Bible devotionals

The Fresh Prince of Damascus

Posted on by Betsy

My kids were visiting recently and somehow got into a competition to see who could recite the entire theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They were both very good at it. We talked about watching that show together when they were kids and how we all loved this “fish out of water” story. The Fresh Prince was a street-wise kid from West Philadelphia who got sent by his mother to live with his aunt and uncle in upscale Bel-Air when trouble broke out in his neighborhood. The beginning of the song sets up the storyline:

Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air.

The show dealt with cultural and contemporary issues of acceptance, tolerance, respect, teenage life, and family bonding. I think many of us love a great story that involves someone’s life being turned upside down for the good. I bet many of you have a good story about your conversion and your personal “Before Christ/After Christ” life.

But none of us can beat Paul’s “flipped turned upside down” conversion story. Born Saul of Tarsus, he was a Christian-persecuting Pharisee who lived a life of hatred and violence. Read what happened to him on the way to Damascus:

Acts 9 (The Message)

9 1-2 All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.

3-4 He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?”

5-6 He said, “Who are you, Master?”

“I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down. I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next.”

7-9 His companions stood there dumbstruck—they could hear the sound, but couldn’t see anyone—while Saul, picking himself up off the ground, found himself stone-blind. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus. He continued blind for three days. He ate nothing, drank nothing.

10 There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.”

“Yes, Master?” he answered.

11-12 “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”

13-14 Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”

15-16 But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”

17-19 So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, “Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes—he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized, and sat down with them to a hearty meal.

19-21 Saul spent a few days getting acquainted with the Damascus disciples, but then went right to work, wasting no time, preaching in the meeting places that this Jesus was the Son of God. 

Saul got flipped upside down and became Paul, the greatest evangelist and church planter that ever lived. He authored the Pauline letters that make up a good portion of the New Testament and his words are quoted all over the world in all kinds of contexts. I bet of the hundreds of weddings I have performed, 1 Corinthians 13 was read at 95% of them.

How about you? Are you needing a flipped upside down moment with God? Is there some aspect of your life that needs to be drastically changed for the better? Take it from the Fresh Prince of Damascus: “8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

You are God’s accomplishment, created to do good things! Sometimes that requires a little flipping.

My Wedding Bulletin

Deviled Eggs

Posted on by Betsy

If you know me in real life, you know that I have a particular weakness for deviled eggs. I blame my United Methodist upbringing, where weekly pot luck suppers are as ritualized as monthly communion with Welch’s Grape Juice. We joke that the Catholics wear crucifixes around their necks, the Jews wear a Star of David, and the Methodists wear a miniature casserole dish to display our denomination. I love everything about deviled eggs and when I retired, my church celebrated with an entire table of deviled eggs. It was heaven, I tell you! Deviled eggs are the only place the devil is welcome in a church.

The recipe for deviled eggs is pretty basic, with some interesting variations. The cooked yoke is mixed with mayonnaise, salt, pepper, mustard, and possibly relish.(Only dill, please!) From there, cooks use their regional imaginations to add flare and personality. First and foremost in my heart are any and every kind of church lady deviled eggs, but if I had to do a power ranking, I would go with the lobster deviled eggs on an NCL ship next, the avocado and bacon deviled eggs my friend Teresa makes (she is a retired United Methodist minister: She has eaten a lot of deviled eggs in her life!) in third place and finally Art Smith’s creamy confections at the Homecoming Restaurant in Disney Springs coming up in fourth place.

One of my favorite Scriptures is Galatians 5: 22-23 because I think it reads like a recipe for good Christian living. If you mixed this things together and placed them in the center of your heart like the yoke of a deviled egg, you wouldn’t fall short of God’s expectations. Paul sent this recipe to his church in Galatia, hoping to teach them God’s ways and God’s hopes for the fledgling church.

Galatians 5 (Common English Bible)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.

Savor that list again. Of course Paul starts with love, as love is the very definition of God. Joy follows, and it is through our joy that others are curious to learn more about God. Love and joy mixed together result in peace, something that the world is terribly lacking today. When you embody these three ingredients, kindness and goodness follow naturally. Faithfulness is that part that expands and flourishes with practice. Gentleness is a result of combining the rest together, sprinkled with the paprika of self-control. This last ingredient is the hardest to use properly and often ends up spilled on the edges of the plate until you learn to use a firm hand with it.

