day one agenda

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.

2 Chronicles 29:3

The very first actions of King Hezekiah showed where his heart was. When he became king at twenty-five years of age, he demonstrated a remarkable maturity and depth. His first priority from the top of his administrative agenda was to reopen the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and return Judah to the worship of their saving God! He realized that those who had led before him had done evil in shuttering up the doors of the temple and turning their backs on the God Who made  covenant with them. The reason things had been so culturally bad was because Judah had worshiped all the wrong gods. It was in Hezekiah’s heart to see that covenant relationship restored (2 Chronicles 29:10). It would begin with reopening, remodeling, restoring, and renewing the temple worship.

It took the priests and the Levites just sixteen days to remove all the years of neglect and idolatry from the temple. Once everything was back in order Hezekiah himself was the first in line to offer sacrifices as the temple was restored. A massive celebration of sacrifice followed. So many people and sacrifices were made at this re-dedication that there weren’t enough priests to do the work yet! So Levites were allowed to assist so that all who spontaneously gathered could truly offer their worship to the Lord. It was a record-breaking massive turnout. And in a little over two weeks, Hezekiah’s day one agenda of revival had brought a repentant people back to God in full force.

It is never too late to repent. It is never too late to be serious with God. While we live, we can be reconciled. He will reward repentance and serious faith with authentic worship. No matter how entrenched our sin, when we turn to Christ in a repentance that hauls the filth out in confession, we too can find the doors open when we repent. We too can find sins forgiven in Jesus, our Great High Priest, and the joy of obedient worship will sustain us in peace with God!

lest I forget

“Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”

Deuteronomy 8:11-14

This is a real warning that Moses, both as leader and as prophet, gives to Israel as they prepare to receive the blessing of obedience by conquering Canaan. Once they settled in and lived under blessings that God was giving to them, the temptation would be to drift spiritually. And the things that would turn them to forget were all good things: good food and secure housing (Deuteronomy 8:12), provisions and wealth to insure the future (Deuteronomy 8:13), and a life marked by an exclusive history of God’s deliverance (Deuteronomy 8:14). These could all turn their focus from God to selfish pride leading to spiritual disaster.

It is how I handle the blessings and the good stuff of life the most demonstrates authentic faith. It can be easier to trust God in hard times, when we feel we have no other recourse, than to live for Him in the easier times. Will I live by faith when all seems fine, or will I drift into complacency? Moses’ warning to Israel is as powerful to me as it was when he originally gave it.

Now that the most intense experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic are fading (at least in America), and though there are still some rough patches ahead, in all likelihood an economic rebound will occur, as the housing market seems to already indicate. Will these coming “good news” days fade our memories and lead to drift? They very well could.

Lord,

Thank You for this reminder. Keep me on my toes, on guard against the dangers of drift! I want to stay worshiping You in both good times and hard times. Both in the blessings and the burdens may You be made much of… by me… for Your glory!

Amen

critical speech

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

James 4:11-12

James keeps preaching this theme of control of the tongue in his book. Speaking poorly about other Christians has roots in the heart such as arrogantly boasting (James 3:5), jealousy (James 3:14-16), selfish desires (James 4:1-3), and a fatal deep flaw of pride (James 4:6). This slanderous activity can only stop when believers will repent of the sinful roots that grow the fruit of slander and gossip. And man, is the need so apparent on social media!

Furthermore, bad mouthing our brother is always a sin that speaks against God’s commands. We forget all about that when we turn the words loose! James reminds us that this behavior is “judging the law”. The Old Testament called the Jews to a high standard of loving communication and to turn from any kind of slander (Leviticus 19:16), instead the standard is “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). James has already lifted up loving neighbors as “the royal law of love” (James 2:8).

Jesus too calls us to such neighbor love that rejects bad-mouthing (Matthew 22:39) and commands His disciples to love one another (John 13:34-25; 15:12, 17). Those who sinfully judge other people are warned elsewhere in the New Testament that such behavior sins against God and is contemptuous of His Word (Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 2:1; 1 Corinthians 4:5).

