Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.  It is almost a double post. Plan a lengthy sitting to read it all.

Today I want to look at the concept of wisdom as it is presented in Job. To do that, the first thing we need to inspect is the literary structure of the book.

The book of Job has a very interesting structure in an A B C D E D’ C’ B’ A’ format. To wit:

A. Job is prosperous (1:1-3)
B. Job acts as priest for his children (1:4-6)
C. God speaks twice to Satan (1:7-2:9)
D. Conflict between Job and his Friends (3-27)
E. Ode to Wisdom (28)
D’. Conflict between Job and Elihu (29-37)
C’. God speaks twice to Job (38-42:6)
B’. Job acts as priest for his Friends (42:7-9)
A’. Job is prosperous (42:10-17)

Notice that, in this format, the ode to wisdom in chapter 28 is the center of the book. Everything that happens before chapter 28 has a corresponding event after chapter 28. If we were to graph this on a chart, it would look like a beam of light bouncing at an angle off a mirror, with each event in Job having a mirror image except chapter 28, which would be at the point in which the light hits the mirror. This structure, with the ode to wisdom at the center of the book, strongly suggests that the central theme of Job is wisdom.

“What?” I can hear you yelling, “No it isn’t! Job is about human suffering and why bad things happen to good people, and why we go through trials, and about patience to deal with those trials, and . . .” And I’ll agree that a lot of those things are present in the book, but if the question the book deals with is “why do we suffer?” then why is the answer to Job’s suffering given to us in chapter 1? Job never learns why he had to go through such suffering, but we are told at the very beginning that God was using Job to prove an essential point to Satan—that true servants of God don’t serve Him just for the reward, but because He is worthy of the service. Since we have the answer in chapter 1, what is the point of the rest of the book? Again, based on its central position in the book, it is the ode to wisdom in chapter 28. So let’s inspect it for a moment.

Chapter 28 begins by acknowledging that man can find anything that is valuable. If it is precious minerals like gold, copper & tin (to make bronze), or iron (for steel weapons), man will track it down. Overturning mountains, lighting up caverns, tracking it down in wilderness areas even the wild animals don’t know about, man will find it. But then comes verse 12. In spite of being able to find anything else on or in the Earth, man cannot find wisdom. The poem then turns to the marketplace where anything can be bought and everything has a price. Except wisdom, which can’t be bought no matter how much of what type of precious commodities one has. Finally, in verses 23-28 we see that God, and only God, knows the way to wisdom. He established it and defined it. It is only through Him that man gets any inkling, any speck of wisdom. Wisdom, as God defines it, is to fear Him and turn away from evil.

It is a beautiful poem showing the value of wisdom and God’s preeminence, but, on the surface it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of the book. It almost feels like it should be Proverbs 32, rather than Job 28, but that’s because it is easy to get distracted when reading Job. We get distracted by Job’s pathetic wails of grief and pain and the friends’ seemingly unsympathetic attacks. Elihu’s hubris amazes and God’s appearance awes. One has to read Job with the centrality of chapter 28 in mind to see just how all pervasive the concept of wisdom is to the book.

I went back through Job looking for places where wisdom, teaching, or knowledge was mentioned. I looked for places where the speaker implored the others to listen and he would tell them truth. Mentions of proverbs, explanations and similar phrases were also noted. And from chapter 4 through 36:4 (not counting chapter 28) I found 46 places where the concept of wisdom/teachings was mentioned or discussed. I quit at 36:4 because I ran out of energy; there might be a couple more between there and chapter 38, where God speaks. And, of course, God’s speeches are full of the discussion of wisdom as He demands Job explain the workings of the world to God, if Job is so smart.

Yes, Job and his friends are trying to deal with the problem of human suffering and why God allows the righteous to suffer, but they are using their concepts of wisdom to deal with those problems all the while denying the wisdom of their opponents. This is most clear in the first round of discussion, in which the friends are essentially being good examples of what Paul later commands in Galatians 6:1. They erroneously see Job’s suffering as punishment from God and assume that means that Job has sinned and they each try to convince him to turn back to the Lord. In fact, the only real invitations you see in the Bible are in the book of Job as each friend in the first round of speeches invites Job to return to the Lord. While they are trying to bring back their “erring brother”, as they see it, they each proclaim that what they are telling Job is wisdom.

