An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not evil, all the days of her life, Prov 31:10-12.

 Bathsheba gets short shrift most of the time.  Due to a lot of misunderstanding of cultural practices, she is accused of things she did not do, and blamed for things that were not her fault, but that is not what we are going to talk about today.  Today we are checking in on David and Bathsheba about thirty years later.  David is near death at the age of 70, and Bathsheba is around 50, or even less.*

 David has promised Solomon that he will be king, that, in fact, God Himself has chosen him to be the next king.  Adonijah, as the oldest living son, has other plans.  He sets about having himself crowned even as David lies on his deathbed.  He isn’t being particularly secretive, but he is very careful whom he invites to the coronation.  David’s mighty men are left out, as well as Zadok, who as a result of all this becomes the patriarch of the new high priest line promised in 1 Samuel 2, and Nathan the prophet also.

 Nathan comes to Bathsheba.  ‘Haven’t you heard?” he asks her.  Then he gives her careful instruction about telling David the news, and goes along with her to verify her story.  Bathsheba seems more than willing.  Perhaps it is a mother looking after the welfare of her son, but for her to have this close contact with David after all these years, when none of his other wives do, tells me their relationship became the prominent one.  She was the favorite, and as any wife would at this time, she made sure he was happy and had what he needed.

 The rest of the story doesn’t really matter to me today.  Maybe it is because I am older now, maybe it is because I have seen so many women doing it up close and personal, but the verse above from Proverbs 31 sprang to my mind when I thought of Bathsheba’s actions.  A good wife will see to her husband’s wishes, “doing him good and not evil,” even when he is no longer able to function.

 And the only way we can do that, ladies, is to ask what he wants.  If you haven’t, you need to sit down together and ask him those tough questions.  If you have a will, and you should, that will help, but perhaps he has other things, not valuable things, but things he cherishes, that he would like to go to someone in particular.  Find out and write it down.  Perhaps he wants a certain man to preach his funeral.  Find out who.  Perhaps he wants certain songs to be sung.  Find out which ones. 

 Then there are the really difficult decisions.  Does he want to be an organ donor?  Does he have a living will?  If he is very ill already, does he have a DNR?  If he were to reach the point that he no longer knows anyone, how does he want to be cared for?

 Life has a way of stealing a man’s identity and our society’s ridicule of the elderly doesn’t help a bit.  The doctor may tell him he can no longer drive.  Be careful what you say to others in his hearing.  You may not think it a big deal, but for some men driving represents more than just going somewhere.  God has programmed into our men the need to provide and protect, and in a society where we no longer face angry natives on the warpath and food is always just around the corner at Publix, he has few ways of doing that.  Driving may be one of them.  Don’t steal his manhood with your comments about this or anything else he can no longer do. 

 We could go on and on with this, but I imagine you have gotten my point.  Because of the emotions involved these things are difficult to talk about, even when we have absolute faith in the reward God promises.  Some men will refuse, but do what you can.  Listen to him when he talks to others and make a note in your mind of what he says if you can’t get him to say it to you, but do your best to know what he wants and then do those things for him when he is lying there completely unable, just as David was.

 An aside here—there are some things a man has no business telling his wife to do.  He should not tell you to never remarry if you would like to.  Especially if you are young, which is a whole lot older than it used to be to me, Paul himself says you should remarry (1 Tim 5:14).  Death breaks the marriage bond (Rom 7), and he no longer has that hold on you.  And of course, anything sinful you can rightly ignore. 

 Back to our point—please do this today.  Do not use your youthful age as an excuse.  One inch either way and a bullet would have made me a widow at 42.  Then there was the "stroke" Keith had when I was 49.  I can tell you sad tales of people who have succumbed to accident or disease even earlier than that.  These days women usually outlive their men, especially if they are several years younger, as I am.  It is only sensible to be ready.  How can you possibly “do him good and not evil” when you don’t know what good he wants?

 And then do this for him too.  Sometimes we women do go first.  Tell him what you want.  If you start the ball rolling, maybe it will come more easily for him.  Once you both have it down, you can rest easy, and on the day when one or the other of you finally do go to that promised rest, the one you leave behind can rest too.

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom, Psalm 90:10,12

*To read my take on Bathsheba click on Bible People.  Scroll down several articles and a couple of pages to find “A Case of Mistaken Identity.”

Dene Ward

Several years back we camped at Cloudland Canyon one autumn week, enjoying the new varieties of bird, the mountains carpeted with fall colors, and the spectacle every morning of clouds wafting through the campground from the cliffs just beyond it, cliffs high enough to look down on hawks as they soared by. 

