Judgments True and Just

Friday, November 17, 2023[1]

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.  The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal.  They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.  They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them.  And they angered the Lord.  They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.  This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions.  He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them.  Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned.  And the people were in great distress.  Judges 2:10-15

And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”  Revelation 16:7

The justice system in America is arguably skewed at times, as is every other system created by humankind.  A statement attributed to Winston Churchill is:  Democracy is the worst form of government ever created…with the exception of every other form of government.  With all due respect to the esteemed Mr. Churchill, there is one justice system that is true and just; its righteousness is never failing!  That system, of course, is the judgments of God.

Joshua led the nation of Israel to conquer the Promised Land after Moses’ death.  They occupied it under the sole-leadership of God (a theocracy) until Joshua died.  Then a new generation decided that serving Jehovah was outdated and old-school.  They wanted to be like the other nations and left God in the dust. 

For Israel, bad became worse.  Their strength as a nation disappeared.  Their military was never enough.  Their infrastructures became compromised; superstructures and resources were hacked and stolen, and no leader could be trusted.  The whole nation was in severe distress.

Does that sound familiar?  I know it is dangerous to insert “America” into any prophecy or Biblical scenario, but when the shoe fits it is appropriate to wear it.  The trend in our culture is to trust in an idea of America as inherently good and all-powerful.  The problem in believing such is that we wind up attributing the nature of God to a national identity.  America is not, has never been, and will never be…GOD! 

The identity of a nation consists of  the nature and character of the people who make up that nation at any point in time.  According to Scripture (which has yet to be proven wrong), the character and nature of humans is corrupt, and has been so ever since Eden.  This is a fallen world…and, despite the flag-waving that has most of us rallying around the stars and stripes, fallenness is our heritage…prone to wander; prone to leave the God we love.  And leave God behind we have…for the pragmatism of bigger stock portfolios, harsher conversations, and a national profile of yell louder to win the argument.  And we do so at a great cost!

For You Today 

The distress of God’s justice rolled-down on the heads of those who led Israel after Joshua passed.  I am not a prophet in the sense of being able to foretell the future, but I am student enough of history and Scripture to sense that we are at harvest time, and what we have been sowing, we shall certainly reap! 

Let us be wise and plant seeds of justice, mercy, and walking humbly with our God, while we pray it is not too late.

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 library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] This devotion originally appeared on Rocky Road as The Distress of Justice, November 16, 2017 (with updates)

Got Wisdom?

Friday, October 6, 2023

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.  The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.  Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.  The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.  They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.   They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.  They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.  How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?  Cleanse me from these hidden faults.  Keep your servant from deliberate sins!  Don’t let them control me.  Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.  Psalm 19:7-14

King David taught his son Solomon what wisdom looked like.  Soaking-up all the truth of Scripture, David summarized wisdom by the qualities God’s Word will become in a believer’s heart:

     ·       God’s Word is impeccably-perfect…reviving the soul

     ·       God’s Decrees are trustworthy…making the simple person wise

     ·       God’s Commandments are right…making joy flourish in the heart

     ·       God’s Commands are clear…light on life’s path

     ·       Reverence towards God is pure…an eternal blessing of clear conscience

     ·       God’s laws are true…making fairness an everyday experience

Knowing God’s ways bring life, wisdom, joy, insight, and permanence; His way and blessing are available to all who will worship the true, living God.

David concluded his prayer recorded in Psalm 19 with a question and answer. 

The question:  How can I understand my own heart…all the sins hidden there?

The answer:  Humble confession that I can’t know the depth of my own heart’s sins merely by my own wisdom.  I must place my heart in God’s hands…ask Him to forgive and cleanse me, so my proclivity towards sinning won’t control me.

David closed the prayer with one final request:  Lord, whatever I’ve laid before You, O Lord…may it be pleasing to you…do what you will with me…you are the bedrock of all my days and eternity.

If you’ve ever wondered where to start with praying to God, go back to Psalm 19 and grasp the depth of how anyone should (and can) approach Almighty God.  This is the model for placing your life in His care, and your heart’s love at the foot of Calvary’s cross.  The result of studying God’s love letter to humanity is revival for the soul, wisdom for making decisions, joy in the heart, light on your journey as you step-out each day with a clean conscience, and a burning desire to spread justice and fairness to every creature on earth. 

Did he leave anything out?

For You Today 

David’s son, Solomon, took his dad’s evaluation of God’s Word to heart, and both history and God’s Word call Solomon the wisest man ever.  That’s not a bad place to start your day.  It will make finishing your day an adventure that won’t disappoint.

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 library.

Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com                   

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

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!

