I had an up close and personal encounter with a wildflower a couple of years ago.  When we plant a new bed out in the field, we baby it the first year.  The point is for them to grow up scattered in the grasses and among other wildflowers in a natural way, but if you don’t get them off to a good start, they won’t stand a chance with all the competition out there for ground space and rainwater.

            So I was weeding the latest patch, which we had let go far beyond the normal time span.  I had difficulty even finding some of the small plants amid all the waist high grass and weeds.  I had nearly finished, was soaking wet and black up to my elbows, when I noticed one more low-growing weed and bent over to pull it.  I did not see the bare stalk of the wildflower right between my feet, leafless and flowerless, standing three feet high.  I did not know it was there until, as I bent over, it slid right into my eye like a hot wire.  Which eye?  The one which most lately has been operated on, the one with the shunt, the capsular tension ring, and the silicone lens, the one that already hurts the most. 

            The doctor and I spent nearly two weeks fixing me up after this little mishap, checking to see if there was any permanent damage, checking to see if the shunt had been knocked out of place, checking for infection, and worse, for plant fungus.  As it turns out, all I had was a hematoma and a laceration, but it was an exciting couple of weeks.

            That was too close and personal an encounter with a flower, but we can never be too close and personal with God.  I have had to learn that.  The prevailing sentiment many years ago seemed to be that we did not want to do or say anything that might make someone apply a religious pejorative to us indicating belief in something other than correct Bible teaching about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  Instead of saying, “I’m blessed,” instead of saying, “God took care of me,” indeed, instead of attributing anything to the providence of God, we said, “I’m lucky.”  We wouldn’t want someone to get the wrong idea, would we?

            Where did we come up with that?  Read some of David’s psalms.  He gave God the credit for everything.  Read Hannah’s song, or Moses and Miriam’s after crossing the Red Sea.  Since when don’t the people of God tell everyone what God has done for them?

            Read some of Paul’s sermons.  He does not seem a bit concerned that someone might use what he says to give credence to false teaching.  “You know that idol you have out there?” he asks the Athenians, “the one to the Unknown God?  Let me tell you about him.”  He tells Felix, But this I confess to you that after the Way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers, Acts 24:14.  It didn’t matter a bit what people called it, as long as he could talk about it.  In fact, he used their misconceptions as opportunities to preach the Gospel.

            Maybe that is my problem—I don’t want to talk about it.  It makes me uncomfortable.  It has nothing to do with whether someone gets the wrong idea about the Truth, but everything to do with me feeling ill at ease, or downright embarrassed.  I don’t want to be called a religious fanatic and certainly not a “Holy Roller!”  Yes, I want a close, personal relationship with God, as long as no one else knows about it.

            But here is the deal:  If I am too embarrassed by my relationship with God to even acknowledge it, then He won’t acknowledge me either, and I am the one with everything to lose. 

            Go out there today and say or do something that will make someone else curious enough to ask you a question.  Then open your mouth and unashamedly tell them how wonderful an up close and personal relationship with your Creator and Savior really is.

Everyone therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in Heaven.  But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in Heaven, Matt 10:32,33.

Dene Ward

Surely I am not the only one who has done this.

            You find out that you have company coming in about an hour and the house is a wreck.  You were tired, so you left the coffee and dessert dishes in the sink instead of whipping up another sink full of suds at 10 pm the night before, and have only added to them with the breakfast dishes.  You did the laundry yesterday, but there were so many errands to run, they are sitting in the basket or hanging from hangers on every doorknob available so the wrinkles will fall out.  The garden is coming in so you have left the weekly tub scrubbing, vacuuming, and dusting until some day soon when you are no longer standing in a hot, steamy kitchen for ten hours a day, and the canning supplies litter the kitchen counters, floors, and even the family room sofa.  And did anyone make his bed this morning?  If they are all male, probably not!

            So what do you do?  I usually grab another laundry basket and rush through the house throwing everything that is out of place in it, then put it on the guest room bed and shut the door.  Spray some bleach solution (that I always have mixed and ready to use) into the showers, as much for the clean smell as anything else, and pull the shower curtains shut.  Run a cloth over everything big and obvious (like the grand piano in the living room), and hope no one over six feet tall stands by the top shelves and the refrigerator.  Light every good smelling candle in the house and hope that’s enough to cover any other “not quite clean” house smell. Run a sink full of soapy water and at least pile everything into it.  With canning jars sitting around cooling, it will look like you’ve been hard at work (and you really have), and are in the midst of cleaning it up.  At least you will get points for that! 

