Flight Paths

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            My favorite Bible study tool is a concordance.  It contains only scripture, so you do not have to worry about comments with elements of Calvinism, Premillenialism, or other prejudices.  But you do have to learn to use it to get the most out of it.  In the past I used one just to find passages, but now I can build whole lessons with just a concordance and a Bible.

            I prefer Young’s Analytical Concordance.  (Yes, I hear some of you preachers snickering, but this is not for preachers.)  There are things you can do with it that you cannot do with any other concordance on the market, and you can usually get one for about $13-14.  Yes, it is built on the King James Version, but that and the original 1901 American Standard are the two safest versions out there.  I usually start my studies with them, then branch out to other translations to get a little more insight.  By starting with something you can trust, you will be less likely to fall into error caused by a mistranslation or, as some versions seem to be, a commentary in disguise.

            The first step in using a concordance is just to get acquainted with it.  Think of a word in a verse you know, but cannot find.  Let’s say you wanted to find the passage that talks about being able to do anything “through Christ who strengthens me,” but you do not know where it is except somewhere in the New Testament.  Pick the least common word in the phrase because that will give you fewer choices to have to look through.  “Strengthen” fits that description.  Look up “strengthen” in your concordance.  I find that word on page 940. (All my copies of Young’s appear to be the same—the difference in size and price has to do with the thickness and quality of paper and binding.)  Under that word you will see several groups of words.  Each group has either a Hebrew or Greek word, and its anglicized (English-lettered) version, followed by every passage that translates that particular Hebrew or Greek word by the same English word, and a snippet from that verse.  Immediately you can skip over the ones in the Old Testament because you know it is a New Testament verse. Finally in group 18 you see endum, the anglicized Greek word, and the two passages that use that word, translating it “strengtheneth,” including Phil 4:13 and the snippet, “through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  That sounds a lot like what you want, so you check it out and, sure enough, it is the passage you had in mind.  Sometimes it isn’t and you just have to keep looking, but if you have the word right, you will eventually find the passage you are looking for.

            That’s really handy, but not what you would call a deep Bible study, right?  Exactly.  There is much more you can do.  We will start with some simple things that are still interesting and useful. 

First, I am sure you can see the value in knowing what other verses have to say about the same word.  So you can actually choose a word in a verse, then after you find the word in the concordance, look up every other time that word is used and translated by the same English word.  You will learn a lot if you just jot down a point from each verse.  Primarily, you will learn that some of our simplistic definitions are wrong!  “Faithful” does not mean “full of faith.”  In fact, we do not even have to look that one up in the concordance to figure that out.  What do we mean when we talk about someone’s husband not being “faithful?”  We mean he was not true and loyal to her.  Now look up that word in the concordance and every passage using it, and see what I mean.  Try the same thing with “godliness,” often defined as “a short form of ‘god-like-ness’” (as if it were actually written in English to begin with).  You might be surprised at what you learn! 

            Here’s another interesting use for this wonderful tool.  Many times in English we have different words for what is essentially the same thing, but the new word adds a little something to the meaning.  How about “bread?”  What if I say “loaf” instead?  “Baguette?”  “Biscuit?”  “Bagel?”  See what I mean?  It is all bread, but there is something different about each.  The same is true in Hebrew and Greek.  Look up “queen” in your concordance.  You will find several different Hebrew words for that one English word.  Read the verses and make some notes.  You will find that one of those words seems to indicate a woman of royal lineage, another seems to refer to queen mothers, and still another is used when the woman is simply the king’s wife, but not of royal parentage.  Doesn’t that make you wonder about some other things?  What were David’s wives called?  How about any other queens of God’s people?  What was Jezebel called?  Look up every passage using “queen” and you may be amazed.  You may even find some that do not refer to women at all.  Before you know it, you have spent two hours studying and have some little tidbits of information that probably no one else has ever bothered with—not even your preacher.

Yes, we can get into more serious word studies, and I plan to show you how to do a comprehensive one next time.  But for now, try some of these things.  The more you use your concordance, the easier it will get. 

