Stan...

Friday, November 4, 2022

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you:  to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Stan Bingham, a friend and church member.  Only time and the unfolding of life’s mystery and purposes of God will tell the total of Stan’s doing right, loving mercy, and walking humbly with his God.  However, I strongly suspect the talley of all that will not do his memory any harm in his new home, a place not made with hands, where he sees clearly what he has meant to the countless people his life and kindness touched, as well as the love with which his Savior, Jesus Christ, embraced him.

I’m writing this on Thursday (the day before you read it, and the day after the gathering of saints and sinners to say that goodbye…and I am as exhausted as I’ve ever been – maybe more).  Being in a sizeable crowd, and responsible to lead a service for someone who is a legend in North Carolina’s legislative chronicles, well…my supply of energy isn’t grand to begin-with…yesterday ran the tank dry.    I feel a little like one of Stan’s dogs from a story posted in Lexington’s Dispatch, about the VW Stan had converted to run on used cooking oil.  

Whenever the Senator would arrive home from an event where he drove the Bug, the hounds would come running to the scent of french fries.  Stan said he feared he’d not get to them in time to keep them from killing themselves on fry-fumes.

From saving his old dogs from themselves, to more than 170 bills passed in the legislature over 16 years, Stan was always shooting for doing right, loving mercy, and being humble enough to not care who gets the credit.

One of the speakers at the service[1], Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, shared that story in his eulogy, and it helped continue the theme of a joy-fillled homegoing for a much-loved, larger-than-life, prank-loving legislator, who was taken home so suddenly.  It was a grand send-off.

As a personal note of observation, tempered by 75 years of watching people, more than 40 of those years being a people-watching pastor, I can say I was most impressed by a mother and her four daughters, Stan’s closest family, long used to the press, and the fishbowl of public life, but less-mindful of the presence of all the trappings of that life, rather focused on celebrating the joy of a man who loved, and lived his life working for justice and mercy, all the while walking humbly with his God.

For You Today ,

You might be a good-sized cog in the wheel of life, or, like me, a rather smallish cog, who gets worn-down easily amongst the bigger cogs; either way, remember this:  you’re a cog that God loves, and has you in the right place on His wheel. 

So take that as seriously as my friend, Stan, by loving God with your whole heart, poured-into doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with He who gave you that first, and every breath you take on this planet.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions libraryI.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Do What?   and   Resetting the Compass

[1] Images: Title image courtesy of The Denton Orator, Used with permission by Bingham family   

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] You can watch the entire homegoing service for Stan Bingham on YouTube HERE

An Upside-Down World

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.  Isaiah 5:20 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.  So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth.  It broke his heart.  Genesis 6:5-6

I watched a video my cousin Rick sent to me.  I don’t have time to watch a lot of internet stuff, but this one caught my eye.  It was presented by a young woman host of a Youtube/TikTok video blog called Defender of the Republic.  It’s about the “upside-downness” of cultural norms in our world, particularly in the U.S.A.  From an unquestionable breakdown of morals and common sense, to racism, vaccinations, illegal immigration practices, and cutthroat government gutting what was once (at least) a marginally-trustworthy institution, she names today’s absurd inequity, injustice, and insanity without pulling punches.  Some of it could be seen as political partisianship, or just plain political rhetoric, but most is spot-on common sense.  According to John Q. Public, good is now evil, and, conversely, evil is incredibly the best!  All told, this stark assessment of our current world adds another billion tons of credence to Jesus’ prophecy:

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.  Matthew 24:37

As God’s assessment in Genesis, that Noah was the only human being on planet earth who tried to stay away from evil, nothing could hold back the judgment flood that was brewing. 

And, I believe, there isn’t much doubt that the 21^st century has just as imminent a Judgment Day on the horizon.  The Days of Noah are upon us!  And Jesus gave an indelible reason why that is so, and will be universally-conclusive:

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  John 3:19

For You Today

That judgment inevitably follows action is as predictable, and undeniably just, as when you jump out of an airplane at 10,000-feet without a parachute.  It’s unavoidable, and brings a close to the chapter you’re writing.

So here’s today’s (and tomorrow’s, and every-day’s) question:

Do you know the Editor who can shed light on your story?

