Tag: consequences

A Time of Woe (Isaiah 5:15-24)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Prophet Isaiah, by Raphael, 1512

So people will be brought low
    and everyone humbled,
    the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice,
    and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.
Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;
    lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.

Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,
    and wickedness as with cart ropes,
to those who say, “Let God hurry;
    let him hasten his work
    so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One of Israel—
    let it approach, let it come into view,
    so we may know it.”

Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and clever in their own sight.

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
    and champions at mixing drinks,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    but deny justice to the innocent.
Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
    and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
    and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. (New International Version)

I’m willing to bet that you, like me, have had to contend with some rather annoying and obnoxious people from time to time in your life.

It’s the person whose head is so big, they can barely walk in and out of a room. And when they talk, it’s usually about themselves, the great things they’ve done, and what they think – not framed as opinions but as the truth.

Since this sort of person rarely listens to anyone, they have no clue about the real needs of people in front of them. Their self-inflated importance is to the degree that they don’t ask and are not curious; yet they demand of others. They see no problem with double-standards. It’s okay for them to bribe, even steal from another. But if you cross the self-important person, look out, because they’ll hunt you down like an animal.

Yes, such people exist. And there are typically some deep psychological reasons why they are so arrogant and difficult to be around. Yet the best thing to know about them is that the true Sovereign of the universe, God, is the rightful judge who will handle them.

If you see a path of destruction on the ground, you know a tornado has touched down and done its damage. And if you observe a bunch of people devastated and demoralized, you know that the haughty and self-important person has been through and laid waste to people’s lives.

The Lord almighty is not okay with such people moving about and hurting others with impunity; the wicked will have to contend with the One who knows what’s going on.

God looks and sees – and pronounces appropriate woes (curses) upon those who feign righteousness and holiness, yet in reality do anything but.

You can easily tell what God abhors by what sorts of behavior receives a disapproving woe upon it. God condemns self-indulgence and self-absorption. This shows itself in how one drinks and does business. The sheer accumulation of land, resources, and strong drink – without any sort of regard to one’s neighbor – is a foolish use of wealth.

The self-absorbed and self-important person becomes desensitized to the needs of others. They also become insensitive to God’s concerns and workings in the world. To disregard the poor and needy is to disregard God. Such injustice, resulting from only caring about oneself, is why the Lord levels divine woes upon them.

Actions and inactions both have consequences. Acting selfishly through wanton accumulation is an equal inaction against the community. As a result of so much economic disparity and carelessness in society, God displaces and deports the ones who arrogantly and smugly believed they are secure.

There is accountability in this world, even though it may not sometimes seem like it. There are ethical requirements and moral imperatives. The social laws contained in the covenant code between God and Israel were expected to be honored. So, when they were continually and habitually ignored, the Lord held the people accountable.

The selfishly proud and arrogant, who acquire all they can and become masters of small worlds, will eventually face ruin by means of divine judgment. It’s as if persons had so loaded their backpacks with sin, that it became heavy to the point of self-crushing.

Divine intervention is either a very good thing, or a very bad thing, depending upon who you are. People are expected to be self-aware enough to know the difference between right and wrong, bad and good, just and unjust. To not know this is to be self-addicted and unable to make proper discernments and decisions.

If you are reading or listening to this, you are likely a person who is concerned enough to care for others and is not lost in yourself. Yet, you likely have to contend with a few persons who are only in this life for themselves. So, watch out and do your best to avoid people who do the following:

  • Manipulate through deceptive language. There are some people in positions of authority or power who intentionally obscure, cover up, and confuse things. If you never know how things stand and are doing, then beware.
  • Independent without accountability. There is no interdependent relationships, and only obedience when it suits them. The constant caginess, and lack of vulnerability, is a warning. If you feel like you’re being micro-managed without much ability to ask specific questions and get straight answers, then look out.
  • Distort how things really are. I’m talking about gaslighting. Gaslighting is the attempt by another to accept the gaslighter’s view of reality as your own. And in the gaslighter’s quest, it seems to you as if there is continually chaos and you are off kilter. If you question it to them, then you will most likely be accused of having a problem. It’s not you. So, skedaddle the first chance you get.

