PSALM 139 - For You, Robin.

O, Lord, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.   (Verses 1-3)

Vanessa had a pretty gnarly day yesterday, her first full day in her new position at work. All kinds of new things to learn, some very frustrating and coming from an even more frustrating corporate type. We listened to her last night while she became emotional about the day. But underneath the obvious first day jitters was the fact that she misplaced her keys to the restaurant...ALL the keys on the same ring. And she's a manager now. They all looked everywhere. Nothing. Feeling inadequate and a little irresponsible, it just made the day rougher. I hate losing things. You wouldn't know that because I'm still always doing that--losing stuff. My glasses. My car keys. Where I just put the papers I was rifling through. It makes me feel stupid. Stupid is my go-to response to circumstances I think are my fault. So, in the night and early this morning I just prayed and prayed over those dumb keys for Vanessa! Lord, You know where they are. You see them right now. Please make them visible to others. You can imagine how great I felt when Vanessa texted me cheerily part way through the day to say they had been found!

This little incident pretty much sums up these three verses. God sees and knows me. He knows what makes me tick. The things that thrill me. Circumstances that make me fighting mad.  He understands how I'm probably going to react to life because God knows when I sit down or stand up. What I'm thinking at any particular time. Where I'm going and where I've been. All of it. Every bit. My best and worst thoughts. My greatest failings and my highest achievements. God is inside my head. And His Spirit is like a heat-seeking missile checking out my heart. My heavenly Father knows me. Better than I know myself. That can either be a comfort or a shame. It certainly makes me stop and think. There are times when what goes on in my mind is anything but what I'd want Jesus to be looking at, much less what I actually do! It should be sobering to us, but also a great comfort. If we are intentionally living for Him, we want God there all the time. And, we want to know Him the way He knows us! Intimately. Fully. I say to Him all the time: "Don't let me get away with anything that doesn't please You." That's why I don't sleep all the time. Yep.

It's what we all want, though, to know and be known. For someone to care so deeply about us that when we talk with her she just gets us. Wants to hear our story. God is so interested in our lives that He wants to answer the prayer, "Where are my keys, Father?" It's not too simple for Him. I'm still praying that Jesus will tell a precious friend of mine where a ring is that her mother gave her. That's not a prayer I think is silly to pray because God, for Pete's sake, has better things to do with His time than care about our stuff. No! My God is there. In everything I do. Knows me. Loves me. Cares about what I care about. That makes me want to love Him reciprocally. Care about what He cares about. Know what makes Him tick. Know as I am known. Someday I will. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13).  I want to know Him more. And more. And more.
 

PSALM 138 - Tuesday Blues

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life. You stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands.
(Verses 7-8)

He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6

There is a path before each of us that leads up a road paved with purpose. Specific purpose. Along the road are thorns and thistles, mountains and streams, deserts and valleys, snow and sunshine. It's not a straight road, but winds here and there, taking us into countries we've never heard of and feel ill prepared to travel through. There are also forks in the road. Confusing to our sensibilities. Which one? An opportunity for faith? A diversion for us to choose? All leading to the same place, perhaps. And lest we think the path leads to our one purpose, we find gratifying joy and aching growth all along the way. It is the path that is purposeful. And the road leads home.

I've been up since two-thirty this morning grappling with purpose, so it's interesting that this should be the portion of Psalm 138 that has been divinely assigned to me today. To have to look at the quandary: What am I doing with my life right now? It seems to me that I've been called to just do it in my journey. Without the compensation the work deserves. Either to me personally as in "Great job, Kay!"  Or monetarily as in money. It's led me to ask on several occasions, probably ad nauseam to my Father, "Where are we going?" The obvious answer is, "Not where you thought we were going."

That's all right with me as long as I know I'm on the right path, the one where He holds my hand and leads me on. I will confess to being an over-achiever...I like A's. Or A+'s. I feel like a C student right now. And I'm working really hard on this gravelly road to Him. Maybe too hard. I think He would say to me this morning to enjoy the journey a bit more without the stress of the outcome...or income. It's all purpose. No twist or turn unproductive. Nothing surprising my Father. Oh, my I didn't see that coming sort of thing. I might feel lost. He never is.

