Flight Paths

Our study of faith on Tuesday mornings continues to amaze us.  When I first handed out this 68 page, 15 lesson study that had taken me an entire summer of toil and sweat to produce, the women looked at me a little dubiously.  Faith is supposed to be easy, a first principle, so to speak.  How could you possibly come up with this much?

Did you ever look up “faith” in a concordance?  All I did the first three days was write down scriptures.  I wound up with twenty pages.  I spent the next two weeks reading those scriptures and jotting notes about them that would jog my memory when it came time to organize them, which took another two weeks.  Then another week’s study gave me possible lesson titles, and in a few more days I sorted the scriptures I had found into those lessons.  Then I finally started writing lessons.

In the process things changed.  Some lessons were divided in two.  Shorter ones were merged to create one longer one.  Questions were constantly in flux, created, edited, sometimes deleted altogether, other times expanded to two or three. 

As I worked it became clear to me that we have shortchanged “faith” in our Bible studies.  It has become simply the first stairstep in the Plan of Salvation chart so many of us grew up memorizing.  When you really study it—I mean, twenty pages of scriptures, folks!—it is far more important.  In fact, I wound up calling our study, “Faith:  Stairstep or Staircase?” 

As we ended lesson 8, “Faith in Hebrews 11,” which I bet you have never in your life studied the way we did, something else became apparent to me.  I had inadvertently put these lessons in a good order.  “Inadvertent” is not really accurate though; I did think about the order and rearranged them more than once, but as we have continued, it has become clear that the sequence has worked out beautifully.  I was certainly not inspired, but God’s providence has worked in its usual wonderful way, and through no fault of my own, these things are fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle.

Can I share one “for instance?”  The lesson right before the Hebrews lesson was actually two, “Faith in the Book of Romans,” parts 1 and 2.  (Keith wrote those since Romans is one of his specialties.)  At the end of the lessons we drew this conclusion: our faith is not in a what but a who.  It is not in the promises of God, but in the God that made those promises.  Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, Rom 4:3. 

Do you see how much better that is?  When you believe in the who, the what automatically follows.  Of course the promises will come true—God made them!  [Abraham was] fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.  That is why his faith was counted to him for righteousness, 4:21.  Believing in the “Who” leaves no doubt at all about “what” you will believe.

Then as we moved on into Hebrews 11 we took it a step further.  Our faith in God must eventually become a personal faith—we don’t just believe God; He becomes “our God.”  That increased depth in our faith makes God not only proud of us, but willing to be “our God,” and to have that personal relationship with us.  Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, the writer says in 11:16. 

And what does that do for you?  It effects every action, every word, and every decision you make when the relationship between you and God is personal.  What did Joseph say to Potiphar’s wife?  “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Gen 39:9.  He may not have said “sin against my God,” but you get the feeling nevertheless.  To sin against God would have been a personal affront.  You don’t get that motivation to stay pure if your faith has not reached that level of closeness with your Creator.

Instead of just ripping through the list in Hebrews, we really looked at the actions of those great heroes. “By faith” Enoch walked with God, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, Jacob blessed his sons, Joseph mentioned the exodus before he died.  Wait--those are courageous and daring feats of faith?  No, they are just the words and deeds of men who believed God when He made His promises, and whose belief imbued every part of their lives.  Isaac, in recognizing that God had been in control when he (blindly) wasn’t, refused to change his blessing.  Jacob in his blessings to his sons embraced the entire promised future of Israel, from the conquest of the Promised Land to the coming Messiah.  Joseph spoke assuredly of the future exodus and his desire to be laid in that Land.  And Enoch?  He just lived every day as his God wanted him to, walking with his God in a personal relationship that made every action and decision obvious instead of an internal struggle.  Faith is believing God; faith is believing my God.

And so we will continue on in our study.  It has become exciting to see each new aspect of an old and neglected issue. 

“Faith only?”  Well, that depends.  Is it one step in your life, one instant of “Now I am saved,” or even, “Now I can move on to the next step,” or is it, as it was for those ancient patriarchs, the entire staircase that lifts you to Eternity?