And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. Nehemiah 8:8

Dene Ward

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            About ten years ago, we were camping in a Georgia State Park, one of our favorites actually, private sites, modern bathhouses, beautiful scenery, and great hiking trails.  Ah yes, the hiking trails…

            We decided one day to do the big trail—up a mountain and back down, seven miles total.  So we cooked a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and coffee, and took off after cleaning up and securing everything against the elements and the wild animals, about ten in the morning.  We carried water and some snacks, and the park map.  I am the navigator in the family, and usually the only one with a decent sense of direction.  We expected to be back in time for an early supper, about four in the afternoon.  With time to build a cook fire, we would be eating by five, and ready for it. 

            We made the top of the mountain about one, took a few minutes to enjoy the view, eat an apple and a handful of peanuts, then started down the other side.  The grade was steep, and we were soon following a trail of switchbacks, but sure we were still on the right path because of the red blazes the park had so thoughtfully sprayed on the trees every so often, and because every turn matched the map.  Keith, the one who is always looking for an easier way, looked down the hill to our left and saw yet another switchback.  “So let’s just take the shortcut down,” he said. 

            Having grown up on the side of a mountain in the Ozarks, he is much surer footed than this flatlander, but he assured me that I could hold on to his shoulders and he would lead the way down safely, and possibly save us a couple hundred yards.  So I agreed and willingly followed.  We must have cut down through half a dozen switchbacks before the path finally leveled out. 

            We walked on, and came to a fork in the road that was not on the map.  Hmmm.  This time he trusted me and my sense of direction, and off we went toward what I knew was south, and thus had to be the right way.  A little further on there was another unmapped fork so we took the same direction.  And then another, and another.  Somehow this did not seem right, and about then I realized that I had not seen a red blaze in a long time.  About four-thirty we came to the end of the road—literally.  Beyond it lay a fifty foot drop to a creek running full and loud. 

            Obviously, we had missed something somewhere, but I knew we had not gone the wrong overall direction—we had just wound up on the wrong path.  We tried retracing our trail, but going at it backwards through the many forks we had taken, confused even me.  We were about resigned to spending the night in the woods.  I was exhausted, it was late, and getting colder by the minute.  The sweater I had taken off and tied around my waist due to the heat of exercise would not do me much good when the nighttime temperatures hit the 40s.  I was determined not to panic, though.  I figured the last thing Keith needed was a hysterical woman on his hands.  Tomorrow we would get out--somehow. 

            Finally, he told me to sit and wait while he checked another fork in the road.  I didn’t tell him that it scared me to death—with his lousy sense of direction it might easily be the last time I ever saw him.  But not ten minutes later he came running back.  “I found power lines,” he said.  “They have to lead somewhere.” 

            So we followed them, and about thirty minutes later came out on a gravel road.  We followed the lines further and came to a house.  Keith knocked on the door and explained our situation.  The man was on his way to work the night shift at a local factory and would take us back to camp, “about fifteen miles from here,” he added.  “You’re the second couple in the last month to come out of those woods lost.”

            We got back to camp at nearly seven, exhausted and relieved, and ready to eat, shower, and hit the sleeping bags.  The next morning we drove to the top of the mountain, then checked out the trail going down, careful to stay on it, watch for blazes, and look at the map.  We were sure the park was at fault.  But no, at the end of the third or fourth switchback the trail and blazes led straight ahead and down the other side of the mountain.  When we had left the trail and cut through those switchbacks to what looked like the same trail, we had missed that and had wound up on a mountain bike trail, as yet unfinished, unmapped, and “un-blazed” by the color-coded spray paint.  The map was correct; we just did not follow it.  At that point we were not ready for another seven mile hike, but the next year we went back to that park and followed the trail carefully the whole way.  We got back about four-thirty and never once got lost because we stayed on the trail and followed the map!

            This one is easy, isn’t it?  God has given us a map.  It does not matter what things may look like--stay on the trail; follow the map!  You may see a trail to the side that seems like the same one.  Don’t take a shortcut that leads you from what you know is right.  If it is the same trail, you will get there eventually.  If it is not, you may never find your way back.  Always look for the blazes that the faithful who went ahead of you painted for you to follow.  You may think you have a great sense of direction—but if you get off track, that won’t keep you from getting lost.  Or being lost, which is what we are all trying to avoid. 

            Not only has God given you a map, He is out there Himself looking for you.  Don’t be proud; take advantage of the offer and follow His lead.  You will always make it home, no matter how far off the trail you have gotten.  The Trailblazer knows the way.

I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick… For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost, Ezek. 34:16; Luke 19:10.

