Know It

Hypocrisy. King David did not always do things according to the Laws of God. Saul was mutilated after his death. The Philistines cut off his head and strung his body up outside the walls of a chief city (1 Samuel 31:9). This upset David. Mutilating people after their deaths was not customarily done (especially to kings). Yet, in 2 Samuel 4, we see David ordering the hands and feet of Ishbosheth's killers cut off and hanging what was left of their bodies by the pool at Hebron (2 Samuel 4:12). Ishbosheth was the son of Saul and designated leader of the northern tribes of Israel. So David was playing fast and loose with the Laws God had given His people so many years ago.

This is another example of the people corrupting the Old Testament Laws. The people, including David, no longer knew what the Law said. They had forgotten it and had not passed it down to their children. They were violating it in many ways – just as Christians often do today.

Why does this happen? People are just not immersed in the Word of God. They don’t even know what it says so they can’t tell if they are following it or not. Unfortunately, my experiences indicate that this is especially true for those calling themselves Christians. Many mainline denominations have decided to interpret certain passages of Scripture so that they are convinced it can and does mesh with current cultural biases. Individuals rely on others to teach them what the Word of God says without investigating Scripture for themselves.

In a separate study of God’s Word I’m doing with a friend from my church, there are examples of ways to investigate God’s Word as individual people. (Early Christians were commended for searching the Scriptures to see whether what the preachers were preaching was in line with Scripture (Acts 17:10-11). It’s not just something we can do; it’s something we should be doing. I’m going to briefly look at the suggested ways for getting into and understanding God’s Word found in the NavPress Bearing Fruit in God’s Family.

1.     Paraphrase a verse or passage. Start by looking at various translations of the Bible. Some of my favorites are the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible, the Complete Jewish Bible, the Amplified Bible, the New Living Translation, and the paraphrase, The Message. You can find all these translations at https://www.biblegateway.com/After reading the same verse(s) in a few translations (not necessarily all the ones mentioned above), write the verse(s) out using your own words or borrowing bits and pieces from the various translations until you truly understand what it’s saying.

2.     Questions to be asked. Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how questions of the passage. Also note questions that come to your mind as you read the verse(s) through a few times (possibly also referring to a variety of translations).

3.     Pray through the verse or passage. Look at each phrase or sentence and pray about how it applies to your life and your life circumstances.

4.     Emphasize each word separately as you read through the passage several times. Each word is there for a reason (2 Timothy 3:16). Determine what is the significance of each key word (don’t be fooled; even the word “in” could be significant).

5.     Cross-References. Find them by using a concordance or use Google. What you are looking for are verses that say similar things to the verse you are looking at. You are looking for other verses in Scripture that support the basic concept. You may be surprised how many there are for each verse. I recently used this technique for John 14:21 and found at least 5 Old and New Testament passages that support the concept of keeping God’s Words. (Look up John 14:21 to see what I’m talking about).

6.     Applications to be made. This is a key to true spiritual growth. What specific and measurable step can you take based on the truth(s) in a particular passage. I recommend attempting to make an application for each passage you look at each day. Make it something you can do in one day. For instance, for Philippians 4:6, an application might be to pray each day for a week being careful to give thanksgiving for what has already happened and the promised (yet unseen) answers to come.

Try one of these techniques today. I suggest choosing a different one each day this week and use it in a passage of Scripture you are reading (or should be reading). As a side note, another helpful aid is a little booklet called Woven Writing by Cassie Showerman. This booklet can be purchased at https://godshapedmom.com/shop/ I am using its suggestions and gaining new insight into familiar and not-so-familiar passages of Scripture. Many of the suggestions in this booklet use the same techniques I outlined above.

Galatians Summary

I began a new Bible study today. It’s a new beginning. I learned a lot studying Galatians, but it’s time to move on to something new. So I’m going to the origin of everything: Genesis.

Before I start writing about Genesis, I want to write a note about what I’m taking away from my study of Galatians. The study led me to look back at the time or era in which Paul wrote to the Galatians and to whom he was writing to. The Galatians probably understood Paul’s sermon differently than we expect as we try to look at it from a modern-day perspective.

The audience for Paul’s letter is telling. He was writing to the church of Galatia. This was a church made up of three kinds of believers. 1. Jewish born who had become Christians. 2. Gentile born who had converted to Judaism then became Christians (proselytes). 3. Gentile born who became Christians and did not have to convert to Judaism in order to gain salvation.