For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. Micah 4:5

Dene Ward

I don’t know what we would have done without hand-me-downs.  
 
Lucas survived his infancy on borrowed baby clothes, but that young
mother soon needed them again so there were no tiny clothes to pass down to Nathan.  At that point we were   living by a children’s clothes factory and could go to the outlet store and buy seconds for as little as fifty cents each. Each summer and each winter I dug my way  through a mountain of irregulars and managed to find three shirts and three  pairs of either shorts or long pants, according to the season.  Sometimes the colors were a little odd, like the “dress” shoes I bought   for Lucas when he was two—maroon patent leather with a beige saddle—but they   covered his feet for $1 and no one was likely to mistake them for another child’s shoes.

 Then, just as they reached school age, we found ourselves in a church
with half a dozen little boys just three or four years older than they.  Suddenly my boys’ closet was  bursting.  They were far better dressed than I was, and they had even more waiting to be grown into. They didn’t mind hand-me-downs and neither did our scanty bank account. Keith and I have followed suit. Probably 75% of my clothes are hand-me-downs, and the rest I picked up at consignment shops and thrift stores, with only a handful of things I bought new, always off a clearance rack. Keith has more shirts than he could wear in a month—we didn’t buy a one of  them.

 When you get a hand-me-down, sometimes you can’t wear it as is. Sometimes it’s my own personal sense of taste, meager though that may be. Sometimes it’s a size issue. I have been known to take up hems or let them out if the giver was taller or shorter than I.  I almost always remove shoulder pads.  I have wide shoulders for a woman and shoulder pads make me look like a football player in full gear.  If the collar has a  bow, a scarf, or high buttons, those go too—I hate anything close around my neck and it makes my already full face look like a bowling ball. So while I gratefully accept those second hand clothes, I do something to make them my own.

 Which brings me to handed-down faith.  Being raised in the church can be both a blessing and a curse.  Being taught from before you can remember means doing right becomes second nature. There is never any question where I will be on Sunday morning because I have always been there.  There is never any question what I will do when it’s time to make a choice that involves morals or doctrine.  There is never any question about my priorities—my parents taught those to me every day of my childhood, both in word and deed.

 Yet God will not accept any faith that is not my own. Yes, He was with Ishmael for Abraham’s sake, Gen 17:20; 21:13.  To those who are dear to His children, but who are not believers, God will sometimes send material lessings, 39:5, and physical salvation, 19:29, but He will not take a hand-me-down faith until it becomes personal, Ezek 18:1-4.  I have to reach a point where I know not only what I believe, but why, and that faith must permeate my life as I lead it, in every situation I find myself in, in every decision I must make, but at the same time come from my heart not habit. If I have not reached that  point, what will I do when my parents are gone?  Will my faith stand then? Or will I be like Joash, who did just fine as long as his mentor Jehoiada the priest was alive, but fell to the point of killing his cousin Zechariah, a prophet of God, when he was finally left on his own? (2 Chron 24)  
 
Pass your faith on to your children, but your job doesn’t end  there.  Help them make it their  own.  Let them tear out those  shoulder pads and lengthen those hems.  It really isn’t a compliment to your parenting skills if all they can do is mimic you while you are still alive to keep tabs on them. You might in fact be limiting them by demanding exact conformity to every nuance of your own faith.  Their  faith could very well soar farther than you ever thought about if you let them  fly.

 But the real test comes when you are gone. Can you rest well with the job you have done?

 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know  that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made  clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. For… we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts -- 2 Peter 1:13-15, 19.

 Dene  Ward

This is especially for all those young ladies who try to be righteous—they don’t dress like the other girls, or talk like them.  They respect their parents and follow the rules.  And their peers make them pay for being so different.  They often feel unpopular with girls their age, ignored by boys their age, and unimportant to anyone.  This one’s for you, girls.