Eliphaz finishes his speech by saying “Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.” Job 5:27.  He claims to have researched what he is teaching Job and knows it is true. It is wisdom to live by.

Bildad goes further in saying “For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow); Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, And utter words out of their heart?” 8:8-10. Bildad claims to be giving Job not his own wisdom, but the wisdom of the ancients. When Job still refuses to listen to their “wisdom”

Zophar then nearly claims to be speaking for God: “But oh that God would speak, And open his lips against thee, And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding.” When Zophar continues to speak after this he is at least claiming that his words are backed by what God would say. In all three cases, the friends are trying to teach Job wisdom that they believe will help him in his predicament. Of course, they are wrong, but that is their intention.
J
ob begins to answer in force in chapter 12. In the first three verses he mocks their wisdom, essentially calling it too simplistic for the problems he sees. In 13:1-3 he repeats that idea in a more clear way: “Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.” Job is saying he already knows what the friends are telling him but that isn’t enough. He wants to move forward and speak to God. He wants greater understanding that what they are offering (which he already knows anyway). He then tells his friends they would show their wisdom better if they just shut up.

Throughout the remaining discussions between Job and the friends, the friends keep claiming to have the right wisdom for dealing with these problems, but Job continues to poke holes in their arguments and mock their understanding. In the process, Job builds up concepts of wisdom that are far more profound than the friends’ paltry offerings, and nearly gets to the correct answer (he is oh so close in chapter 23 before he again allows his grief to overwhelm him). What Job does accomplish is a complete dismantlement of all the friends’ arguments. He makes them look like fools and they shut up, bewildered.

Then Elihu enters the fray and it seems that all he talks about is wisdom. All he says in chapter 32 is a defense of his right to speak. He has wisdom too, better than the old men around him, and he will speak it. He then tells Job repeatedly in 33 that he will teach Job (never stated so baldly by the friends), asks the wise men to judge between his words and Job’s in chapter 34, claiming that all the wise will side with him and say that Job has no insight. Then in 36:2-3 he flat-out claims to be speaking for God and in verse 4 says he is “perfect in knowledge”. Despite his hubris, Elihu is often right as he tries to answer the problems brought up by Job. Right, but with a caveat. What he says doesn’t apply to Job’s situation (known to us from chapters 1&2). He is right in the facts (God is great) but wrong in the application (you don’t have the right to ask the question!). So, finally, despite all his claims, Elihu doesn’t get the answers through his wisdom either.

God has to come upon the scene to dispense the proper wisdom for dealing with the problems facing Job. God’s answers basically boil down to “There are things you can’t understand, but I do understand them and I’m in charge watching out for all these things. Trust me.” In a lot of ways, what God says boils down to 28:28. Fear God and turn away from evil. If Job just feared God, let Him handle what Job didn’t understand, and kept himself pure, all would turn out ok. And that’s what eventually happened.

Did you notice how closely this perusal of the theme of wisdom through the book of Job followed the ode to wisdom in chapter 28? All through the discussions Job is searching for the wisdom to deal with his problems and to know the whys. His friends offer their best, but it is fool’s gold. Just like it says in chapter 28, man’s best efforts can’t find true wisdom. Finally, after the best man can do, after a great search for correct wisdom from some very intelligent and wise men turns up nothing, God has to come upon the scene to give out the true wisdom. Just like Chapter 28. The true point of Job seems to be that man’s wisdom will never be able to obtain all the answers. The best that man’s wisdom can do will still leave us short on some of the most important questions. Job is teaching us that to get the answers to those problems we must turn to God for the proper wisdom. And then we learn that God’s answer is “Don’t worry about it, you wouldn’t understand anyway. But I love you and am looking out for you, so just trust me. I got this.”
 
Lucas Ward

God makes it plain in the Old Testament exactly how He feels about human sacrifice, specifically sacrificing one’s children as a part of pagan idol worship.  It is “an abomination;” it “shall not be found among you;” it “defiles you;” it “pollutes the land;” it “did not even enter into [God’s] mind” to command such a thing” (Deut 12:31; 18:10; Ezek 20:31; Psa 106: 37,38; Jer 32:35).
 