Dene Ward

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            Long ago and far away I remember someone saying, immediately after a sermon on the subject, “Attitude shmattitude.  I am sick and tired of hearing about attitude.” 

            I thought to myself, “And you, sir, certainly have a bad one.”

            Hanging by one of the magnets on my refrigerator is a quote by Charles Swindoll that ends, “…We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

            My neighbor recently returned from a trip to Alaska, a trip she and her husband have wanted to make for a long time.  They flew to Anchorage, then rented an RV and traveled the state for two and half weeks.  As they were returning the RV, ready to fly back home, she fell in the parking lot, face down.  It was a nasty fall.  The ER doctor put 14 stitches in her face.  Five of her front teeth were knocked out, and she is still, after two months, receiving the dental repair work for that, already totaling $10,000.  She needed a doctor’s note before the airline would allow her on the plane to fly home.  She was in a wheelchair, of course, and the other passengers were staring out of the corners of their eyes—being too polite to stare straight on.  (We’ve all done it.)  Her husband finally told everyone she had had a run-in with a grizzly bear, and she looked so bad someone actually believed it.

            You know what she said after she told me about it?  “It’s okay.  It was the last day not the first, so our trip wasn’t ruined.  I can’t eat very well, so I’ve lost about 20 pounds.  I can’t chew on my nails, and for the first time in my life I have nice looking nails.  And I fell so flat I’m lucky I didn’t break my nose as well.”

            She put me to shame.  She had come up with four blessings in her mishap, when I wonder if I would have been doing anything but moaning. 

            As Christians our attitudes do make the difference.  The way we handle adversity should make people ask us, “How can you do that?  What is your secret?” 

            Those early Christians knew the secret.  They rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor” Acts 5:41; took “pleasure” in all their sufferings “for Christ’s sake” 2 Cor 12:10; “received the word in much affliction with joy” 1 Thes 1:6; and “took joyfully the spoiling of their possessions” Heb 10: 34.  How?  They had their priorities straight, and that kept their attitudes straight.  They truly believed a better place awaits us. 

            That is what faith requires: for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek after him, Heb 11:6.  Sometimes I think we focus so much on the first part of that, that we miss the second part.  If I want this world and its “stuff” so badly, then maybe I don’t really believe there is a reward waiting for me.  If I do not have the attitude of Paul that “to die is gain,” then my faith is an empty shell.  Why in the world do I bother?

            Attitude, shmattitude.  Don’t get sick and tired of hearing about it.  It can help you make it successfully to the end, which is really only a beginning that will never end.

But call to remembrance the former days in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly becoming partakers with them that were so used.  For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one, Heb 10:32-34.

Dene Ward

            I inherited my hair from my Grandma Ayers.  As a teenager I hated it.  The style then was long, sleek and straight.  Some girls even ironed their hair to remove any hint of natural wave.  I never went that far, but twice a week I spent 2 hours washing it, wrapping it around huge rollers, and sitting under a bonnet dryer trying to get the kink out of it. 

            The biggest problem with naturally curly hair is that it does what it wants to do.  I have never been able to take a picture to a stylist and say, “I want my hair to look like that.”  If it doesn’t already do that, it never will.

            The biggest blessing with naturally curly hair is that it does what it wants to do.  I can shower, wash my hair, blow it dry, dress and go in about 35 minutes.  There is no sense wasting time on hair that will only do one thing on any given day, depending upon the humidity.

            Humidity is the bane of naturally curly hair.  I can walk outside on a foggy day and hear it going, “Scrinch!  Scrinch!  Scrinch!” as each wave turns into a fuzzy ringlet.  As a friend once said, I wear a barometer on my head.  If I have to go to town on a high humidity day (most days in Florida), I stay away from mirrors.  If I were to see what had become of my hair since I left the house I would probably still be in hiding and never make it back home.

            During last summer’s nomadic tropical storm, an unwelcome guest we thought would never leave, I stepped outside one morning onto the carport to check on the dogs.  About a half hour later I looked in the bathroom mirror.  My head was covered with corkscrews the size of earthworms dropping onto my forehead, crawling into my ears, and dangling down my neck.  The bad part, though, the thing that no one ever understands no matter how many times I try to explain it, was the frizz.  A halo of gray fuzz stuck out all around the curls a full two inches, like that annoying fuzz around a mohair sweater.  This was by far the most extreme “do” my naturally curly hair had ever given me.  My head looked bigger than a basketball, and nothing I did could change it.

