At Water’s Edge

Listen Up

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Betsy

According to research, babies are able to recognize the sound of their mothers’ voices by the third trimester of pregnancy.^[1] It is a miracle of God’s design that our dependent infants are born knowing their mothers. Of course, by the time they approach their teenage years, they may not always listen! That, too, is part of normal development as they begin to explore independence.

Did you know that you were created with the same ability to hear and recognize God’s voice amidst all of the cacophonous noise that surrounds you? The pursuit of increasing our ability to follow God’s wisdom and direction for our lives is the spiritual discipline known as guidance.

Richard Foster writes, “Guidance is the most radical of the Disciplines because it goes to the heart of this matter of walking with God. Guidance means the glorious life of hearing God’s voice and obeying His word.” ^[2] When we practice this discipline, we develop a kind of ‘perfect pitch’ in our ability to hear what God is saying to us. Jesus reminded us that we are his sheep, and thus we recognize his voice:

John 10:27 (Common English Bible)

^27 “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life. They will never die, and no one will snatch them from my hand.”

Sometimes God uses more than the self-authenticated voice of the Holy Spirit to gently lead us in our decision-making. Indeed, God also employs other means such as visions, dreams, signs, and even angels. It is not a cliché to say that you have received a sign from God! As you develop the spiritual discipline of guidance, God’s will for your life will become more and more apparent. Practicing guidance plays a significant role in seeking God’s wisdom.

When I was trying to discern my calling to ordained ministry, I listened very carefully for God’s voice through scripture, prayer, conversation with faith-filled friends, and other preachers. As I began to hear God’s direction through these many different microphones, I could not deny what God was saying to me. It was no longer a matter of just hearing, but also doing.

Practicing the spiritual discipline of guidance will bring us closer to God’s will and purpose for our lives. When you read scripture every day, ask God to guide you to respond according to his will for you.

Listen. Do you hear God speaking?

^[1] https://babyschool.yale.edu/does-my-baby-recognize-me/

^[2] Foster, Richard J., Richard Foster’s Study Guide for Celebration of Discipline. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1978; p.68

Letters from Prison

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Betsy

Many years ago, I was involved in prison ministry at my local county jail for about five years. It began when a teenager in my church shot a friend in the chest while they were playing “Russian Roulette” with a loaded gun. The friend died. I began to visit the teenager several times a week, often having more access to him than his mother did. Once the guards realized that I was coming on a regular basis, they asked me if I would visit other inmates as well. Thus began a long and challenging time in my ministry. To be perfectly honest, I loved and hated every minute of it.

The inmates all wanted to write to me between visits. Letters from prison are a holy and sacred thing. Even in my closest relationships with these men, they never expressed themselves as openly in person as they did in their writings. Thoughts, hopes, fears, and utter defeat poured out with every pencil stroke, written on torn notebook pages. I saved many of these letters over the years to remind myself that when you are obedient to go where God sends you, the Holy Spirit will be made manifest there, in spite of your inadequacies.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he describes the mystery of the inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God. Then he responses to all of the wonderful things God has done and is doing. Even though he is writing this from prison, his sense of awe and optimism spills out through his words. It makes us wonder if we would respond the same way. Think of a time when you were in a particularly bad situation. Did you fall on your knees in reverence and humility, praising God for everything he has done? Did you offer a song of praise in the midst of deep trouble? Too often we focus on our immediate problem and neglect to lift our eyes heavenward, as Paul does here:

Ephesians 3 (The Message)

^14-19My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

When all of your inner strength is tapped out, you can tap into God’s undeniable, indescribable, and inexhaustible power. We are invited to invite Christ in, and he will live in us as soon as we do. The Message rightly states that we will be able to take in the “extravagant dimensions” of Christ’s love, where we will explore the breadth, length, depth, and height of what it means to be the people of God.

As I stand on the beach and look out toward the bottomless sea, having no concept of its size, I can get a small glimpse of what Paul is saying. He says that you really can’t understand this….all you can do is just experience it. What a comfort it is to know that God is so much bigger than any burden that we bear!

