Resetting the Compass

 

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Listen to what the Lord is saying:  “Stand up and state your case against me.  Let the mountains and hills be called to witness your complaints.  And now, O mountains, listen to the Lord’s complaint!  He has a case against his people.  He will bring charges against Israel.  “O my people, what have I done to you?  What have I done to make you tired of me?  Answer me!  For I brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from slavery.  I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help you.  Don’t you remember, my people, how King Balak of Moab tried to have you cursed and how Balaam son of Beor blessed you instead?  And remember your journey from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, when I, the Lord, did everything I could to teach you about my faithfulness.”  What can we bring to the Lord?  Should we bring him burnt offerings?  Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves?  Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?  Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?  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

The prophet speaks a word from Heaven’s courts to Israel, particularly Jerusalem, about their failure to honor the blessings they had received by God’s mercy and miraculous leading, from the time they left the bondage of being Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt until they were given Canaan land as God’s promise of continued blessing.  At every step God had blessed and, in the end, Jerusalem fell into lip service instead of genuine worship.  They offered sacrifices of bulls and rams by the herd, but with their lives they ignored the weightier issue of living life in full dedication to God’s will.  Three hundred years prior, Israel’s chronicler recorded the nation’s responsibility for resetting their national compass:

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

Now, as a last ditch offer of mercy, the Lord reminds Israel of their covenant requirements through the prophet Micah.  It was time to reset the national compass.

Today is Inauguration Day for the presidency of our nation.  It is a quadrennial occurrence of a (supposedly) peaceful transfer of power from an outgoing administration’s chief to the next.  To this moment it has been anything but serene and reassuring.  It has been more than a rocky road; it has been a war zone, complete with storming the halls of government.

Inauguration speeches by a new leader traditionally carry hope for the future, and a call to unselfish patriotism, with humility towards one another.  It is my fervent wish that this transition of power, however uncertain to this point, will teach us the lesson we need to learn – God is not mocked…whatever we have been sowing, both nationally as a people, and personally in our lives…we will continue to reap.

Toward that end, let us remember that doing what is right, not party affiliation and power, but righteousness and justice, with humility before God and with each other, is our only hope of living-out what it is going to take to have our land healed of its divisiveness and anger.

There is no other way for any nation under God.

For You Today

If there is anger in your inner being it must be rooted-out; this is what children of God do. 

And the way to begin the “rooting” out of anger is to confess it in prayer, and then resolve to act towards all, as Abraham Lincoln spoke to a nation suffering the division of civil war:

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds.

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

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

For other posts on this text see America // Israel and Do WHAT?      

 

The Awful Grace of God

 

Friday, January 15, 2021

You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  Psalm 139:16

Aeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright wrote:  “The memory of pain falls drop by drop upon our heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”[1]

As a young person, if there was one place I never expected to look for wisdom, it was in the face of pain.  But Aeschylus had it right – unbidden, pain comes to us anyway, and it is our most dramatic and (sadly) our most profound teacher. 

One important gleaning from pain-induced wisdom, however, is the fact that you will not hear wisdom, or sense it is even in the room when a person is in the middle of pain.  Anguished cries and incoherent, incomprehensible utterances of those who are overwhelmed by loss do not display wisdom – they display human agony.  Wisdom comes later, upon reflection. 

As with Aeschylus, it is the memory of our pain, long-since subsided, that sparks the light of God’s grace on our souls.  I would add that it is the well, and honestly-considered memory that allows the dawning of wisdom. 

When pain is compartmentalized, stuffed-away in a dark corner of our being, unfaced, and unprocessed, for fear of hurting deeper than our supposed coping resources, it invites the fragmenting of our soul and spirit.  We can become spiritual zombies, only a façade of the aliveness of resurrection people.

The result of unprocessed or ignored pain is a large map of destinations.  Among the most fearsome is the sociopath, that monster which feels nothing for others, or even himself.  The grace of God is the antidote for this road trip.  In an awe-filled way, the grace of God invites us to face our pain and overcome the monster waiting to be born in us.

Our country is at that type of crossroads today.  In our pain of lost elections, riots, COVID-19 deaths, and the angst of an uncertain future, we would, frankly, rather go on vacation, and not deal with the mess.  It’s tempting to apply temporary solutions to such pain.  I am a subscriber to the old standby that there are few problems that will not be better when you take a break.  Things always seem less problematic after a good nap.

But this is not one of those times. 

We are in the midst of national crisis of mega proportion.  Many have adopted the simplistic notion that, if this leader or that one is in charge, our problems will go away.  The lines in the sand between parties of different methodology and ideology have been drawn deeply and (at times) violently.  I think it would be accurate to compare this time in our country’s history, fresh from last week’s insurrectionist attack on the Capitol building and Congress by domestic terrorists, to that of the mid-19^th century, the prologue to Civil War. 