            Most of the time now, I count my hair a blessing, but after all these years of dealing with hair that predetermines how I will look on any given day, I have a special appreciation for the free will God has given us.  What I do is my choice not something forced upon me.  It doesn’t matter who my ancestors were, how I was raised or where, I can still choose to serve God.  God reminded his people in Josh 24:2, Long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods.  Abraham’s ancestors were idolaters, and he grew up in an idolatrous society, but God still expected his service and devotion.  His upbringing and culture were not valid excuses for a lack of faith.

            Free will also places a huge responsibility on me in my every day life.  It doesn’t matter how anyone else treats me, I must treat them in the right manner.  It doesn’t matter if someone aggravates me, I must not be provoked.  It doesn’t matter if everything goes wrong today, I must still keep a good attitude and behave like a follower of Christ—a Christian.  I now have no excuse for the sin in my life because God gave me the ability to choose otherwise.  I cannot blame anything or anyone else.

            The thing to do then is decide what I want.  A loving Father went to a lot of trouble to make salvation available.  A loving Son went through a lot of pain to make it possible to overcome sin.  A comforting Spirit went to a lot of work to reveal it all.  Now it is up to us—it is our choice one way or the other. 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil, 2 Cor 5:10.

Dene Ward

The Lord has made everything for his own purpose, yes, even the wicked for the day of trouble, Prov 16:4.

            Think about that for awhile.  If I do not allow the Lord to use me for good, he will use me for evil instead.  I cannot refuse to be used; it’s one or the other.

            A long time ago I studied as many women in the Bible as I could find and tried to discover how they fit into the scheme of redemption.  I managed to find a use for every one of them.  Then I came to Jezebel and found myself stymied.  The only thing I could think was God used her to test his prophet Elijah, and to eventually send him back to his work in Israel with a renewed spirit. 

            I would hate to think that the only use God could find for me was as a thorn in the flesh of his righteous people, testing their faith.  So how do I avoid that?

            As in the case of Elijah, discouragement can hamper the work of God.  After what seemed like an amazing victory on Mt Carmel, Elijah awoke the next morning to find that Jezebel was still in charge and his life was still in danger.  Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.  Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.  And when Elijah saw this, he fled, 1 Kings 19:1-3.  What a let-down that must have been.          If that great victory had not changed things, what could?

            So Elijah ran away to the wilderness where he rested, where an angel fed him, and where God proved to him that Jezebel was not the one in charge, and there were still righteous people to stand with him.

            Am I just another Jezebel, discouraging God’s people in their mission?  Do I have a chip on my shoulder that makes me easily offended?  Do I sit like a spectator on the bleachers, watching and waiting for the least little thing, quick to complain, unashamed to make a scene, ready to pass judgment on every word and action, and worse, spread that slander to others?  Do I march up to the elders, the preacher, the class teachers as if they had to answer to me for anything I find disagreeable, which can be anything and everything, depending upon my mood at the moment?

            What purpose do I think that serves other than to try the patience, faith, and endurance of those who must put up with my spitefulness?  Why do I think that kind of behavior will help anyone?  Would I accept it from anyone toward me? 

            Every church I have ever been a part of has one of these thorns hidden among them.  Don’t let it be you.  Remember today that God is using you.  Make sure that everything you do and say will in some way help His plan to save the world.  Your brothers and sisters need your encouragement.  Your neighbors need your example of love and service.  That is what God expects of you—to choose to be a rose instead of a thorn.

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.  There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing, Prov 12:16,18. 

Dene Ward

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The older I get, the more amazed I am at how many errors I was taught, and simply accepted without question.  Was it mere laziness on my part or just no knowledge of how to study?  I know which answer I prefer, but it is probably not the right one.  Now I have gotten to the point that I actually prefer to do my own discovering.  If I hear something from someone else, the first thing I want to do is check it out--especially if it sounds too perfect.

            Why do we need to study?  Here comes the first mistake you will often hear:  Because the Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved.”  Wrong!  That word, “study,” which is in the King James translation, is a King James era word that does not mean “study” as we know it, to open a book and read.  It means “work hard” or, as my American Standard translates it, “give diligence” and can be applied to anything, not just sitting down with a book. 