^20-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

The mystery of the incarnate God-in-Christ becomes the mystery of the incarnate Holy Spirit-in-us. That God is willing to gently guide us in our thinking and our behavior is a miracle in and of itself. God-with-us becomes God-in-us….never pushing, but always leading.

This revelation is overwhelming. What can we say in response to such a gift?

This is when the church rises to its feet to sing the Doxology. All we can do is open our hands in amazement and offer harmonies of praise. In like manner, Paul concludes this chapter with a doxology of his own:

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

May we bring glory to God in everything we do. Oh, yes!

There Is No God

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Betsy

Let’s talk about fools today. We often assume that when we call someone a fool, we are describing an intellectual incapacity. We think about foolishness as a lack of common sense, or making poor decisions. When a friend does something foolish, we respond with “Well, that was stupid!” Foolish behavior is seen as a function of the mind, and fools lack the wherewithal to “know better.” Fools are imprudent and silly.

In David’s time, however, the word fool was more a factor of heart than mind. Foolish behavior came from a place of morality, not intellect. Thus fools were the ones who were morally bankrupt evildoers, regardless of intelligence. Fools believed there is no God.

David makes it clear in Psalm 14 that he considers anyone who rejects God to be corrupt and perverse. He complains that there are few people who seek God, stating that everyone has gone astray. He draws a clear line between those who accept God for who he is and those who contend that there is no God:

Psalm 14 (New Revised Standard Version)

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.

²The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

³They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.

You can almost feel David’s disdain for anyone who denies God. He is solidly in the camp of those who call upon the Lord for everything, and so he has no patience or respect for godless evildoers.

⁴Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord?

⁵There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.
⁶You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.

Here is the application for modern day readers: those who call upon God will find a refuge of safety in that relationship. Knowing that God is real puts one in the camp of the righteous, where God resides. It is not only the smart choice, it is the only safe choice. God is our strength. God is our restoration. God is our deliverance.

⁷O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

Do you know someone who denies the existence of God? They, too, may make this assertion from a heart-perspective rather than a head-perspective. Ask questions. Have they been hurt by the church? Have they suffered at the hand of “religion?” Have they felt condemnation from those who know God?

Listening to the heart is much better than lecturing to the mind. When people see God in your actions as you offer unconditional love, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness, they can see with their hearts that God is real.

You’re the only Jesus some will ever see. Go and preach the Gospel with your winsome ways, and only use words when absolutely necessary.

Opposites Attract

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Betsy

Outsiders. Insiders.

Members. Non-members.

People of color. White people.

Progressives. Conservatives.

Men. Women.

Clergy. Laity.

How easy it is to draw up opposites. The minute you read these pairs of words, you unconsciously found your place. We can’t help ourselves. Culture, practice, family affiliation, and society all work together to help us understand who we are…and who we aren’t.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the issue is circumcision verses uncircumcision. Either you were or you weren’t. Females were simply lumped in with their male family members. If you were circumcised, you were a Jew. If you weren’t, you were a gentile.

One group gets in, one group stays out. But then Jesus came, and all the ideas about opposites were obliterated:

Ephesians 2 (The Message)

^16-18Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

This teaching was revolutionary. The centuries-long practice of maintaining strict distances between opposing groups was suddenly gone, and a new paradigm began to take hold. No one is a stranger or an outsider in Jesus’ world. Everyone belongs here, and this place was designed and built by God himself:

^19-22That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together.

With Christ as our cornerstone, we will hold all of these parts together in a holy temple.

We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

We see it taking shape day after day….or do we?

Insiders. Outsiders

Non-members. Members.

White people. People of color.

Conservatives. Progressives.

Men. Women.

Laity. Clergy.

We still have a long way to go, haven’t we?

God is Quite at Home by Michelle Robertson

Multiplication

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Betsy

I came across a math problem on social media this week. I thought I would give it a go, even though I am terrible at math. It was a multiplication problem, and the trick was to figure out where the parentheses should go. But that turned out to not matter, because it was a series of steps that concluded with “times zero.” So no matter how you added, multiplied, or subtracted the other numbers, “times zero” resulted in zero. Anytime you try to multiply something by nothing, you get nothing. (Cue Billy Preston.)