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Good and Evil; the War and God, with a Broken Heart

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

Top of Your Game - Game Over

Monday, September 5, 2022

Now then, you kings, act wisely!  Be warned, you rulers of the earth!  Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—for his anger flares up in an instant.  But what joy for all who take refuge in him!  Psalm 2:10-12

The despotic president/murderer of many, Saddam Hussein is long gone from the world’s political stage, having been chased from his leadership of Iraq into hiding, and eventually pulled from his hiding hole, tried, convicted, and executed by hanging.  He did not, as the Psalmist cautioned leaders to do, act wisely!  He had no fear of God.  He viewed himself as being in charge…and, for a brief nine years, his murderous regime seemed to be so; the collapse in 2003 once again reminded us all that every created thing is subject to God’s will.  No matter how high the Top of Your Game may be, God has set the Time of Your Game-Over, and there is nothing to top that!

The Psalmist set down for us all the means for a leader to be honorable and end well – to serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Whether you are president of the United States, or the elected dog catcher in the smallest of towns, there is always one to whom you report (besides the electorate or whatever checks and balances are in place), and that is He Who created us, and decides if we live or die.  In an age where personal sovereignty is worshipped, it would be prudent to remember God’s sovereignty is above all.

In a few years those under 20 will hardly recognize the name of Saddam Hussein, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or any of the other newsmakers of the current time.  That is regrettable, as forgetting the mistakes of the past are surety of repeating them in the future. 

For You Today

Rather than gloat, or wail (over political outcomes, depending on whether or not you voted for those who fail or succeed), it is a better practice to reflect on our part in this process.  Just as it is incumbent on leaders to serve with reverent fear of God, it is the same reverent fear we who put others in office must serve.  We are tempted to opt-out of responsibility quickly in one of many ways:

·       I’m just one person; what could I have done

·       I voted for the other guy

·       His problem – I’ve got enough to worry about

Now, those may all be true to some degree, but one thing remains for the Christian believer:  Did I pray?  Did I honestly, fervently, and consistently lift up the leaders who make governing choices in my name?[1]

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Advice for the Mighty and Now Then, You Kings, Act Wisely!

[1] Images:   Title Image from Video:       What if Sadaam Hussein Was Never Captured (YouTube)                                                         Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] From:  Advice for the Mighty, Rocky Road Post from January 5, 2015

Grounded - Part 2

 

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

I am suffering and in pain.  Rescue me, O God, by your saving power.  Then I will praise God’s name with singing, and I will honor him with thanksgiving.  For this will please the Lord more than sacrificing cattle, more than presenting a bull with its horns and hooves.  The humble will see their God at work and be glad.  Let all who seek God’s help be encouraged.  For the Lord hears the cries of the needy; he does not despise his imprisoned people.  Praise him, O heaven and earth, the seas and all that move in them.  For God will save Jerusalem and rebuild the towns of Judah.  His people will live there and settle in their own land.  The descendants of those who obey him will inherit the land, and those who love him will live there in safety.      Psalm 69:29-36

Yesterday’s prayer of King David (O God, you know how foolish I am…) claims his personal responsibility for the depths to which his relationship with God had fallen.   This was no blaming of God or anyone else; he accepts the full weight of his sin. 

I saw in that a good bit of identification with the beleaguered president of our nation; not confession (that’s not his public kind of response to trouble), but rather the reality that, like David, the president’s muddle is a mixture of the nature of being at the center seat of power – much of it is self-inflicted because of choices made. 

While yesterday’s devotion ended with a call that we pray for Mr. Biden as he takes over on January 20^th it in no way diminishes (for me) the level of prayer I offer for the outgoing president.  The Scriptures we read today are the result of King David’s confession, which resulted in God’s forgiveness and restoration of the land.  This is what I pray for Donald Trump and all the leaders of our nation – that a revival of trusting in God, marked by humility and confession, fuel a blessing of righteousness. 

It is not too late for Mr. Trump to do the most important work of the past four years of his administration, and even of his entire life – that to which we’re all called, to bow before Heaven’s throne as King David did.  The apostle Paul unveiled for the believers at Rome what the result is for all who do that:

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.  Romans 10:9-10

Salvation is of a personal nature, and it is my heartfelt prayer that Donald Trump has, or will, commit his life to Christ.  It is not for me to judge what God alone can.  But a good dose of humility in plain sight would be a welcome medicine for the anger and division existing in this country.

For You Today

Whether you’re a card-carrying Democrat, Republican, or any other party affiliation, or no party affiliation, this isn’t about politics; this is about praying for the troubled nation in which we live, and the souls of our leaders. 

It’s much like the proverb about speaking-up…it only takes a bit of silence for evil to prevail.  In this case, the speaking-up is in the direction of God’s throne room. 

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

GO TO VIDEO

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

For other posts on this text see When Your Choice is the Lesser of Evils and Whom Do You Trust?      