 The neighbors twenty yards away were a small family, a man, his wife, and two little boys, the older about 7 or 8, and the younger just barely past the toddler years.  This was obviously a planned family outing, one that probably didn’t happen very often but that the parents were determined to make a good experience.  They did everything in a planned and almost regimented fashion.  “It’s time to light the fire.”  “Now it’s time to tell ghost stories.”  “Now it’s time to roast marshmallows.”  In between all this, the mother was on her cell phone every hour or so, sometimes for as long as a half hour, seeing to her business. 

 And both parents became impatient at the drop of a hat.  If the boys didn’t react to every activity as they thought they should, they became frustrated and almost angry.  (Who should be surprised if a ghost story terrified a four year old?)  They had mistaken the stereotype of a camping trip for the spontaneous fun of the real thing.  They had probably fallen for that “quality time” myth.

 And because we can’t seem to stop helping out, we offered them a few things, like some lighter wood to help get those campfires going more easily, and we occasionally stopped by on the way back and forth from the bathhouse, to talk and reminisce with them about the times when our two boys were that age.  They seemed appreciative, especially the father, who, we discovered when we got closer, was about 20 years older than the usual father of boys that age, and quite a few years older than the mother.

 As we talked we noticed that the older boy always wore Baylor tee shirts and sweat shirts and had a Baylor hat, so Keith talked to him some about football and asked how Baylor was doing.  The father sighed and said, “He doesn’t know anything about Baylor football.  He just likes the color green.”

 They left after just a weekend, and it sounded like they were leaving one night early, perhaps disappointed that this hadn’t turned out quite like they had expected. 

 You can learn a lot yourselves, just considering this family.  It’s always easier to judge from a distance.  But that little boy can teach us all something today.  Why is it that you assemble where you do?  Why did you choose that place?

 We would all understand the fallacy of going to the handiest place, regardless what they taught.  But how about this:  Do you go where you are needed, or to the place considered the most popular in the area, the most sociable, the one where you wouldn’t mind having people see you standing outside hobnobbing?  Do you go where the work is hard or where the singing is good?  Do you go where the preaching is entertaining or where the teaching is scriptural and plain?  Do you go expecting the church to do for you, or because you want to do for them?

 Too many Christians look upon a church in a proprietary way, as if they had the right to judge everything about it and everyone in it, especially the superficial things—the singing, the preaching, the way the people dress and their occupations and connections in the world.  The way some people choose congregations, they might as well go because they like the color green. 

 The church belongs to Christ, that’s what “church of Christ” means.  It belongs to God, that’s what “church of God” means.  Christ’s church is there to give me an outlet for my service and a source of encouragement toward doing that service.  It is not there to serve me and my preferences. 

 Someday that little boy will grow up and learn to examine the football programs he roots for, choosing them for their character and integrity instead of their colors.  Maybe it’s time we grew up with him.

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Pet 4:9-13 

Dene Ward

On January 14, 1973, Public Television aired the final episode of The French Chef, hosted by Julia Child.  It was the first cooking show of its kind on television and had aired for ten years.  Julia went on to write several books and host other shows, the last of which, Julia and Jacques, with Jacques Pepin, spawned a cookbook I have on my shelf.  If you want great instructions and well-prepared food, it's the one to have.  It is especially interesting to see the comparison between the two chefs' ways of doing the same dish.

 Julia was quite a personality.  She was born on August 15, 1912, to a well-off family, attending private schools throughout her growing up years, but expelled from one for insubordination.  Having watched her cook and listened to her give her opinions in sometimes humorous ways, I can well imagine that happening!  During World War II she was an agent for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA.  She was six foot two and athletic.  Her role was the communication of top secret documents between government officials and intelligence officers.

 As an agent, she met her husband and fellow-agent Paul Child in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and they were married in September of 1946.  Paul was assigned to Paris, where Julia decided to attend Le Cordon Bleu, the famous cooking school.  Afterward, she and two fellow-students, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholie, wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, from which Julia's television show came.  Suddenly, American women were cooking French food and reciting French phrases.