An early Sunday School reminder should be brought back, especially for me today:

 “O be careful little lips what you say,

O be careful little lips what you say,

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love,

So be careful little lips what you say”

disciples without barriers

“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

Acts 10:47-48

Up to this point in the book of Acts, the apostles had seen a church dominated by Jewish converts. But now God specifically led Peter, with a delegation of believers from Joppa to bear witness to the salvation of the Roman Centurion Cornelius. God saved him and his entire household. The gospel was going out wide and deep and the response to it was too.

Peter was willing to be used by God to take the gospel wherever God led. God did some pre-evangelism training in a vision that helped Peter lay aside his Jewish preferences to enter a gentile home and there preach the gospel. The result was another Pentecost among the gentiles. The Christians who witnessed this knew God had saved and poured out His Spirit on these Roman believers. All that was left was for them to be baptized.

So Peter gave the command for them to be baptized. They believed, they were indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit, and now they obeyed the Lord’s command that disciples are made in baptism. That sort of sealed the deal, for the church recognized and welcomed them into community as well through baptism. And the Jews from Joppa stayed for days in Caesarea to fellowship, share life, and no doubt help train these new disciples in following Jesus well.

Today the gospel is preached globally. The church goes beyond ethnic barriers. May God’s Spirit continue to be poured out among the nations. And may we seriously take the task of disciple-making with no barriers so many more find grace, sins forgiven, Spirit empowerment, and community in Christ!

Why?

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

and you will not save?

Why do you make me see iniquity,

and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

So the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

Habakkuk 1:2-4

“Why?” is the easiest question to ask in our pain and the hardest and sometimes longest answer to get. In the case of the prophet Habakkuk the question voices the pain of the sins of God’s people seemingly going unpunished. Wicked Israelite leaders had the power. The poor and the few righteous people who cared about worshiping the Lord were oppressed. This pain and injustice did not align with the truth that Habakkuk believed about God.

But it is often the case in a world marred by sin that human violence, oppression, destruction, strife, and contention will stain life experiences. This is true today! And in that kind of wicked culture, God’s truth in not honored by the cultural leaders. God’s standard of justice is completely unattainable in those circumstances. Sin is always a cruel tyrant.

When we raise our questions in the pain, God hears us. God quickly assured Habakkuk that He had a response waiting for all this evil oppression the prophet experienced. The Chaldeans were poised to invade and wipe out the cruel oppressors among God’s people (Habakkuk 1:5-14). The oppressors would experience from an occupying army a bitter cruelty and injustice that they had done to their countrymen themselves. And even though it would be painful to go from one oppressor to another, God was in control. Habakkuk could eventually rejoice knowing God would keep His covenant by bringing the curses of the Law but would eventually restore the people after a season. His judgment is tempered in mercy so that even the leanest of times that we thought would never come and seem unthinkable to us will draw us to worship Him (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

nothing better

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

The daily stuff of life… from my first cup of coffee in the morning, to a restful sleep when I lay my head on the pillow at night, are gifts from a God Who cares for me in love. Life is a gift to be enjoyed with a grateful heart. Yes, there are times it is tedious and less than exciting. Eternal perspectives are challenged daily. But when I see it as a daily gift from my Creator, these hard times gain perspective and make even the simplest pleasures more pleasant. These simple gifts can point me to eternity. There is then a perspective that draws me above the mundane tedium of what can feel like repetitive boredom. My Creator gives my days meaning as I receive life from Him and give it back to Him with praise.

There is joy in this journey and it is not to be confused with the ultimate joy in the destination. My life is not earthbound, but heaven sent and heaven directed. As I enjoy God and His good gifts in my days on earth, I get a deeper longing for how forever will be with Him! When contentment comes in my daily work, even with struggles, fighting my own sin and relational struggles compounded by wrong, the peace of God rules above what Solomon observed as “vanity and vexation of soul”. If I only look to the material universe, I will lose joy quickly and find only dissatisfaction. Routine and sameness quickly drown joy. My thoughts have to rise higher!

Praise God there is more! And ultimately Jesus calls us to the joy of life in Him. In John 10:10 He offers an overflowing joy to all who believe Him: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” In following Jesus I chase after and am rewarded with this abundant life that enlightens all my daily tasks. Jesus helps me find joy in work (even physical toil), in my life (even in the mind-numbing sameness), and in the simple gifts of my day-to-day experiences. I will follow Jesus now and forever and in Him I will know the enjoyment of life.

brothers and companions

For my brothers and companions' sake

I will say, “Peace be within you!”