            I have developed a passion about not misusing scripture.  That’s what the Devil does, especially in Matthew 4 when he tempted the Lord, so I do not want any part of it.  There are better passages, correct passages, we can use, notably, Acts 17:11: Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so.  Do I want to be “noble” in God’s sight?  Then I’d better start studying my Bible and not accepting what I have always heard, even if good old brother So-and-So said it. 

            One of my biggest areas of study is in the use of words.  Do words really matter?  If Paul can make an argument based upon the number of a noun, Gal 3:16, and Jesus can make an argument based upon the tense of a verb, Matt 22:31,32, you had better believe they matter.  And remember, Jesus was quoting from a translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, not from the original Hebrew scriptures, so yes, we can make arguments that specific about the scriptures, even if using a translation.

            And precisely because of that, I worry about our culture, with the way people look condescendingly on those who are concerned about such things as bad grammar and poor communication skills, as if they were petty and obsessive and other more crude terminology.  The more I read, the more horrified I become.  I have read no less than three novels in the last year using “ahold,” as in, “I could not get ahold of her.”  It was not always in dialogue passages, where dialect would excuse it; it was used as if it were an actual word.  How many of us hear (or say) every day, “Hopefully, the weather will hold out”?  The weather will not do anything “hopefully,” much less hold out!  It cannot hope.  And then we have people who make adverbs out of any noun they find by adding “wise” to it.  Weatherwise, trafficwise, newswise. So now we have, “Hopefully, things will hold out weatherwise,” instead of “I hope the weather holds,” which is not only better English, but fewer words!

            And what does that have to do with anything scriptural? Our use of words can affect those we talk to about their salvation, for one thing.  We have gotten so careless that we often use words incorrectly, leaving false impressions about the truth, and what we really believe, and those words can be dangerous:  We have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls…Acts 15:24.

            I may surprise you with the application I make here.  We often use words like “Trinity” and “Synoptic Gospels,” sometimes just to look intelligent (at least that was my excuse), without knowing their full theological import.  What denominations believe about those words is NOT what you and I believe about them.  Look them up before you use them in front of your friends and neighbors.  Most people have access to a Zondervan Bible Encyclopedia, either at home or in the church library.  And most people have access to the Internet.  You can find anything on the Internet.  So what does Trinity involve in the theological sense?  Not just the oneness in mind, thought, and action of the Godhead (which I prefer as the scriptural word), but such notions as the Eternal Sonship, implying that Jesus derived somehow from the Father.  It also completely denies the scripture, “This day have I begotten thee” Acts 13:34, by stating that Jesus was always the Son. The reading gets really heavy and you probably will not finish it, but you will see that you do not believe what the average denominational minister does when he says “Trinity.”

            As to “Synoptic Gospels,” all we usually mean is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are similar, and John is different.  However, the whole doctrine states, among other things, that since Matthew, Mark and Luke are so much alike, they must have been taken from one another, with Mark obviously coming first (Markan priority), and they were certainly not written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  And that is just the beginning.

            So words are important, both how you use them and where.  Just because you can spout a dictionary definition of a term does not mean you fully understand the ramifications of that doctrine.  Be careful that you know what you are talking about, and be careful of your companions when you use certain words.  In our assemblies we can sing, “Blessed Trinity” and know exactly what we mean.  In our Bible classes we can talk about the Synoptic Gospels and know that we all believe Matthew wrote Matthew, but out in the world you cannot. 

            So here is your first assignment:  look up some of these things; and other phrases you may have wondered about.  Find the five basic tenets of Calvinism (TULIP).  That is what most of your religious friends believe.  Look up “the imputation of Christ’s perfect life.”  Make some notes.  And above all, be careful how you say things.  God decided the best way for Him to communicate with us was through his Word.  Our carelessness and laziness can easily be translated “irreverence.”   

Oh how I love your law.  It is my meditation all the day, Psalm 119:97.

Dene Ward

           Keith was fiddling with the campfire while I stood behind him shivering.  A pile of twigs lay over two slivers of lighter wood to which he held a match.  Black smoke curled up from the charred wood, which flared briefly then died out—over and over and over.  Suddenly one of the twigs caught and began to burn.  A few minutes later the lighter wood beneath finally began to burn, its thick oily flame blazing brightly.

            “Now that’s something,” he muttered, “when the twigs catch faster than the lighter.”