 One of those phrases has become common on every cooking show you will watch:  mise en place.  It is something that every cook does, whether they know the phrase or not, or even how to pronounce it.  It means "set in place," and refers to the practice of gathering every ingredient needed for a recipe in one place so you don't have to run back and forth to the pantry or the fridge throughout the cooking process.  We all do it.  In fact, I have taken it to the next level—I read through the recipe and if several things are added at the same time, I put them all in the same small bowl.  It is so much quicker and easier to throw in the required measure of cumin, coriander, fennel, salt and pepper from one custard cup than having to stand there measuring it out as you cook.  Sometimes those few seconds can make a difference in how things turn out.  And if, like mine, your pantry is across the room from the stand mixer or the range, you can wear yourself out going back and forth.

 All of this came to me one Sunday as my husband was preaching on the phrase "the Lord is at hand" from Phil 4:5.  Some say this is evidence that Paul was expecting Christ's return any day.  He was "at hand."  But no, what it means is that he is always with you.  You could reach out your hand and he would be there.  Just like all my ingredients, he is handy when I need him.  When life is difficult, he is there to comfort: when I am tempted, he is there to strengthen; when I am lonely, he is there to show me I am loved.  But it is also a reminder than wherever I go, he sees what I am doing.  When I am driving, he is in the seat next to me; when I am talking to my neighbor across the fence, he is standing there too; when I must face a situation that might develop into bad feelings, he is there reminding me to be gentle for the sake of a soul that needs saving.

And of course, the passage itself tells us how knowing he is so nearby should affect us.  We should rejoice—if one cannot rejoice in such knowledge, something is wrong!  We should not fret but pray—just turn right around and talk to this ever-present Lord!  Wouldn't it feel awkward if you were walking with someone all day long and never said a word to him?  We should be grateful, and such knowledge should grant us peace. 

 Mise en place might be a catchphrase for a chef, but it should mean everything to a Christian—a disciple of Christ.  The next time you gather all of your ingredients together for your favorite dish, remember who else is "at hand," sitting in place right next to you.

Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.  In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus, Phil 4:4-7.

Dene Ward

I have studied Abigail for a few decades now but, just like always, I noticed something new this time through. 

 Most everyone knows the story:  a bad man married to a good woman, a woman who dares to stand against him and do right.  But let’s speculate a little—and it really isn’t much speculation at all.

 1 Sam 25:4 calls Nabal “a churlish and evil” man, or, in the ESV, “harsh and badly behaved.”  That is not the half of it.  Look at the way those two words were translated in other places.  “Churlish” is also “obstinate, hard, heavy, rough, stubborn, and cruel.”  “Evil” is “grievous, hurtful, and wicked.”  This man wasn’t just a grouch, he was mean and cruel, and it came from a wicked heart.

 Now imagine a “beautiful and discerning woman” married to such a man.  It almost had to be an arranged marriage—she certainly didn’t fall in love with him.  Since he is extremely rich and she is still in prime childbearing age (we find out later), he is probably older than she.  This is also a time when no one would have said anything about physical abuse.  As you keep reading in chapter 25, the man’s servants are clearly terrified of him.  I do not doubt for a moment that they had all suffered physical punishments from him, probably many unjust.  I wouldn’t even be surprised if Abigail hadn’t suffered the same.  God’s Law protected women from men in every way possible, but for a man like this the Law meant nothing. 

 So along comes David’s army, men who had protected Nabal’s servants from passing raiders by the way, which means his livestock--his wealth--were also protected, and David is now in need of provisions for several hundred men.  Surely this “very rich” man who was already in the middle of a celebration time when the food would be plenteous, v 4, 8, could spare some for them. 

 David carefully instructed his men exactly how to approach Nabal.  If you have one of the newer translations you will miss this.  ESV says they “greeted” him, v 5.  But that word is one that means far more than saying hello.  It can also be translated salute, praise, thank, congratulate, even kneel.  All those words involve respect and honor.  Yet Nabal drives them off with exactly the opposite attitudes—disrespect, dishonor, and ingratitude for their service to him.  “Who is this David?” he asks, accusing him of rebellion (v 10, 11), though Abigail knew exactly who he was (v 28, 30), the anointed of God.

 Abigail knows nothing about this event, but Nabal’s servants know plenty about her.  They come running, afraid for their lives for the way their master has treated a warrior and his army.  And Abigail saves the day, gathering up as much as she can and sending it on to David, riding up herself to reason with him and beg for their lives.  When she asks David to remember her, she isn’t asking him to save her from her lot in life.  She goes back to the man and the responsibilities she sees as hers.

 Now think about this.  What would happen today if something similar occurred to a beautiful young woman, stuck in a loveless marriage to a horrible man, a cruel man who probably beat his servants and maybe her as well?  Do you think she would have had any concern for anyone else? 