The bottom line of it all is that God is rejected and there are people reneging on their commitments to the Lord. You need not be such a person, and you don’t need to live in such a way that another is in complete control of your life – other than God.

Take note of what the Lord dislikes and despises, and keep away from persons who set up themselves as being akin to God.

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Make Good Choices (1 Kings 14:1-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh.

Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”

So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.

“‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’

“As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good.

“The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen. And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”

Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the Lord had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah. (New International Version)

The prophet Ahijah and the wife of Jeroboam, 1853

It’s a sad reality that whenever we make choices to live against the grain of who are meant to be as humans, we not only harm ourselves, but other people also end up as collateral damage. Our own individual decisions may be independent, but the ramifications of those choices are always interdependent in scope and complexity.

The very same prophet who prophesied the rise of Jeroboam and his reign also prophesied his calamitous ending. Along with the establishment of a monarchy in Israel, there was also an ascension of divine prophets to the royal kings whenever things were going awry.

The prophet Ahijah had let King Jeroboam know, at the outset of his reign, that his longevity would depend upon his own faithfulness and attentiveness to God’s law (1 Kings 11:38). But Jeroboam failed to do this, and it doomed him and his family. The immediate death of Jeroboam’s young son was the confirmation of the divine judgment that would eventually come.

It behooves us all to consider the Apostle Paul’s words concerning fidelity toward God and our decisions as persons:

Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the benefit of the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up. So then, let’s work for the good of all whenever we have an opportunity, and especially for those in the household of faith. (Galatians 6:7-10, CEB)

Jeroboam turned his back on God, in favor of going with his own ingenuity and pragmatic actions to secure his rule and reign in Israel. No matter who we are – whether king or commoner, rich or poor – it is our personal and collective responsibility to ensure that sound, wise, and good decisions are being made with an eye toward the benefit of all persons.

This then, begs the question: What are our priorities and practices?

Prophetic utterances in Holy Scripture typically center in human arrogance and mistreatment of other people. And this is why following the commands of God are to be supremely important to the believer – because the instructions given to humanity from the Lord are meant for humility and justice toward others.

I believe that if we seek to live into the spirit of God’s law, we will continually labor to make good choices for the common good of everyone. Important social, economic, and political policies and practices won’t just spring up from nowhere to benefit humanity; they must be intentionally cultivated by people who make it a priority to pay attention to such matters and follow through with the right, the just, and the good.

Let’s persevere in doing good; and not succumb to the pragmatic, just to get something done that we want.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

From Good to Bad (1 Kings 11:26-40)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.

About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:

“‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.

“‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes. I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 

“However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death. (New International Version)

The prophet Ahijah speaking to the future king, Jeroboam, by Gerard Hoet, 1728

The Good and the Bad

People were originally created by a good God for the purpose of goodness. After forming the first people, Adam and Eve, God looked at humanity and said that it was “very good.” (Genesis 1:26-28, 31)

Yet, even though we all have been created good, that which is bad entered the world by means of the devil. And ever since that time, people in every era have struggled between their inherent design and their innate desires for something different. (Genesis 3:1-20)

Even King Solomon, with all of his great and God-given wisdom, eventually drifted into the bad. He succumbed to allowing other gods to come alongside the worship of the One true God. And there were consequences to those choices.

Recovering the Word “Sin”

“Sin” is a word that isn’t much used anymore. On the one hand, this is okay since the term has been much abused by many a misguided preacher. Yet, on the other hand, it’s a word which needs to be recovered, so that we will learn to avoid the bad and live into our good as image-bearers of God.