Many of us are familiar with the stories of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in the New Testament. All four gospels record Jesus’ feeding the multitudes of people with a small portion of barley loaves and fish. This story is so important, it is the only story besides the resurrection that is recorded in every gospel.

But did you know that a similar story appears in the Old Testament?

Our scripture from 2 Kings today tells a story about Elisha that sounds very familiar:

2 Kings 4 (New Revised Standard Version)

⁴²A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.”

⁴³But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” ⁴⁴He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

There are several things that jump out in this passage. The man presented food from the first fruits to Elisha, who was a man of God. The phrase first fruits refers to the first and best part of the harvest in the amount of ten percent. This tells us that the giver was obedient to the tithing law. He brought one-tenth of his harvest to Elisha as the Law instructed. Somehow this man understood that you can’t multiply something from nothing, and so he brought his small offering with the understanding that it would be multiplied.

Do you tithe? This ancient practice is as relevant today as it was in those times. The people of God who give generously of their time, talent, and tithe can tell you what blessings flow from this practice.

And we have to pay attention to Elisha’s response. His instruction to his servant was to give it all away. He didn’t take a portion for himself and then instruct the left-overs be distributed. No, he is confident that his needs will be met if the people are served first.

When you receive an unexpected blessing of abundance, what do you do with it? Do you hoard it, bury it in the ground, bank it, or do you share it? God’s word affirms his desire that we should serve others before we serve ourselves. We can do this with confidence, knowing that Jesus’ example of washing his disciples’ feet was a lesson to us about how to have a servant’s heart. Where is God calling you to put someone or something first?

Finally, this passage assures us that God always makes good on his promises. Elisha was standing on the word of God when he made the crazy suggestion to feed one hundred people with twenty loaves of bread and a few heads of grain. He probably didn’t even count what had been set in front of him. He didn’t do the math to figure out how small to cut the slices, like a worried mother would when too many people show up at the birthday party. No, he just gave it all in the firm belief that God would multiply it, simply because God said he would. And not only did everyone get enough to eat, there were left-overs!

Where is God calling you to stand on his promises? Where is he nudging you to let go of the little that you have so that you can receive the abundance he is waiting to deliver? When we let go of the things we hold onto the tightest, such as our resources, our time, our fears, our past history, our mistakes, our pre-conceived notions, etc., it is only then that we are open to what God is trying to give us.

We live our lives out of a theology of scarcity or a theology of abundance. Jesus came so that you might have life, and have it ABUNDANTLY. God invites us to trust him today and let go…and receive.

Watch Out

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Betsy

Last week I went for a run down a wide path that borders a golf course. I spotted a sign placed beneath a row of tall trees that warned, “WATCH OUT! Aggressive nesting hawks overhead!” Well, that will catch your attention! It was hard to keep my eyes on my feet (I am well known for tripping on a run) and on the trees overhead as I watched for these alleged aggressive hawks. I’m happy to report that I did not encounter any on the run, but it did make me very alert until I got out into the open again. Then I began to wonder what happened that made the golf course post such a sign….yikes!

In our passage in Jeremiah today, the prophet begins with a very clear warning:

Jeremiah 23 (Common English Bible)

23 Watch out, you shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. ²This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims about the shepherds who “tend to” my people: You are the ones who have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t attended to their needs, so I will take revenge on you for the terrible things you have done to them, declares the Lord.

This is far worse than attacking hawks. God ain’t playin’.

³I myself will gather the few remaining sheep from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will place over them shepherds who care for them. Then they will no longer be afraid or dread harm, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord.

As scary as this warning sounds, it is actually a hopeful message from the prophet. Let’s put it into context. Biblegateway.com offers this word of explaination:

The prophet Jeremiah saw Israel morally disintegrating and being destroyed militarily by its enemies. He saw Babylon attack Jerusalem in 586 BC and many of its people exiled to foreign lands. According to the NIV Quest Study Bible, Jeremiah’s grim prophecies, in both poetry and prose, continually warned Judah about God’s approaching judgment because of the people’s constant, willful disobedience.