           And I suppose most of us think we are past that—we would never participate in something so heinous; we would never be caught up in worshipping an idol to the point that our children no longer mattered to us.  Think again.

            How many people have sacrificed their children to their careers?  And don’t automatically jump to working mothers.  God holds fathers accountable as the spiritual leaders of their families, especially in raising their children (Eph 6:4).  Too many fathers delegate everything to the mother, expecting her to somehow communicate to his children that he loves them, even when he spends practically no time at all with them, when he regularly misses piano recitals, school programs, or ball games; when he has never drunk an imaginary cup of tea at a tea party; when he has never read a bedtime story; when he has never dried a tear or given a hug, changed a diaper or given a bath, helped with a science project or played catch.  Career-minded, status-conscious, money-grubbing parents need to give thought to what they are sacrificing.  When you chose to have children, you chose to sacrifice yourselves, not them.

            And maybe this is the place for the blood being shed in the name of my body, my rights, and my choice.  Abortion is nothing more than human sacrifice so I don’t have to bear the responsibility of my actions.  I, me, and mine are the biggest idols we have today, and precious souls are bearing the brunt of that pagan ritual to the idol of self.

            And we also have those who sacrifice their children on the altar of their own feelings and opinions.  The sermon hurt my feelings, the elders told me I had to change my lifestyle, this brother or that sister came and told me I needed to repent of my sins, so I won’t go back to that church ever again.  And guess what?  Your children miss growing up among godly people, attending Bible classes that would have helped you teach them about God, and at least hearing the gospel every Sunday, whether anything you did at home ever cemented it into their minds or not.  You may not have sacrificed them to Molech, the heathen god most often associated with child sacrifice, but you actually did worse—you sacrificed them to the maker of those “abominations”—Satan Himself.  He is the one who will swoop in and claim those young souls, who have now learned from you that God isn’t all that important after all.

            Child sacrifice is alive and well in the world today, and too many of us are guilty, too.
 
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you, Ezek 20:30-31.
 
Dene Ward
 

My father was a young boy in the Depression and grew up on a small farm where they made use of everything.  He cannot stand to see something going to waste, even if he can’t at that moment find a use for it.  Before his retirement he often pulled stacks of paper out of the company trash bins, that old, wide, green and white striped computer paper with the holes in the sides.  He pulled out card stock that had been run through a printer of some sort leaving thin black lines on one side only.  Then he brought them all to me. 
 
           We were usually with a small church all those years ago, with a limited budget, and our own was even more limited.  What did I do with all that paper and cardstock?  The computer paper graced the walls of many a Bible class.  You want to know how tall Goliath was?  Unroll a ten foot long length of it, tear it off along the perforations and then measure out Goliath’s six cubits and a span on it and tack it to the wall.  In a high ceiling-ed room it was easy, but in others Goliath had to bend over, with the paper running up the wall then along the ceiling.  Suddenly you really understood what a “giant” was.  It wasn’t just the height.  It was how massive his body must have been to support that height.

            You want to know how tall Saul was?  The scriptures say he was “from his shoulders upward” taller than any of the men of Israel.  So we asked tallest man in the church to come in and stand by our computer paper.  We marked his height, then went up as much more as his head and shoulders.  Saul was no Lilliputian himself.  Those lengths of paper also made great time lines.  Other times they were “missionary journeys,” an attendance chart for each student, each one measured out according to scale and then “journeyed” with a felt pen to the next stop each time a student came to class.  If he didn’t make it back to Antioch or Jerusalem by the time we finished the lesson book it was a sure sign he had missed too many classes!

            And the card stock?  I must have cut out thousands of flash cards for memory verses, apostles, judges, and prophets, anything that could be represented with a line drawing and a stick man, as well as the question cards for board games I made and Bible Jeopardy boards I constructed.  The trash that no one else wanted found a spiritual use that helped hundreds of children learn about God and His word.