 Abigail was not so wound up in her own misery that she couldn’t see the misery of others.  She probably cared for the servants her husband abused.  She didn’t whine about not deserving this kind of life.  She didn’t expect everyone to wait on her hand and foot or bend over backwards for her because she was mistreated, nor did she fall into a useless heap of flesh because life was “unfair.”  She just “dealt with it.”  Instead of being a drama queen focused only on her own problems, she looked for ways to help others as the opportunity arose.  She did not allow her misery to blind her to the needs of others. 

 We could talk about her “going behind her husband’s back,” but let’s quickly notice this—she saved his life too, at least until God came into the picture and took it Himself.  “Looking to the good of others,” we call that nowadays and label it the highest form of love.  Abigail did this for everyone, including the undeserving, and regardless of who did and did not do it for her.

 Abigail understood this, and so should we:  it’s not about me, it’s about Him.

[Doing] nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself; not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others, Phil 2:3,4.

Dene Ward

If Type 2 Diabetes has not become an epidemic in this country, I would be surprised.  Our poor diets, full of processed food, excess fat and sugar may very well be killing us.  It is actually possible to undo the effects of that disease with a little care and self-control.  My own mother managed to do that, in fact.

 Then there is Type 1 Diabetes, a far more serious problem.  I'm told that it has three stages, the final being the one that requires daily insulin injections.  Before insulin, diabetes was a death sentence possibly within months and seldom more than a year away.  It was treated with an extremely low carb diet, sometimes leading to literal starvation. 

 However, after years of research, Frederic Banting and Charles Best, working in the laboratory of John MacLeod, developed insulin.  On January 11, 1922, fourteen year old Leonard Thompson, a patient at Toronto General Hospital, drifting in and out of a diabetic coma, became the first patient to receive an insulin injection.  After the second within 24 hours, he had improved dramatically, and his blood glucose levels had dropped.  He went on to live thirteen more years, dying at 27, not of diabetes, but pneumonia.  Banting and MacLeod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923.

 While Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, Type 2 is a metabolic disorder.  Although genetics can impact it, lifestyle is more the determining factor—diet and exercise—too many simple carbohydrates and not enough activity.

 The same thing can affect us spiritually—too much "smooth" (easy to eat and digest) teaching, and not enough exercise.  The Israelites were condemned for complaining to the prophets God sent, …Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceitsIsa30:10.  The Christians the Hebrews writer addressed were condemned for their lack of "exercise."   For when by reason of the time you ought to be teachers, you have need again that someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food…But solid food is for fullgrown men, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil Heb5:14.

 When you hear complaints like, "This Bible class is too hard," or, "too much work," "The preacher stepped on my toes," or "He wasn't uplifting," then a case of spiritual diabetes is soon to follow.  A dear friend of mine once told me, "I want to be challenged to do better, not patted on the head like a child and told I'm just fine the way I am."  Seems like Jesus thought that way too when, "loving" the rich young ruler, he told him, "One thing you lack" Mark 10:21.

 Too many carbs in your spiritual diet will give you a deadly case of spiritual diabetes.  Too many sit on pews in a diabetic coma, coming around only when the praise band gets loud enough.  Maybe it's time for a shot of spiritual insulin.

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who when they were come thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.   Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were soActs17:11,11.

Dene Ward

When I was a child we often visited friends and family, all the kids sleeping in the living room floor on piles of quilts.  It was fun because it was different and exciting, and not one of us complained.  Dinner was never fancy because none of us were wealthy, but all my aunts could cook as well as my mother and we knew it would be good whatever it was.  We practiced the hospitality shown in the Bible to our families, to our neighbors, and to our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  What has happened to us?

 Even if we aren’t particularly wealthy, we have fallen for the nonsense that because we cannot offer what the wealthy offer, we should offer nothing at all.  How do we excuse it?  I don’t have a spare room.  I don’t have a bathroom for every bedroom.  The spare room I do have is too small.  The bathroom is too tiny.  My grocery budget is too small and my time too little for cooking.  I work.  I have an infant in the house who still wakes up at night.  And the perennial favorite, “You know, times are different now.” 

 Not so much, folks.  Lydia worked, yet she made Paul and Silas an offer they couldn’t refuse—she told them they would be insulting her faith if they did not stay with her.  Unless I am reading something into it that isn’t there, Priscilla worked right alongside her husband, “for they were tentmakers.”  Yet Paul didn’t stay with them for just a night or two—he lived with them for a good while.  Abraham was a very busy man—he had more employees than some towns in that day had citizens, yet he not only offered hospitality, he actively looked for people who might need it.