Write this list of ingredients on an index card and tuck it into your pocket today and refer to it often. When we can check each one of these things off with the flair of a good cook, we will find ourselves closer to that image of God in which we were made.

Yes, please!

Happy Freedom Day

Posted on by Betsy

I have a weird confession. When I took my first Bible survey course in seminary, I developed little memory tricks for remembering the themes of each of the New Testament books. For example, for Hebrews, I remembered “HE (is) B(ett)ER (than the)RESt, which roughly spells out HEBREWS, if you misspell it. Hebrews is based on the superiority of Christ over angels, Old Testament prophets, etc. So, he indeed is better than the rest!

For Galatians, I tapped into my love of science fiction and especially Battlestar Galactica. What was their mission? To free humanity from the evil robot Cylons; thus Galatians is about freedom. Laugh if you will, but I got an A.

Let us see what Galatians has to say about freedom, as we celebrate freedom today:

Galatians 5:16-18  (The Message)

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

There is so much meat on this bone, we may need to come back to it another day. But for now, look again at first three verses.

The writer of Hebrews is contrasting freedom with self-interest. “There is a root of self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit.” That is pure genius. Think of all the situations in life where people imprison themselves; the genesis of those places is likely to be rooted in some selfish, self-absorbed, self-interested behavior. Addictions begin when we indulge in a dangerous behavior. Adultery starts with that need for the adrenaline rush of someone’s flattering interest. Family disputes happen when one family member feels entitled to what the all the rest should receive. Arguments ensue when we think our opinion is more valuable, right, and superior to someone else’s opinion. Betrayals happen when self-absorbed desires assert themselves over the common good. Basically, nothing good comes from selfishness.

In contrast, Christ offers a life of freedom. He came to set us free from sin, from death, and mostly from ourselves. We are encouraged to pursue a life lived fully in the Spirit, which teaches compassion for others, exuberance for life, and serenity .

So before the parade-watching, flag-waving, fireworks extravaganza begins, ask yourself this: where am I lacking freedom in my life? I bet that if you trace that back, there will be selfishness at the root; either your own, or somebody else’s.

The cross is as much a symbol as the flag. As we lift one high today, let us lift the other one higher.

Long May She Wave

Who Do You Say That I Am

Posted on by Betsy

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to an after-hours Halloween event at Walt Disney World. One of the highlights of this event was a fantastic parade. I loved seeing the Haunted Mansion grave diggers doing a color guard style routine with their shovels, scraping them on the street and creating sparks. There was also an axe-wielding bride wearing a lighted up dress on a hoverboard, which made her float. Of course all the characters were there in Halloween garb, and it is very festive and not so scary at all. But just as the parade was to begin, the crowd erupted when a strange looking dog-like character in an electric yellow jumpsuit and cool sunglasses came down the street, dancing like crazy.

I watched for a moment, trying to place him and wondering why everyone was so excited. Finally I turned to the fellow next to me and asked, “Who is that?” He looked at me like I had three heads and yelled, “That’s Max Powerline!” “Oh, of course!” I yelled back, still not recognizing the character. “You never get to see Max Powerline!! This is a rare character sighting!” the fellow continued enthusiastically as he snapped pictures with his phone. It was like the king of England showed up without notice and everyone lost their minds.

I had to go home and Google Max Powerline to discover that Max Goof is Goofy’s son (huh?) and when he is dressed that way, he is in his Powerline persona, a rock star that he emulates in order to impress his crush, Roxanne. So now you know.

My brain instantly went to the Scriptures about Jesus and his struggle to have people recognize who he was. Even to the bitter end, there was confusion among his closest friends about who he was. But for one shining moment, Peter, who many times had max goofed up, gave the correct answer.

Matthew 16 (Common English Bible)

13 Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

15 He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Then Jesus replied, “Happy are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you. Rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. 18 I tell you that you are Peter. And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. 19 I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.

“You are the Christ.” Such a profound and accurate statement. Christ means “messiah” and speaks to the saving and redeeming function of Jesus’ persona. So while the world observed Jesus as teacher, rabbi, and even healer, Peter pinpoints Jesus’ as the long awaited messiah who had come to redeem his people. And by “his,” we mean all people.