            Not many are familiar with lighter wood any more.  Also known as pitch pine, this wood contains a high concentration of resin.  The smell is often overpowering, as if you had soaked it in lighter fluid.  When you watch one of those old movies, the torches the mob carries are pieces of lighter wood.  You can’t light a piece of wood with a match—not unless it’s lighter wood, which lights up instantly, like a kerosene-soaked corn cob.

            Except the piece Keith was using that morning.  We had left behind the warmth of an electric-blanket-stuffed double sleeping bag and crawled out into a crisp morning breeze on an open mountaintop, the thermometer next to the tent barely brushing the bottom of thirty degrees.  We needed a fire in a hurry, but what should have been reliable wasn’t, what should have been the first to solve the problem had itself become the problem.

            As I pondered that the rest of the day, my first thought was the Jews’ rejection of Christ.  Sometimes we look at Pentecost and think, “Wow!  Three thousand in one day!  Why can’t we have that kind of success?” 

            Success?  I’ve heard estimates of one to two million Jews in Jerusalem at Pentecost.  Even if it were the lesser number, out of a specially prepared people, 3000 is only three-tenths of one percent—hardly anyone’s definition of “success.”  Here are people who had heard prophecies for centuries, who then had the preaching of John, and ultimately both the teaching and miracles of Jesus, people who should have caught fire and lit the world.  Instead the apostles had to eventually “turn to the Gentiles” who “received them gladly.”

            And today?  Does the church lead the way, or are we so afraid of doing something wrong that we do absolutely nothing?  Have we consigned Christianity to a meetinghouse?  Do our religious friends out-teach us, out-work us (yes, even those who don’t believe in “works-salvation”), and out-love us?  Do we, who should be setting the world on fire, sit and wait for someone else to help the poor, visit the sick and convert the sinners, then pat ourselves on the back because we didn’t do things the wrong way, while ignoring the fact that we didn’t do anything at all?

            And, even closer to home, do we older Christians lead the way in our zeal for knowing God’s word, standing for the truth, yielding our opinions, and serving others, or must we be shamed into it by excited young Christians who, despite our example, understand that being a Christian is more about what we do than what we say?

            It’s disgraceful when the twigs catch fire before the lighter wood.

And let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, Heb 10:24.

Dene Ward

         It was just a cold.  The first day I lost my voice and sneezed a lot.  The second day I started coughing, a deep cough that felt like it scraped the bottom of my lungs.  The third day I started wheezing and my temperature rose over 100.  The fourth day the headache started.  The fifth day my shoulders, neck, and back began aching and I could not get comfortable no matter how or where I lay or sat.  The sixth day it climbed into my head.  I could no longer breathe, smell, or taste.  The seventh day I lost my hearing and my ears began to ache.  Meanwhile, all the other symptoms continued.  The eighth day my temperature fell a degree below normal, but I felt a little better—very little.  Eventually it did go away, but the cough lingered for weeks.  Why in the world do we always say, “It was just a cold?”

            Maybe it’s habit. 
            “I was just ten minutes late.”
            “I was just ten miles over the speed limit.”
            “It was just a song service.”
            “It was just a little fib.”
            “I was just so tired and frustrated.”
            “It was just this once.”

            Always excusing ourselves with that little word, making every bad judgment call or “little” sin unimportant—where does it stop?  How big do they have to be before we stop using that word?

            What could God have said about us?  David knew full well when he said in the 8th Psalm, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?  Indeed, God could have said, “They’re just people.  Why bother?” and we would have had no answer for that, especially the way we so often use that word to rationalize less than stellar behavior.

            Yet Jehovah, the Word, and the Spirit got together before they made anything else, and came up with a plan so that they could keep fellowship with men, no matter how sinful they had become.  That plan involved sacrifice on their parts, but it made men once again presentable to them.  For some reason, they thought we were worth it.
            Think about that the next time you try to excuse yourself with that word “just.” 

I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise.  I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks,  O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD. For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.  Psa 138.

Dene Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

Jehoshaphat was a good king and not just a run of the mill good king, but perhaps the best king in Judah after David, excepting only Hezekiah and Josiah. Jehoshaphat's father had started purging Judah of idolatry and other wickedness and Jehoshaphat finished the job. He didn't just re-institute the proper worship of God and call on all Judah to follow Him, Jehoshaphat also sent out missionaries with copies of the Law all through Judah and had the Law read to all the people so that everyone would know of their responsibilities towards God. 