He was not writing to or about “the world” or unsaved Gentiles. So his messages about following the law or not following the law deal with not making the gentile believers convert to Judaism. The church was made up of all three of these groups and Paul expected them to worship, study, and eat together. He chastised the proselytes who were trying to “influence” the gentile believers to convert to Judaism in order to really be a part of the church. It was, and is, not necessary to follow the parts of the Bible that tell the Jews how to behave so they are easily recognized as God’s chosen people.

Paul used “the law” to signify the traditional and ritual actions that God had assigned to the people of Israel. He’s not referring to the entire Old Testament.  And his “gospel” said that a person doesn’t have to perform the traditional and ritual laws in order to be saved by Jesus Christ. Whether one is Jewish or Gentile (circumcised or uncircumcised) is not what gains us access to God in heaven. It’s faith in Jesus Christ (the Messiah) that determines salvation.

Paul didn’t say that Jewish people (those born Jewish and the proselytes) should not follow the Torah with it’s traditions and rituals. He, being a believer, followed the law his entire life. So it’s okay to follow the Torah, especially if one is Jewish born, but doing those things is not what saves people from eternal death and separation from God. Paul even went so far as to say that Jewish people should continue to follow the Torah to set themselves apart as God’s chosen people, but doing so is not what will save them. Faith in the Messiah is the necessary ingredient.

Paul used the example of Abraham who lived before the law was given to Moses. Abraham’s salvation was reckoned to him because he believed in the coming Messiah and in the promise that God had made with him. (Romans 4, Galatians 3) Just as Abraham was saved by faith, all people are saved by believing in and following the Messiah. Paul gave the Messiah a name: Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

As an application, I am trying to be more aware of when I’m just following the rules, traditions and guidelines of the church instead of devoting myself to believing in and following Christ’s rule. His basic rule is two fold: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. The whole of Scripture can be summed up in those two principles, as told to us by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” So my application is to continue to learn about and put these principles into practice on a daily basis by studying His Word and serving others.

Thirty Sterling Principles, Part 11

Today’s principle, #20, spoke to me about what it means to have a healthy, happy, stable home. It’s based on Proverbs 24:3-4, which says,

“It takes wisdom to build a house,
    and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms
    with fine furniture and beautiful draperies.”

The key elements are wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Those are the same things that God told us about for living successful lives. Those are the same things that we are told elsewhere in Proverbs come about because we focus on God and His Word and ways.

I have tried to live a wise life, one filled with understanding and knowledge. In some ways I succeeded and have adult children who are independent, self-reliant, and successful in their endeavors. I’ve talked about them before. However, there is always room for improvement.

I can’t depend on the wisdom I’ve had in the past. I have to keep trying to learn and seek God’s wisdom in my daily life. I strive to use understanding in my dealings with the people who live in my house although sometimes I just don’t understand what is going on and don’t know how to gain the understanding needed in some situations. Sometimes all I can do is throw up my hands, fall to my knees and pray that God would show me what to do. Even when I’m thinking I’m doing or saying the right things, I sometimes find out that I am not.

Again, there are many situations that come up where I just have to rely on God’s grace and His protection to furnish my house with the right furniture and furnishings. In other words, to make my house the right environment and atmosphere for raising healthy children and maintaining my own sanity I need to turn to God and ask Him for His guidance. I wish I could say I do this with knowledge and wisdom. However, many times I have to backtrack and change the way I’m doing things so they get in line with God’s ways of doing things. Ultimately, all true wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are centered on God’s ways of doing things. I just don’t know what the right ways are all the time. So I have to ask for forgiveness from God and other people, and change my approach to do things the right way the next time.

A Study of Abigail

One of King David’s wives was named Abigail, but how much do you know about her? She was originally married to Nabal (a name which means “fool”) and he was an old drunk who did many foolish things. One foolish thing he did was deny David’s request for sustenance and provisions for David and his men. He basically said, “Who is this David?” although he knew, as the rest of the people did, that David was anointed as the next king of Israel by Samuel, the high priest.

Abigail heard of Nabal’s refusal to help David and without telling Nabal, gathered up provisions and went out to meet David. Scripture says that Abigail was intelligent and beautiful (1 Samuel 25:32). Her intelligence came out in her actions. She knew that her husband had acted foolishly by not providing for David and she sought to remedy the situation. By doing so, she also protected David from acting foolishly (possibly inadvertently). David’s intention was to go and kill all of the men in Nabal’s household, but Abigail’s actions prevented that from happening.

