Destroyed

 

Friday, May 15, 2020

Genesis 7:1-5, 17-24

When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.  Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others.  Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.  Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”  So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.  As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface.  Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.  All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people.  Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died.  God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky.  All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat.  And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

There are plenty of disasters from which to choose an image:

·       Wildfires in California destroying subdivisions and memories

·       Tsunamis in Indonesia decimating coastline life

·       Terrorist attacks and the incredible stench of death’s aftermath

·       People standing dazed in the rubble after a tornado

Noah is the poster child for disaster.  Yet, the magnitude of the destruction of that global flood is largely contained in just two paragraphs; essentially it boils down to:  God said he’d wipe the earth clean, and it was so. 

Just like the account of creation, God said – and there was!

This morning, when I went to the computer to post today’s devotion, I found the tech version of Noah’s world; everything was gone.  The physical computer machine was there, looking all innocent and 21^st century put-together, like the Earth after the flood.  But, when I booted up the criminal, all my files were under the deepest blue sea.  Here last night; gone this morning.  What now?  I felt the electronic equivalent of being cut-off from the past 40 years of ministry records, sermons, correspondence, bills, and (oh, my) FACEBOOK. 

I spent the next hour muddled in confusion about what to do next and recriminations over not being more diligent with backing up my files; I also prayed fervently…Oh, LORD, if you’ll just give me back my files I’ll be good….

I’m still not entirely sure what happened, but one word popped into my technologically-challenged brain – RESTART.  So, I did, and voilà, my files were back, and now I’m writing the next devotion. 

Noah wasn’t so lucky.  Or, was he?

There are two hinges to consider here:

·       Hinge #1.  God said He was going to do a new thing

·       Hinge #2.  God did it.

God told Noah to get in the boat, and then God closed the door on the previous chapter.  Then God opened a new chapter for the righteous man and his family.  This begs the question that is frequently my cling-to thought whenever it seems my world might fall apart (or be flooded over to 22 feet above the mountaintops):

What could be better than being in the center of God’s will?

Even when He decides it’s time for a restart?

For You Today

Our new normal after the virus flood is (at this moment) just a foreboding.  I’m not sure I’ve seen any pairs of animals gathering by twos…but, stay tuned, you never know what God is up to; our only certainty is the cross and an empty tomb.  Everything else is like what Noah left behind.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on “Flood Recovery in Genesis see “After the Storm” Part 1 and  Part 2

What Sorrow Awaits...

[1]

Monday, November 4, 2019

“What sorrow awaits you who build cities with money gained through murder and corruption!  Has not the Lord of Heaven’s Armies promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes?  They work so hard, but all in vain!  For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.  

“What sorrow awaits you who make your neighbors drunk!  You force your cup on them so you can gloat over their shameful nakedness.  But soon it will be your turn to be disgraced.  Come, drink and be exposed!  Drink from the cup of the Lord’s judgment, and all your glory will be turned to shame.  You cut down the forests of Lebanon.  Now you will be cut down.  You destroyed the wild animals, so now their terror will be yours.  You committed murder throughout the countryside and filled the towns with violence.  “What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you?  How foolish to trust in your own creation—a god that can’t even talk!  

What sorrow awaits you who say to wooden idols, ‘Wake up and save us!’  To speechless stone images you say, ‘Rise up and teach us!’  Can an idol tell you what to do?  They may be overlaid with gold and silver, but they are lifeless inside.  But the Lord is in his holy Temple.  Let all the earth be silent before him.”  Habakkuk 2:12-20[2]

A true prophet only speaks the words God puts in his mouth.  And it’s a bit more than threatening to hear over and over, what sorrow awaits, especially when the voice thunders from Heaven’s throne!  The targets of these warnings are leaders of nations that have the lust to control other lands through violence and manipulation.  

The payoff for such evil will look like the landscape of the Sahara, or the denuded Brazilian forests.