Yet intermingled with all the dark messages were words of hope about Judah’s future redemption. Watch for Jeremiah’s encouragement—prophecies that are still being fulfilled today whenever sinful hearts are transformed by God.

And so the warning becomes a promise that things will be restored according to God’s plan for restoration:

Promise of a righteous and just king

⁵The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from David’s line, and he will rule as a wise king. He will do what is just and right in the land. ⁶During his lifetime, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And his name will be The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

And then came Jesus.

God will always restore his children to righteousness. When those who are chosen to lead fail to protect their flocks, they will be removed and replaced. This is a vital warning today to all of our leaders, including our elected officials, bishops, pastors, Bible Study teachers, etc. Shepherding the people of God is serious business, and those who are greedy, immoral, or abuse their power for personal gain will receive the wrath of the Lord. And the sheep need to behave themselves, too.

Whenever our sins put us in a season of destruction or judgment, remember this word of hope. God is actively working in our situation to bring us to full restoration…you can count on that! Jesus is the restoration-giver. Open your heart and let him in, and you will be saved. He will give you a future with hope.

Loyal Love

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Betsy

Think about the loves of your life. Perhaps they include a spouse, a partner, a sibling, your college, a sports team, a parent, a child, a friend, or even your church. We were created to enjoy many levels of love. The love a parent has for a child is not comparable to the love they have for a favorite co-worker. The love for a spouse is deeper and richer than the love for a friend, in most cases. And each of these levels of love come with a corresponding level of loyalty. I am loyal to my university, but that is nowhere near the loyalty I feel toward my family.

Did you ever stop to consider God’s love and loyalty toward you? Most God-fearing followers seek to be loyal to the God they love, but did you realize that God feels that same loyalty toward his people?

Take David, for example. God was fiercely loyal to David:

Psalm 89 (Common English Bible)

I discovered my servant David.
    I anointed him with my holy oil.
²¹My hand will sustain him—
    yes, my arm will strengthen him!
²²No enemy will oppress him;
    no wicked person will make him suffer.
²³I will crush all his foes in front of him.
    I will strike down all those who hate him.

²⁴My faithfulness and my loyal love will be with him.
    He will be strengthened by my name.
²⁵I will set his hand on the sea.
    I will set his strong hand on the rivers.
²⁶He will cry out to me:
    “You are my father,
    my God, the rock of my salvation.”
²⁷Yes, I’ll make him the one born first—
    I’ll make him the high king of all earth’s kings.
²⁸I will always guard my loyal love toward him.
    My covenant with him will last forever.
²⁹I will establish his dynasty for all time.
    His throne will last as long as heaven does.

Now comes the big “but.” God clearly requires that his loyalty be met with obedience. Even in his faithfulness to David, he would not tolerate disobedience in the next generation:

³⁰But if his children ever abandon my Instruction,
    stop following my rules—
³¹        if they treat my statutes like dirt,
        stop keeping my commandments—
³²    then I will punish their sin with a stick,
        and I will punish their wrongdoing with a severe beating.

But this warning comes with an explanation of the extent of his love. His punishment will not erase the covenant. His reaction to wrongdoing will not cancel out what he has sworn to do, which is to bestow loyal love to David:

³³But even then I won’t withdraw my loyal love from him.
    I won’t betray my faithfulness.
³⁴    I won’t break my covenant.
    I won’t renege on what crossed my lips.
³⁵By my own holiness I’ve sworn one thing:
    I will not lie to David.
³⁶    His dynasty will last forever.
    His throne will be like the sun, always before me.

Jesus was born of David’s lineage, and so we know that this promise was kept, even though David himself broke the commandments. Jesus is like the sun, always before God, and like the moon, a faithful witness in the sky that reminds us of God’s unshakeable love for us all.
³⁷ It will be securely established forever;
like the moon, a faithful witness in the sky.

Go back now and re-read the psalm. Where you see David’s name, replace it with your own. God makes the same commitment of loyal love to you today. Thanks be to God!