 “But they had servants!” some whine.  If you don’t think your modern conveniences fill the place of servants, you have never thought about what it took back then to cook—they started with the animals on the hoof, people!  Their cooking involved building a fire from scratch, sometimes in the heat of the day.  And here we sit with the meat already butchered in our electric refrigerators, ready to put in our gas or electric ovens.  We clean with our vacuum cleaners, pick up ready-made floral arrangements at the grocery store, make sure the automatic shower cleaner and the stuck-on toilet cleaner are still in service, and stop at the bakery for the bread. Then, when it’s all done, we put the dirty dishes in our dishwashers, and we do it all in our air conditioned homes.

 Part of the problem may also be the expectations of guests these days.  It isn’t just that people are no longer hospitable—it’s that people are spoiled and self-indulgent.  They don’t want to sleep on a sofa.  They don’t want to share a bathroom with a couple of kids.  They will not eat what is offered.  We aren’t talking about health situations like diabetes and deadly allergies.  We are talking about people who care more about their figures than their fellowship; people who were never taught to graciously accept what was placed in front of them, even knowing it was the best their hosts could afford, because, “I won’t touch_______________,” (fill in the blank). 

 We once ate with a hard-working farm family who had invited us and two preachers over for dinner.  Dinner was inexpensive fare--they had five children and had invited us six to share their meal.  Later that evening, when we had left their home, we heard those two preachers making fun of what of they had been served and laughing about it.  I hope those poor people never got wind of it. 

 When we raise our children to act in similarly ungracious ways, when we consider them too precious to sleep on a pallet on the floor, as if their royal hides could feel a minuscule pea beneath all those quilts, what can we expect?  Do you think it doesn’t happen?  We once had a guest who told me he had rather not sleep where I put him.  It was the only place I had left to put him.  I already had four other guests when he had shown up at my door unannounced.  He was more than welcome—I have taken in unexpected guests many times--but where were this one’s manners?

 Do you know how many times we have been told, “Do you know how far it is out there?” when we invited someone thirty miles out in the country to our home for a meal.  Excuse me?  Of course we know how far it is—we drive it back and forth at least three times a week just to the church building, not counting other appointments.

 This matter of hospitality worries me.  It tells me we have become self-indulgent and materialistic when it comes both to offering it and accepting it.  God commands us to Show hospitality to one another without grumbling, 1 Pet 4:9.  What has happened to the enjoyment of one another’s company, the encouragement garnered by sharing conversation and bumping elbows congenially in close quarters, and the love nurtured by putting our feet under the same table, by opening not only our homes but our hearts? 

 What has happened to the joy of a pallet on the floor?

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us, Acts 16:14,15.

Dene Ward

I have never been a shoe person.  The last pair of dress shoes I had were classic black pumps—they were the only pair of dress shoes I needed because they went with everything.  I wore them until the heels were wrapped in black electrical tape to hide the nicks and scrapes, and the soles had worn through, showing the white plastic bottoms, about ten years I’d guess.  Then I went shoe shopping. 

 I have never seen so many ugly excuses for shoes in my life.  It seems today’s women want to walk on either ten penny nails or bricks.  The first are uncomfortable and the second are hideous.  Give me a toe that is at least a little rounded, a lower heel, and no pain.  I finally found a pair on a clearance rack for $19.99 that was perfect.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to find a blacksmith.

 And about those ten penny nails—after learning why men like women in stiletto heels, I am surprised that today’s modern, “liberated”, woman would wear anything that makes a man objectify her in the worst way.  Fashion designers obviously have no respect for the women they dress.

 Funny that shoes in the Bible can be matters of respect, too.  Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground, God told both Moses (Ex 3:5) and Joshua (Josh 5:15).  Even today I am told that Muslims and several other Eastern religions take off their shoes as a sign that they are laying aside the pollution of the world to enter into a holy place.

 Are they really?  What about the olive oil stain on their sleeves from lunch?  What about the cigarette smoke soaked into the folds of their robes from an earlier encounter?  What about the everyday miasma we carry around with us from our environment, both in the home and out in the streets?  Of course they are still stained with their everyday lives.  Taking off the shoes is just a symbol of respect.  Does that make it wrong?