             I have probably fooled a lot of people that way, or else they were just polite.  But when it comes to spiritual house cleaning, just getting the outside isn’t enough.  Oh, we might fool some people who don’t really know us very well, but Jesus says By their fruits you shall know them, Matt 7:16, so eventually we will give ourselves away if our righteousness is only cosmetic.  Just imagine how much God knows--everything!  The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and the good, Prov 15:3.

            Cleaning the outside is not good enough for Jehovah.  It only counts when we clean up our hearts.  Then, funny thing, the outside takes care of itself.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within are full of extortion and excess.  You blind Pharisees, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside may become clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly are full of hypocrisy and iniquity, Matt 23:25-28.

Dene Ward

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At the end of the garden season, I dry out my hot chili peppers and make chili powder.  I have found a good formula, one part chili pepper, two parts ground cumin, one part dried oregano, and two parts garlic powder.  The first few times I made it, I used a blend of Anaheim and cayenne peppers.  Last year Keith shopped for the chili pepper plants and came home with habaneros.  If you know anything about the Scoville heat scale, you know that cayennes, while not at the mild end of the scale, are a couple hundred thousand units removed from habaneros which sit at the hottest end.

To make chili powder, you must first dry the chili peppers, then remove the stems and grind them up.  A lot of the heat is in the seeds, so I, being a wimp when it comes to hot peppers, shook out the loose seeds as well—habaneros are hot enough as is.  I had enough sense to wear latex gloves while handling these babies, but that is where good sense stopped.  When I took the lid off the grinder to see if any pieces remained intact, the cloud of chili powder, totally invisible to the naked eye, rose up into my face.  How did I know?  My nose started running, my lips started burning, and I sneezed nearly a dozen times.  I had pepper-maced myself.  I am so very glad I had reading glasses on.  I do not know what might have happened to these poor eyes!  I know people who don’t even use gloves to work with hot peppers, but next time I will reach for a gas mask!

Sin and conscience work the same way.  Especially nowadays when sophistication is judged by how little one allows sinful behavior to shock him, we have a tendency to think we can sin indiscriminately and feel just fine about ourselves afterwards.  What was it Paul said about the idolatrous pagans?  For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.  They show that the law of God is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts either accuse or even excuse themselves, Rom 2:14,15.  You can’t get away from your conscience no matter how sophisticated you think you are.

The scriptures are littered with people who suffered pangs of conscience.  Adam and Eve hid themselves after they had sinned.  The brothers of Joseph twice confessed their sin against their brother, attributing all the bad things that happened in Egypt with the hostile “Egyptian” ruler as their just recompense.  Pharaoh, of all people, said to Moses and Aaron, This time I have sinned.  The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong, Ex 9:27.   David sinned more than the once we often focus on.  His “heart smote him” after he numbered the people in 2 Sam 24 and his psalms of repentance after the sin against Bathsheba and Uriah abound with overwhelming guilt. 

Herod was so wrought with guilt after killing John that he thought Jesus was John coming back from the dead.  Peter’s denial caused him to “weep bitterly,” while Judas’s betrayal led to suicide.  Even Paul, a man who surely knew he was forgiven, called himself “the chiefest of sinners” to the end of his life.

And we think we can get away with sin and have it not affect us?  Guilt is like that burning chili pepper cloud.  You can’t see it, but your conscience will still feel its effects, and if you don’t deal with it, you will lead a miserable life--at least until you burn that conscience out as if you had “branded it with a hot iron,” 1 Tim 4:2.

Do you know how to get rid of the pain of burning chili peppers?  Dairy products.  If you forget your gloves and those oils get under your nails or in a nick or cut, soak your hands in milk.  That is also why there is usually a dollop of sour cream on most Mexican dishes. 

Do you know how to get rid of the pain of a burning conscience?  Soak it in the blood of Christ.  It works wonders.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?  Heb 9:13,14.

Dene Ward

As I mentioned last month, I have had an awful time growing basil this year.  After trying seven or eight different plants, I have ended the summer with two basil plants left alive, each barely six inches tall.  I am still rationing out their leaves.  Basil is an annual and even if you protect it from the frost, it will eventually give out.  We never did have fresh pesto this summer.