When You’re Rushed Off Your Feet

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Betsy

I have a strange affinity for a BBC show called East Enders. It was one of my mother’s favorite programs, and that somehow rubbed off on me. East Enders is set in a culturally diverse working class neighborhood in the East End of London. Common locations on the show include the local pub, the open-air market, the launderette, and the mini-mart. Characters work long, hard hours in these places, and a common expression when they get too busy at work is “I was rushed off my feet.”

Friends, the entire Outer Banks is rushed off their feet right now and everyone is TIRED. The easing of pandemic restrictions right at the beginning of our summer season brought us very long shifts and very little down time. On top of that is a state-wide worker shortage that has taken its toll on local business owners. October never looked so good.

I have been visiting with my two daughters this week and they, too, are rushed off their feet. One has an active 22-month old, and the other has a 6-year-old boy and 4-year-old twins. Watching them in the daily practice of motherhood is exhausting!

Jesus and the apostles were in the same boat one time when they were tired and needed a break. Or at least they tried to take a break…

Mark 6 (The Message)

^30-31The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat.

^32-34So they got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves. Someone saw them going and the word got around. From the surrounding towns people went out on foot, running, and got there ahead of them.

I feel for our Lord and his friends! Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. I have friends who own a restaurant and this is exactly what Sunday brunch feels like to them. When they first opened, they invited me to do a blessing of their business. I promised to pray for them every Sunday as I drove past their building on my way to church. One summer Sunday, after a nerve-wracking, record-breaking Sunday brunch service, they jokingly asked me if I could skip praying for them for a week….they were rushed off their feet!

When Jesus arrived, he saw this huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke—like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them.

But when you love what you do and the people you do it with (and for), you just drop your chin to your chest and press on.

Jesus’ compassion for his sheep was tremendous. But remember this….Jesus is the Messiah, and you are not. When life presses in too hard, come off by yourself and be quiet for a moment. Take a break. Even if it is just in the car during your commute, or those few moments in the morning before the first child awakes. Rest is as much an attitude as it is a cessation of work, so grab a few moments of peace when you can.

Eventually, the season turns into winter and the crowds go home. Eventually, the little ones become adults and leave the house. Eventually, you age out of your profession and retire. Until then, take a deep breath and enjoy a moment of gratitude for life as it is in this moment. You will never pass this way again.

Undignified

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Betsy

Would you do something that felt uncomfortable in order to serve the Lord? Would you engage in something that others didn’t understand if God sent you to do it? How far would you go in potentially embarrassing yourself if you thought God was calling you to perform a task outside your comfort zone?

Most of us never face this question. The closest we may come is the discomfort of doing mission work in a foreign place, volunteering to do something new, or the embarrassment of raising our hands in worship when others around us are wooden and stiff. In my decades of ministry in a church, the only time I actually risked humiliation was when I preached sermons that bombed (several times!), or when I made a statement in an administrative meeting that wasn’t well received (several times!). Oh, and there was the time that I accidentally introduced a couple at the end of a wedding as “Jim and Kerry Whale (her maiden name)” when I was supposed to say “Jim and Kerry Gentry.” Whoops!

David went a lot farther in his willingness to appear undignified before the Lord. He just couldn’t help himself. His complete and total joy in returning the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem overcame him, and his spontaneous dancing revealed more than just his happiness:

2 Samuel 6 (New International Version)

¹²Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.¹³When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.¹⁴Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

¹⁶As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

Permit me to be irreverent here for a moment. Every time I read this passage I remember a scene from Seinfeld where Elaine is exuberantly dancing. She is terrible! She is awkward and uncoordinated, and it is hilarious because she thinks that she has smooth moves. I imagine David dancing like this, with his little linen loincloth flapping in the wind. Both of these images are a little cringe-worthy! Michal surely did not appreciate her husband’s jubilant moves.

¹⁷They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁹Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

²⁰When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

The conflict between Michal and David is apparent. She was the youngest daughter of his enemy Saul, and she loved David with a pure heart when he was the national hero. But when he had to flee from Saul’s hatred and wrath she was given to another man, even though she was still married to David. When David returned, she was torn away from that man and given back to David. Michal had no control over her life. In addition, she was an idol worshipper. And so here she is, watching David debase himself before a Lord she does not recognize. We can understand her discomfort with the whole thing.