The Bible is full of teenaged girls who made a difference.  When you realize that the custom was to marry at puberty, the list becomes longer than you thought:  Esther, even five years after being chosen queen, was probably no older than 19 when she took her life in her hands and stood before King Ahasuerus.  Mary traveled on that donkey (I assume she did not walk), nine months pregnant, and probably already in labor, at about 14 or 15.

And do you know about the daughters of Zelophehad?  Tirzah, Mahlah, Noah, Milcah, and Hoglah—not names we are likely to give our own daughters, but good girls, nonetheless.  We know they were not married, so, given the customs, the oldest was probably not more than 14.  Their father, unfortunately, was one of that generation that died in the wilderness, and they had no brothers; they were left alone at the end of the wilderness wandering. 

The law, that new thing they were all becoming accustomed to, said that only sons could inherit.  When  a daughter married, she was automatically absorbed into her husband’s tribe, so allowing a daughter to inherit land would have caused all sorts of confusion, with bits of one tribe now belonging to another, and on and on as it happened again and again until the whole land was a mess.  But inheritance was important to the Israelites.  It meant the name of the father would not die out as they all awaited a coming Messiah. 

So what did these young girls do?  They went to Moses and calmly presented their case.  Our father was not one of the rebels who gathered themselves against Jehovah in the company of Korah, they explained.  He was just one of the regular sinners who died in the wilderness.  Why should his name die out just because he had no sons?  Num 27:3,4.

Imagine that.  Five young girls approaching Moses, the venerable 120 year old leader.  I would never have had the courage, even if I felt my cause was just.  I might have asked someone to go for me, but by myself with only four sisters even younger than I?  Moses, and more important Jehovah, listened.  And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: you shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and you shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them, vv 6,7. But what about the problems that would cause?

Zelophehad was from the tribe of Manasseh.  When it came time to parcel out the land, “the heads of the fathers’ houses” went to Moses.  My lord was commanded by Jehovah to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.  And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they shall belong: so will it be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.  Num 36:2,3.

Now we are back where we started, with the problem of land shifting ownership between tribes.  And once again Moses goes to God for the solution—a pretty good lesson to be learned in itself.  This is the thing which Jehovah commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe, 36:6,7.

So the problem is now solved by five teenage or younger girls, who had the courage to bring up something they saw as unfairness—not toward themselves, but toward their father and other men in his circumstance.  They went to Moses in an orderly fashion, presenting sound reasoning.  They were not riotous, disobedient or disrespectful.  When they received the inheritance they asked for, they had the maturity to realize that privilege demands responsibility.  What did they do? Even as Jehovah commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad: for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons. they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. 36:10-12.  If there is any question at all as to their motive, surely their following of the new law concerning the marriage of inheriting daughters, then quietly going on with their lives settles it.

One wonders how many family names were kept alive because five adolescent girls had the chutzpah to speak up, the grace to do so respectfully, and the maturity to take on the responsibilities of their answered request.

Are young women important to God?  I think they are important to us all.  Let’s make sure they know it.

Dene Ward

I don’t really know that much about plants.  I have killed my fair share of them, especially houseplants, but I salve my ego with the notion that it might be because the house is so dark.  In Florida, living under huge live oaks is good for the electric bill, not so good for anything inside that needs a sunny window.

I have learned the hard way what to do and what not to do.  Living in zone 9 means you make more mistakes than most about what will grow and what won’t.  It never dawned on me that there was such a thing as too warm a climate until the first time I planted tulip bulbs.  All those lovely spring flowers will never make it here without a lot of extra work, like digging them up and putting them in the freezer for awhile, and even then you can’t count on it.

We lived in South Carolina for three years and I could actually grow irises.  The first time I ordered them, I was stunned when they arrived—a bare hunk of root in a plastic bag.  Surely it was dead by now, I thought.  That was how I learned about rhizomes. 

Rhizomes are not ordinary roots, long and hairlike, growing out of the bottom of a stem.  They aren’t bulbs either.  They are long pieces of thick rootstock, sometimes called underground stems, which run horizontally under the plant, sending out numerous roots and even leaf buds from its upper surface.  That horizontal orientation also aids in propagation, as the roots spread underground and form more rhizomes from which more plants grow the next season.