Keith happened to say one evening, as he could barely taste the basil in the baked ziti, “What if this had been the first year you had tried to grow it?”  Indeed, what if it had?  I would probably never have tried again.

This led to a discussion about people.  What about that friend you invited to church but who “had a prior commitment?”  What about the neighbor you asked to study the Bible with you, but who was “just too busy right now?”  How many times did you ask?  How many times did you invite?  How many times did you even mention the spiritual things in your life to see if they might spark an interest?  Do you suppose that maybe those good folks were just having a bad year like my basil plants?

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t blurt these invitations out in nervousness or embarrassment, and then feel almost relieved when they are rejected.  “Whew!  Got that over with.  Now I don’t have to worry about it any more.” 

How long did it take for you?  How many approaches did you fend off before you finally realized your need?  How many times did you “kick against the pricks?”  Aren’t you glad God didn’t give up on you?  Aren’t you happy he realized that it might just be a bad year for good old Basil, and tried again?

Next year I will still plant Basil in my herb garden.  As many abundant years as he has given me, I know that this one was just an anomaly.  Don’t you think the people you know deserve the same consideration?

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering to you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet 3:9.

Dene Ward

I have had a terrible time with my basil this year.  It will not grow.  It just sits there exactly the same height and with the same number of leaves, day after
day.  Usually, even though I use it a lot, it becomes a shrub, and I must cut four cups at a time making pesto every couple of weeks to keep up with it. 
This year I had to ration it in things like my orzo salad with grape tomatoes, green onions, pine nuts, feta, and basil, and the cherry tomato salad with basil, fresh mozzarella, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Pesto was not even in the forecast, and my late summer marinara may be blander than it has ever been before.

Basil is one of the easiest herbs to grow.  Being Mediterranean, it can take the Florida heat and humidity.  It may wilt on a hot summer afternoon, but recovers quickly in the evening and looks like new the next morning.  It can handle the worst of circumstances.  It doesn’t even have its own particular pest like parsley has parsley worms.  So what is the problem this year?  We watered it during the dry weather and fertilized it as usual.  I have no idea what happened.  Maybe I took it for granted that it was a strong plant needing no special care.

Strong Christians can be like that.  People get so used to them being strong
that no one checks on them, no one asks how things are going, no one gives them an encouraging word—that’s what they are supposed to do.

When was the last time you patted an elder on the back and thanked him
for his work, maybe even apologized for any trouble or worry you might have
caused him?  When was the last time you sent him a note or a card of appreciation?  How about his wife?  She must not only deal with some of the same problems he does, but watch the effect of it all on him—distress etching lines in his face, frustration turning his hair gray a bit too early,  his smile all but disappearing over the sorrow for lost souls.

How about the preacher?  Even people who don’t mean anything by it can say hurtful things, can judge harshly, and can expect the impossible—perfection. 
Preachers and their wives must watch their children grow up too early as
they see their father mistreated over and over, everywhere they go.  It’s a wonder any of them stay faithful.

The worst thing you can do to a strong Christian is tell him or her that you know he is strong and can take anything.  Sometimes they can’t.  Sometimes it just gets to be too much, and instead of having brethren who will pull them out of the abyss, they must climb out all by themselves because no one thinks they need any help.

Find a strong Christian today and do them a favor--forget they are strong.  Treat them as if they needed a boost and then give them one.  They will appreciate it more than you can imagine.

[And Jehovah said] Charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people and he shall cause them to inherit this land which you shall see, Deut 3:28.

Wherefore brethren, exhort one another and build each other up, even as you also do.  But we beseech you brethren, know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and who admonish you. to esteem them highly in love for their work’s sake, 1 Thes 5:11-13.

[Paul said] Finally brethren, pray for us…2 Thes 3:1.
 
Dene Ward

God must have loved gardens.  That first garden was used as the ideal all through the scriptures, the utopia that everyone longed for.  The Messianic kingdom is referred to as the restoration of the Garden of Eden in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and other prophets. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it. (Ezekiel 36:34-36).

And why was Eden perfect? Everything man needed was in that first garden, trees and plants to sustain his physical life, including the Tree of Life.  God also gave man the companionship of a woman, for He said, it is not good that man should be alone, 2:18.  He gave him work to do, tending that garden, and every evening He came to walk with man.  Surely that marvelous fellowship was the greatest need He fulfilled.