As the head of all Israel and Judah, Solomon had a grand kingdom. His father, David, was a man after God’s own heart. So, God established a covenant with David that there would always be one of his descendants on the throne. Solomon followed in his father’s footsteps and expanded the borders of Israel, bringing a level of prosperity and wealth never seen before or since.

And yet, either despite or because of Solomon’s wild success, bits of disobedience began to occur. Perhaps Solomon simply rested on his own laurels; or maybe he could not envision anything other than ongoing abundance. But for whatever reason, King Solomon started gravitating toward having more than he needed and ignored the instructions given to the people by God:

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:16-17, NIV)

And that is precisely what happened. Solomon had 700 wives (women of royal birth) and 300 concubines (women of common origin). And all those women served a variety of gods in a cornucopia of religious practices – some of which were downright inhumane and unjust. (1 Kings 11:1-13)

None of us are immune from falling into the guilt and shame of disobedient sin. For Solomon, this had the consequence of having the kingship almost completely ripped from his descendants to another man’s, Jeroboam.

Individuals, institutions, and nations have the potential for both great good, as well as heinous evil. When anyone begins to be concerned only for themselves and rests on their success, instead of the Lord, they have set up themselves for a collapse through the displeasure of God.

Stories of people who topple into sin are all close to the same – having some power, they use it to assert control over another person or group to obtain whatever they want. King Solomon violated God’s law. Not only that, but when he saw his control threatened, he sought to kill Jeroboam. Perhaps Solomon thought he was above all this, and believed he could do whatever he wanted. But he couldn’t.

Sin causes us to sell-out our principles 

Sin only begets more sin until we deal with it. Sin will always distort the truth so that we minimize the impact of our words, choices, and actions. Truth celebrates openness and honesty; sin seeks the shadows and prizes secrecy. 

The first step to dealing with sin is not to minimize it, ignore it, or pretend it isn’t a big deal. If we do not go down this path of truth, then we will be forever encrusting our lives with ways of ensuring that no one ever knows the sinful secrets. 

In fact, much of religious legalism is nothing more than a person piling on the rules in order for others to not see the sin that hides deep within. In Christianity, turning from the sin and receiving the grace of forgiveness in Jesus Christ is the true and real path to spiritual wholeness, happiness, and success in life.

Results that satisfy us do not necessarily satisfy God

Solomon accomplished what he wanted – some of it very good, and some of it very bad. The good was celebrated, and the bad was covered up. Yet, God sees all of it, celebrating with us the good, but not going with us down the path of self-indulgent sin.

We cannot simply assume that because we do something, and there was no immediate lightning strike, that it was okay. It does not matter if it happened yesterday, last month, or twenty years ago. If we did not deal with the sin, God is not satisfied because he wants to dispense grace; love and a flourishing soul cannot happen if we keep putting things out-of-sight out-of-mind. To only satisfy ourselves is being a spiritual cannibal who eats other people alive.

Outward success and abundance means little to God if the inward state leadership is a vacuous soul, bereft of authentic spiritual connection, with no determination toward God’s intentions for a particular course of action. 

Sin is not something to simply be managed; it is to be put to death through the cross of Christ, and applied to life through intentional spiritual practices meant to genuinely connect with God. 

For the Christian, to do less is to wander into a morass of consequences that damage others, not to mention harming ourselves. So, let us do the work of soul care so that the common good of all will thrive in the grace of God in Christ.

God, you have given all peoples one common origin.
It is your will that they be gathered together
as one family in yourself.
Fill the hearts of mankind with the fire of your love
and with the desire to ensure justice for all.
By sharing the good things you give us,
may we secure an equality for all
our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
May there be an end to division, strife and war.
May there be a dawning of a truly human society
built on love and peace.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

The Pathology of Complaining (Numbers 20:1-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them. (New International Version)

Moses Strikes the Rock, by Rivka Korf

Every heinous sin you can think of – the worst of the worst – initially began as complaining and quarreling. Wherever you find murmuring and disrespect, you are looking at a spiritual illness which, if untreated, will poison the soul and result in apostasy, that is, a complete failure and repudiation of faith.