Several times in his life he was out of his depth and cast all his hopes upon God and trusted Him to take care of things. His faith was astounding, his zeal for the Law was great, and his commitment to following God was almost unparalleled among post-Davidic Judean kings. 

Yet for some reason this paragon of righteousness decided to make peace with Ahab the king of Israel. A more wicked king than Ahab would be hard to find. (Manasseh perhaps?) In fact, 1 Kings 21:25-26 says: "But there was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel." 

As was the case with most treaties back then, the one between Jehoshaphat and Ahab involved a marriage between the royal families. Jehoshaphat married his son Joram to Ahab's daughter, Athaliah.  Joram had to have been very young, in fact not much older than 14 at the time of this marriage. The consequences of Jehoshaphat's decision to bind himself to the wicked Ahab were nothing short of disastrous, though he himself didn't live to see it. 2 Kings 8:16-11:3 and 2 Chron. 21-22 detail what happens:

1) Joram, being influenced by his wicked wife, becomes an idolater and rebuilds the idols and high places his father had torn down and led the people back away from God and into idolatry.
2) Joram murders all his brothers, who Elijah calls more righteous than he, to eliminate competition for the throne. 
3) As punishment, all but one of Joram's sons are killed by marauding Arabians and Philistines and Joram is stricken with one of the most revolting diseases described in the Bible. He dies.
4) His youngest, and only remaining son, Ahaziah becomes king and is counseled by his wicked mother. He, too, is wicked and joins with Ahab's son Joram (confused yet?) to fight the Syrians. When Joram (Ahaziah's uncle, by the way) is injured, Ahaziah goes to check on him just as Jehu begins his God-ordered cleansing of Israel. He is caught in the rebellion and is killed along with Joram. 
5) Other Judean royal kinsmen traveling to Israel to succor the injured king Joram are also caught by Jehu and executed as partisans. 
6) Finally, Athaliah kills all of Ahaziah's children (except one who was hidden from her) and usurps the throne. She murdered her own grandchildren in a power grab! 

Look what has happened to the house of David! For three consecutive generations every royal son save one was killed! Add to that 42 extra men who were royal kinsmen not of the direct line killed by Jehu and you have a serious pruning of the descendants of David. All that murder and death, all that idolatry, all that work by Jehoshaphat undone because he tried to make friends with an wicked man. 

This made me think of 2 Cor. 6:14: "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?" Paul continues like this for several verses before quoting Isaiah 52:11: "Come you out from among them and be you separate says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you." Who have I yoked myself to that might have the same type of impact on me that Ahab had on Jehoshaphat? 

We need to be careful who our friends are. We need to be careful who we "hang" with. They WILL have an impact on our spirituality. They WILL bring temptations our way. 

Now, of course, Paul also said in 1 Cor. 5 that we aren't to withdraw from the world completely. Jesus told the Pharisees that as the spiritual doctor, he needed to be among the sinners who needed his help. However, if you read the Gospels, you will notice that while Jesus ate with publicans and prostitutes, those were isolated evenings on an occasional basis. He spent far more time with his apostles and other disciples. Much of that time he was alone with them. So, while Jesus spent time with the wicked in an effort to teach and save them, the people he yoked himself to were his apostles. That is the example we need to follow as we try to save our neighbors and acquaintances in the world. Shine your light among them, but prefer spending time with your brethren. 

We need to be very, very careful who we join ourselves to, who we yoke ourselves to, or the consequences that befell Jehoshaphat's family might befall ours. 

Lucas Ward

           When I was 14 a new young doctor came to town, one who was not afraid to “think outside the box.”  My older doctor turned me over to him and he decided to try contact lenses on me.  I had been wearing coke bottle glasses since I was 4 and my vision declined steadily year after year with the bottoms of the coke bottles getting thicker and thicker.

            In those days, hard, nonporous contact lenses were all they had.  Usually they were the size of fish scales.  Mine were not any broader in circumference but they were still as thick as miniature coke bottle bottoms and nearly as heavy on my eyes.  Most people who wore normal lenses could only tolerate them for six to eight hours.  Now add a cornea shaped like the end of a football, a corrugated football at that, and these things were not meant to be comfortable on my eyes, certainly not for the 16-18 hours a day I had to wear them.