When asked to list my strengths, I often include “my intelligence” as one of them. But is my intelligence the same as Abigail’s? Do I use my intelligence to listen to God and do the next right thing? Sometimes I do and sometimes I fail to take into account what God would have me do in a specific situation. Sometimes, I don’t use my intelligence to protect the fools in my life. Sometimes I don’t have the right attitude in dealing with the fools in my life. True intelligence shows itself when it is used by God to accomplish His purposes.

“Abigail flew into action” (1 Samuel 25:18 in The Message). She got the report from the young shepherds that her husband had refused to help David and she “lost no time” (NIV). Scripture doesn’t say she decided to go and pray about what to do, or that she went and asked someone else what she should do. Scripture says “she said nothing to her husband” (1 Samuel 25:19). Scripture says she flew into action and prepared a feast for David and went out to meet him. Her intelligence allowed her to take decisive action and she did the right thing. I’m not saying she didn’t pray first. It’s just that Scripture doesn’t tell us that she did. Whatever praying she did was done quickly and allowed for her to take swift action. She knew what was the right thing to do and she didn’t waste time in doing the right thing.

I don’t always do the right thing. I often think I know what the right thing is, but I hold back and don’t say or do what I know to be right. If I want to be like Abigail, and use my intelligence as God intended, I need to take swift action when I know what the right thing is to do. I use prayer as an excuse to postpone doing the right thing(s). I go to God asking Him to show me what to do, when I already know what the right thing is. God has given me my intelligence and sometimes I just need to trust God and do the right thing.

I was challenged by Abigail and convicted. If I’m going to say intelligence is one of my strengths, I need to act on that intelligence and not hold back. There are situations in my life when I need to fly into action and not just sit back and be afraid to do the right thing. I don’t always need to check with someone else before I act. I can trust in the intelligence and knowledge I have been given by God.

Lies and Truths

I really don’t like to talk politics in my blog, but I do try and talk truth. Some advertisements regarding Michigan’s Proposal #2 are downright lies. That bothers me. Really bothers me. It bothers me enough that I have to say something.

This proposal has nothing to do with child safety, yet these advertisements say things like voting yes on the proposal is the same thing as putting criminals to work in schools. That is ridiculous. Utterly and totally false. None of the precautions in the laws of Michigan that require background checks on school employees will be even touched by what Proposal #2 will do.

In many ways the assertions of the false advertisements are designed to evoke an emotional response in people. Not a logical, reasonable response, but an emotional response. People should not vote based solely on their emotions. People should not act in any way based solely on their emotions. That’s what I’ve been taught and that’s what I try to do.

Admittedly, I have trouble listening to my emotions. I often act only out of logical thinking. That’s not necessarily the best way to do things either. I’m not trying to say it is. But, I think some logic, serious thought, and some honest assessment of the facts needs to be a part of our decision-making processes.

To vote in this election, on this proposal, on every ballot item, please use some honest fact checking and base your votes on the truth and not on advertisements that are designed to get you to vote without thinking.

Again, let me say that Proposal #2 will not put children in danger in any way, shape, or form. It will protect children by allowing teachers to negotiate class size, police to get needed equipment, and firefighters to use the best possible techniques and technologies to provide safety for all involved.

Vote Yes on Proposal #2.

Thanks for indulging me my first, and probably last, politically motivated post.

Surveying the Damage: Seeing the results

As it turned out, Nee was right. God did not let any harm come to His people. Those inside the walls of Jerusalem and those in the villages surrounding Jerusalem are all safe. And, there are walls, completed, strong walls around Jerusalem now. While we worked it seemed like it would never be done, but it is! It only took fifty-two days!

Those who want to get rid of us are defeated in spirit and heart. They were right of course. The Jews could not build this mighty wall by ourselves, and in so short a time. God did it. Our enemies in the surrounding area have lost their nerve, their boldness. They proclaim (what we knew all along) that God has done this great work. They are still afraid to come up against us, and we live peacefully in this land God gave to our patriarch, Abraham.

Nee announced yesterday that he is stepping down from his roles as overseer of the work on the wall and as the commander in chief of the defense of Jerusalem. The nobles and elders persuaded him to accept the position of Governor, and to continue to act as a consultant for the new leaders. One of the first things he did was commission the priests, the singers, and the security guards. He also suggested putting Hanani and Hananiah in charge of Jerusalem. Nee said Hanani and Hananiah are men who are honest and fear God more than most others. And finally, Nee turned spiritual matters over to the scholar, Ezra.