Now think about that as you read this passage:  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving, Colossians 2:6-7.  That word “rooted” is the Greek word rhizoomai.  I am not a Greek scholar but it doesn’t take one to see the connection between that word and “rhizome.”  I am told that its figurative meaning is “to become stable.”

It isn’t just that we are rooted downward in the faith with tiny hairlike roots.  Our faith is based in something that is strong, that can even withstand the rigors of being out of its milieu for awhile (like rootstock shipped in a plastic bag), that spreads out to others on a regular basis, and eventually grows into a whole support system.  Try to pull up an ordinary plant and you can usually do so without too much trouble.  Try to pull up a rhizome-based plant and you have to work at it awhile, in fact you may uproot half your yard trying to do so and still never get it all.

That sort of root takes awhile to develop.  It doesn’t happen overnight or without effort, and it won’t happen that way with you either.  You must work at it, but once you have, you will be far stronger than you ever imagined. 

You have to be connected to your brethren too, you can’t just “be a Christian,” one completely divorced from the Lord’s family, and think you will ever have that same sort of strength.  Rhizomes reach out, and so must we.  The only other choice is a fragile little root system that will die if it is uprooted for very long at all.

Build up…your most holy faith, Jude says, v 20, but build it down as well, rooting yourself with a strong rootstock that will not waver, despite the trials of life and the persecutions of the enemy.  Develop a rhizome and, in the words of Peter who told us how to supplement our faith, “you shall never fall” (2 Pet 1:5-10).

 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven…Colossians 1:21-23.

Dene Ward

I had a piano student once who tested my patience often.  One day she hopped off the bench, ran to the window, and looked out.  “Mom’s back,” she announced.  “I told her to come back late so I would have time after lessons to play on the swing!” 

I looked at her and said, “It’s not the child’s job to tell the mom what to do, it’s the mom’s job to tell the child what to do.”  She looked at me like I was from another planet.  I am happy to report that the story ends well.  She learned some discipline and respect for authority, and we developed a good relationship.

But this little girl was right in tune with the times.  How often have you heard someone say, “I just can’t believe in a God who would…?”  Seems they forget who is the Creator and who is the created.  People have been making a god to suit themselves for nearly as long as there have been people.

That is one reason Jesus was rejected.  He didn’t suit their idea of a Messiah.  They wanted worldly might, worldly wealth, and worldly status.  He was a poor man with no army, who constantly talked about humility.  They came to Jesus and said, “Show us a sign and we will believe.”  What had he been doing but showing sign after sign? 

One of my favorite people in the Bible is the blind man of John 9 whom Jesus healed.  He is also one of the bravest in the Bible.  The rulers questioned him again and again.  “How are you able to see?  Where did this man come from?”  They even brought in his parents and accused them of pretending their son was born blind.  These men were so desperate to find a way to discredit Jesus that they were coming up with absurdities.  Finally the man looked at them and said, “Here is the amazing thing—you don’t know where he came from, yet he opened my eyes!”  And this man, whose life was really just beginning, was thrown out of the synagogue, ending any sort of normalcy he might have ever had.  I think I know who one of the 3000 on Pentecost was.

Are we any better than those hardheaded rulers of Jesus’ day?  Do we try to make the church into something other than God intended?  What we usually want is a social club with rules of our own making, including what to wear, what to say, and how loudly we can say it.  What God wants is a dynamic group of believers, whose minds are on the spiritual world not the physical; who understand the severity of God’s judgment and believe it is not only their mission to make sure they are saved, but to try to take others with them; people who understand that their worship must include a life of service to others, and who put the unity and good of the body before their own likes and dislikes.

Being a child of God means we don’t tell God how to do things; He tells us.

Woe to him who strives with his Maker!  A potsherd among potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to Him who fashions it, “What are you making?” Does your work say, “He has no hands?” Woe to him who says to his father, “What have you begotten?” or to his mother, “What have you brought to birth?”  Isa 45:9,10

But now, O Jehovah, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you the potter, and we are all the work of your hand.   Isa 64:8

Dene Ward

(Today’s post is by guest writer, Lucas Ward).

