Hemmed in!

 Oh! Our poor neighbors! Two of their street-parked vehicles weren’t moving anywhere soon. Our street’s second sweep by a plow hemmed them in with an ice berm--front, side, and back.  They have other vehicles to get to work, and because these were parked on the street a long time before snow, I suspect they are temporarily disabled. 

“Hemmed in”—the phrase was so familiar to me, and I quickly remembered why. Years ago, I read Psalm 139 in a newer translation that turned up the light for me. At the time, I was grieving the deaths of my parents six months apart and, as a 31-year-old single woman, tasked with emptying the very-full family home for dividing inheritance. The Bible was a sympathy gift from friends who’d seen my well-worn older Bible. I read the newer one voraciously every day when not sorting or cleaning.  Coming to Psalm 139, about God’s intimate knowledge of me even in the womb, I paused at verse 5:
You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Reading that, I envisioned myself on a path full of hazards, but safe between two giant hands, one before, and one behind.  How I needed that picture of God’s encompassing care.  Other translations rendered it:
“You are all around me.” (Today’s English Version, 1970)
“You both precede me and follow me.” (New Living Translation, 1996)
“Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me.” (New American Standard Bible, 1973)

A HORSE-HEMMING
Another picture of “hemmed in” came in Acts 23, when the apostle Paul ran into violent opposition from Jewish religious leaders upon returning from a major missionary trip. Fearing for Paul’s safety, the military commander hurried Paul away from the riotous scene to a safe place in his barracks. Then Paul’s nephew overheard the Jewish leaders’ plot to kill Paul. The lad was taken to the commander, who believed his story and decided to foil the plot by a night march to move Paul 70 miles away to Caesarea. There, Governor Felix could settle the matter. 

Okay—the “behind and before.”  Acts 23:24 says the commander ordered up 200 soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearman to depart that night at 9 p.m., moving under cover of darkness.  Oh yes, Paul got his own horse, too. What a sight that must have been! The loud clopping of horses and heavy steps of hundreds of soldiers—for one prisoner!  I’m guessing Paul was riding in the midst of all this.  And I pity the soldiers who had to make the journey by foot!

This verse came back to my attention (thanks to those icy berms) as I prayed about a difficult “spiritual attack” situation in my life. Again, I needed the assurance that God is my protector. And surely, that is His character, affirmed in another favorite verse:

The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121:8 NIV)

Humblin' history made here

It happened here—a hall corner between my daughter’s and son’s bedrooms--where I tried to “train up” my children in the way they should go regarding relationships. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.” I didn’t get out a “discipline rod” to resolve petty arguments, but I did use “time out” in their bedrooms before coming to this spot in the hall to apologize and ask forgiveness.  At times their hugs and “sorry’s” were quite wooden, but I trusted that this discipline would reinforce truths about living God’s way. They grew up to be responsible adults with many friends.

As I thought recently about “apologies,” three powerful Bible examples came to mind.
Insincere apologies—“Sorry you had a problem about it....” As King Saul geared up for a major battle at Gilgal, he had a problem. The prophet Samuel told him to wait a week for Samuel to come and offer the proper pre-battle sacrifices. When Day 7 arrived with no Samuel in sight,  Saul panicked and performed the sacred “sacrifice” of animals himself. An appalled Samuel showed up just as Saul finished. Saul’s excuse was full of “I” words, ending, “I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering” (1 Samuel 13:12). Samuel scolded him: “You acted foolishly.”  From then on, Saul’s days as king were numbered. 

Cover-up apologies—“Sorry I messed up, but don’t make me look bad.” A few chapters later, the prophet Samuel told Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites: people, cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys. But Saul and soldiers disobeyed, keeping some of the animal “booty.” Plus, Saul put up a prideful monument in his own honor! When Samuel came and heard all the noises of the Amalekite livestock, he condemned Saul for not following the orders for annihilation. Samuel declared:

To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:22b-23a)
Saul’s reaction: “I have sinned.  But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel” (v. 30).  (Read that again! The nerve of it floors me!) 

Sincere apologies—“I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13). King David succumbed to lust, committing adultery with a married woman. Learning he got her pregnant, he arranged to have her husband killed in the heat of battle. He tried to hide his secret until the prophet Nathan pulled a confession out of him. The best mirror for David’s confession of this incident is his Psalm 51:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4)

I see these applications for today:

Insincere apologies—The pouty “s-o-r-r-y” which tries to appease an offended person.

Cover-up apologies—The insincere “s-o-r-r-y” that says, “Sorry, you don’t agree with me, but I had to do it.  It’s all about me, after all.”

Sincere apologies—The humble “I am so sorry” that expresses: “God has convicted me of my sin in (description of offense). I was wrong and know I have sinned against you. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me and give me a second chance?  I want to obey God in every way, and this struggle is part of my journey to a life of pleasing God.” 

True, life-changing “I’m sorry” goes along with growing in Christ.  It’s the real thing because the Real Thing is just ahead. Someday, instead of standing in the hall between siblings’ bedrooms, we’ll kneel before the throne of Almighty God. He has seen every single action of our lives, and judges rightly and righteously—even considering how we have said, “I’m sorry.”