²¹David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. ²²I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

David stands his ground. He knows who called him to this moment in time, and he worships the Lord in gladness and joy. God delivered a great victory to Israel and David is now the king….and all who worship God, including the slave girls, recognize the magnitude of what has happened.

²³And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

And so they separate, and the marriage is not revisited. Michal dies childless.

There may come a time in your life when God calls you to do something uncomfortable. You may feel the urge to witness to a stranger on a plane, take an unpopular position in a debate, give generously of your resources, etc. Wherever you feel God is leading you, GO and serve God with all your might. Yes, you may feel some embarrassment, but David reminds us that the only audience that counts is the Audience of One. When we please God, nobody else matters.

Webs of Guilt

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Betsy

Have you ever done something terribly wrong and then suffered from the paranoia of getting caught? When we break the rules and commit a sin, we discover that the fear of being found out is often worse than the punishment that follows. It is a relief to finally confess our misdeeds and be done with it…the guilt is expunged and the anxiety over being discovered is finally over.

In our scripture today, King Herod is overcome with his guilt. He killed John the Baptist because of a young girl’s demand. His paranoia is so great, he believes that a miracle-worker named Jesus was actually John, returned from the dead:

Mark 6 (The Message)

¹⁴King Herod heard of all this, for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone’s lips. He said, “This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead—that’s why he’s able to work miracles!”

¹⁵Others said, “No, it’s Elijah.”

Others said, “He’s a prophet, just like one of the old-time prophets.”

¹⁶But Herod wouldn’t budge: “It’s John, sure enough. I cut off his head, and now he’s back, alive.”

Guilt will do that to you. It can drive you crazy to hold onto a secret or to have to cover up a crime or indiscretion. One lie leads to another lie until we are caught in a web of deception. Herod’s guilt was great. He actually liked John. He had given John special treatment as a “holy man,” and respected the fact that John was bold enough to speak the truth:

^17-20Herod was the one who had ordered the arrest of John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison at the nagging of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. For John had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias “adultery.” Herodias, smoldering with hate, wanted to kill him, but didn’t dare because Herod was in awe of John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special treatment. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt—and yet he couldn’t stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back.

“Something in John kept pulling [Herod] back.” This is a sad statement. The power of the Holy Spirit working though John had almost broken down the walls that Herod had erected around himself. Herod felt the guilt that came with the truth John had exposed, and he couldn’t stay away. He was almost ready to turn it all around until…

^21-22But a portentous day arrived when Herod threw a birthday party, inviting all the brass and bluebloods in Galilee. Herodias’s daughter entered the banquet hall and danced for the guests. She charmed Herod and the guests.

^22-23The king said to the girl, “Ask me anything. I’ll give you anything you want.” Carried away, he kept on, “I swear, I’ll split my kingdom with you if you say so!”

²⁴She went back to her mother and said, “What should I ask for?”

“Ask for the head of John the Baptizer.”

²⁵Excited, she ran back to the king and said, “I want the head of John the Baptizer served up on a platter. And I want it now!”

His lustful eye for the young daughter of Herodias was his undoing. Trapped now by his hastily spoken words, he had no choice but to act on his extravagantly stupid vow to give her whatever she wanted.

^26-29That sobered the king up fast. But unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in and let her have her wish. The king sent the executioner off to the prison with orders to bring back John’s head. He went, cut off John’s head, brought it back on a platter, and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and got the body and gave it a decent burial.

How sad. It would have been so much better for Herod to accept John’s truth, repent of his sins, and receive forgiveness. But instead, Herod ends up beheading a man that he truly admired….a man who could have saved Herod from himself.

If there is anything to be learned here, it is that guilt can be destructive. Many of us carry guilt around for years, and it eats away at our self-esteem and our peace. We are caught in its sticky web and we can’t get free.

Do you have guilt that is pulling you down? Get rid of it. Take it to Jesus and let him absolve you. He will throw that sin away, as far as the East is from the West, and you will never be burdened by it again.

Jesus was indeed a miracle-maker. Let him make a miracle in you today.

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Promise of a righteous and just king

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