Now, with a little down time available to him, Nee sits with us talking about the events of the last 6 – 8 months. He seems to want to talk about it, to get the lessons learned firmly planted in his head and heart. He wanted to impress upon himself, and us, how God works on our behalf. Nee said it like a prayer,

“God, show me what You want me to understand about Your ways. I am amazed at Your ways. I was a servant in the king’s palace, but You saw me. You picked me but I did not know what I could do. I didn’t know what time had done to Jerusalem and I had no idea where You wanted me to start. I had to come to Jerusalem, the home of my past, evaluate the damage, and come up with a plan. A plan that did not deny or ignore the brokenness brought about by the events of the past. A plan that takes a realistic look at the effects the past has had upon the physical wall – and the effects the past has had in our hearts and in our spiritual life. We were crumbling and our faith was falling apart. Repairs were (and still are) needed.

“You gave me plans for fixing the damage of the past in order to change the way things are now. You wanted to show our enemies that You can use the knowledge of the past and a realistic view of the damage to give us directions for making things right, now and in the future. I see now that You needed me to see the damage, and not just hear about it, so I could see You make things right. Now I see how You can repair every part of my life, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Fixing the Jerusalem wall was the tool You used to change me, to change Your people. Now there is a future to look forward to.

“Thank You, Most Holy God. You are the rescuer of our people, our cities, and our hearts. You are all-powerful, and choose a relationship with us. You use us, with all our damages, all our hurts, and all our sins. What else can I say? Thank You is not enough. I am at a loss for the words that will praise you enough. I cannot comprehend all You are. Thank You.”

We listen and give thanks to God right along with Nee. Every time we see the wall, we will praise our God. From now and well into the future.

Surveying the Damage: Dealing with rumors

We tried to mind our own business, but the rumors flew around us. Apparently the rulers of our neighboring nations were poised to overrun the walls and kill every man, woman, and child found within the city. We heard they had sent messengers to ask Nee to talk with them about a peaceful surrender. We heard that Nee refused to talk to them. Most of our friends thought this was foolish, and would end in our deaths by the hands of our enemies. They doubted Nee knew what was really happening. Their support for Nee was tentative at best.

Our curiosity got the better of us. We decided to sneak over to Nee’s. He was entertaining messengers. They came about every other day with proposals from the enemies. As we listened, we heard Nee respond to them. He told them to tell Sanballat and Tobiah and the others that he was too busy with the work God has given him to waste time to meet with them. The messengers complained and grumbled among themselves as they left: “This is the same thing he told us the other two times we were here.”

The next messenger actually brought an unsealed letter with him. Nee read the letter aloud:

“The word is out among all the nations. We have heard confirmations from all corners of the earth. You are preparing to rebel against your king so you can be named king in his place. You are telling prophets to move about Jerusalem proclaiming you as king. Word of this will get back to your king and trouble will follow. Don’t you think you better talk to us before your king comes to quash your rebellion.”

Nee, almost laughing out loud, responded: “What a bunch of lies you’ve made up! Interesting story but without a basis in truth.”

Shortly after the messengers left, a note was given to Nee. He did not say anything about the note, but when he left his room, we followed him at a distance. He went to the home of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah. We could not hear what Shemaiah said; he was whispering. But, we heard Nee’s response: “Why would I run and hide in the face of these false reports? And how could you ever think I would defile the Temple, by going there to stay behind locked doors! I am not one of the priests. I am not going into the inner sanctuary of the Temple. Do you want God to strike me down? Stop working for our enemies. How much are they paying you to get me to do something foolish?”

Nee jumped up and started walking home. We followed, but he abruptly stopped only a few steps outside Shemaiah’s door. We bumped into him. He looked at us kindly and invited us to pray with him. Right there. On the path. Out in public. We couldn’t say no, so we followed Nee’s lead and knelt down at the side of the path. Nee prayed,

“God, dear God, do not let Tobiah and Sanballat get away with their scheming. Let their mischief backfire and reflect poorly on them. Give me wisdom and give me strength. Deal with their henchmen and false prophets that have come to ruin my repetition among the people. Don’t let the people be fooled.”

We got up and walked around Jerusalem. Nee stopped to talk to people and encouraged them, convincing them that the city was in no danger from the outsiders. He was so confident that God is on our side of this situation. We were convinced . . .