1 Kings 17:1-7 tells of the time that Elijah told Ahab that it wouldn't rain.  God then told Elijah to flee Ahab and hide by a certain brook where "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee." So Elijah hid out there "and the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening and he drank of the brook."  We usually read this passage and think 'Wow, look how God takes care of His people! He even commands the birds to bring Elijah food!"  Which is true, and we should be comforted by the thought that God took care of His servant, and He has promised to continue to take care of His servants (Mt. 6:33).  Truly He is a loving God.

I do want you to notice one thing, though. Elijah wasn't eating 5 star meals. Twice a day birds brought little pieces of bread and little pieces of meat to him. Bite sized pieces that were CARRIED IN BIRDS’ BEAKS!  It seems unlikely that Elijah gained much weight during this time.  God promised to take care of him, not to provide sumptuous feasts, and Elijah didn’t complain about the manner of transport and its possible contaminants.

God promises to take care of us. In Matt. 6 we are promised food and clothing if we "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness".  He doesn't promise us big houses or nice cars.  He doesn't promise the latest fashions or the coolest electronics.  He promises to give us our necessities (actual, real necessities, not wants) so we can live to serve Him. If we ever go through difficult times during which we go from eating out a couple of times a month to eating less so our kids can have more, we ought to not fret over what we don't have and praise Him for what we do.  Elijah didn't have a house or even the few comforts most people in the Iron Age could expect.  But God did make sure that he could eat. We can’t let economic hard times weaken our faith.  God will take care of us but God only promises to provide for His people, not pamper them.  We should take nothing for granted and give Him thanks for all things.

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content, 1 Timothy 6:6-8.

Lucas Ward

We first encountered a coreopsis when we planted several packets of wildflowers and a few sprang up along the edge of our mown field.   These two foot high plants held bright yellow ray flowers on bare stalks above lance shaped leaves.  “Tickseed” I found as its colloquial name because its hard flat black fruit resembles a tick.

Although they still spring up here and there nearly ten years after that original planting, they are sparse and tend to congregate on the southern edge of the field, shining like the occasional light bulb in a sea of green grass and weeds.  They had just started blooming in early May when I spent my entire morning walk with Chloe talking to God about a particularly thorny issue.  I had just asked for what seemed impossible. 

It has taken me years to reach this point.  The church of my day spent nearly its entire existence fighting false doctrines, certainly a noble cause.  False teaching can steal souls as easily as the temptations of an increasingly carnal culture.  But we often forgot to balance those teachings with the truth, jumping far beyond it to a place of certain safety, where we were so far from the ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing that we fell into the pit of despair instead.  Yes, miracles have ceased, but that doesn’t mean that God no longer works in the world or that my prayers will not be answered.  Yes, the Holy Spirit operates through the Word He inspired, but that doesn’t meant that I will not receive help from an avenue He has set in motion.  Providence, we call all of those things—normal natural occurrences that seem to come at the most opportune times.

And so I was walking along the path, pulling my way with those now ubiquitous trekking poles of mine, along the back fence, probably fifty feet from the nearest--and loneliest--coreopsis, turning on its southwest side by a stretch where we had sown none of them, and none had ever before appeared.  When things do spread, they always go north-northwest, certainly never south, especially in the summer.  Yet suddenly, right there before me stood a bright yellow beacon where it should not have been.  It was so unexpected I came to a complete halt and called Chloe over, as if she too should have cared.  Coming as it did so surprisingly, just after that impossible request, I was instantly reminded that God can do the impossible, and my spirits soared.

No, I am not a mystic, or a believer in such things.  But I am reminded of a sermon Jesus preached once, where it seems he glanced up and surely must have seen a flock of birds on the wing, so he said, “Behold the birds of the heavens,” and a few minutes later when he surely must have seen a nearby patch of flowers and said, “Consider the lilies of the field.”  Jesus had no problem at all using the natural world to teach His lessons.  Why can’t I use the natural world to remind me of lessons I need at a particular time?