            God has a habit of taking things that no one else wants and making use of them too.  For behold your calling brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called…1 Cor 1:26.  Jesus did not go to the “in crowd;” he did not go to the rich and powerful.  In fact, most of the time those people became his followers it was because they came seeking Him, not the other way around.  No, Jesus went to the poor, the disenfranchised, and those whose lives were filled with problems that filled others with disgust.  Fishermen may not have been the dregs of society, but they were the working class poor.  Matthew the publican was despised.  Simon the Zealot was a fanatic from whom others might have shied away.  Zacchaeus, though wealthy, was another despised tax collector.  Mary Magdalene had had seven demons.  He healed ten lepers and the only one of that shunned group that even came back to thank him was a Samaritan, the lowest of the low.

            Why did these people flock to Him so?  Because He gave them hope.  He gave them purpose.  He made something of them when everyone else had given up on them.  And He will do the same for you and for me.  It matters not how far you have fallen, nor how little anyone else values you.  God valued you enough to give His son for you.  He can pull you out of the world’s trash can and make you a vessel of honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, 2 Tim 2:21.  If you think otherwise then you don’t really believe in the Almighty God.
 
Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the Lord, Jer 9:23,24.
 
Dene Ward

My two grandsons love to go to the park.  They love to swing and slide.  I’m not sure they have discovered the joys of my own childhood favorite—the seesaw.  Back then I was always looking for someone else to sit on the other end, and seldom found the perfect playmate.  She was always either too heavy or too light to balance it out, and one of us always hit the ground with a bang.
 
           Over the years I have come to see that God requires His own kind of balance.  Nearly every major fault of His people has come with that old pendulum swing—from one extreme to the other.  From undisciplined emotionalism to empty ritualism, from faith only to works salvation—we struggle all the time to get the balance just right.  “Obedience from the heart,” Paul calls it in Rom 6:17.  And it has been so for thousands of years.

            In our Psalms class, we came upon another passage recently that emphasized yet again the problem of balance.  Over and over and over you read things like this:

            …you have tested me and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress, 17:4

            I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from God, 18:21.
 
           Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering, 26:1.

            It always bothered me a little when I saw passages like this, especially the ones written by David, as these three are.  Isn’t he being a little arrogant?  Especially him?

            But, as with all the Bible, you have to put things together to find the balance point.  Psalm 130, one of the Psalms of Ascents, certainly shows the opposite feeling:  If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? v 3.  After that, another quickly came to mind:  Enter not for judgment with your servant; for in your sight no man living is righteous, 143:2.

            The psalmists all seemed to understand the balance.  No one deserves salvation, but yes, we can be righteous in God’s eyes when we do our best to serve Him, when obedience is offered willingly, when adoration, reverence, and gratitude are the motivations behind every thought and action, when we don’t just do some right things, we become righteous.  The author of Psalms 130 goes on to say, “But there is forgiveness with you…” and “with Jehovah there is lovingkindness and…plenteous redemption.”          

            These men saw that salvation was a matter of a relationship with God, not ritualistic obedience nor self-serving obsequiousness, both of which are more about “me” than the God I claim to worship.  They proclaimed the balance that would fall before the Lord in reverence and service and yet stand before a Father singing praise and thanksgiving. 

            And I love that they did not feel required to offer qualifications to what they said.  “I am righteous,” they said, not bothering to add, “but I know I have sinned in the past, and may sin in the future.”  They never let the false beliefs of others compel them to soften a strong statement of faith in their Lord to do what He says He will—be merciful.  Why are we always dampening the assurance of our hope by pandering to the false teaching of others?  Let’s strive for perfect balance with this long ago anonymous brother:  With Jehovah there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem us!
 
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile, Ps 32:1-2.
These things have I written…that you may know you have eternal life, 1 John 5:13
 
Dene Ward

I am not a gun nut.  I don’t know a whole lot about shooting.  But I do know some things that should be obvious, yet apparently are not.  When you shoot a gun, the bullet has to come down somewhere.
 
           We live in the country.  That means we do not have to worry about the laws against discharging a weapon in the city limits.  Since we have a lot more poisonous snakes, rabid coons, and bobcats ravaging the chicken coops than they do in town, that is a good thing.  Still, we must be careful.

            One reason many people use shotguns out in the country is that the load will scatter and not do much harm after a few feet.  If you shoot a rifle, you must constantly be careful of what is behind your target and the pitch of your gun barrel.  It must be pointing down so that if you miss your target, the spent bullet will hit the ground harmlessly not too far beyond.  If you miss what you are aiming at, the bullet keeps going until it either runs out of energy or hits something else.  And yes, even those supposedly harmless shots they fire in the air in all the old Westerns do eventually come down, and can still kill someone.  Evidently people who are not gun nuts, and certainly not physicists, write all those scripts because they regularly show their ignorance in these matters. 