Surveying the Damage: Staying the course

Tired. We did not know how tired we could get. We had never worked this hard, this diligently, this long before. We weren’t the only ones who were tired. People were complaining and whining everywhere we went. We tried to keep our thoughts to ourselves, but others were stirring the people up. They grumbled about how tired they are. Others started grumbling, too. They mumbled about how this project was too big. Others started mumbling, too.

The spies kept coming in and out reporting to Nee. As they came and went, they talked to the grumblers and mumblers. Their words caused fear among the people. “Sanballat and his friends have surrounded us! We don’t stand a chance! We will all be killed!”

We do not think Nee is ignoring these reports, but we are not sure what is going on. So, as usual, we go and hang out around Nee to see what’s going on. Nee, of course, is praying. With him, several nobles and officials are also praying. We watch until Nee stops praying and he begins talking to the men.

“Let me remind you: God gave me a job to do. God told me to come to Jerusalem, evaluate the damage, and organize the people to fix things. The people have been working hard to change the present and the future for themselves and for their children and grandchildren. We are making changes that will bring us back our dignity as a people, God’s people. We can think we are doing this on our own. We can think we cannot succeed. We can think about giving up the task God has given us. But none of that is what God wants! None of that is true! God is doing the work. We cannot be surrounded and attacked. We have stationed guards by every worker. We have a warning trumpeter ready at the first sign of trouble. All this is true. We are prepared as best as humanly possible. But don’t forget! It is not up to us to protect God’s city or God’s people. God will fight for us! We cannot be overcome.”

Nee worked out further arrangements for beefing up our defenses: all workers will wear a sword on their belts while working. Even when workers take a water break, they will carry a spear. We will each take our turns building the wall and keeping guard.

People find something else to complain about. Word gets to Nee that some do not have enough food or drink. Those with large families say that enough food is not being given to them. Nee listened to these complaints and discovered that what they say is true. The rich are not sharing with others. While some are going into greater debt, the leaders keep gathering taxes from them. Nee’s upset – angry even. He accuses the leaders of gouging their neighbors and friends, requiring the poor to go into debt while they, the rich, continue lining their pockets. The leaders become convicted and pledge to divide up the food and drink allotments evenly so each person and each family gets what they need.

Squabbles settled for now. What will be next? We will try to stay focused on the work Nee assigned to us. We hope everyone else will stay focused as well . . .

Surveying the Damage: Overcoming obstacles

This is tiring work. Lifting heavy stones and heavy logs for hours. Shaping the logs into beams using only the basic tools we have available. The iron axes and adzes work well, but they are heavy. Muscles we never knew we had hurt. We’ve been working on the wall for 25 days. The word around town is that Sanballat is no longer poking fun at us. He’s angry. Maybe afraid.

The word comes from our spies (there are many of us living outside the walls of Jerusalem). We’ve heard several different stories passed along by people, but they all have a couple of things in common: Sanballat is angry. His groupies are also angry. They think we are just playing a game. The noise and shouting sounds like a mob egging each other on encouraging violence.

We wonder what Nee is doing with these reports from the spies. We always want to be in the know, so we take off for Nee’s house. We don’t know what we expected to see. What we see should not have surprised us. Nee was praying. Still lying on the floor. Still acknowledging God’s power and protection:

“O all-powerful and loving God, act on our behalf. You know the hearts of the wicked men who desire to do us harm and discourage the workers. Instead of allowing them to make us look bad, make them look bad and defeated, carried off by their enemies. Don’t forgive them for teasing Your workers, Your people. Pour dung out upon them making them stink!”

As Nee finished praying, he looks out his upper level window and sees the work continuing. He looked around the corner and saw us eavesdropping. He smiled, waved, and sent us back to work. We skipped away knowing that when Nee prays good things happen. The rumors of Sanballat’s anger and threats did not frighten us. God is on our side. As we walk back to our section of the wall, we notice the overall progress. The wall is all connected and about half the height Nee is looking for.

The spies continue to bring reports to Nee, sharing the news with people on the way to Nee’s apartment. The nearby rulers are amazed and incensed by the progress we are making. They are making plans to attack Jerusalem, if nothing else, to disrupt the building and frighten the builders. Nee tells us to keep working. Nee took the spies’ reports seriously, but without fear. He organized a guard. Half the workers would build the wall, while the other half would stand guard with their bows and arrows, swords, and lances.

To encourage us, Nee called everyone together to encourage us. “Don’t be afraid! Focus on our God, the Master we serve. He will not allow harm to come to us. He will give us what we need to be successful; His great and awesome power will be our weapon! Don’t fear and think of yourselves. Be ready to fight, if necessary, for your children, your wives, your parents, and your homes. God will see us through.”