I have a friend who loves butterflies.  As she endures cancer treatment she often says, “God sent me a butterfly today.”  She had looked outside and seen one flitting around in her flowerbeds.  That butterfly reminded her that God cares for her, just as Jesus reminds us, Look at the birds of the heavens, that they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are not you of much more value than they? Matt 6:26. 

God has created an amazing natural world to teach us if we will but pay attention.  Solomon used that natural world in the wisdom God gave him.  And he spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 1 Kings 4:32-33.  If we deny this creation of God its ability to edify and encourage, how are we any different from the pagan who denies that it proves God’s very existence in the first place?

Pay attention to what lies outside your door today, the birds and lilies, the butterflies and the out of place, bright yellow coreopsis.  As it turns out, God did answer my impossible prayer that day, in almost exactly the way I had asked.  Who am I to try to explain that away?

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God," Mark 10:27

Dene Ward

 

 I may have mentioned before the black and white cat we had many years ago, Abby.  It was not long before he developed the reputation of a scoundrel for the way he treated our gullible lab Bart, and Nathan called him “the devil cat” for he had many devilish ways.

 Sometimes I like to take a break from gardening or housework and sit in the swing under the grape arbor.  Truly I plan to sit for only a few minutes!  But Abby would seize the opportunity, jump into the swing beside me and start purring.  Once that purring started I could not help but pet him, and he would creep closer, often placing one paw in my lap.  Then he would look up with that sweet furry face, purring even louder.  Do you know how relaxing it is to pet a purring cat?  Before I knew it, he was in my lap, and a half hour had gone by, along with all my good intentions.

He also liked to pretend he was a lion.  Our garden was the Serengeti.  Whenever I went out to pick he would creep along, hidden in the pea and bean rows, stalking my feet.  When he decided that the gazelles were least aware that he, the king of the beasts, was upon them, he would attack.  The first time it happened, my instant reaction was to kick, and he landed about twenty feet away in the cucumbers.  Talk about clueless; the look on his face was almost worth the blood he had drawn.  After that he learned to be gentler in his play, but I also learned to keep an eye on the moving shadows among the beans.

 This leads me to that other lion, who goes about seeking whom he may devour, 1 Pet 4:8.  James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from you, 4:7.  Try booting him across the garden and see if he doesn’t leave you alone for awhile.  If you are lucky he will land in the okra patch and itch so much for the next few days that you will be the last thing on his mind!

But watch out--just like my little lion, he will try a new tack and visit you again.  There may come a time when you have to flee instead of fighting, 1 Cor 6:18; 2 Tim 2:22.   Other times he will get you because he is so cute or handsome or personable or comfortable, and before you know it, you are doing something you had no intention of doing. Even Satan fashions himself as an angel of light.  It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, 2 Cor 11:14,15.  (Have you ever seen a really ugly false teacher?)

Our world likes to view Satan as a laughable boogey man made up by irrational fanatics.  It is easy to forget he is real.  He is out there.  Like a hungry lion, he wants you!

 Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might; put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Wherefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Eph 6:10-13

 Dene Ward

A few years ago Keith dug up a plant he found out in the field far from the house, surrounded by stinging nettles and poison ivy.  He had thought it looked like something besides another weed.  When I rubbed the leaves between my fingers and sniffed, I discovered it was spearmint.  So I potted it and put it next to my herb bed, where it comes in handy every so often, and grows so bountifully I have to give it a haircut once in awhile.

Imagine finding a useful herb in the middle of a patch of useless, annoying, and even dangerous weeds.  I thought of that mint plant a few days ago when we studied Rahab in one of my classes.  I have written about her before, and you can read that article in the Bible people category to your right, “The Scarlet Woman and Her Scarlet Cord,” but something new struck my mind in this latest discussion. 

God told Abraham his descendants would not receive their land inheritance for another 400 years because “the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full,” Gen 15:13-16.  The people of Canaan, the Promised Land, were not yet so wicked that God was ready to destroy them, but the time was coming. 