Hard and soft hearts

A "heart" of stone!

I was glad to see him as I exited our worship service this Sunday—a friend who is recovering from surgery that saved his life after a heart attack. Age and disease “broke” his heart but now it’s “mended,” an adjective survivors like him are glad to claim. With reminders of Valentine’s Day all around—from candy and flowers to jewelry and clothes—I decided to add an extra entry to my blog schedule. For some reason God reminded me of “heart” verses I’d read long ago in from Ezekiel, that Old Testament prophet known for amazing, symbolic visions (like dry bones, chapter 37).

If you really want to boil the message of the prophets to one word, you need to go with “heart” and the “heart problems” that led to the downfalls of Judah and Israel hundreds of years before Christ. Ezekiel’s message from God was bad news followed by good news of somehow returning to their homeland.  God said:
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them: I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.  Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  They will be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  (Ezekiel 36:26)

Do you see Jesus in these verses?  I do. He waits for us to turn to Him, admit we have hearts of stone, and allow Him to transform us with hearts that beat in sync with His. The apostle John saw a lot of love and hate in his long life of proclaiming the truths about Jesus.  But he always came back to the transforming love of Christ. I’ll never forget the comment by a Christian co-worker from a newspaper where I once worked. He had come to Christ out of a rugged background.  When I asked him his favorite Bible verse, he quoted 1 John 3 and expressed amazement that he was now a child of God.  His voice broke as he quoted verse 2: “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

So maybe those little plush bears clutching soft red hearts—displayed all over stores these days (including this one I spotted at a thrift store)—have it theologically right. Our world needs Christ-softened hearts, not hard, selfish ones. Today, while going into a grocery store, we spotted a friend who is going through a very difficult time. After she shared and became quiet, I asked if she could use a hug. She said yes. Her long embrace reminded me that God needs more “soft hearts” out there. We’re praying for her, too.

Feeling a bit beat up lately as a result of someone’s hard-hearted behavior? Tell it to Jesus.  I did, and today, out of the blue, I recalled some powerful words from a church choir cantata I sang forty-some years ago. The song expressed how Christ’s wonderful look of love “broke and won my heart.” When I turn my attention to Jesus, He puts His nail-scarred hands on my pain, and I know His love.

 

Coming in Friday's blog: forgiveness.

Love lights

"It makes a circle!” my three-year-old grandson declared as he played with a flashlight he pointed at the ceiling. I chuckled over how he was showing off his command of “shape” words. If only he knew how the study of light has baffled and intrigued scientists for ages! Maybe, if he takes a bent toward art, he will find enjoyment in portraying light patterns.

Recently, as I prayed over and grieved a dark situation with people I know, I sensed the Lord pushing me to read again the “light” verses of First John. I’d already been thinking about “light,” after my husband “romanticized” our evening meal of leftovers with a candle in a Haitian-made clay pot with cutouts, a gift from a friend who did mission work there. Initially, it reminded me of this scripture:

For God who said, “let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God, and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7).

As a “clay jar” I try to reach out to others with God’s grace and light.  But sometimes it's hard to shine before others. I think that’s why I recently felt a God-nudge to reread the counsel of the apostle John, written before his old-age death:

If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.(1 John 1:6)

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)

By the way, “brother” is a gender-neutral term for someone in the family of God, whether or not they’re blood related. I find these verses very sad because they highlight the alienation that results from broken relationships.

But it doesn’t have to be that way:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

I’d rather be in that type of a “circle of light”!

Tablet talk

When my first grandchild was born, a friend gave me this erasable tablet with the suggestion that I use it to teach him to write his name. As you can see, we’re not making much progress when he’s on his own. But I’m guessing that in the next half year (he is now 3 ½) we’ll see an attempt at spelling J-O-S-I-A-H.

My greater concern is that he gets it “right” on his Proverbs 3:3-4 “tablet”:

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (NIV, an identical verse is in Proverbs 7:3)

            Although the proverb names just two characteristics, they’re powerful:

            Love conveys kindness and mercy, the type of outlook that seeks justice for others.

            Faithfulness expresses loyalty, behaving responsibly.

The “bind them around the neck” conveys the idea that such behavior will be as noticeable as wearing a richly ornamented necklace. Talk about fashion coming full circle since Bible times! (How “fashion” changes.  When I graduated from high school in the ‘60s, girls wore demure single pearls on fine chains!)

So where does one shop for the “love” and “faithfulness” necklaces? That’s where the next verse, so much better known, comes in:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  (vv. 5-6)

These days of the electronic revolution have brought a new meaning to the word “tablet.”  In Bible times, a “tablet” was usually a clay plaque inscribed with a sharp instrument. When I was a child, “tablet” referred to a thick notebook of glue-bound newsprint with wide-apart writing lines for little learners. What did these cost?  Twenty-five cents?  Fifty cents?

 And now we have mini-computer$ (dollar sign intended) even smaller than those newsprint “tablets.”  Because they can download virtue as well as vice, they bring new meaning to that old verse. We make the choice of what is dumped into our minds.

 It comes back to this:  Trusting God. Acknowledging Him in our behavior and life choices. And making sure that unworthy scrawling is erased through confession, so that God can write His imprint on our lives.