Who is Jesus to you? Do you think of him as your friend? Do you worship him as your Lord? Is he in the process of redeeming you right now? He is the Christ, the son of the living God, and the greatest power line to the father we will ever know.

Max Powerline and Carol by Mark Poblete

House Divided

Posted on by Betsy

I am sure you are familiar with the famous phrase used by Abraham Lincoln that proclaimed that houses that are divided against themselves are unable to stand. He said this in his address in 1858 when he was chosen to be the Republican candidate for the United States Senate, representing Illinois. The issue at hand was slavery. Lincoln maintained that slavery would destroy the unity of the United States. He postulated that the union could not be maintained with half of the states allowing something that the other half vehemently opposed. He was prophetic in his words, and the Civil War broke out in 1861.

But not only was he prophetical, but he was also biblical. The warning about a house divided is found in three New Testament books. We see it in Mark 3:25, in Matthew 12:25, and in today’s passage from Luke. Jesus warned that a house that is torn apart by divisions will collapse and cautioned that kingdoms involved in civil wars become wastelands.

The issue in this passage was the reaction onlookers had when he threw a demon out of a man who was mute. The Jewish leaders could also cast out demons but believed that it could only be done if you called out the demon by name. Because this demon caused muteness, they thought the man couldn’t be healed. Jesus’ actions caused many in the crowd to accuse him of partnering with Satan to accomplish this.

Luke 11 (Common English Bible)

14 Jesus was throwing out a demon that causes muteness. When the demon was gone, the man who couldn’t speak began to talk. The crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “He throws out demons with the authority of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.”16 Others were testing him, seeking a sign from heaven.

17 Because Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom involved in civil war becomes a wasteland, and a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. 18 If Satan is at war with himself, how will his kingdom endure? I ask this because you say that I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul. 19 If I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul, then by whose authority do your followers throw them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. 20 But if I throw out demons by the power of God, then God’s kingdom has already overtaken you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are secure.22 But as soon as a stronger one attacks and overpowers him, the stronger one takes away the armor he had trusted and divides the stolen goods.

Jesus employed strong logic and clever rhetoric when he pointed out that if he was in league with Satan and yet cast a demon of Satan out of a man, Satan’s entire enterprise would be at war with itself and collapse. No indeed, it was the power of God that accomplished this.

This is such good news for anyone who finds themself in bondage today. In many ways we all find ourselves facing inner demons that threaten to undo us. But hear this good news! There is no demon of temptation, self-destruction, addiction, sin, grief, abandonment, or failure that God can’t overcome.

23 “Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me, scatters.

Who will you stand with? Who stands with you? There is only one answer. Jesus is the stronger man who disarms even the strongest of Satan’s attackers. Jesus engaged Satan in a battle and showed without question that he is the stronger man. He defeated Satan and disarmed him. At the end of the passage, Jesus reminded us that we are either for him or against him. There is no middle ground. If you stand with Jesus, you will be released from your bondage. Praise be to God!

Path to the Sun by Ginger Endreson

Competition

Posted on by Betsy

Competitiveness is experienced in every profession, classroom, sports field, corporate board room, and even among churches. It is easy to see someone doing the thing you do well and instantly feel threatened. Even if you are very confident in your abilities, it is hard not to look at someone entering your arena of expertise and not feel annoyed and maybe even a bit envious. You rally your gang around you and a dynamic of “us versus them” takes over. Competition can be good when it leads to improvement and innovation, but it can take a toll on the participants.

I think John was struggling with feelings of insecurity and competitiveness in today’s passage. The twelve disciples had been given the authority to cast out demons and heal people. Jesus gave this to them in the beginning of Luke, Chapter 9, and by the end of the chapter they were feeling threatened when suddenly someone else had co-opted their gig and was able to do what they assumed only they had been authorized to do.

Luke 9 (Common English Bible)

49 John replied, “Master, we saw someone throwing demons out in your name, and we tried to stop him because he isn’t in our group of followers.”

