerful, undeserved grace of God. I will never forget who I was. Yet, I will remember what God can do that for others even today.

Prayer

Dad,
Do it again in those I love! Arrest them by your grace. Hunt them down by your love and mercy, relentlessly pursuing them as you did for me. Lift the blinders from their eyes. Penetrate their hearts with light that shatters the lies that lead them to darkness. Expose the wicked plans against them to reveal your love and true freedom. I ask in Jesus name, Amen.

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Forget the bread, what about my boy?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died. Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Shocker, I just found out this past year that the widow mentioned in this story was a Gentile, not a Jew. And the Jewish people reading about the life and times of Elijah did not like it! Luke 4:25-26 and Acts 10:34-35.

There was drought and famine going on and widows had it the worse because they had little to no means to provide on their own. Elijah didn’t just ask her for her last meal, but her son’s as well. You can hear the resignation in the widow’s words, “we’ll eat it and then die.” Obviously no hope there.

Hello! Elijah wasn’t being greedy, he was being obedient. Elijah may have tried to ease the bluntness by asking for a drink of water first. Uh… fail. That wasn’t a smooth segue because of the drought. As she walked away, Elijah threw in the request, “…bring me a bite of bread as well.” Just a bite? I hope you hear the sheer awkwardness of being obedient to God in THE worst kinds of circumstances possible. Are we obedient regardless of what we know, see or sense? Woof.

Elijah gives her a promise, “For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!” The widow has just enough faith to be obedient. Promise made, promise kept. The widow provides Elijah room and board while he stays in the village of Zarephath. Why did Elijah stay? Because God told him to “live” there – “Go and live in the village of Zarephath. This next scene is disturbing in so many ways.

The widow’s son gets sick, then dies. The widow blames Elijah for her son’s death because he must be judging her sins. What? Wow. You see the ancient world was simple cause and effect. Someone gets sick, who’s to blame? Someone died, who sinned? God or God’s agents were directly held responsible because they obviously weren’t happy with something. It’s Elijah’s prayer to God that verifies this mindset. “Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?” Why why why?

God seemed comfortable putting Elijah on the spot with the health and well being of the widow and her son. That’s doesn’t seem fair. The miracle of long lasting bread and oil supply wasn’t enough of an official credential proving that Elijah is a spokesperson for God? Elijah is bold, if not weird, in his prayer and physical application to make sure that God hears him. Was the “stretching himself” out over the child three times necessary? Apparently, the first time didn’t work, so he went for three (“three” may be a significant brain-bookmark for us in the future). God heard, God answered and raised the boy from death to life. Ah, then the widow says confidently… “yep, now I believe you’re from God and God speaks through you.”

God is really into us having faith! God loves us having faith. It is pleasing to him because it completely says “I trust you more than anything else going on in my life.” Faith doesn’t just make God happy, faith is the critical decisions that saves us and is saving us.

Prayer

Dad,
Wow. Both Elijah and the widow shared in the experience of having faith in you. I never saw that before. You asked Elijah to do and say some really tough things and I get the responsibility, but I did not grasp the level of trust that Elijah was exercising in you. It was important wasn’t it. I want to be obedient so badly, but it is ALWAYS diluted by the thought of what others will think when I follow through with what you’ve asked. It feels so much more risky when it comes to the question of “who do I want to please more?” You or people. I have faith, but need more courage!

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God’s axe to grind.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Matthew let’s us know that John the Baptizer and the teachers of the law and ruling class of religious leaders over the Jews did NOT get along nor see eye to eye. So much for being on the same team, right? Why didn’t they like each other, where’s the love and unity here? John had a quick nickname for them – snake broods. Or offspring of snakes.

Interesting that later on Jesus told the religious leaders that they were in fact the kin of their father, the “father” of lies (John 8:44), tying our thoughts to the original garden scene where Satan is the deceiving snake who temps the couple into disbelieving God.