Psalm 122:8

This psalm of ascents was meant to be a call to prayer sung by Jewish pilgrims as they climbed Mount Zion to the temple for festivals and worship in Jerusalem. As they approached the city, they would pray for the peace of the city. But this was no generic duty. The psalm puts perspective on the people needing peace. It personalizes it. Pilgrims prayed for the peace of Jerusalem for the sake of relatives and friends traveling with them to worship the Lord there.

That principle is eye-opening. One reason I should want to obey God and seek His blessing is for the love of the people I care about. If I love God, love His worship, love His people and places, I will also be truly loving by friends and family. God will bless them by extension in my sincere love, obedience, and prayers.

Lord,

You have blessed me with many brothers and companions along this pilgrimage of life. Jesus, may I follow You, trust You, seek Your forgiveness, confess sin and worship You so that Your blessings will fill my life and the lives of my brothers and my companions!

Amen

Turned Away

For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs.

2 Chronicles 29:6

Close to God

Worshiping only Him

In His presence

Calling on His name

Israel trusted

and was saved

Compared to God

Admiring those idols

Looking at the nations

Forgetting God’s Word

Israel faltered

and then fell

Far from God

Worshiping false idols

His presence gone

His name rejected

His law broken

Israel was evil

and was judged

Back to God

Worshiping their Deliverer

Cleaning up His temple

Revering God’s Holy name

Israel repented

and was blessed

blessings in obedience

You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Deuteronomy 5:33

When Moses set before Israel all the Law of God, as it is summarized in this book of Deuteronomy, the people were expected to commit to obeying it in its entirety. With that obedience would come great blessing. It is always worth it to believe and obey what God asks of His people.

There are four blessings that were promised in this verse. The first is the blessing of life itself. When Israel kept the Law they lived. They thrived and knew a unique life as the covenant people of God. Obedience to the Law brought life. And along with that life. It brought a solid personal standard of living that was enjoyable. Obedience to God gave His people lives that “went well”. The general standard of living as well as the experience of life went well. For those who kept God’s Law under Moses the motto was “Life is good”.

The third blessing was that not only was life good, but life was long. God promised that obedience to His Word would bless His people with a long life in the land that they would live in. A long good life sounds very appealing. And that came with a final blessing. They would possess an inheritance in the Promised Land. They would live long, good lives and pass blessings on to the next generation. They would possess blessings in a land that was their very own. Wandering slaves would finally have an inheritance.

The truth is that God blesses obedience to His Word. And now in Christ there are even better blessings: a life made good by His righteousness… made full by the filling of His Spirit… lacking nothing in His care… and worth commending to others and to the next generation by proclaiming the gospel so that the world may know and also possess this blessed life!

various trials

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

If ever there has been a timely reminder from scripture, it is this one from James. Of course it was written to strengthen the early church in its first experience of severe, life-upending persecution. Christians were being killed for their commitment to Christ. The church had scattered across Judaea and into other parts of the Roman Empire. James wrote these words to keep believers strong, knowing God would strengthen their faith even in their difficulty in order to bring growth and maturity in Christ. And the Lord was good even in their extreme trial. The gospel prospered. Their faith blossomed and spread to the known world.

These same words of comfort strengthen me. I’ve known a year of trials of various kinds. There were cultural trials like I have never seen before, personal health trials that will only continue, ministry trials in ways I could not have imagined, and the upending of everything with a worldwide pandemic transforming day to day life virtually overnight! Looking around me, I see other people, Christian and non-Christian alike, still reeling from these various experiences.