Revelation 22 depicts another garden, one that despite my growing belief that the majority of the descriptions in that book are about the victorious church, I cannot help but see in a final heavenly fulfillment.  We will be back where the Tree of Life spreads its branches, 22:2.  We will be with other servants of God, “those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” 21:27.  We will have work—to serve and worship our Creator for Eternity, 22:3,8,9.  And once again we will be in fellowship, and proximity, to God—His throne is there and we shall “see his face” 22:1,4.  God’s plan will have come full circle, from that first garden to an eternal one.

But there was another garden, one right in the middle of it all—Gethsemane.  It had some of the same characteristics.  The disciples had fellowship with each other and with their Lord.  And they had work to do.  “Watch with me,” Jesus told them, Matt 26:38.  It had been a long day, one full of surprises and mysterious statements by their Master.  They were tired, wanting only to rest, and so “their eyes were heavy,” and they slept, 26:48.  When the Lord needed them most, they failed Him.

That garden was the reason we have hope of an Eternal Garden.  In a sense, we are living our lives in that middle garden with the Lord.  “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation,” he told those men, Mark 14:38, adding at the end, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  My flesh may indeed be weak, but too often my spirit is lacking as well.  Life can wear you out.  Trials seem to come in one long succession, like a string of ugly beads.  All you want to do is have one day of peace, one day when something goes right, when it seems like the world isn’t against you and justice will prevail. 

It is hard, and your Lord knows it.  He sat in that same garden you are in now, awaiting things you will probably never have to experience.  And he did it so you can have hope of a garden where everything will finally be right, where you can rest and “there will be no curse any more.”

But for now, you must watch, you must endure just a little while longer.  I have finally lived long enough to know that it isn’t that long a “while” till it’s over, and then there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 

And once again, we will walk in the garden with God.

He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him that overcomes, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7.                                                                                 

Dene Ward

Every August the grapes come in, muscadines and scuppernongs in this part 
of the country. Strong flavored, thick-skinned, acidic, and seedy, they are best for jelly and juice, though true Floridians enjoy noshing on them as is.  With the boys grown now, I go through fewer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so the jelly production has dwindled and the juice making increased, and I have discovered the easiest method for making and canning grape juice.

Put a cup or so of clean grapes in each sterilized quart jar.  Add some sugar and fill the jars with boiling water.  Process and once the lids have sealed, put them on your shelf for at least two months.  The liquid and the sugar will leach the goodness right out of those grapes.  When you open the jar, strain them out and enjoy what’s left behind.  Perhaps not as much fun as jumping into
the vat with Lucy and Ethel, but far cleaner and easier.

One day I decided to taste one of those strained-out grapes just to see what was left in it.  I should have known—it was duller and several shades paler than its original shiny purple-black, and loose as a deflated balloon. How did it
taste?  Like sour nothingness.  Maybe that’s what happens to us when we steep ourselves in the world.  
                  
Is wealth consuming your thoughts?  “Just let me have enough,” is a lie we tell ourselves.  He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income, Eccl 5:10.  If you allow thoughts of riches to flood your life—even if you don’t have them--anything spiritual will be washed out of your heart.  Notice the prediction God made about Israel:  But
[they] waxed fat, and kicked: you have waxed fat, you have grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation, Deuteronomy 32:15. Their wealth (“fatness”) covered them so that it was all they could think about.  Any notion of serving God was completely forgotten.  If you think we aren’t at risk, just take a minute and look around.  What used to be a God-fearing nation has become a people who worship wealth, power, and celebrity instead. 
                 
Other times we allow the pleasures and conveniences of this world to permeate our lives so that the mere thought of sacrificing anything, whether comfort, ease, or even opinion, will be smothered out of us. “Self” will leach the good out of hearts and minds, and leave nothing but the emptiness of indulgence.  If your “rights” spring to your lips every time someone crosses you, you have stifled the spiritual character of yielding to others, whether your
neighbors, the man in the car in front of you, or the brother who sits next to
you on the pew.  You have suffocated the spirit of mercy that marks us as His
children.  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh...
For to be carnally minded is death… Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, Romans 8:5-8.

But sometimes we simply drown in “stuff.” What do you do all day long?  Run from this to that to another event, none of which is evil, but none of which is spiritual either.  How do you feel at the end of the day?  Drained, probably, and maybe even quicker to fall into the sins of impatience and intolerance simply because you are so tired.  And he that was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word; and the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful, Matthew 13:22.