            Words are like that.  Too many times we become angry, carelessly “shooting from the lip” or firing a few verbal bullets into the air, unaware of how those words may hurt those who may be within earshot.  Even words meant only for ourselves can cause damage to others when spoken aloud—there is always the chance that someone else will hear.  If a target needs a well-chosen word, chances are something spoken in haste was not well chosen anyway.  I need to keep it to myself until I am certain my aim is correct, the background is clear, and no one else is in danger.

            Just like a bullet, a word can come to rest in the heart of an innocent bystander.  Be sure you don’t make a tragic mistake.
           
I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned, Matt 12:36,37.
 
Dene Ward

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people, Titus 3:1-2.
 
           You would think a Christian wouldn’t need such reminders, but look at the things above.  Aren’t these the most difficult things for us to do?  To submit to someone else’s decisions, especially if we seriously disagree with them; to obey even when you had rather not; to be eager to serve others; to stop arguing and just accept; to be kind, even to those who do not deserve it; and to be courteous, even when people are not courteous to us—none of these things comes without effort.  In fact, they usually don’t come at all, and when their opposite surfaces, we are full of excuses.  He did it first; he needs to see what it feels like; if he can do it, so can I.  No you can’t.  Not and stay faithful to the Lord.

            Did you notice that most of these things are simply a matter of submitting one’s will to another?  And God always says that the reason for this is “the Lord’s sake” not the sake of the person you are submitting to, and that’s why we fail so often.  We look at the wrong person and when we see that person doesn’t deserve such submission, we find excuses.  You see it every day on the pages of facebook—rants about the government in words that are hardly “submissive.”  Even if you do obey, the submission is not there.  Let me ask you husbands, would you call a wife who rants at you in the same words you do at the President and congress “submissive?”  Parents, would you accept the attitude of a child who, while he ultimately obeyed, rolled his eyes and made sarcastic remarks while he did so?

            And so we have to be reminded to behave ourselves, every bit as much as a child needs that reminder, and because, like a child, we are “slaves to our passion” (v 3), especially our passion for self.  We submit our desires, our opinions, and that pesky thing called “self” because when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, v 4-7.  We do not deserve our salvation any more than those people deserve our submission, service, and courtesy.  Are you going to give it up just to prove a point?

            No, we do not have to be reminded to do the easy things, so obviously these are difficult.  We need the reminder.  We need sometimes a reminder as sharp as a slap in the face.  Read the prophets.  They were good at that.  And the New Testament writers were not far behind.  I’ve been told that sometimes I’m not either.
 
But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder…Rom 15:15. 

Dene Ward

Keith recently received a veteran’s pass to a Tampa Bay Rays game in St Petersburg.  (By the way, there may be a Green Bay, but there is no such town as Tampa Bay.  Tampa Bay signifies an area on the central west coast of Florida, usually including Tampa, St Petersburg and Clearwater and their suburbs.) 
 
         But the game was at the end of the season after the Rays’ play-off hopes were gone.  At first you would think it wouldn’t be much of a game, but you would be wrong.  Young players who had been called up from farm teams for the expanded September rosters were playing for a place on the major league team next season.  Older players were playing to show their worth, either for a contract renewal or for another team to show some interest in a trade.  Established players were playing for personal records—a better ERA, consecutive years with a certain number of home runs and RBIs.  I knew it would still be a game worth watching.  No one would be “phoning it in.”

          But imagine there was nothing left to play for.  Imagine they were just playing out the season because it was a contract requirement.  How many home runs would you expect?  How many wins?  And how many fans would bother to show up at all?

          Some of us play at the game of life like that.  We look at our meager accomplishments, at the few years we have left, and decide there is nothing worth living for, nothing worth working for, nothing to look forward to but day after day of waking up to uselessness until one morning you don’t wake up at all.  And as far as heaven goes?  We seem to hope we have enough warning before death to shoot off a last prayer for forgiveness because surely that’s the only “hope” we have.