I will trust that God is bringing about a good work through these things. He knows what He is doing. He is spotlighting the gospel, strengthening His Church, confirming the true confession of faith, and reaching a world that has the greatest need of Jesus! Personally, I will look for God to grow my patience and my endurance in faith as this passage confirms. I hope for a more mature understanding of my Savior. And I will trust that despite the difficulties, God is ensuring that His Church is lacking nothing. Various trials are God’s good means to His provision, grace, care, and my growth.

bad reception

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Acts 7:59

Sometimes proclaiming the gospel message results in an outcome we would not ask to have. In the case of Stephen’s sermon before the Jewish council, the response was hatred and Stephen’s murder at the hands of haters. Stephen masterfully took these leaders through the history of Israel as the Old Testament recorded it, pointing out God’s mercies that Israel rejected at every turn. The sons of Jacob rejected Joseph who spoke God’s word. God used Joseph to deliver them. Israel coming out of Egypt rejected Moses, although God had sent him as a deliverer. The Jews later rejected the prophets God had sent to warn them. And the men gathered around Stephen had murdered the Messiah when they had Jesus crucified. They claimed to receive the Law of God but did not keep it as evidenced in repeated murder! They ultimately did not receive the Son of God.

Their reception of Stephen’s sermon just continued this trajectory of turning away from God’s uncomfortable, confrontational truth. They rushed this brash preacher to the outside of the city and stoned Stephen to death. In his last words, Stephen proclaimed the Lordship of Jesus (Acts 7:59) and like Jesus Himself, petitioned God to forgive the evil that was being done to him (Acts 7:60). Stephen died proclaiming forgiveness in Christ and portraying it to his own executioners. It’s not the reception modern day evangelism training prepares Christians to expect. But it does call us to courage, realizing anytime we share Jesus, our passion for our Savior calls us to trust in Him, even if that message becomes the last utterance we make in this world.

As much as the book of Acts shows us the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world by a welcoming reception of the message of salvation, we should also soberly realize that the message likewise spreads through bad reception. Stephen’s murder launched a vicious persecution against incipient Christianity in Jerusalem that scattered Christians into new places that had not heard of Jesus. The gospel went viral amidst that instability and chaos, reordering the Church of believers, and spreading much more rapidly. God is wise. He knows how to make something better out of even the bad reception that we may experience.

where mercy and justice meet

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,

and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Nahum 1:3

God will not abide with human evil without bringing His justice to bear. He cannot be holy and at the same time ignore sin. He will judge those who do wrong. This is a fundamental truth about God revealed clearly from even the earliest pages of scripture.

The prophet Nahum, like Jonah, preached to Nineveh a message of judgment. In the book of Jonah we see a God Who is slow to anger and great in power, graciously suspending judgment when Nineveh repented at Jonah’s message. Now, in the book of Nahum, we see God great in power and in the storm of judgment, with Nineveh and the Assyrian empire again in sinful rebellion against God. And God cannot clear their unrepentant guilt. His justice will roll in like a gathering storm and His decrees through His prophet will bring a final end to Assyria’s cruel violence and oppression.

Yes, God is a God Who is great in mercy. We should be thankful that He is slow to anger even as He is great in power. And of course, we know His grace intimately in the cross of Christ. Jesus saves us because He took God’s righteous wrath for our sakes in His mercy and forbearance! 

Simultaneously, the God of mercy is also a God of justice. And His judgment is decisive and final. We either know His judgment poured out on His Sin, by faith clinging to Jesus for eternal pardon, or people will know the alternative of eternal judgment, cast from God’s presence and care in punishment with the devil and his demons. God’s great power extends to both points of this spectrum… He is powerful in mercy at the cross. He is powerful in justice in that same cross. The cross is where both mercy and justice meet.

Vigilant Keeper

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121:4

God watches over

every detail of my day

protecting me all the way

keeping me safe

God is a vigilant Keeper

No evil escapes God

He misses nothing

He works in everything

because there is something

He is doing for His glory

God has a purpose

the facts are significant

all happens as it is meant

because my life is important

to my glorious Keeper

What happens today

is not a surprise

to God’s all seeing eyes

His loving hands provide

as my vigilant Keeper

So by faith I trust

God knows where to go

He has plans that will show

He is in control

I will praise His glory!

God always cares

He never takes a break

He is always awake

All care for me to take

He is never a sleeper

…my vigilant Keeper

an idolatrous end

Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

2 Chronicles 24:19

God does not enjoy it when we choose to live as if He does not exist. And God will not let humans profane His holy name without consequence. That is the point of these prophets. Specifically Judah had just experienced a long period of blessing and prosperity under the mutual leadership and obedience to God’s Law that was led by King Joash and Jehoida the priest.