 In the West, we have a different symbol.  Men take off their hats.  They do it when they enter a room, when they greet someone, when the flag passes by, and during an outdoor prayer (it’s supposed to already be off indoors). According to the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer, the custom began when men took off their helmets to show they did not consider the person they were meeting a danger.  Thus it became a symbol of trust, and one can understand how not removing the hat could be considered an insult.  It still is.

 A certain generation likes to say that symbols do not count, that the only thing that really counts is the heart.  While it is true that the heart is the crux of the matter, I think I can show you that God still expects a few symbols from us too.

 But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless, Matt 22:11,12.  I won’t go into the parable, just notice this:  Jesus did not say the custom was wrong.  Instead, he knew everyone would understand the parable because in that society it was a sign of disrespect to show up at a wedding in something other than “a wedding garment.”  The garment was a symbol of respect for the occasion in that culture.

 God has always expected His people to know the difference between, in the wording of Scripture, the holy and the profane.  “Profane” does not mean crude and vulgar—it means having to do with common, ordinary life.

 The Levites were warned, you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die, Num 18:32.  Now that sounds serious.

 Ezekiel said of the priests in the restored Temple, They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, 44:23.  He also warned, This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut, 44:2.  As a symbol of respect for God, the door he entered was to remain shut and no one else could use it.

 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood, Neh 8:5.  They showed respect for the Word of God by standing when it was read.

 Clearly, God expects some sort of symbolic respect for sacred things.  What does that mean for us today?  I am not sure.  Maybe it hasn’t been specified because God knew that this new covenant would be open not just to one group, but to all peoples.  What is respectful in one culture, may not be in another.  (Try belching out loud at a dinner party here in America.)

 In our congregation, we stand for the scripture reading.  Does that mean that everyone there has that much respect for the Word of God?  No.  For some it is just an outward sign.  They aren’t paying a bit of attention, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sign of respect for the rest of us. 

 Take a few minutes today and think of the sacred things in your life.  Maybe that is a first step—our culture has become so “casual” that some people couldn’t even come up with a list of things that deserve that kind of respect.  We should be better than that.  These things do not have to be tangible like your Bible, though that might be a good one to add to the list—your Bible and how you treat it.  Do you just toss it around like a library book?  Or does a library book get better treatment because you would have to pay for damages?

 As to the intangible, your marriage might be a good thing to show respect for in a visible way.  When our boys were little, they knew better than to ever sit between us at church.  That was just our little thing—it showed them that we were always one and they could never come between us.  I am sure you could think of another way to show respect to that God-ordained institution, one that means something to you too.

 Today, try to think of at least a few others.  Then think of ways to show that those things are sacred to you, not just some sort of mundane piece of life.  You might be surprised at how that one little sign of respect affects your whole attitude.

Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean…so that I am profaned among them, Ezek 22:26.

Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Joanne Beckley.

Personal dreams give us many hours of pleasure and create hope. Some will come true because we make choices that make them possible. Some may not come true but develop in ways we may never have imagined. And some are just wistful and never could be.

As a young girl I had lots of dreams. Some silly and outlandish and some I REALLY wanted to come true. Some I thought would be possible, but all those dreams kept me on track. They were important to me for just maybe... And so I grew up. Here are a few that I remember:

- Grow up pretty (although Mother kept reminding me to concentrate on a beautiful heart)

- Give my heart to God

- Marry a preacher man who would take me to Africa

- Design and build a house to hold my family.

As I dreamed and grew up, I learned that life and fulfilling dreams contain a series of tests. Each test would either make or break my spirit, and determine how near I am to God. There was schooling, housework, cooking, and music. I had a very sick mother and as the eldest daughter I grew up trying to hold my family together. This was a challenge for this butterfly girl, flitting from flower to flower. Yet, with a backbone and dreams, the mix can work and did.

Now at the age of 76, I can look back and see God’s hand in some of those dreams. I obeyed the gospel at the age of 13. In some ways, it was too early. The knowledge was there, the conviction and commitment was there. I just needed to finish growing up! (And for Christ, shouldn’t we all?) I never did let go of my preacher-man dream and chose to attend Florida College where I was determined to get all the Bible courses I could. One of the professors facilitated this and I learned to buckle down (after a strong reminder from my dad for his butterfly girl...) Lo and behold, a spiritually minded man was lurking there and I learned what real love can be. Some eight years and three babies later, he did indeed take me to Africa, he to preach, and we both had the opportunity to reach out to many with the gospel. What an adventure those near 33 years were!

I never did get to design and build a house...

Day dreams do carry hope, but our dreams need something a lot more substantial in order to create a strong hope as we live out our lives. That real and steadfast hope can only be found in God. He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works...Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,..Let Thy lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee, Psa 33:15,18,22.