This message of Habakkuk is all about climate change, but not the physical actions of slaughtering endangered animal species or cutting down Lebanon’s cedar forests.  This is about systemic evil that ignores God’s Word, thinking our Sovereign Creator is like the idols carved from the cut-down trees, unable to speak or have any consequential factor in the affairs of men…especially powerful leaders of powerful nations.  The prophecy falling from the lips of Habakkuk decry the evil earthly leaders who are stockpiling misery against the day of judgment.

While this prophecy was spoken to the corrupt leaders of the Chaldeans, who had invaded and devastated Judah in the 7^th Century^(B.C.) it also speaks a word to our culture.  The prophet has asked ^(1:12-17) if wrong and violence are to continue forever.[1]  It doesn’t seem right for the ungodly Chaldean nations to triumph over God’s people, but the Lord’s answer to Habakkuk’s question is that the violence of the invaders is going to be used by God to bring Judah to her knees, and, like the Northern Kingdom a century before, they will know the devastating consequences of forsaking their God. 

In the end God will bring retribution on the likes of the Chaldean raiders, but Israel will be forgiven and restored.

The word for 21^st Century leaders is cautionary; if you use the manipulative, lying, bullying as did the strong-willed Chaldean/Babylonian invaders, you become them! 

And their fate becomes yours; what sorrow awaits!

For You Today

Strong-arming weaker nations and bullying your way through life will bring its reward, but it won’t be pretty!  Truly strong leaders are those who trust in Christ, and fear God.  These are the ones who are silent before Holy God, who is in His sanctuary. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

[2] For another post on this text see:  Fingers With a Brain

[3] Thompson Chain Reference Bible notes (B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co, Indianapolis, Ind., 1964 ), 205

Rescue

[1]

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.  A psalm of David.

What if the Lord had not been on our side?  Let all Israel repeat:
What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?  They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.  The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us.  Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.  Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart!  We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.  The trap is broken, and we are free!  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  Psalm 124:1-8

Steven Spielberg made multiple billions with the narrow rescue theme.  Indiana Jones is a prime example.  The Archaeologist/Adventurer is in search of yet another priceless relic.  Jones’ archenemy, the greedy bad guy takes evil pleasure in the thought of grabbing the prize first AND eliminating his competition.  Dr. Jones is beaten, bound, and thrown into a snake pit (snakes; snakes; why did it have to be snakes?) With the bad guy looking down on the vanquished Dr. Jones, he smiles and seals the entrance.  But, in just a few minutes, jumping heroically from one crumbling rock formation to another, Indiana narrowly escapes for the 1,282^nd time in fourteen minutes; it’s a new record, and totally believable (wink, wink).

Most of the action and adventure movies ever made ought to have Psalm 124 as a footnote on their scripts. 

As entertaining as escapism is, (pardon the pun), it works against living in reality.  Super-powers aside, like the invincibility of characters in a video game where you kill fifty attackers per minute, and if they get you before you get to the next level, you just boot-up and go again – well, pardon my cynicism, but where was Indiana Jones on September 11, 2001?  Why are there untold millions of war-dead lying in graves, along with millions more – victims of earthquakes, storms, terrorists and other, deranged and deluded aggressors, prodded by evil to bring pain, heartache, destruction and loss?

And yet, there are those inscrutable rescues which do occur.  I believe everyone gets at least a few in a lifetime.  There’s that familiar close call on the Interstate, where you thought you weren’t going to make it.  Or that time you lost control in the snow or rain.  That time you thought you were going to get fired, and the reason the boss called you in was to tell you about your new raise or promotion.  And what about that ominous message the doctor’s office left to please call back the minute you get this message? 

David knew exactly how you felt at those times.  King Saul was once David’s friend and benefactor; now he was the pursuing enemy.  King Saul, had hounded David out of Jerusalem, chased him so ferociously he had to hide out with the wild animals in caves.  And by the skin of his teeth, David was rescued, and wound-up on King Saul’s throne. 