 

Grounded

 

Monday, January 11, 2021

Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck.  Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold.  I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me.  I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched.  My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me….  O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you.  Psalm 69:1-5

The pathos of a king, despised by the masses, headed for ruin, and drained of all emotional and spiritual strength, pleading to the silent heavens for relief, is heart-shredding.  This was David, the king of Israel, loved by God, lauded by the people, and ultimately fallen from the heights of splendor. 

When a ruler falls it is more than just a brief news cycle; when a king falls, historians realize their job security has risen.  In David’s case the fall was a personal misstep, a poor choice which allowed his humanity to replace God’s will as his governor.  David’s prayer (O God, you know how foolish I am…) claims his personal responsibility for the depths to which his relationship with God has fallen.  To his credit David does not blame God or anyone else; he accepts the full weight of his sin.

King David described his situation as being up to his neck in floodwaters, sinking deeper and deeper in the muck of his choosing.  As I was reading this Psalm, I could not keep from seeing Donald Trump’s image on David’s throne.  Edgy does not describe the angst of this situation.  Mr. Trump’s precarious hold on the presidency these past months has been a collective holding of breath for the nation.  I’m a certified news-junkie, but of late it is hard to turn on the news channels. 

I’ve not been a fan of the way President Trump has governed, but I am even less a fan of the turmoil which has been the result.  Misguided loyalists of an unwell ruler storming the halls of Congress is a terrible way to hold a eulogy for an administration.  Yet, perhaps, it is fitting; the people spoke four years prior, and now the people must dine on those words.

Yet, there is something of a glimmer to which we can turn our attention.  It is the hope of course-correction over total disintegration.  President Thomas Jefferson was in favor of revolution as a perpetual cleansing agent for our experiment in self-governance.  To be certain, Jefferson did not advocate bloody revolution, rather he favored a revolution of ideas over legislative paper piles.  Rather than build storehouses of legal ropes with which we bind ourselves to King David’s malaise of unanswered prayers, an entanglement of rules that overburden a society, our third president favored letting freedom ring, starting over with nothing but fresh-faced commitment to liberty.

It is difficult to keep a noble dream alive, let alone a dishonorable desire.  It is not for me to theorize on whatever drove Mr. Trump’s imagination and energy towards the presidency and induced such fanatic allegiance by his “base” of political support.  I’m not qualified to explore that rabbit hole.  But, of the resultant unravelling of the 45^th president’s leadership, I surmise much will be written and debated in the coming years.  Of this I’m certain, it will not be pretty or flattering!

But I do offer one hopeful perspective; this quadrennial experience of the brass-ring to be grasped, a door opened to the Oval Office, and, unquestionably the most powerful seat on earth, is neither for the faint of heart, nor for those with a short supply of character.  Neither is it a place for personal aggrandizement.  It is a place for those who would remember King David’s confession, O God, you know how foolish I am….  It is playing out in a very public, and excruciatingly painful manner, that the American public will not abide those who can’t – or won’t – pray that way.

One last thought; I take no pleasure in having written these words.  Only God and time will reveal whether they are true or not.  If my assessment here is true, it is a sad truth of the grounding of reality.  If untrue, time will blow away these words like an errant king’s dalliance. 

For You Today

Pray for the new president to be inaugurated; #46 has a tough act to follow.

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

GO TO VIDEO

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

For other posts on this text see When Your Choice is the Lesser of Evils and Whom Do You Trust?      

 

View From the Fence

 

Monday, December 14, 2020

Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab.  Tell him that I will soon send rain!”  So Elijah went to appear before Ahab.  Meanwhile, the famine had become very severe in Samaria.  So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord.  Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden 100 of them in two caves.  He put fifty prophets in each cave and supplied them with food and water.)  Ahab said to Obadiah, “We must check every spring and valley in the land to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules.”  So they divided the land between them.  Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.  As Obadiah was walking along, he suddenly saw Elijah coming toward him.  Obadiah recognized him at once and bowed low to the ground before him.  “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked.  “Yes, it is,” Elijah replied.  “Now go and tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”  “Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death at the hands of Ahab?  For I swear by the Lord your God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you.  And each time he was told, ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim.  And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’  But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away to who knows where.  When Ahab comes and cannot find you, he will kill me.  Yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life.  Has no one told you, my lord, about the time when Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets?  I hid 100 of them in two caves and supplied them with food and water.  And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’  Sir, if I do that, Ahab will certainly kill me.”  But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab this very day.”  So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah.  1 Kings 18:1-16

As we reflect on this passage, we should keep in mind one of the apostle Peter’s cautions:

Fear God, and respect the king.  1 Peter 2:17^b

Obadiah was a person who got half of that right.  He feared (or reverenced) God, but in the face of a challenge to do God’s bidding by going to Ahab as Elijah requested, Obadiah let his fear of an unrighteous king block his unquestioning service; Obadiah feared Ahab’s fury!