Shocker, these religious leaders were not on the God-squad at all. They were working and cheering for the wrong team. John says, “who warned you?” Had they been listening to John’s messages? Had they been baptized, showing repentance for their sins? Then John says something that Jesus picks up and repeats later in Luke 6:46. John, “prove it by the way you live!” John also drops the good-fruit bearing tree analogy, which Jesus also talks about later in Matthew 7:18, and 12:33.

Does John quote the religious leaders when they were saying, “we’re safe?” Safe from what? Judgment? Eternal fire (Gehenna) or hell? But they were NOT safe, were they? The axe God was grinding was from this very old imagery when God actually did chop down the tree representing Israel many times in the past, but always left the root of the symbolic tree in tact. God spared the “root of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:10).

Jesus is that root and any life, any fruit that would come from that “tree of life,” would live and continue to produce good fruit. However, any branch that did not come from this root, this Jesus’ tree would be SEVERED from its root and thrown into the fire. It’s story, it’s lineage, it’s legacy would not continue. John’s symbol of an axe, is God’s axe of judgment, of finality, the end of Satan’s seeds of lies growing sickly trees filled with rotten fruit. John saw all of this as the religious pretenders walked up as looky-loos wanting the crowds to see that they were on God’s team as well. But they weren’t.

Prayer

Dad,
The last thing I would ever want is to be a pretentious pretender, faking my life, my faith and my behaviors to impress everyone. I’m in this for the relationship with you. I’m in this for life, for eternity. My past and my “good deeds,” are not all that impressive when compared to your grace and glory. I do want to be a contender NOT a pretender. I was grafted into this tree of life, of faith because of Jesus. And I absolutely want to produce good fruit, not to prove my salvation, but proving my gratitude.

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Doomed cycles of repetition.

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“She defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out. “Lord, see my misery,” she cries. “The enemy has triumphed.” Lamentations‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​We need mercy to escape the doomed cycles of repetition.

Poetic reality sets in on the people of Israel, personified in the city of Jerusalem. The city is the people, the people the city. There is a healthy recognition in deep grief. Their sin, our sin, will ALWAYS catch up to us. As humans, we have this unique ability to think we can do the deed and just keep running from the consequences! Jeremiah writes this incredible analogy; “He wove my sins into ropes to hitch me to a yoke of captivity.” And, I must never forget, captivity was true love and justice in action. Babylon was a decisive, punishment of discipline, not destruction.

From the dizzy heights of Solomon’s success, his global reach of riches and power, to the depths of being dragged off to another country and watching all of what Israel had become in the city of Jerusalem raided and burned to the ground. The warnings ignored. The threats thought impossible. Now the people must face reality. But did Babylon do it’s job? Did it work? Did it fix their sin problem? Did they repent and turn from their sin and deep cycles of immortality? Temporarily, yes. Permanently, no.

Even with the most massive lesson in all of history, the rise and fall of God’s own people and the picture of the city of God – the rehabilitation and transformation was only temporary. The permanent solution, our permanent resolve would not be found in these cycles of sin, repentance, mourning and change. It would only be found in the work of Christ, God’s own son.

Without God’s own solution to our selfish cycles of sin to confession and back again, we would be forever trapped in generational repetition. Jeremiah records these horrible moments to ultimately point to hopelessness with out Christ.

The city of Jerusalem, the people of God would never be the same and will never be the same until the final days of revelation that Jesus is the messiah. These writings are meant to be a reminder of our morbid morality and the power and mercy of God to redeem us even while we are caught in mid-cycle of sin!

Prayer

Dad,
Looking into the perfect mirror of your word and seeing a clear reflection of who and what I am, even in my best effort, is so depressing. These words are not ancient, they are transcendent and eternal! These glimpses of humanity only remind and reinforce what I already know – I am a selfish sinner saved only by grace and has nothing to do with my poor attempts to perfection. I rest, not on my promises to never sin again, but only on your Word, your promise to clean me, restore me from all unrighteousness. In that and that alone do I find solace, peace and most of all HOPE.