          Too many of us have bought into the world’s idea of hope—something insecure, uncertain, and probably not going to happen at all. Go out tomorrow and plant a seed.  Now read 1 Cor 9:10:  the plowman plows in hope.  What do you think is going to happen to that seed you planted?  You “hope” it will grow.  If a farmer hoped the way most of us hope, he would never plant in the first place.  “Hope” in the Bible means something is going to happen, and you are simply waiting for it, waiting like someone standing at an established bus stop at the established time, not someone who just guessed what route the bus takes and which corner it might stop at and when, and “hoping” you guessed correctly.

          By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance…for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations who builder and designer is God…these all died not having received the promises but having seen and greeted them from afar, Heb 11:8,10,13.  Could wealthy Abraham have given up a comfortable home to live in tents the last half of his life, could he have stood on that mountain ready to sacrifice his son if he had just crossed his fingers and “hoped” he had a future beyond this life?  No, he had Biblical hope.  He knew he had a reward waiting.

          And so do you—something even better than moving up from Double A, or even Triple A, to a permanent place on the roster of a major league team, and something a whole lot more certain—even if your batting average isn’t quite as high as the next guy’s, even if all they can count on you for is a sac-fly every so often instead of a grand slam.  You still have something to play for, a place “prepared from the foundation of the world,” one that will be there no matter who wins the pennant.
 
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises, Heb 6:11-12.

Dene Ward

That’s what my doctor asked a couple of weeks after one of my eye surgeries.  He is a very proper Englishman and has an odd way of phrasing things at times, at least to my American ears, but that one still caught me off-guard.
 
           “May I prod you?”

           “With what?” I blurted out, nonplussed.  Since I am a country girl I suppose all I could think of were cattle prods.

            As it turns out, the scleral flap he had placed inside my eye to control the drainage through the shunt was not situated exactly right.  He needed to move it, and the only way to do so was to “prod” my eyeball. 

           He took two six inch long cotton swabs, eased them into my eye socket over the top of my eyeball and, while watching the progress through a lighted scope, proceeded to mash down on that eye for all he was worth.  At least that’s what it felt like, but perhaps that was because that eye still had a fresh incision.  As you can imagine, I sat as still as I could.  Doctors always tell you not to put Q-tips in your ears.  I wonder what my other doctors would have thought about two big ones sticking out of my left eye socket.  A friend was with me and witnessed this a little uncomfortably.  “Almost lost my lunch,” I think was what she said, “but the young resident watching the procedure looked grayer than I felt.”

            Eventually the internal flap moved a millimeter or so and he was pleased.  “Sorry,” he said.  “I know that was uncomfortable.”  Indeed, I thought, somewhat “Britishly.”  After all these years he is wearing off on me.

            We are prodded often in our lives, and like me at that moment, it is always our choice whether or not to allow it.  Too many times we make the wrong choices.  “He made me mad,” is inaccurate.  What happened is, I let him make me mad.  I allow the words and actions of others to create wrong reactions in me.  I allow the pressures of society to push me into bad decisions.  I allow temptation to overcome me, instead of me overcoming it.  And in every case it is no one’s fault but my own, because the choice was mine.

            How do I know?  Because when there comes a time of good prodding, good provocation--let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, Heb 10:24—then I ignore it when it is not what I want to do.  If one is my choosing, then so is the other.

            Satan prods us all the time.  Sometimes he uses circumstances; sometimes he uses people; sometimes he uses ideologies.  It is always up to us to recognize the true source of those things and choose to ignore it.  Instead we must find those who urge us toward the good, encouraging proper attitudes and actions through example or teaching.

            Just like those cotton swabs pushing on the outside of my eyeball affected what was happening on the inside, provocation works on the heart and the attitudes.  In the final analysis it is up to us to make the right decisions.  Just who is asking, “May I prod you?”  Is it the Lord, or is it Satan?  To which one will I listen?  What will I choose to do?
 
[Love] does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not its own, is not provoked, takes no account of evil, 1 Cor 13:5.
 
Dene Ward

“Remember not the sins of my youth” -- These are words from a currently popular song, in turn taken from David’s words in Psa 25:7.