Today’s Old Testament lesson is a reminder and a warning that people’s faith can weaken to the point of becoming almost non-existent. There is a pathological process which brings people to a point of turning away from their faith:

  1. Complaining. It all starts with muttering some discontentment under the breath; murmuring dissatisfaction; and grumbling some ingratitude for what one already has. The Israelites complained about the lack of water. They quarreled with Moses about it and directed their anger at him.
  2. Psychotic depression. Most depression is normal, understandable, and even needed. However, psychotic depression is expressing a wish to be dead because of spiritual instability and an inability to see God at work. In other words, it’s manipulative. It’s a passive-aggressive type of anger directed at those who represent God. This is not a depression you can diagnose or put on someone; it’s a grief reaction gone sideways in wishing harm at self or others.
  3. Daydreaming. This is a preoccupation with “the good old days.” Back there in Egypt, the Israelites had figs, and grapevines, and water. But out here, they’ve got nothing. The people were experiencing extreme tunnel vision, only remembering the food they used to eat, instead of the bland manna they had to gather every day. They had completely blocked out the reason they were in the desert – because God brought a miraculous deliverance from slavery. Egypt was, in fact, anything but the good old days.
  4. Blaming. The people blamed Moses for bringing them into the wilderness. They criticized him for their lack of food and water. In reality, Moses was just doing what God wanted – and actually what the people wanted. The Israelites wanted out of Egypt; and then, when they left and things got hard, the people shifted the blame of hard circumstances onto Moses (and God).
  5. Disobeying. Why obey Moses or even Yahweh if you believe they’re out to get you, or don’t care? Maybe we just look out for ourselves and do what we think is best. (Exodus 16:1-28)
  6. Idolatry. Eventually, the people formed a “Back to Egypt” campaign. They turned their backs on Moses and on God. They lost faith, made a golden calf, and called it their god. (Exodus 32:1-8)

Despite all the whining and twisted thinking, God was gracious. The Lord told Moses to take up his staff, gather the people, and speak to a rock. God would provide by causing water to gush out of it.

At this point, Moses was upset. It seems to me he had enough of the people’s insolence and complaining. So, he ends up speaking to the people instead of the rock; and striking the rock with his staff instead of letting God do the striking.

It looks like rebellion rubs off and infects everyone, because Moses is chided by God for his own rebelliousness. Specifically, he was rebuked for not trusting God. As a result, Moses would not join the rest of the community in entering the Promised Land.

This is really a sad ending to the story. Moses was just trying to obey the Lord and lead the people. I can totally understand how exasperated he must have been from the constant griping of the people. Yet, Moses was held to account for his own lack of faith. And the people would eventually experience a harsh judgment for their faithlessness.

Don’t be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. (1 Corinthians 15:33)

Being around a bunch of ingrates will cause the good person to quit giving thanks.

Surrounding oneself with faithless people will result in that person eventually losing faith.

And hearing other people continually complain about their circumstances will cause you to grumble, setting the whole group on the road to spiritual death.

I don’t want that. And I don’t want it for you, either. If you are in such a group, get out, go, and be around people with the sort of values you care about. Life is too short to mess around with a bunch of complainers.

Lord Jesus Christ, you prayed for your friends that they would be one as you and your Father are one. We confess our resistance to your prayer. We have failed to maintain the unity of the Spirit. We have broken the bond of peace.

For the times we have not listened to each other, when we have spoken in anger, haste or fear, we are sorry. For the times we have not loved each other, when we have competed, or insulted or judged each other, we are sorry. For the harm that our disunity has done to our witness to the Gospel, we are sorry.

Have mercy on us, we pray. Restore us to friendship with you and with one another, through the power of your Spirit. Amen.