If there is a Bible definition for “total depravity” perhaps that is it:  “when their iniquity is full.”  That had happened before in the book of Genesis—to Sodom in Genesis 19, and to the whole world in Genesis 6 when God saw that “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (v 5), another fine definition for total depravity.

Both times God brought about a complete destruction—except for a tiny remnant that we can count on our fingers in each instance. That means that when God finally brought the Israelites into their land, the Canaanites’ iniquity was “full” and those people must have been every bit as wicked as the people of Sodom and the world in general in Noah’s day. 

Yet right in the middle of Jericho, the first city to be conquered, a harlot believed in Jehovah God.  A harlot.  Would you have bothered speaking to her if she were your neighbor, much less invited her to a Bible study?  But she outshone even the people of God in a way that made God take notice of her.

Thirty-eight years before, when those first 12 spies came back from their scouting expedition in Numbers 13, ten of them, the vast majority, gave a fearful report.  Look at the words they used:  “we are not able;” “they are stronger than us.”  Look at the words Rahab used when she spoke to the two later spies:  “I know the Lord has given you the land;” “our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man…because the Lord your God he is God.”  The earlier Israelites raised “a loud cry,” “wept all night,” and “grumbled against Moses and Aaron” (Num 14:1-4).  Rahab sent the spies safely on their way and hung a scarlet cord in her window, patiently waiting for the deliverance promised by two men she had never seen before in her life, but whose God she had grown to believe in with all her heart.  The difference is startling.  If you didn’t know anything but their words and actions, which would you think were children of God?

And a woman like this lived in a place determined for destruction because its iniquity was “full,” plying a trade we despise, living a life of moral degradation as a matter of course.

Who lives in your neighborhood?  What kind of lives do they lead?  Rahab had heard about the God of Israel for forty years (Josh 2:10), assuming she was that old—if not, then all her life.  Have your neighbors heard about your God?  Have they seen Him in your actions, in your interactions, and in your absolute assurance that He is and that He cares for you, even when life deals you a blow?

Do your words sound like the faithless Israelites’ or like the faithful prostitute’s?  Would God transplant you out of the weeds into the herb garden, or dig you up and throw you out among the thorns and nettles where a useless plant belongs?

Don’t count on the fact that you aren’t a harlot.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:10-14.

Dene Ward

I bought groceries the other day, and as I wandered down the produce aisle, I went past a cart in which the worker had stacked a pile of lettuce heads that were obviously past their prime, rusting and wilted.  Meanwhile, the line in front of the bagged salads stretched halfway across the produce section.  I was headed that way myself—only because they are on sale and I have a coupon, I salved my frugal conscience, certainly not because they are easier.

As I waited my turn, I eased my way past containers of pre-chopped peppers, onions, celery, and garlic.  I had seen tubs of already mashed potatoes earlier, and when I scoured the freezer section for shrimp to cook in my bouillabaisse, I had to dig to find some that were not peeled, deveined, and pre-cooked.  Everyone wants the easy way these days.  Even the last few years I taught piano, it was not unusual for a parent to ask.  “How long will it take for my child to learn how to do this?”  After 45 years I was still learning!  No wonder you hear so much about easy-lose diets, an easy way to a toned body, and easy-read Bibles. 

When I was a child, older folks often said, “It’s only worth the effort it cost you.”  God never says being His child will be easy.  Even when Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” He is talking in relative terms—it is still a yoke and a burden.  But, unlike sin’s, His yoke and burden do not come with the built-in weight of guilt, an overriding, insurmountable millstone that will crush your spirit long before it destroys your soul for an eternity.  Paul says we will be a servant to something, either to sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness…But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life., Rom 6:16, 22.  Unlike the fatal weight of sin, this yoke and burden we can “live” with!

The next time I want a salad, I will try to think about that, and buy the whole head, then relax and enjoy the chopping.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me thoroughly from my sin…Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness...Restore unto me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free spirit…Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, Oh Jehovah, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.  Selected lines from the 51st Psalm.

Dene Ward