This is a time to face our problems, and the pain we all would rather avoid.

Facing those problems is not for the debaters who have all the answers and want to push their agenda.  It is not for the faint of heart who will just do a lot of hand-wringing and vent their disdain for what ails us.  Facing the problems is a matter for what history teaches us in the likes of men such as King David, who, when confronted with his own shortfall of character, confessed, and was restored.[2]  Or men like Nehemiah, who put his life on the line and offered to go help rebuild Jerusalem.[3]  Or women like Esther whose people were on the verge of annihilation and she accepted the fact that she was born for such a time.[4] 

The Scriptures are filled with those who stood firm in the flames of opposition and threat.  For us it can be no different.  If God’s people will not pray and be ready for serving as balm for the wounds of mankind’s madness, this country, or the human species doesn’t stand a chance.

For You Today

Standing firm does not mean turning on anyone.  Wisdom borne of pain has taught us by the awful grace of God just the opposite.  It means standing true to what Christ has taught us about pain; we bear our brother’s burdens like ours was borne at Calvary.

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

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

Calvin and Hobbes (cartoon) by Bill Watterson

For other posts on this topic see Death With Dignity? and Prayers in a Dark Place      

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[1] Excerpt, Washington Post Article (Two Sides of Joe Biden) citing Robert F. Kennedy upon the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

[2] Read Psalm 51

[3] Read Nehemiah 1-2

[4] Read Esther chapters 3-4

 

When the Killing is Done

 

Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers.  Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.  Turn away and keep moving.  For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.  They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.  They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!  The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.  They have no idea what they are stumbling over.  My child, pay attention to what I say.  Listen carefully to my words.  Don’t lose sight of them.  Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.  Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.  Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.  Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.  Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.  Proverbs 4:14-27

There is a good reason we have in Proverbs these wise words of King David to his son, Solomon.  It was Solomon’s pen, but it was David’s life experience of going down the rabbit hole of wickedness and violence.  The once fresh-faced shepherd boy who became a king also chased the illusion of being invincible.  David became convinced the press reports were right about him being wonderful and, in pride, he slipped into the darkness.  The words are recorded as a warning to his son, Solomon, but they are David’s testimony, gleaned wisdom from a life that went from zero–to–hero–and back!  The man who slipped off the hero pedestal, admired by the people of Israel for being a righteous man, became an adulterer, a conspirator in murder, and the corrupting influence that destroyed his own family.

The sins of a powerful leader who falls into dishonor are in no way a private matter.  David’s warning to Solomon is painted in the strongest images of unimaginable pain for those whose hearts are unguarded, and the perils they face by disregarding truth in favor of their fantasy grandeur.  The trappings of power tend to shield one from the reality of human fragility; we are here for threescore and ten – we are NOT God!

Leaders tend to over-estimate their successes and deny their failures even exist.  It is rare to find even a teaspoon of humility in the spotlighted halls of world leaders.  It is a matter of pride and power; left unchecked, pride leads to destruction.  We have seen that worked-out in the streets of Washington of late.  It leads to insurrection, mob-justice, and death.  That it was done largely by misguided loyalists does not keep the hands of the leader clean.  King David was in Jerusalem when the plot was unleashed to kill Uriah the Hittite on the battlefield in Ammon[1]  But distance did not change the king’s culpability in murder; it was David’s order.  David’s plan was a cover up after his adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.  He was trying to protect his squeaky-clean image as a good guy with a plot to kill an innocent man.  Evil and self-aggrandizement is a dark rabbit hole.

However dark it must be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days, I am still more amazed at how the darkness of the leader has shrouded whatever common sense the leader’s followers may have once possessed.  To riot, destroy, and even cause death as a (so-called) righteous response to a fraudulent election (of which proof is somehow still lacking), is disconcerting at least.  It reminds me of the crowd outside Pilate’s house yelling crucify and raising fists in violence and murder, while the only evidence against Jesus was his healing and teaching to love one another.  It just doesn’t make any sense!  I would say that I have no solution to offer for what ails us.  But deep within I do recognize there is One who does have a solution.  He knows first-hand what mobs do…and why.

For You Today

It takes courage and more than a little risk to stand up to bullying and murdering with bullets or words.  If you need a reminder like Solomon needed David’s testimony, remember, vultures are only waiting for when the killing is done.  David said it best, Son… Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. 

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

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

For other posts on this text see Ears Open Heart Straight Eyes on the Road Sure Foot and Healthy      

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[1] See 2 Samuel 11:1-17