What are you floating in today?  Will it make you sweet and useful to the  Master, or will it leave you an empty, useless hull of a servant, one who will be strained out and thrown away?  Let me know if you need a jar of my grape juice to sit on your shelf as a reminder. 
 
My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food…For zeal for your house has consumed me, Job  23:11-12, Psa 69:9.

(For this recipe go to "Dene's Recipes" page)


Dene Ward

It’s another summer morning in Florida.  Nine o’clock, 76 degrees, yet before you have taken ten steps outside your skin begins to prickle in that way it does just before a sweat breaks out, and your hair begins to wilt or kink, depending upon its natural state of curl or uncurl.  The trees are dripping so that it sounds like rain on the metal carport roofing, and the hazy air is thick enough with humidity to drown you if you breathe too quickly.  The damp ground smells loamy, and in places a little sour.  A film of perspiration has already formed over your lips and your shirt feels like it came out of the dryer five minutes too soon. 

If you stay out longer than a few minutes, the only word that truly describes how you feel is “nasty.”  Sweaty, greasy, grimy, sandy, and swarming with gnats and yellow flies.  As uncomfortable as it is, I still try to get all my yard work done then, before the temperature rises to match the humidity and the sub-tropical sun beats on you as mercilessly as an Egyptian taskmaster.  I spray the underside of my garden hat brim with Off and don my work out clothes.  No need messing up something else with gray grime that will never come out once you have soaked them in the righteous sweat of labor, for dripping with it you will be.

This morning I spent the time in the raised bed around the trellises.  With a wetter summer than we have had in years, the weeds grow more thickly than the grass and flowers.  I weed one bed, and the next week it looks like I haven’t touched it in a month.  So I went around pulling out grass sprigs, dollarweed, castor beans, and half a dozen oak trees.

You read that right—oak trees.  I am not Mrs. Paul Bunyan—none of those discarded oak trees were over 6 inches tall.  Some of them even had the acorn still attached to the roots when I pulled it out of the ground.  It was easy.  One quick rip and up they came.  Pulling up trees is simple when you get them at six inches.  Even waiting till they are a foot tall makes a significant difference in how difficult it is to uproot them.

Yet isn’t that what we do in our lives?  We wait till the soap scum is flaky gray and a quarter inch thick before we get out the scrub brush, when a two minute wipe each week would save us twenty minutes of elbow grease every month.  We wait till the fat rolls over our waistbands, when losing five pounds every six months would save us the agony of an 800 calorie a day diet for a year to lose thirty.  We wait till our lives are falling apart, when realigning ourselves a quarter inch every day would have kept the Devil at bay.

Isn’t it time to wise up a little?  Isn’t it time to do a little work to save the pain that results from neglect? 

Have a conversation with God every day, throughout the day, while you wash those dishes or walk the dog or trim the hedges.  When something serious arises and you really need the help, you won’t have to wonder if He’ll be there for you or if He gave up on you long ago.  (He does do that, you know, give up on people, Jer 11:11; 14:12; Ezek 8:18; Mic 3:4; Zech 7:13, etc.).

Start reading your Bible now, a little every day, adding some serious and diligent study as you go along, learning some good study techniques from those who know them and want so badly to share.  Then when your neighbor asks you a question, you just might be able to answer him, instead of standing there like a fool, red with embarrassment.

Begin working on those problems you have, the ones that nag you day after day.  Make a plan and begin to weed the sin out of your life like a six inch oak tree.  If it becomes the behemoth that stands over your house, you will never get rid of it, but the Devil will be more than happy to take advantage of the shade.

…looking carefully lest there be any man that fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled; Hebrews 12:15.

Dene Ward

Whew!  It’s over for another year.  Some of it is in the freezer—blueberries, strawberries, tomato sauce, corn, pole beans, white acre peas, blackeyes, and limas—but quite a bit sits on the shelves of the back pantry in those clear sturdy Mason jars: two kinds of cucumber pickles, squash pickles, okra pickles, pickled banana peppers, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes, salsa, tomato jam, muscadine juice, and muscadine jelly.

The first time I ever canned I was scared to death.  First, the pressure canner scared me.  I had heard too many stories of blown up pots and collard greens hanging from the ceiling, but once I had used it a few times without incident, and really understood how it worked, that fear left me.  I still follow the rules though, or it will blow up.  No amount of sincerity on my part will keep that from happening if I let the pressure get too high. 