To his credit, the man who respected the king, and all he stood for in Israel, and was even a government employee, eventually did what Elijah requested.  But the prophet had to swear on his life and fidelity to the Lord to get him to do it.  Sitting on the fence between faith in God and faith in a worldly ruler is hardly the way to get nominated for faith’s man-of-the-year!

We live in a day when people are drawing the lines rather deeply.  The recent presidential election – still going on a month after the balloting – serves as a prime example of how deeply the lines are dug.  The current tally of over 81 million votes for one candidate, and 74 million for the other, show just how divided the American voting public stands, and how much it means to both sides to have their candidate on the throne.  All the while church pews remain largely forgotten. 

Makes one wonder just how much “fearing God” is going on? 

For You Today

If you’re passionate about elections, that isn’t necessarily wrong; everyone needs to be involved in the political process.  Politics is simply a word that describes how citizens decide about how we will act as a society.  Sitting on the fence is not deciding anything, but whether we’ll have splinters behind us when we’re forced to jump down like Obadiah.

To respect the king (president, ruler, or all government officials) is good; to fear God is to keep the king human.

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

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Title image, Pixabay.com and    W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For another post on this passage see:  When Kings Must Bow

 

Truth Waiting for the Hangman

 

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

What can I say about you?  Who has ever seen such sorrow?  O daughter of Jerusalem, to what can I compare your anguish?  O virgin daughter of Zion, how can I comfort you?  For your wound is as deep as the sea.  Who can heal you?  Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core.  They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins.  Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope.  All who pass by jeer at you.  They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’ and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”  All your enemies mock you.  They scoff and snarl and say, “We have destroyed her at last!  We have long waited for this day, and it is finally here!”  But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.  He has fulfilled the promises of disaster he made long ago.  He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.  He has caused her enemies to gloat over her and has given them power over her.  Lamentations 2:13-17

The prophet Jeremiah is generally accepted to be the author of Lamentations.  His is not a message positivity thinkers would appreciate.  Truth be told, Jeremiah had little positive affirmation in his life.  Every time he opened his mouth to speak the Word of God to God’s people, he either developed a new enemy (or a few thousand) or got thrown in prison.  Church tradition suggests he was stoned to death for heresy by Jewish leaders in Egypt.  He spent a lot of time waiting for the hangman.

In that waiting Jeremiah saw clearly what national catastrophe looks like.  In the case of Jerusalem, the prophet predicted, and lived to see the day when that beautiful city of God set on a hill was defeated and destroyed, its citizens reduced to either slavery or starvation, or both.  And what the prophet said about it all must have been like salt rubbed in the wounds.  It wasn’t unfair; it wasn’t God abandoning His covenant, or somehow falling-down on the job.  It was God fulfilling His covenantal promises that, if Israel served God faithfully, His promises were of life, strength, and a never-ending sense of peace and joy.  On the other side of that coin of promise was a warning, that if they served other gods, they would experience the wrath of judgment.  It wasn’t hard for Jeremiah to connect the dots; Israel had wandered into the far country of idolatry and sin.

James Russell Lowell penned the famous words concerning truth and wrong, particularly in public life, and poignant for any nation:

Perhaps Lowell had Jeremiah’s day in mind when he wrote this, but it certainly looms larger over the next four years (or any moment in time) than any appraisal of the economy, international relations, poverty or justice, compared to what God is doing in plain sight to a nation so divided and angry. 

In America we are busy electing our governmental leaders for the next cycle.  As of this writing it’s unclear who will be president or control the Congress.  But one thing is clear – whoever sits in a Senator’s chair, or at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, that person will not be without sin.  The real question is whether the people who are ruled by the elected leaders will take truth off the scaffold and send the hangman to remove wrong from the throne.

Now, I am not suggesting a bloody revolution – indeed, just the opposite.  I am suggesting what another prophet (probably Ezra) wrote about the government of Israel and how they were falling into worshipping other gods, and the only true path the people can take to extricate themselves from impending judgment:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

For You Today

May I suggest that we spend a lot less time talking about how right (or wrong) the election’s outcome may be?  May we begin the process of placing truth back on the throne by humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God, and weeding out the sins in our own lives?  God responds to what His people do…whether evil or good.

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

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Title image:  via Wikimedia Rembrandt (in public domain)   W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on 1 Peter 2:13-17 see:  An Honorable Life and Honorable Behavior - Part 2