We work on the wall, and wait for more news from our spies . . .

Surveying the Damage: Cooperation and opposition

Taking a break from our work, we decided to see how things were going along different sections of the wall. In awe, our mouths fall open. Every section of the wall is being worked on. Craftsmen, merchants, goldsmiths, perfumers, nobles, priests, mayors, men, women, children, Temple staff, gatekeepers – everyone – is working on the walls near their places of work or homes.

Eliashib and the other priests are hard at work alongside regular people like us. The people of Jericho are working here, too. They are almost done with rebuilding the Sheep Gate. Some are now working on the wall leading to the Tower of the Hundred and further on some have started working on the wall towards the Tower of Hananel.

The Hassenaah brothers are diligently rebuilding the Fish Gate. They have hung the doors and are trying to get the bars and bolts to fit right. Farther on, we see Benjamin and Hashub working on the wall right outside their front door and next to them, Azariah, Maaseiah’s son, is doing the work near his house. The Sheep, Fish, Jeshanah, Valley, Dung, Fountain, Water, Horse, East and Inspection Gates are all being rebuilt and fitted with new bolts and bars.

We heard from several workers at one point that the local kings, Tobiah and Sanballet, who brought with them their friend, Geshem the Arab, had come to tease and tell jokes about the Israelites trying to rebuild the walls. The workers also told us what Nee had said to them:

“The God of Heaven, the only true, powerful God, will give us success. We answer to Him. We are only doing what He wants us to do. This is His city. We are His people. We are committed to serving Him even if the task seems impossible. Whether we serve God and rebuild the wall or not is not up to you. It is none of your business. And, you can do nothing about it. So, save your breath! We will do what our God asks. He will bring the success. So there!!”

We hurry back to our section of the wall. We can’t wait to continue being part of this great project. We are part of this great thing God is doing . . .

Surveying the Damage: Taking action

After Nee finished praying with the elders, nobles, priests, and local officials, he told them what he thought would work best in rebuilding the wall. It is quite simple. Each family with dwellings along and near the wall will repair the wall they are near. The people living near the areas that need repair have a vested interest in repairing their part of the wall. Nee counted on that and the family groups agreed. Each family will decide who works where and when on their section of the wall.

There is some murmuring, the family leaders discussing the proposal. They pick a spokesperson, the high priest Eliashib.

“We are ready to do what you suggest. We want to get back on track and overcome the disgrace. We want to do what is necessary to get in right relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors. Nee has shown us the ruins. We now have no excuse for leaving things the way they are.

“We did not want to look at the past damage fearing we would be overwhelmed, unable to change the situation. Nee has come from far away, and given us the encouragement and knowledge we need to do this thing. Let’s get started right now, today!”

We watched as the leaders started to leave, rolling up their sleeves, and sending messengers out to gather all able-bodied men from their families. We also are running off to find our family and our family’s portion of the wall. This is exciting. Yea Nee! Yea God! Nothing can stop us now . . .

Surveying the Damage: Recruiting the helpers

Groggy. We wake up and look around. The cobwebs of confusion give way to the light streaming in the windows. We remember. We took a walk with Nee in the middle of the night. When we fell asleep, Nee had been laying flat on the floor talking to God. He’s still at it. We hear a bit of what he is saying, “O Master, listen to me, listen to Your servant’s prayer – and yes, to all Your servants who take great pleasure in honoring You – please, make me successful today . . .”

Nee sits up with a sigh. He looks over at us. He asks us to round up the leaders of Jerusalem. He says to be polite but insistent. He wants to end the secrecy. It had not been possible to keep Nee’s presence a secret, but he had not breathed a word to anyone about why he is here. It’s time to fill in Jerusalem’s leaders: the Jews, priests, nobles, local officials, us, and anyone else who would be needed to work on the plan (whatever that is; Nee has not explained it to us either).

With the leaders sitting around him, Nee said another quick prayer under his breath. He takes a deep breath in and slowly lets it out. He begins:

“God sent me messengers while I was in Babylon. They told me about the precarious condition of Jerusalem’s defenses. I could not believe it, but I knew they did not make the trek to Babylon as some bizarre joke. God answered my prayers and my king showed favor toward me. He encouraged my desire to come and see exactly what is going on here.

“I wanted to make an accurate assessment of the current conditions as they reflect the past damage. I’m here to tell you that because we did not deal with the problems of the past, things have continued to get worse. The present conditions require much work to restore Jerusalem’s walls – and Jerusalem itself – to a condition that honors God. We cannot live with the broken walls and burned up gates. We should not live with this disgrace any longer. It is time to do something.