Jehoida was a wise mentor and advisor to Joash. Under this regime, the wicked queen Athaliah was struck down. Baal worship and all its dark practices were eradicated, pagan temples were burned to the ground, and the temple of God in Jerusalem was restored, refurbished, and thriving again as Joash the king led the nation and Jehoida the priest advised him and oversaw all the obedience reforms.

But then the old priest died at the age of 130. And in that void, Joash listened to the wrong counsel and his heart turned against the Lord. The temple was once again abandoned and idolatry filled the hearts of the people of Judah. Enter the prophets…

God patiently called the king and His people to come back in repentance. Their sins were made clear. The awful consequences of turning against God and rejecting His Law were made known by these prophets. But idolatry sparks envy, selfishness, and hate… and eventually murder. This did not end well. The last prophet to speak to the people about repentance was the new priest, Zechariah, son of Jehoida. He was martyred. They dared to stone him to death within the very courtyard of the temple!

This blatant and deliberate rejection of God led to the eventual disaster that idolatry always brings about. The Syrian army invaded that same year, and though they were a small force, God empowered them to execute His judgment. The Syrians killed all the Jewish leaders who had enticed Joash into idolatry. They then severely wounded the king, so that his own servants murdered him in his bed as he lay wounded! All the idolaters who conspired against God were gone. What lesson do we learn? “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:21

no fortress too high

From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The LORD our God gave all into our hands.

Deuteronomy 2:36

The children of Israel went into battle. The Lord their God did all their fighting. The people armed for conquest. The Lord brought the victory. The Israelites went up against fortress cities. The power of God demolished the walls. God told them to take their possession. The people obeyed. 

God handed over houses they did not build, cities they did not plan, and farms they did not plant. Obedience in faith yielded the blessing of a new home in the land that God had promised Abram would be the home of his swarming descendants! God is faithful to those who will trust in Him.

The city walls were true fortresses, high and strong and built to defend. But this did not stop God from giving them over to Israel. The Canaanites were many, and lots of them were equally imposing as those city walls… giants to the men of Israel. But this also could not keep God from blessing the obedience of His people. When God wants something, it will happen, and no person, no power, no nation, no matter how mighty in earthly power will be able to stand against it.

What does God want now? The same God Who helped Israel conquer Canaan wants the world to know His Son. He asks me, in faith, to trust Him, obey the call to make Jesus known, and see the world changed and overtaken by His grace. No wall can stand forever against my God. And Christians must take courage… God still brings down walls so that His power will be known.

a better country

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:16

Faith wants above all else a life, a hope, a future that is greater than what is found right now. It looks to the final future that God alone provides. It does not give up on this world, but only realizes that God is doing something much greater than right now. Faith helps us embrace a nomadic view of our lifestyle. We are passing through this earthly land. It isn’t a bad thing to do. We trust God on our journey. He has designed us for it. The pilgrimage is an epic adventure to embrace, enjoy, and be thrilled by! Yet we know… there is a better destination ahead. We are going to God’s celestial city!

Faith invests its resources and strength in that eternal reality. We, as Jesus commanded, lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. We keep ramblin ’ on… looking for the city built by God for us. We journey through this life with fellow pilgrims along the way, ultimately every individual taking a unique itinerary to get there. We never settle down in this world as if it is our destination. To do so is a bit like trying to live in a train depot or airport. It could be done. It would not be home. It would be very uncomfortable. We will never be truly at home unless we are on the road to the city that God is preparing!

Lord,

You are taking me to a better country. Life’s road is my home. I look for the place You are preparing with longing. Everything earthly… my career, my home, my stuff, my money…. None of it will satisfy this eternal craving. You have put this longing in my heart to follow You to my true home! Oh let me not think that this current country through which my life now travels is all that there is for me. Just lead me to keep stamping my passport through new stations that You have planned, and never let me settle for these poor substitutes for Your better country that awaits me in Your time at the end of my travels!