The first mention in the Bible of lost hope and lost dreams was Naomi. After losing her husband and both adult sons, notice the conclusion of her reply to her daughters-in-law:

"Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me" Ruth 1:12,13.  She blamed God. It was not until she held Ruth’s son was she able to regain hope. Too often when we lose cherished dreams, we equate them with lost hope because our faith in God is not as strong as we first thought. At times you and I have had to face this unpalatable truth and must reassess not only our faith but also our dreams.

There are other women mentioned in the Bible that allowed their dreams to dictate their lives and their values. Each time their hopes were dashed and it becomes clear to the reader that God, the giver of all hope, was not paramount in their lives.

Yes, dreams can change or die and new dreams can develop and become not only a new reality but can even become a blessing to others. There was a woman whose dreams died, and yet her actions afterward helped to save the Israelite nation! King David, in trying to return Israel back into God’s good graces, chose to have Rizpah’s two sons and five other men be hung to appease wrong done to the Gibeonites. She spread out sackcloth on a rock and protected all seven bodies for five months. When her act was told to David, he had the bones buried along with Saul and Jonathan’s. “After that God was moved by entreaty for the land” (2 Sam 21:14) and the plague lifted.

Most young girls dream of a husband and children, of having an admired place among her neighbors. Anna was one such girl. She married a fine man, but he died after seven years of marriage. Luke tells us that she chose to live and serve in the temple until the age of eight-four. “And she never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers” (Luke 2:37b). Although this widow’s dreams were dashed, she understood where her strength lay. God was her rock and her shield (Psa 18:2). Anna lived with hope, “giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:28).

Take time and consider the dreams you have held from childhood and of those you hold to this day. Like mine, I’m sure some have come true–by yours and God’s efforts–and others you have had to let go and replace with other dreams.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph 1:18-19).

Daniel 12:13 "But as for you, go [your] way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise [again] for your allotted portion at the end of the age."

Joanne Beckley

I know you do it.  Even when you are participating in one of those “read the Bible through in a year” programs you do it.  Who in the world wants to read through So-and-so-jah begat So-and-so-iah verse after verse until you can hardly see straight? 

 But you need to do it once in a while.  

 That’s how you find out that Samuel was not a hypocrite for condemning Saul’s sacrifice when he made sacrifices several times himself—his father may have been an Ephraimite, but he was a Levite living in Ephraim.

 That’s how you find out that Joab was David’s nephew, the son of his sister Zeruiah, which probably accounts for why he put up with so much from the rascal.

 That’s how you find out that David’s counselor Ahithophel, was Bathsheba’s grandfather, which puts a new spin on that story, and probably explains why that man put his lot in with Absalom when he rebelled.  And all that is just the beginning of the amazing things you can discover when you read genealogies in the Bible.

 We also tend to overlook things like Deborah’s song of praise in Judges 5.  It’s just a poem, right?  We already read the important part in chapter 4.  Read chapter 5 some time.  You will discover exactly how God helped his people overcome Sisera’s army—he sent a storm that bogged down their chariots in the mud.  Foot soldiers do much better than chariots in a storm.  You will discover that the elders of Israel were applauded for a change—they actually did their jobs and did them willingly.  You will find out that several tribes did not help with the fighting and were roundly condemned for it.  You will find God’s opinion of Jael’s actions—no more arguing after He inspires Deborah to say, “Blessed above women shall Jael be.”

 And here’s one I found recently—the conversation and ensuing verses in 2 Samuel 12 after Nathan uttered those scalding words, “Thou art the man,” which is where we usually stop reading.  

 Verse 9—“You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword.”  David may have only ordered Uriah’s death, but God considered it exactly the same as doing the deed itself.  

 Verse 13—“The Lord has put away your sin.  You shall not die.”  Understand this--there was no sacrifice for adultery and murder because the sinners were summarily stoned.  That is what David expected, and the punishment God put aside.  Read Psalm 51 now.  David’s forgiveness happened immediately after his confession and repentance (v 12), but he repeatedly asks for it in the psalm which was written sometime later.  He understood the grace of God like never before.  Now that is godly repentance.

 Verse 15—“And the Lord afflicted the child.”  We keep trying to find ways out of statements like this, but they keep popping up.  Remember this:  God is in control.  He knows what He is doing.  There is a reason this child could not live, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t continue to live.  More on this in a minute.