I also follow the sterilization rules and the rules about how much pressure for how long and how much acidity is required for steam canning.  Botulism, a food poisoning caused by foods that have been improperly canned, is a particularly dangerous disease.  Symptoms include severe abdominal pain, vomiting, blurred vision, muscle weakness and eventual paralysis.  You’d better believe I carefully follow all the rules for home canning.  I give away a lot of my pickles and jams.  Not only do I not want botulism, I certainly don’t want to give it to anyone else either.

Some folks chafe at rules.  Maybe that’s why they don’t follow God’s rules.  They want to take the Bible and pick and choose what suits them.  “Authority?” they scoff.  “Overrated and totally unnecessary.”  Authority does matter and a lot of people in the Bible found out the hard way.  Whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of {by the authority of} the Lord Jesus…Col 3:17.  You might pay special attention to the context of that verse too.

God’s people were warned over and over to follow His rules, to, in fact, be careful to follow His rules, Deut 5:1.  I counted 31 times in the Pentateuch alone.  Not following those rules resulted in death for many and captivity for others.  When Ezra and Nehemiah brought the remnant back to Jerusalem, once again they were warned, at least five times in those two short books.  Maybe suffering the consequences of doing otherwise made the need for so much repetition a little less.

David had a way of looking at God’s rules that we need to consider.  For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.  For all his rules were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn aside, 2 Sam 22:22,23. Many of David’s psalms talk about God’s rules, but the 119th mentions them 17 times.  David calls those rules good, helpful, comforting, righteous, praiseworthy, enduring, hope-inducing, true, and life-giving.  How can anyone chafe at something so wonderful?

People simply don’t want rules, especially with God.  God is supposed to be loving and kind and accept me as I am.  No.  God knows that the way we are will only bring death.  We must follow the rules in order to live.  We must love the rules every bit as much as David did.  I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous rules…My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times…When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord…Great is your mercy O Lord, give me life according to your rules, 119:7, 20, 52, 156.

I get out my canning guide and faithfully follow their rules every summer.  I never just guess at it; I never say, “That’s close enough.”  I know if I don’t follow those rules someone could die, maybe me or one of my good friends or one of my precious children or grandchildren.  I bet there is something in your life with rules just as important that you follow faithfully.  Why then, are we so careless with the most important rules we have ever been given?

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 1 John 5:3.

Dene Ward

August in Florida—the grapes are coming in.  Every evening after dinner, Keith and I sit in the shade of the grape arbor in the green swing Lucas made in high school shop class, munching grapes.  In Florida grapes are large, thick skinned muscadines and scuppernongs, bronze or a purple so dark it almost looks black.  We spit out the more bitter skins, and Chloe and Magdi wander around under our feet scarfing them up like little furry scavengers.  When we are too slow to suit them, Chloe wanders back to the vine and picks her own.

Sometimes I think grapes must be God’s favorite fruit.  The symbolism in the scriptures begins in Genesis where both Judah and Joseph are described as grapevines, and travels on throughout the scriptures.  The promise of the Messiah is pictured as a time when shall sit every man under his vine…and none shall make them afraid, Micah 4:4.  Both Old Testament Israel and New Testament spiritual Israel, the church, are called vineyards (Isa 5:1-7; Mt 20:1-16).  Jesus says, I am the vine in John 15, and in the memorial feast we partake of every first day of the week, we drink the fruit of the vine, grape juice, which symbolizes his shedding of blood—not that he simply cut himself and bled one day, but that he died for our sins.

But the symbolism is not always pleasant.  In a prophecy about Judah’s coming destruction the prophet Zephaniah says, And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation; yes, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof, 1:13.

One of the most terrifying prophecies in the Old Testament also contains the symbolism of grapes and grape juice.

Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? He who is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength?  

I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

Why are you red in your apparel, and your garments like him that treads in the wine vat? 

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment   For the day of vengeance was in my heart.. . And I trod down the people in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.   Isa 63:1-4,6.

Every evening I once again have the opportunity to reflect on how I want the symbolism of the grapes to manifest itself in my life.  Do I want it to be my blood sprinkling the robe of an angry God, who tramples the wicked like grapes in a winepress, or will I accept the blood of the spotless Lamb of God, who died for me, so I can sit under my vine and not be afraid? 

Don’t ever forget that the choice is ours to make.

I am the vine; you are the branches.  He who abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done unto you.  Herein is the Father glorified:  that you bear much fruit; and so shall you be my disciples, John 15:5-8.       

Dene Ward