There is an enemy standing in the way sometimes. His foot stretched out across the way to trip me up when I come along. And,  man, has he kicked me about at times. Yelling, throwing rocks, cursing at me, bringing shame to the very path I cling to. Wrenching me from the hand I was holding. Lying to me that the path goes nowhere. And if it did, I'm not good enough for the destination. The enemy is a robber. Wanting to take all the gifts my Father has given to me. To open each one and laugh that I thought myself good enough for such stuff. There's trouble on the trip. Don't think it's always going to be easy. But it is always going to be worth it! I've seen my Father slap the enemy away from me. He's even told me I can do that myself...in His name. To clear the path ahead of even the shadow of the thief.

Jesus promised He'd keep us. Present us one day to the Father as those who belong to Him. In fact, right before His death, Jesus prayed this prayer: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one." That God not forsake us on our way home. That He fight for our hearts and minds. Push away the scoundrel who would darken our footpath, snuff out our joy and kill our purposes. So maybe the path isn't very clear on down the road today for me or, maybe, you. But I'm up for a new day. It's all I really have. The light to my feet sheds enough clarity that I know what I'm going forward into on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, the Lord willing. I have purposes that are not circumstance specific. Be salt and light. Trust in the Lord with all my heart and don't try to lean on my own understanding. Enjoy Christ. Love others. Live in peace as far as it is in my power to do so. Share the gospel. Listen to the voice of my God. I've got lots to do that has nothing to do with Tuesday, but has everything to do with eternity. How about you?

PSALM 138 - Running Into Traffic

For the Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar.  (Verse 6)

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself/herself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.     James 4: 4-8   Italics, mine

Vanessa was almost four years old when a little girl moved in down the street from us. Also almost four years old. The child lived with her grandmother who had sole custody of her. I know there must have been issues in her little life. Her baby teeth were rotted and blackened. She wasn't always clean. And she ran around the neighborhood at will. Including crossing the relatively busy street in front of our house, daring traffic to hit her. Vanessa was told she could play with her new friend at our house. Where I could watch them. Our children understood they were never to run out into the street. There was no equivocation about it. Do not run out into the street!

Of course, there came that morning when I was doing dishes and Vanessa was with her new playmate. In a second's time, they were out the front door. By the time I reached the doorway, I could see my daughter with the little girl running with all their might into the middle of the road. "Vanessa Joy, get right back here!" Screaming my command at her as my heart beat with both anger and fear.
She turned her head, blond pigtails flapping in her face, and kept on going. "Vanessa!" Firmly this time. "Come and get me," she cried, taunting and testing. Flying into disobedience with a certain joy. Like running across the street was taking her into a foreign land filled with excitements she couldn't possibly imagine. And then there is the thrill of doing the thing that you know is wrong. Certainly rules are made to be broken because rules keep us from all the fun.

I came and got her. Bigger than she. Smarter than she. I grabbed her sweaty body up into my arms. Pointed out to the neighbor girl that their playtime was now over. And, yes, I swatted Vanessa on the rear. "You can never, ever do that again!" I didn't say: "If your friend jumped over a cliff, would you jump over with her?" Afraid, perhaps, the answer in that moment would be, "Yes!".  My child stayed inside close to me that day. I was jealous over her life. Over the guidelines we'd set that kept our children safe. Farish children don't play in the traffic. And if their friends draw them away in rebellion, Farish parents go get them! It's just that simple. So, as I stooped down in front of Vanessa that morning, explaining why she must obey me, I was trying to make her understand that our guidelines were set up to protect her because we love her. She cried. I teared up. Looking into her big blue eyes as they tried to make sense of my words. My daughter had to calm her disobedience, too. It made her mad that I stopped her folly. Running headstrong into disobedience had the reward of the rush of adventure.

Not hard to see where I'm going with this. God has put His Spirit within those of us who are His. He doesn't want that tainted--marred by disobedience. The yielding of our lives to the enemy whose desire it is not only to confuse us, but to absolutely destroy us (John 10:10). As the good Father that He is, He will take charge. But it's a lot more difficult with who just want to disobey, knowing somewhere deep inside that God is making them miss the fun. It creates resistance in God, too. Those of us who keep on rebelling against His will create a certain determination in God toward us. It's very hard to help someone who doesn't want it. I'm glad to say today that Vanessa is grown up and not racing out into the street. She tested me in a thousand other ways, but the boundaries were firm. As an adult, she has said over and over again how grateful she is for parents who loved her enough to reign her in sometimes. We all test God this way. Even if it's just sticking our toe into territory He has deemed off limits. The humble have it a whole lot better. Sidling up to the Father in perfect peace. Knowing that He is right in His judgments. Loving in His responses. And if we keep kicking against what God knows is right for us, wanting to experience all the pleasures of the world (which, by the way, He doesn't withhold from us) with the world, we will eventually look just like everyone else. Not like a member of God's family.

Our God stoops to make us great (Psalm 18:35). For those who will listen, the Father will crouch down in front of our faces, as I did that day with Vanessa, and teach us how to be joyful, fruitful, peaceful and happy. It's what the world is looking for...in all the wrong places. God is higher than we are...thoughts and all. And the God of the universe wants to impart those thoughts to us! Draw near to the Father's face and listen. For He would stoop before you and speak life.

PSALM 138 - "Meh" Is Not The Correct Response

All the kings of the earth shall give You thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of Your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.
(Verses 4-5)

Behold, My Servant shall act wisely; He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at You--His appearance was so marred, beyond human resemblance, and His form beyond that of the children of man--so shall He sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard, they understand.  Isaiah 52:13-15     Italics, mine

If you are a Christian, what drew you to Jesus? What made the difference for you--kept you from walking away from Him? For most of us, I think, it's the cross. How could a person who understands what really happened there say, "Meh...not so much"? For those who've heard the gospel, the good news, and chosen another path, I'm guessing one of two things happened: they didn't fully understand the cross of Christ or some Christian/s turned them off with hypocrisy or self-righteousness. I can't speak to the second, but I can speak to the cross.

I was discussing atonement Wednesday night with Will's sweet girlfriend, Nikki, with whom I have the privilege of going through the  New Testament book of John. We came upon Chapter 3 that evening. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to see Jesus at night, out of the glaring light of day and away from the eyes of the other counsel members. Jesus says three spectacular things to this ruler. "You must be born again." Not by going back into your mother's womb, of course. The other part of you...the inner one that is truly you...needs to be born a different way. Transformed, really, from all self into an everlasting soul capable of looking for eternity into the face of a holy God.

Next, Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." Jesus was referring to the time when the refugees from Egypt complained in their journey that they had no water or food. Well...they had manna. "We're sick of this stuff!" Really. That's what they cried out to Moses. An angry God allowed pretty much all the snakes in the desert to slither through their camp and bite them. Poisonous and deadly. God was outraged by their ingratitude and grumbling. They were terrified of the snakes. "Save us!" From the serpents. "Moses, wrap a fiery snake around a pole and lift it up between heaven and earth," said God. "Everyone who looks upon the pole will be saved...healed." God, finding a way to excuse them once again. So Moses fashioned a serpent from bronze and held it high as God instructed. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that there was going to be a wooden structure lifted up between heaven and earth once more. This time Jesus would be on it. The serpent's power forever voided for all who look to Jesus. Referring, of course, to the lying serpent, Satan.

The third stunning thing Jesus said was this was going to happen because God loves the world enough to sacrifice Himself on our behalf. For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes on Him should have life everlasting (John 3:16).

The central question of salvation in my mind is Why?  Why did Jesus need to be a sacrifice? Isn't there some way besides God becoming man and bleeding out for our eternal life? This is what Nikki and I discussed. In the moment, God gave me an example based on recent news of the beheadings of three journalists by ISIS. Using a crude knife the Islamic terrorists brutally murdered three innocent men, all of it captured for our horror, on video. Our government reacted. We recoiled. How do we atone for their deaths? Get even? Make their deaths not be in vain? How can we right this wrong, for a price has to be paid for such horrendous injustice? We all know this. Have a sense that one must pay for wrongs done.

In that scenario, we are not the journalists. We are the terrorists. Guilty of stuff, great and small. And it's all disgusting to a holy God--a just and holy God. We need either justice or forgiveness. Those are our options as sinful people. Sin is sin to God. Jealousy, envy, cheating, lying equals murder, adultery and armed robbery. All need justice or forgiveness.

God so loved the world, He came to us to be a sacrificial atonement for the sin we all commit. All of us. It doesn't matter how good we think we are, by His standard of holiness, we will all fall short. He knows this. And fixed it. So there's no argument about God being mean and oppressive, unforgiving and malevolent. No one would say that about another human who took a death sentence for them here on Earth. To that person, we would understand our debt. On a personal level, one by one, Jesus set us free. We can trade His righteousness for our sin. Christ was beaten beyond recognition as a human being even before He was hung on the cross to finish the sacrificial death. God blood sprinkled the whole Earth. Not just the Jewish nation. All nations in the whole world. For every conceivable sin--large and small. Kings and paupers alike need to stand in awe. See and understand. For one day every nation, kings and princes, ambassadors and premiers, tyrants and zealots, will bow down as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes in obvious glory. At long last receiving the acknowledgement long denied Him. So great a love should compel us to surrender our sinfulness for His grace. How could such a gift be refused?

"The cross in not simply an atonement, but a revelation of how God works with the people He loves."
Tim Keller

 

PSALM 138 - Unanswered Prayer?

On the day I called, You answered me. My strength of soul You increased.  (Verse 3)

Daniel lived in Persia when Cyrus was the king. He and three of his boyhood Jewish friends were taken to Babylon during the captivity to live in King Nebuchadnezzar's palace where they'd learn the Chaldean language and literature. The young men were picked because they were handsome, good students and as nearly perfect as teenagers can be. When the Jewish nation left their captivity in Babylon seventy years later, Daniel stayed. He was important in the courts by then. A wise and tested leader. An interpreter of dreams. Cyrus had been king for three years when Daniel was given a vision that disturbed him so much he spent three weeks in mourning and fasting. Though the prophet understood the vision, it seems he didn't know what to do with it. In those three weeks of fasting and prayer, crying over the devastating news he'd seen in the vision, there seemed no real answer from God.

When the fast was complete, Daniel went for a walk on the banks of the Tigris River with some of his confidants. In the midst of an ordinary day, taking an ordinary walk an extraordinary thing happened. Daniel looked up to see a man standing in front of him. He was clothed in fine white linen with a glistening gold belt cinching it closed. The man's body glowed like a faceted jewel and his face was bright like lightning with eyes that glowed like flames of fire. His skin looked like polished bronze and when the man spoke it sounded like a multitude was speaking from his mouth. Only Daniel saw this man; his companions were overcome with fear, however, and hid themselves in the nearby bushes. So, Daniel was left alone with the fearsome messenger, and his strength left him as the man began speaking. The prophet passed out.

The stranger didn't leave him in a fainted heap on the banks of the Tigris, though. He touched Daniel and the prophet rose in his quaking fear to his hands and knees.  And the first thing the messenger said to him was, "Daniel, you are greatly loved." An amazing thing to hear when Daniel had prostrated himself in unanswered prayer for three weeks. "Understand the words I'm saying to and stand up straight. Now I've been sent to you."

Daniel managed to stand up on very unsteady legs and looked into the face of the one sent to him. "From the very first day you began praying and fasting, humbling yourself before God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. Since then I have been fighting the demonic prince of Persia, along with Michael, a chief prince of heaven, for these twenty-one days. I have come now to answer your prayer and tell you what will happen to your people in the last days."

I have a few "unanswered" prayers. I have a multitude of answered ones! But we often struggle, like Daniel did, with aching hearts and confusing circumstances, and we've given them to God over and over again without seeming result or answer. For Daniel, it was of national importance. For us, most of the time, it's about our family, our finances, our health or our future. But God's answer to us is the same. "Child, you are loved very much." First and foremost, that was what God wanted Daniel to hear as he rose from his crumpled humility to face the glowing angel. The prayer wasn't delayed because you aren't precious to God. There is a battle you couldn't possibly have known about going on over that prayer. Demonic princes fighting mighty warring angels over the request Daniel made...and, I'm confident, over ours. And the angel said, "Your prayers were heard immediately!" Not the third or fourth time you prayed. Not at the end of the three weeks of fasting. No! As soon as the prayer came from his lips, it was heard! Daniel had to wait because there were things going on only God knew about. It had nothing to do with the fact that Daniel wasn't valuable and that his prayers weren't as good as someone else's.

When the angel finished interpreting for Daniel what God wanted, he touched the prophet again and strengthened him. "O, greatly loved man, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and courageous." And Daniel said, "I was strengthened as he spoke to me and was brave enough to stand and listen to all he said." Ah, the power of knowing we are loved and heard. That all along God has been working out what so concerns us. What the angel told Daniel needed courage to hear. It wasn't roses and sunshine. But it was the message of a powerful, loving God to a man who needed an answer. And it gave Daniel the courage he needed to obey his God.

Answered prayer tells us God sees us and loves us. It is such pure joy to swim in the wonder of knowing our Father is listening. It gives us the energy to go on. In faith. Unanswered prayer should signal that God is doing something we can't fathom in the moment. The faith inspired by all the times we've been obviously heard and answered should encourage us in the times when God seems silent. Because He's always working on our behalf. And if the answers are tough, He will strengthen us to hear it. Always, always prefaced with these words: "You are greatly loved."
 

PSALM 138 - The Birthday Spanking

I give You thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the angels I sing Your praise. I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your steadfast love and faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word.
(Verses 1-2)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1

(May) the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the work of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come.   Ephesians 1   italics, mine

I was taught from a very early age that when someone does something nice for you, you say, "Thank you." The lesson was really brought home on my sixth birthday. I still do this: get something in my mind that I'd like to have and tend to obsess about it. But not so much as when I was six. My "wanter" is much less significant for me in these years of my life. Back then, I wanted a watch. I really, really, really wanted a watch for my birthday. My parents had a big party for me. I couldn't sleep the night before for thinking about the watch that somebody would surely give me. Man! I wanted to wind it and set it and show it off. Forget the birthday cake and the candles and let me at those presents! My first disappointment came when my cousin, an adult male who lived in our house, gave me a picture he'd drawn. Really? I'm six! What am I gonna do with that? Then came a stream of games and stuff that made me even more anxious to open the watch I was sure was beneath somebody's nicely wrapped gift. One after another. No watch. Just other stuff. Late to the party came my Sunday school teacher carrying a beautifully wrapped gift that I now know would've been way too big to be a watch. But ever optimistic and a bit greedy, I tore into the package thinking, This is it! It was doll furniture. Plastic doll furniture. Cute. But, hey, not a watch. So, I looked at her in all sincerity and said the thing that was on my mind (rarely a good thing). "It's nice, but Í wanted a watch."  The unfortunate thing about this scenario was that Mother was standing there. I got smarter as I got older in this regard. At least wait until your mom is out of earshot to be an entitled little brat. As you can imagine, my mother excused herself and me. I'm glad she spanked me on my sixth birthday. Told me to be thankful. Withheld giving me a watch until Christmas that year...that was another whole four months. An ungrateful heart is an ugly thing.

Can you even imagine how God must feel when we withhold a thankful heart from Him? The gift from Him? Christ, of course. The Word Who called everything into being came down to those He created on the earth He'd set in motion to look at the stars He calls by name in order to make us God's inheritance. We are the ones Jesus came to claim as His precious endowment. Bought us out of the slavery in which we languished with no hope in sight and called us Beloved. Along with our salvation we receive the benefits of a Father Whose power is beyond comprehension. And God uses that power on our behalf, just like He did with Jesus when He raised Him from the dead! That's power! The everlasting love of a Father like that is a gift--outright undeserved by us. We are ungrateful, whining children most of the time. Wanting more, more, more!

Remember the ten lepers? They were standing outside a village, ostracized and hated because of their disfiguring disease. The lepers didn't approach Jesus, but yelled at Him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus didn't touch them. Didn't demand anything from them. Didn't forgive them of sin. Didn't ask them to confess or plead or have great faith. "Go and show yourselves to the priest." That's it. The problem was, the priest wouldn't get anywhere near ten unclean lepers. So, they had to be healed on the way to the temple. Had to be cleansed in the process of their faith. It took guts to even walk in that direction. But they were healed. A gift. Unspeakable. Unbelievable. Life-changing. Men who'd been freed to go back to families and jobs and life because Jesus spoke. The Word said so. And they all came running back to thank Him!!! Oops. No. Only one. One. And this one guy, when he realized on his way to town that all his leprous sores were gone, that the word was true and right, just started shouting. Praising God with his screaming! Ran back. Fell at the feet of Jesus. "Thank you! Thank you, Master! Thank you!" Jesus wanted to know, "Where are the other nine?" Don't know. Entitled somehow to think Jesus owed them a healing. And they missed the greater miracle. This Samaritan man, a foreigner, outcast, never had to go all the way to the temple. Jesus declared him clean because he was so thankful. Ah, the beauty of a grateful heart. The Samaritan had the joy of seeing pure Joy get happy with him. Bathed in the radiance of the face of Jesus Who honored the leper for his acknowledgment and unabashed thankfulness!

I have a heart full of thankfulness today! None of that would be possible without the preeminence of the Name and the Word. Jesus is the reason for my living. I dance because I am His inheritance. Treasured and kept because I am so precious. Life has its ups and downs, but the constant is the One Whose Name and Word sustain all things. There in the valleys to hold me; there on the mountain top to sing with me. Every other gift this Earth can bestow will go away someday. Watches included. Jesus remains. Forever. The angels praise Him day and night. It is my incomprehensible right to join in the chorus.



 

PSALM 137 - Two Sides to Every Story

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to the foundations!" O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!   (Verses 7-9)  italics, mine

All right, all right. I know what you're thinking because that's what I thought at first when I read the last verse of this psalm. Who prays to have someone's kid dashed against a rock? There is a backstory here that is brutal, though.

Edomites.  The descendants of Esau, Jacob's twin brother. The Kings Highway ran through their land and they had denied the refugees of Jacob's line passage through Edom as they escaped Egypt. Years later, when Ahaz was king of Judah, Edomites utterly destroyed Jerusalem in a violent takeover. As the kin of Jacob, with the blood of Abraham in their veins, they should have protected Israel, not cast lots for "who got what loot" as the holy city was being crushed. Obadiah tells it this way: On that day you stood aloof, on that day strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. They were acting just like the enemy! Obadiah was prophesying in the moment. When the Edomites still had time to repent. The prophet warned them not to gloat, not to loot, not to stand at the crossroads and cut off the fugitives, turning them, for ransom, over to the enemy; don't rejoice over your brother's misfortune or enter the city for treacherous purposes. All of which they were in the process of doing when Obadiah warned them. It did no good. Ravaged by their own family, Israel lay in ruins. The final warning to the line of Esau was this: For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. But the punishment wasn't as swift as the nation of Israel wanted. They waited upon a patient God who gave the Edomites another chance.

Babylon. They had carried out excessive violence against the helpless in Jerusalem. There are epic stories of beheadings and mass murders, of grabbing children and dashing them against the desert rocks, raping women, and ripping open the bodies of pregnant women to take the child and kill the mother.

So, would we have our God stand by? Would that be just? I think about the beheadings of the two journalists gone viral on YouTube recently. Using a small knife, not the quick blade of a shiny, honed sword. No. The deaths were especially brutal. What would we do with those men? The haters who would kill innocent reporters for no reason except renown? It sickens our God even more than it sickens us. Any injustice against His Beloved is an injustice against Him. He takes it personally. Not just wars and things. Your personal life as a child of God is His to protect, defend and avenge. I believe in our struggles against those who try to break us, kill us, there is a time when God stands up, heart pounding and fists pumping, and says, "Enough!" Be assured, He's given your opponent plenty of opportunity to repent. But God won't let evil win against us forever. As you have done to a child of God in unrepentant gloating, that will be done to you. My Father has a big heart, a just mind and an unrelenting desire to protect those who belong to Him.

Feel better now?