Now why should we, or David either, be worried about sins of long ago –long, long ago for some of us?  We and he repented, we/he confessed, we/he prayed.  We were forgiven—long ago.

But, I confess that the temptations that BESET me are those same sins that started in my youth.  Perhaps in that time of hubris, Satan finds our weakest character trait and attacks and lodges arrows whose tips bedevil us with the pain of sin all our lives.

To illustrate: The popular kids in high school cussed and so did I.  (Shame on me).  I kept that world separate from home and Mom never knew—provable by the fact that the only scars on my hide are bullet holes and various self-inflicted accidental wounds.  I got to college and waxed worse, still leading singing and making talks.  Then I obtained a master’s degree in bad language in the USMC.  I went to Florida College 3 years, preached full time for 10 and part time for years, and have been a deacon for decades.  I cleaned it up.  But when frustration builds up, I still fight the battle over, when multiple things go wrong in a short time and I am tired and, and, and….the words are at the tip of my tongue, in the edge of my mind.  Shame on me.

I wish I could say that is the only sin that began in my youth, battles I still fight too often.  I suspect David was warning young people—don’t start.  It never stops.  The appetites that you do not learn to control now will haunt you all your lives.

For that same reason, Paul warns a middle-aged Timothy, “Flee youthful lusts.”  Old people are bothered by the same temptations that plague young ones.  Problems may vary from vulgar language to pornography to covetous materialism to sexual fantasies to lying to envy, or a host of others, but the principle remains that it is easier to never begin than to stop, easier to stop when you are young than later.  Now is the time.

So, with David and Paul, I would also warn:  Learn now to control yourself.  Every indulgence will weaken you and haunt you all your life.  Not because it is unforgiven but because it never goes away.  Like an addiction, sin/Satan never leaves you alone.  You can control it, but you are never over it.
 
So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.  (Rom 6:11-14, NET)
 
Keith Ward

Unfortunately, I have a sweet tooth.  I have never understood rail thin women who complain about a dessert being, “too sweet,” “too rich,” and certainly not, “too big.”  That probably explains why I am not rail thin.
  
          I had a good excuse for making desserts with two active boys in the house.  Their favorites were plain, as desserts go—blueberry pie, apple pie, Mississippi mud cake, and any kind of cheesecake.  Nowadays, since there are only two of us and we two do not need a whole lot of sweets, desserts are usually for special occasions, and so they have gotten a little more “special” too.  Coconut cake with lime curd filling and coconut cream cheese frosting; chocolate fudge torte with chocolate ganache filling, dark chocolate frosting, and peanut butter ganache trim, garnished with dry roasted peanuts; lemon sour cream cake with lemon filling and lemon cream cheese frosting; and a peanut butter cup cheesecake piled with chopped peanut butter cups and drizzled with hot fudge sauce; all these have found their way into my repertoire and my heart. 

            But one thing I have never done is feed my family on dessert alone.  Dessert is for later, after you eat your vegetables, after the whole grain, high fiber, high protein meals, after you’ve taken your vitamins and minerals.  Everyone knows that, except perhaps children, and I would have been a bad mother had I given in to their desires instead of doing what was best for them. 

            So why do we expect God to feed us nothing but dessert?  Why do we think life must always be easy, fun, and exciting?  Why is it that the only time I say, “God is good,” is when I get what I want?

            God is good even when He makes me eat my vegetables, when I have to choke down the liver, and guzzle the V8.  God is good when I undergo trials and misfortunes. God is good even when the devil tempts me sorely.  He knows what is best for me, what will make me strong and able to endure, and, ultimately, He knows that living a physical life on this physical earth forever is not in my best interests.

            Eating nothing but cake and pie and pastries will create a paradox—an obese person who is starving to death, unable to grow and become strong.  God knows what we need and gives it to us freely and on a daily basis.  He doesn’t fill us up with empty spiritual calories.  He doesn’t give us just dessert.  Truly, God is good.
 
Rejoice the soul of your servant, for unto you O Lord, do I lift up my soul.  For you Lord are good, and ready to forgive and abundant in lovingkindness unto all them who call upon you.  There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, neither any works like your works.  All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and they shall glorify your name.  For you are great and do wondrous things.  You are God alone, Psa 86:4,5,8-10.
 
Dene Ward