Faith Seasoned Wisdom

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom.  He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob.  Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women.  I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’”  After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!”  Jacob was terrified at the news.  He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups.  He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”  Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’  I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant.  When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps!  O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau.  I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children.  But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”  Genesis 32:3-12

To learn from your mistakes is the essential quality of wisdom.  To apply faith to wisdom is to serve God above all.  Jacob had a rocky, selfish start to life.  It started in his mother’s womb, when he and his twin brother, Esau, had a daily wrestling match.  As they were born, Esau was first out, but Jacob was hot on his heels, actually grabbing his brother’s foot.  It was sibling rivalry with the first breath.

The story of their lives in their father Isaac’s home was contentious, to say the least.  Jacob’s selfish behavior divided his mother and dad, and made an enemy of his twin brother.  Esau was so angry with his brother’s treacherous ways, Jacob had to leave home and go live with their uncle Laban at a safe distance.  Esau swore he’d kill his twin if ever they met again.

Fast forward twenty years…Jacob is much wiser, and is on his way home to reconcile with his family.  He has no clue as to Esau’s mindset…will his brother make good on his vengeance threat?  Will it end in calamity?  Jacob is wise at this point, dividing his wives and children into two camps, hoping to minimize losses of life and property, if Esau is still bent on Jacob’s death.  But a new dimension has foraged its’ way into Jacob’s life and thinking – faith!  The night before he was to face Esau, he met face-to-face with God’s angel, and the outcome was Jacob’s commitment to serve God, and live by faith, even if it meant giving up everything he'd gained, or even his own life. 

What Jacob had learned was what Jesus told Peter hundreds of years later – swords, be they steel or the treachery of human selfishness, may work for awhile, but they have little place in the heart of God.  It is faith that wins.[1] 

Seasoning the wisdom of learned mistakes and rocky roads, with faith God has given, is the mark of a life changed and usable in God’s Kingdom.  It took Jacob decades of hard lessons to shed his clever ways in favor of God’s clear kindness…the deep faith of the unashamed!

For You Today 

This world will afford you many opportunities to follow both Esau and Jacob’s early mistakes and sins…greed, treachery, revenge, and power.  In the end, those things only produce pain and regret, whether you wind up in jail, or residing in a mansion.  It’s all loss in Heaven’s record books.  The other, wiser choice is to season whatever you have learned with faith to do what the prophet Micah wrote:  do what is right, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:  via Wikimedia Commons 

Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] See John 18:10-11

Widows & Orphans

 

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father.  Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers.  Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.  Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.  But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them.  This is something that pleases God.  Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God.  She prays night and day, asking God for his help.  But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives.  Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism.  But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith.  Such people are worse than unbelievers.                            1 Timothy 5:1-8

You cannot understate the importance of this passage.  Paul, the elder statesman of the fledgling Christian church, is passing along advice to a young pastor, his protégé, Timothy.  Paul is not simply handing Timothy a twelve-pound book of rules, but gives him life principles of attitudes and actions that apply at any age to the formation of Christian lives: 

·       Speaking to others with respect and care

·       Respect for women

·       Helping the helpless

·       Caring for aging family members

These life principles are so important in everyday living because they develop character and an attitude that strengthen any family towards Godliness, which leads to stronger, more Godly communities, that which is pleasing to God.

In our current culture, homelessness, divorce, domestic violence, and the abuse of children are not isolated numbers on a chart of trends; more they are the sad tell-tale spots of the spiritual illness that has rotted the strength of attitude and resolve to be Godly people.  We have managed to promote personal happiness as a cultural right so vigorously, Godliness has been disappearing in the rearview mirror. 

To illustrate that this is so, one need only point to the disarray of relationship our culture exhibits to God’s chief blessing for strength in the home – His church.  Say what you like about the demise of the importance of church in the 21^st century, I lay blame at the feet of selfish desire to have personal fulfillment, rather than Godly wholeness.  Godly worship has changed from the obvious to the optional. 

Certainly, the abuses of clergy, ebb-and-flow of cultural preferences in worship styles, and other sad distractions do factor-in when it comes to the dismantling of institutions – including the church.  However, the real loser is the family.  The church has become the new widow, a directionless, homeless bride, slipping through the cracks of this culture’s quest for a supposed better life. 

It is time for those who truly worship God to state this message clearly and without apology, both in word and deed:

Without the church, families will become just another option,                                             not God’s primary gift of strength for all human existence.

For You Today

In another post, last year[1] I wrote:  It has been said that evangelism is one beggar telling another where he has found bread.  For the helpless, homeless, and hopeless among us, they must never become them or those people; WE must be one widow, orphan, or stranger showing another where there is kindness.

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

[1] Title and Other Images:  Wikimedia Commons (public domain)  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

[1] See post from January 31, 2020, Widows, Orphans, & Strangers

 

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

 

Friday, May 7, 2021

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.  Psalm 139: 14

Fifty years ago this morning I became a Dad.  That morning was one of those truly unforgettable experiences that changes one’s life.  Elizabeth and I wanted a family, but after a few years of that not happening, we were wondering if we’d ever be parents.  Then came Jennifer Anne…and, with the truth firmly in place, that a child changes everything, life with (eventually) three children, began a journey of finding out just how fearfully and wonderfully we are made.

Jen was full of surprises from day one.  When Elizabeth went into labor, we called Dr. Matheson for instructions (probably the 200^th time).  He said, C’mon, I’ll meet you at the hospital.  (I wondered how he could be so calm at a moment like this).  He was even more chilled-back when we got there.  They took Elizabeth into the labor room, and I was told to wait - outside.  Fifty years ago Dads were even more in the dark than these days.  After several minutes, the doc reappeared and told me to go on home and get some sleep; the baby would be hours and hours away.  So I trudged back home and, on doctor’s orders, drifted off.  Ten minutes later the phone was ringing…Congratulations, said Dr. Matheson, you’re a Dad!  I’m not certain what it was I actually said, but I remember thinking, Doc Matheson, you’re a man with a medical degree and thirty years of OB practice, and, Doc, my two-minute-old daughter played you into sending me home.  My wife’s gonna kill me for not being there…thanks a bunch!

Later, that morning of May 7, 1971, I saw that little face for the first time, and the reality that my world had changed began to take hold.  A few minutes later I beheld the face of Elizabeth, one who had done battle with labor, and who knew I had been asleep while she gave birth, and I knew that my world had really changed!

Milestones are simply markers along a journey.  Fifty years sounds like a long time; and it is, but I tend more and more to look at it as a treasure-trove of memories of the wonder-in-reverence of God’s marvelous plan and love for us. 

Jen has had a life of joys, disappointments, victories and love.  She is an artist, nutritionist, accomplished musician, master gardener, wife, mother of 3, grandmother, homemaker, and has even worn a hard hat “pulling wires” when Ken (her husband of more than 25 years) needed help on a job. 

Jen is strong, beautiful, and a bubbling presence, filled with love, compassion, and a willingness to help.  But these words are not just a resume’ – rather a commentary on what God has been able to create in a heart that has been opened to His love and gifts.   Above all the accomplishments, joys, and sorrows, stands one governing force of our first-born – her love for Christ, and Biblical wisdom gleaned from many hours of studying God’s Word, along with putting that Word into action in her daily life.  We love our Jen, and her family, along with our other children and theirs.  Family is God’s way of telling us just how important we are to Him.  And Jen, your part of that message stands strong!  Happy Birthday, sweetheart! 

For You Today

The joys of God’s family are all around you; and you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Don’t miss that about His love for you!

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

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