Amen

never gonna stop

And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

Acts 5:25

God will not let the gospel stop. That much is clear from this account. All the apostles are taken captive and imprisoned for teaching about Jesus in the temple. In the night God sends an angel to release them from prison. The Jewish authorities arrive at the jail the next morning. The guards are posted. The doors are locked. The cell is an echo chamber! And where are Peter and the apostles? Right back at the temple obeying their Lord’s command for them to care for the people and preach the good news (Acts 5:20).

There are many people who are opposed to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Religious people oppose it because it frees people from legalism and the oppressive control of stale religious authority that demands more than God does of us. Hardcore sinners will oppose the gospel because it sheds light on the darkness, calls people to genuine repentance and change, and promises a new life that is drastically different that what sinful hearts crave. Autocratic governments will oppose the gospel because it leads to the ultimate in intimate, personal liberty, where a person is freed from sin to serve a God much greater, much more personal, much deeper in love than any human institution.

In the first waves of persecution found in the book of Acts, all three of these forces combined in trying to silence the preaching about Jesus. These priests, council members, and the senate of the people of Israel, all conspired together to wipe out the Christian message. But they could not succeed. Their prisons could not hold the gospel captive. Their commands could not convince the apostles to stop. Their punishments could not shame or disgrace the church. Instead, the people rejoiced to find the same sufferings as their Savior (Acts 5:41-42). And that example should encourage Christians today to never shrink away from loving Jesus and telling His good news in our world!

What has God done to me?

O my people, what have I done to you?

How have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt

and redeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and Miriam.

Micah 6:3-4

Our sin turns against a gracious and merciful God, just like Israel did. God is legitimately asking for their reasons for having a “problem” with Him. The questions have a touch of sarcasm and clear frustration in them as God confronts the idolatry of both Israel and Judah.

God’s tone is sort of like this: “What have I done to turn you against me? Oh… wait… yeah… I saved you from slavery… I led you out of Egypt… I sent you prophets… I saved you from other nations that wanted to enslave you and wipe you out… yeah… that must be it… great reasons, all of them, to hate me.”

The history of God’s care of His people makes it clear that the sinful rejection of Him and His Law had nothing to do with how God treated them and everything to do with their own sinful hearts. God redeemed them. He saved. He led. He gave. God was merciful time and again with Israel. The people should have responded in thanksgiving, worship, and praise by obeying and loving Him.

And now, what shall I say about my sin? I can’t just point at the Old Testament story and shake my head at Israel’s spiritual dullness. I am just as bad at rejecting the God Who has redeemed me. Jesus died to free me from sin’s tyranny. I am set free from sin, no longer a slave. Why do I turn to sin again? I do so in a painful rejection of the God Who sent His Son to die and rise again for my salvation. It is a pain to Him. It is a pain to me. This is why quick confession of sin, rehearsal of the gospel in my heart on a daily basis, and seeking to be led by God’s Holy Spirit now dwelling in me should be my focus every day.

fast talking fool? That’s me.

Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 29:20

Around five years ago, through circumstances and conversation, the Lord got my attention about my tendency to be a hasty speaker. It wasn’t an easy thing to hear at the time, I resisted it at first, offended that this had been brought to the forefront, but today I am glad that I have listened to God and the people around me on this issue. It helped me to keep rooting out some poor motivations on my part as I confess and forsake my hasty words. Here’s what I am discovering about the foolishness of hasty speech in my own heart:

1) I will be hasty to “speed along” what I perceive as an uncomfortable moment. This is an attempt at control on my part, plain and simple. Uncomfortable moments though can be huge growth opportunities, not only for myself, but for others, if those moments are allowed to sink in under the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

2) I will be quick to speak in order to impress people with my knowledge or perceived solutions. This is like that annoying kids in school who always raises their hand at the teacher’s question (I may personally know someone who was sort of that way in school.). And for me this stems from pride. I know this. It is wrong.

3) I will use hasty words to get what I want. This is the most devilish of my motivations. I can use words and reasoned argumentation to “win” and influence others to get my way, much like a certain snake in a certain garden. This is absolute selfishness and control at its very worst in me.

So instead of being a fast talking fool, I am committed to learning the New Testament counterpart of this Proverbs warning in order to truly appreciate and appropriate God’s wisdom:

“…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…”

James 1:19