50 But Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him, because whoever isn’t against you is for you.”

Jesus assessed the evidence by the results. The offender was effectively casting out demons in Jesus’ name. People were being healed and Jesus’ name was being taught and learned. Jesus seemed to be inviting John and the rest of the disciples to have a more generous spirit. Soon the church would be born and the power of the Holy Spirit would be cast wide. They were already experiencing the effects of their evangelism: The Good News of the arrival of the Messiah had been heard and received and was now taking on an energy of its own. It is significant to note that this event occurred after the feeding of the 5,000..Jesus’ miracles, teachings, healings, and authority were being broadcast across the land by eye-witnesses, and no one could stop its power. Indeed, Jesus didn’t want to: This was the whole point of his coming. Paul dealt with the same issue years later, as recorded in Philippians 1:18: “What do I think about this? Just this: since Christ is proclaimed in every possible way, whether from dishonest or true motives, I’m glad and I’ll continue to be glad.”

This is a lesson for us today as we struggle with denominationalism. We may bristle at the actions of people outside our particular realm of thinking but if the name of Jesus is being lifted up, if lives are saved and changed for the better, and if Jesus himself would put them in the category of “not against you” then we must embrace these brothers and sisters as people who are for us. As Paul said, in every case we should rejoice that Christ is being preached.

Rejoice! By Michelle Robertson

Of Lice and Men

Posted on by Betsy

Anyone who has had a child in public school has likely dealt with a lice infestation. My youngest came home from school nine times in her first grade year with the dreaded “lice outbreak” notice in her backpack. Since she was a very social child, can you guess how many times she got lice? Yep: Nine. The process of removing lice involves using a strong chemical shampoo, fine-tooth combing, washing all jackets and clothing, spraying all stuffed animals and putting them in a plastic bag for 48 hours, laundering sheets at a high temperature … it was exhausting. Finally, in deep frustration, I visited the classroom to talk to the teacher to see if there was anything to be done. Imagine my surprise when I walked in the room and found groups of children lounging together in BEAN BAG CHAIRS during reading time. I was a little like Jesus, throwing bean bag chairs out of the temple that morning. And the lice notices instantly stopped. Imagine that!

Today’s passage takes us back to the battle of God versus Pharaoh. The weapon of choice in this particular battle was lice.

Exodus 8 (Common English Bible)

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your shepherd’s rod and hit the land’s dirt so that lice appear in the whole land of Egypt.’” 17 They did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his shepherd’s rod, hit the land’s dirt, and lice appeared on both people and animals. All the land’s dirt turned into lice throughout the whole land of Egypt.

18 The religious experts tried to produce lice by their secret knowledge, but they weren’t able to do it. There were lice on people and animals. 19 The religious experts said to Pharaoh, “This is something only God could do!” But Pharaoh was stubborn, and he wouldn’t listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The lice infestation was the third of ten plagues. God knew that Pharaoh would not listen or give in. Indeed, in Exodus 3:19, God told Moses that he was sure that Pharaoh would not let the people go. Free enslaved labor for decades was something Pharaoh could not give up. Even in this passage we see an acknowledgement that producing lice was something only God can do, yet it took seven more plagues and the parting of the Red Sea before Pharaoh understood the power of God in all its might. Of course by then it was too late.

Before we indulge in too much eye-rolling at his stubbornness, let’s stop for a moment and think about our own behavior. Do we ever underestimate the power of God in our situations? Have you ever doubted God’s interest or intention in your time of need? Have you ever felt that your sins have disqualified you from a right relationship with God? Most of us have. But we need to remember that Jesus died on a cross for the very thing you did that has made you feel disqualified. Remaining stubborn about God’s power to forgive and redeem is like saying what Jesus did at the crucifixion didn’t count. And that is heresy.

So relish the power of God and what only God can do in your life. Jesus died for it! Embrace it and live.

Early Light by Michelle Robertson

Damage Control

Posted on by Betsy

Did you know that the phrase ‘damage control’ has been used in popular language since the end of the Second World War? The United States Navy developed damage control protocols after suffering massive attacks in battles. They had to move fast in an effort to contain or limit the amount of collateral damage that these events would bring. Now the Navy has a position for damage controllers on ships whose job is to assess a situation and limit destruction and mishaps. The phrase was picked up by the medical profession, which established a system of prioritizing treatment based on lessening the risk of death when dealing with multiple injuries at once. Today, we see government officials engaged in damage control when a scandal breaks out and every institution has a process for reacting to negative reports quickly in hopes of containing the bad press.