            So why did I do it?  My prescription was +17.25.  The doctor told me there was no number on the chart for my vision.  (“Chart?  What chart?  I don’t see any chart.”)  He said if there were, it would be something like 20/10,000, a hyperbole I am sure, but it certainly made the point.  Hard contacts were my only hope.  If they could stabilize my eyesight, I would last a bit longer.  When I was 20, another doctor told me I would certainly have been totally blind by then if not for those contact lenses.

            Then soft contact lenses were invented and their popularity grew.  But they were not for me.  They would not have stabilized my vision.  I lost count of the number of times people who wore soft lenses said to me, “I tried those hard ones, but I just could not tolerate them.  You are so lucky you can wear them.”

            Luck had nothing to do with it.  My young doctor was smart.  He sat me down and said, “The only way you will be able to do this with these eyes is to really want to.  You must make up your mind that you will do it no matter what.”  That was quite a burden to place on a fourteen year old, but his tactics worked.  Despite the discomfort, I managed, and managed so well that most people never knew how uncomfortable I was.  Finally, when what seemed like the 1000th person told me they just could not tolerate hard lenses, I said, “You didn’t need them badly enough.”  Most of us can do much more than we ever thought possible when we really have to.

            Need is a strong motivation.  A couple of thousand years ago, it motivated a woman to go where she was not expected, normally not even allowed, and certainly not wanted. 

            Simon the Pharisee decided to have Jesus for dinner.  I read that it was the custom of the day for the leading Pharisee in the town to have the distinguished rabbi over for a meal when he sojourned there.  While the man would invite his friends to eat the meal, an open door policy made it possible for any interested party to come in and stand along the wall to listen--any interested man, that is.  Of course, it was assumed that only righteous men would be interested.

            In walked a “sinful” woman.  Luke, in chapter 7, uses a word that does not in itself imply any specific sin, but it was commonly used by that society to refer to what they considered the lowest of sinners, publicans and harlots.  The mere fact that she was a woman also caused someone in the crowd to exclaim, “Look!  A woman!” in what we assume was horrified shock.

            The men were all lying around a low table with their bodies resting on a couch and their feet turned away from the table in the direction of the wall, while their left elbows rested on the table.  The woman came into the room, walked around the wall, and began crying over Jesus’ feet.  Immediately, she knelt to wipe his feet with her hair.  I am told that this too was unacceptable.  “To unbind and loosen the hair in public before strangers was considered disgraceful and indecent for a woman,” commentator Lenski says.  We later discover that these were dirty, dusty feet from walking unpaved roads in sandals.  How do we know?  Because Simon did not even offer Jesus the customary hospitable foot washing. 

            Then she took an alabaster cruse of ointment, a costly gift, and anointed his feet—not just a token drop or two, but the entire contents--once the cruse was broken open, it was useless as a storage container.

            What did Simon do?  Nothing outward, but Jesus knew what he thought, and told him a story. 

            One man owed a lender 500 shillings, and another owed him 50.  Both were forgiven their debts when they could not pay.  Who, Jesus asked him, do you think was the most grateful?  The one who owed the most, of course, Simon easily answered.

            And so by using his own prejudices against him, Jesus proved that Simon himself was less grateful to God than this sinful woman.  His own actions, or lack thereof toward Jesus was the proof.  This man, like so many others of his party, was completely satisfied with himself and where he stood before God.  And that satisfaction blinded him to his own need, for truly no one can stand before God in his own righteousness.  His gratitude suffered because he did not feel his need.  Would he have gone into a hostile environment and lowered himself to do the most menial work a servant could do, and that in front of others?  Hardly.

            So how much do I think I need the grace of God?  The answer is the same one to how far I will go to get it, how much I will sacrifice to receive it, and how much pain I will put up with for even the smallest amount to touch my life.  Am I a self-satisfied Simon the Pharisee, more concerned with respectability than with his own need for forgiveness, or a sinful woman, who probably took the deepest breath of her life and walked into a room full of hostile men because she knew it was her only chance at Life? 

And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, See this woman? I entered into your house; you gave me no water for my feet: but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss: but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.  My head with oil you did not anoint: but she has anointed my feet with ointment.  So I say unto you, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, loves little.  And he said unto her, Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you; go in peace, Luke 7:44-48,50.

Dene Ward