 Verse 20—After the child died, David “went into the house of the Lord and worshiped.”  Why?  We could come up with a ton of reasons.  Ultimately I think he was showing his acceptance of God’s will, and sincere appreciation for the mercy he knew he did not deserve.  What do you think?  This one can keep a class going for several minutes' worth of discussion, and a whole lot of soul-searching.  Would your first inclination after a tragedy—and punishment--be to worship God?

 Verse 22—“Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious and allow the child to live?”  First, this proves David’s faith in prayer.  He knew it was possible for God to change His mind simply because one of His children asked Him to.  Second, it shows that faith does not mean you know you will get what you prayed for.  Who knows? David asked.  No one does, except God.  Faith knows He is able to grant your petition, not that He will.

 Verse 23—“I will go to him.”  David believed in the innocence of his child.  He did not believe that child was born with Adam’s sin hanging over his head, totally depraved and unable to get out of it without the direct operation of the Holy Spirit or some rite involving water.  His child was clean and innocent and he looked forward to seeing him again because he was also sure of his forgiveness.

 Whoa!  Did you know all that was there?  I didn’t either, and this was at least the tenth time I have studied this story in depth (I thought). What else are we missing?  

 The next time you do your Bible reading, think about what you are reading, even if it’s just a list of names or a poem or directions for how to build something.  God put what we needed to know in His Word.  Don’t you go deciding that you don’t need to know some of it.

…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work, 2 Tim 3:15-17 .

Dene Ward

 Most of us have heard of the Braille system of printing and writing used by the blind.  In several public places you will even see room numbers printed in Braille to the side of the door.  Since I have eye problems and could someday be blind, I have often put my fingers over those Braille numbers and tried to tell the differences between them.  Perhaps it is because I am not versed in the system at all, but I find it difficult to feel any pattern to those raised dots.  Maybe it's one of those things that becomes easier when you actually need it because it has certainly been used to great effect by millions of blind people.

 Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a Frenchman born on January 4, 1809, in Coupvray, France.  Louis invented the system when he was only 15 years old!  He was not born blind but became blind in one eye in an accident with a stitching awl in his father's harness making shop when he was three.  The eye became infected, and the infection spread to the other eye, causing blindness in both.  He attended a regular school until he was 10, learning by listening.   Then he received a scholarship to the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris.  While there he learned a 12 dot cryptography system from an army officer name Charles Barbier.  By the time he was 15, he had developed a similar but simpler system using only 6 dots, which could be read by using only one index finger.  It was introduced to his classmates in 1824 and used by them for several years.  Then a new director arose at the Institute and, in true bureaucratic style, he "banned it in 1840 because he was afraid that there would be no need for sighted teachers if everyone who was blind could read as a result of using Braille." Louis continued his education and actually taught at the same school.  He was forced to retire because of tuberculosis and died two days after his 43^rd birthday on January 6, 1852.

 Jesus dealt with all sorts of blind people.  Some were healed of their physical blindness, such as the man in John 9 who was born blind, but it was those who were spiritually blind who upset him the most.  For judgment came I into this world, that they that see not may see; and that they that see may become blind. Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said unto him, Are we also blind? Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you would have no sin: but now you say, We see: your sin remains, John 9:39-41. 

 The prophets also talk about spiritual blindness.  Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones! My servant is truly blind, my messenger is truly deaf. My covenant partner, the servant of the LORD, is truly blind. You see many things, but don’t comprehend; their ears are open, but do not hear(Isa 42:18-20).  It isn’t just that some people cannot comprehend God’s word—they blind themselves to it when they do not want to see what it says. 

 Peter also mentions people who are spiritually impaired in 2 Pet 1:9.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins (2Pet 1:9).  And then we have Paul:  But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God(2Cor 4:3-4). And John as well:  But the one who hates his fellow Christian is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes(1John 2:11).  You can find more passages about spiritual blindness than any of the other senses.

 We really do not need a system like Braille to see and understand God's Word.  What we need is an open mind and heart, one that wants to comprehend what God would have us do.  And that will not happen until we open those spiritual eyes as wide as possible, seeing, as James mentions, what is in the mirror and not forgetting what we see (James 1:23-24), but doing our best to change. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he will be blessed in what he does (Jas 1:25).

 Be careful when, in a spiritual discussion, you find yourself uttering the words, “I just can’t see that.”  It may be that you have become spiritually blind.

They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern(Isa 44:18).

Information from the Foundation for Blind Children and the Imperial County (California) Office of Education.

Dene Ward