1 John 3 is a kind of literary damage control. Traditional thinking teaches us that the writer was the same John as the Gospel writer, but others think it was a follower of John known as the Elder. In any case, John was a man of advanced age who had oversight of the house churches near Ephesus. There was dissension among the members, (can you imagine??) and some had pulled away under the influence of an agitator named Diotrephes. John the Elder wrote to a leader of the congregation named Gaius with instructions and encouragement. Specifically, the subjects of righteousness, sin, spiritual parentage, and love were addressed.

1 John 3 (Common English Bible)

8 The person who practices sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. God’s Son appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those born from God don’t practice sin because God’s DNA remains in them. They can’t sin because they are born from God. 10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are apparent: everyone who doesn’t practice righteousness is not from God, including the person who doesn’t love a brother or sister.

The notion of the apple not falling far from the tree applies here. Those born of God don’t practice sin, but those born of the devil are neither righteous nor do they love their brother or sister. We understand righteousness in this context to mean being in right relationship with God, God’s creation, and God’s people. Righteousness involves obedience to God’s will and purpose for our lives: Not just avoiding sin but pursuing goodness. Habitual sin can be overcome by the blood of Christ, who came for the purpose of destroying the devil. The point is clear: Real righteousness is the greatest love we can experience, and real love is expressed in righteousness. Righteousness without love just makes you a Pharisee.

Is God trying to do damage control with your soul today? Are you lost in your practice of sin with nowhere to turn? Jesus was born so that the works of the devil could be destroyed in our lives once and for all. Is it time to get right with God? You can be a damage controller in your own life.

God’s DNA by Becca Ziegler

Where Are You?

Posted on by Betsy

My running partner and I ran the Flying Pirate Half Marathon a few months ago and we enjoyed reading the homemade signs that people held up along the route. People and local businesses really go out of their way to create fun and encouraging signs for the runners. Of all the great race signs I have read, the one that was outside the Kitty Hawk Police Department one year was the best. It read: You can run, but you can’t hide. Best of luck from the Kitty Hawk Police! Well played, officers! It is not only funny, it is biblical.

Today we go back to the beginning of everything and learn what happened when man tried to hide. This very familiar story of the “fall of man” takes us to the cool of the evening when fellowship with God in the garden was a regular thing. But right away we know that something is very wrong, as God called to the man and his wife and asked, “Where are you?” Surely God knew where they were and even what they had done. But the question was more theological than geographical. Where is your head? Where is your heart? What were you thinking?

Genesis 3 (Common English Bible)

8 During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees.9 The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 The man replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

A classic definition of the word sin is “separation from God.” They had eaten the fruit that had been forbidden and now they had to face the consequences of their actions, so they separated themselves from the Lord by trying to hide. But notice that the man compounded his sin with blame-casting. Not only does he blame the woman, he blames God for giving him the woman.

How often do we do this as well? Do you ever try to cover up your sins by blaming someone else? We spend a lot of time trying to teach our children to resist peer pressure, but many of us succumb to it. It is so easy to slip into backbiting, gossiping, name-calling, and hate speech when we see our friends and neighbors engaging in that kind of behavior. We live in a world where finger pointing has the favorite exercise of the day.

11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

13 The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!”

And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”

God’s gentle question, “Where are you?” is an effort to show the man how lost he had suddenly become. God is hoping to hear his confession so that he can offer repentance. We can almost sense God’s sorrow over the broken fellowship; no longer will the three of them walk in the garden together. This passage shows us that God will always pursue us, no matter what we have done. And we will always be found, thanks be to God! Yes, we all have to answer to God, but when we come clean, we are forgiven. God acted with patience and caring as he personally came along side of the man and woman to speak the truth in love to them.

The snake did not fare as well. It is the perfect image of Christ’s defeat over Satan. Look at verse 15. God puts enmity between Satan and the “woman’s offspring,” a prophecy of the virgin birth. Many regard this as the first Gospel preaching in the Bible, calling this verse the proto evangelium. But bearing those offspring would bring great hardship to women and men would now have to till the land. And while the land would be filled with thorns (NIV) and thistles, Christ would come in due time and wear those thorns as a crown on his head when he took the sins of the world upon him. All of the earth was redeemed by his death and resurrection.