“God has answered my prayers all along the way. I prayed while in Babylon for the king’s favor. The king sent me here with an armed escort, and permits to use the king’s lumber for whatever we need. I prayed when I first arrived in Jerusalem. I was able to go out and secretly assess the damages wrought by the past. I prayed after surveying the damage. God gave me direction and a plan for dealing with the current situation.

“It is time to use the information gathered, and the provision of God, to repair the wall. We are no longer restricted by our past. We are not worthless, useless, hopeless, or disobedient people. Stop living like that. Today I will lay down a plan for restoration. Yes, repairing the walls is part of that. More importantly, God has a plan for restoring us to a right relationship with Him, and a new powerful relationship with our neighboring nations.

“Are you ready to do what God wants you to do? Are you ready to shake loose from the events and situations of your past? Are you ready to allow God to work in your lives? Are you ready to live forgiven and right with God?

“Let’s pray . . .”

Surveying the Damage: Investigating the condition

We spent the first day sleeping and eating. It is so nice to be in Jerusalem again. After the first night of good sleep, one of us kept watch wondering what Nee would do next. Nee’s armed escort had left to return to Babylon. It was easier to hang around Nee without the soldiers guarding him. Nee was now including us in his life. He knew us. We were, after all, the guys that took Nee the update on the state of Jerusalem.

After three days of hanging around we are antsy and bored. It’s the middle of the night, but we hear some rustling within the house. Nee peeks out, sees us, and asks us to get a donkey for him. We are trying to find one, but we don’t understand why. He didn’t tell us his plans for this donkey.

Returning to the house where Nee is staying, we see him waiting for us. It’s the middle of the night. What’s Nee up to? Nee gets on the donkey and signals us to follow him as quietly as we can. Nee is heading toward the Valley Gate, one of several gates leading in and out of Jerusalem. Once outside the walls of the city, we follow the wall around to the Dragon’s Fountain, then move on to the Dung Gate. Nee is upset. It appears to us that he is about to cry.

We watch Nee and notice he is looking at the crumbling walls and the ruined gates. We see what he’s looking at. Stones, big and small, scattered where the wall should be and thick beams for the gates in ashes. We continued around Jerusalem’s boundaries, where walls used to stand. There is too much rubble blocking our path. The rubble makes it impossible for the donkey to navigate. Nee gets off the donkey and we continue on foot. We are getting closer to the King’s Pool. One of the gates should be here, but there are only stones, rocks, and charred wood.

Still dark out, we walk a little further around the wall following the brook that flows here. Nee stops from time to time, and he is doing it again. On his knees, face to the ground, we think he is praying. We know what God did before as the result of Nee’s praying, so we are anticipating something good to happen. Nee tells us it is time to return to his dwelling before the light comes. We follow him back through the Valley Gate and to his room. He isn’t saying anything. He doesn’t tell us what this nighttime walk is about. He prays again, we think. We fell asleep without knowing . . .

Surveying the Damage: Surviving the journey

On this day, still running and walking as fast as we can, we caught up to Nee’s convoy, just as they were preparing and serving the evening meal. The tents were up and the smell of burning coals lingered in the air. We were not invited to the same circle as Nee to eat the prepared meal. There would be no warm food or tea for us. We took what we could scrounge up. But, we sat as close to the inner circle as possible.

Nee was discussing with his advisors their progress so far. They had some delays making the estimated two-week trip a little longer than expected. The letters the king gave to Nee were helpful, but only to a point. The convoy was stopped several times by soldiers of the other kings, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. They made the convoy wait while messengers were sent to the kings with the letters. The messengers came back quickly. Sanballat and Tobiah wanted Nee’s convoy out of their lands as soon as possible.

We had been grateful for the delays. They had given us chances to catch up. We mixed in with the messengers upon their returns. We were hoping we would be fed. We heard the messengers talking among themselves about the responses they received from Sanballat and Tobiah. Both rulers were angry, and a little afraid. They could not understand why anyone would do something to help those upstart Israelites; the same Israelites that had for years fought with them, killing their men and plundering their wealth. They couldn’t do anything rash with the Israelite convoy under guard by the soldiers, but they could get them out of their lands as soon as possible.