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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

Of Righteousness and Ritual

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope.  “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.  I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.  I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.  Away with your noisy hymns of praise!  I will not listen to the music of your harps.  Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.  Amos 5:20-24

Those really “old” and trite sayings that used to fall from your grandma’s lips (you remember those, don’t you?), a stitch in time saves nine, waste not, want not, and so-on…these survived because they’re true; even the funny ones.  I may have split my side laughing the first time I someone who was trying to help me understand, dressing-up a failed project to look like a winner won’t amount to more than a caricature of what was reality. 

The image he used to illustrate was about lifting a pig from the muck of the pen, and dressing it to the nines.  In the end it was still a pig, bound to return to the muck.  That old expression, you can put lipstick on a pig, but you still ain’t gonna kiss him, makes hilarious sense! 

Now, as funny as that may be, even about the cutest of pigs, when the speaker’s voice is coming from the throne in Heaven, the imagery fades, and we are the ones who must put on the lipstick and quietly, solemnly look in the mirror.

The prophet, Amos, was a farm boy from Israel’s sticks.  Visiting the temple in Jerusalem must have been an eye-opening, jaw-dropping experience.  The ritual of sacrifice was impressive, bloody, and totally without concern for the kind of life God wanted for His people.  Talk about old sayings and truth, Amos must have been thinking:  Man, you can dot all the i’s, and cross all the t’s, and still misspell the word…don’t these people get it?

It is told about Martin Luther, the great reformer of the 16^th-century, when he was still a Roman Catholic priest, he would go to confession…often…sometimes multiple times in a day, re-confessing the same old sins.  His confessor, an older priest, would patiently hear the young priest, give him pennance to do, and ritually assure the guilt-driven Martin Luther his sin was absolved.  The forgiveness after breakfast might last till lunch, and then it was back to the confessional.  When the elder priest decided this routine had gone-on long enough, he stopped Luther mid-way through his litany of the forgiven, unforgiven, and reforgiven sins,  once-again being confessed, and said:  Martin, you either need to accept forgiveness for these same old sins, or get some new ones.  It seems the futility of the same old ritual had been swamped by Martin’s trust in the nursery of his priest’s protective absolution, instead of Luther’s call to the wild field of God’s vineyard.  It’s safer to slip into easy forgiveness, and forget the purpose of what we do…spreading the word, and ministering healing to the lost and marginalized of our brethren.

For You Today ,

The church services, with its rituals and routines serve God’s purpose, of keeping our eyes on His holiness, and developing a doctrinal understanding of our responsibility to serve others.  But if the ritual and routine, and our comfort zone of being forgiven is all we seek, we have done worse than putting lipstick on the old pig…we’ve begun to enjoy kissing him.

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

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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: 

       The Elephant in the Room Has Sharp Teeth   and   When It's God's Move

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

When Evil Plans Backfire

 

Monday, July 11, 2022

The wicked conceive evil; they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies.  They dig a deep pit to trap others, then fall into it themselves.  The trouble they make for others backfires on them.  The violence they plan falls on their own heads.  I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.  Psalm 7:14-17

Conception, pregnancy, birth…a perfectly logical sequence, but when conception is the product of evil plans, the backfiring of such a pregnancy is justice.  In recent years we’ve seen a Ponzi scheme take down a greedy monster, Bernie Madhof, and sexual predators in the entertainment industry, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, wind up in prison.  The wheels of justice are still slowly grinding on the January 6^th investigation.  Those who plan for violence always succeed; they just don’t know it’s accumulating above their heads in a bubble that’s getting ready to burst!

Long before Bernie Madhof, Epstein and Maxwell, or the attack on our Capitol, Joseph’s brothers were unaware of that balloon.  They couldn’t stand their little brother, so they tossed him in a pit, eventually selling him to a band of nomadic human traffickers.  Joseph wound up a slave in Egypt, the result of his brothers’ evil plans. 

Fast forward 20 years and that same boy-dreamer, Joseph, is second in charge of Egypt’s empire, holding the keys to the food vault during a major famine.  And just whose brothers are sent to buy food from Joseph?  In the end, all the brothers could do was humble themselves at their brother Joseph’s feet, and plead for mercy. 

The payback of a malfunctioning trap stings!  But, in this case, God gave Joseph the spirit to take the high road.  He saw God’s purpose in his suffering and his brothers’ evil plans.  As the (now) helpless brothers bowed before their brother, Joseph, sitting on the throne, with the power to decide their fate, he forgives and blesses what was unforgiveable and cursed:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.  He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.  Genesis 50:20

For You Today

If you’ve lived for five or ten minutes in this world you’ve run into someone who gave you some trouble (and you’ve probably caused a little trouble too).  The account of Joseph and his brothers is the account of the human race.  For each of us the question always begs an answer:  Whether you are the one doing the evil to another, or the one who has been wronged, what are you going to do about your brother? 

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

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts on Rocky Road Devotions. 

To dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text:  Ambushed Again

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

 

A Thousand Years in Chains

 

Monday, June 7, 2021

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand.  He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years.  The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished.  Afterward he must be released for a little while.  Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge.  And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God.  They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands.  They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  This is the first resurrection.  (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.)  Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection.  For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.  Revelation 20:1-6

One of the realities about the human soul is a sense of justice.  That perceptive awareness reveals itself in art, theatre, literature, and everyday life.  Watching a movie or reading a book about an injustice done to the weak by the powerful, who among us doesn’t long for the moment of retribution?  We see the news stories about oppression of one group by another, actions by the strong, those in charge, to keep their power at the cost of another’s freedom.  And it rankles the hairs on the back of our necks.  We long for justice, that which sets wrongs right.

The Revelation is placed at the end of Scripture’s story of our history and future for a reason.  It is apocalyptic, displaying what’s prepared for all of God’s creation.  It is here we see what God has in store for those faithful to Him, and those who reject His rule.  For that second class there is the second death…an eternal sentence of rejection from the presence of God.

Biblical scholar William Barclay said of this passage:

Every schoolboy studies his lesson, not in the light of the lamp, but in the light of the coming holiday.

The holiday – that which comes following the season of study and training, with exams and final grades – is what illuminates the anticipation of a child’s heart.  Frankly, as a child, I lived for the final bell at the end of the school year.  I could not wait for a summer, a two-month lifetime of ball games, swimming in Stump Pond, and books gathering dust in the closet.  (These days ball games and dips in a swamp give way to reading and study – and gladly!)

This Scripture passage about God’s angel binding Satan with chains for a thousand years is an event that satisfies justice.  The serpent who deceived Eve in the garden is judged for that, and all the other enticing of God’s creatures into sin.  But, it is only prologue to the everlasting torment of final separation from God.  As if a thousand years in solitary confinement were not enough, that is like the blink of an eye compared to eternity.  And all the judgment that the devil will experience, along with those who reject Christ, is a second death.  God’s promise to those who choose to accept Christ’s gracious gift of salvation is no fear; there will only be peace and joy…and the justice of having every wrong set right, every tear wiped away, and every sorrow turned to singing!

For You Today

If you long for a time of complete, righteous justice, you’re longing for the coming Kingdom.  If you sometimes are a little nervous about what that brings, hear this:

For those who are born once, there will be a second death.

For those who have been born twice (born again), there is a second life…and that is eternal.

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^©

Has God Forgotten to Be Gracious?

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.  I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.    Interlude
You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will he never again be kind to me?  Is his unfailing love gone forever?  Have his promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he slammed the door on his compassion?  Interlude
And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”  But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.  Interlude

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!  You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:1-20

“Has God forgotten to be gracious?”  If the Psalmist  is anything like Russell, as soon as those words dropped from his pen to the paper, he wished he’d never thought it.  Even now I have trouble asking a question like that.  But Scripture and the gracious character of God always invite us to ask the hard questions.

Asking those “hard” questions is almost a natural response during hard times, and nothing about this decade of the 20’s is starting-off anything but hard!  The 20^th century had its’ roaring twenties, the 21^st century has a meek meow of COVID-19 and economic distress.  Amid the pain, separation, frustration and unanswered questions and prayers, the uneasy suspicion that lingers in the middle of sleepless nights is:  where is this God who is supposed to answer our call for help?

The easy, or quick answer:  you’re not asking the right questions, or, say ‘please’, or say it right, not wrong, or wait….  These are all easy to roll off the lips, and have some truth.  We do ask selfishly, or out of God’s will; we sometimes ask, as if in demanding; we ask without willingness to hear, or be patient. 

The hard answer, (hard to hear, accept, or hold onto), is that we might be praying without repentance.  We just might be calling for justice, as if we’re innocent and deserving of better than what we’ve got.  In the court system you can plead to charges in one of two basic ways:  guilty or innocent.  When you plead “innocent” it amounts to saying you have not transgressed the law.  You’re asking for justice which is reserved for those who have completely obeyed.  The other possibility is pleading guilty and throwing oneself on the mercy of the court.

Because our system of jurisprudence is largely based upon the Law, as found in Holy Scripture (e.g. Deuteronomy, Leviticus), we also find our answer in Heaven’s courts.  Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation tells the story, our story, and how there is not a “righteous” person (read that:  without guilt) in the universe[1].  The only possibility for expecting an answer from Heaven requires confession with repentance.  Frankly, given how alien that thought is in 21^st century culture, is it any surprise that Heaven is silent to the questions we ask, or the so-called prayers we offer (which are, more accurately, thinly-veiled demands for justice)?

If the “hard answer” is indeed hard to hear, accept, and hold – good!  This is not a time for easy answers.  So, let’s play big boy and big girl, and get real. 

Here’s how:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

For You Today

That God who is gracious…he’s just waiting for real!

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

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

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[1] Isaiah 41:26, Romans 3:10