14 The Lord God said to the snake,

“Because you did this,
    you are the one cursed
        out of all the farm animals,
        out of all the wild animals.
    On your belly you will crawl,
        and dust you will eat
        every day of your life.

15 I will put contempt between you and the woman,
    between your offspring and hers.
They will strike your head,
        but you will strike at their heels.”

16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pregnancy very painful;
            in pain you will bear children.
You will desire your husband,
        but he will rule over you.”

17 To the man he said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’

cursed is the fertile land because of you;
        in pain you will eat from it
        every day of your life.
18 Weeds and thistles will grow for you,
        even as you eat the field’s plants;
19     by the sweat of your face you will eat bread—
        until you return to the fertile land,
            since from it you were taken;
            you are soil,
                to the soil you will return.”

So the question remains. Where are you? Where is your heart? What are you thinking? Remember, you can run, but you cannot hide. Maybe it’s time to be found.

Kitty Hawk Police Department Facebook page

Venting

Posted on by Betsy

Are you old enough to remember a time when the “comments section” didn’t exist? Believe it or not, there once was a period of civility when commenting on everything wasn’t a thing. If you had a beef about something that had been written, you could write a letter to the editor. That was your only chance to be heard if it was published, which was often days or weeks after the article had been published. Now, every type of media offers a comment section, and many people go straight to the comments rather than read the article. Opinion now overrules fact-based reporting in most mainstream media.

Social media gave birth to this kind of “venting,” offering a public forum for unchecked negativity, whining, and accusations. I can remember when my hometown newspaper offered a new column called “The Vent” and I was dismayed one day to read an anonymous attack on my church. We were involved in a huge building campaign that included moving our campus to a 63 acre plot of land. The neighbors near that location vented loudly about our plan, and one wrote about the nefarious and questionable intentions of “Pastor Chuck Charming” (our senior pastor) and “Estelle from the Estates” (which would be me, as I lived in a neighborhood called Bradford Estates). We were accused of seeking fame and glory by building a huge megachurch just to satisfy our overblown egos. As if!

Today’s psalm includes venting but offers a beautiful example of how to vent well. This psalm of David came after he had been harshly attacked by his enemies, and David teaches us the perfect way to respond to accusers: In his words, “they accuse me—but I am at prayer.”

Psalm 109 (Common English Bible)

God of my praise, don’t keep quiet,
2     because the mouths of wicked liars
    have opened up against me,
    talking about me with lying tongues.
3 Hateful words surround me;
    they attack me for no reason.
4 Instead of returning my love, they accuse me—
    but I am at prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
    hatred in return for my love.

“I am at prayer.” Just pause for moment and think about how much better the world would be if anger, disappointment, false accusations, and outright hatred would be answered not in inflammatory retorts that escalate the situation, but by the falsely accused turning quietly to prayer instead of retaliation. What if the comments sections ceased to exist all together?

6 “Appoint a wicked person to be against this person,” they say,
    “an accuser to stand right next to him.
7 When the sentence is passed, let him be found guilty—
    let his prayer be found sinful!

David shows us a better way. He turned to God for vengeance against his enemies. David surely knew how to act on his need for justice and had the skill and courage to defend himself. But he turned to prayer instead and asked God to help, not based on his own righteousness but based on God’s faithful love and mercy for him.

26 Help me, Lord my God!
    Save me according to your faithful love!
27 And let them know that this is by your hand—
    that you have done it, Lord!
28 Let them curse—but you, bless me!
    If they rise up, let them be disgraced,
        but let your servant celebrate!
29 Let my accusers be dressed in shame;
    let them wear their disgrace like a coat.

How do you deal with your enemies? Do you publicly curse them or privately pray for them? Jesus made it clear that we are to pray for our enemies and allow God to have vengeance on our behalf. Venting to God is the only way to vent and we can be assured that God stands right next to us in our distress. So next time you are attacked, take it to the Lord in prayer.

30 But I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth;
    among a great crowd I will praise God!
31 Because God stands right next to the needy,
    to save them from any who would condemn them.

Bloom in Love by Becca Ziegler