Listening to Nee and his advisors talk, we couldn’t tell if Nee knew about the animosity Sanballat and Tobiah felt toward the Israelites. As the light of the cooking fire danced over us, we sat in the shadows listening and wondering. Nee had been sad in the king’s presence, he had asked for permission to go to Jerusalem, and he had asked for help. All that took some kind of extraordinary courage. Yet, now, Nee was worried. He kept asking the leaders of the armed escort if they were there yet. He was afraid he would not be back at the time he promised his king. He didn’t know how long the job would take and he did not want to presume that the king would understand.

The advisors and soldiers compared notes and told Nee that the journey was almost over, maybe only a day’s journey left. It couldn’t come soon enough for us. We were tired of running. And when we got to Jerusalem, we would be in our own familiar town, and could eat and sleep in our own houses. We did not want to be too far away from Nee while in Jerusalem, but we could really use a good night sleep . . .

Surveying the Damage: Getting prepared

Careful. Watch out for that . . . “OUCH” . . . that prickly bush. Sneaking into the palace is not as easy as we thought it would be. We came to report the situation to Nee and the other exiles. We thought he would moan and complain with us about being deserted by God and about God not protecting us. He took the higher road; he outclassed us; he schooled us.

Nee drop to his knees, and lay with his face in the dirt, to praise God, to plea for forgiveness for himself and for all of us, and to prepare us to do God’s work according to His desires. Nee asked for God to show what He wanted the exiled people of Jerusalem to do, and he asked to be shown what he was supposed to do as God’s faithful servant. Still on our knees in Nee’s room, we heard bells ring. Nee jumped up and grabbed the King’s wine cup, and ran off. We followed him as far as we could. We inched our way behind the curtains and tapestries until we were close enough to hear.

The King noticed that Nee was troubled as Nee, his favorite cupbearer, poured his wine. He asked Nee what had him so down, so miserable, that he was unable to be happy in the presence of the King. That behavior could get a cupbearer executed, but the King was moved by Nee’s account of the state of things in his homeland. The King did not call for his execution, which he knew he deserved; instead the King asked Nee what he needed to make the journey to Jerusalem, and what he needed to make things right.

We watched all this in awe. Not of the King whose fame and might are legendary, but of God’s power and provision through a faithful servant. Faithful to the God of Heaven. Faithful to his captor King. So the King trusted him with great wealth of materials, tools, and workers; and he wrote letters to the surrounding governments asking them to give Nee’s convoy safe passage. As a final “blessing” for Nee’s mission, the King gave orders for an armed escort to go with Nee all the way to Jerusalem.

Watching, unbelieving but seeing it all unfold, we were amazed (and not a little ashamed that our faith was so very tiny compared to Nee’s). We argued among ourselves about who could’ve done it better, or who could have been a better, more competent, leader than Nee. Focused on ourselves with our idle arguing we almost missed it. Nee’s rapidly assembled convoy was ready and left on the appointed day. We had to run to catch up having no animals given to us by the King. Nee was such a big shot having won over the enemy king. We wanted to be there to see Nee’s plans fail. We will continue running and hopefully not miss anything . . .

It’s About God’s Grace; Forgiveness Part 3

Forgiveness only exists because God with His mercy, in His grace, has forgiven those who acknowledge Him. He has forgiven me.

I still don’t understand why God, through the apostles Matthew and Mark, chose to link our forgiving others with His forgiving us. I guess there are some things – as much as I hate to admit it – that we will not understand until we are in the presence of the Teacher.

The questions I ask myself are, “Do I have to understand what God is doing?” Simply, no. Followed by, “Do I have to understand what God is calling me to do?” Simply, yes. And what He is asking me to do is forgive others, unconditionally, because I know what it’s like to be unconditionally forgiven. When I forget how much dirt God has cleaned off my slate, I forget to forgive others and wipe their slates clean. There is a parable Jesus told His disciples that explains His position much better than I can [Matthew 18:25 – 35 (MESSAGE)]:

The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his pleas the king let him off, erasing the debt.

The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’

The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.

Forgiveness. It is hard to do, especially if we try to do it by our own strength. However, we don’t need to do it on our own. We can draw strength from the mercy God has shown toward us. We can forgive others, by the power of the Holy Spirit, because God forgives us.

Our Pastor on Sunday talked about “The Biblical Process for Forgiving Others.” I’m still working on applying those steps into my life. Maybe I will revisit forgiveness at some time in the future, when I have it all figured out! Visit fowlervilleub.org to listen to Pastor Mark’s series on Forgiveness. It will be worth the time. (You can also download the notes and follow along with the message.)