So, what’s the connection with Indiana Jones here?  Drama…evil lurking in the background…certain destruction looming like Mt. Everest dead ahead.  But the difference between a Harrison Ford movie and the chronicles of David, King of Israel, is that which happened after the drama.  For Indiana Jones the credits rolled on the screen, and the movie faded to black; everyone left the theatre!   

But David didn’t just survive; David’s survival and the remainder of his life were spent remembering God’s great preservation of life.  It was spent exploring the truth of God’s way as opposed to fairy tales.  He spent his days living his life in thanks to the God Who had saved him and granted him real life in an eternal kingdom!

For You Today

There are times when we all forget what God has done for us.  And we also forget the untold numbers of times God has preserved us when we didn’t even know it.  The word today is  don’t forget…continue to remember and be thankful! 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Words that Destroy

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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Don’t use foul or abusive language.  Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.  And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live.  Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.  Ephesians 4:29-32 (NLT)

From the very first time I went online (in 1996) to the present day, I have observed (as you certainly have), the growing ugliness of human anger openly-expressed at other humans, particularly on blogs, Facebook exchanges and other forms of communication.  The volume is increasing exponentially – both the sheer amount of abusive language, as well as the decibel level.  People seem to want to outshine one another as they take mean and hurtfulness to new levels. 

And towards what end is all this vitriol and aggression?  I imagine not a happy one!  At the very least we separate ourselves from one another with war words.

A blog, or Facebook tug-of-war can be (often is) a place for unleashing frustration. And that is perhaps, one reason why the angry words fly with such abandon – it gives relief to stifled lives that are stuffed-full with pent-up anger.  The source of said anger is grist for another day’s mill.

So, back to the main subject – words can destroy.  And often they do.

Everyone who is old enough to tie his shoes has experienced the power of words to hurt; many of us have been cut deeply by words flowing from mouths that had formerly professed friendship, even love.

Some caustic words can stay lodged in a person’s spirit for a lifetime.

But there are also words that heal!

While writing the first portion of today’s devotion I took a break for breakfast.  (I was stuck for how to put what I felt about all this into words; besides, the dogs were letting me know it was time to go out).

After breakfast I browsed Facebook for a few moments before getting back to the desk.  God provided the words through my friend, Anna Murdock, who posted this gem that illustrates just exactly what I wanted to say:

On my morning's drive to work (was stopped at an intersection) ... 
I saw an Asian man walking down the street, passing by a young black guy (maybe in his late teens) who was bringing in his curbside trash bin. The Asian man was pointing and yelling racial obscenities at the young man. He would walk a few feet in the road, stop and point again. Again, the racial obscenities flew from his mouth. I lowered my window to listen. It seemed important to not turn my head away from this. The young black guy was yelling back at the man. No, he wasn't yelling racial slurs or obscenities. He yelled, "Black people are good people. You should get to know us!" The man turned and continued on his walk, away from the young guy. I continued on my drive to work being grateful that I could hear this young man's response above the other man's voice. The young man is right, you know.[2]

What a stark night and day contrast of words laid side by side; the one man had words which destroy and the other speaking words of healing.  The destroyer was slinging spears of anger, while the healer offered arms of reconciliation. 

For followers of Jesus Christ there is a profound and compelling lesson here; if we would be, as St Francis of Assisi[3] urged, instruments of God’s peace, we must learn when assaulted by words or worse, to offer what Jesus offered…the other cheek.

It’s been said that the worst thing you can lead with is your chin…but I can think of no other way to turn the other cheek if you want to stay in the conversation in any meaningful, constructive way.

It’s called “vulnerability” and it’s what healing is all about in the human family.

For You Today

Considering the importance of words, today might be a good day to put into practice what my Mother told me one day:  think before you speak, Russell.

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[1] Title Images:  Man: Jessica Flavin, London, England, via Wikimedia Commons  Woman: By Lara604, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Anna Murdock, post on Facebook, April 7, 2015 (used with permission).  (See Anna’s blog “Pewponderings” here)

[3] The Prayer of Saint Francis, also known as Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace