No Peace for the Wicked

I thought it was "no rest for the wicked," but I did a little research and found myself to be in error.  The biblical statement in Isaiah 57:20-21 says "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."  Isaiah 48:22 says almost the same thing: “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” This verse comes after a description of the things God accomplished for the Children of Israel during their wanderings in the desert.

It is easy enough to see how "peace" got replaced with "rest" in literature and references.  In chapter 57 peace is equated with rest.  The troubled sea cannot rest, and the wicked have no peace.


Sometimes we read this to mean peace of mind.  The wicked have no peace or rest because they are tormented with the evil in their thoughts and intentions.  This torment suggests that at least they have a conscience.  Their greed or lust or lack of control still leads them to evil.  There are multiple causes of evil in the mind of humans, and all of them prevent peace and rest.


Peace can have several meanings:  Political peace among nations, peace of heart and soul, peace within a family, peace to grow and learn.  Rest, too, can mean a time to refresh and restore the body, rest from labor, and after harvest the land is at rest.  In the Jewish calendar the land rested and no crops were planted in certain years.  1 Kings 4:25 speaks of the time when "every man lived in safety under his own vine and his own fig tree;" the picture of peace and rest is easy to imagine.  It does not mean there is no labor, but the work is fruitful and provides grapes and figs and shade in the heat of the day.


Peace and rest are valuable, priceless maybe.  They come to those with a clear conscience who have placed their trust in God.  If you find yourself tormented and unable to achieve peace or rest, maybe you first should seek forgiveness.  Then count your blessings.  What has God done for you?  Even if you have an illness or financial problems, peace can still be in your heart.  As you live obediently, you will find his peace spreading in all the areas of your life.

What Is the Deal with Idols?

I don't think Christians understand the reason for the great anger and retribution God directed toward the Hebrews in the Old Testament.  Much of the text of the prophetic writings and the punishment of the Exile came about because of the worship of idols.  I am afraid we think of idols as cultural oddities or evidence of ancient civilizations, rather than the severe affront to his love and mercy that God saw in the practice of worship of idols.

Idols are a man made symbol of a false god.  They are created by human imagination and effort.  God compares idolatry to adultery.  He says it is like unfaithfulness in marriage.  When we have known and experienced the love and mercy of God and then turn from him to seek peace of spirit in other religions, we have have committed adultery. 

Yesterday I began reading an article about Paul Haggis who is a writer and director and creative person in the TV and movie industry.  Haggis had been very active in the Church of Scientology, but he withdrew from the group when he found them to be in conflict with ideas he thought were morally wrong.  In the process he identified several ideas and ideals that didn't match up with the avowed goals of the church.  In reading the article I found a lot of faults in the belief system.  

• It places human beings at the apex of power and authority.
• It seeks to develop people according to human perceptions of righteousness.
• It never even speaks of God.
• It charges its members for "classes" to learn how to be spiritual.
• It uses psychological methods dictated by the leaders to teach their methods while denying people help from independent counselors.
• It is a system of mind control and a very lucrative one for the Church of Scientology.

The worship of idols is not just an interesting diversion.  It denies people the benefits of true worship of God.  It distorts the mind and the heart.  For all their claims of success in business and professional pursuits, adherents like Paul Haggis found nothing but emptiness and frustration as the foundation of their faith.  

In the Old Testament God punished the Israelites to bring them back to him.  After the return to Israel we don't see any evidence of the golden calf that had been with them since they wandered in the wilderness.  But they paid a horrible penalty for that mistake.  We, too, will suffer tragedy and failure when we turn from God to idols. 

The Right Hand of My Righteousness

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.  KJV

This quote is from the King James Version.  It still has the old forms like  "thou" and "thee," but it's easy enough to understand.  I use it because I like some things about it.  Sometimes we face problems or life situations  that make us afraid, but God says we don't have to yield to that fear for some very specific reasons. 

1. He says he is with us.  I have always read this as a personal promise, but it was actually addressed to the people of Judah during the exile.  It was a group promise so I have used the collective in this instance--we and us.  "Fear thou not" may be loosely translated by people who live in East Texas like this, "Hey, y'all don't be afraid."  For those who don't know what "y'all" means--it is a colloquial contraction of "all of you" or "you all."
2. The reason we don't have to fear is that God is with us.  I can remember that as a child I was not afraid in a storm when I was with my parents.  They knew what to do and reassured me.  Now we can have that same assurance of protection when God is present.  Bad things may happen, but in his presence, we are safe.
3. Be not dismayed--Dismay is a crumbling of our courage.  We were strong in our faith, but something came along, like an exile, and we lost our reserve of faith and courage.  What are we going to depend on now?  What resource do we have?
4. Don't you love rhetorical questions?  Not if you don't know the answer, but this time we do.  What resource do we have?  We have the assurance that God himself has proclaimed that he is our God.  He has claimed us and made us his children, his sheep, his possession.  Be not dismayed FOR I am thy God.  Change the "for" to "because."  That's why we don't have to be dismayed.
5. Now he makes another promise:  I will strengthen you.  We are strengthened by encouragement and nourishment and, sometimes, just by a drink of water.  In this case the strength comes from the action and presence of God.  He adds his strength to ours.  Maybe it's better than than:  Maybe he puts his strength in place of ours.
6. Yea--a little word, but it means a lot.  I usually read it as "Yes!" It is an affirmation of God's intention to help us.  Sometimes "yea" is a cheer, a shout.  Yea!  Whoopee!  God is here to help, to lend us his assistance. 
7. Yea, again.  Shout it!  God promises us the right hand of his righteousness.  Other translations say "my rightous right hand."  You have heard people refer to an assistant as a "right hand man" or give accolades for performance from someone who worked as a "right hand."  In some ancient societies, the left hand was less favorable.  In Latin the word that means left hand comes from the root meaning sinister.  The right hand was ususally the stronger hand.  Sometimes parents and teachers tried to force a child to use the right hand even when they were left handed by nature.  At that time nobody knew that this was controlled in the brain and all the force and restriction would not change it.  In regard to God's right hand, we need to focus on what it means in the Bible.  God's right hand is just and righteous.  Jesus sits or stands at God's right hand, and Jesus is the righteousness of God.  God has promised us himself, his presence, his strength, his help, and now, praise his name, he also promises us Jesus, his right hand. (Romans 3:21-22, Phillipians 1:11)

Go back and read the verse again.  Maybe you will want to make it personal like I do sometimes.  Maybe you will dwell on phrases that touch you in a particular situation.  Claim the promises and rejoice that you know the power and love of God's Righteous Right Hand--Jesus.

Are You Salty? Do You Add a Good Flavor?

Ezra 7--NIV

Ezra was in Babylon during the exile when he received a letter from King Artaxerxes.  Some of the exiles had returned to Judah, but the letter informed Ezra that he was to go and take with him the things he needed to help in the ceremony to honor and praise God at the Temple in Jerusalem.  The King gave Ezra all the animals and grain for sacrifice, the musicians, gatekeepers, and temple workers he needed to accomplish the task.  Ezra was selected for this assignment because he was diligent in studying and observing the Law of Moses.

Ezra 7:22 is part of the letter King Artaxerxes sent to Ezra, and it includes this list of necessary items for the sacrifice: up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit. (NIV)

This list fascinates me because of the last item:  salt without limit.  I have sought to understand this little entry, and I find it more than a little intriguing.  Salt was required to be used on all the sacrifices.  Salt is a preservative.  It wouldn’t be good for the sacrifice to begin to smell bad or yield to attack from flies and worms.  No!  The salt served a valuable purpose.  Even the meal and grain offering contained salt; the bread had no yeast, but it was made with fine flour, oil and salt.  Maybe in the grain offerings salt served to symbolize that offerings made to God must be uncorrupted.  John Wesley’s definition of the meaning of salt emphasizes that uncorrupted attitudes and motives must accompany our offerings, prayers, and work for God.

There is no measurement we can place on things represented by salt.  The salt was provided as long as it was needed.  There was to be no limit.  What can we call salt?  Is love a commodity that is represented by salt?  Is forgiveness? Is faith?  It is to be offered as long as it is needed.  Love, forgiveness, faith and, maybe patience, peace, and self-control, too, are required of each of us.  And they may be required to extend beyond our human power to produce.  That is when we must go to our source, to the salt mine for restocking.  God never meant for us to be salt without him.  Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.”(Matthew 5:13)   We can be the salt as long as we remember where our salty flavor comes from and where we must go to get refilled. 

God wants us to know he has an endless supply of all the necessary commodities to live in his grace, and he supplies us just like Ezra supplied the salt for the sacrifices—without limit.   

Jonah-Prophet to Nineveh

Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh and preach, but he did not want to go to Nineveh.  He ran from God by taking a ship that was headed to Tarshish, opposite direction from Nineveh.  Nineveh was the capitol of an enemy nation.  He hoped God would destroy them.  Yeah!!!

But he found he could not run from the presence of God.  I've tried that too.  Did it work for you?  It didn't for me.  God is persistent.  In Jonah's case the consequence was dramatic.  Mine is usually just embarrassing.  Sometimes I have missed opportunities that I seriously regretted, and other times I was just sad. 

In the belly of the fish or whale or whatever it was that rescued him from death in the depths of the sea, Jonah became serious and repentant with God.  He knew that Salvation comes from the Lord.  He shouted it for the fish, or whale,  to hear.

After the whale, O K so I called it a whale, vomited him onto dry land, he went into the city of Nineveh.  Nineveh was a huge city with a 120,000 people.  That doesn't sound so big now, but then it was.  They needed all the same facilities we have in cities today-- streets, water, homes, businesses, and food.  And compared to our resources, they were primitive.  

Jonah preached repentance from the great sins present in their culture.  Immediately the people were convicted and began to repent.  The word of Jonah even reached the King and his court.  The King also repented.  What would it take for our leaders and those who are powerful in society to begin to repent?  If our people repented would the leaders follow?  Or are we so blinded by power or prestige or influence that we have lost the ability to choose?

Of course, Jonah was preaching in the grip of a powerful spirit.  He had an experience that spurred him to action.  Our preachers go to meetings and juggle committees and try to please the people.  Jonah had given up pleasing anybody but God by the time he got to Nineveh.  He wanted to preach righteousness and get it over with.  He did!  They repented!  Praise God!

But Jonah had a pity party.  "I knew you were merciful and wouldn't destroy them.  I knew you would be compassionate.  I've gone through all this for nothing.  I thought I was going to die in the ocean, much less what I thought in the belly of that fish.  And it was all for nothing."

It wasn't for nothing though.  Without Jonah, there would have been no repentance or revival.  They would not have been convicted of their sins and the destruction would have come.  Jonah needed to understand that.  He needed to know he was the agent of God's action, and the courier that carried his word.  When have you been important in God's plan?  When did you facilitate God's forgiveness?  What is he calling you to do on his behalf today?

For more information about Jonah click here or read the story in the Bible.

Introduction to the Minor Prophets

I have been interested in the writings produced by the group of men called the Minor Prophets for a long time.   I have a blog now that I can vent and expound about things that interest me, so the Minor Prophets is my new venture for 2011.  I invite you to read with me and see what nuggets of wisdom may be hidden in these often neglected books.

First I want to define this category of books found in the Old Testament.  I thought the Old Testament was about the same for Jews as it was for Christians, but no, there are many differences.  The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Torah by Jews.  The word Torah means instruction and has come to mean the Law or even the whole Old Testament. 

There are two other categories of books the Jews recognized:  the  Prophets and the Writings.  Christians divide them as the Books of the Law, the Books of History, the Books of Wisdom or Poetry, and the Books of Prophesy.

It seems I am beginning at the end.  Maybe I can work my way back to the others.  When I discuss prophets, I remember that the prophet who met Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration was not a writing prophet.  I would like to explore a little about the ministry of the non-writing prophets too.  The prophet who met Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration was Elijah.  His story is recounted in I Kings, but he is not the first prophet of the Bible. 

Maybe we should include Moses as a prophet:  He certainly fulfilled the role.  He heard from God and spoke His truth to the Children of Israel.  He really falls in a class by himself.  He led the people for 40 years in the desert.  He was never in Israel at all. 

Moses was born to a man and woman of the tribe of Levi in the land of Egypt.  The Children of Israel had come to Egypt because a drought in Israel, but they stayed there for over 400 years.  They had grown strong and the king of Egypt feared them, so he decided to kill the baby boys so they would not outnumber or overpower the people of Egypt.  His mother delivered him in secret and kept him hidden for three months.  Then she left him in a basket in the reeds where the daughter of the Pharaoh bathed in the Nile River.  Pharaoh's daughter kept him and raised him as a prince of Egypt.

Now I have been chasing rabbits, that is to say, straying from the thought I started with.  I guess I need to deal with these prophets and the lessons they have to teach me in a more organized way.  I'm not sure if I should call this an introduction or just a wandering thought.  But now I can begin to discuss the prophets, and maybe the kings, and maybe other things too, in a more concentrated manner.  Check back now and then to see where I've wandered next.

Joel Proclaims Destruction

The Prophets are mostly noted for their messages of destruction.  Joel follows that pattern.  He opens by calling for repentance because of judgment from God in the form of a plague of locusts.  He describes the great terror of assault from the hoard of flying insects and the caterpillars that crawl on the plants.  They leave nothing.  The cattle will have no grass.  The grapes will be devoured.  The grain will be stripped.

This description of the devastation of locust swarms is not exaggerated.  When the really big swarms come to an agricultural area, they devour everything even to the bark of the trees and the roots in the ground.  Usually insecticides will lessen the impact on farms and ranches, but it can happen just like Joel describes.  The swarm will come like a the light of dawn spreading across the sky, like a cloud moving inevitably toward them.  And only by God's intervention will they be saved.

But Joel is using the locusts as an analogy for the destruction that the invading army will cause before the Lord calls for judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat.  He shows the people of Israel the destruction the locusts cause; then he tells them the of the human army that will pursue them.  Israel did suffer the things he cites--the people were sold for slaves, the land was divided among the victors, now there will be a repayment in the valley of decision. 

The day of God's final judgment is still coming.The valley of Jehoshaphat will be the scene of God's judgment because of the pain the people of Israel have suffered.  The final judgment will include other sins and God's plan does not leave out any one. The people of Israel will not escape God's judgment for they also failed in their obedience, but the land will be restored and those who seek God will find comfort and provision, and Jerusalem will be the city of God.

I have noticed a rash of horror movies depicting the "last days" or the "end of the world."  None of them is quite as real or devastating as the description Joel gives, and none of them offers the same hope.  Joel's description of the repentance and future blessing on the people who honor and reverence God is nestled inside the judgment.  It does not make the blessing less real, but it does emphasize the cost.  For Christians, that cost was laid on Jesus.